DD 304 Ch 25 (Patreon)

Scaredy Cat, however, took a step back, realizing that having the Dwarven Queen's attention wasn't going to work out well for him. Several of the fighters who'd been fighting Crimson and Neldra jumped forward and dragged him out of the group while the Dwarven Queen laughed.

"See? You're all pathetic. Perhaps if you all rose up together, you could save this man. But you don't even dare." Many suddenly paled in shame, ducking their heads.

I kept mine high, knowing the choice at hand. If I jumped forward to stop her, I was fairly certain she or her combined forces would give me more trouble than I could handle. I had thought about using a vial of improved Drow venom, courtesy of Grandma Yui, but I wasn’t even sure I could cut the Dwarven Queen who could drive Crimson and Neldra to the ground with a clap from her hand.

If we all jumped forward we might win against those before her, but the dwarven queen clearly had a very deep well of strength. The Threadspawn appeared to deeply enjoy bullying those weaker than them.

But while the Dwarven Queen was busy monologuing, I hadn't been idle. I held a stone in my hand, pulled from my inventory. I rolled it across my palm, desperately hoping Lady Frey would finally answer my call. I couldn't help but feel for Scaredy Cat as they pulled him forward, and the Dwarven Queen lifted a hand and a stone slid aside to reveal a pit in front of her throne, filled with squirming Threadspawn shrieking now that they were exposed.

"Hey!" Crimson barked, her whip snapping out, grabbing Scaredy Cat by the legs and jerking him free, his head bouncing roughly on the floor as she pulled him back. "I may not like Scaredy Cat very much, I may have even worked to get him fired from his job," Crimson began, even as he complained and was shut down when her heel smashed the stone next to his head, "but you don't get to just stick a worm inside him in front of me."

I smiled at Crimson's inability to put up with anything, glad that even in the face of this much danger, it hadn't dampened her attitude one bit. Although my stomach also dropped, knowing that Crimson had now put herself in the line of fire.

It had been one thing to watch Scaredy Cat get pulled forward, but I wouldn’t be able to hold still if the same thing happened to Crimson. I squeezed the stone in my hand harder, hoping that it would convey some sense of urgency.

The Dwarven Queen shifted, a feral smile lighting her face as she stared at Crimson. "Then I see you've offered yourself as tribute in his stead." The Threadspawn before her fanned out around Crimson, taking her far more seriously than they had Scaredy Cat.

The stone in my hand finally grew hot, and my vision shifted until I was seeing Lady Frey, her hair wet and pulled back over her shoulder, as if she'd just changed into fresh clothes.

"I hope you have a good reason for disturbing me, Ken," she said pointedly.

"I'm about to die," I muttered, only for one of the Threadspawn near me to jab a spear in my direction.

"Unfortunate," Lady Frey said. "What's the level?"

"Don't know," I said under my breath, earning myself another jab, knowing she should be able to see my situation somewhat.

"Big-ass Threadspawn-infected Dwarven Queen," I said, and I could see her making an assessment as she rubbed her chin.

"You agree to go further into debt?" she asked.

"In about two months I go on summer break. You can have me for two whole months as your gopher, if you'd like." This time the spear went through my armor and into my skin, twisting as it stabbed.

"Looks like you're in quite the pickle," Lady Frey said, a devious grin sliding across her face. "It seems you're not really in the best position to negotiate right now." She drummed her fingers on her desk. "I suppose in a few hours I could do something."

"In a few hours I doubt I'll have much left to do, not to mention whatever incubus project you wanted me for will be gone." I tried to find what leverage I could. Truth was, we’d gotten in over our heads. No, I held some blame for this. We saw this as a chance to be considered a bigger player among the races that ran the dungeon, but the Threadspawn had far more strength than we’d seen before.

"You're not the only option we have," she told me as the spear twisted deeper into my gut. The Threadspawn had no idea what I was doing; it didn't even bother warning me to be quiet, apparently content to just stab me into compliance. And to be fair, the tactic would normally be very effective.

Lady Frey hummed, tapping her chin, and pulled up another stone. "I may even have to bring in my princess if I'm to help you, which comes at significant cost, Ken." She held the stone out, and a moment later a bubbly, pink-haired succubus princess Xanthana appeared in the room.

"Oh, we're with Ken?" she asked, touching Lady Frey's stone, her eyes widening. "Oh," she said, with a sad look. "Looks like he's not going to make it."

"Well, he is asking for help," Lady Frey said, the two of them clearly enjoying the by-play. "Though I think his offer was a little weak. He offered two months of his time."

"That is rather weak," the princess agreed, stalling for time while I watched the Threadspawn closing in on Crimson, standing alone for the rest of humanity.

"What do you want?" I asked, getting stabbed again, but I barely felt it next to the mounting dread that they were going to stick a worm in Crimson.

"Oh, now he's putting the burden of thought on us," Xanthana said. "I suppose the price will go up."

“Rip off the bandaid. Tell me the price.” I growled, willing to pay any price to protect those I love.

"Oh, we have plenty of options," Lady Frey said, deciding now was the time to educate me. "After all, perhaps you could get a Threadspawn inserted inside you rather than simply killed. Then we could come at our leisure, snag you, and get it removed. Though I suppose the non-urgency of the request might be outweighed by finding someone to remove it safely."

"Help. Please. Anything." I tried and failed to keep the desperation out of my voice as I watched six Threadspawn ganged up on Crimson.

"Oh, he said please," Xanthana said, bouncing in place, far too bubbly for the situation. "I suppose if he said please, we should act. Not to mention he's already given us a blank check. As soon as you're ready, Ken."

I didn't waste another second, ripping open a portal beside me.

The action cost me as three Threadspawn immediately stabbed me and pinned me to the ground while another raised an axe overhead. They must have figured a random portal could be easily closed by canceling out the spellcaster. It was decent logic by my measure.

As the axe fell toward the top of my head, a dainty hand snatched all the momentum from the blade, stopping it dead. Xanthana bounded through the portal, smiled at the offending Threadspawn, and with a wave of her hand turned it to ash.

"Oh, this is exciting," the demon said as the Threadspawn immediately around me were simply incinerated. It was as if being near her was too hot for them to handle. They blew away in dust as Xanthana played with the axe for a moment before it snapped and she dropped it before kicking it aside while looking anywhere but at the broken weapon.

Lady Frey stepped through a moment later, taller than the princess and in a sharper dress, giving off the air of someone far more responsible. The first time I’d seen her, the crown of horns on her head had made her seem regal.

She turned toward the Threadspawn attacking Crimson, and her attention alone seemed to have an immediate effect. The air shimmered, gravity seemed to shift, and all the Threadspawn found themselves rooted to the ground, unable to move.

Crimson jumped back, her suit tattered and torn, covered in her own blood. "Thank you," Crimson said to them, before turning some of that thanks toward me. "If Ken owes you something, I'll be happy to help."

"Sure, sure." Xanthana bounced forward, patting Crimson's shoulder as she passed, having to reach up to manage the gesture. "Unfortunately, he's not very good at bargaining, and we have a blank check this time. I'll remember your offer, though," she said sweetly, and Crimson grimaced at how much she'd just lost in that brief exchange with the short and very pink succubus.

Xanthana paused before the rest of the Threadspawn, hands on her hips, all five feet of her doing her best to intimidate the ten-foot-tall dwarven giantess.

But the giantess was no longer sitting on the throne, her full attention now fixed on the powerful succubus before her, she’d stood and hefted a massive maul. "What are you doing here?" the Dwarven Queen bellowed.

A lovely heart-shaped bubble seemed to snap into place around all of us, quivering under the force of her voice, but blocking the shockwave.

"Oh dear, you’re a loud one." Xanthana grimaced, sticking a finger in her own ear and bouncing on one foot as if trying to get water out. It was comical the way her long hair dragged on the ground as a result.

The Dwarven Queen moved in a flash, appearing before Xanthana and clasping a hand around her head. Her arm glowed for a moment before a massive wave of energy erupted from her palm, disintegrating Xanthana's in a wave of dark flames.

The heat off of it was enough to cause the stone pillars to smolder and the ends of our hairs to curl.

I froze, my breath stopping for a moment before Xanthana reappeared a moment later, sitting on the Dwarven Queen's shoulder. She leaned forward with naive interest as she watched her own form blow away.

"That was a pretty cool move," she said, looking toward the Dwarven Queen's face. "Let me try!"

Xanthana vanished from the shoulder and appeared before one of the gathered Threadspawn, grabbing it by the head as pink flame pulsed down her arm and exploded in its face, incinerating it from the waist up. "Oh! That was fun. There's a certain raw intensity to that move. You have my approval." She gave the Dwarven Queen a thumbs up as the legs of the threadspawn toppled behind her. "However," she added, with a sad shake of her head, "you tried to kill something that's mine, so you're on my naughty list.”

“You may take whomever it is you wish to protect." The Dwarven Queen took a step back. Threadspawn didn't really seem to project fear, but there was the weariness of a predator finding another in its own hunting ground.

"You see, the thing is," Xanthana said, looking down and carving shapes in the stone, breaking it up with the same effort of someone drawing in sand with their feet, "he wanted to be helped out of the situation. While he didn't explicitly say I had to kill you, I'm certain he wants all the humans here pulled out and to survive. That is really quite a lot to ask of me. And if we're honest, the best use of my time would simply be to obliterate you and the others." She smiled.

From across the way I cleared my throat. "If that would be the best use of your time, perhaps that would be ideal. Just get rid of the Threadspawn," I said, and every eye in the room shifted to me.

"Well, it wasn't apparent before, he happens to be the one I'm here to protect," Xanthana said pointing at me and meeting the dwarven queen’s gaze. She tapped her lips, considering. "I think you're pretty strong," she said, shaking a finger at the Threadspawn, "and if you survive, promise me you'll try to kill him in the future. Like, really try. Make a good attempt to turn him into dungeon food."

The Dwarven Queen frowned in confusion. "If you want him to die, why would you spare him today?"

"Oh, no, no, I don't want him to die," Xanthana said, waving her hands. "However, I would love for him to get some proper motivation." She bopped her head a few times. "So, if I kill enough of your children to make you mad…" She twirled her finger and pointed down at the pool before the throne.

A pink fire engulfed the water and the writhing Threadspawn within, reducing them to steam and ash in the blink of an eye. The stone around the pit was now warped and cracked from the sudden shift in temperature.

Xanthana turned and blew a kiss toward one of the closest Threadspawn; the kiss expanded and consumed it in a pink mist. A moment later it dissipated, and the Threadspawn knelt toward her, its eyes replaced by pink hearts.

"Your job is to kill as many of your brethren as you can," she commanded. "That's what he wants," she said, pointing at me.

It moved faster than I'd ever seen it move before, tearing into its own kind while Xanthana rooted the Dwarven Queen in place with a massive smile on her face as she rocked back and forth on her heels, hands behind her back, waiting.

The charmed Threadspawn ripped through its brethren faster than I could have expected until only the Dwarven Queen remained standing. At that point it punched its hand into its chest and tore out the Threadspawn, crushing it with its last vestiges of strength before collapsing.

Lady Frey moved over to me, staring down at my wounded form. "You will finish this year of school, and then report to me the second it's over," she said, leaving no room for argument. Charlotte had already begun healing me, but somehow I dreaded Lady Frey's words more than I'd dreaded getting stabbed.

"Wee! So fun. You’re pitifully weak, just be happy I have a cause for you," Xanthana clapped, as the last of the Threadspawn fell to the ground. "Alright, you can run along now," she said.

The Dwarven Queen clenched her teeth so tightly they cracked, then healed before my eyes, her gaze shifting to me. "I will find you, and I will kill you," she declared with a brief pause where she seemed to consider it before her eyes darted back to Xanthana and decided it was better to leave and for how large she was, shot away faster than my eyes could track.

Xanthana was still rocking on her heels, smiling. "Do you see that, humans? If you want to play with the likes of the Orkai, you need to be at least that strong," she said, pointing at where the Dwarven Queen had been. "Otherwise you're just children playing in the big leagues."

She turned to Lady Frey. "Did I say that right?" she asked excitedly, and Lady Frey bowed briefly.

"Magnificent, my princess," Lady Frey answered.

Xanthana clapped her hands and bounded over to me.

I was still on my knees, which put my head right at her chest as she pulled my face into it, only the thinnest layer of cloth between us as my head bounced between her mounds. "Do you see that, Ken? If you work really hard, that's the kind of power you can have." She pointed around. "Now, unless you want to rack up more debt to me, you need to be nice and give me a kiss goodbye."

She held out her cheek, and I gave it a small peck, immediately feeling a wave of dizziness wrap around me, as if getting too close to her had triggered some subtle charm. As the world swayed, I heard her laugh, disappearing back through the portal I'd created, Lady Frey following after.

A moment later, the portal cracked and broke away, they had forcibly closed it.

In those few moments the world seemed to swerve, and when I came back to it, all the high-level human adventurers were staring at me.

More than a few had deep questions in their eyes.

I held a hand up to forestall any of them. "Please, for now, I just need to get my head back on straight," I said, more an afterthought than anything, but it seemed to be enough.

President Amatto stepped forward and clapped her hands once, immediately getting everyone's attention. "For now, we will consider this mission complete. You may loot everything you'd like from this location for the next half hour. However, as you can see, the dungeon is a dangerous place, and I'd like us all gone from this safe zone before any more danger finds us."

Everyone snapped to attention and hustled to begin looting.