I could not help but wince. It was only wood, but still… there was playing dirty and then there was playing dirty.
Arx sucked a breath through her teeth before letting it out again in a relieved sigh. “Hoo… that was clo—nyose~!”
I quirked an eyebrow. Even without the verbal cue, I could have seen from her posture that the spell’s regeneration had taken hold. She was getting fairly used to the secondary effects of my skills, but when something like that slams into you, it can be next to impossible to pretend nothing happened. It’s simple reflex. Hips pull back. Thighs draw in. Arms cross, pressing certain succulent mounds together.
Sexy as hell, too.
But more importantly, we now knew this thing could be drained! And evidently, feel pain. The automaton seemed incapable of making any sounds other than the rattling of its own timber, but the creaking it did make was eerily similar to a howl of agony.
Also, it had begun frantically beating its own groin against the brick wall, trying to dislodge the now-dissolved arrow and the payload it had delivered. So it was an easy deduction.
Lynnria did not seem to notice.
“Close?! What…? You…! Did you see…?! I ought to…!”
Her sputtering continued for a bit. It seemed that about thirty rather choice epithets had occurred to her at once, and all of them were vying to be first out the queue.
She need not have bothered, though. Her tail was doing plenty of talking already. Up until that point, I had not known it could stand straight up like that.
The general levity was soon cut short when the maze took the opportunity to remind us of its eminent demise. However, this time two rows of ceiling crashed to the ground behind us, pushing a cloud of dust into our faces. Whatever time we had left to get out of this mess had just been halved in a stroke.
Which finally dislodged a coherent sentence out of the girl.
“Wha… that’s not fair, either!” she shouted, pointing.
It was a useless observation, no matter that I agreed with her whole-heartedly. However, my attention had focused behind her. I did not know if golems were generally capable of rage, but this one certainly looked pissed.
“It’s spinning up!”
She twirled in place and extended her bow, though I detected a slight tremble in her arm. “Dirt!”
Another clod shot forward, but the golem reacted quickly. It jerked itself backward, tilting the gyroscope of its arms upward just enough to scatter the round uselessly against the wall. The move unbalanced it, and it was forced to reel back a few steps to compensate.
I turned back to Arx. The gash along her head had sealed itself already, but the arm was only just beginning to purple. I suspected the regeneration effect had yet to run its course, but regardless, broken bones take time.
In an ideal world, we would not have needed it. With her arrow, my spells, and Lynnria’s wand to keep the creature distracted, we had a workable strategy. We could eventually whittle the thing down just by kiting it. But with the maze bearing down on us ‘eventually’ was not going to cut it.
We needed more time! Or…
I clutched at my Coin Pouch as something occurred to me.
Every gamer knows the impulse to ferret away miscellaneous potions and items, just in case. Most of the time, they lie forgotten, collecting dust in a bag somewhere. Waiting for a rainy day that never comes.
Well, it was pouring now. Giant, rectangular boulders in this case, but they counted.
“Can you fight?” I asked.
She flexed the claws on her good hand, still gleaming with unused acid. “F-for younnn, I would f-fling myself laughing into the jaws of death.”
The corner of my mouth tugged upward. “Save the poetics. Inventory.”
“You have ahnn~ idea?”
I quickly found the little bundle, still wrapped in its wax paper, and selected it before glancing back up. From the strain in her voice, the bones of her left arm were finally beginning to shift back into position.
“Dirt!” Lynnria shouted breathlessly, drawing my attention away from the enraptured lilim.
This time, she had aimed low, but the particulate soil only managed to sweep a single spindly leg out from under the golem. It swayed unsteadily and, before it could regain its footing, one of its rapidly twirling fists cracked against the wall, forcing its body to bounce away like a pinball bumper. One more good shot and Lynnria could send the now dangerously unstable automaton to the floor.
But before she could force the word out, her own legs betrayed her, and she collapsed to her knees. She was out of juice.
“Triple shit!” I swore. Gritting my teeth, I swiped the hovering pill from the air and handed it to Arx. “Here. Swallow this.”
Without a word of protest, she snatched it from my palm and forced it down her throat. “What’s the plan?”
The falling skies almost drowned out the question, and I had to shield my head from the debris peppering my face. I was probably bleeding from a thousand little cuts by that point, but I did not have the time to check. One more pass and we would have to run, golem or no golem.
“Attack!” I yelled frantically. “Hit it as hard and as fast as you can! Fuck! Chew on it if you have to! Let’s drain this bitch.”
A mad gleam lit her eyes, and for a moment, I almost saw the old Arx—the hedonistic berserker. The jaws of death had opened wide, and she was going to make sure it choked on her.
“Yes, my master!”
A strange sort of vibration passed over her body, forcing the highlighting of my spell to redraw around her like crazy. Then she was away. Before I could blink, she was already past Lynnria and moving so fast the lines could only draw her afterimage.
The golem had just stabilized by that point and hastily attempted to tilt its spinning axis down to protect its legs from the oncoming woman-made-bullet, but it was too late. She was already through to the other side.
As if momentum was a laughable fantasy dreamed up by some dribbling lunatic in his padded cell, her mad dash came to an instantaneous halt. I only saw a momentary blink of her arrested outline before she had reversed course and began tearing into the golem’s exposed undercarriage with her Varnished claws.
The feat left me utterly astounded. I had attempted to identify the pill some time ago and, from the vague impressions the spell left me, I had guessed it was a sort of stimulant. But to this degree? Never mind a haste spell, this was like the Speed Force from Detective Comics had momentarily descended to grace my lilim with its power.
Even so, her claws could only inflict so much damage against the brute. I needed to do my part.
Seleroan
Hey folks!
I've got merch! That's right, about a month ago, I hired an artist to do some character portraits, and I figured, 'What better way to use them, than letting you guys buy your favorite girl. As a mug!'
Yeah... what can I say? I like coffee.
Anyway, here's the store:
https://the-quest-of-words-merch.printify.me/products
Currently, it only ships to the US. Can't seem to figure out why. Nothing on the webpage mentions that. But that's how it is. If I can figure out a way around it, I'll let you know.
For those of you outside the US, I also still have the Patreon available. And you gain access to the most up-to-date chapters.
Come on down! We'd love to see you.
I could not help but wince. It was only wood, but still… there was playing dirty and then there was playing dirty.
Arx sucked a breath through her teeth before letting it out again in a relieved sigh. “Hoo… that was clo—nyose~!”
I quirked an eyebrow. Even without the verbal cue, I could have seen from her posture that the spell’s regeneration had taken hold. She was getting fairly used to the secondary effects of my skills, but when something like that slams into you, it can be next to impossible to pretend nothing happened. It’s simple reflex. Hips pull back. Thighs draw in. Arms cross, pressing certain succulent mounds together.
Sexy as hell, too.
But more importantly, we now knew this thing could be drained! And evidently, feel pain. The automaton seemed incapable of making any sounds other than the rattling of its own timber, but the creaking it did make was eerily similar to a howl of agony.
Also, it had begun frantically beating its own groin against the brick wall, trying to dislodge the now-dissolved arrow and the payload it had delivered. So it was an easy deduction.
Lynnria did not seem to notice.
“Close?! What…? You…! Did you see…?! I ought to…!”
Her sputtering continued for a bit. It seemed that about thirty rather choice epithets had occurred to her at once, and all of them were vying to be first out the queue.
She need not have bothered, though. Her tail was doing plenty of talking already. Up until that point, I had not known it could stand straight up like that.
The general levity was soon cut short when the maze took the opportunity to remind us of its eminent demise. However, this time two rows of ceiling crashed to the ground behind us, pushing a cloud of dust into our faces. Whatever time we had left to get out of this mess had just been halved in a stroke.
Which finally dislodged a coherent sentence out of the girl.
“Wha… that’s not fair, either!” she shouted, pointing.
It was a useless observation, no matter that I agreed with her whole-heartedly. However, my attention had focused behind her. I did not know if golems were generally capable of rage, but this one certainly looked pissed.
“It’s spinning up!”
She twirled in place and extended her bow, though I detected a slight tremble in her arm. “Dirt!”
Another clod shot forward, but the golem reacted quickly. It jerked itself backward, tilting the gyroscope of its arms upward just enough to scatter the round uselessly against the wall. The move unbalanced it, and it was forced to reel back a few steps to compensate.
I turned back to Arx. The gash along her head had sealed itself already, but the arm was only just beginning to purple. I suspected the regeneration effect had yet to run its course, but regardless, broken bones take time.
In an ideal world, we would not have needed it. With her arrow, my spells, and Lynnria’s wand to keep the creature distracted, we had a workable strategy. We could eventually whittle the thing down just by kiting it. But with the maze bearing down on us ‘eventually’ was not going to cut it.
We needed more time! Or…
I clutched at my Coin Pouch as something occurred to me.
Every gamer knows the impulse to ferret away miscellaneous potions and items, just in case. Most of the time, they lie forgotten, collecting dust in a bag somewhere. Waiting for a rainy day that never comes.
Well, it was pouring now. Giant, rectangular boulders in this case, but they counted.
“Can you fight?” I asked.
She flexed the claws on her good hand, still gleaming with unused acid. “F-for younnn, I would f-fling myself laughing into the jaws of death.”
The corner of my mouth tugged upward. “Save the poetics. Inventory.”
“You have ahnn~ idea?”
I quickly found the little bundle, still wrapped in its wax paper, and selected it before glancing back up. From the strain in her voice, the bones of her left arm were finally beginning to shift back into position.
“Dirt!” Lynnria shouted breathlessly, drawing my attention away from the enraptured lilim.
This time, she had aimed low, but the particulate soil only managed to sweep a single spindly leg out from under the golem. It swayed unsteadily and, before it could regain its footing, one of its rapidly twirling fists cracked against the wall, forcing its body to bounce away like a pinball bumper. One more good shot and Lynnria could send the now dangerously unstable automaton to the floor.
But before she could force the word out, her own legs betrayed her, and she collapsed to her knees. She was out of juice.
“Triple shit!” I swore. Gritting my teeth, I swiped the hovering pill from the air and handed it to Arx. “Here. Swallow this.”
Without a word of protest, she snatched it from my palm and forced it down her throat. “What’s the plan?”
The falling skies almost drowned out the question, and I had to shield my head from the debris peppering my face. I was probably bleeding from a thousand little cuts by that point, but I did not have the time to check. One more pass and we would have to run, golem or no golem.
“Attack!” I yelled frantically. “Hit it as hard and as fast as you can! Fuck! Chew on it if you have to! Let’s drain this bitch.”
A mad gleam lit her eyes, and for a moment, I almost saw the old Arx—the hedonistic berserker. The jaws of death had opened wide, and she was going to make sure it choked on her.
“Yes, my master!”
A strange sort of vibration passed over her body, forcing the highlighting of my spell to redraw around her like crazy. Then she was away. Before I could blink, she was already past Lynnria and moving so fast the lines could only draw her afterimage.
The golem had just stabilized by that point and hastily attempted to tilt its spinning axis down to protect its legs from the oncoming woman-made-bullet, but it was too late. She was already through to the other side.
As if momentum was a laughable fantasy dreamed up by some dribbling lunatic in his padded cell, her mad dash came to an instantaneous halt. I only saw a momentary blink of her arrested outline before she had reversed course and began tearing into the golem’s exposed undercarriage with her Varnished claws.
The feat left me utterly astounded. I had attempted to identify the pill some time ago and, from the vague impressions the spell left me, I had guessed it was a sort of stimulant. But to this degree? Never mind a haste spell, this was like the Speed Force from Detective Comics had momentarily descended to grace my lilim with its power.
Even so, her claws could only inflict so much damage against the brute. I needed to do my part.
Seleroan
Hey folks!
I've got merch! That's right, about a month ago, I hired an artist to do some character portraits, and I figured, 'What better way to use them, than letting you guys buy your favorite girl. As a mug!'
Yeah... what can I say? I like coffee.
Anyway, here's the store:
https://the-quest-of-words-merch.printify.me/products
Currently, it only ships to the US. Can't seem to figure out why. Nothing on the webpage mentions that. But that's how it is. If I can figure out a way around it, I'll let you know.
For those of you outside the US, I also still have the Patreon available. And you gain access to the most up-to-date chapters.
Come on down! We'd love to see you.
