Sanctum of Defilement Pt. 04

Skari took the lead, more out of curiosity than a desire to show her authority. Her light cast long shadows, illuminating the bottom of an enormous, bowl-like structure. Just as she swept her hand from left to right, a gargantuan ball at the top of the room flickered to life. The Tower's mana poured a tiny flicker through alchemical circuitry, sparking a miniature violet sun to explode to life.

"Ahh! Fucking hell," Skari swore, shielding her eyes as night turned to a kind of bright twilight. "Little warning next time?"

With the room illuminated properly, they could see its true size. Jane had never been to the Colosseum in Rome, but he had played video games set in Rome, and that was pretty much the same thing. The dimensions of the arena were similar, though the floor was solid rock, not sand-covered wood planking. Pits and furrows from impacts heavy enough to deform stone threatened to catch her heels if she wasn't careful. In the centre of the battle space, an enormous plinth stood.

"Wonder what stood there?" she asked to herself. Nilith responded anyway.

"You did. Or the old you. Striking pose, too. But it was white marble inlaid with gold and black opals. If you look on the ground, you can see the dust from where they smashed it apart and dragged it off."

"Oh. Grim."

"I'm sure you can make some sweeping observation about the fragility of life and how our legacies are impermanent and mutable no matter how many grand statues we build of ourselves. But I'm immortal, and you're on Life #2, so that kind of introspection is a little moot."

"Got it. I'll save the Shelley."

Skari clambered onto the plinth to get a better view out of the pit of the arena. The stands didn't look like they could hold much more than a few hundred people. No more than your average packed megaplex theatre in the real world. Even so, much of the space for the audience had collapsed inward. Huge slabs of limestone and granite collapsed in the intervening century of relative gametime, obliterating much of the seating.

But the capacity for ticket sales was not the purpose of the investment in materials. They needed to be ready for war.

"This'll do," Skari said, hopping down from the plinth. "Rakna, you and the twins go check out the other facilities in the back. Let me know if they have an armoury we can loot."

The driders skittered off, with one of the two handmaidens muttering something about "not being twins" before leaving ear shot. That left Nilith and Skari alone in the arena.

"Glad you approve of the venue," the slime said. "Now: you said you had some tentacles you needed help with?"

Skari nodded. She focused on the 'presence' that her upgrade had made her aware of. That itch at her back. She pushed at it with her mind, and felt it squirm again. To her surprise, it made Nilith twitch as well.

"You feel it too?" Skari asked.

"Of course I do. It's me. Well, sort of. It's complicated. Focus on forming a simple tendril. Think cylinder."

Skari did so. She pictured the perfect example of a geometric shape, like she was 3D modeling with her mind. Nothing. It took some experimenting, but she eventually tried dragging the presence on her back to the 'space' where her conscious thoughts formed. Slowly, the slime on her back shifted into a limp, wriggling cylindrical shape.

And as it formed, she could feel the slime around her body start to wriggle. The slime around her breasts made itself known, touching her newly sensitized nipples and squeezing at the plump flesh beneath.

"Oh~" she said, not meaning for it to come out quite like the moan that it did.

"Your mana is based on your arousal, yes?" Nilith asked, continuing when she got a nod of confirmation. "Well, it looks like just to hold the shape of these tentacles, you'll be increasing your lust."

"I know, I just thought it'd be more...abstracted. I didn't expect to be literally felt up by my armour." As she spoke, the weak appendage lost its shape and slid back into the main mass of her slime suit. The teasing of her breasts halted as well, letting her catch her breath.

"Well, you're wearing solidified corruption magic. If you're going to master it, you're going to need to gain a little stamina. Shouldn't be a problem for such a powerful overlord, right?" Nilith prodded.

"Fine, fine, alright. Say I form a tentacle. What's my next step?"

The slime shook her head, but walked over to one of the alcoves off of the arena. The equivalent to a dugout, where warriors waited when they weren't needed or maybe the equivalent to a first aid station. Nilith returned with several empty bottles, the labels long since flaked and fallen off. Healing potions? Booze bottles? Both?

She set the bottles up on the vacant plinth, one after the other, until there was a loose line of five glass targets.

"Stand there," Nilith commanded, pointing at a spot on the ground about five metres away. "Further back...no, wait, yes, there. Stay there. If you can grab each of these bottles without smashing them."

"And if I do smash them?"

She shrugged. "There's more bottles back there, but you're gonna have to get them. I'm not an adventurer; I don't do fetch quests."

Skari mocked the statement under her breath, but didn't lash out. She was getting pretty tired of all the lip she was getting from her supposed subordinates.

The tentacles.

She had important business. Her craving for a modicum of respect could wait. Or rather, it'd be much easier to achieve had she some real strength to back up her words.

Simple shapes could wait. Skari instead skipped to something vaguely tentacle shaped: arms. She knew what an arm was, what it could do. If she could make arms out of slime, she could grab things. And, more critically, she could strike. Skari reached for the first bottle in her mind, mentally piecing together the concept of an arm with her previous generation of a slime tendril. She could feel it form, then saw it bend over her right shoulder. With a savage grin and a growing confidence, she snapped out with the arm on that side.

And the slime proceeded to drool its mass away. Black slop bled away as she extended the tendril, draining its width thinner and thinner until it collapsed to the floor. She tried again with her left, feeling the lust build in her body even as she tried to zone everything out.

"Trouble staying hard?" Rakna asked, her mocking voice causing the second tentacle to flounder.

About to cut back with a powerful rejoinder, the words instead clung to her mind. Hard. The tentacles were just like cocks! Growing larger, engorging with fluid. Instead of arms, she imagined, with a blush, that she had a pair of dextrous, elongated penises. And to make them hard...

Instead of ignoring the lust building effect, she opened herself up to it. As her body was squeezed and teased by her armour, the two tentacles plumped and stretched.

"That's better, you're getting it. Don't fight the urges, let them be the guide. You aren't a blushing virgin trying to hold on to your virtue. You are depravity. You ARE the corruption."

Skari reached out with her right hand, the right tentacle following suit. It slorped forward, glomping onto a bottle just before tipping over the side of the plinth.

"I did it!"

Her slime sensei nodded. "That you did. While you practice here, I'll rustle up some combatants. Any preference?"

Skari shot her left tentacle forward like a whip. It crashed into the next bottle, utterly shattering it. She recoiled, holding her hands to her mouth in shock. The tentacle over her shoulder mimicked the motion as best it could, drooling itself over the back of her hand.

"Oh! Umm...something easy to start out with. And nothing lethal. A step above a training dummy, maybe?"

"Gotcha. Dumb and slow. I got an idea," Nilith said, wagging her finger toward Skari before heading off into the same back room space that the Driders had just vacated. The Overlord continued to practice with her tentacular dexterity, though occasionally she went too far and broke her target bottle. After a few minutes, there were nothing but shards left. What's more, her lust bar was close to two thirds full. In retrospect, she thought grimly, she shouldn't have watched Honeydew eat out that Drider for so long...it was getting harder to focus.

"Sporting a new Fall Fashion?" Rakna chided. Skari looked down to see her armour had once again receded, looking less like protection and more like a saucy outfit for a very specific type of pornography. A tiny skirt, a top that was barely more than a bra, and heels that could only be preceded by the adjective "stripper".

Skari hadn't even noticed. She was still able to move just as deftly as she had when her armour was entirely practical, and with their constant roaming, the fact that their efforts were now concentrated over a small area she only picked up in retrospect. Something about that blindspot was even more humiliating. If she didn't catch herself, she could be trying to intimidate Rakna into listening to her orders while looking like...like...

Like a slut.

The lust metre bumped up a tick as the word entered her mind. Fuck. If she didn't get moving on their training scenario, she was going to lose control in more ways than one.

"Alright. Let's start this up. Day One, Session One, come on out Nilith!"

Six slimeforms walked out from the back room. Each was Nilith, more or less. They were clad in almost nothing, with breasts and nethers "covered" in only a technical sense by slime-loincloths at tight tops. They all featured powerful muscles in their glistening black/purple bodies and, upon reaching their positions, they began flexing like professional wrestlers.

"GRR, WE'RE ADVENTURERS," the three in front said in unison.

"AND WE'RE THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO MATTER," chanted the three in back.

The forward Niliths had a spear and shield warp into their hands, while the slimes in back grew bows and arrows. Though made of solidified goo, they'd be excellent stand-ins for the real thing, if past experience with Nilith's shapeshifting ability was prologue. The archer Niliths disappeared behind the forward trio's shield wall, their organic-looking spears pointing outward.

"WE GO PLACES WE'RE NOT WANTED."

"AND CLAIM WE DISCOVERED IT!"

"ANYTHING WE FIND IS OURS."

"ESPECIALLY IF WE HAVE TO KILL YOU FOR IT!"

"You think she might be mad at adventurers? It's subtle, but I detect some resentment." Skari mumbled, shaking her head derisively.

"For once," Rakna replied with a hint of genuine mirth, "I agree with you. And I certainly can't blame her; as a fellow cave dweller, the adventurer's propensity for diving into any hole they see is quite vexing."

"Come to think of it...she lived the last 100 years in what is essentially a self-contained dungeon. The door wasn't that hard to clear. I'm surprised we didn't find any broken swords or 10 foot extendable poles on our way down here."

"IF I TOLD YOU," all six Niliths said at once, "THERE WAS A PIT WHERE YOU COULD FIND A CENTURY'S WORTH OF CORPSES PILED HIGH WITH ALL THEIR RUSTED, ROTTING GEAR, WOULD YOU STOP TALKING AND START FIGHTING? I HAVE A FULL SCHEDULE."

Skari folded her arms over her (increasingly exposed) chest. "No you don't."

"THROW A PUNCH, YOU SOLIDSHAPE RUBES."

Skari sighed. "Okay, ready up. And remember everyone. This is a training exercise. So no actual injuries, just-"

Rakna cut Skari off, motioning to her two handmaidens. "Enough talk! Let's show our "overlord" our true power!"

The head of the Driders, flanked by Mikra on the left and Lyra on the right, charged. With their mass and a chance to build up speed, they had all the momentum build of a cavalry charge. But the spears made the last three metres away from them a hostile prospect. At the last moment they halted, lower halves reeling up just long enough for several Niliths to shove a spear forward. Instead of pierce the carapace of its victims, it just left an obvious black stain behind. Like an overly large and goopy paintball hit.

"ARGH! DEATH TO SLIME!" Mikra cursed, recoiling after getting run through by the rightmost Nilith.

"HIT MIKRA. GLANCING HIT RAKNA. MIKRA IS SUFFERING FROM TRANSTHORACIC WOUNDS AND IS BLEEDING OUT. RAKNA IS WOUNDED BUT STILL IN THE FIGHT."

Fucking hell. That was 33% of her force gone just as quick as it had charged! Mikra scowled, looking to Rakna for what to do now that she'd been 'killed'. Only after a nod did she amble over to the side of the arena, practically pouting.

"Pull back, Rakna! Let's strategize about this!" Skari said, rushing closer to try and exert some measure of control.

The Drider's leader thrashed her legs toward the front line of spearslimes, trying to get above their guard. The shields came up just in time. Her blows hit like dumbells shot from a cannon, causing the amorphous warriors to wobble and struggle to maintain their forms, let alone their tiny line. But every hammerblow fatigued her reserves, while the slimes in the back were fresh and ready to fight.

"SLIME ATTACK!" was the refrain, as globs of simulated "arrows" came splashing into Rakna. She took several to the thorax and torso, with a final ignominious splatter hitting her upside the face. With a flustered scoff, she peeled away as the slimes pronounced her very clear simulated death.

The only Drider left was Lyra, and Skari tried to wave her over. She was the least hostile of Rakna's entourage, and though she looked ready to listen, she also got a stern glare from Rakna. While her head snapped between her two apparent masters, a trio of arrows-blobs smacked into her.

"LYRA HAS BEEN HIT BY A HAIL OF ARROWS," the Niliths recited, then turned to Skari. The Evil Overlord, bravely, made the "time-out" hand gesture.

"Hold up, hold up, alright, you got us that time. Let's reset and try to work on a strategy, rather than just running in and getting slaughtered."

Rakna's words came with a generous spray of saliva. "You DARE blame us? You didn't even enter the fray! Are you too meek? Too cowardly to be our supposed leader? Speak truly, because I will not hesitate to end our temporary partnership."

"You charged in like lemmings! I can help you if you're dead set on tossing yourself into a meat grinder. If those were real spears, real arrows, you'd all be shish kebabs."

Bitter feelings threatened to spill out of control, and Skari knew that she had to take Rakna by the proverbial scruff. She was the Overlord, she was the leader! But what did she need to do?

"Okay...okay, we'll try again. This time, though, we talk beforehand. Unless you want to get humiliated again."

Rakna snarled, baring her fangs like an angered beast. But Lyra, blessedly, took a more diplomatic tack.

"Very well. How would you suggest we strike?" she asked.

Skari chewed her lip. Jane had played plenty of strategy games before, and had lots of experience playing RPGs and Planet of Perils in particular. To fight an enemy like a boss, you had to slowly wear it down over time, keeping its attention.

But she had to think about who she was now! She was the raid boss, or the main big bad enemy with all the health. Her Driders were her adds: her loyal henchwomen who needed to be dealt with by the players, while maintaining their primary focus on the boss. So, to be the Overlord she wanted to be, the focus had to be on her.

"Okay, here's the deal. I'm going to wail on the Shield Niliths with my tentacles. Lyra, you and Mikra harass the sides to keep the shield wall engaged. Rakna, you're the punch dagger. You roll up the back and charge dead hard into the undefended Archer Niliths. Voila! Steamrolled enemy. Got it?"

Skari made sure to look into all three Drider's faces and getting a nod before proceeding. This could work. No, this would work! She was determined, she was pumped up!

"Round 2...fight!" Skari called. Nilith had already reformed her troops, and it was time to put them to the test. Skari rushed forward and launched wild tentacle haymakers, sacrificing her practiced dexterity for the same force that had shattered the glass bottles earlier. Slime impacted slime in a glorious splashing effect, causing the Niliths hit by the tentacles to rock back. Thus extended, she used the returning motion on her right tendril to rip at the shield of the centre slime. It had to switch from shielding against hammerblows to holding on for dear life.

The next stage was obvious, and she looked to the sides for her forces. But the effort Lyra and Mikra were putting up was laughable. A few lazy lunges at the side Niliths was all they wanted to muster, rather than their previous ferocious battery. Rakna was by far the worst offender, strolling a wide circle around the defensive slimes while casually dodging the arrows shot her way.

"What are you guys doing?" Skari asked, recalling her left tendril and exploding it outward into a fan shape to protect her from the arrows shot in her own direction. Having to attack and defend at the same time quickly drained, or rather filled, her lust metre. She watched helplessly as for all her efforts, her ability to fight was draining away. Just as her armour shrunk further still.

Now standing in a bikini and bra and little else, she made frustrated noises to try to get her troops attention. But the questing tendrils of the slimesuit were becoming too concentrated, too intent in their desire to ignore. Her tentacle thrusts lost their energy, and soon all her energy was turned to not blowing her load right then, right there.

Arrows popped into her chest, rendering her dead to the simulation. But what she hadn't accounted for was that slime constructs that Nilith had made would, naturally, be full of corrupting energy themselves. And though she was a conduit for such power, it was nevertheless transferred its taint into her body.

She fell to her knees, breath hot and heavy as the true power of the diving suit transferred every little twitch and rub of her slime armour to Jane/Skari, making it impossible to ignore as simply simulation. This was as real as it could be.

"N-no...I can't...not now!" she croaked, the writhing in her slime bottoms visible to even the most casual observer.

And it was at that moment when the driders decided to pause their 'attacks' and decided to just...watch.

"W-what are you doing?! Keep up the...ahh!~" The moment those eyes fell upon her, and the manifested embarrassment of being locked in such a compromising state became clear, Skari came hard. Her eyes crossed and she pumped jet after jet of thick corrupt cum into her teasing slime panties. They gobbled the release up as readily as any needy slut, but it didn't change the fact that she was creaming herself in full view of her 'troops.'

"Look girls, the powerful Evil Overlord Skari Suneater, soaking herself like a bride on her wedding night. Would you like to be left alone to shame yourself further?"

"It's not...it's my powers...I'm...ngh..." Skari struggled to find the words, weakly humping against her outfit to complete her climax. As powerful as those tentacles had made her feel, their cost ended up leaving her looking like an embarrassing loser. A quickshot cutie, rather than a terrible tyrant.

Rakna continued to press the attack, approaching until she loomed over Skari, her enormous spidery bulk making the Overlord feel small, useless.

"Perhaps we should put Briggy in charge? She's at least able to last longer before spewing her pathetic load on herself. Suneater indeed. We should call you Skari Skirtsoaker. Skari Slicksheets. Skari of the White Sea."

Fury tinged the embarrassment. She balled up her fists, first in impotent fury, then in white hot rage. No, no! This was not how her empire would end! If she would not have their respect, then she would have their fear.