Defeat. At least in the short term, defeat had been … nice. Ari could get use to the sort of manhandling Victoria had subjected her to. Talk about someone Ari wouldn’t have hesitated for a second inviting into the Menagerie. Not that she could. Level thirty six. She hadn’t stood a chance winning, and opening up that possibility.

Defeat in the mid and long term, though. How would it work?

“Alright,” Victoria said. “Let’s get going. The Core is waiting for you.”

Though Ari had been thoroughly fucked, and even passed out from the intensity, it hadn’t left her immobile. And, apparently a considerate woman, despite the condescending dirty talk, she had let Ari stir back awake and return to her senses before setting off. She could’ve easily carried her, but hadn’t.

So, climbing shakily to her feet, Ari realized she could … run? If she wanted to? Shirk the punishment of losing to an opponent monstergirl?

As soon as the thought popped into her head, some foreign influence slammed into place. No, she couldn’t do that. Physically, she might be able to try, but her mind shied from the concept. Locked her out from even attempting.

So … there was one of the penalties to losing, apparently. A seriously creepy one. Ari could recognize her class was enforcing a penalty, and had even suspected something of the sort would happen, but experiencing it, still, was unnerving. Having free will locked away, in any capacity, was obviously something that unsettled her.

Ari’s muscles were sore. She had cum really hard, back to back to back. Her thighs were wet from Victoria’s excessive payload. The buckets she’d pumped into Ari had spilled out, leaving her stomach flat again, and now pooled on the floor.

Trying to ignore the upsetting directive that had settled into her mind, forcing her to obey Victoria’s instructions, she asked, “The Core?” It was hard to form thoughts when she’d been so amazingly satisfied. It would be a few minutes before she was fully functional. “But … why does she want to see me?”

“She’s interested in you. What you’ve been doing to her subjects.” She looked down at herself pointedly. “Me.” Then, she turned, and impatiently gestured for Ari to follow her. Ari guessed they’d walk and talk.

She glanced back at Cece and Opal. Cece had won, and pretty thoroughly, as Ari had known would happen. Opal lay on the ground, panting, with fluttering eyes. She looked as well-fucked as Ari felt. Cece was a miniboss. Despite being the same level as Opal, Cece was a stronger entity than a regular monster—an encounter designed for a team to take on.

“But …”

“She’ll be taken care of,” Victoria said. Another impatient wave. “Come.”

This time, Ari didn’t get a choice in the matter. Victoria emphasizing the point, that same foreign influence forced her into motion. Her legs carried her along without her explicit guiding of them.

So. She belonged to Victoria because of her defeat. For how long? The effect had to be temporary, right? She guessed, even if upsetting, being put under her opponent’s control for some set of time—even indeterminate—was better than how normal adventurers were treated in defeat. As in … death. At least she didn’t think Victoria would do anything horrible to her, for all her less-gentle nature than many of the monstergirls Ari had encountered.

She followed Victoria into the hidden bowels of the dungeon. “What is this place?” she asked, intrigued, peering around at the crudely dug tunnels. It didn’t have the same feel as the rest of the dungeon.

“Access ways,” Victoria said. “For getting around.”

Her tone wasn’t rude, but she also didn’t seem eager to answer Ari’s questions. She was clearly here under orders. Had said as much, earlier. Being forced to take care of someone a sixth her level and deliver Ari to the Core was, as she’d pointed out, an errand, and a disrespectful one for a person of her status. She’d enjoyed using Ari, but that euphoria passed, she’d returned to being annoyed.

“She,” Ari said. She had other questions, but since Victoria’s tolerance was limited, she had to go for the ones that mattered. Especially with such a small time window until the inevitable meeting. “The Core is a she?”

Victoria slowed. She glanced at Ari.

“Huh,” she said. “Maybe? I never thought about it. But it’s the word I used.” She shrugged and continued forward. Obviously, her sudden sapience, the strangeness of these revelations, didn’t affect her like they did most monstergirls. A straightforward woman, who didn’t care much for puzzling over the strangeness of her circumstances. Ari could tell that much.

“And should I … be worried? About this meeting?”

“I don’t know. Dungeon Cores are capricious. She’s fair to us, but …” She shrugged.

Well. That was a concerning response. Also in line with what Cece had said.

“I don’t know what she wants,” Victoria continued. “And I don’t care. I follow orders.” She hummed, a distinctly irritated noise. “Even when those orders are beneath me.”

“Come on. You didn’t have fun?”

Victoria glanced back. She seemed amused at Ari’s teasing, not flustered. “I have a floor to be running.”

Which piqued Ari’s interest enough to stop her from further teasing. “You organize them, somehow? A manager?”

“I’m the floor boss.”

“But bosses are … bosses in that way, then?”

Victoria looked at her like she’d asked a stupid question, so Ari defended herself. “Hey. It’s not like I know how dungeons work, okay?”

Victoria grunted in acknowledgment.

The two of them walked for a while. The descended deeper and deeper, sometimes in sharp, inclined stairways, sometimes in a slow, winding descent through the cramped ‘access ways’. Victoria barely fit in them; her horns brushed the ceiling, and she had to walk with a hunch. She really was enormous, by far the biggest monstergirl Ari had run into. In more ways than one.

“What’s it like?” Ari asked. “Running a floor of a dungeon?”

“Busy.”

“But—” Ari started.

“Less talking,” she said, her patience for Ari’s questions apparently having run out.

“I’m just—“

“Less talking,” she repeated.

Like before, the emphasis in her words took Ari’s choice in the matter away. Her teeth clicked shut. She frowned. She didn’t think Victoria knew it worked like that, because she glanced back, as if surprised that Ari had actually gone silent. Maybe that was a good thing? That she didn’t know the power she had? Though, again, she didn’t think Victoria would abuse it.

Maybe Ari wouldn’t mind her abusing it, just a bit. Being bossed around? Against her will? Well, that was problematic for sure, but … kind of excited her, despite that.

If only she didn’t have this whole, ‘Dungeon Core’ business hanging over her head. Being Victoria’s plaything would’ve been fun, minus that stress.

Silently, they trekked along, winding deeper and deeper into the dungeon.