Chapter 55: Book 2 Chapter 11 – Preparations and Snake-girl Kisses

Ophelia continued, [I’ll start with the first task. I was able to get various shrines to rally together and form a unit for medical attention like you wanted. I think you’ll be happy with the turnout.]

Jake and the rest started heading for the portal to head back to their refuge for now, as Ophelia continued, [Hestia was able to corroborate our assumption, that Alisara is likely acting for the enemy. Such a thing is extremely rare at our Tier in the way that it must have been achieved in this case. She could not give specifics about how Alisara was affected, but it appears that she, her body at least, is being controlled in some way by an enemy Champion. This is the only way it could be achieved in a meaningful way, that couldn’t simply be purged by your purifying flames, or without continuous exposure to Alisara herself, which Fhesiah or Ira would be able to detect.

This cannot be a Framework person that is instead working for the enemy. The same compulsions that keep you from attacking her or communicating with fringe world people would keep her from betraying it. Most likely, the enemy has somehow placed their influence inside her.

Until they take action against you, it appears they are protected by the Framework itself, as whatever is controlling her is doing it from inside the body itself. Alisara is alive in some way and not the Champion herself, or you’d be able to attack her. The good news is you don’t need to worry about her as a hostage, when this happens you can destroy them as needed. The framework will be able to resurrect them in the future.]

Jake took that in and thought about it. So, Alisara is likely a woman that they have not even met aside from her body, and the enemy champion was using her as a sort of puppet to accomplish their goals. Perhaps, that void they see might even be the Champion’s influence.

[We have a few choices on how to deal with this, but none of them are great. It is clear the enemy Champion desires Alisara to be in our party, likely to spring their trap once they are in the Fortress Assault. Hestia doubts they would be able to spring this trap fully remotely within the Assault, and so they must be present in some way. Aware of their trap, we should be able to destroy them once and for all, preventing them from escaping or preying upon other worlds in the future. 

It is clear that this agent is immensely useful to our enemy, enabling them to hurt conquest progress in many significant ways, even without taking great personal risk. Just like [The Framework] is supposed to only be able to take actions as a result of scouting, [Tartarus] is supposed to do the same. This woman is clearly enabling Tartarus to maximize its machinations, making it easy for it to win where it would normally be mostly an even match.

The second option is not likely to succeed, according to the goddess. We could isolate Alisara and trap her or otherwise bind her without taking action against her directly, such as collapsing a cave or us entering a prison cell with her and locking it. But this is the most likely to fail. If she hasn’t acted against us, then we won’t be able to stop her from using an escape ability or item. Not only that, but we are working under a time limit. She would be content to wait in a cell with us as we keep her there, the fortress assault will win them the world given enough time, and she would not lash out in a way that would cause us to be able to target her.]

Jake also didn’t like the second gamble, but wasn’t the first a terrible proposition? The challenge is balanced around 5 party members, so wouldn’t entering with an enemy be even worse than that? Even without their trap, they are already starting at a handicap with that. Wouldn’t it be better to just enter without Alisara and just have nobody at all?

[I thought so too, but the problem is that even if we defeat the fortress assault, the enemy agent could easily undo our win with their feeding the enemy information and leading people into ambushes like they have been. Even if we call out that she is an enemy agent, she could end up dumping her current ‘body’ and moving to another guild and repeating the process once again. 

Still, that is the third option which is also not good. We could finish the fortress assault without her, and just watch alliance HQ and warn the other guilds of the puppet-master, so to speak. There are in fact add-ons to a guild or HQ that can help detect and allow us to eliminate such an entity as her, but due to her rarity at this Tier, it’s not a common one and takes time for it to be implemented. It’s not as though it’s impossible to detect this, but this creature’s ability must be quite special, to transcend what someone should be able to do at this Tier.] 

Jake somewhat understood this. Even a mind specialist or something of this nature would require to be in range in order to control the target at this Tier. Jake didn’t think it was any kind of artifact, or he would have spotted it with his [Arcane Eye]. He had done a good amount of research for his familiar choices, and was somewhat aware of some of the options for their Tier even among rare individuals. It would definitely have to be something with rare capabilities to accomplish this.

It was the demoness that next spoke over the bond, [Isn’t it fine? The fortress assault has 3 potential enemy champions, and ‘Alisara’ is a potential fourth, or they might just be a puppet of the third. That’s one champion for each of us. The previous champion of Apophis was tough, but we were just beginners then. Jake wasn’t even a true champion at the time, and I was only challenged due to my own hubris. I think Ophelia would have taken him one on one, and we are even stronger now. We will show them our growth and that our family is not one to mess with, that they can keep sending Champions to fuel our ascension if they want. When it comes to teamwork, there is no way they can compete with our family.]

Jake thought there was a lot of merit to Fhesiah’s line of thinking. It could backfire and the enemy god or goddesses double down, or it could get them to cut their losses at least for now. Jake was not foolish enough to believe that they would give up, but Gods and Goddesses think differently than humans: they would play the long game, especially when Hestia made clear that they had their own checks and balances to turn the vice on the enemy gods as a result of their meddling. 

They are eternal, and while Jake and his family are immortal, it wasn’t as if they would live forever, necessarily. There would come a time when they would want to retire, or otherwise allow their lives to end naturally and enter the cycle of reincarnation once again. The Framework allowed for this, all while protecting their souls against the outsiders. That is, if Jake and his family didn’t become gods and goddesses themselves, one day.

This meant that the enemy gods would prepare their pieces, and wait to spring their trap in the distant future for their slights against them, when Jake’s family least expected it. Knowing that they could not defeat Jake and his party, they could also go after his children. This just meant that if his children decided to battle against the outsiders, that Jake would have to make sure they went into things with eyes wide-open. 

While the law of balance required payment for knowledge given by gods and goddesses, or through things like the multiverse market, there was absolutely no payment for a parent preparing their child with knowledge and training. Some knowledge was still protected, but this was also how things like the adventurer school operated. Jake would ensure his children had amazing skills and knowledge before they ever stepped foot in a dungeon.

While Jake was ruminating about the issue, they had finally arrived back at their refuge, where Ophelia was waiting. They then filled in the lamia to the situation, to which she was shocked, and it looked like she was about to cry once again. Hearing that she missed out on this internal conversation due to her bond lacking had really hurt, and filled her with frustration. What an insidious enemy, she had never run into one that couldn’t just be smashed by her mace. The girls took her off to console her, as Jake now had a lot of work to do. He wanted to be there for her, but what he was doing was incredibly important, and could potentially save many lives.

He didn’t have many preparations left other than planning a spell that would help against the treacherous enemy in the dungeon, but he certainly had some ideas for how he could help against the ambushes. He also thought the ideas he had would help them out in their destination world, so he got to it. He would create a few different spell-rods meant for many castings, rather than the almost one-use ones he had created previously. 

The main differences were the amount of mana required to cast the spell, the materials, and runic ink used. He was now purchasing Tier 1 Runic Ink, as opposed to the Tier 0 he had been using previously, but also would be etching these new spells onto Tier 1 materials. 

Ophelia had made these spell-rods for him using her [Advanced Smithing Level 1] skill that she now had. Jake had hoped to use them to make some sort of mega-einherjar spell once he got his [Hearth Runic Magic] to level 3, but that looked unlikely to happen before the big showdown, and maybe not even by the time they got to the destination world they were hoping to defend. Jake put those thoughts on hold as he entered his enchanting room. 

Jake’s enchanting room now had a special tool for [Runic Etching]. Jake was quite surprised to learn that tools like this were available thanks to goblin, gnome, and dwarven crafters, and he bought it as soon as he was able to afford it. Jake thought it resembled some weird mixture of a surgery robot and an old CAD printer that he had seen in his shop class in high school. When he made contact with it, and channeled mana into the device, he could etch runes rapidly with the several arms on a track. An arm on another track held the item he was etching, and he could move them separately while charging them with his mana and runic ink together.

Jake inserted the empty spell-rod as he sat on a chair in front of the device. He checked the runic ink and mana crystal levels, and began to operate it by controlling it with his mind or his intentions. He drew two runes at a time, the arms having what looked like mana blades or scalpels at the end, slowly cutting through a small layer on the surface of the magical metal that made up the rod. Jake found that as his intelligence and wisdom got higher, being able to multitask like this became easier and easier. As each rune completed, he spun the spellrod or moved the robotic arms up and down the length of the rod on its own track, etching and filling the next runes with ink and his mana.

His first spell rod was meant to conjure stone. This would allow him to aid builders in constructing a wall rapidly, being able to source the materials necessary for any construction effort. Not only that, but he could conjure the stone at the desired location and build the wall himself. He just wouldn’t be able to provide much input on the shape or size of the wall; he wouldn’t want to use this to construct a wall for something meant to look nice for a city, is all. If they wanted to build the wall to precise dimensions, he would need to have the stone cut into blocks of the appropriate size instead.

Jake continued, working on the second spell-rod. The machine whirred and the spell-rod spun, as Jake sliced and etched the nordic runes onto the metal, meticulously looking over every detail. After just a few minutes, the second spell-rod was done. This one was similar, only it conjured water. It would conjure water rapidly enough to fill a moat, or fill large basins of water for supporting initiated and uninitiated alike.

Jake crafted several more spell-rods, until he had almost a dozen. Each was specialized in what it did, but it should allow Jake to effectively become an engineering crew on his own, or work well together with one. Not all of the spell-rods required the special magical metals to accomplish their goal, and many of them just helped Jake with mana consumption. Many of the spells only required 12 or 18 runeword spells, so Jake had offloaded half of them or more in some cases to the rods to help. A few of them, Jake offloaded the whole spell, so that anyone could use them. Either way, Ophelia would have no problems using them alongside him.

Jake spent some more time thinking of traps. He had already experienced one while facing the enemy champion with the sconces and chandelier, and he had a wealth of knowledge of common dungeon traps from the game, [The Labyrinth], as well as various stories and other media that contained traps. How would his party fare against those, and how could he prepare himself to counter them?

Jake felt like his party was already able to survive many of the staple traps with their supernatural attributes. A pitfall to spikes? Ophelia and Fhesiah could fly, and Jake would like to see the pitfall that could work on a giant snake who somehow could hold up most of their body by just a small portion of their massive tail. Spikes that fell from above slowly while they tried to solve some sort of puzzle? Well, even if they had some kind of hydraulic press, or whatever, Jake could probably conjure stone or something to slow it until Berri broke something.

Fill an area with water? Fhesiah didn’t really need to breathe, and strangely Berri was almost as powerful underwater as she was above water. Jake had also worked out some underwater breathing spells, so really that would be like making them starve if they forced them underwater until they could tunnel out or something. Lava is definitely more dangerous than water, but Jake could probably manage it with water conjuration and ice magic, or conjuring stone to block off where the lava was coming from.

That left things like crossbow bolts or mechanical axes and spears, and Jake thought his girls were long past where something mechanical like that could ever truly harm them if they were prepared. It was likely that magical traps were going to be the main focus, where stored magical energy could create a hazard that would be a challenge for their magical capacities to counter, being only Tier 1 beings that they were. This left Jake preparing for a number of eventualities aside from those, such as being trapped or bound in a cell, or their magic being removed somehow, as seemed to be a staple for many stories.

Jake hadn’t forgotten the special walls that lined the champion’s trial that prevented his [Arcane Eye] from entering. Jake had purchased several books from the [Alliance Shop] and learned that it would have also prevented them from using teleportation spells and abilities, perhaps even Jake’s [Call Summon], at least through the stone. Jake sat down at a workbench that he had added to his enchanting room. Once he learned about the gnome and goblin’s penchants for crazy inventions, he decided that he would make use of some of them for himself.

He merged their crazy creations with changes of his own, and gained a skill from the framework for crafting called [Crafting Specialization], which now had the subskill under it called [Improvisation]. He was adding enchantments that amplified or otherwise helped the functionality of the item: a merging of mechanics, technology, and crazy goblin engineering. Jake had wanted to make some explosives or some magical cannons that he would just take out of his storage bracelet, but those defied the Framework’s and Tartarus’s rules. 

It was just as well, as he was glad that the dungeon could not use the same against him. He spent several hours on the task, and eventually met with the girls who had been doing practice and preparations of their own. He loaded them up with his newly crafted items, and they had dinner together. They were pressed for time, so they just heated up leftovers from previous nights.

Fhesiah looked over at Jake full of affection. “You really outdid yourself in preparations this time. With each item, you really show how much you think and care about us. I think your thoughtfulness deserves some kind of reward. Besides, seeing you trounce that elf got me a little excited.” Towards the end, she waggled her brows and her affection had changed to lust, and it was clear to Jake that while her words were true, she was more than willing to take advantage of the situation for herself.

It was Ophelia that spoke next, “It does feel good knowing how much you think about how to help us make up for our shortcomings, or just prepare for how the dungeon might take advantage of us somehow. I wish I could have helped you as much…”

Jake said, “That’s not true at all. You girls have helped all of us immensely. Fhesiah helped us form our core, teach us spell-forms, and also used her alchemy to create those pills and tonics that improved our attributes and effectiveness, as well as train our [Purifying Flames] skill. You made my skills respectable with the spear and shield, as well as helped move all our skills forward in the training room. Not only that, but half of my spell-rods were made by you, and I know it’s only a matter of time before most of my equipment is ultimately made in a joint effort between you and Berri.

Berri, I know that you feel like you contributed the least, and that’s okay. You are new to the family, and your own personal progression was paramount. Soon, I just know the list of things you do for us will be just as long as the things I’ve done for you. At the very least, you’ve helped with meals and your happiness has always been infectious. We’re all so happy that you’re a part of our family.

Tomorrow is a big day, so I want all of us to sleep together like we did when we were camping, like a family. Of course, that means–”

"Ah!" Fhesiah shouted in mild alarm, grasping her head in her hands. "I think I have a headache."

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Jake was perplexed at this. She seemed to be acting, from what he could tell. Could cultivators really even have a headache? 

"Jake, I have a headache. I think I need you to unclog me."

Jake started. Was she trying to say that sex would help her with her headache, the complete opposite of every woman in existence, demanding him to do what every idiot man suggested as a means to help her past said headache?

"Ahh, Jake I think it's really bad! You should appease the snake by going a little further with her and then take care of me, and Ophelia needs you as well. I don't think I will be able to sleep with such a bad headache. Then we can all sleep together in the bed, like you wanted."

Jake just shook his head at Fhesiah’s shenanigans. Still, he could feel Ophelia’s desires, perhaps for the excitement for the upcoming fight and him beating Alisara, but Ophelia just nodded to Fhesiah’s claim. One reason Jake was considering meeting her demands was because Berri actually looked quite hopeful. 

It was true that while the whole situation felt weird, it wasn’t really all that different from other nights, just now Berri was included. The other reason was that he could tell, despite all Fhesiah’s bluster, she was actually worried about the upcoming battle, and she did need to take her mind off of things even if only for a short time.

Jake sighed. Of course, he had desires as well and was always interested in some time in the bed with either girl, and he certainly didn’t mind ‘going further’ and kissing Berri. He had put off doing so, because they were worried about her being able to control herself, going into heat in anticipation of mating. It was a good time for it too, after the lamia’s outburst before, as small of a concession this really was to make. He just wasn’t happy with how things were going down, otherwise it was an idea that excited him. Of course he wanted to spend time with each girl on the same night.

Still, Jake had accepted this odd relationship for a long time now. Things flowed well enough with the two girls alternating nights that such an issue hadn’t really come up, such as them all wanting his attention on the same night. With three, or potentially even four girls, these situations would occur more frequently, Jake guessed. Either that, or the girls would need to be more willing to share their evenings with each other and they would happen less, one of the two.

Ophelia had really not been interested in sharing Jake in the bedroom at the same time with Fhesiah, no matter how Fhesiah tried to ignite her competitive spirit. While she did battle Jake in the bedroom, she was not interested in battling Fhesiah in that way at all. She was a romantic in that regard first and foremost, and Fhesiah was accepting of it, but hopeful that she could get Berri for some additional fun with Jake. 

Jake looked over to the lamia. “Berri, I’ve long since wanted to kiss you, but were worried you might not be able to hold yourself back. Do you think you can handle it?”

“I…yes. I want it so badly…”

Jake chuckled. Her words completely matched what he was feeling over the bond. Her massive chest was practically heaving, and things were going to get derailed quickly if he left things as they were. 

“Let’s head over to your room, and I’ll meet the other girls in theirs before we all head to bed in my room tonight. Each will get some time with me alone, and how they use it will be up to them.”

The girls headed to their rooms after sending a confirmation over the bond, presumably to get ready for their own times, and get ready for bed in general. Jake still felt a little weird, his time with the girls being split this way. If that’s what they want though, he would be happy to give it to them; it felt great to be desired, after all. He took Berri by the hand and led her over to her room, and Jake could tell that she couldn’t believe this was happening. He shook his head, he did just say kissing didn’t he?

Jake finished leading her into the room, and turned around. She was wringing her hands. “Are you sure it’s okay? I don’t want…to make you mad again.”

“I wasn’t mad, just worried for Fhesiah. Just do your best, and I promise I won’t be mad at you, okay? I’ll take care of it.”

Berri looked relieved, then her emotions shifted right back to excitement. He laughed, “Berri, I’m sorry. It seems I’ve made you wait too long. You understand it’s just a kiss, right? Why are you so excited?”

She played with her new earrings in her fingers, as she replied, “It’s just, I long since thought I would never experience this. The Matriarchs were firm on this matter, and no matter how much we– I, tried, they would not budge, and I eventually accepted it would never happen for me.”

Jake wondered about the verbal tic, but said, “Okay, well, it’s happening now.” Jake looked around the room. Her bed was a large bundle of blankets and pillows on the ground, and a very large pillow was there. Her tail, or rather the snake portion of her body, reached over 15 meters in length, and her body 3 meters in height from her usual ‘standing’ posture. If Jake tried to kiss her on his tip-toes from where he stood on the ground, he wouldn’t even be able to reach her neck.

Of course, she could lean or stoop down, but that seemed quite awkward. Really, things would probably work best if they were both lying down. Well, that had connotations that might make her a little too excited, but that would allow this to be a real test of her being able to hold herself back. Fhesiah and Ophelia were just a [Call Summon] away, so everything would be fine, probably.

“Why don’t you lay down on the bed, and I’ll join you there. I think this will make it easiest for me to kiss you. As for you kissing me, I know you could just hold me up with your tail.”

She nodded, perhaps too excited to trust herself to speak, and rapidly curled herself on her bed. Jake had always been amazed at how rapidly she could move her massive…Jake really needed to come up with a more womanly term for referring to how large she was, as no woman wants to be called ‘massive,’ for when she would be able to hear his thoughts, at least. Perhaps she wouldn’t mind though?     

He laid down next to her, and did his best to scoot up to where his lips would meet hers. Now that he was close, he was amazed at the size difference. Her lips were more than double the size of his, especially with her lips being fuller and more pillowy. As he lined his mouth up to hers, he was amazed: His crotch would press down near the bottom of her breasts as they kissed.

He looked into her pink eyes, her slitted pupils dilated. She was breathing heavily, and was feeling many emotions at once: fear, excitement, lust, desire. Jake smiled at her and sent reassurance to her over their bond, mixed with his own desire. He couldn’t help but feel she was quite beautiful, with her very pale skin and elfin features of high cheekbones, knife-like ears pointing straight to the side, and shocking pink eyes. Her lips looked quite kissable despite their size. So Jake reached out to grab her face, leaned against her as they laid side by side on the bed, and pressed his lips against hers slowly.

Her lips were soft, and her taste was fresh and minty. Berri was stock-still, just focused on the sensation and not participating. He kissed her several more times, trying his best to give her a feel for the different areas on the lips, and even on parts of her face and neck. She eventually returned the kiss. It felt wonderful, her massive soft lips covering all of his and even some of his face. She kissed him back some more, and even kissed around his face the same way.

She was breathing heavily, but Jake could tell that the fear was nearly gone as she gained confidence. She was filled with happiness, but the lust and desire was rising. Jake pulled back and pushed her softly away to try to keep things from getting derailed, and said “How was it? was it everything you hoped it’d be?”

“Oh, yes. It’s wonderful, Jake. I am happy we kissed and you let us– me kiss you. It feels so good…but my body is…”

Jake could tell that she would hardly be able to hold herself back soon, but thought they could go just a little further. 

“If you hold yourself back a little bit more, then I promise it won’t be long until we go even further. Are you doing okay?”

“Please…I want more.”

Jake gave her another smile, to which she returned with a shy one of her own. He leaned in and kissed her again, but this time he probed at her lips with his tongue, trying to get her to open her mouth. She did, and she moaned as he slid his tongue inside. Her arms wrapped around him, and he could feel her tail weaving around the bed, but no motions to otherwise try to wrap around or restrict him. He wrapped his arms around her upper back as best he could as the kiss deepened, and his tongue started to duel hers.

He was in for a surprise there, as her tongue was larger and much longer than his. Her tongue coiled around his, and continued into his own mouth. Their tongues explored each other, and he found himself making sounds of his own as she moaned in appreciation. 

Her tongue eventually explored a little too far and he gagged on the massive tongue, but she pulled back quickly before things went particularly bad, and she became distressed realizing she must have done something wrong. Her massive tongue was still out, and Jake nearly gaped at the length and size. He couldn’t help but feel that the large, long tongue filled with saliva was sexy as hell. She pulled in her tongue and looked worried.

Jake gave her another kiss on the lips, and said “It’s okay, you were just exploring like I was. Still, we both got to experience a lot of each other, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. We’ll do some more another time, I promise. You did well to hold yourself back.”

“Oh, it’s already over?” She looked quite disappointed, but then she changed to a wistful look as she touched her own lip, as if trying to remember the sensations. “I thought I would never get the chance to…Thank you, Milord.”

She looked so appreciative that it made Jake feel bad. “I enjoyed it as well, and you don’t need to thank me. You can of course thank Hestia for setting us up together, if you want to thank someone. We’ll do more soon. Now, I need to take care of the other girls, but you can wait for us in my room, maybe listen to music again while you wait? Bring whatever you need to make yourself comfortable with us, it should be fun having another sleepover like when we were camping.”

Berri nodded and looked particularly excited as she gathered some of her pillows. Jake left the room, and went to quell a particularly needy demoness’ lust first, before she exploded.

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