Dungeon Builder's Harem Book 03 Ch. 41

Chapter Forty-One

"That was a great fight," Zobens said as she stretched her back, her large, green breasts thrusting out before her. "That paladin had skills. I got a good hit on him, then he bashed his shield in my face and rammed his sword through me while praying to Lord Nabu." The orc laughed. "Who got him?"

"The ghosts did," I said. "With your orcs fighting him from all sides."

"Those ghosts scared the piss out of them, Lord Leo," said Slepkavi. The other orc squeezed her big, green boobs, her nipples hard. "Grobi, you and your sisters destroyed their mages."

"The living cannot stand our embrace," purred Grobi, the ghost floating nearby. Her translucent, green form had a soft smile on her lips. "Unless they are the Dark Lord and his minions."

"You all did amazing," I said. "I would love to properly reward you three, but things are dire."

"Yeah, those fuckers moved through the dungeon too fast," said Slepkavi. "They knew where they were going. You got to redesign everything."

"We have to prepare the defense of Astovin," I said. "Anguin's coming for it."

"He didn't know about the ghosts," said Zobens, an evil smile spreading on her lips. "Those adventurers were shocked to have them rising in their midst."

"No, Anguin has no idea I have ghosts," I said. "Maybe that will help turn the tide of our next battle."

"Maybe." Zobens looked around. "Where do you want us, Lord Leo? Back to our spots in the Third Labyrinth? Do we have time for R&R?"

"Go get as fucked as you want," I told her. "You've earned it. Maybe frolic with a mermaid."

Zobens laughed. "Maybe I will, Lord Leo." She smacked me on the ass. "It was a pleasure to fight and die for you."

I nodded. I was getting used to sacrificing my monster girls. Expending them. Slowly, I was coming to see them as resources, as pieces on a chessboard. A callousness that worried me. I had to honor their sacrifices. It was why I revived them and brought them here to be thanked by me.

I woke up the last two from the Void Crystal. Smerta and Feya appeared. Led's two companions, his favorite wrestler and his bitter wife. Feya spun into existence and looked just so disgusted, shaking her head. Smerta had a look of cold fury on her face.

"Anguin?" I asked. "Are you pissed at him?"

"Does a bear take a huge, steaming shit in the woods?" Smerta asked. "They knew our defenses intimately, Leo. Too intimately. I want to find that dark bastard, rip off his head, and use his neck as a latrine!"

Feya winced but nodded. "I have never seen a party move with such precision through the dungeon, Leo. Not here and not in my ex-husband's dungeon. It must be redesigned."

"We have bigger problems," I said. "Astovin is in danger. Anguin is going to attack it, or so Halia believes. She's his daughter. I trust her. If she thinks it, then it's a good possibility he's going to rip through there. We have to be ready."

"Then we shall be ready," Smerta said.

The door to the vault opened. Fara walked in, her black hair swaying as it fell over her small breasts. She had started going naked like the monster girls, her ears twitching. It took some getting used to being nude all the time, but after a while, it felt strange to get dressed.

In her hands were diagrams. She began unfolding them on the floor without much ceremony. It was a map of Astovin that she had inked four spots on it. They bracketed the square in the middle of the town, each one on a major street that led to it.

"I propose you build exits to your dungeon here, here, here, and here," she said, tapping each of them. She pointed to another tunnel she drew that ended at the outskirts of the village. "You'll have to extend your dungeon from here. You'll have to do some tests. Make sure that you're not coming up in the wrong spot."

"How can I do that?" I asked. "It's not like I can see where my tunnels are going. And what if I disrupt the street? It'll leave behind damage."

"You can't," said Fara. "You're going to have to extend your dungeon beneath the town and be ready to create the breach when he comes for you. Get right beneath the streets then thrust stairs out. You might damage buildings, but if Anguin is coming to butcher those people..."

"Right," I muttered. "I need to move myself down there. We're going to redesign the dungeon." I grabbed the crystal and concentrated. I did something ballsy. Something insane. I moved my living quarters and vault from their current position to beneath the exit of the Astovin tunnel. I added stairs and a set of doors leading up the tunnel along with a concealed door to hide it.

"We moved," Fara said, looking around. "Right? Where are we?"

"Some place insane," I said. I had just brought the most important location past all my defenses save my monster girl companions. "This is going to be ballsy. We're going to have to do something bold to defend this town."

"Uh... why does the throne room door lead to a dead end?" asked Garnet. "Big bro, I was coming up to play with you and give you a relaxing massage, and now I can't get to the living quarters. Where are they?"

"Beneath Astovin," I answered.

My mind hurt with all the gasps of surprise and shock and worry from my women. None of them seemed at all happy about it. Those in the living quarters burst into the vault. My mother had on an apron, flour covering her hands. Mrs. Lucina's big boobs heaved. Nina Naughty wore a look of such shock. Hagane shook her head.

"What are you doing, idiot?" Maya asked, marching up to me. My undine smacked me in the back of the head.

"What I have to," I said, shooting her an annoyed look. "Astovin's in danger. I swore to protect it. I'm the only one that can't be moved by the Void Crystal, and I have to be here. I need the Crystal on hand to do last-minute adjustments when Anguin attacks, so... Here we are. It's temporary."

"Souleen!" gasped Maya. "Please say you don't agree with this madness."

"Leo is the Dungeon Builder," Souleen said. "I know he will always protect me. I am not worried."

"Thank you," I said, nodding to my busty, little Soul of the Void Crystal. The piece of the Incarnation who brought me here. I grabbed the Void Crystal and started making the adjustments.

* * / *

Halia Vobria walked through the streets of Astovin, her neighbors and friends smiling at her. They didn't see her relationship with Lord Leo as anything foul or wrong. They had come to see Leo as someone who cared for them.

He cured those who had been petrified. Everyone in Astovin had known someone who had been turned to stone when the Twins attacked the village. And now they were in danger from the great hero, the Son of Astovin was coming to wipe it out. She had to be ready.

She knelt on the cobblestone and, with a hammer, tapped on the rock. Hard.

"Okay, I can hear that," Terra said. "You need to extend the tunnel five feet further east, Leo."

"Okay," Leo answered. Terra was solving the first problem: making sure the exits were in the right spot.

Halia's cheeks burned. People stared at her as she tapped at the stones. She just gave them a helpless smile. "Just making sure the road quality is good. Lord Leo wants you to have safe and study streets."

That seemed to work. It was close enough to the truth. Leo did want them to have safety. He cared for them greatly. Halia had no regrets about loving him. That thing who attacked them wasn't her father. Anguin Vobria would have understood that Leo was different.

"Tap again," Terra said. "Let's make sure we got it, then we can work on Exit Two."

Halia did, her stomach twisting. She didn't know when the attack would come, but she would be ready for it. She would not let the thing pretending to be her father ruin his legacy by butchering his own hometown. With the Blessed Blade at her side, she would put a stop to him.

* * / *

"Okay, the plan is simple," I told the group of monster girls I had assembled. I had all the orcs, werebears, wildhounds, satyrs, salamanders, unicorns, and ghosts in the room. Isatu, Usiku, Paanee, Baaghi, Smerta, Feya, and my companions were with them. Halia was up in the village. She was our lookout. Fara was sitting on the floor writing in her journal.

"Okay, we are going to be divided into four teams," I said, pointing to the wall behind me where I had put a projection of this section of the dungeon. "We'll be ringing the center of town. That is where we want to engage Anguin if we can."

Everyone was nodding. My monster girls were watching with serious expressions. Even Garnet was focused on what we were doing. The Vault was right behind us. It would be by the exit I would be using. I would have to run from here to get into position after breaching the tunnels up into the town.

My Void Crystal would be completely defenseless. I just hoped that Anguin would never realize how vulnerable I had made myself.

"So orcs, werebears, wildhounds, satyrs, salamanders and unicorns, you are going to be evacuating the townspeople. Getting them clear of the fighting." I stared at them. The motley group of sexy monster girls was all nodding and hissing and polishing golden swords. "I want them protected. If you have to die to keep Anguin from hurting them, then thank you for your sacrifice."

"We'll protect them, Lord Leo," Zobens said. "Right, girls?"

The orcs all shouted, "Lord Leo!"

The wildhounds yipped their excitement, the most numerous group of monster girls. The unicorns clopped their hooves on the ground. They were shy, but they were nodding with eagerness, their horns gleaming in the light. The salamanders fluttered their fiery wings.

"And us, Dark Lord?" asked Duhot. She and her sister ghosts were floating to the side.

"You're going to be with the attacking force," I said. "That's the rest of us. We'll be rushing up into Astovin from the four sides to hit the bastard hard. I hope your life drain abilities will be of use against him."

"And what about me?" asked Fara. She looked up from her notes. "I'm not a fighter."

"I will keep you safe," Isatu said. She was so adorable in her humanoid form. My dragon fluttered her red wings. "You are too yummy to risk being hurt."

"You are in charge of the dungeon defenses," I said. "The rest of the monster girls and you are going to stop any adventurers who might attack us."

"Even though the Vault is here?" she asked.

"They don't know that." I rolled my shoulders. "We're gambling on keeping Astovin safe. I'm not going to sacrifice the people up there just so we can have an easier time. This is where Anguin wants to attack us, so we're going to meet him head-on."

"Lord Leo, we're ready," said Smerta. The valkyrie had an evil glint in her eyes. Her icy sword appeared in her hand.

"Hell, yeah, let's protect this village," Crystal said.

"Kweh, heh, heh, we shall protect your dark minions and stop this scourge from hurting them!" Garnet squealed, her wings flapping.

"Dark minions?" Hagane asked.

"Oh, let her have her fantasy," Lana Fulmine said. "Now, we need to start figuring out how we're going to attack him."

I nodded. This meeting was only getting started.

* * / *

It was Halia's third day watching over Astovin. Her doubts about this plan were eating at her. Maybe Anguin wasn't going to punish Astovin. Maybe she had misinterpreted the thing pretending to be her father. Perhaps he just meant her.

"PEOPLE OF ASTOVIN!" a voice boomed, shaking her out of her reverie.

She burst out of her childhood home, looking around. Shouts were echoing. People were retreating from the temple. She raced in that direction and shouted to all her family, "He's here!"

She saw the temple ahead. Before it, her dark father held Orvain, the village priest, in a crushing grip. The shadowy form of his father looked menacing painted in the dying light of the setting sun. The oranges highlighted his poisoned, gray flesh. He held his black blade in his right hand, the left holding poor Orvain.

"THIS VILLAGE SUPPORTS EVIL!" he snarled. A loud snap echoed. Orvain's kicking legs went still. "SO IT MUST BE CLEANSED. THIS IS THE WILL OF THE GODS!"

"He just killed Orvain," Halia shouted. "Move, Leo!"

"We're moving," Leo shouted back.

"I WAS BROUGHT BACK BY THE GODS. THE FIRST OF MANY NEW REINCARNATED HEROES!"

Halia's stomach lurched at those terrifying words.