Chapter Eighty-Six Whirlwind Meeting (Patreon)

Phillip stepped out of the door leading from the fourth floor boss arena. She’d gotten by without a fight again. The boss Makara was a Lamia demon. Fairly strong but a skilled team might be able to bring her down. It seemed the boss was already aware of her abilities and was like the Dragon girl... flirty. She turned red just remembering it. Then she thought about her encounter with Aki and turned even more red. Briefly wondering what was with this dungeon, but she knew.

Pushing that from her mind, she looked around just as a notification popped up. She wasn’t that surprised honestly. It was common for dungeons to start making full safe zones around floor five. Sometimes even earlier. She recalled the spider demon town on the last floor. It looked like it might be a safe zone, either that or a special challenge area. Phillip didn’t take the chance and had avoided it. So the question remained uncertain.

You have entered the Safezone: [Blooming Meadow]

The Following Rules are in Effect:
No Combat is allowed to take place in the zone.
Initiating Combat in the Zone results in the violating party being immediately ejected from the dungeon, and is treated as a dungeon failure.

Dungeon creatures are naturally friendly while in this zone, and will not initiate combat. In addition, they may offer services to adventurers in the zone.

Services rendered to adventurers while in the zone generate resources for the dungeon.

Monsters may provide any service typically available in a town.

The safe zone guarantees at least one inn for adventurers to rest in.

Recovery magic and effects are boosted while in a safe zone. Natural healing and recovery rates are boosted while in a safe zone. Adventurers can expect to heal in half the time they would otherwise. These effects extend to all dungeon creatures in the zone as well.

All damaging effects are nullified in the zone. Both dungeon and otherwise. Magic and effects that are non-damaging in nature are left untouched.

Phillip took only a moment to look over the rules. None of them looked unusual, a fairly normal list. Safe zones were meant to be a place where adventurers could rest and recover. It wasn’t unusual for dungeons to populated their safe zone with friendly monsters and provide services either. In fact it was rare for such services to be absent. These zones were often quite welcome when they showed and people often stayed in them for a while.

Phillip also recalled that it was common for the local guild to set up a sub-office in any discovered safe zone as well. Allowing adventurers to utilize guild services in the dungeon as well. With that in mind, she decided she might as well explore the zone. Besides, it would be nice to know in advance what kind of services the dungeon was offering and where she might set up a sub-branch.

The safe zone was a fairly large town with well ordered streets. Plenty of houses and shops, and lust demons everywhere. It didn’t take her long to find the local inn, The Flowering Pussy. She turned a little red, when she read the sign. Not a common name for an inn, yet quite typical for lust demons. Across the street she noticed a largely empty lot. Given the spot and the large and frankly nice looking inn, it might be a great spot for a guild building. It wasn’t that far from the entrance to the floor either.

It wasn’t that long after, that she found a second inn, The Bouncing Boobs. It was smaller, and after looking around, not that well outfitted. Clearly meant for people that couldn’t afford the first inn. As for the name, it was a lust demon inn all the way through, and that meant it wasn’t any better of a name.

Not far from that second inn, she stopped by a shop. Noting that it had clothing for sale and the local tailor was a spider demon. Sadly they wouldn’t sell her a pair of pants. Stupid demon.

Unhappy with the tailor, she left and soon found an armor shop. It had some decent gear, but nothing that actually compared with her current armor. She sighed. It was a hard choice, but in the end she just didn’t buy anything. The Princess Knight set Timura had given her, while a bit embarrassing, was just too good. Of course it helped that anything decent at the shop tended to cover even less.

With a sigh, she left that shop behind. Wandering through the town, she eventually found a weapons shop on the northside of town that had good looking weapons. One of which caught her eye. Phillip stared at it for a moment. It was a straight, solid-looking blade with two edges, and a simple, yet elegant, handle. The handguard was also kept simple. Clean lines, no extravagant flourishes. It was smaller than her current weapon. Much better suited to her current size. The moment she saw it, Phillip just knew that she wanted it. The weapon wasn’t even named yet, either.

Item: Unnamed Lustforged Demon Steel Longsword

This blade was forged inside the dungeon Misaki by a talented Lamia Demon. Using the natural lust magics of a demon and her inherent strength to forge a simple yet effective blade. Before enchanting it with special properties.

Effects:

Perfect Sharpness: This blade has been enchanted to maintain a perfect razor edge.
Superior Durability: While not quite the match of Dwarven Steel, this blade is not far off in durability.
Perfect Mana Conductor: Lustforged Demon Steel is an excellent conductor of mana, making this sword a superior focus for spells. Few foci can match this steel and be as durable. Greatly boosts spell power and efficiency
Self-Repair: This blade has been enchanted to repair any damage it takes. Ensuring it will last the user a lifetime, if not more.
Bonded Growth: This blade is enchanted to bond with its wielder and grow as they do. Once bonded it can’t be lost or stolen.

Compared to his own sword it was an excellent trade. It would be hard not to make it. Especially not with how difficult it was to handle her old one. The size difference was such a pain. It made it so much harder to fight too.

Item: Phillip’s Sword
Type: Elven Steel Longsword

This blade was forged by the royal smiths of the Bluewood as a gift and reward by the order of Prince Kuron, third prince of the Bluewood. Enchanted and made with exacting detail, it has served its wielder well for many years:

Effects:
Perfect Sharpness: This blade has been enchanted to maintain a perfect razor edge.
Superior Durability: While not quite the match of Dwarven Steel, this blade is not far off in durability.
Superior Mana Conductor: Elven Steel is an excellent mana conductor making it perfect for a spell focus.
Weighted Strike: This blade has been enchanted, to strike with extra power when mana is channeled through it

Self-Repair: This blade has been enchanted to repair any damage it takes. Ensuring it will last the user a lifetime, if not more.

Honestly the trade was kind of even. The real bonus was that Bonded Growth enchantment. Seeing that was beyond good. She glanced at her old blade. It was a good weapon with a lot of memories. She didn’t want to part with it. Her mind flashed to her new house. She knew exactly where she was going to put it. It would have a place of honor in her house. At least until she was big enough to use it again. Phillip had no doubt she was going to find those culprits and get rid of this damn ring.

Her mind drifted back to the sword. Turning to the demon, she began to negotiate for it. It was the best sword she had seen in town and she just knew she was meant to have it. She wanted it and there was no way she was going to pass it up. Finding a sword even half this good would be hard out here in the Borderlands and she certainly didn’t want to ask Kuron for another one. That would be embarrassing.

The smith had been watching her the whole time she was in the shop, and was smiling when she reached her. Her long scaled tail lazily drifted behind her. Before she could say a word, the smith was already speaking. “Are we trading in or paying in full?” she paused, “If we are, you can just keep that blade. Your old one is worth what that one is, if not more.”

She shook her head, “It was a gift from a friend. I can’t exactly part with it.”

The smith sighed, “Your friend needs better eyes, that sword is too big for you.”

Phillip opened her mouth to protest, but froze. Thinking better of it she just nodded, “Um how much do you want?”

The demon leaned forward emphasizing her bosom, “Well for a lovely lady like you? If you paid in sex I’d cut my usual mana rate by three quarters. Completely for an extra hour. What do you say?”

Phillip turned bright red. The demon was a lovely lady, but she’d just done that with the catkin Aki. Phillip shook her head, “No thanks!”

“All mana then? I’ll go get a contract. Sword’s worth about a million mana. I want a hundred thousand now and I’ll give you three months to pay it all off.”

Phillip didn’t let her go just yet. Instead she started negotiating the price. In the end, she ended up paying 125,000 mana right now and ended up spending half an hour with a Lamia wrapped around her giving her headpats. They felt really good, but she was completely confused about how she ended up agreeing to that. At least she had gotten the total mana cost down to just shy of eight hundred thousand. She was also left wondering why she liked it so much, or why everyone wanted to pet her.

With a new sword secured, a contract signed and a general idea of what the safe zone had to offer. Phillip headed off deeper into the dungeon. She briefly considered more seriously checking out the inn, but she was on the clock. A glance at her quest showed she had used up a fair number of hours already. Not enough to worry her, yet, but enough to get her moving.

The fifth floor was, as it turned out, divided into two major areas, split down the middle by a chasm. Said chasm could only be crossed by a narrow bridge in the middle. A bridge that was overlooked by two old watchtowers that were unfortunately home to a flock of harpy demons and a ballista trap per tower. Said trap would fire a bolt at anyone trying to cross every few minutes. It was powered by magic, so it didn’t even need a crew.

Phillip figured that most would find that path a pain. Beyond that was a repeat of floor three with numerous treacherous narrow trails and high mountain cliffs. Only this time, there wasn’t a good underground path to avoid the harpies with.

Near the top of this trail, the path widened out and brought into view high dark stone walls and numerous towers. A clear mountain stronghold and the path was leading straight to a massive dungeon gate. Only that proved not to be the end, as the gate wouldn’t open. Forcing her to backtrack all the way back to the first town, looking for clues. Followed by a search through the jungle half for scattered ruins to activate a number of switches, in a specific order no less, before making the trip all the way back up the mountain and dealing with harpies again. A real pain of a puzzle, and by the time she was back, she wanted a nap.

Regardless, she pressed on. Entering the boss room, coming face to face with a dragon girl who could only be described as Meifa’s older sister. They shared the same general features, right down to scale coloring and patterns, but she had a larger bosom. In addition, her face looked just a year, maybe two, older. Reifa was her name and she was level 55 compared to the average level of thirty on the floor. The higher level plus her race would make her a real challenging threat to any party to deal with. Especially if they weren’t prepared.

Not that she got any chance to get a real feel for the battle. Reifa simply did a repeat of what Meifa did and unlike last time, she didn’t stick around for a moment. Simply running on by and finding her way into another safezone.

You have entered the Safezone: [Blossoming Flowers Castletown ]

The Following Rules are in Effect:
No Combat is allowed to take place in the zone.
Initiating Combat in the Zone results in the violating party being immediately ejected from the dungeon, and is treated as a dungeon failure.

Dungeon creatures are naturally friendly while in this zone, and will not initiate combat. In addition, they may offer services to adventurers in the zone.

Services rendered to adventurers while in the zone generate resources for the dungeon.

Monsters may provide any service typically available in a town.

The safe zone guarantees at least one inn for adventurers to rest in.

Recovery magic and effects are boosted while in a safe zone. Natural healing and recovery rates are boosted while in a safe zone. Adventurers can expect to heal in half the time they would otherwise. These effects extend to all dungeon creatures in the zone as well.

All damaging effects are nullified in the zone. Both dungeon and otherwise. Magic and effects that are non-damaging in nature are left untouched.

Looking around she noticed the zone felt like a real castletown. Demons were everywhere, along with plenty of lewd artwork. Artwork that was often better and more elaborate than what the last zone had. Phillip couldn’t look at any of it, and passed several fancy shops and even an inn, The Blooming Peaks. Phillip didn’t stay to check it out, but the inn looked huge.

There didn’t seem to be any empty lots around here though. Regardless, her path was set and she made her way down the roads. Only stopping briefly here and there to check things out. Eventually she reached the castle, where a pair of demons materialized. Clearly expecting her. Both of them were dressed as maids, sexy maids with everything on display. The two greeted her and gestured for her to follow them. Leading her down the halls into a lovely throne room. Her eyes weren’t on it. Rather instead she felt her breath leave her as she focused on the young lady on the throne.

She was a vision, completely adorable and embarrassingly perhaps a little larger. Where Phillip stood at barely 130 centimeters tall, the other girl was around 135. It seemed even around small girls, she was the smaller one. For some reason she didn’t really care. The other girl was a work of art. Lush, radiant and silky light blue hair cascaded loosely down her back. The ends of which transitioned to a shiny silver. Her skin was creamy and smooth like polished marble. A lovely white, with an incredible sheen and just the right highlights of pink shot through it. Her modest chest was wrapped in a silky black top that did little to hide the shape of her perky boobs. As her nipples pressed against the thin fabric threatening to reveal themselves if it slipped even slightly. The hem was frilled with silver ribbon which just seemed to highlight her features.

Her toned and tight belly was left completely exposed since her top only covered her boobs and barely at that. Down below, what she wore could only be called panties with a frilled upper hem. An upper hem that only made a semblance of being a skirt. Her panties were tight and did nothing to hide the shape of her pussy. Phillip didn’t know where to look or what to say. All she could do was stare at the god forged work of art in front of her. She was the most perfect girl she had ever seen and when she spoke it was with a voice crafted by the gods themselves. Phillip didn’t even notice her quest finish.