The Eldritch Realms Pt. 02

"He has a hot spring?"

"Yes. From the eastern gate, walk several hundred metres in a straight line. You'll be there eventually."

Captain Black left again, this time to manage the prisoners. Cassy and I went to the secluded hotspring. It was peaceful and surrounded by tranquil trees. We quickly undressed and entered the hotspring.

"Ah. That is nice," I commented.

"I quite agree, Master," Cassy replied. "There's nothing like a good soak."

Cassy opened her legs, attracting my eyes. Her unshaved pussy hid behind her sensual thighs. "You like seeing your slave's pussy, Master?" Cassy asked, spreading her legs even further.

"How can I not?" I asked with a grin. "Do you like me enjoying the sight of your naked body?"

"Of course I do, Master," Cassy replied. "A slave's pride is to be valued by their Master."

I smiled. "I want an honest answer, Cassy: why did you choose to follow me?"

"Honestly, Master? I was bored," she said. "After my capture, I quickly came to accept my new place. But I found out that I wasn't some sort of important girl in some important noble's harem; I was just an entertainer. And... well, that bores me."

"So when I heard about you and your possible adventures, I joined you," she continued. "That's the answer. At least until recently. I have observed you for months, Master: I saw how hard you trained. I saw your drive, your relentlessness to exact your revenge on that elf bitch. That was when I could proudly say I am your slave."

I waded through the water until I sat next to Cassy. I patted her head. "And I'm proud to say you're my slave."

Cassy smiled sweetly. "So, Master, what are you going to do with Eliza?" she asked gleefully. "Looks like you have her under your charms already."

"Her combat skills are very high. She'd make a great ally in fights," I remarked.

"Oh, come on Master. You get a young dark elf girl--probably a virgin--and all you comment on is her fighting skills?" Cassy groaned playfully. "Many men will bankrupt themselves for even a chance to sleep with someone as exotic as her!"

"Evidently, I'm not one of those 'many men'," I said with a smirk. "Whatever the case, I'm focusing on the mission first. What comes after that... we'll see."

Captain Black walked near the hotspring. Cassy immediately closed her legs. "Hello there. Enjoying the hotspring?"

"Very much so."

To my surprise, Captain Black undressed too, beginning with her dragonskin armor. She entered the hotspring with a long, satisfied sigh. "Fancy meeting you here, Captain," I said. Her body was muscular and scarred whilst her large breasts usually hidden by armor exposed in full.

Captain Black laughed a bit. "I know the enemy's not defeated yet, but I can rest slightly easier," she said. "Anyway, my men are still extracting information, but a few key pieces are clear: you, for some reason, emit a similar aura to their goddess. If that goddess exists at all."

"Which I could use to infiltrate their base."

"Bingo. It's risky, but with none of the cultists who attacked returning, we could bluff them."

"Hmm... surely Eliza knows the structure of their base."

"Naturally. But not all. As a mercenary, she wasn't allowed in the deep praying chambers," Captain Black said. "We haven't finalized the plans yet, but I had some ideas in mind. You could go in twice: first to scout, second to sabotage. Once their defences are down and their cohesion broken, we can charge in."

"How do I do this sabotage exactly?"

"Let's talk in the guardhouse."

We got out of the hot spring and entered the guardhouse, now chock-ful with new recruits. We ascended into its highest level, where a number of high-rank guards stood and a well-made map laid on the table. Eliza was instructing a pair of cartographers as the latter made some finishing touches.

"Master!" Eliza greets me.

"The map is complete, Captain," one of the cartographers said.

We took a moment to observe the sketch of the cultists' base. The shallowest are their living chambers, of which there many. Deeper were their facilities like their bathing places and their sex rooms. "I'm sorry, why are you labelling these as sex rooms?" Captain Black grunted at her cartographers.

"Because that's what they are," Eliza said nonchalantly. "For whatever reason, they believe sex is one of the ways they worship and strengthen their goddess."

"Aside from live sacrifices, I suppose?" Captain Black remarked grimly.

"Yeah."

"What do they teach?" I asked. "If I were to pose as an Angel of Eris, I ought to know their ideologies, their motives of worship, and so on."

"Master, their worship of Eris is from a distance similar to the Church's worship of their pantheon of gods. Their worship isn't the the 'worship this god and you will be rewarded in the afterlife' kind," Eliza explained. "But they--the higher ups at least--know and believe that Eris herself will come down to this world, cleanse it of all enemies, destroy those who worship other gods, subjugate the nonbelievers, and rule it as an eternal empress alongside her followers."

"Hmm... so if I have to preach, I'll preach about that," I said. "What about clothing and attitude?"

"White robes with stripes of blue, green, or purple depending on seniority. They believe Eris and her Angels wore white with gold stripes, though," Eliza explained. "Eris will send her Angels once in a while to evaluate a particular cult's devotion, or to preach, or both."

In a matter of hours a robe of white with gold stripes were sewn for me. I bore my sword, which emitted eldritch energy, and bode farewell. The sun had just reached its zenith when I doggedly walked right in front of the cultists' cave. As expected, a pair of cultists came to confront me.

"You have walked willingly to your de-"

"Wait!" one interrupted the other, "look! Look at his robes! An Angel's robes!"

"Fool! Anyone could sew those robes."

"Are there only rabbles in this cult?" I questioned. "Come, bring forth upon me a priest or a priestess, and let them see into my soul."

Reluctantly, one of them called a priestess, who wore robes of white with purple stripes. She gazed at me for but a fraction of second and immediately sank to her knees.

"An Angel! An Angel has deigned to grace us with his presence!" she cried out. "Quick, tell the others!"

"I am here to observe," I said. "Tell me your name."

"It-it's Jessica, O Angel!"" she replied with hands trembling and eyes flowing with tears of joy.

"Jessica. You will lead me."

"Gladly!"

The brunette priestess led me inside of the caves, which were surprisingly rather vast and comfortable. Altars were everywhere, as were books and reading materiel. "Where is everyone? I see so few people here," I said.

"I'm sorry, but you have caught us in a bad time. Almost everyone is engaged in the orgy," Jessica apologized. "Shall I lead the way, Angel?"

"Go ahead." It did irk me to be called "Angel", but I mustered my patience. Jessica led me to the orgy room.

There I watched the decadent orgy unfold. In the middle was a circle of women using their mouths and hands to please an even larger circle of men. To the right was an equally organized orgy as women laid against the wall whilst men fucked them from behind. A number of pregnant women were even present, mostly in one-on-one anal intercourse. The priestesses were surrounded by six or seven men each, while a number of women closed on each priest.

I received an erection looking at such an orgy. We circled around the room and the stench of sperm, sweat, pussy juices and even breast milk choked the air whilst choruses of moans and groans filled my ears.

"Priestess Jessica!" two clothed human women approached. One was pale-skinned while the other dark-skinned. Both were very tall with a solid posture.

"Is he--is he truly an Angel?" the dark-skinned one asked.

"Yes," Jessica replied flatly.

The pale-skinned one whispered some words into Jessica's ears. The latter immediately gritted her teeth. "Are you mad?" she whispered.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Uhm--Angel, if-if you'd deign to... we-we would love to be impregnated," the dark skinned one stuttered. "W-we would love to bear your divine child."

"You two may be the best fighters here, but you can't make such unreasonable demands!"

"Please, Angel!" the pale skinned one sank to her knees, shaking my legs. "Even a drop! Just a drop of your semen! Please!"

"Alright. I will do it," I said. "You said these two were the best fighters. I will reward them." Though, in my mind, it was maddening that such women would consider it below my honor to "impregnate" them. Just how far had the cult sank its claws in the minds of its followers?

I gulped my spit. The barenness draught I drank every morning (to prevent Cassy becoming pregnant) ought to work its charms. The two of them gleefully took off their clothes and laid themselves on one of the few beds in the room.

"What are their names?" I asked Jessica.

"Malya and Aisha, Angel," Jessica replied, pointing at the pale-skinned and the dark-skinned respectively.

Both Malya and Aisha solemnly opened their legs. Their pubic hair was neatly shaved. I unclothed myself.

"Oh wow!" Aisha squealed. "The Angel's cock... it's so large! I wonder if it'll fit my pussy."

Jessica whispered again, "Pay attention to what comes out of your mouth!"

"P-please, could you stick your penis inside my vagina?" Malya pleaded. "I can't wait anymore. I'm so wet already!"

I gently pushed into Malya's pussy. It was rather worn out, but its insides were untapped. Malya moaned as I drove my cock deeper and deeper into her womb.

"My vagina is melting!" Malya moaned. "The Angel's penis is so wonderful!" Her nails dug deep in the bedsheets as I ejaculated into her womb.

Next was Aisha. Her pussy was tighter than Malya's, and from the very beginning her flesh walls drew my cock deeper and deeper. Aisha was far more active than Malya, slamming her body against the bed in frantic motions with her tongue out. "Ah! Ah! Ahhh!" she practically screamed.

Aisha's legs locked behind me, drawing me closer to her hot, naked body. I came inside her too just as she squirted. After that, I quickly wore my clothes again.

It was very peculiar; those two were very attractive, but even after fucking them I felt strangely hollow. There was no real passion; no dirty talking as I did with Cassy. There was no warm embrace as we cooled down from a fiery sex. I left the room, thoroughly unsatisfied. I refocused on the mission.

"Did everyone attend the orgy?" I asked.

"Alas, no. We need to maintain guards and patrols against those pesky Minarians," Jessica explained. "Furthermore a number of guards were required to watch over our orc breeding programs."

I was brought to the so-called orc breeding chambers. It was mind-boggling: the orcs, twisted from men and elves with magics obtained from long lost knowledge as Jessica told me, created by offspring by growing large enough before splitting into two. They reminded me of the Unpeople, mindless droids made from flesh that were used during the previous war; even Caitlyn retelling them were horrifying enough. "The Goddess is truly incredible," Jessica remarked. "She guided other devotees to uncover such arcane secrets and they shared them with us. Now every single enclave of the Goddess' devotees are building up our own armies."

"Everyone?" I remarked. I didn't know how potent these orcs are, but nothing could come well from a horde of fanatics producing an army. "How fast could they breed and how strong are they?"

"We're still perfecting the technique, but generally an orc birth occurs once every three months for each breeder and it takes three years to reach their prime, though at the age of one year old each orc is good enough to fight," Jessica answered. "Regarding strength, I fear we're still lacking. They're smaller and weaker than regular humans. From our exercises, a human with basic fighting skills could take out six or seven orcs before taken down."

"I see," I said, feigning nonchalance.

"Also, they for some reason... exhibit a very strong urge to copulate with women, even though they don't need them to reproduce. I suppose that's a good physcological weapon if only the orcs could differentiate between allies and foes."

"They can't?"

"We can only control them to a limited extent."

We at last came to the deep, vast chamber. "This is where we hold our daily prayers at night," Jessica said. "Everyone must attend. Speaking of that, uhm, could we have you as our speaker tonight? It begins in half an hour."

"I will observe for now."

The prayers that night were rather uneventful. After a short prayer, an old priest preached what was expected: Eris will take over the world and they will be elevated to a sacred position and whatnot. A scented candle spreaded its fragrance everywhere. "I am satisfied with what I saw," I said to Jessica after giving her a signal to leave the prayers early. "I shall leave for now."

"I understand, Angel," she said with a bow.

Just like that, I went away. I returned to Minaria shortly. "How did it go?" Captain Black sprung unto her feet as I entered the guardhouse. Her senior officers as well as Eliza and Cassy were there.

"Well enough," I said. I narrated my experiences in the cult's hideout.

"Good, good," Captain Black said with a grin. "So they've fallen right into our trap. The best time to strike would be when they are praying at night--but how?"

"I assume a full frontal assault is still not an option?" I remarked.

"No. The casualties will be unacceptable," Captain Black said.

"Apologies for intruding, but I may have a solution."

It was Miranda who opened the door. "What do you propose? Offer your body to the cultists for a loaf of bread? Oh, I'm sorry, that's your usual rate."

"Your tongue is as sharp as ever, Raven, but I'm not interested in a banter of words," Miranda said. She took out a vial of potion. "This is a sleeping potion."

"Hahaha!" Captain Black laughed condescendingly. "Whores really should stay in their whorehouses. How on earth are we supposed to deliver the sleeping potion? We can't infect their water supply because they take it from the same river as we do."

"Hey, Robin, there is a candle in the prayer session, right?" Miranda asked.

"There is. It produces a lot of smoke."

"We can infuse the sleeping potion with wax to make a candle. When lit, it will spread the potion," Miranda explained. "It's similar to how we use aphrodisiac candles."

"That... yeah, that could legitimately work," Captain Black conceded with gritted teeth. "I'll send word to the alchemists. Rest now; you'll need your strength for tomorrow."

For the whole day I slept and only woke up in the evening. I took a short bath. We reconvened in the city's gates. "Once I have them all asleep, I'll communicate mentally with Cassy with our link, then you strike," I said while drinking a potion to counteract the sleeping potion.

"Sounds like a good plan. We'll be waiting here," Captain Black said. I wore my white robes and returned to the hideout. This time I was met by Malya and Aisha, who escorted me to Jessica. When I asked to speak at the prayers, she gleefully accepted. So there I stood upon an elevated platform, facing perhaps thousands of cultists.

"Brothers and sisters!" I called out whilst the candle burned. "Long have the sickness of this world reigned! This orderless world, pitifully tended to by weak rulers, is an abomination!"

So roused were the cultists that some of them began to stand up and shouted in agreement with me, but their priests quickly chastised them. "Lo, the Goddess came and pitied us. She bestowed upon us a great light...."

I continued the pointless ramble for some time. Soon enough, the sleeping potion began to work. I sent a mental message to Cassy. The frailest slept first, but not in enough numbers to alarm others. Then most of the cultists too fell asleep, and a few seconds later even the most buxom of them fell.

Captain Black and her men barged in with ropes and handcuffs. It wasn't a battle, honestly speaking. The soldiers awkwardly cuffed the cultists and brought them outside.

"No!"

Jessica raised to her feet, pinching her nose tightly. She ran through a secret door downwards. "After her!" I roared. Captain Black and a few of her men joined me as we pursued her.

When we reached the deepest part, the orc chambers, Jessica was meddling with some sort of black liquid and a lamp. "Death! Death to the false Angel!" she screamed. "I may die here, but I die proud knowing I have fought for the Goddess!"

The chained orcs behind her coalesced into a... thing. Something. A growing mass of grey flesh and bones too terrible to look at. It consumed Jessica with its many mouths immediately. Its tentacles reached out, but Captain Black's fire shield burned them. "Men, retreat!" she ordered. "Robin, we're taking this one!"

"Right!" I answered. I conjured a wave of bluish knives before Captain Black hurled a nearby wardrobe with her wind magic at the creature. The creature bellowed in pain, but its fleshy mass threw back swords and axes at us.

"Eliza to the rescue!" The dark elf conjured a thundershock so potent the weapons shattered. She followed with another thundershock that made the creature howl.

"You okay, Master?"

"I'm alright," I said.

Suddenly the giant slimy thing leaped to the air, threatening to engulf us all. Captain Black made a sphere of wind and Eliza enchanted it with a stream of thunder. I charged up all my mana into a large bluish orb.

"Ready?" Captain Black asked sternly.

"Ready!" The wind shield was down and I tossed the orb at the creature. The latter exploded violently, throwing pieces of flesh everywhere.

Captain Black grinned. "It's done."

The guards carried the cultists with wagons and threw them into Minaria's extensive prison. I contacted Caitlyn whilst Captain Black reported to Lord Narthia and Lady Nholem. I told Caitlyn of our successes.

"Great, great," Caitlyn, in a shade form generated by the communication orb, said. "Glad to see your progress. You've done well."

"Anyway, I assume Cassy, Eliza, and I are going back to Phantasma soon?"

"Oh, but there's the not-so-small matter of payment."

"Payment?"

"You are a bounty hunter, remember? Minaria will pay you," Caitlyn asked with a laugh. "Though it's unlikely to be money. You'll probably be paid in partial ownership--four or five percent perhaps--of a few mineshafts here. It should be quite a handsome reward."

"I agree," I said with a smile.

A loud knock was heard and a person barged in. "Oh, Eli--Miranda? What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Er, Robin, sorry to intrude. Are you busy?"

"Uh, not really, but allow me to finish my report first."

"Oh no, you've reported enough," Caitlyn said. "If the chat isn't a private thing, mind if I listen in? Who is this, Robin?"

"She's Miranda, a local prostitute."

"A local prostitute, huh...." Caitlyn smirked.

"... she helped us by giving the idea to use the candle if you're wondering how I knew her," I said. "Anyway, Miranda, what is it?"

"Uhm, I came on the behalf of all of us, by which I mean the prostitutes. There are about thirty or forty of us," she said. "We need your help."

"What is it?"

"We'd like to move to Phantasma," she said. "Minaria is just too oppressive for us. Taxes for brothels and sex workers are too high. Raven and her folk constantly watch us for even the slightest violation of the laws. We're dirt poor here and we heard Phantasma is more welcoming."

"I see, but I don't see how I can help with that."

"Well, uh, I mentioned we were dirt poor. We need some money to travel, to take care of the administrative stuff, and to feed ourselves before we could establish ourselves in one of Phantasma's brothels," she explained. "We were hoping you could lend us that money. Of course, we'll repay you with interest as soon as possible, and if you want a more... personal compensation, we'd happily oblige."