Chapter 66: Something Wicked This Way Comes

Lexi watched in horror as dark tendrils of magical energy crackled from the elderly goblin’s fingers like black lightning, wrapping around the writhing form of the acolyte who knelt at her feet, transforming the young girl into something decidedly not a goblin. The crackling black bolts of energy peeled back the goblin girl’s skin as if her flesh were some soft fruit about to be eaten. Where there had once been a hand and forearm, the skin which previously covered that appendage had split and burst to reveal a mass of writhing tentacles extending from where her elbow used to be.

“Fuck me,” Lexi whispered. Regret began to wash over her as she stood transfixed by the magical transmutation taking place within the chamber. The thought crept into her head that Gretel might have been right, and that this foe was beyond any of them. Tentacle monsters in hentai manga did not tend to bode well for anyone involved.

As the dark currents of magical energy coursed through the acolyte, her small form began to bulge and morph, looking almost like it was being inflated. Her limbs popped and contorted painfully, expanding far beyond the size of any greenskin. The black tendrils of the high priestess’ sorcery coalesced around the acolyte, wrapping her in an impenetrable sphere of darkness, from which the only sounds emanating were the continued screams of the young acolyte along with the ripping, tearing, and crunching sounds of her young body being broken and remade into something wholly different — something truly monstrous.

When the mist cleared a moment later, black tendrils of electricity burning off their final crackling energy, the creature that faced the quartet of adventurers was like nothing any of them had beheld. Despite its crouching posture, the monstrous being towered over even Samantha, filling the room to stand at least ten feet. In many ways, it followed the general course of greenskin development, only taken to extremes not even approached by the hobgoblin and orc representatives Lexi had faced so far. Rather, this creature was a nightmarish extension of the principle that as size increases, so does the inhumanity and bestial nature.

The creature’s form followed the general outlines of what it had previously been, but with every feature contorted and stretched into something far more terrible than the subtle hints of the goblin’s inhumanity. Enormous flapping pointed ears flapped in mockery of the almost elfish elegance of the goblin’s prior visage. The previously smooth green skin was now cracked and split with festering boils and sores. The pointed teeth which were normally reminiscent of a cat’s had been elongated into a razor sharp maw of yellowed ivory, each tooth as long as a short sword. The robe worn by the acolyte had been shredded during the transformation, putting the fullness of her new and awful body on display.

The graceful swells of small budding breasts had morphed into huge pendulous tits which sagged and swung under their own heaviness. Between her legs, where there had likely been the same smooth loli pussy like that Lexi had just recently fucked, where now hung an enormous gaping cunt, huge flaps of gnarled and wrinkled flesh, so dark it was almost black, which dripped with a thick and viscous fluid, coating the insides of the creature’s thighs. But more terrible than any of this were the three tentacles, each as thick as Lexi’s wrist, which sprouted from each of the creature’s arms — writhing dangerously between it and the four adventurers.

“Give it everything you’ve got!” Lexi cried out to her fellow adventurers, drawing her sword and charging in with Samantha by her side as Danica and Gretel hung back to provide ranged support from the rear.

Hoping to give her two comrades some cover as they sprinted towards this tentacled monstrosity, Danica dove for her bow, only to find a thick rubbery tentacle swinging straight towards her, with a speed and agility that exceeded even the elf’s extreme dexterity. The long and enormously strong appendage smacked Danica across the chest, sending the elf flying halfway across the room.

“Gahhh!” she cried, as her small body cracked hard against the chamber’s stone wall.

Had Danica’s reflexes been even the tiniest bit slower, that might have been the end for the young elf. Because, as soon as she hit the ground, another tentacle from the same limb shot out straight for her, aiming to punch straight into her gut. And, given the fact that a slap had launched her across the chamber, Danica instinctively knew that a direct thrust from one of these thick ropes of muscly flesh would potentially prove fatal.

“Hiya,” the elf grunted, curling her body backwards and twisting into a handspring and backflip, launching her just out of harm’s way. Following the flip’s momentum, Danica rolled nimbly back in the direction from which she had been thrown, coming to a stop in the exact spot where her bow had fallen. Heaving with exertion from the acrobatic display, the elf’s eyes went wide when she realized that the creature was somehow capable of launching simultaneous attacks against multiple opponents, as if each tentacle had a mind of its own.

Another of the swirling tentacles from the monstrous goblin’s other arm whipped towards Samantha’s head as she charged in. The monk ducked quickly, her martial reflexes proving an equal match for the deft tentacles. However, as Danica had just observed, the malevolent appendages worked in concert with one another seamlessly, and another thick ropy limb came in unnoticed to sweep Samantha’s legs, knocking her flat. Before the warrior woman had even hit the ground the first tentacle, which she had easily dodged, changed course, punching down hard towards the fallen monk. Samantha was able to roll out of the way in the nick of time, as the tentacle slammed into the floor, leaving the wood where the monk had been just laying a cracked and splintered wreck.

“Etheric Fists!”

Gretel banged her fists together as the shouted out the magical command phrase to activate her new favorite spell. With a surge of her own cracking energy, a pair of enormous translucent blue hands, the clenched fists mirroring the mage’s own hands, appeared in the air. Without any hesitation whatsoever, Gretel launched into a one-two combination, slamming the luminous fists into the hideous green monstrosity’s face. The creature staggered back like a boxer after taking a powerful shot. But, as powerful as the punches from those magical hands were, it seemed to have barely scratched the surface of this monster’s reservoir of toughness. It recovered its balance after a few staggered steps backward, shook off the pain and confusion, and then glared directly at the mage, a roar bellowing out of its toothy maw.

“Watch out!” Lexi cried, seeing one of the monster’s free tentacles whipping around to strike at the mage while her attention was occupied with controlling the etheric fists.

Already sprinting towards the creature, Lexi sprang forward with a heroic thrust of her powerful legs, leaping in between Gretel and the monstrous transformed goblin just before the thick fleshy appendage would have crashed into the mage. It was a close thing even still. For all her new body’s strength, Lexi was only barely able to parry the strike with the flat of her massive sword’s blade. Even in her battle with the towering stoneskinned slaver, she had never been tested against such raw strength. So powerful was the lashing blow from the tentacle that Lexi’s legs buckled beneath her, dropping the paladin down onto one knee as she struggled against the monstrous creature’s unholy power.

Seeing the danger which had very nearly caught her unaware, Gretel quickly locked eyes with Lexi, giving the paladin a stiff nod of thanks. Keeping her huge magical fists raised to defend against any coming attacks, Gretel took the added precaution against any other sneak attacks of erecting a magical barrier around herself — giving her the freedom to fully devote her attention to the task of controlling her conjured etheric hands.

“Etheric Shield!”

Again, the timing of this action proved to be nearly perfect. Almost just as the magical shield took shape, forming a crystalline barrier of crackling blue energy around the mage, yet another of the creature’s six tentacles lashed out at Gretel. Thankfully, instead of smashing into the mage’s body, the fleshy limb crashed hard against the magical shell, sizzling noisily as the shield’s energy crackled against the tentacle, repelling the attack — this time. In the back of her mind, Gretel knew that this spell was not by any stretch of the imagination a surefire means of protecting herself against the onslaught of such a clearly mighty foe. But for now, it was the best option she had, and would simply have to do.

Still grappling with the powerful tentacle, Lexi took a quick inventory of her remaining spell points, desperately hoping that she had enough juice left to help turn the tables in her team’s favor, given the somewhat disastrous way in which the fight was currently progressing.

Class Attributes

Level 6

Experience Points (XP)

28,750

Hit Points (HP)

45/45 (+5/hr)

Spell Points (SP)

2/10 (+1/hr)

Attack Points (AP)

20+2

Defense Points (DP)

15+3

Mind-Break Points (MP)

9/10+1 (+1/hr)

Fuck! Two measly goddamned spell points is hardly enough to do much. But…if I pick the right low-level spell, that might actually be enough to shake things up a bit.

“Grahhh!” Lexi yelled as loudly as she could, hoping to draw the creature’s attention at least momentarily. The huge glassy eyes, each as large as a bowling ball, fixed on the paladin, narrowing evilly and then popping open wide in surprise as Lexi seemingly winked out of existence.

Blink!

Before the monstrously transformed goblin had a chance to realize what had occurred, Lexi reappeared directly behind it. Without a second to spare, the paladin swung her massive broadsword in a powerful horizontal arc, cutting deep into the creature’s leg, and cleanly severing one of its gigantic hamstrings.

Your Attack Hit!

-10 HP (95/115)

You’ve got to be fucking kidding me! Two direct hits from Gretel’s Mike Tyson act and one from me that should’ve dropped it, and this thing is STILL sitting on almost a hundred fucking hit points!?

The gigantic tentacled goblin howled in rage, dropping to one knee hard as the severed hamstring snapped apart painfully. In its fury, although it may not have realized that Lexi was the one responsible, it knew without any doubt that there was something behind it that was deserving of death. It sent a tentacle flying Lexi’s way, the green fleshy appendage whipping back directly in line with the futanari paladin’s head. Fueled solely by the rush of adrenaline coursing through her body, Lexi automatically snapped her broadsword up, catching the tentacle just in front of her face with the edge of the blade this time. To her dismay, the simple parry did not come close to severing the writhing appendage, but merely sank in about an inch into the thick rubbery flesh.

Your Attack Hit!

-2 HP (93/115)

Before either the creature or Lexi had a chance to formulate a counter to the stalemate, the silence was broken by Samantha’s powerful voice shouting out the command words for one of her signature martial combo spells.

“Hurricane Kick!”

Blueish white flames erupted around the monks feet as she flew through the air, looking like meteors as she whirled around and around three times mid-air, shins slamming into the engorged green musculature of the creature’s chest and arm with the force of a baseball bat being swung by a major league hitter. The creature howled again in rage, its weight resting heavily on the downed leg as it staggered under the force of Samantha’s magically enhanced onslaught of punishing kicks. Almost simultaneously, one arrow thudded deep into the top of one of the monster’s enormous breasts, only to be followed in rapid succession by another shot which landed just beneath the collar bone.

“Graaahhh!” the creature shrieked in wordless fury, bleeding now from multiple wounds and clearly bruised from the array of concussive blows as well. For the moment, it seemed like the tide had turned in favor of the adventurers — until Lexi was shown the error of such a naively optimistic assessment.