“Nice chatting with you, Remy.” Leric held his fist high in the air. “But it’s time for you all to die!”
Johanna held her fist up, too.
A black hole materialized in the sky. Void tentacles shot out of the black hole toward us.
I sidestepped with my high agility, but a tentacle followed. It struck me right in the chest.
I felt nothing. Ayla was wearing the Magic Nullifying Ring, which enabled us to tank a single magic attack per day.
A tentacle struck her, too. She seemed as undisturbed as me.
But when one struck Sherry, she let out a scream. A weird oil shot out of the tentacle’s pores and covered her body, immobilizing her.
“You all right?” I took out a healing potion and doused her with it.
“It hurts,” Sherry said. “Fuck it hurts.” The oil clung to her skin and the ground. She struggled to move her limbs even an inch.
Fucking status effects.
“You’re going to be all right.” I caressed her cheek, then turned to Ayla. “Guard Sherry. Don’t let any of those bastards come near her.”
Ayla nodded, her big hammer in her hands. Since I’d put the Time Crown on Sherry, I needed her to stay safe to win this battle. I also adored her and didn’t want her to get hurt, obviously.
“Charge!” Leric screamed.
The soldiers let out a war cry and charged at us. Ayla released a Wind Blast, hitting three of them. They were so dazed by her mini tornado, they didn’t get up.
I summoned three Small Meteors at the mass of soldiers. One missed, but the other two incinerated a couple of soldiers.
I danced forward and impaled another soldier with my flame spear, lighting him on fire. Since Sherry wouldn’t need her mana, I ought to use it all.
“Flame Form!” I shouted.
My limbs turned into fire. I floated a foot above the ground. I surged through the soldiers, creating a conflagration across their bodies and the grass.
The remaining soldiers scattered.
I managed to chase a few down before my Flame Form ran out.
“He’s a sitting duck, now,” Leric said. “Second line, charge!”
More soldiers emerged from the tree line. At least twenty. They ran toward us, their spears and scimitars forward.
So he’d baited me. He knew I would use my Flame Form and end up in no man’s land.
But what he didn’t know was that I had more tricks up my sleeve. The only problem was timing them right.
I wanted to use my Time Crown to end this battle. But it only afforded me five seconds of stopped time, and if I mistimed those five seconds, I wouldn’t be able to play that card again.
I had to get closer to Leric before I used it, but he’d deployed his soldiers like a shield and kept himself at the back. Even his wife stood more forward than him.
What a fucking coward. Just like Saran.
I conjured my wind hammer and smashed the soldiers as they ran at me. Their thin chainmail was no match for the blunt power of the hammer.
I closed in on Leric, smashing soldiers the while.
Finally, we faced each other. Before I used the Time Crown, I wanted to get him in a vulnerable position.
“The soldiers are no match for you.” He chuckled. “I expected as much. But what about your wives? Can they handle so many?”
I glanced at Ayla. She guarded Sherry and flung tornadoes at the soldiers trying to swarm her. As long as she had her hammer and her magic, she could hold her own. I prayed she wouldn’t run out of mana any time soon.
Johana appeared at my back. She was protective of Leric. She wouldn’t let this be a fair fight.
“Go and kill his wives,” Leric said to her. “I can handle him.”
Johana shook her head. “I won’t let him hurt you.” What did she see in this asshole?
“I don’t need your protection, woman. His wives are more than a fair match for you, in any case.”
“I don’t care!” Johana conjured her void spear and raised it to her chest. “I’m not letting you fight him alone!”
She had the sense to know how dangerous I was, at least. Arrogance had poisoned Leric’s judgment.
Husband and wife held their void spears forward. I let down my hammer and conjured my red sword. Ayla needed all her mana, so best I didn’t draw on it during this battle.
Johana came at me first. Ayla was wearing the Leaping Boots, which allowed me to jump a great distance backward and avoid her lunge. They raised their fists and opened another black hole. Tentacles came at me from every direction, but I managed to cut them all with my light blade.
Johana threw something at me. I dodged, but like the tentacles, it tracked my movements. It hit me on the chest and dug into my flesh. I looked down to see a ninja star made of void sticking out of the skin in front of my heart.
“Fuck.” I wished Tara were here to heal me. My limbs felt so weak.
They both charged at me with their void spears. Now or never.
I used the Time Crown when their spears were mere inches from my body. Johana and Leric froze, their faces stuck in fury and desperation.
I had five seconds to decide whether or not I wanted to kill Leric. I wasn’t going to murder Johana. Killing women was not my style, unless I really had to. If she tried to hurt me or my wives after today, I would kill her.
But Leric… what an asshole. Only slightly better than Saran, although Leric was a curseborn slave and had probably been brainwashed to follow orders.
Still, the things he’d said to Ruby; the callousness with which he threatened the lives of my wives and the villagers; he deserved to die for that alone.
I got behind him and stuck my red sword in his heart a second before time resumed. I also snatched the obsidian ring off Johana’s finger.
Leric fell to his knees. Blood shot out of his mouth. I couldn’t see his eyes, but I was sure they were full of stunned disbelief.
Johana grabbed him and tossed a bridging orb on the ground. They were through the escape door before the mist cleared.
I wasted no time. I doused myself with a healing potion, then returned to Ayla and Sherry. Together we eliminated the remaining soldiers.
They let all of us in the village, this time. They even let Sherry take a bath to get the black goop off her body.
But Leric’s attack, and how I’d repelled it, didn’t erase everyone’s doubts about me.
A stern looking man who reminded me of my 5th grade teacher, hairy arms and all, glared at me as we stood in the village square. “How do I know you didn’t plan this whole thing to get us to submit?”
“You really think this village is worth all that trouble?” I asked.
“How could you say that to him, after what he just did?” Ruby was still in tears. “Father… would I lie to you?”
So he was Ruby’s father. He seemed scary.
“I know you’d never lie.” He pointed at me. “But what if this foreigner has bewitched you?”
“Remy is the best person I’ve ever met,” Ruby said. “He risked his life for us.”
Auntie Jess, Ruby’s father, and the other elders talked among themselves for a few minutes. Then her father came to speak with me.
“Can you really protect us?” he asked.
“I can protect all of you, absolutely. And I’ll protect your daughter, especially.”
“Do you have an army?”
“I’m a one-man army.”
“I can tell. I saw what you did. But you can’t be everywhere at once.”
“My women are strong, too. And I’ll recruit more fighters as I expand my domain. This village will be my first territory in the overworld.”
The man returned to tell the others what I’d told him. They discussed it some more. Ruby also involved herself in the discussion.
Ayla came to my side and held hands with me.
“Think they’ll buy what you’re selling?” she asked.
“The prince ordered his soldiers to destroy this village. No one else is going to fight for them but me. They know that. What they don’t know is that one day I’m going to replace the prince. But I’m not asking them to believe in me to that extent, yet.”
Ayla licked my outer ear. She whispered, “The thought of you sitting on the throne of Port City makes me so wet.”
“Oh? Then you’ll be the first woman I fuck on that throne,” I whispered back.
Ayla giggled.
Ruby’s father returned with the words I wanted to hear. “All right. We agree.”
We set up two bridging doors in the village square. A teenage boy, who claimed to be the fastest runner in the village, was assigned the task of running through to alert me in case of danger. It was a rudimentary solution, but it worked, for now.
I thanked the elders and promised, again, that I’d protect the village. They were my own people, now. Then the four of us got in the rollercoaster car and returned to the fast travel point.
Back at the onsen, we set up the other ends of the two doors right in the middle of our own village. If I could create permanent fast travel points, this solution wouldn’t be necessary.
So I decided on my next goal: gain the ability to make permanent fast travel points.
Announcement Hey there! Go up to 10 chapters ahead by joining my PATREON, and get exclusive steamy chapters and art of the girls!
“Nice chatting with you, Remy.” Leric held his fist high in the air. “But it’s time for you all to die!”
Johanna held her fist up, too.
A black hole materialized in the sky. Void tentacles shot out of the black hole toward us.
I sidestepped with my high agility, but a tentacle followed. It struck me right in the chest.
I felt nothing. Ayla was wearing the Magic Nullifying Ring, which enabled us to tank a single magic attack per day.
A tentacle struck her, too. She seemed as undisturbed as me.
But when one struck Sherry, she let out a scream. A weird oil shot out of the tentacle’s pores and covered her body, immobilizing her.
“You all right?” I took out a healing potion and doused her with it.
“It hurts,” Sherry said. “Fuck it hurts.” The oil clung to her skin and the ground. She struggled to move her limbs even an inch.
Fucking status effects.
“You’re going to be all right.” I caressed her cheek, then turned to Ayla. “Guard Sherry. Don’t let any of those bastards come near her.”
Ayla nodded, her big hammer in her hands. Since I’d put the Time Crown on Sherry, I needed her to stay safe to win this battle. I also adored her and didn’t want her to get hurt, obviously.
“Charge!” Leric screamed.
The soldiers let out a war cry and charged at us. Ayla released a Wind Blast, hitting three of them. They were so dazed by her mini tornado, they didn’t get up.
I summoned three Small Meteors at the mass of soldiers. One missed, but the other two incinerated a couple of soldiers.
I danced forward and impaled another soldier with my flame spear, lighting him on fire. Since Sherry wouldn’t need her mana, I ought to use it all.
“Flame Form!” I shouted.
My limbs turned into fire. I floated a foot above the ground. I surged through the soldiers, creating a conflagration across their bodies and the grass.
The remaining soldiers scattered.
I managed to chase a few down before my Flame Form ran out.
“He’s a sitting duck, now,” Leric said. “Second line, charge!”
More soldiers emerged from the tree line. At least twenty. They ran toward us, their spears and scimitars forward.
So he’d baited me. He knew I would use my Flame Form and end up in no man’s land.
But what he didn’t know was that I had more tricks up my sleeve. The only problem was timing them right.
I wanted to use my Time Crown to end this battle. But it only afforded me five seconds of stopped time, and if I mistimed those five seconds, I wouldn’t be able to play that card again.
I had to get closer to Leric before I used it, but he’d deployed his soldiers like a shield and kept himself at the back. Even his wife stood more forward than him.
What a fucking coward. Just like Saran.
I conjured my wind hammer and smashed the soldiers as they ran at me. Their thin chainmail was no match for the blunt power of the hammer.
I closed in on Leric, smashing soldiers the while.
Finally, we faced each other. Before I used the Time Crown, I wanted to get him in a vulnerable position.
“The soldiers are no match for you.” He chuckled. “I expected as much. But what about your wives? Can they handle so many?”
I glanced at Ayla. She guarded Sherry and flung tornadoes at the soldiers trying to swarm her. As long as she had her hammer and her magic, she could hold her own. I prayed she wouldn’t run out of mana any time soon.
Johana appeared at my back. She was protective of Leric. She wouldn’t let this be a fair fight.
“Go and kill his wives,” Leric said to her. “I can handle him.”
Johana shook her head. “I won’t let him hurt you.” What did she see in this asshole?
“I don’t need your protection, woman. His wives are more than a fair match for you, in any case.”
“I don’t care!” Johana conjured her void spear and raised it to her chest. “I’m not letting you fight him alone!”
She had the sense to know how dangerous I was, at least. Arrogance had poisoned Leric’s judgment.
Husband and wife held their void spears forward. I let down my hammer and conjured my red sword. Ayla needed all her mana, so best I didn’t draw on it during this battle.
Johana came at me first. Ayla was wearing the Leaping Boots, which allowed me to jump a great distance backward and avoid her lunge. They raised their fists and opened another black hole. Tentacles came at me from every direction, but I managed to cut them all with my light blade.
Johana threw something at me. I dodged, but like the tentacles, it tracked my movements. It hit me on the chest and dug into my flesh. I looked down to see a ninja star made of void sticking out of the skin in front of my heart.
“Fuck.” I wished Tara were here to heal me. My limbs felt so weak.
They both charged at me with their void spears. Now or never.
I used the Time Crown when their spears were mere inches from my body. Johana and Leric froze, their faces stuck in fury and desperation.
I had five seconds to decide whether or not I wanted to kill Leric. I wasn’t going to murder Johana. Killing women was not my style, unless I really had to. If she tried to hurt me or my wives after today, I would kill her.
But Leric… what an asshole. Only slightly better than Saran, although Leric was a curseborn slave and had probably been brainwashed to follow orders.
Still, the things he’d said to Ruby; the callousness with which he threatened the lives of my wives and the villagers; he deserved to die for that alone.
I got behind him and stuck my red sword in his heart a second before time resumed. I also snatched the obsidian ring off Johana’s finger.
Leric fell to his knees. Blood shot out of his mouth. I couldn’t see his eyes, but I was sure they were full of stunned disbelief.
Johana grabbed him and tossed a bridging orb on the ground. They were through the escape door before the mist cleared.
I wasted no time. I doused myself with a healing potion, then returned to Ayla and Sherry. Together we eliminated the remaining soldiers.
They let all of us in the village, this time. They even let Sherry take a bath to get the black goop off her body.
But Leric’s attack, and how I’d repelled it, didn’t erase everyone’s doubts about me.
A stern looking man who reminded me of my 5th grade teacher, hairy arms and all, glared at me as we stood in the village square. “How do I know you didn’t plan this whole thing to get us to submit?”
“You really think this village is worth all that trouble?” I asked.
“How could you say that to him, after what he just did?” Ruby was still in tears. “Father… would I lie to you?”
So he was Ruby’s father. He seemed scary.
“I know you’d never lie.” He pointed at me. “But what if this foreigner has bewitched you?”
“Remy is the best person I’ve ever met,” Ruby said. “He risked his life for us.”
Auntie Jess, Ruby’s father, and the other elders talked among themselves for a few minutes. Then her father came to speak with me.
“Can you really protect us?” he asked.
“I can protect all of you, absolutely. And I’ll protect your daughter, especially.”
“Do you have an army?”
“I’m a one-man army.”
“I can tell. I saw what you did. But you can’t be everywhere at once.”
“My women are strong, too. And I’ll recruit more fighters as I expand my domain. This village will be my first territory in the overworld.”
The man returned to tell the others what I’d told him. They discussed it some more. Ruby also involved herself in the discussion.
Ayla came to my side and held hands with me.
“Think they’ll buy what you’re selling?” she asked.
“The prince ordered his soldiers to destroy this village. No one else is going to fight for them but me. They know that. What they don’t know is that one day I’m going to replace the prince. But I’m not asking them to believe in me to that extent, yet.”
Ayla licked my outer ear. She whispered, “The thought of you sitting on the throne of Port City makes me so wet.”
“Oh? Then you’ll be the first woman I fuck on that throne,” I whispered back.
Ayla giggled.
Ruby’s father returned with the words I wanted to hear. “All right. We agree.”
We set up two bridging doors in the village square. A teenage boy, who claimed to be the fastest runner in the village, was assigned the task of running through to alert me in case of danger. It was a rudimentary solution, but it worked, for now.
I thanked the elders and promised, again, that I’d protect the village. They were my own people, now. Then the four of us got in the rollercoaster car and returned to the fast travel point.
Back at the onsen, we set up the other ends of the two doors right in the middle of our own village. If I could create permanent fast travel points, this solution wouldn’t be necessary.
So I decided on my next goal: gain the ability to make permanent fast travel points.
Announcement Hey there! Go up to 10 chapters ahead by joining my PATREON, and get exclusive steamy chapters and art of the girls!