Becoming Monsters 2: Ch. 60 (Patreon)

Becoming Monsters Chapter 60: The Price Of Honor

Honoka never experienced a naga blowjob before.

It was terrifying.

*slrrp slrrp glp*

*plop*

*hssssss!*

"Look, I know we haven't had a lot of time to catch up, but I thought you'd like to know how the wives are doing with all the changes."

They soaked in a steamy bath: Padmava, Honoka and Diane. Padmava's bath, to be precise, which is where most the wives bathed since the other wash rooms were taken over by the guests. It was as large as the largest and had all the fixings of the other bathrooms, including a few little touches in the tile work that emphasized this was for the mistress of the house. Overall, the rooms and amenities of the large house were elegant with just a hint of style, yet this room and the master suite Padmava shared with her children was more in the realm of elegant opulence.

"Oooo…kaaay." Honoka was both scared and excited, her dick currently inside Padmava's slow moving mouth, glacially moving up and down the shaft. The scare factor wasn't because she was getting a blowjob from a giant snake…wasn't only because of reptile cunnilingus. Although Banda and Quinn got all the notice for being large girls, Padmava was also her own mini-GTS without even including her long reptile body. With her hooded cobra head large enough to act as an umbrella if she stood over someone, Padmava's mouth was flat, wide and incredibly deep as dick snaked (hehe) down her throat. Just to give the woman enough to work with, Honoka was currently pumped up to thirty inches (72 cm) and the Indian woman devoured every last inch. All this combined into the image of a woman with a snake mouth large enough to devour Honoka whole was slurping down her cock and hypnotically staring into Honoka's gaze with the question of whether or not the naga would go all the way and eat Honoka up in the next gulp.

*plop*

*hssssss!*

Then there was the venom. Thick and hot inside Padmava's mouth, one of the most deadly poisons and probably the most acidic compounds in the world, Padmava didn't have a lot of control over the fluid while she gobbled Honoka's knob. Weeks ago, Diane developed a potion that gave Honoka immunity to the various effects of the venom and this was the first trial run, Honoka never working up the nerve to try it. Just to be safe, Diane was on hand and taken the potion as well. Diane's bag of tricks were on the other side of the tub, Padmava allocating Banda's Cleric Class and Honoka possessed a high dose of Health and gob regeneration. Right now, the feeling inside Padmava's mouth was like the naga filled her mouth full of hot pudding, venom coating down her shaft like thick lube as drips of it splattered into the clear water of the bath with a plop and a hiss.

(Unlike what Honoka's chemistry teacher told her in high school, adding water to an acid or acid to water does not, in fact, cause an explosion. It does create a chemical reaction that creates a lot of heat. So much heat, in fact, that Honoka would be well and truly boiled right now if she didn't have the regeneration or Health points)

"I mean, I don't want you to feel like we've been neglected: we haven't." Diane lounged further down the pool, idling flicking her forked tail up and down Padmava's leviathan body while reading something on her data pad, her general mien relaxed and letting the world drift away. "Babies are the number one priority and we couldn't be happier to spend as much time with them as possible. As for me personally, with so many people around, many of whom are deliciously single - and over 18! - I'm having to turn people away I'm so stuffed full of Hunger I could burst. Pad here is in charge of your secret birthday present so don't even try to find out what she's doing. Eve has midterms and is doing most of her studying down in the nursery just so she can spend time with the kids. This thing with Cholena's dairy has Banda worried, but she seems excited to show up tomorrow morning and test out her new halo powers on a large group. Quinn just texted me and said she was going back down for another delve, solo this time. She's working too hard, I'm scheduling a double dose of the Beast so she can unwind a little. Dolly is a completely different woman and I'm already looking into doing something exciting for her this week. Abra and Gwyneth are too new, but they seem to be settling in just fine, Abra especially has been a busy bee going around the compound and patching up some of the worn out walls. I'll be sure to sit down with them tonight and see what tickles their clits. I'm more worried about Miaka. I think she feels the attack was somehow her fault."

"Wha?" Honoka sweated not just from the boiling bath around her, but with her Health up over seventy points, the cumming climax slow and immense. Just the beginning salvos of premen juting up into Padmava's mouth was thicker and harder than one of her common ejaculations, though the flood just made the motherly naga more determined to finish as she sped up her bobbing rhythm. "…I don't…it was nobody's…fault…"

"I know that, and I think she tells herself that. It’s just…" Diane paused, putting down her tablet and sliding over some of Padmava's scaled snakeskin. "The birdbrain hardly sleeps and every single minute she's not with you or out delving, she's flying around the Lair like she's on constant guard. I think it’s a good thing, but she's turned down having Gwyneth help with her undead and insists on taking other wives' shifts. If it goes on much longer, she's going to burn out."

Honoka was thinking about how to respond when the rocking sensation mixed with the vigorous licking of a forked tongue brought her to to the brink, her abdomen began to expand with cum, her cock gaining a few inches as it hardened to steel and every muscle in her body began to seize. Reaching up even as she bent forward, Honoka grabbed the sides of Padmava's cobra hood and yanked down, pulling herself as far into her wife as she roared and came.

"AAAAAOOOIH!" Honoka cried inarticulately, shooting her jizz cannon hard enough Padmava's head tried to rock back but stayed in place from Honoka's grip, a cascade of cum spewing out of reptilian lips, white girl spunk mixing with the black venom to make a sizzling gray slurry as the two magical compounds tried to mix with actual sparks popping in the air like a grinder cutting steel.

"Holy crap!" Diane shouted, covering her eyes from the thaumian discharge while she tried to splash away in case something else reacted to all the magic.

"Bbrbbrrrbbllbll" Padmava noised, trying to extricate herself while trying to breath, eventually slipping the Beast out of her throat and mouth, getting moneyshot in the eye for her trouble hard enough to yelp in pain. "Ah! Watch where you're aiming that!"

Orgasm or no orgasm, Honoka wasn't about to let a line like that lie. Edging up along the bench in the bath and gripping her cock with both hands, Honoka then took her tool and converted the white fountain into a firehose, aiming directly in the center of Padmava's scaled chest, then firing it at as much exposed scales as she could paint, her face taking on a fierce grin.

Padmava, surprised at first, blocked the hot spray for a moment before giving up, resigned to getting slimed, already plotting revenge. The naga did feel Diane still splashing along behind her, so with a flick of her tail, Padmava looped the screaming succubus around and brought her in front.

"Like I tell Jaya, it’s nice to share!" Padmava said as she laughed, using Diane as a sputtering splooge shield.

"…phht!…I just…aah!…washed my hair!" Diane sounded angry, but there was no denying that the perverted succubus closed in on her own orgasm purely from being basted in cum.

By the time they finished, it was another half hour of showering and scrubbing before any of them were clean enough to face the rest of the Sunday afternoon.

****************************************

Eyes closing slowly, head falling back inch by inch, Honoka snapped out of her nap at the last second when little Thomas burped and spit up some milk onto the rag on Honoka's shoulder before nuzzling back into his own baby dreamland.

"You doing ok, Hono-chan?" Uzume asked, little Sarah suckling a bottle in the Japanese woman's arms, her tiny baby arms growing feathers slowly before shifting back into striped fur.

"I'm fine, where were we?" Honoka asked, idly rubbing her eyes and cleaning Thomas' mouth as she tried to focus on the meeting again.

"We're done here today, I'll have these contracts ready for you to sign by the end of the week." Julietta had her shirt unbuttoned to the point of indecency, pink satin bra holding her cottony bosoms up nicely. Otherwise, the mummy was sitting Indian on the ground and had two notepads and a laptop spread out around her. "Maybe sooner, but I want to make sure they are ironclad before filing them with the county."

Georgia, Philip and Cholena were also in the room and either had notepads or electronic devices to make sure all the intricacies of starting a new business were covered. At first, Honoka had tried to follow everything that went into incorporation and mergers and mutual partnerships, but before long she found herself lost and more than a little ashamed that she wasn't smart enough to keep up. When her mother came into the office and handed her Thomas, Honoka was relieved enough for the distraction before all the tension got to her and she found herself slipping in and out of a dream over the rainbow.

"Sorry, I guess I'm not much help here," Honoka said with enough bite little Thomas squinched his tiny translucent face for a bit before drifting back asleep.

"Nobody thinks that," Georgia stated, getting up and putting a hand on Honoka's thigh. "None of this would be happening without you and this was all your idea to begin with. Let us help out where we can so you can focus on the big picture."

For the briefest of moments, Honoka's face flickered before she smiled towards Georgia's thick glasses and nodded as if she understood. The rest of the people in the room got back to work finishing the work as Uzume got up and sat down next to her daughter, her face clear that she had seen Honoka's reaction.

[What is wrong, daughter?] Uzume asked in Japanese, her voice quiet so as not to interrupt the others.

[It isn't anything wrong, just a small problem,] Honoka answered, rocking Thomas in her arms and hoping her mother would let it drop.

Uzume didn't say anything, but she didn't need to. When Honoka managed to look up, her mother's face said everything and it was loud and clear.

Sighing, Honoka decided she couldn't hide anything from her mother. [I told you about what happened in the Bone Castle. Most of it, anyway. What I haven't told you is that I'm terrified of what I learned there. I think I'm a part of some kind of System or Status trial selection, my Race and Class making me some kind of Herald. I don't know what that means yet, but I feel inside of me a kind of urgency that isn't my own emotion, like a weight pushing my soul to hurry up. When this all started a month ago, I saw a vision of an immense being called Jörð. Despite everything that has happened, that singular moment has stuck with me and I know that if I'm not prepared, the entire world is going to end. The more I figure out about my Race and Class, the more I'm convinced I'm right.

[I keep coming back to the meeting I had with Enoch in the Bone Castle. It isn't right and it doesn't make sense, but when I was down there I was so worried about my family it broke my spirit. I have to keep reminding myself that Enoch is dead and can't hurt them because in the end, I wasn't the one who killed Enoch. Subconsciously, I'm looking around at all my wives transforming into capable women and growing more and more into the most beautiful and powerful people I have ever known while I stay the same. Consciously, I tell myself differently, but it doesn't help. Yet even as I think that, it all cycles back to some unknown future that can happen tomorrow where the world will end and I'm not…capable enough to save it.]

When Honoka finished, it was all in a rush, the worries pouring out of her like the opening of Pandora's box. Just everything she had been holding inside coming out, Honoka slumping in emotional exhaustion as she tried to sort through her emotions.

Uzume took it all in, then got up to hand Sarah to Georgia. When Honoka's mother returned, all she did was kneel down and wrap her arms gently around Honoka.

"I love you," Uzume whispered, barely loud enough for Honoka to hear. "And if you are the one chosen to fight for the world, then the world is already saved. I don't know of another person with more strength, more courage or more charity save our Lord than you. I believe in you."

Honoka didn't say anything, but she was lightly sobbing into her mother's shoulder. For the first time in what felt like forever, the ache inside herself went away and all Honoka could feel was peace. And while Honoka would have wanted this moment to last forever, Thomas started fussing and ended the moment.

Leaning back, Uzume put her hands on Honoka's shoulders and gave her daughter a critical look. "Now you need to start believing in yourself."

"Yes, kaa-san," Honoka replied, wiping her eyes but smiling.

The others in the room politely ignored the mother and daughter having their heart to heart, not saying a word as Honoka silently got up and made her way out of the room. It was around dinner time and Honoka could smell food through the halls, a rumble jumbling from her tummy as she made her way back to the nursery. However, looking down one of the halls, Honoka took a different turn on a whim, thinking now was the time to face her problems head on instead of running from them.

*knock knock*

It took a full minute, but without a sound the door opened and Honoka's grandmother, Mizuki Honda, stood there perfectly still in a silk blue kimono, obviously surprised enough to silence as she looked up at her grandchild with shock.

Shock, and sadness.

[Good afternoon, honorable grandmother.] Honoka said, bowing slightly with the baby in her arms. [I was wondering if you would care to spend some time with one of your great-grandchildren and maybe let me offer thanks for all that you've done for me and my family.]

Later, Honoka couldn't remember what happened next, precisely. In her memory, everything was hazy and the Ymirian mother wasn't convinced she was in her right mind. Mizuki was either smiling or about to smile, either reaching forward to hold the baby or shying away. Honoka honestly couldn't put everything together because at that moment, Isami stepped into the common area from his room, took one look at his wife and Honoka and Thomas and then spoke in heavily accented English.

"Oh, it is the whore and one of her bastard children. Mizuki, would you go somewhere else? I have a business call I'm about to conduct."

At first, nothing happened. Honoka's mind wandered in strange ways while something built up inside. Looking at how horrified Mizuki had become in only a few seconds, some of that must has shown on Honoka's face, and in that moment Honoka took a good look at her grandmother. Mizuki was only five feet tall, demure, aging in the graceful way many Japanese women did. While Uzume might look like Honoka's sister, with the exception of their skin color and age, Honoka and Mizuki could have been twins. It was like looking into her own future, or at least a future before she grew seven inches (18 cm) and gained forty pounds (18.2 kg).

*bmpbmpbmpbmp*

Without realizing it, Honoka gritted her teeth so hard she felt as if her jaw would snap in half. The pounding of the blood in her ears drowned out every sound as her vision tinged with actual red. She had to exert painful effort to keep the arms holding her baby boy relaxed enough to keep from hurting him, but the child must have sense something because with a loud wail he started to cry in her arms, blasting the hallway with a strong gale. Her breath coming in hard gasps, Honoka was so angry she was about to do something unthinkable.

Mizuki, seeing Honoka's distress, thankfully stepped forward and took Thomas out of her arms, leaning forward and hurriedly whispering. "He didn't mean that, he…"

"Isami Honda!" Honoka shouted, loud enough the whole house probably heard her. "Step into the courtyard right now or else reveal yourself to be the coward I know you are!" Turning on her heel, Honoka quickly marched out of the hall and down the nearby stairs, making her way into the gym and armory.

As a professional dungeon guild, the armory was a bit sparse to provide enough weapons for a dozen delvers. It was still impressive. Dozens of handguns ranging from a Colt 1911 to an IMI Desert Eagle, rifles as simple yet powerful as the D'Arcy Echols .485 Legend Heavy Sporter to a belt fed M60 to three new Mossberg 590 Tacticals hanging nearby. Underneath these guns sat literal crates of ammo, enough to hold off the British Empire if they ever decided they wanted their tea back. Honoka passed by those and the cabinets of armor to get to the bladed weapons. Knives of every shape and size, a couple of European and Middle Eastern style swords, then eight katana of various lengths. In the center of these, in a place of honor, Honoka's mithril katana sat sheathed and ready for use.

"No," Honoka whispered, instead grabbing two of the other katana before going back upstairs and out into the courtyard.

The open center of the collection of buildings had about thirty people out, most curious onlookers after probably overhearing Honoka's declaration and wondering what was about to happen. Many of the Honda clan emerged, most of them avoiding Honoka while they were here. Akisame had Miu by the hand, though his normally passive face was troubled. None of the wives were around, which suited Honoka just fine.

"Hono-chan, what's going on?" Uzume asked, coming out of one of the nearby hallways. When she saw the swords, her face paled and she quickly tried to intercept her daughter. "Honoka?"

"Get out of my way," Honoka growled, barely stopping in front of her mother.

Confused for a moment, Uzume turned to see her father step into the courtyard and patiently make his way towards them, Mizuki trailing behind with a crying Thomas in her arms. Eyes wide, Uzume was stunned as Honoka showed newfound strength and pushed her mother aside.

When Honoka stood a few feet apart from Isami, it was with more effort than she cared to admit that she didn't just draw her sword and kill him right there. Wearing a simple black and gray kimono that borrowed classical styling from the Edo Period, the old man's wrinkled face looked bored more than anything else. Despite Honoka's new stature, he still managed to look down at her.

On the other hand, Honoka looked like she was borrowing clothing from a younger, smaller sister. Barefoot, blue skirt short enough a small breeze would give anyone looking a show, her blouse mussed and half of her bra visible to the crowd, Honoka might have been mistaken for a waitress finishing a long shift at a strip bar.

"If anyone else had said what you said, we wouldn't be here. And it isn't even about the words that you said that has brought this on: it is the contempt you have shown in your every action since you arrived here. Yet I want you to know that this isn't about me." Honoka gripped the swords so tightly the wooden sheathes were creaking in her hands. "I might not like that you despise me but I can accept it. However, you will not speak like you did about my wives and especially about my children. I will give you one chance to repent your words. Bow your head to the ground and beg forgiveness, or else we settle this now."

Isami didn't reply in words, he just stood there and looked down at Honoka with contempt.

"Very well." Honoka held out one of the blades, which he took, and then walked a few paces away before drawing steel and tossing the sheath aside, moving into hassō no kamae as smoothly as a baseball player up to bat.

"Honoka!" Uzume cried, frozen in place as the anguish of possibly seeing either her father or her daughter about to die brought on the worst of indecisions.

The others in the area were either deathly silent, confused or being stopped from interfering by other Honda clansmen. It was really all happening too fast, a large majority thinking this was some kind of sparring match and not understanding how sharp the steel was or how mad Honoka had gotten. Most of those that could or would have interfered were not there. The entire situation grew unreal, only one person having enough sense to run back into the house.

When Honoka struck, downward in a perfectly executed overhead cross-body cut, it was fast enough that most of the crowd missed it. The half-Japanese girl had trained for most of her life every morning in martial arts, trained by her mother who was recognized as an internationally renowned master of the art. In the last month, Honoka gained rigorous practical training from her wives, learning the ability to repress her natural anxiety and commit to her strikes. Today, if Honoka were to compete in a national competition, it would be good odds that she could place high or even win a medal.

*sching!*

However, Honoka was no match for Isami Honda.

[You have improved,] Isami said, his katana only partially drawn, using the hand still holding onto the scabbard to brace for the block, his body otherwise relaxed. Over seventy years old, nearly every day of his life had been spent with a sword in his hand. During the singular occasion Honoka had spent sparring with him eight years ago, he made Uzume's mastery seem like the flailings of a child. Honoka didn't have any hope of winning unless she changed the game.

"I think you'll find I've done more than just improve," Honoka said, stepping back into a guard as she quickly allocated, taking a straight twenty points from each Attribute and moving into a vicious side cut.

Whether it was the speed of allocation or the amount of points, Honoka tasted blood in her mouth, choking back a cough of pain as she moved into a flurry of strikes. Her blouse became stringy rags as muscles burst seams not only from the immense growth but from furious motions. Her bra became merely a formality before it broke entirely apart in a loud snap and Honoka had to adjust her swings to account for her free-jiggling juggs. Her skirt rode up to her waist and only the enchantments of her jockstrap kept her burgeoning cock from flashing the crowd. Muscles grew so large they restricted her movements before the Agility kicked in and suddenly her movements were fluid. Strikes went from slow to superhuman as Dexterity brought a speed and precision unseen outside of the most fantastical of Wushu films. Honoka's vision cleared and expanded to the point that she could make out the most minute of motions and predict the very movements of the geezer in front of her, Intelligence thinking forward ten steps ahead in the moments between moments. Transforming completely in a matter of seconds from her average self into an Amazonian goddess of power and grace, Honoka became a tornado of steeled death and her attacks were like the wrath of a storm.

It made no difference.

Isami long ago realized mastery of the sword only required one technique: avoid getting cut. It wasn't glamorous or profound, yet it was the foundation of his kenjutsu. Many challenged him over the years, all thinking the style to be weak or cowardly, yet each time Isami emerged the victor. It required immense focus and precision, a minimalist approach to engaging an opponent, then ending the battle with a single strike. In the case of right now, Honoka's attacks were not so much being met as they were being nudged. Using blade or sheath, Isami would only move Honoka's sword out of the way by an inch as he stepped back another inch, or moved his head only a little to the left to avoid an upward thrust. It was less like he was dodging Honoka's blows and more like he existed in a place where Honoka's blade was not.

Despite what media insinuated, fighting was hard work, even for a woman with thirty-five Endurance. Honoka's increased speed and the continuous nature of her attack did force Isami to retreat in a wide circle, but he always looked as if he were casually taking a backward stroll instead of avoiding death by the narrowest of margins. For seven minutes Honoka kept up the assault before a drop of sweat landed in one eye and she was forced to blink.

Honoka may have been able to increase her natural abilities with allocation, but there were just some things that Status couldn't replace. All the Intelligence in the world doesn't make a person more clever or inventive, it just made a person more capable of utilizing their innate ability. Strength is nothing without technique, Perception doesn't tell a person what to look for. And while Honoka might have learned much about herself and how to use her Class, experience proved the deciding factor. 

*shnt shnt shnt shnt*

Isami made his final move, drawing his blade in a wide circular motion before flicking the blood off his blade and stepping back, avoid the worst of the spray as Honoka became painfully aware of the four cuts - two deep into her shoulders and two deep into her upper thighs - before she lost control of her limbs and she fell to the ground, her sword clanging down next to her. Isami cut deep, but only enough to sever the major nerves, correctly understanding that it wouldn't matter how strong Honoka became: if she couldn't control herself, she was done.

"HONOKA!!"

From out of one of the hallways, Akisame - who had left earlier to find some wives to try and stop this from happening - was pushed aside as Diane flapped her wings and flew over the crowd in a gust of air, crying in unfathomable anguish before landing in the growing puddle of blood around Honoka and turning her over, her voice becoming a howl when she saw the damage. Padmava and Banda were not far behind while Abra buzzed overhead and Miaka flared up like an incoming comet half a mile away.

"What did you do?!" Padmava demanded, slithering through the crowd while she crouched low and prepared to launch her Class barriers to keep the old man from leaving.

"I taught a lesson, nothing more," Isami replied calmly, cleaning the last of the blood off his blade before smoothly returning it to the sheath and tucking it into his obi.

Banda, docile for the most part but owning an uncontrollable temper, had to bite her thick tongue nearly in half to give herself enough cognitive reasoning to kneel down and start a massive blessing on Honoka's wounds.

"He's dead, I'll kill him!" Diane yelled with such intensity her succubus nature burst outward a red glow as she turned her sights onto Isami. And with her abilities, she might have succeeded, if she wasn't stopped by a weak hand grabbing her tail.

"…don't…" Honoka croaked, sitting up as her limbs regained some function, pain nearly unbearable as it felt like when an arm falls asleep and wakes up, only a hundred times worse and all over her body.

"Yes, don't," Isami lightly mocked, fingering the hilt of his sword. "Wouldn't want some other whore getting hurt."

Isami might have been a skilled sword master, but that speech nearly got him killed. Honoka might be the keystone to the family's abilities, but she was only one woman. A combined assault utilizing the Class and Race Features of some of the most powerful women in the dungeon would have overwhelmed even his defenses. Diane hesitated, ignoring Isami to turn back and worry about Honoka, but Padmava encircled the area in barriers and a dozen Ice Wasps swarmed overhead with stingers pointed down. Banda was the most impressive, though, as she stomped one hoof down hard enough to crater the ground and blessed her golden horns with a blinding light while it looked as if she were about to gore the old man like a train smashing into an unlucky piñata.

“Stop!” Honoka yelled, wincing and nearly passing out as she turned off some allocations but took on more Health and goblin regeneration. “This is my fault and I shouldn’t have lost my temper.” Sitting up, Honoka’s vision swam but she gritted her teeth and kept on. “I’m sorry to make you all worry, but he isn’t worth it.”

There was a moment where Honoka thought a fight was about to break out anyway, but when the barriers came down and everyone relaxed, the courtyard was a silent as a grave.

Perhaps in a clarifying moment or upon a whim, Isami tilted his head down in the slightest of bows and then turned, slowly walking back to his room.

“I want you to know one last thing, Isami Honda,” Honoka said, letting Diane help her stand up as she leaned heavily on her shoulder. “That child your wife is currently holding in her arms, my child and your great-grandson, is named Thomas Honda Jefferson. Before yesterday, I loved and respected you so much that one of my children carries your name. Some of my fondest memories were visiting your home in Nagasaki and it was you that taught me the importance of forgiveness in how you welcomed my mother back. I loved you!” Honoka was shouting now, crying out her emotions as angry tears fell to the stone. “Now, just stay in your room until the wedding so you can fulfill your honor, then return to Japan and you can hate me all you want until you die! I’m sure the knowledge that you are a better person than I am will comfort you.”

When Honoka spoke, Isami stopped but didn’t turn around. Honoka didn’t bother to wait, hobbling away and turning her back on the whole affair, wives following in silence. Akisame and Uzume attempted to follow but they were waved off.

“I’m going delving,” Honoka announced when they got back to her rooms, slumping into some cushions while she chugged down healing potions from the cabinet. “Right now. Anyone who wants to come is welcome.”

The others were quiet, hesitant to tell Honoka she shouldn’t be moving, much less delving. Abra, new to the family, her entire life turned upside down in only a single week, wasn’t sure what the rules or protocol of her new family was. All she had to go on was this all seemed like a bad idea. Ergo, it was with some hesitation the queen bee spoke up. “Are you…wouldn’t it be a better idea to take it easy right now?”

“Nope, now is perfect,” Honoka said as she staggered to her feet and went into her room, stripping the rags of her clothing as she went. “I don’t do enough around here, about time I started pulling my weight.”

“That isn’t…” Diane said, trailing off as Honoka slammed the door to her room behind her. With a hole in her heart, Diane didn’t have the words to heal her Hono-chan.

****************************************

The section outside of Harvardtown where the elevators led down to the lower levels of the dungeon was a ghost town. Only nine elevators operated - the rest shut down because of the monster surge - and the tiny crowd contained only the most determined and hardened veterans. Carnival was nowhere to be seen and Quinn was down already with Dolly somewhere when Honoka passed through with Padmava, Banda, Eve, Abra and Gwyneth.

They almost weren’t allowed down, most levels so dangerous it was a death sentence to delve, but they managed to get a ticket to clear out a space on Floor 102 so a team could haul out the rest of the large farming equipment found in the level. It was rather telling that no one else - high level and experienced delvers - joined the group on the platform to the floor.

Floors 100 and 101 were forest themed, but the stairways down were close together, clearly marked and heavily guarded. It wasn’t an hour before the wives were presented with the majesty of 102 - nicknamed Lothlórean - and it was easy to pick out why it got the name. The stairs led out from the trunk of a tree onto a platform of branches, giving each woman a breathtaking view of the most magical forest imaginable. Although they couldn’t see the ground or the ceiling from their suspended view point, both directions fading into mist hundreds of feet away, a forest surrounded them in panoramic view with each tree stretching taller than skyscrapers and nearly as thick. The bark of those trees all blended in colors more at home in an orchid garden instead of a forest, their leaves colored in contract to the bark. And all this stretched for miles around them, an unbroken spectrum of nature delicately framed in a white mist that only served to make it all the more surreal.

It would have been a paradise, if it wasn’t for thousands of gibbering beasts howling in mindless rage and hunger.

These creatures were not yet close enough for any of the girls to make much out about them, but from what they could see was that they were the horrible cross of spider and monkey, long limbs skittering them quickly up and down the bark of the trees like a pestilence. And while they were all far enough away they couldn’t be sure, they also all looked to be at least twenty feet tall when standing.

“They are come to open the purple testament of bleeding war,” Honoka muttered, hunching down with her hands on her hilt and sheath, becoming a coiled spring as she prepared her nukitsuke, or sword drawing strike. Chastity had done a complete job repairing Honoka’s armor, the Romanesque plate and skirt fitting her growth spurt like a lover and making her look like a black Wonder Woman. Overall, Honoka appeared like the goddess of vengeance and her lips were already curling into a fierce snarl.

“Less Shakespeare, more retreating,” Banda said, her white clerical toga not yet adjusted to her new size and now just a comical bit of cloth as she placed her shield between her and the rushing mob of…things.

“Wait!” Padmava said before the group beat it hastily back up the stairs, her tongue flicking out from inside the plate armor helmet she wore. “I can taste people out there.”

“How close?” Eve asked, chambering a round into her Glock before going into the singularly disturbing act of cracking all the dozens of finger joints she now had on her long fingers.

“A hundred yards, over that way.” Padmava’s new Perception score might not be giving her the best eyesight, but it was filling in the gaps with her other senses.

The white tree with blood red leaves she pointed to, spanned between by a intertwined collection of branches making a winding road fifteen feet wide, was almost impossible to make out in the mist, but it both looked and sounded to have the largest collection of the monsters swarming upon it.

“Good enough for me,” Honoka said, taking off at a run in the direction. It was clear from the unnatural speed and precise movements that Honoka was allocating, already a third of the way across in only a few seconds.

“H, wait up…!” Eve tried to say before Honoka got out of earshot, but the cries of the dungeon beasts was escalating. “Craptastic. When did I become the voice of restraint? Abracadabra and Skeletor, can your murder hornets and bone dogs stay with H and make sure she doesn’t die? We’ll be right behind, but we have to make sure we don’t lose access to the stairway or else we’ll all die down here.”

“We shall not fail,” Gwyneth intoned, stepping back into her Baroness persona as she mounted the largest of her skeletal minions and rode into battle, black flames gathering around her hands, old robes billowing in the mist.

Abra nodded and took flight, her outfit just some of the spare armor pieces that could fit her insectoid frame and a converted automatic H&K MR556A1 because what Alaskan girl can’t shoot a gun? A compliment of twenty of her wasps buzzed into the air and Eve idly wondered if she should have brought a portable stereo just so she could play the Green Hornet theme at this opportune moment.

“Focus,” Eve admonished herself, her mind a whirlwind as she tried to organize this little niche as their escape route.

Falling from some distant branch high above, twenty tons (18144 kg) of monkey spider smashed into the branches ahead of Honoka, causing a ripple of shock waves down the Tarzan trail. Arms and body similar to a simian, the head was pure spider and the fur was thick and bristly, black and blue, patterned like a tarantula. It also moved with the unnatural speed and twitch of a spider, scurrying forward at an impossible acceleration, mandibles open wide to devour its next meal.

Maybe the angry woman had something to prove to herself after getting so thoroughly beaten earlier, but Honoka didn’t slow, riding the waves as if they weren’t even there, her footing sure as she lightly stepped aside from the arachnoid maw and drew once, twice, three times in lightning succession, each time returning the blade to draw again like a redheaded battosai.

*snicker-snecker-snucker-snack*

Neck, shoulders, cephalothorax. Two of the creature’s limbs fell completely off, its head nearly cut clean off and the thorax split open like a ripe melon. Before the creature even had time to react or scream, it was already dead and falling to the side, tumbling off the branches and down into the white abyss. Only getting a light mist of yellow ichor on herself, Honoka was a dozen yards past the dead bug and reaching the horde on the other tree.

Clark David knew he was about to die. Retired Army Ranger Major, when the Change turned him into a Grizzly Beastkin, the old soldier grabbed his gun and decided the world was exciting again. When monsters exploded out of a building in Harvard while he was visiting his youngest son, not only did he organize the evacuation, the next day he was apart of the motley crew of crazies that decided it would be a good idea to jump into a dungeon when they didn’t know what a dungeon was. Seeing an opportunity to stave off boredom while making a little money, Clark called up a bunch of other old and bored retired 75ers and formed one of the first guilds in the States.

Far away from the politics of dungeon life, Clark and his guild Lead The Way didn’t take jobs because they wanted to farm TC or get rich on FDR tickets. Each member was in it for the thrill. And when other guilds backed away from the dangerous monster surge overtaking the dungeon, Clark laughed with his basso growl and made sure he brought extra ammo.

Still, Clark was a soldier and a good man. When his team returned from making sure the elevator gates at Floor 300 were sealed tight, they heard there was a group of farmers stuck on 102 and were probably about to be left for dead. Shrugging his massive shoulders, the old bear didn’t need to say anything as his band checked their weapons and took the elevator back down.

That was three days ago. Now, his team of brothers exhausted and seven so badly injured they could no longer hold a gun, ammo almost gone and the stairs upward blastedly within eyeshot, Clark was accepting the reality that this was going to be their grave. The only part he was disappointed with was that the forty-four dungeon farmers huddled behind his men were going to die here as well.

“I’m out!” Clark roared, gripping the hot barrel in one large paw and using it as a club to beat in the head of the closest Chimprachnid. It died after the third crunch to its exoskeleton, but another replaced it, hundred crawling over themselves to be the next in line.

“We’re all out, Major!” Clark wasn’t sure who said that, but it didn’t matter, his paws were full just pushing back another of the creatures. Their only advantage was that they were able to get to a cave in this tree before they became swarmed, the wide entrance able to be defended by a group of five with five more behind giving support before the wooden tree cavern opened up with enough space for everyone else to rest and pray. With his SP so high, Clark had spent the most time in the front, but his massive arms were like lead after fighting for so long.

“Then in case I don’t get a chance later, it has been an honor serving with you all!” Roaring defiantly, Major Clark David grabbed one of the giant creatures in a crushing hug and pushed forward, giving his all to thrust the entire attacking front back outside, determined to face his death head on.

“Dreadnaught!”

At first, Clark wasn’t sure he heard right. It sounded like a Class Feature activating, but it wasn’t coming from any of his team inside the tree cave. Then he grew concerned when he noticed a loud buzzing was filling the air over the howls of the dungeon beasts. Before he could do more than take a few breaths, the horde in front of him - distracted enough by the new sounds to pause in their attack - discovered a line of the creatures leading towards the stairs falling off the side of the branches. Not falling off, they were being pushed. Whatever was headed his way was an unstoppable force.

Bracing himself for impact, nothing could have surprised the old veteran more than watching as a small African woman burst bodily through the Chimprachnid next to him, yellow gore splattering everywhere as the woman didn’t even pause to breath before she brought her sword down to sweep in a running wide arc and clear out another half dozen of the beasts. Clark didn’t even have the chance to wipe the ichor from his eyes before the buzzing grew louder, the air frosty cold and another cluster of the beasts were stabbed by Ice Wasps while automatic gunfire chattered over his head. From the other side, black fire exploded in pillars as they engulfed a path from which a demonic undead wizard road into the fray, her necromatic beasts tearing into the dungeon monsters.

“Get your people ready to move, the rest of our team is almost here!”

Clark roared a hearty laugh, his blood boiling with excitement as he realized this might not be the end. From inside the cave, soldiers and farmers joined in that roar as they reach deep down and found their flagging spirits still had more to give. Saluting whoever it was that spoke and covered him from above, Clark planted himself next to the tiny swordwoman and got ready to display the intestinal fortitude required to fight and complete the mission, though they be the lone survivors.