“I was right! This will be fun~!”

The Darkling Horror saunters forward with a sexy, swaying gait that shows off all her assets and beauty, yet it's offset by her eerie appearance. Her stroll puts those thick thighs and wide hips on full display while making her head-to-toe ‘bodysuit’ of segmented black carapace glisten in my firelight. The three chitinous horns on her cranium remind me of a rhinoceros beetle, and perhaps a little of a tiara. Her eyes are totally black and shine with reflected light like obsidian.

If it weren’t for her creepy personality and her body’s true nature, I might even be inclined to let her step on me.

The ‘centipedes’ at her flanks, the so-called prototypes, are not the same as the first we met. On her left is a female Orc-topped monstrosity with three Servitor-armored Burrower segments and a Dire Wolf body. And by ‘Dire Wolf body,’ I mean that of a transformed stallion-sized wolf transitioning to the next body segment at the neck. The large, stable base, functionally like that of a centaur, supports four mobile segments comprising its 'neck' to reach the heights of a fabled ancient-world giraffe.

The centipede on the Horror’s right also has five body segments but is more similar to our first encounter. Their ‘head’ is a Mermaid, as before, but beneath that is a Harpy body segment whose wings keep the centipede’s ‘neck’ lightweight and mobile. Beneath those are another two Black Widow segments with a Lizardman base. Despite the fact we’ve already dispatched one of their ilk, I’m not taking this one lightly—we fought five-on-one then, and here we’re facing two foes with additional sets of abilities not to be underestimated.

I’ve never been sickened until now to see so many pendulous breasts on display. I feel powerful, wild, and free when I fight naked. Their nudity feels vulnerable, lacking dignity, making the pain and rage of their mutilation as apparent as their stitches. The only thing worse than what was done to their flesh may be the state of their mentalities.

“Blud! Blud! Blud! Blud! Blud! Blud!” the Orcess-centipede chants with gruesome glee, though I’d guess their broken mind isn’t capable of saying much more.

“Young Mistress Tygge,” the Mermaid-centipede begins, the most lucid of the prototypes we’ve met thus far, “Do you think Mother will mind if we fuck them before they get cold? It’s been so long since we could stick it in a warm hole…”

Cottontail goes pale and covers her mouth in disgust at the implied necrophilia. Honestly, I’m not that far behind her. These damn centipedes can all go to hell.

“Fuck? What’s that? Is it fun?”

“Why, it’s the most fun thing to do, Young Mistress Tygge!”

“Okay! Then let’s all fuck each other after we’re done playing!”

“Hard pass,” I say. Somehow, I doubt that would be half as fun as one of Alex’s orgies. The girls at my back all nod in agreement with me.

Then the Orcess-centipede Wolf Rushes forward! Shit, it can use the base-body's abilities! Dura leaps forward, interposing herself to protect us, and the centipede’s giraffe-like neck flicks down. The Orc body shoulder-checks Dura with all the force of an ancient human golf swing to send her flying. My Ogress lover's frame craters the wall with a stone-shattering impact that showers us in rock shards.

I dart ahead of the group to defend them in Dura’s place while throwing streams of fire at the Orcess-centipede. Except my attacks are neutralized before they can cross the distance as the Mermaid-centipede creates a torrent from three Water and two Air Multitasking focuses. The horizontal twister of wind and rain sweeps away my flames before turning against me. I burn and struggle, but my fires are blown out and my heat is drowned the very instant I summon my power, and I’m pushed away until my back hits the wall.

Individually, I’m multiple times more powerful than a Mermaid or Harpy, but this opponent has five multitasking focuses working in perfect unison. While I’d be able to pick apart a squad of a dozen magic users easily, it’s the coordination of this attack that makes it difficult to deal with. It’s like I’m fighting a pseudo-Rainbird with five times the casting power of an individual Harpy. Even lifting my arm is a strain. Can’t see! Can’t breathe! I’m pinned and drowning on land… what a pathetic way to go…

The pressure eases and I open my eyes to see Sue! She’s got her back to the torrent with her hands flat against stone to either side of my head, her legs braced against the cavern floor, and the whirlwind of water sloughing off her slick Froglin skin. Her eyes glint with both a desperate and fierce intensity.

“Miss Suka—use me! Mistwesses Megan and Cottontail awe in dangewr!”

Nodding, I place my hands on her shoulders and lean into my Froglin companion, using her as an umbrella against the storm. After catching my breath, I ignite. Without my increased Focus and the experience with Fast Learner I’ve had today, I’d have burned her, but now I’m able to form flame constructs while controlling my heat to avoid blistering the Froglin’s delicate skin.

With my eyes shielded from the torrent, I can see the battle again while I work.

Megan is holding off both the Orcess-centipede and Tygge while Cottontail digs through her hat and the rest of us get back in the fight. The Denki Nezumi zips around, evading capture and delivering precision strikes. Streaks of light sear my vision as Megan punches the Dire Wolf body, kicks the Darkling Horror, and rips a few Servitors from the lower Burrower body in quick succession. Except, her attacks aren’t hitting very hard.

Her strikes aren’t penetrating the Wolf’s fur, leaving no more than bruises. Tygge reflexively opens a mouth at the carapace segment where Megan’s kick would’ve landed, making the attack miss, and the Denki Nezumi narrowly retracts her limb before the jaws close on her. Meanwhile, the Burrower bodies have dozens of Servitors protecting them, and Megan doesn’t have the luxury of time to strip them all away while defending Cottontail.

The Showbunny has three rubber chickens piled at her feet along with a fat stack of comically large playing cards, but she finally withdraws a set of linked rings that she throws at Tygge. In typical Cottontail fashion, the rings (which seem like one ring or three or five depending on when you look) fall perfectly onto Tygge’s neck and wrists with an empty ring between on both sides.

“Eh? What’s this?”

“Abracadabra!”

The five linked rings contract, attempting to become one while cutting anything that gets in their way, the same as when she severed the Elder Tree’s fingers, but things don’t go as planned. Tygge’s arms are bound against her neck by the straining rings, sparks flying as metal scrapes against black carapace, but the Darkling Horror’s defenses appear to simply be on another level. She isn’t cut.

“Hahahahahah! I’m stuck!” Nor does she appear distressed. If anything, she seems to think this is a game.

Flames dance and swell around me as I form a greater construct than anything I’ve made thus far. The torrent of whipping and whirling Air and Water seems endless, but Sue’s slippery Froglin skin protects us while I prepare my counterstrike. I can do more, though. “Everyone! That thing has to be Third-Tier!” I shout at the top of my lungs to be heard over the Mermaid-centipede’s horizontal twister. I’m leaping to conclusions, but I need to make a call, and I don’t like this fight. It’s time to retreat. “We have to get out of here, run!”

It’s one thing to say that, but my allies aren’t all in a position to obey my orders. Megan still needs to defend her sister from the Orcess-Centipede.

“THUNDER…!!!”

With Tygge distracted, Megan latches onto the wolf body between the shoulder blades where she’s hardest to reach. The Orcess-centipede Wolf Rushes in circles, bucking in vain to dislodge the mouse girl dripping arcs of lightning gripped tight to its fur while its giraffe-like neck swings around for a grab.

A metal-studded club flies through the air to hit the Orcess upper body, leaving an ugly bruise and bashing the centipede’s neck off-course. Dura is up and throwing summoned clubs left and right! The Orcess-centipede can’t ignore this threat, neck weaving like a snake to dodge the projectiles while the wolf body continues Rushing in an evasive pattern.

Sensing the existential threat the Denki Nezumi on their back poses, Servitors peel from the Burrower bodies to crawl down and throw themselves at Megan. She’s forced to break her concentration on Thunder Crash to defend herself with punches and kicks that shatter the spider-crabs’ exoskeletons and pulverize their organs. However, this leaves the Burrower bodies more vulnerable, and Megan begins fighting her way toward a gap in the centipede’s armor while climbing up the moving wolf body’s back with her Third Tier Agility and balance.

Cottontail pulls carrot daggers fror her hat and starts throwing them at the Mermaid-centipede’s vulnerable eyes like she did last time we fought one.

This time, though, Tygge is on the battlefield.

*Chomp!*

The Darkling Horror’s wrists and neck carapace segments open to reveal toothy maws that crunch through her metal bindings. In a few chomps, the linked rings are reduced to broken fragments that rain down around her like crumbs. Then Tygge leaps through the air like an arrow loosed from its bow to intercept the flying carrot daggers, plucking them from the air as she lands in a crouch against the cavern wall.

*Chomp!* *Chomp!*

Tygge devours the carrots one after another with a contemplative expression. “Not bad, unlike anything I’ve tasted before, but a little plain, I guess.”

“Then try this… banana cream pie?!?” Cottontail shouts as she attempts to pull forth another projectile but stumbles across a baked good coated in whipped topping. Shrugging, she throws it at Tygge, whose face predictably splits open to take the entire pie—baking tin and all.

*Chomp!*

“Mmm! Delicious! The others are starting to get predictable, but you, on the other hand, are amazing!”

“Cottontail!!!” Megan wails as she watches the Darkling Horror fling themselves at our mutual lover with incredible speed. My stomach churns with fear as Tygge closes the distance in a fraction of a second.

The Showbunny backflips away, dodging the first tackle, but Tygge lands with apparent grace and sprints forward again. My blood runs cold when the Darkling Horror opens her arms and catches the falling Cottontail in a… big hug?

“You’re the most interesting person I’ve ever met in this boring place~!” Tygge exclaims while spinning Cottontail around excitedly. The small Showbunny looks confused and mildly distressed. “Your outfit is really cute, too!” And now Cottontail is blushing.

“Get your hands off of her!” Megan shouts as she abandons the Orc-centipede to launch herself in a flying kick at the Darkling Horror’s center mass. Lightning limns her form as she streaks through the air.

Just as her heel is about to hit the base of the Horror’s spine, Tygge’s torso opens totally to form a tunnel that Megan sails straight through. The Denki Nezumi hits the far wall, braces herself, and springs back the other way to charge headlong at the enemy who has her sister in a potentially-deadly embrace.

Dura reaches the Orcess-centipede at the same time the Hybrid monster becomes unencumbered of electric mice, and that giraffe-like neck once again swings down to fling the Ogress against another wall in a second crater.

“Suka, get off your lazy ass and kill this thing!” Megan screams as she tries tackling Tygge again and gets kicked aside for her trouble. Then the Orcess-centipede goes after the mouse girl this time.

“I’m trying!!!”

And I’m finally finished with my masterpiece! It’s a giant fiery wolf head that closes protective jaws around Sue, swallowing her into the skull chamber with me where I power the construct from the inside. She wraps her arms and legs around me, not knowing what else to do with herself as a river of fluid flames pours from my hair and the fur on my wrists, ankles, and tail.

The flaming wolf head rockets off the wall, jaws consuming the twirling torrent of Air and Water while spitting steam as we fly. Our progress feels slow, however, as we’re pushing against the torrent to claw our way forward inch by inch. We’re halfway across the cavern when Tygge tosses Cottontail away.

“Alright, that was great fun! Let’s go again!”

Cottontail naturally twirls in the air and lands with her arms outstretched as if expecting applause, but the look on her face is 99% confusion, and 1% fear. She hesitates before searching her hat for another weapon.

“Come on, do your thing!”

“Miss Tygge, I don’t understand why we have to fight…”

The Darkling Horror cocks her head at an unnatural angle and replies, “We’re not fighting, we’re playing! Here, do your thing or I’m gonna bite you~!” Tygge uses a teasing tone, but every segment on her entire body opens to reveal scores of mouths with gnashing teeth in a terrifying display. Then Tygge slowly begins to advance on Cottontail.