Chapter 300: Back to the Green Place

And now our cuties return to the central spot for the evil done in this place. Preparation for a grand ritual takes time, and must not be interrupted. Unfortunately there seem to be some interruptions. Magic can linger after a caster's death, but not all kinds.

It was time. Ann had rested for a good half hour cradled between Kat and Rosalyn. Recovery and rest were important. They were in the difficult stretch now. A mass exorcism was going to be rough, and she needed to be ready.

Frankly, everyone needed rest after what’d been done to them.

They’d talked about Nancy and Anthony while she was wrapped up in soft and hard hugs. She’d never done an exorcism like this. Ann had the feeling she could have contained the situation better, but Bren shot her down immediately. Anthony was a relic of a far more magical past. That they’d escaped with relatively minor injuries was nothing short of a miracle. A miracle possibly brought on by Anthony not realising that current magic was far weaker than when he’d been alive, assuming that Rosalyn would have killed Bren. His isolation had probably saved their lives.

That wasn’t even factoring in Nancy, who’d been taken out fairly quickly. Her ability to phase through material and strike while invisible would have been deadly combined with Anthony’s manipulation.

Now they were going to have countless more of Nancy and whatever other magic the rest of the victims had aimed directly at them. Ann had checked with Orenous, and she’d confirmed that a barrier would be present, but cautioned that it had limits. Those outside the circle would need to protect the circle at all costs. They’d have to do it with three people as well. Rosalyn and Ann were going to be performing the ritual dance.

“What do we do about the fucked up giants?” Ann asked. “We can’t really exorcise them. They’re not dead.”

“Gonna ‘ave tae kill ‘em,” Kat said. “Ye read what they are. They’re weapons. Not Mulsfar, but somethin’ built that eventually became the Mulsfar. We put ‘em down first afore they can even enter the fight. Bleed ‘em dry, shock, shot through their hearts. Just make it quick. Don’t like makin’ shite like tha’ suffer. Well, unless it did shite tae me or any o’ ye.”

Lucia nodded. “Can do. Easy. Heads stationary. One big shot each. Will need healing. Well, more healing.”

“That, I can handle,” Bren chuckled grimly. “The best course here is the most expedient. How are you feeling, Annita? Rested enough to get started?”

Ann stretched, jostling Rosalyn, who was clamped onto her like the softest, warmest backpack. “Yeah, think I’m good. It’s the spiritual or magical bullshit effort that’s exhausting. My body can handle a lot more than this.”

“Yeah she can,” Rosalyn giggled. “Hours and hours of it!”

“Hush,” Ann said, a smirk playing over her lips as she reached back to ruffle the Druid’s wool hair. Bren and Lucia were blushing, making a point not to look at anyone else. Ann still caught the brief glance they’d exchanged, though.

Ann sighed, refocusing. “So, we kill the big guys, do some rites so they don’t go haunting this place, I’m guessing, and then we move on to the rest? Not gonna touch Daisy, you think?”

“Nope, no way. This is about the dead, right? She’s not dead. Well, not anymore. Definitely alive and nearly impossible to kill! She’ll be fine.” Rosalyn waved away Ann’s concern with a nuzzle into her admittedly sweaty neck. Her fur back there was damp, and the mane of hair she normally had wasn’t helping the heat.

“Alright, off!” Ann laughed, pulling her away. At least, she tried to.

Rosalyn clung on like a limpet. “But it’s so niiiice!”

“Swear to… you can get all the smells you want while we’re dancing. I promise!” Ann growled, yanking at her girlfriend.

Rosalyn popped free, giggling madly. “You promised!”

This dance was going to be fun.

“Alright, afore I want tae join in on tha’, let’s get goin’. Don’t need tae pack things up quite yet. Leave the books, Bren. Need tae be mobile.”

Bren groaned, but did as asked, putting down the tome he’d been stuffing into his bag. “I’ll be back for all of this.”

“Oh, I’m sure ye will. We also need tae make it back through the crawl, so keep that in mind.”

“I know, Kat!” Bren snapped. It was so sudden it took Ann aback. He was always the picture of mental stability. This had to be the first time she’d seen him kinda pissy?

“You good?” Ann asked.

Bren’s face scrunched up, confusion painting his slightly scruffy features. “I… yes. I am alright. Apologies, I do not know what came over me. We will have ample time to recover any knowledge of value here. Let us proceed.”

Ann caught Bren trying to sneak no fewer than five books as they went back downstairs. He really was grabbing up whatever he could, and it seemed more like a compulsion than his normal curiosity. A moment of concern about his Warped influencing him hit Ann, but she pushed them aside. This man was linked to Lucia in the deepest way she could think of. If anyone was going to call his bullshit, it was her. If she was allowing this, then Ann would follow her lead.

They got back to the Green Place unscathed. That was not going to last.

Whatever had been keeping the proto-Mulsfar asleep was gone with Anthony. All of them, except the one with its brain exposed, were awake and looking around. Wild eyes, bloodshot and of all colours. The one with dozens of eyes was thrashing in its chains, eyes flying everywhere as it tried to escape.

“Feck, Lucia! Take ‘em out! Rosalyn, help her!” Kat ordered.

Both women nodded and darted off.

“What about us?” Ann asked.

“Bren, guard Lucia in case anythin’ happens. I’ve got Rosalyn.”

Ann grumbled to herself. Yeah, she wasn’t too built for taking these things out safely, but she was still a fighter. A fighter who noticed she’d had level up notifications. Quickly checking, she’d gained three levels so far. They hadn’t even done much fighting, but the running and investigation of the ruins, then the exorcism, apparently counted. Neat! She dumped her two extra points of stats into Dexterity and took a look at the skills. One level was entirely sex skills. She’d check those again later.

The other was more practical.

Congratulations! Your Path has advanced!

Warrior of Orenous (33)

Please choose from one of the following:

Lustful Discharge:

Get real nasty with that pistol of yours! No, not that one, the metal one. You can’t make your dick metal that I know of. Bullets, when consecrated by your holy fluids, now deal additional damage equals to 1.2x your Faith. The fluids must be fresh! No cheating your way out of this one. Lasts three days! Increases Libido by 20 per bullet!

Your Pulse Quickens:

A threat in bed and in battle. While you remain unseen by your enemies or lovers, your presence is far more potent. Might want to bury someone’s face in some pillows. Just a hint. The effect depends on the target. You can either excite them or put terror into their souls. The target must be aware that you are in the area for this to take effect. Increases Libido by 5 per minute!

Ok, maybe one of those was half sex skill. Fine, both of them were half sex. Orenous was really wanting to ramp up her Libido stat that’d been underutilised aside from the new semi-berserker skill. Now she got more faithful as she got hornier, and she had more skills to ramp that up. Still nothing to vent that, besides an orgasm, but things were shaping up into an interesting Path. Half paladin, half rogue, if she could compare to old RPGs. Not the most common combination, that was for sure. Hell, with this she could have an aura. Right now, though, she was looking for a way to increase her ranged abilities. The… methods for Lustful Discharge were definitely weird, but really goddamn powerful. She could even use her other bullet skill with it!

Ann sighed and selected the ridiculous skill. Praying no one was paying attention to her as they were all getting to the thrashing giants, Ann shuffled in her ammo pouch and pulled out two bullets. Two bullets that’d be drenched in cum or whatever soon. The skill didn’t say how long it had to be, but she knew her Goddess. She’d want them soaked.

Shuffling awkwardly, she adjusted herself onto the floor, flipping her kilt up to bare her twin cocks. Even as she was turned away from the sounds of combat, it was still hard to focus on what she needed to do. Her ears were too damn sensitive. Closing her eyes, she pictured the hottest thing she could and started stroking. Lurid images of Kat and Rosalyn both there, sucking and fucking at the same time, letting their lusts run wild. That look of pure submission Rosalyn got when she was really cock drunk, or that possessive snarl Kat let out when she was riding hard and very close to her own peak.

It wasn’t long before Ann was ready to burst. She felt a clench, and shifted her grip to hold both cocks in one as she continued to furiously masturbate. Her free hand lined up the two bullets in a tile groove, then returned to the other hand. She felt her hips buck. Cum splashed in thick pearlescent jets over the green surface and coated the bullets. Ann wanted to make this quick, but her orgasm never obeyed. It took her nearly a minute before her shafts stopped throbbing and only dribbled the last of their current load. There was so much more where that came from.

Picking up the now sticky rounds, she cleaned them off the best she could. Once satisfied they wouldn’t cause problems in the gun, she flipped open the chamber and slotted the now consecrated ammunition in. She checked her sheet. It had reset from the passive amount she’d gained since that night, but it was still sitting at forty. Forty libido gone like that. Guess that meant this applied after orgasm, which meant it was a penalty against her reset. Interesting. She’d need to fuck sooner, or risk another overload if she had to use more Libido skills.

Lucia and Rosalyn were working on the twins. They hadn’t quite gotten them down, but both women were nothing short of devastating to enemies who couldn’t fight back.

Ann raised her revolver at the multi-eyed creature and gently squeezed the trigger. Her hand vibrated as the recoil hit her with a crazy amount of force. Her normal shots weren’t anything to sneeze at, but this did actually feel like twice that. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Kat’s head turning to check on her, then going back to protecting Rosalyn as a gout of flame shot from the proto-Mulsfar’s mouth. The effect was like Lucia’s rifle, unenhanced, had shot one of the things. A small hole entered the forehead, popping an eye it had grazed in a gory explosion. Still, the thing was thrashing around more than ever.

Light shone in its eyes, and Ann felt her world swim. She staggered to the left. Her tail tried to balance her, but everything seemed to be shifting out of her control! Unable to stand, Ann fell to her knees and grabbed the ground for dear life. It’d fucked with her balance, whatever it had done. Even sitting up hit her with a wave of nausea she’d only felt on a ferry in Vancouver. It’d been a stormy day, and the water was rough. She’d puked her guts out with a very patient mother helping her, looking like she was a moment away from joining Ann.

Ann forced herself to sit, to take aim. It was more difficult than her first fight with the Twinwolves. Her arms swayed as her body tried to balance against the ever-changing direction of gravity, throwing her sights off. She’d have to wing this. Doing her best, Ann took a deep breath and used Shot Through the Heart along with the bullet. The gun erupted with purple flame! A crack louder than Lucia’s enchant-muffled rifle sent Ann’s ears flat. She felt her arms thrown back, too late to dodge the pistol that thunked squarely into her forehead.

“Owwwww,” Ann groaned, dropping the gun and holding her face. Her gauntlets came away painted with a bit of red. Thankfully, not enough to be concerning, but she quickly put her helmet back on. Taking it off had been stupid, but reading had been difficult.

“The feck was that?” Kat shouted over the din of combat.

“New skill! Tell you about it later!” Ann shouted back over her ringing ears. “Don’t think it killed this one!”

“Nae! They’re tough bast-”

A boom swallowed Kat’s words as Lucia detonated the head of one creature. All that was left was a smoking stump, a lot of brains, and shards of skull all over the area. Her next shot lanced over Ann’s head into the largest of the dozens of eyes. It burst like the worst grape imaginable. Either she’d seriously hurt the thing, or Lucia was better at shooting. Probably both, but the creature spasmed as new neural pathways were carved into its grey matter. Then, it was still.

“Good shit!” Ann shouted, her ears starting to recover a little. She wiggled a finger down into one ear, and had to fight against her own body trying to flap the thing against the intrusion. Wincing at the discomfort, she scraped out some wax, but nothing else.

Her claws weren’t going to be much more use. Rosalyn had been able to open the one twin’s neck and was letting it bleed out into the massive pit underneath it. She looked like she was doing the same to the other. It made sense. She only needed Mind to kill them, and could save more powerful spells for the upcoming battle. Well, if she could handle spellcasting while dancing.

So, with all that being the case, Ann did what she could. She popped over to Bren and nabbed the key out of his pocket. It was surprisingly easy to do. Her fingers just slipped into his robes and came back out with the key! Her hands being more dexterous was not something she’d tested for thieving. Usually they were buried in other pockets.

While Lucia, Rosalyn, and Bren supervised the end of the last few, Kat joined Ann, and they worked on getting bodies together. It was a morbid task, but one that needed to be done.

“So, where d’ya think the Bultrite is?” Kat grunted as she hauled a body out of a cage. It was an emaciated man, long dead but body preserved.

“I didn’t see anything that looked like silvery mithril,” Ann said, grabbing the arms of another man and pulling him across the blessedly smooth floor. They had to get through the splatter of the one giant’s head, though, and quickly started painting a grisly trail.

“Me neither. Minnie said it was up here, though. Maybe the bawbag hid it?”

“Possible.” Ann shrugged, depositing the body and headed to the next group of cages.

“So what’d it feel like when he did that thing to take control of you?”

Kat shook her head, yanking open a cage door a bit harder than necessary. “Not good. Like I was a passenger in me own feckin’ body. I could fight it, but only so much. He was insanely strong, Ann. I could mostly just try to trip myself.”

Ann whistled a solemn note. Anthony being able to overpower them like that had nearly ended everything. If he’d gotten Rosalyn, Lucia could have finished Ann off, or Ann could have been controlled next. It wasn’t normal possession, but holy shit was it almost worse.

“Well, he’s off to wherever bad people go.”

“Ye should know that if ye’ve been readin’ yer books.” Kat gave Ann a friendly elbow to the side as she retrieved her next body. “What’s it sayin’? No playin’ dumb on me.”

“Fine. Orenous has her own realm, as do most Gods. It’s usually like their Seeds before they were twisted. Hers is a place of love, lust, and beauty in all forms. Not just carnal pursuits, but she espouses philosophy and the active pursuit of the betterment of one’s mind. So her realm is all of that stuff. Sounds like the romantic description of the Romans or Greeks. Anyways, gotta have a place for the people who fit her domain but are also pieces of shit. Separation is supposedly the most severe of her punishments. The truly terrible souls are locked away in dark isolation, never to see the love they held in their lives again. Never to touch another, to feel their warmth, to engage with anything besides the silent void.”

Ann shivered. “Reminds me of my coma, to be honest. Lots of dark and quiet before Orenous showed up. Didn’t go too crazy, but I walked a looooong time.”

“Good. That’s what I’ve ‘eard too,” Kat nodded. “Wonder if she stuck ye in there tae keep ye separate an’ watch o’er?”

“What, took my soul out and put me in quiet time for a few thousand years? I mean, I guess I was kinda special once the Seeds got cut off, but she couldn’t have known before. Also, don’t think it felt malicious. Kinda like stasis while she looked after me.”

“Ye… d’ye mind askin’ Her fer me?” Kat asked haltingly. Ann caught the worry that flickered over her features. Aw. Her big princess wanted to make sure she hadn’t been taken advantage of. Ann leaned in and kissed the lug on the cheek.

[Bestest Goddess]: I tell them to talk to me, and I’ll answer. I gotta keep my word here. You were definitely put in something similar, but I kept the sensory deprivation to a minimum. I wanted to protect you, after all, not punish you. Didn’t want to give you too much stimulation, though, just in case you woke up and somehow got a full life in a dream. Hate those stories where the character wakes up to the entire story being a dream. It’s cheap and depressing.

Ann laughed at that last part. She wholeheartedly agreed. “Yeah, says it was something similar to her version of hell, but She made sure I didn’t have the full disconnect. Also didn’t want to give me dreams in case I fell in love with another big burly Alfhindur and then woke up having to start it all over again.”

Kat’s eye darkened, squinting at her.

“Cause one’s more than enough for me,” Ann laughed, chasing that worry away with another kiss. “Especially this hottie here. Ever tell you how hot that scar is?”

Kat gave her the cocky grin Ann loved so much. “Heh, now an’ then. Love ye, too, Ann. Dinnae, feels like it doesn’t need tae be said, but sometimes it does.”

Leaning up against Kat’s shoulder as they pulled bodies, Ann sighed. “Know what you mean. Love you too. Now, let’s get this corpse pile done with. I’ve got a dance with a pretty Druid!”