Yue and Siv were there when I came to. This wasn't much of a surprise, considering my decision to stay and enjoy the dream of the future a bit longer.
"Hi," I said calmly, staring at the pair of worried but brightening faces right above me.
"Hi." "Sir."
Smiling a bit more widely, I clutched the edge of the coffin I lay in and sat up, looking around the room we'd ended up in. I found nothing of importance with the short sweep and quickly focused back on the girls.
The scenes of the world I just left behind flashed in my mind as I got onto my feet and embraced them both. They obviously grew confused despite the hearty feelings, so I shared what I was thinking about with them.
"I knew it wasn't real, but I wanted to stay and enjoy it," I said, pulling away. Their faces came into view and allowed me to put eyes to the transmitted emotions and thoughts my transferred experiences garnered.
Yue's pleased and excited smile came as no surprise. She very much enjoyed what she saw, and was down to get started making it a reality right away if I was willing.
"Down girl…" I chuckled and smoothed her white locks, shifting my gaze to Siv next, the tigress red all the way down her neck.
In the far off (not that off if Yue had something to say about it) future, we'd deeply explored the master-servant dynamic between us and learned more than a few things.
Like the fact that a certain furred companion of mine loved getting regular "punishments," spankings being the least of what she craved but still enjoyed nonetheless.
She was pregnant for the entirety of the dream, but the kind of play we engaged in was enough to make the average onlooker—if they happened upon us—wonder if we were negligent parents at the least, or at the worst, downright terrible.
"We have a lot of work to do," I said, tightening my grip around the embarrassed tiger's waist.
"Noted, sir," she damn near whispered, her armored tail wagging in and out of sight.
My lip curled up even more. After going through all that and reuniting with the real girls, conquering an annoying labyrinth was the last thing I wanted to do right now.
Their excitement mirrored my own. If I pushed everything out of mind and initiated "activities" right this second, they'd join me in a heartbeat. In fact they both wanted me to, but I shook my head.
"Too risky. This isn't the last trial. And you know how the liberators are."
Dampened enthusiasm came over from the girls' ends of our connection, but the mention of liberators earned me sentiments of agreement.
"Come on, tell me what guys saw," I said suddenly, hoping to steer their focus away from the unpleasant topics.
Yue went first, sending me images of herself back in the day when she was queen, except in this alternate past, she was now an empress and I had been betrothed to her.
Our relationship matched some of what it was currently and even exceeded it in other aspects, but that deepened closeness is not what made both my eyebrows shoot up.
Or rather, it was, considering the numerous things borne from that love.
"We had 12 children," Yue said in a proud and absolutely suggestive tone, her lips growing wet and glossy from the sweeps of her wry tongue.
Speechless, I could only open and close my mouth repeatedly before quickly recalling I had nothing to worry about. Her happiness was all that mattered.
"I'll give you as many babies as you want," I promised and leaned down, enjoying the lithe arms that went around my neck and the wet lips that met mine with an almost devouring yet loving hunger.
My hands roamed on her back and before going around her twisting head, my own head twisting about in the fervent exchange. Careful to not let our lusts overtake us, we pulled away from each other with agonizing slowness, none of us breathless but rather, full of energy.
Holding her close to me, I focused on Siv and she shared her experience promptly, though the hesitation she did it with didn't escape our senses.
An understanding look took over my calm face before I fixed the fidgeting tiger the most "I know what kind of woman you are" look I could manage.
"Like I said earlier, we have a lot of work to do," I said, purposefully leaving it at that to look around.
While Yue and I settled into varying but similar home and family lives in the dreams, Siv's ideal world consisted entirely of the exploration of her… what was the correct term even? Kink? Fetish? Proclivity?
Anyways, her ideal world mainly consisted of sex with me and the many, many ways we both came up with to enjoy the forceful but beneficial lordship I had over her.
There was punishment play involved, and it was the reason why she was the first to wake up. Apparently, some of the treatment was so extreme it formed a strong dissonance in the person she was at this moment.
The Rick in her ideal future didn't match the current me. Not yet at least.
One of the lighter punishments I had learned from her version of the dream and mine was neglect, basically treating her like she didn't exist or matter.
Things like ignoring something she said entirely or leaving her with no orders on what to do next fell into this category too. I admit, I found it all too fascinating.
Stuff like this, I'd only read in books or heard about from people. So to see and experience them, especially with a willing partner, I didn't want to just close my eyes and ignore it. I didn't want to be passive.
So seeing no reason not to dip my toes into the Siv depravation pool, I started with the small test, just repeating what I said earlier and not saying anything else, even looking away from her afterward.
Her arousal rose a bit at the treatment, and while I was certain getting an accurate reading of how much your partner wanted you would make any man happy as I was right now, I had to fight another battle with my raging libido.
I had just calmed the thing down with much effort, the blood that wanted to rush downward held back by supreme will. Now though, a bit of it had broken through, the front area of my underwear and pants growing tighter by the second.
It seems I had underestimated how much I enjoyed my part in the master-servant dynamic. I blamed the labyrinth. Either the foray into the future had changed me or they had awoken a side of me I'd been keeping locked down tight.
No matter the case, I didn't have time to determine the truth. The magic circle on the floor lit up as I looked around, and we vanished from the room with the pods.
When the blinding light receded, we were back in a forest. I honestly couldn't tell if it was the same as the one from before, but that didn't matter. Because our destination was all I had in mind.
Before we could move towards the gigantic tree far off in the distance though, I looked up at the "sky" and held out an arm as though to check if it was raining. It was not, but that didn't change anything.
"Babe, your dragon please…"
"Mmn…"
Soon, our group was encased in the golden bowels of Yue's golden construct, all of us on our feet as it sped forward like a bullet toward our goal, the world around us stretching more and more.
Yue's dragon construct was always fast. On our way to the Gruen volcano, I'd estimated its speed to be about slightly faster than a commercial airplane. Now though, I couldn't tell beyond "multiple times faster than that."
"I'm using spatial magic to shorten the distance," Yue said all of a sudden, having sensed my confusion.
"Ahh, so you got it to work," I said while squinting at the empty space in front of the dragon.
"What did you name it?"
Certain applications of spatial magic were invisible, and this spell fell into that category. Ceasing the attempts to detect any hints of the warping, I looked at her for an answer.
"I call it, Acceleration Corridor."
"Neat."
She preened at the praise and my gaze went back to the scene in front of us, the giant tree growing larger in our vision and slowly taking most of it. I imagined the corridor in the spell's name, illusory walls around the dragon that slingshotted it forward.
I wished I could say I was past being jealous. Actually, I always felt like I was, but Yue would then go and do something like this, and my tiny frustrations would come clawing from the depths like the demons they were.
Of course, I paid them no mind and kept the inane emotions away from my lover. She had done nothing wrong. The same went for me. If someone was to blame, it was whoever took whatever talent I had for magic and dropped me here.
Sure, cursed energy and the abilities I got from the labyrinths were great, and I looked forward to when I cleared all of the latter. There had to be something grand waiting for me at the end.
But god, watching Yue casually mold space, literal space, based on a little discussion we had some time ago about the possibilities bothered me a bit. Nothing I had currently could top that.
If the time for the inevitable confrontation with Ehit arrived and things hadn't changed much, Yue would have to do the fighting. That was completely and totally unacceptable. Not with what I knew about the means available to the insane god.
I couldn't rely on the labyrinths entirely. And while the question of "what else can I do" popped up immediately, I smacked it and the negative emotions around it away and thought about one avenue of power I'd stopped exploring.
The monster meat.
Most of the monsters we'd come across since leaving the Orcus labyrinth had had very little effect on me, and though the gains were quantifiable, they were unsatisfactory.
As a result, I'd stopped bothering with them. There was no need to put myself through that much agony for such little gains. That was going to change. I had not just myself to worry about.
Lives and freedoms of not just me but my lovers were on the line, and if enduring near endless pain would increase my chances of overcoming the approaching storm, then so be it.
This labyrinth was going to reward us with Evolution magic, the ability to manipulate information. When I thought to mesh it with what I knew about cursed energy, only binding vows came to mind.
I truly hoped the rewards were more than this. It couldn't be more than simple boosts in power from divulging information. The rewards from the Gruen volcano stunned me, and I hoped this labyrinth would do same.
We arrived at the tree after less than half an hour of flight. There was an open cave that dug into the obscenely wide trunk waiting for us, and Yue dove in without hesitation.
Her construct stayed consistent, protecting us from the rain of sticky fluid that rolled down its sides all around us. I'd informed her and Siv of its aphrodisiac nature and they'd gained a fresh dislike for this labyrinth's creator.
Inside the cave, we didn't find a magic circle nor enclosing walls. The path extended into the darkness, so we followed it, bright light hitting us on the other side.
Stretching as far as the eye could see in length and width, a massive branch supported our weight and that of the dragon, Yue dispelling the latter when she sensed no suspicious rain on this side.
"Is the great tree really so enormous?" Siv asked while she looked around, probably trying to determine where the branch ended.
"It's living up to the 'great' in its name," I said absentmindedly while flashing to the edge on my left with a burst of speed. Suppressing the beginnings of shiver, I peered down the edge, Night Vision piercing through the dark veil below.
A shudder, this one too strong to tamp down, rushed through me, going from the crown of my head to the tips of my fingers and toes. Just like I'd been able to recall, there was a veritable army of god sized roaches down there.
Watching them move and chitter about in a sea of dark brown made my skin crawl. It felt like they were right over me, walking with their many long legs.
"Ugghh." I shook myself and stepped back, the negative emotions calling upon my cursed energy like a magnet.
"Girls, prepare yourselves," I said and transmitted what I saw to them, answering their questions regarding my strange behaviour. I sensed them halt for a moment on their way to me before they put on even more speed.
"What… what should we do sir?"
I looked at my left and right, catching their severe expressions. "We fight. Destroy every last one of them."
Siv drew her sword and shield with the declaration and I moved to unsheath my sword. However I stopped halfway, recalling the boon from the underwater labyrinth. There was no need for me to hold back.
"Siv, you stay here and kill any that get close. I'll be fighting them in the air," I said, the buzzing of wings growing louder in all our ears. Giving them both a nod, I leapt off the branch and twisted midair to face it.
High above it and staring straight down into the depths of this place, at the abominable, rising tide of brown and black, I held both arms out, pointing my palms downward.
Twisting them sideways and bending my fingers in a familiar configuration, I tapped into my increased cursed energy output while betting on the newly gained increased recovery.
Perhaps to match the rising sea below me, the cursed energy flooding my body and shooting towards my outstretched fingers ballooned and bubbled like a sea before lancing out from my digits in thick, wide beams.
Violet, hyper-dense streams of cursed energy crossed the distance to the roaches in an instant, crashing into them with the force of a freight train, annihilating thousands of them in an instant and every second.
Like high pressure water from a hose, the violet wiped away any dark brown it encountered, removing it entirely from reality. I wove my arms from side to side, bobbing up and down on tiny explosions of cursed energy as I fought the unending tide.
No matter how much I obliterated the roaches, more and more appeared and replaced the destroyed ones.
My beams had punched through the initial tide to reach the ground below, tearing it and any nearby roaches up with the wide sweeping streams I did in the equivalent of using a high pressure washer.
It looked like I was winning, but in true labyrinth fashion, the cockroaches formed multiple tides and took to the skies in numerous different directions.
I wished I could just release an omnidirectional burst of energy to destroy them all, but I knew that would fail and only serve to tire me out.
Fortunately, I had something better. Yue took to the sky as well, a host of elemental dragons obeying her will and meeting the various tides head on.
The thunder, fire, earth, wind, and ice dragons all swam through the air to meet their respective enemies and unleashed thick breaths composed of their constituent elements from their maws.
Joining my uninterrupted blasts of cursed energy were a wide blast of yellow lighting that fried the roaches and sent writhing tendrils of electricity arcing down the tide.
The fire dragon, which had to have been created from Yue's Azure Blaze, reduced everything that came into contact with its bright breath to ash, the blue flames erasing the tide it confronted much quicker than the lightning.
As for the earth dragon, Yue had perfected it.
Pale light streamed from its large eyes and maw like the searching beam of a lighthouse and turned the roaches rushing toward it to stone, their new weighty and petrified forms succumbing to gravity dropping back to the earth.
I skipped over the wind dragon's greenish gold breath and stopped on the ice dragon, watching as it spat an unending beam of chilling frost into the buzzing, writhing mass trying and failing to approach it.
Down on the branch below, Siv fought off the scant few stragglers that managed to escape our wrath, slicing them in twain with her sword and shield and crushing them as well. I narrowed my eyes at the sight and sent a message to her and then Yue.
We were indeed fighting back and winning, but we could not rest. The cockroaches could not be allowed to converge.
Seeing as Siv had no way of doing widescale damage, Yue created a smaller version of her wind dragon and sent it over to help her just in case the roaches overwhelmed her or decided to ignore her and merge.
This drained her impressive and fast recovering mana even more, but a promise to let her eat as much as she could once were out of here placated her.
My earlier bout of jealousy faded back to nothing as the battle went on. It seems I hadn't truly understood what it meant for my cursed energy to recover 100 times faster than normal.
I mean I did—the original rate of recovery was 0.1 percent of my total per second. With the recent boost, it was now 10 percent per second. It was crazy to read on paper and much more insane when I actually exercised it.
Keeping up the flow of cursed energy to my fingers was not in the least bit a struggle. There was no sense of a drain on the pool that always hung back somewhere.
No matter how much I amped the energy in the beams, there was more and more rushing to fill the void they left behind, all of it eager for me to call upon. All in all, I was more confident than ever.
Yue would not be fighting Ehit if I could help it. Right after here, we'd rest a bit and go for the Metamorphosis labyrinth next. After that, we'd take an extended period of rest to wait for the Haulia and consolidate everything we'd gained.
My trip to the Northern Mountain Range would happen during that time. There were a ton of monsters there. Gorging upon all of them had to give me a pretty significant boost.
For now though, I would focus on exterminating these disgusting cockroaches down to the last one. With how much energy and zeal we put into doing that though, it seemed we were getting to the end.
On all our ends, the tides began to shrink and slow. I sent a word of caution to the girls and we all went vigilant, watching for any sudden ambushes from giant cockroaches or hidden magic circles.
When we found nothing of the sort and the cockroaches completely thinned out, Yue and I rejoined Siv on the branch and finished off the last of them, the tigress stomping the last few under her boot.
"Are you okay?" I asked Siv, moving toward the sweating tigress with Yue pressed into my side.
She huffed and whipped her head from side to side, sheathing her sword and locking her shield on her back. "I'm fine sir," she smiled.
Nodding, I took her hand and turned to watch the changes taking place with our success. Interlocking branches grew out of the three and joined to form a staircase that led upwards to a spot shining with white light.
Pulling Siv into me with a small tug, I reaffirmed my hold and her and Yue's waists before leaping. I ignored the stairs entirely and landed at the top near the light. It swallowed us immediately and faded to reveal a garden.
Unlike the huge trees in the forests, the ones here were short and thin. Normal sized one you'd find on the side of the street or in someone's backyard back on earth.
Above us, the sky was so close I was sure I could touch it with a jump, and the air was crisp and clean, even more than air in the Sea of Trees and Tortus as a whole. How such a thing was possible, I didn't know.
What I did know though was where we currently found ourselves.
"We're on top of the tree," I said out loud, gesturing around us and at the largest tree present.
Siv seemed alarmed, but I could sense it drain away as quickly as it came. She'd experienced too much of the labyrinths in the short time she joined us for this to stun her.
Yue's curiosity on the hand, continued to climb as we made our way towards the small island the big tree rested on. "What do you think? Spatial Barrier to keep out the clouds and keep air in?"
"Mmn… the cold too. But I don't think that's all of it."
"Yeah. There's the security aspect too. That one is probably handled by Spirit and Evolution."
She kept looking around but nodded all the same.
Upon arrival at the edge of the canal encircling the island, we walked through a pretty arch formed from leaves, vines and branches and crossed the small bridge to the tree.
In an arrangement similar to the one below, there was an upright stone slab near the tree and it lit up with our presence.
The verdant energy flowed from the slab into the canal and soon we were surrounded by a ring of green, tiny motes of light of the same color rising from it.
Simultaneously, the familiar mind probe and memory inscription began, and all three of us winced and grunted. While this occurred, branches extended from the tree and coiled around the glowing slab.
The green tendrils coiled and folded into themselves, a few of the light motes from the canal rising and rushing into them before they took the shape of a head.
From the head, a neck and a pair of shoulders joined before the coloration changed from the brown and green of the tree to skin, hair and a normal visage. Well, normal in an elf sort of way.
This woman, Lyutillis Haltina if I was correct, was the creator of this labyrinth. She was also the queen of the beastmen in the distant past. Gazing at her regal demeanor though, brought some not so pure thoughts to mind.
I recalled that behind this mask of nobility and wisdom she wore was a hardcore masochist that enjoyed being demeaned both verbally and physically and wished for such treatment all the time.
Turning to Siv with a smirk, the tigress aware of my thoughts, I found her red and unable to meet my gaze. I couldn't wait to leave this place.
Status Plate already in hand, I fought the strong gravitational pull it had gained since I retrieved it from the Treasure Trove and listened attentively to Haltina's message.
She had way more to say compared to Oscar, Miledi, and Meiru Melusine.
Apart from the usual stuff about freedom and not using her magic for evil, she elaborated on what her magic could do and concept magic as well, going into detail and telling us about the ones she'd been able to create with the partnership of her fellow liberators.
Her explanation refreshed my memory and educated Siv and Yue. Near the end, the center of the stone slab slid back to reveal a circular device and she explained what it did.
I had forgotten about this thing.
While she brought her explanation and entire message to an end, I stepped forward and grabbed the Compass of Eternal Paths, turning it over. On its lower side, her crest was emblazoned, meaning this not just an artifact, but the proof of conquering her dungeon.
Looking up again, I caught Haltina turning green and brown as she retreated into the tree again, her message complete. A bit nonplussed, I rejoined the girls and held up my Status Plate to read the changes, smiling and lowering it.
Storing it and the compass, I looked between the girls and asked, "You girls okay?"
Nods all around. Great.
"Babe, take us home."
Faster than she conjured it in the labyrinth, Yue whispered a chant and created a portal that we all hopped into, my pants uncomfortably tight.
[Rick-Updated Skills]
Reverse Cursed Technique, Cursed Tool Creation, Increased Cursed Energy Output, Black Flash, Simple Domain, Domain Amplification, High Speed Cursed Energy Recovery, Increased Cursed Energy Efficiency (Conversion ratio of cursed energy to physical attributes is 1:100),
Heavenly Restriction (Convert physical attributes to cursed energy and vice versa.), Lightning Resistance, Night Vision, Poison Resistance , Paralysis Resistance, Petrification Resistance, Fear Resistance, All Elemental Resistance
[/spoiler]
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SMACK!
"Mmmnnn…"
SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!
Her muffled moans the most beautiful music to my ears, I brought both hands down on Siv's tight, rippling ass cheeks more than a few times, enjoying the feel and the sight of her shapely buns in the black, skintight leather.
Glancing a quick glance to the pile that was her armor thrown to the side, I smacked down one last time before kneading and squeezing, the bruising force in my grips causing her to mewl and sway from side to side.
Lips curling at her heightening arousal, I grabbed hold of her pants and pulled my hands apart, ripping them and the thin undergarment hiding the evidence of her arousal from me.
Her reddened cheeks marked with the palm prints of yours truly entered my sight, and it made a stiff part of me jump a few times.
Squeezing her sore cheeks and getting more whimpering moans, I dove into her muff and licked across it from top to bottom. She squealed and went rigid, her drawn out orgasmic moan muffled by the mattress.
Obviously unsatisfied with just that, I worked my jaw and strummed her engorged clit with my tongue, the larger than normal bean peeking through the top part of her folds.
Less than a minute of attention earned me another body-wide muscle spasm and a long, muffled squeal. Shaking my head at how quickly she came, I focused my attention on her fold and cavern next, eating her out with wild abandon.
There were some slurred words and even tapping on my arms for me to stop, but when I caught the offending limbs and locked them in place to continue with my "meal," she came even harder and showered with the evidence of her enhanced arousal.
Clear liquid dripped down my face, I licked my lips and shook my head again, ignoring the tiny jets that continued to shoot out of her twitching sex. Doing away with my shirt and belt, I forced my boots off and lowered my pants and underwear.
My stiff and throbbing mast sprang free and I inched forward, grabbing her tail by the base with my left hand. Her subtle twitches stopped that instant and I slapped her reddened right cheek. "Up," I ordered.
Getting what I meant with that, Siv raised her chest from the bed and supported herself on her arms, her tail vibrating in my grip as she turned to look at me with reddened cheeks and a breathy expression.
My smirk gone, I met the expectation in her gaze and said, "No matter what happens, do not drop your arms. I'll have to punish you otherwise. Am I clear?"
"Y-yes sir."
"Good girl."
Without even acknowledging the reaction my words garnered, I pressed my lower head on her cave entrance and pushed. She stopped looking at me as her arms wobbled, her back curving in my sight.
Applying more strength in the thrust, I pushed into her till I felt I could go no further, the sudden contact sending a tremble through her and making her torso shake and go lower.
While she summoned more strength to heed my orders, I dragged myself out of her clawing depths and threw my waist forward again, repeating the motion and settling into a comfortable rhythm of thrusts and slaps.
"Ohhh….ohhhhh…oohhhhhhh!"
She started to moan again, and the sheer pleasure in them made me spear her faster and increase the strength in the slaps.
Her next rise to the peak came right after a slap, my length slipping out of her with an obscene noise as she wailed and thrust her waist back in search of it, pressing her ass flat against my crotch instead and spraying it with her ejaculate.
My hard dick bobbed up and down at the needy and erotic sight, but I shifted my gaze upward and found the tigress forcing herself up on wobbly arms.
"...Someone's been a bad girl," I said right before bringing an arm down on her stinging cheeks, earning myself a jet of clear liquid. "Looks like I need to discipline you." Slap!
Another splash of water hit my lower abdomen and I let go of her tail, both hands settling on the sides of her waist like clamps. Dragging my slick length across her swollen folds and beany, protruding clit, I brought my engorged head to a stop right above her twitching hole.
A slight push sent me right into her suctioning depths, right back to the sweet spot I'd come to determine didn't batter her womb all the time.
Reaffirming my grip on her waist and my stance, I pushed past this spot and pressed my head firmly on the soft fleshy ring at the end like it was a big red button, ignoring the squeals and body-wide convulsions it triggered.
Drawing my waist back with slight difficulty, I pulled out my entire length before sheathing myself back into her in one uninterrupted stroke, going all the way to the back of her cavern.
Her keening wails spiked and her struggles intensified, but I paid them no mind and held her in place, repeating the motions and picking up speed with each retreat and descent.
Wet and amorous smacking filled our makeshift bedroom as my upper thighs smacked her battered ass in quick continuous claps, sending a hypnotic jiggle through them each time.
My slick length and her abused sex became a blur of pale flesh and clear splashes, the sounds and various forms of contact, outward and inward, driving the both of us crazy.
I hammered on the door to her womb with every thrust, giving her equal doses of pain and pleasure, the spikes in both reducing her to a mess of a woman that seemed to melt into the mattress.
Her torso was pressed flat against it, her ass and legs held up by me. She stayed that way for most of the duration of the "punishment," her thoughts a jumbled mess and throat hoarse from the screaming.
Darting my gaze left for a bit, I didn't hold back the eruption once I felt it coming and buried myself in her completely, triggering her own orgasm while I gave her the result of mine.
Even though her body was completely sapped of strength, her soaked tunnel came alive with a ferocity that made me stagger behind her, the muscles of her inner walls suddenly working with concerted effort to drain me dry.
"Fuck!" A frown making its way to my face, I adjusted my shaky footing and held onto her for dear life, feeling as though my whole body was going to be sucked along with my seed.
Jerking and grunting loudly with each rope that shot free, I trembled on top of her for more than a minute before releasing a long huff and pulling back, escaping the loosening hold of her cavern.
'That was… intense.'
My stamina proving its worth as it always did, my quickened breath returned to normal in seconds and I looked away from Siv to the left with a smile.
An inviting and hungry smile met my own and I threw off my clothes completely, little Rick rising to the challenge as I dove into Yue's waiting arms and pussy.
*****
A/N: As always, let me know your ideas, thoughts and comments. And please leave a review.
Thanks for reading.