Stratothrax
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Chapter 110
🕑 Added 2021-08-05 17:58:51 +0000 UTC◈ Chapter 110:
“She who lays with monsters should look to it that she herself does not become one, for if you fornicate with the dark, the dark also fornicates with you,” murmured Lyra looking over her black wool in wonder.
“Hmm? What was that?”
“N-nothing!”
Lyra avoided Rain’s gaze. Fortunately they were walking back through the forest beside each other and that wasn't hard to do.
She brought her arm up to her eyes. Black wool. A Skill which she strongly suspected was a powerful key Skill just like her invisibility. Her wool was acting as a portal to some kind of space, a space that, according to Rain held stone benches and basins of water and nothing else whatsoever. Obviously a place of safety for those in need.
She stared at the wool. She would just take a quick look, surely that would be fine right? Just bring her arm close to her face, sink inside, sink into that darkness… But what if she couldn't get back out? She’d been for lack of a better word, infected, by Rain’s- whatever Rain’s monsterness was, and that could mean anything! She found the things he summoned unsettling enough, and now that was somehow part of her. It was enough to make her shiver.
She brought her arm away. She would trust Rain’s word for now, it was just an empty space, not very exciting anyway, yeah.
Well, that wasn't quite correct, it was all very exciting, she could admit that. What leveler wouldn't be excited by having a new powerful Skill? That was enough to fill her with delight, it was just with the small sidenote that it seemed to have been produced by having sex with Rain.
She bit her lip. Would… Would having sex again produce another powerful Skill when she next leveled? The thought gave her pause. A weak leveler with a ‘bad’ Class like herself couldn't have even dreamed of something like this.… If she had a lot of sex maybe she could even get a lot of powerful wolf Skills. Her ear tips went a little pink. No, no, she couldn't just- she couldn't just sex her way into powerful skills, even if that did sound really really really appealing.
Her eyes unconsciously moved to Rain’s massive body, his legs, up, certain areas that made her breath come faster that she struggled to pull her gaze from, then up to his chest, and then above where she found Rain staring at her.
She froze.
“Is anything wrong?”
“UH- UHM- NO! EVERYTHING IS FINE! COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY FINE!”
Rain looked at her blankly. He had his paw held up in front of himself where a house cat was sitting comfortably. Apparently he had been experimenting as they walked. She wasn’t the only one pondering their abilities it seemed.
Desperate to change the subject she thrust out a hand and pointed at it.
“Y-your weird monster magic, you’ve gotten b-better with it?”
The house cat tilted its head at her adorably.
“No, I’ve been avoiding using certain parts of it because I don't know what I’m doing. You must have seen it at some point, the Harpy Queen.”
Lyra blanched. She had seen it, a cackling ragged shadow flickering between a crowd of panicking Orcs unable to escape or flee from her, a whirlwind of razor talons, a wind of death. That Opal had picked her talon to use a weapon said something of how terrifying the out of control Harpy Queen had been.
“I did, she was, uhm, terrifying… I don't know why you thought it a good idea to copy her, she was intense even when I was imprisoned in the cell next to her’s in the half Goblin tribe.”
“...Was she a copy?”
“What are you saying? She was like the other-”
“She remembered me Lyra, she knew who I and Opal were.”
Lyra stared at him.
“But that can't be, what does that even mean?”
“I don't know. Something unthinkable maybe, or just disturbingly perfect copies, or something else entirely, I just don't know. I think I need to know more, I can't keep fumbling in the dark like this, that Harpy Queen would have killed Opal in a heartbeat and I’m not certain I could have stopped her. But I feel it’s worse than that, Opal is pregnant with something that if it's anything like me is beyond dangerous, something that could put her life at risk, for all I know it could kill her. I don't like that thought, it bothers me a lot, other monsters aren't like me… I’m worse… what if it hurts her?… what if it kills her?”
Lyra tapped her chin in thought.
“Well your species would probably be a good place to start.”
“I don't know my species and as best I understand they last lived over a thousand years ago, maybe a lot more than a thousand years ago, not even Vash knows what I am and he is centuries old.”
“Then it’s simple, we just need to find a record of that. Knowing what you are is the first step in finding out what is going on with your magic and what Opal is, uh, going to pop out.”
Rain wrinkled the top of his nose and furrowed his brow. “Where?”
“Isn't it obvious? In Florens! Florens has some really old and really big libraries. If your species wasn't completely isolated from the world then chances are at least one leveler would have written something down. If it’s true that the ruined city we we found in the dungeon was made by your species like you think then there will be for sure a record of it, there’s no way that wasn’t recorded, heck, it was probably levelers who destroyed it and no leveler worth their salt wouldn't boast about that!”
“That… is true. Just knowing something would help a lot, well, as long as it isn't something bad.”
“Mhmm! Knowing is the first step in doing something about it, uh, carefully, and without accidentally making anymore insane Harpy Queens.”
“I’d rather avoid a repeat of that, I couldn't control her, I-
Rain paused and turned his head, drawing in air through his nose.
“Do you smell that?”
“No? Smell what?”
Rain didn't reply but fell forward and powered into a bounding run that sent him shooting through the forest, leaves exploding around him.
Lyra was left mid step frozen in surprise, but then realising she was being left behind she hurried after him, following the trail of destruction.
It didn't take long to find what had caught his attention. A burning smell. Lyra dashed form around a tree to find smoke wending its way through the branches and up ahead the loot cube, which was currently on fire. A squawking Red was frantically running around with a leaf covered branch trying to beat the fire out. His branch caught fire after a moment and he waved it in the air in a panic, then realising he had no way to extinguish the fire he fell to his knees in despair.
Rain stepped up behind him and lifted a paw, hundreds of teeth and claws tumbling through a dark mist poured from his paw and washed over the fire, quickly covering it, smothering it. The teeth and claws misted as they touched the fire but altogether it was enough and the part of the loot cube that was on fire was smothered, the crackling flames dying off, leaving behind a haze of grey smoke.
“Oh thank the gods!” groaned Red, “My gold was almost charcoaled!”
“Opal?”
The goblin girl appeared at the top of the cube. “Red sucks at cooking. He said everything was fine so I nap for a bit, then I wake up to half our stuff on fire.”
Red glared up at her, tears in the corners of his eyes. “It was fine until that black cat thing tried to rub its head against me! I fell and fire went everywhere!”
Opal scratched her cheek and shrugged. “Should have been more careful.” She glanced down at the damaged crates and chests, gold spilling across the ground as well as innumerable other things they had taken from the Orc’s camp. “You know I did say we could take one of those cart things. Oh well, guess we’ll just have to leave all the gold behind.”
“We tried a cart remember? Several of them. They all collapsed under the weight of so much gold,” said Lyra.
“Yeah, because you insisted on taking all of it and more!”
“It’s fine we have something better now. Something that can't be burnt or stolen.” Rain took hold of one Lyra’s hand, carefully, and then with his other scooped up a number of coins which he then dropped into her arm, the coins instantly vanishing into her black wool.
“My gold!”
“It hasn't gone anywhere, her wool is acting like a portal, there’s a spa-
Red dived for Lyra’s legs and the sheep girl yelped in surprise as the Kobold thrust himself head first into her thigh, then claws scrabbling at the grass shoved himself all the way inside leaving Lyra stumbling back in surprise.
Opal stared at her leg. “Did your wool just eat Red sheepy? And wait, why is it black, why is it black like Rain?!”
“N-no reason!”
“She leveled and has a new Skill, like the dimensional bag, but different.”
Red suddenly poked his head from Lyra’s thigh, the sight of a kobold head sticking out of her leg looking more than a little absurd.
“There’s space in here, like a room, and there’s this big sta-
Rain gave the Kobold a death glare and he flinched back in fright.
“-There’s nothing else, just a perfectly good and useful s-space we c-can use!”
“It’s a place that you can hide in Opal, if necessary.” gravelled Rain.
“I don't need to hide, not now that I’m like you.” She suddenly vanished from sight up atop the cube and popped up behind Rain in his shadow. “It’s others that need to hide from me. I’m basically a badass assassin now.” She vaguely waved the harpy talon in the air as if to demonstrate that she had it and could use it.
Rain did not feel particularly happy with that answer but deciding to leave it for now he turned to the cube and took hold of a crate, tugging it free and setting it aside.
“I did intend to bury all off this outside Florens,-”
Red looked as though he’d just suggested burying Kobold children alive and pulled himself free from the wool.
“-but if Lyra can use her new Skill to keep it safe that will work too.”
He gestured at her and after a moment of hesitation she put her arms together and held them up. Rain tilted the crate forward and coins and various treasures mixed with much less valuable things began to spill from the rim.
They all stared at the strange sight of gold coins slipping into her black wool and vanishing from sight, at least the ones that hit, many spilt around and fell to the grass below.
After a moment Red seemed to come to his senses and realised that precious things were being carelessly discarded. He leapt forward and grabbed up the coins tossing them into Lyra’s legs.
“This uh, feels kinda weird,” said Lyra looking uncomfortable.
“It should only need to be done once, if you can put up with it.”
They continued putting treasure into Lyra’s wool, the sheep girl sitting down on the ground and putting her legs together so that Rain could pour in chest after chest, crate after crate of loot from the Orcish camp, a waterfall of treasure and supplies pouring into her fluff.
It took a surprising amount of time for the crude construction to be pulled down, taken apart, and put into Lyra’s wool but eventually it was done, the sheep girl left surrounded by empty crates and chests, her cheeks a little pink.
Red suddenly popped out from her legs and looked around, clearly wondering why there was no more gold coming.
“Oh, is that all of it? Hmm, thought there was more…”
“I haven't looked but I can't imagine there’s anything but a lake of gold in there.”
“There is, but I can barely dive into it without hitting stone, how am I supposed to swim in this?!”
Rain gave the Kobold a flat look.
“Okay, you’ve made me curious, I want to see what this looks like now,” said Opal dropping down from the crate she had been perched on. She skipped over to a worried looking Lyra and then without preamble thrust her head into her legs.
After a few moments with her head in the sheep girl’s legs she pulled back out, a laugh already on her lips, which she tried to smother as she found Lyra looking at her in question.
“What? What is it?”
“Uh, Red’s enjoying his gold in there, it was cute, yeah…that.”
