Chapter 50: Chapter 50 – New Toy, New Enemy

Chapter 50 - New Toy, New Enemy

“So, how does this work?” Hess asked, eager to see the effects of my newfound ability. “Is it some kind of spell or what?”

I did not answer immediately, as I needed to digest the new information that had settled in my head, “Uh… No? I think I just have to decide what emotion to channel, and then it just… happens.”

“Why pick aught but pleasure?” Jax asked curiously. “It be fer yer banger, ain’t it?”

“I think I can see the appeal,” Hess mused aloud, putting her chin in her hand as she considered the idea. “A nice comfortable lay while you’re stressed? Or happiness? That might be an interesting combination…”

Jax’s eyes widened a bit at the suggestion, and she turned to me, “Aye! Do happiness! I ain’t felt that one off of yer spells yet.”

I took a steadying breath. Despite the eagerness of my two companions and my own admitted curiosity, I was feeling a little trepidatious at the idea of channeling something through my dick. Thus far, I had never seen anything actually happen via spell failure. Beyond simply fizzling, I was not even sure that it was possible to screw one up so badly that it was dangerous. So, I was pretty sure that this should be fine.

Of course, logic does not hold a great deal of sway when a man’s penis is on the line.

“Well?” Hess prompted, almost bouncing on her toes, “Are you going to show us or not?”

“Alright, alright. Give me a second,” I muttered.

Rolling my shoulders a bit to steady my nerves, I set the mental components into place and hit the switch. Not much happened at first, however after a moment, I began to feel something similar to when Jax was consuming a Gem. Only in reverse. Gradually, a stem of my own Power began to flow down the channel to my crotch, but instead of traveling out and to my lilim, it stopped there with nowhere to go. And gradually, it began to build.

The physical effects of that where obvious.

“Mmm…” Hess grinned, “That’s what I like to see.”

Jax, however, was frowning down at it uncertainly, “I dunno. It don’t feel right. Like there ain’t no desire there.”

I nodded in agreement, “Yeah, it kind of feels like morning wood.” That and I was still rather sore from the many times I had performed earlier in the day.

Hess shot me a look, “I… don’t think I’ve heard that one before.”

“I think he means like when a fella wakes up in the morning with his knob up,” Jax explained, flicking up her finger by way of demonstration.

“They do that?” Hess asked, furrowing her brow. “I don’t know how you people live with those things.”

Jax glanced at her and shrugged, unconcerned, “They think it be fun. And sometimes they’ll poke ye with it as a wake-up.” She winked at me.

I cleared my throat, “Yes, well… If you were wanting to take advantage of this, I’d suggest you go about it. This feels like it’s running off of my spell endurance.”

Jax, by that point, had a pretty thorough understanding of what that implied, so wasting no time, she reached over and lightly encircled me with her fingers about the base.

“Well?” Hess asked after a moment. “How does it feel?”

Jax stood uncertainly as a slight smile began to curve her lips, “I dunno? Like… I be just kind of… content? Happy to be here, touching me Master.”

Hess stared silently down at where we were joined for a second before glancing back up at Jax, “Do you mind if I try it?”

She frowned at the question briefly before nodding happily, “I think ye would like it.” She then stood aside and angled my member to give Hess easier access.

I blinked a little at the move, as it seemed slightly out of character for her, but before I could comment, Hess had also grabbed me. The moment she made contact, her mouth formed into an O, and she sucked in a breath. “Oh… Oh ‘Stits…”

“What is it?” I asked, curious about the difference in their reactions.

Shaking her head slightly, she began to smile. She almost looked embarrassed. “I… I think I can honestly say that I’ve never been happier to be holding a penis in all my life.”

Jax’s smile grew, “I know what ye mean.”

They stared at one another, smiling with something of a dazed look for a moment before Hess commented, “So… Now what? Shall I? Or…”

But Jax shook her head and began moving her hand, “No, he be feeling it now.”

Glancing back at me, her smile grew, “Truly? Just from us touching you a little?”

“I mean… sure? Uh… that is… Of course!” I winced. Eesh… Think before you speak, man. But they did not seem to be paying all that much attention to what I was saying, so I tried again, “Any man… or really, I should say, you’re both very pretty.”

They both started laughing abruptly.

“He’s cute when he’s flustered, isn’t he?” Hess grinned.

“Master be always cute,” Jax agreed, blushing slightly, “He called me pretty, though. Were the first time for that.”

“Mmm… Is that so?” Hess mused flirtatiously, “Maybe we should reward him?”

“Aye,” Jax nodded thoughtfully. Then, just as I was about to comment on the weirdly porn-like banter that they had fallen into, without warning she dropped to her knees and engulfed the head of my member with her mouth.

“Hey, wait a minute,” Hess giggled throatily, “That tickles.”

Jax paused just long enough to say, “So let go.”

Hess’ smile faltered briefly, “But… I… I don’t want to.” Glancing up, she looked at me indecisively for a moment, and I cocked an eyebrow. What did she want me to do? “I… I’ll join you then,” she announced all of a sudden. And then putting action to words, she dropped down, as well, and began licking and suckling at me anywhere she could find the room.

Jax seemed momentarily put off by the intrusion, but after a moment, she seemed to reconsider and made room for her. The two of them continued like that for a short time, gliding their mouths and tongues over me, and it was not long before they began to entwine. And before I knew it, they were practically making out with one another and would have been were it not for the intrusion between them.

What the fuck?

My eyes were as wide as dinner plates. This might have been the single hottest thing I had ever seen, and briefly, I entertained the idea that I could have been dreaming. However, I quickly rejected the notion. My subconscious was never so generous as that.

After a moment, Hess sucked in a breath and pulled back, seemingly confused, “Jax, what are we doing?”

“Kissing, of course,” she murmured airily, tangling her free hand into Hess’ hair.

“But I…” she paused, cut off for a few seconds as Jax pursued her lips. “I-I’m not…”

“Don’t stop, Hess,” Jax complained. “Master be so aroused.”

“Really?” she wondered, casting me a furtive look before grinning through Jax’s continued pursuit. Seemingly arriving at some internal decision, she turned and began kissing her in return. Earnestly.

I swallowed as I watched the performance. Hot as it was, it was precisely that. For Hess anyway. I was not so sure about Jax. But I could perform, as well.

Firming my expression, I adjusted the emotional switch and waited for the fireworks.

Both of them immediately stopped, looking at me with little cries of anguish. However, as the new sensation began to creep in, their eyes clouded over, and their cries turned to pleasure. Almost immediately, they began to crowd each other, jostling for position on my ‘Hammer’, but Hess, as ever, was the stronger. Plunging me as deeply into her throat as she could, she almost instantly began to shiver and jerked away, falling to her back.

“Ah~ Tits of the Three! I-I’m…” Abruptly, her back arched, and she began to quiver in orgasm.

Jax quickly took advantage of the new space and surged forward, licking me fiercely a few times before making a snap decision. Apparently figuring that now would be a perfect time to try out the position that Hess had shown her but not quite realizing in the moment that I needed to be laying down for it to work, she spun around and backed herself toward my crotch. Of course, she was not quite tall enough to reach. Swearing in frustration, she kicked herself into a handstand and wrapped her legs around my waist.

“Holy—!”

Whatever else I might have said was lost as I was quickly engulfed into the writhing folds between my lilim’s legs, and I bit my tongue in a Herculean effort not to lose it immediately. Jax, however, was under no such pretense, and her hands lifted from the ground as her own orgasm hit.

Staggering under the weight now attached to my front, I stumbled forward a few steps, unintentionally but perhaps fortuitously planting Jax’s face right between Hess’ legs. Moaning in ecstasy, she wasted no time in inserting her tongue therein.

“Oh, J-Jax! I can f-feel it! I can feel him through you!” Hess cried brokenly.

And when Jax began to work her legs, hammering me home, they both began to scream.

---

Some time later, the three of us had collapsed in a heap, gasping for breath.

I was lying face down in the dirt, partially because I was far too overused to even think about letting either of them touch me, and partially because I was too tired to move. I felt like I had just run a marathon, and quite frankly, I was unsure if I was going to be able to walk any time soon.

Abruptly, Hess cried out and rolled into a ball, quivering.

“Still going?” Jax panted teasingly.

“Mmm…” Hess sounded by way of agreement. “I-I… I’ve never… hah~ mmm… this good.”

Jax chuckled, “Just ye wait. It only gets better.”

“B-but you’re not… mmm… s-still…” Hess started to protest, however she was stopped short as another aftershock rolled over her.

“Oh, I be,” Jax assured her. “And I ain’t stopped since Master touched us with his… divine instrument.” Starting to hum tunelessly to herself, she began caressing my back.

I was about to make a self-satisfied comment. When a man has brought not one but two people to such a state of satisfaction, it is fairly required to dote on them a bit. However, just as I opened my mouth, the Lady decided to make her presence known.

<ding!>

I grunted to myself as I read through the messages. The first one was easily understandable, even if it had come a little more quickly than expected, but the second? I don’t suppose You would be willing to tell me exactly what they reset to, now would You?

She did not reply.

Still, it was a decided improvement on the ability. Currently, from what I had seen, it took almost two hours for the aura to build to the point of being useful, so any sort of buff to the skill’s efficacy was welcome. Of course, that still left the question as to whether the arousal component was affected. I assumed it probably would be, but given my current status as a wilted slug drying out in the sun, I sort of hoped otherwise.

The two of them were insatiable enough as it was.

Sighing, I dismissed the pop-ups and wedged an arm underneath my forehead so that I could speak, “Are you two going to be okay? You honestly started to scare me for a little while there.”

They both started fairly howling at that, and my insistence that I was being perfectly serious only made them laugh all the louder.

---

After we recovered, we decided that further explorations of my ability were best left for leisure time. Or rather, I did. They wanted to see what the comfort setting felt like, but as I was still walking like a gazelle fresh from its mother’s womb, I had to put my foot down.

Gently.

And it was just as well. Apparently, our little exercise had managed to fill all three of Hess’ ability pools, so she was loaded for bear and beetle alike. Who knew that sex could count for Arousal, Indulgence, and Mirth alike? Hess certainly had not, and not for lack of trying. Apparently, at one point, she had even taken to working at bawdy houses before going on Dungeon excursions.

“You’re not serious,” I exclaimed at the revelation. It was several hours later by that point, and we were once again deep into our attempts to traverse the maze, with little luck. We were beyond lost.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” she replied. “It’s a necessary resource for my class. Might as well get paid for it, right?”

“But you said yourself that it isn’t sex that does it so much as arousal itself!”

“Yes, so I discovered. I did say that I used to do that, after all,” she explained reasonably. “Anyway, as I’m sure you are aware, Lady Bline is often less than helpful when it comes to describing how things work. And that makes it all the more strange that it seems to be so effective now.”

“It probably just be that ye were nay enjoying yer ownself proper,” Jax chimed in. “But it be honest work. Nothing to be ashamed of. Me and me maw used to…”

“Hold it,” Hess interrupted abruptly, signaling us to stop. We had come to another four-way intersection, and we had, through hard experience, discovered that the beetles preferred them as ambush points.

Quickly, I put my back to a trunk and incanted Fortunate Shadows while Jax guarded me. I did not see any evidence of the beetle warrens around here, but that did not mean much. They could be well camouflaged.

Hess slowly made her way forward, testing the webbing around us with her arrow for the flaps, but she found nothing. There was only the light tapping of metal against living wood. Coming to the intersection, she looked around for a moment, checking the ceiling before slipping past the corner. Thoroughness was in our best interest in these situations.

I was nervous. And more so than usual. We were long overdue for an encounter with the huge insects.

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“I nay like it, either,” Jax whispered, intuiting my thoughts. “Be like some aught be building.”

“Maybe we’re just coming to some other part of the maze,” I hedged. “And we’ll have to fight something other than beetles.”

“I think you may be right,” Hess said suddenly, and I jumped.

Grinning at me from where she had been casually leaning against the corner, she motioned us forward.

Sighing, I pushed off of the tree to follow, and as I passed her by, Jax murmured, “Bloody comical that were.”

The intersection, we discovered, looked like many of the others we had seen, save for one rather key aspect. The pathway we had been on had been steadily curving to the right, and here, it seemed that we could continue on in a similar vein, go left, where there seemed to be many further options for branching paths, or turn right, where there was only a single straight path for some distance. And notably, the webbing faded to nothing within a half-dozen paces in that direction.

“I see…” I breathed.

There was only one thing that kind of setup could indicate. A boss fight. All it lacked was that ‘oh-so-conspicuous’ save point hovering nearby.

“What do you think?” Hess asked, crossing her arms as she gazed down the path.

I gave a one-shouldered shrug, “Normally, you’d think… bigger beetle, right? But with the lack of webbing…”

“Maybe it be the den of yon beastie?” Jax suggested, coming to stand at my other side. “What made that noise?”

“Could be,” Hess allowed before starting forward. “Let’s find out. With any luck, it won’t be home, and we can loot the place.”

---

We were not so lucky.

At the end of the wooded hall, we came on what might have been a clearing were it not for the enormous tree right in the middle of it. The trunk of it was easily a good ten paces across, and though it was not overly tall, scarcely more so than the rest of the trees, its canopy extended out and over the edges of the branches around it, casting a fairly deep shadow over the some thirty paces or so of open ground between its base and the opening we were standing in.

Ringing this massive organism, there were a series of shelf-like mushrooms arranged in a pattern rather conveniently like a set of stairs. At their summit, just before the tree’s branches began, there was a large, black opening. It was hard to tell from the distance, but it looked to be about twice the width of a man and maybe as tall as Hess.

It was an obvious point of interest, and we probably would have started for it immediately were it not for the creature perched just above it.

Hanging upside-down from a branch growing out of the top most knot of the hole, there was a… well, the closest I could think to call it would be some kind of lizard. It had six legs, all with very long and dangerous looking claws, though the two in the middle seemed to be somewhat smaller and were tucked underneath its belly. Otherwise, it was difficult to tell exactly how big it was, due to its mottled green and black coloration that served to almost perfectly blend the creature with the shifting leaves above it, but from the tip of its nose to the end of its tail, it looked to be a good twenty to twenty-five feet long. And indeed, we probably would not have seen it at all, were it not for a rather obvious flaw in its camouflage.

“Be that… a chest?” Jax asked, mystified.

I nodded silently. Growing out of the sides of the creature and extending up and over it, there appeared to be a series of… bones? Or perhaps they were horns. In any case, they came together to form a cage of some kind, and inside of that, there was a chest. A Dungeon Chest, to be precise. It was secured tightly within its prison, with no space to even rattle about.

“That’s one way to guard a treasure,” Hess commented. Then, glancing over at us, she asked, “Do you think that’s the guy that was hunting you before?”

“Hard to say,” I returned. “We never saw anything but a bit of pink flesh. I guess it could have been its tongue.”

“Mmm…” she hummed thoughtfully. “Looks like it’s sleeping. So how do you want to do this?”

I sighed. Hess was nothing if not predictable. Now that there was a treasure in sight, she was not going to let it go.

“Well, we’re not going to be able to do much while it’s up there,” I began. “Maybe Jax can summon up some shadows and scare it down? That way…”

Jax abruptly slapped my arm.

“Ow! Hey, what are you…”

“Shh!” she hissed and pointed. Glancing back, I scanned the branches above. The creature had vanished.

“What in the…” Hess started, but Jax hissed again and pointed straight up.

Craning our necks, we leaned forward to look at the branches above us. There, hanging just over the entrance to the clearing, was the lizard. It was now on one of the trunks with its head pointing down, again motionless. Somehow, it had moved from its earlier perch to here in the space of a few whispered words and so silently that I had not heard a thing.

The three of us exchanged glances. It seemed to be keyed on us, though why it had yet to attack was anyone’s guess. It was just frozen there, like it was still asleep.

As we watched, it slowly unfurled one of its central arms and seemed to clench it for a moment before it flickered faster than they eye could follow.

THOCK!

The chest on its back reverberated from the strike so loudly as to be felt in the bones. It was almost impossible not to flinch. The lizard’s head tilted for just a moment, as if it were listening, though its eyes were still closed. Actually, now that I was looking, I could not be sure that it even had eyes.

Haltingly, it inched forward just a tad and then tensed.

“MOVE!” Hess shouted, shoving me aside just as a mass of pink flesh slammed into the ground where I had been.

Jax reacted instantly, swiping at the tongue with her claws before it could retract, and the thing bellowed in protest as it caught her leg on the way up. Not quite getting a firm enough grip to take her, it still pulled with enough strength to flip her end over end and slam into the side of the tunnel.

Without pausing to even think, I quickly ripped off a regeneration spell for her, and I was glad that I did. As she crashed bonelessly back to the dirt, I could tell immediately that the tongue had almost pulled the skin clean off of her leg.

Hess, meanwhile, had spun up a ball of air and hurled it at the monster. I could not see from my position whether it was effective, but I heard the groaming rumble it made from the strike and a scrabble of claws. Hess quickly summoned her arrow to follow up, but before she could throw it, the beast had disappeared.

“’Snails, that thing is fast,” Hess said, relaxing as her eyes traced the fleeing monster. “It ran to the other side of the clearing before I could even blink. Didn’t even touch the ground.”

“It’s gone?” Jax asked as she came to her feet again. Blood was running down her leg from the huge hole that had been opened there, and she was running her fingers along the edges of it as it knit closed. Licking her lips in an obvious display of ecstasy, she stepped close to Hess and rested her hand at the small of her back, ”Ye did well, thinking to save the Master first. Faster than I.”

“No thanks necessary,” Hess said with a nervous laugh. Subtly stepping out of reach, she gave her a half-grin and added, “He’s the sexy healer, after all.”

I chuckled as I came to my own feet, “I think that of the three of us, I might be the least sexy here.”

They shared a look.

“No need for false humility, Donum,” Hess said with a wink. “Now, come on. Our treasure is running away, and I find that strangely offensive.”

I flushed slightly as I watched her slink into the clearing. False humility? Really? Admittedly, I had not seen my own reflection in quite some time, but was I that handsome now? I was not even sure that I would be able to tell.

“Yes,” Jax whispered as she sidled up and began to trace her fingers along my chest, “Ye be.”

Now doubly embarrassed, I roughly cleared my throat and stepped around her, following the large woman. “That is a biased opinion, if I’ve ever heard one. But thank you, anyway.”

“Be an honest one,” Jax said, hurrying after me. “And thank ye, yer ownself. Sexy, am I now?”

I stumbled slightly at the reminder before shooting a glance back at her. She was sticking to me like glue now that we were in the monster’s domain, and even as she flirted with me, she had her eyes on the branches above us.

“Yes, you are,” I replied, tearing my eyes away from the distracting jiggles that she had begun to sport. “Honestly, you are one of the prettiest uh… lilim that I’ve ever met.”

She was, too. Including Sherr Hess, the number of women that I had actually carried on an extended conversation with and were even close to really and truly attractive could have been counted on one hand. Jax might have been on the lower end of that scale, but she was definitely on it, whether she considered herself an actual woman or not. And the fact that every time I woke up, she was even prettier yet was starting to do things to me.

“Be the only lilim ye ever met,” she corrected, smiling up at me. “Now start thinking with yer other brain. We got a monster to slay.”

I took a calming breath at her words and nodded. Glancing down once more, I took in her still healing leg, “Do you need me to refresh the spell?”

“Not yet,” she responded just as we came to the central tree. Hess was there, scanning the branches above while using the trunk as cover. “Best to start on yer Varnish, though.”

“Right,” I replied. “Hess? Do you want one, too?”

She did not turn, keeping her eyes on the potential threat, “Not much good to cast that on one arrow. Unless…” Running the edge of the weapon over her cheek in thought, she asked, “Can you cast it on something else? So that I can scrape some onto the point?”

“It says that it has to be a natural or equipped weapon,” I explained, quickly rescanning the card.

“Could you do my fists, then?” she wondered. “That might do several arrows.”

I shrugged, “Let’s find out.”

As I began wrestling with the spell again, Jax scooted close to Hess, “Ye see it?”

She shook her head, “No, I don’t. I’m positive that I saw it run this way, though.”

“Do ye think it might have…”

THOCK!

“Scatter!” Hess shouted, and Jax tackled me to the ground just as the tongue smashed into the trunk right where I had been standing. Bits of wood pulp peppered our bare skin from the impact. Cursing, Hess rolled to her feet, and quickly incanted something before clapping her hands together, sending a heavy wave of air thundering into the branches above us. As the tree rocked from the impact, the great lizard tumbled away, screeching its bass rumble, and thudded to the dirt below.

“Keep casting, Master,” Jax said before summoning her axe and sprinting for the downed reptile.

Now that I could see the creature more clearly, it almost looked like a huge Dimetrodon what with its squat legs and those ribs on its back. However, its tail had a bit of a curl to it, rather like a chameleon, and its eyeless head had a big, wobbley hump on it.

Following Jax’s advice, I restarted my spell, shifting my target to Jax in the hopes of enhancing her weapon before she got there. I did not even bother to try to stand. However, the lizard regained its feet within moments, and somehow sensing Jax’s approach, it turned to run. But not before slinging its furled tail at her.

The heavy limb smashed into her with the force of a snapped chain at anchor, and she went down like a rag doll.

“’Stoe sucking churl!” Hess shouted, as it scampered up a tree and vanished again. “Come back here!”

Running past her, I slid to a stop next to my downed lilim, “Jax! Are you alright?”

“A-aye,” she gritted past her teeth, clutching her side. “I th… think I managed to roll with it a bit. Still got me ribs, though. I… I be needing your touch fierce, Master.”

“Can you mend bones, too?” Hess asked, standing over me while she scanned the branches overhead.

I nodded before I realized that she was not looking at me. “I think so. Any wound is fine as long as it isn’t poison or something. But the greater the wound, the greater the cost.”

“Do you have enough?”

“I should. Once or twice more,” I replied. “With the converting we’ve been doing, I’ve stored up a lot, but this is going to be a big one.”

She nodded absently, “Then hurry. Before that thing comes back.” Sparing a glance for my companion, she smiled a bit, “That was quite a blow to come away with just a cracked rib or two. How Tough are you now?”

Jax squinted up at her from her position on my lap. “It… It be…” she started, but then my Renewal took hold and she clutched my hand to herself, holding it between her breasts as she curled around it. And gradually, as she gasped and quivered, the dent in her side smoothed out. Finally, her breathing eased, and she relaxed again. “Twelve,” she panted. “It be twelve.”

Hess nodded, “Good. That’s adequate for a front-liner. But maybe stick to guarding Donum for this one. That’s twice now it’s attacked him, and I don’t like that.”

“And twice I been got,” Jax complained before adding, “Yer right, though. Unusual.”

I shrugged as I once more regained my feet, “Just a coincidence. My skill only protects me when I’m still. The first time, none of us were, and the second, I was casting.”

“It don’t work while yer casting?” Jax asked, surprised.

“I try to be quiet about it,” I said defensively. “Usually, it isn’t a problem, but I have a suspicion about this one…”

THOCK!

No one had to say anything that time. Jumping away like someone had just thrown a lit firecracker in our midst, we all of us cleared the area just as the tongue thudded to the dirt right where Jax had been sitting.

“Ha!” she crowed as she came to her feet again, for once uninjured. “Tongue me fart-box, ye tit-faced wank-stain!”

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