Chapter Twenty A New Familiar and …
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I'm sorry for the long wait, but last week the family decided to watch something called Glee. Not very easy to focus when your ears are hurting, and I normally write my chapters on the living room sofa. I tried to write in my room, but the wooden chair I use isn't the most comfortable. Its fine for a short period, but anything prolonged like writing can be problematic. Still would have had it out yesterday, but I tend to crash around thanksgiving, and the chapter was only about half finished yesterday. I spent all morning finishing this chapter.

Arlie stared at herself in a mirror they had found in a safe room. They had finally made it to the fifth floor. Reflected in the mirror, she could see a small cute girl. Her large breasts contained only by a single strip of cloth. It had slipped a bit, and her nipple could be seen poking out. The only other piece of clothing on her body was a small pair of panties that hugged her skin. Once again she found herself wondering why she had agreed to wear this. Not only did the set look erotic, but it had some hidden downsides that she hadn’t noticed. One was a minor curse that meant she could not remove it during the dungeon run, but the other downside was going to make things awkward after the run. The clear sticky fluid running down her leg was evidence of her recent activities with the twins. The underwear didn’t say it at first, but it required the wearer to have sex regularly to keep the benefits.

Footsteps behind her signaled Lily approaching. Seeing her half-naked in the mirror caused a heat to rise in her belly, and she felt herself getting wet again. That was the other problem they had underestimated about this underwear. The constant state of arousal and the strong urges it gave them. Another regret she had about agreeing to wear it, was that now she couldn't even pretend that she wasn’t attracted to the twins. At least she now knew they were more attracted to her than the two boys in the party. Either that or they were simply more comfortable doing it with her, as they hadn’t even touched the two boys that way.

As for the Alra, she had chosen to accept it as a familiar. She had come to the conclusion that its uses outweighed her emotional feelings about the creature. Once they were done with the dungeon she planned to craft a summoning seal, and send it home to watch her garden. With the seal, she would be able to summon it if she needed it and then send it back. Summoning was a common principle to use with familiars. It was also the best thing she could do with an Alra. Afterall they had a walking speed that was far slower than that of a human. So if she kept the creature with her, they would have to reduce their travel speed. She still hadn’t decided on a name for her new familiar, but that could wait.

Looking back over her shoulder, she suppressed her urge to tackle her friend. Something she did with difficulty, and only because they had done it recently. She was really really regretting putting the underwear on. It was very difficult to think through the constant arousal, and it also made it hard to focus. Most of the time she couldn’t focus enough to cast a spell. Well, the exception to that was lightning spells those came so easily to her that she could cast them with barely a thought. This became especially true thanks to that focus upgrade that she got on the third floor.

Lily giggled cutely, and said, “We are about ready to challenge the boss.”


The fifth floor had been decently challenging, especially given how easily distracted they got thanks to the underwear. The basic monster on the floor were dual elemental golems. These Molten-earth golems were quite tough, and it was difficult to fight them up close. They even had armored cores that could take quite a bit of damage. Not to mention they were very resistant to the fire and lightning spells that Arlie was best with. Her shadow spell could damage them, but she had difficulty focusing long enough to cast the spell. This meant she was forced to engage them up close when the opportunity presented herself. On the other hand, this allowed her to save a lot of mana for healing spells. They had accrued so many burns while fighting on the floor that she had gotten fairly good at healing them.

Arlie hadn’t quite figured out what the boss for the floor would be. She had been a little too distracted to put the clues together. Every time she noticed the twins or her new familiar her gaze would focus on their assets, and a heat would build in her abdomen. As they headed for the boss door, she did her best not to look at her female companions. She also avoided looking at the boys, but that was for a different reason. The last time she had looked their way, she spent half an hour trying to repulse Thron’s advances. So she pointedly avoided looking their way, and made her disinterest as obvious as possible. Anyway about the boss, while she hadn’t figured out what it was she did have a general idea. Many of the clues hinted at a metallic beast, and a few murals had depicted a silvery serpent swallowing villagers whole.

So she was pretty sure she would be facing a metallic serpent but she wasn’t entirely sure what monster it would be. There were several different such monsters that she had heard of, but the only ones she knew anything about were the kind local to Varixyies. There were two species that could be described as a metallic serpent that were native to Varixyies, and they were Wryms a relative of dragons. The first and generally more well known were the Anxili who general grew to be around forty meters long, and spent the majority of their lives underground. They had occasionally been seen surfacing, and snatching Spinebacks from below, but not often. They were mostly found in Northern Varixyies, but sightings were rare. The other race is mostly found in a large lake found in the mountains of the northern part of the Drakian range. They are actually a type of sea dragon, and can grow to be utterly massive. They typically lay their eggs in this particular lake, and when the young reach a certain size they travel down the river to open sea. It was actually quite the sight to see, and she had actually seen it the last time it happened with her mother. That had been before she had lost her, and was one of her fondest memories of her mother.

Other than the fact that both species shared some dragon lineage, and where they could be found she didn’t know much about them. So whatever serpent this turned out to be, she would have to learn its weaknesses in battle. Arlie hoped she could stay focused long enough to tackle it, but the set did provide decent protection. In the future however she was never going to agree to wear a set with similar enchantments. No matter how good it looked. The twins likely felt the same way, and wouldn’t risk it again.

They reached the boss door without incident, and Arlie stepped forward to open it. The boys being the most focused of the group hung back and watched for threats. The door was locked with a simple puzzle, but it took her a while to open it. At least this time, there was no gauntlet that she had to fight through to reach the boss. Once she worked out the puzzle, the door opened slowly. As it swung inward it revealed a massive room that resembled a cavern. In the center of the room was a large lake, and the room was thick with concentrated mana. It was so dense that even the magically inept Horon felt the magic. She noticed him jump the moment he crossed the threshold. The sheer amount of mana in the air woke her up fully. For the first time since she put the underwear on, she was entirely clear-headed. Well almost anyway, her arousal was still there as a dull buzz in the background. She didn’t need to look to notice that the others were also focused.

Mana this thick could only mean one thing, the boss of the floor was powerful.  Powerful monsters could often be found attracted to regions thick in mana. This was especially true of corrupted mana, but the mana here was pure. She could literally feel a divine element to the flavor of the mana here. Given this was a dungeon under a temple, it made sense to encounter divine mana down here. The ignorant often gave an element to divine mana, usually light. That was wrong, and completely incorrect as divine mana had no element. It was a strange mana that was thicker more pure, and stronger than normal mana. It was also resistant to corruption, and spells that employed it would naturally counteract corrupted mana. Her mother had told her little about this kind of mana, and the books she had been left didn’t say much more. When she had asked her cousin about it, her questions had been left unanswered on the grounds that she wasn’t ready for the knowledge. Ria told her that she needed to reach at least Archmage level before she was even ready to learn more about it.

Looking around the room she saw no evidence of the boss, but now she was wishing she knew more about divine mana. As it likely would have influenced the boss. Suddenly a mighty roar echoed across the chamber. From the water, a massive metallic serpent rose. Its head turned to regard them, and it glared at them with stunning glowing gold eyes. The creature was easily over a hundred meters long. Its entire body covered with rugged silvery scales, and its back had many ridges along its length. Folded near its head was a pair of feathery looking white wings. It had a single blue stripe across its back. The creature opened its massive jaws revealing an intimidating set of fangs, and it roared again. Then suddenly it unleashed a firey beam of devastation in the direction of the intruding party. Luckily they were already on guard, and scattered avoiding any damage from the creature’s attack. Arlie knew at a glance it wasn’t any serpent she knew of.

She began channeling lightning mana, and drew the blade at her hip. It wasn’t as good as her own sword, but it would do the job. A magical beam hit the serpent in the side of the face, and it roared. Firing back its own deadly pulse in the direction of Lily who had been the one to fire off the bolt. She rolled out of the way of the beam, and narrowly avoided being cooked by the powerful magical attack. At the same moment, it swept its tail across the surface of the water, and Arlie was hit by the wave of water that resulted. She slammed into the wall of the cavern, and groaned. Getting back up, she found that the damage was fairly light. 

Her sword was still in her grip, and now fully charged with lightning mana. She flicked the blade, and a thunderbolt lept from the blade. The resulting cry of pain from the creature was drowned out by the crashing thunder that accompanied her magical attack. It lashed out, and another wave of water slammed her into the wall. Then a body slammed into her. It was Horon who had been swept of his feet by the wall of water.

It took her a few moments to extricate herself from Horon’s weight, and then she glanced up to see the creature was busy sweeping a beam across the other side of the cavern. Then two magical beams slammed into its side. Its scales melted, and holes formed in its flesh. The serpent’s attack paused for a moment, and then it roared in pain before unleashing another attack in the general direction of the twins. It was becoming obvious this was going to be a long slog of a battle. The boss monster thanks to its size had immense vitality, and its strong magical attack could spell instant death if it hit. Turning to Horon, she helped him get on his feet. Then pointed him towards some rock formations that would provide good cover. He ran for them, and she made her way towards another formation. Horon and Thron weren’t going to be of much use here as long at that serpent stayed in the water.

She had just made it behind the rocks when it swung its tail again. A wave of water slammed into the rocks, but this time she wasn’t swept away by it. With the rocks keeping her safe, she started to channel another spell. She was feeling very good about lightning here, and a part of her mind was fantasizing about her after battle reward. Not far from her position, she found her new familiar hunkered down behind the rocks. Arlie actually expected this, as the Alra didn’t have any good abilities for fighting a large serpent. She wasn’t all that good with ranged weapons, but the little plant girl had proven to be decent at nature magic. Her spells were very effective against golems, especially those of the earth element. None of them were going to be effective against a large creature, however. No surprise given that the Alra was barely a mid mage in terms of ability.

In the distance, the creature had apparently paused for a moment. Given the strength of that magical attack it had, she guessed it needed to recharge a bit before it could unleash more destruction. Two beams from opposite directions raked across its flesh, and the thing roared loudly. Its tail swept the water, and a wave swept across the rocks. As the water was flowing back into the central lake, Arlie sprang up from behind her cover. A swing of her blade unleashed another magical bolt of lightning that crackled and roared with its intensity. The very mana in the air rushing to fuel the spell. The resulting bolt was the most powerful lightning spell Arlie had ever cast, and the serpent screamed in pain as the smell of sizzling flesh reached their noses. The creature thrashed, and a violent wave of water washed up onto the rocks. Arlie ducked behind the rocks, and was soaked by the water going over the rocks.

Poking her head up, after a couple moments of silence, she saw the creature sprawled across the lake. Its head resting on the rocks some distance away. A small figure could be seen charging the head, there was a flash and blood flowed from the creature. Then the figure stabbed down, and another flash came. The serpent’s body disappeared in a flash of light, and the lake suddenly drained revealing the stairway to the next floor at its bottom. Piled where the creature’s head had been was their rewards for defeating the boss. Arlie was barely thinking of the loot, but instead was looking for the twins. 

I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and by the way the boss is based off something. I wonder if any of you can put the hints together, and tell me what. I will give you two last hints. The letter P and the letter G. P is from the source, and G is from the name of the creature I based its off of.

 

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