The mountain range had so many different paths we could take. Most of them led to monsters, which we happily fought and defeated. Along with the Skeleton Archers, there were these snapping turtles with flames shooting from their shells. They were immune to slashing, so Sherry and I took care of them with our spears.
We also came across massive crows that flung fiery rocks down at us. Esme and I took them out with our arrows. We collected a good amount of soulcores, goldcores, and crafting ingredients. I looked forward to putting more points in agility and strength when we returned to the temple. I also wanted to upgrade my gear. This set that gave me invisibility upon hit was a bit too situational, since it relied on me getting hit, and I’d rather not. I also wasn’t interested in poking myself with a needle to activate the trait.
The Leaping Shoes Esme wore continued to come in handy. As for myself, I was still wearing shoes that provided no benefit. I’d have to change that. The deeper we got in the Underground Forest, the more our gear optimization would matter.
We entered into a valley with steep overhangs on either side. They were filled with Skeleton Archers. There were so many, I could hardly count them. And they had the high ground.
The three of us backed away, out of the range of their bone arrows.
“We’ve explored every other path,” I said. “This is the only way forward. What to do?”
Esme grabbed her crafting book from her soul storage. She licked her finger and flipped through the pages. “I swear, there’s a craftable shield, somewhere here.” She tapped on a page with a picture of a shield made of bones. “We can craft this with the bone shards dropped by the Skeleton Archers.”
“Doesn’t look all that strong.” Sherry winced.
“We’ll have to make it work.” Esme grabbed a bunch of bone shards we’d collected off the dead Skeleton Archers from her soul storage. She put them in a pile on top of the page. She did some sort of motion with her hands, and a bright light immersed the ingredients. That light molded them into a single shield.
She repeated this process two more times, until we each had a bone shield.
I practiced holding mine. It was pretty light, and the bone shards that composed it seemed strong enough to block those bone arrows. They were made of the same thing, after all.
“So what’s the plan?” Sherry asked. “We just run through with our shields up?”
I shrugged and looked toward Esme. This was her idea, after all.
“Yeah, why not?” she said.
We turned back toward the valley of skeletons. The arrows would all be coming from above, so we’d have to keep the shields over our heads.
Something weird stood in the distance.
I grabbed both Esme and Sherry by their arms. “Wait! Look.”
A red skeleton. It stood in the valley, blocking our path.
“Oh no,” Sherry said. “Must be the elite variant.”
“We need to deal with it first,” I said, “otherwise it’ll attack us while we’re crossing.”
Esme let out a tired sigh. “My mana is pretty depleted, since I’ve been using it to keep cool.”
“Should we return to the fast travel point and head home?” Sherry asked.
Her and Esme looked toward me. I stroked my chin. We’d made good progress, sure. We could always come back refreshed and recharged. But we also had a lot more progress we needed to make. I didn’t want to spend all my time in the Underground Forest.
“No. Let’s kill the elite.”
Sherry smiled. “I like the attitude, handsome. But how do you propose we do it?”
“We draw it over here,” I said. “It’s a stupid fucking monster, after all.”
Esme shook her head. “Remember, elites aren’t nearly as stupid as their normal versions.”
“It’s still stupid.” I palmed my fist. “I know just the way to lure it over.”
I grabbed the red fez from my soul storage and put it on my head. It’s special trait would cause monsters to agro toward me.
All the skeletons turned toward me. They fired bone arrows, though they all landed short of us. The elite, red skeleton began running in our direction. Strange that it had no weapon that I could see.
Some of the Skeleton Archers on the overhang ran out of ribs to fire at us. Unfortunately, their ribs regenerated. They had infinite ammo. Unfair.
The red skeleton was now mere yards away. Using its hands, it conjured a fireball, then palmed it in our direction.
I dodged easily. Esme shot it with ice arrows. Sherry summoned a Small Meteor right at its head.
Flecks of shadow bled out of it. I conjured a Small Meteor, then hit it with an Ice Blast.
It froze. That allowed me to impale it with the flame spear. Though hitting it with fire nullified the freeze effect, it caused a massive shadow to burst from its core.
“Oh fuck,” Sherry blurted out. “Look!”
All the skeletons on the overhang were dropping down and running across the valley toward us. And even more skeletons were coming out of the caves in the side of the mountain.
A wider area-of-effect ability would’ve worked wonders here, but Ayla wasn’t with us. Both Sherry and I summoned Small Meteors into the mass of the skeletons. Bones went flying along with the flames. We’d killed a bunch, but not nearly enough.
“If we kill everything in sight, imagine the loot!” I said.
“You’ve lost it, Remy.” Esme hit a mass of skeletons with an Ice Blast, freezing them. “You’ve become too greedy!”
I impaled the elite skeleton with my flame spear. It burst into shadows. Many goldcores fell onto the ground, along with a red bone. Could be a rare crafting ingredient.
But I had no chance to gather the loot. The normal skeletons were now using their ribs as melee weapons.
Sherry danced around with her spear, grinning as she thrust at the skeletons. So many of them were now on fire, and they ran around and spread their fires to other skeletons.
“I’m almost out of mana,” Esme said.
“Retreat, Esme!” I ordered. “Jump out of here and get to the fast travel point.”
“I won’t leave you two!”
“That’s an order! Get out of here!”
Esme leaped over the mass of skeletons. She landed some distance away, then dashed toward the direction from where we’d come.
Meanwhile, I focused on hitting the skeletons with meteors and disposing of the rest with my spear. I kept my shield in hand, too, since some of the skeletons were shooting bone arrows, again.
“You good?” I asked Sherry.
“I’m loving this!” She was grinning ear to ear. “Haven’t had this much fun in a long ti—“
A bone arrow pierced her shin. She screamed.
I grabbed a healing potion from my soul storage, then impaled another two skeletons, lighting them on fire. I got to Sherry, popped the potion open with my teeth, then doused her bleeding foot.
Her wound closed. “Thanks, handsome. I’ll reward you for that, later.”
I kissed her on the lips, enjoying how soft they were. Then I resumed flinging meteors and skewering skeletons.
Most of them had burned. Finally, I killed the last one that remained standing.
The whole ground was covered in bones, soulcores, and gleaming goldcores.
Sherry and I laughed. Soot from so many fires dirtied her hair, clothes, and face.
I wiped soot out of my own hair, then began tossing the loot in my soul storage.
Sherry did the same. I enjoyed the sight of her thong as she bent over. It just exuded sin, in the best way possible.
After ten minutes of doing nothing but gathering, we’d amassed 800 soulcores and 21 goldcores. A whole bunch of bones, too, which I assumed could be used to craft bone armor, not that I’d ever wear such a stupid looking thing.
Sherry came close, grabbed my hips, and kissed me. She stuck her tongue in my mouth.
“I could fuck you right here,” she said.
“Let’s get in a soul cottage for the night. Just you and me.”
She bit my lip lightly. “I like the sound of that. I’ve got a deluxe one, actually.”
Sherry tossed the orb on the ground. The mist spread around us. The walls weren’t wood, but formed of stone. The floor was marble. It resembled a Roman villa.
A silky bed was spread across the floor in the center. There was also a pool spread across one side, as well as plates of fruit.
“Nice,” I said. “How much did this cost?”
“These go for 50 soulcores each. I was saving this one for a special occasion.” Sherry bit her lip when she noticed my bulge. She caressed my package.
“Did you like fucking me?” she asked.
“I’ve never had better.”
“Oh? Was I better than Esme and all your other women?”
I nodded. “I can’t lie. You were the best.”
“There are things I want to do with you. Sinful things. Improper things. But I’m afraid…”
“Afraid of what?”
“That you’ll think it’s going too far.”
“I’m open to anything that gives me pleasure, and I like to try new things.”
Announcement Hey there! Go up to 10 chapters ahead by joining my PATREON, and get clothed and nude art of the girls!
The mountain range had so many different paths we could take. Most of them led to monsters, which we happily fought and defeated. Along with the Skeleton Archers, there were these snapping turtles with flames shooting from their shells. They were immune to slashing, so Sherry and I took care of them with our spears.
We also came across massive crows that flung fiery rocks down at us. Esme and I took them out with our arrows. We collected a good amount of soulcores, goldcores, and crafting ingredients. I looked forward to putting more points in agility and strength when we returned to the temple. I also wanted to upgrade my gear. This set that gave me invisibility upon hit was a bit too situational, since it relied on me getting hit, and I’d rather not. I also wasn’t interested in poking myself with a needle to activate the trait.
The Leaping Shoes Esme wore continued to come in handy. As for myself, I was still wearing shoes that provided no benefit. I’d have to change that. The deeper we got in the Underground Forest, the more our gear optimization would matter.
We entered into a valley with steep overhangs on either side. They were filled with Skeleton Archers. There were so many, I could hardly count them. And they had the high ground.
The three of us backed away, out of the range of their bone arrows.
“We’ve explored every other path,” I said. “This is the only way forward. What to do?”
Esme grabbed her crafting book from her soul storage. She licked her finger and flipped through the pages. “I swear, there’s a craftable shield, somewhere here.” She tapped on a page with a picture of a shield made of bones. “We can craft this with the bone shards dropped by the Skeleton Archers.”
“Doesn’t look all that strong.” Sherry winced.
“We’ll have to make it work.” Esme grabbed a bunch of bone shards we’d collected off the dead Skeleton Archers from her soul storage. She put them in a pile on top of the page. She did some sort of motion with her hands, and a bright light immersed the ingredients. That light molded them into a single shield.
She repeated this process two more times, until we each had a bone shield.
I practiced holding mine. It was pretty light, and the bone shards that composed it seemed strong enough to block those bone arrows. They were made of the same thing, after all.
“So what’s the plan?” Sherry asked. “We just run through with our shields up?”
I shrugged and looked toward Esme. This was her idea, after all.
“Yeah, why not?” she said.
We turned back toward the valley of skeletons. The arrows would all be coming from above, so we’d have to keep the shields over our heads.
Something weird stood in the distance.
I grabbed both Esme and Sherry by their arms. “Wait! Look.”
A red skeleton. It stood in the valley, blocking our path.
“Oh no,” Sherry said. “Must be the elite variant.”
“We need to deal with it first,” I said, “otherwise it’ll attack us while we’re crossing.”
Esme let out a tired sigh. “My mana is pretty depleted, since I’ve been using it to keep cool.”
“Should we return to the fast travel point and head home?” Sherry asked.
Her and Esme looked toward me. I stroked my chin. We’d made good progress, sure. We could always come back refreshed and recharged. But we also had a lot more progress we needed to make. I didn’t want to spend all my time in the Underground Forest.
“No. Let’s kill the elite.”
Sherry smiled. “I like the attitude, handsome. But how do you propose we do it?”
“We draw it over here,” I said. “It’s a stupid fucking monster, after all.”
Esme shook her head. “Remember, elites aren’t nearly as stupid as their normal versions.”
“It’s still stupid.” I palmed my fist. “I know just the way to lure it over.”
I grabbed the red fez from my soul storage and put it on my head. It’s special trait would cause monsters to agro toward me.
All the skeletons turned toward me. They fired bone arrows, though they all landed short of us. The elite, red skeleton began running in our direction. Strange that it had no weapon that I could see.
Some of the Skeleton Archers on the overhang ran out of ribs to fire at us. Unfortunately, their ribs regenerated. They had infinite ammo. Unfair.
The red skeleton was now mere yards away. Using its hands, it conjured a fireball, then palmed it in our direction.
I dodged easily. Esme shot it with ice arrows. Sherry summoned a Small Meteor right at its head.
Flecks of shadow bled out of it. I conjured a Small Meteor, then hit it with an Ice Blast.
It froze. That allowed me to impale it with the flame spear. Though hitting it with fire nullified the freeze effect, it caused a massive shadow to burst from its core.
“Oh fuck,” Sherry blurted out. “Look!”
All the skeletons on the overhang were dropping down and running across the valley toward us. And even more skeletons were coming out of the caves in the side of the mountain.
A wider area-of-effect ability would’ve worked wonders here, but Ayla wasn’t with us. Both Sherry and I summoned Small Meteors into the mass of the skeletons. Bones went flying along with the flames. We’d killed a bunch, but not nearly enough.
“If we kill everything in sight, imagine the loot!” I said.
“You’ve lost it, Remy.” Esme hit a mass of skeletons with an Ice Blast, freezing them. “You’ve become too greedy!”
I impaled the elite skeleton with my flame spear. It burst into shadows. Many goldcores fell onto the ground, along with a red bone. Could be a rare crafting ingredient.
But I had no chance to gather the loot. The normal skeletons were now using their ribs as melee weapons.
Sherry danced around with her spear, grinning as she thrust at the skeletons. So many of them were now on fire, and they ran around and spread their fires to other skeletons.
“I’m almost out of mana,” Esme said.
“Retreat, Esme!” I ordered. “Jump out of here and get to the fast travel point.”
“I won’t leave you two!”
“That’s an order! Get out of here!”
Esme leaped over the mass of skeletons. She landed some distance away, then dashed toward the direction from where we’d come.
Meanwhile, I focused on hitting the skeletons with meteors and disposing of the rest with my spear. I kept my shield in hand, too, since some of the skeletons were shooting bone arrows, again.
“You good?” I asked Sherry.
“I’m loving this!” She was grinning ear to ear. “Haven’t had this much fun in a long ti—“
A bone arrow pierced her shin. She screamed.
I grabbed a healing potion from my soul storage, then impaled another two skeletons, lighting them on fire. I got to Sherry, popped the potion open with my teeth, then doused her bleeding foot.
Her wound closed. “Thanks, handsome. I’ll reward you for that, later.”
I kissed her on the lips, enjoying how soft they were. Then I resumed flinging meteors and skewering skeletons.
Most of them had burned. Finally, I killed the last one that remained standing.
The whole ground was covered in bones, soulcores, and gleaming goldcores.
Sherry and I laughed. Soot from so many fires dirtied her hair, clothes, and face.
I wiped soot out of my own hair, then began tossing the loot in my soul storage.
Sherry did the same. I enjoyed the sight of her thong as she bent over. It just exuded sin, in the best way possible.
After ten minutes of doing nothing but gathering, we’d amassed 800 soulcores and 21 goldcores. A whole bunch of bones, too, which I assumed could be used to craft bone armor, not that I’d ever wear such a stupid looking thing.
Sherry came close, grabbed my hips, and kissed me. She stuck her tongue in my mouth.
“I could fuck you right here,” she said.
“Let’s get in a soul cottage for the night. Just you and me.”
She bit my lip lightly. “I like the sound of that. I’ve got a deluxe one, actually.”
Sherry tossed the orb on the ground. The mist spread around us. The walls weren’t wood, but formed of stone. The floor was marble. It resembled a Roman villa.
A silky bed was spread across the floor in the center. There was also a pool spread across one side, as well as plates of fruit.
“Nice,” I said. “How much did this cost?”
“These go for 50 soulcores each. I was saving this one for a special occasion.” Sherry bit her lip when she noticed my bulge. She caressed my package.
“Did you like fucking me?” she asked.
“I’ve never had better.”
“Oh? Was I better than Esme and all your other women?”
I nodded. “I can’t lie. You were the best.”
“There are things I want to do with you. Sinful things. Improper things. But I’m afraid…”
“Afraid of what?”
“That you’ll think it’s going too far.”
“I’m open to anything that gives me pleasure, and I like to try new things.”
Announcement Hey there! Go up to 10 chapters ahead by joining my PATREON, and get clothed and nude art of the girls!