“Hehe… I bet that one with the tiger tail is a real animal in bed. I think I’ll fuck her first.”

“Shut the fuck up!”

As much as I was trying to ignore him, the Knight was far more-foul mouthed than I had expected, and his constant yapping mouth was getting to me more and more. Furthermore, the two knights working against Shao were quickly starting to overtake her too.

Shao was a gladiator, but knights were armored men who had true skill. They weren’t like the wild, animal movements she was used to. Furthermore, her strongest ability, the latent Demon Lord job, was blocked out, which also took away all of her strongest buffs and skills. At this point, she was distracted and she couldn’t offer me any support as I fell back more and more. Somehow, the tides had turned, and the two of us were pushed into a corner.

“Actually…” The leader grinned, a flourish taking my sword from my hand and sending it flying across the room. “I think I’m going to enjoy that short-haired one the first. I think they said she had an earth affinity? I might even let her ride on top!”

“Really.” Just as he raised his blade to bring it down, a spike shot through his back, bursting out the front like a chest-burster.

He managed to just turn around as the sword fell to the floor. Standing behind him was Terra.

“I’m a lot to handle… are you sure you wouldn’t break!”

As she said that, she slammed her foot into his balls. It was strong enough that there was a crunching sound as his pelvis shattered and his entire body flew up and hit the ceiling of the room. The last thing he felt as he died was his balls exploding. By the time he hit the floor, the mercy of death had already reached him.

“Masters only!” Nearly a hundred wind blades came spiraling at the backs of the knights as Celeste flew into the room.

As skilled as they were, they couldn’t fight on two fronts. As soon as one turned to defend the blades, Shao gained the upper hand. She cut down the one-eyed man, sending him knocking into the back of the other guy. This allowed several blades to chop at him. As he was still stumbling, Lydia jumped past and took his head.

In seconds, the knights who had almost defeated us were dead. However, I wasn’t rejoicing at all. I had failed to kill even a single one. In the end, it had been the girls who had bailed me out.

“You came…” I said, weakly.

“When Master didn’t return, we guessed where he was going, so we followed.”

Rather than go through a portal, they must have entered from the front, fought through the first level, and made it here just in time.

“I just wanted to protect you…” I said, feeling a bit awkward now. “From… this…”

As a Master, I had failed completely. Not only did they have to bloody their hands, but I came off as probably the most pathetic person possible.

“We wanted to protect Master too!” Lydia responded, a stubborn look on her face. “Master is always cool, so that’s why he must lean on us more!”

“You don’t need to worry,” Miki added. “I made the guards go to sleep. They don’t know we entered.”

“…”

I didn’t know what to say. At the end of it all, was I even needed?

“You bastards!”

While we were starting to calm down, the man I had kicked in the beginning had woken up. He had a broken nose, but otherwise he was fine. Biding his time playing dead, he had chosen the moment we relaxed to grab Shao, holding his dagger up to Shao’s neck. He had already backed into a corner.

“No one move! I’ll cut her throat!” He cursed while spitting out blood.

“Shao…” a sudden rising anger shot in me.

Had I been as decisive as she was, and killed this man upon entering the room, this wouldn’t have happened. It was my own failure that had put her in danger. Shao looked at me with a knowing look. It was a look that said she knew exactly what I was thinking.

“Put your sword up!” The knight bellowed.  “In fact, why don’t you just kill yourself with it”

“I trust you… Master.” Shao smiled, and then closed her eyes.

“Very well…” I lifted my sword up with both hands, the tip facing me.

It was a position that looked like I was about seppuku. The Knight’s eyes widened, and then he let out a laugh of disbelief.

“Haha… do it, or I’ll kill her.”

“As you wish…Switch Position!”

Shao’s eyes opened, and a smile formed on her lips. My eye’s never left Shao. Yet, suddenly we were on opposite sides of the room. I slammed my sword, missing my gut and thrusting it behind me. With all of my force. The knight let out a strangled sound, but I had aimed up, hitting is lung and heart along with way. He only now realized the person in his arms was me, not Shao. He died not knowing at all what just happened.

I let go of the sword, allowing the knight to fall back with it. Shao suddenly ran forward and hugged me.

“See… No matter how hard it is, I knew Master would always do it for me.”

“You allowed yourself to be caught, right? You forced me to kill…”

She looked away, a frown on her face. I reached out and grabbed her chin. At one point, my feelings about her had been a bit mixed. They weren’t anymore.

“Thank you,” I said as I pulled her lips to mine.

“My hero…” she breathed as she kissed me enthusiastically, melting in my arms and becoming as demure as a purring kitten.

“Ah… I want to be saved by Master!” Celeste complained loudly.

“Eh… we killed them all! Quick, someone find a monster so Master can save us!”

“I’m going to wake the knights outside! They’ll definitely threaten me so Master can save me!”

“Wait!” I broke off the kiss and ran to stop Miki from racing out the door.

It took a bit to settle the girls. In the end, I had to play rescue the damsel all night, with girls alternating between the damsel and the knight. The game made no sense because for some reason I had to kiss the knight and the maiden. I’m just glad they didn’t require that I penetrate the knight with my sword, or I’d have been so exhausted come morning we’d be able to make no progress in the dungeon.