The Minion's Forest (4)
Whether I wanted it or not, a battle of pride between a half-vampir and a Lamia had begun.
"Introduce yourselves before we fiiight!"
"A sound principle. A true martial artist must exchange names before a spar."
"Sophia's minion! Mom's daughter! Mad Demon's daughter! Big sister to Evril and Evni and Lulu! Lan-lan-i!"
There was something almost magical about Lan-lan-i's self-introduction — the kind of charm that left you smiling in spite of yourself.
"Whaaat weapon do you useee? Naa-a uses a trident!"
"Lan-lan-i's weapons are fists and feet!"
Lan-lan-i threw a jab into empty air. The sharp crack of displaced wind made the Lamia flinch.
"Y-yeah! You really are strong, just like a goddess's minion should beee! But Naa-a's strong toooo!"
The Lamia hoisted her trident overhead and spun it in a flourish. Water welled from the three spear-tips and swelled into a massive orb.
If I took this Lamia into a desert, at least I wouldn't have to worry about drinking water.
"This is Naa-a's secret spear techniqueee!"
She shouted with pure excitement — and promptly lost her grip on the trident. Of all directions, it shot straight toward Lan-lan-i.
Lan-lan-i, mid-applause, scrambled to dodge but couldn't quite clear it. A thin cut opened on her arm and blood welled up. Her face twisted into something ugly.
"That's dirty! Lan-lan-i won't go easy anymore!"
"Huh? Huuuh?? Nooo, that was an accident!"
"Don't lie! Lan-lan-i doesn't fall for the same trick twice!"
The Lamia made a pitiful face, but Lan-lan-i was already past mercy. Without so much as a thought for defense, she charged in a straight line and started wailing on the Lamia with both fists.
"Hwaaah! I said it was an accident!"
"Liar! A beating is the best medicine!"
"Uuuugh!!"
The Lamia blocked Lan-lan-i's punches with her tail, teeth gritted. Her cheeks puffed out in pure indignation — she looked that wronged.
"Naa-a can't take it any more either!"
She raised a hand and the trident came flying back. Lan-lan-i sidestepped a few paces to avoid the spear aiming for her back.
"Hiyaah!"
Clang.
Then she simply smashed the shaft of the trident as it flew in a straight line. The Lamia, reaching to catch it, closed her fingers on empty air.
"Huhhh?"
"Going for Lan-lan-i's back?! Mad Demon said a wound on the back is a minion's shame! You were trying to humiliate Lan-lan-i! Unforgivable!"
"C-come back!"
Clang!
Even while raining punches and kicks on the Lamia, Lan-lan-i kept intercepting the trident's return. She battered it with her fists, then used droplets of blood to pin it completely in midair.
"Lan-lan-i fights remarkably well. She is controlling her blood without waste, too."
"Yeah. Cheonsol taught her right."
"Heh heh. You may praise this lady a little more, if you wish."
While the rest of us were absorbed in our daughter's performance, Sophia stayed a touch more clinical.
"Lan-lan-i inherited Yohan's Iron Man talent. And yet the Lamia managed to cut her skin with a surprise attack? She's still blocking punches cleanly with her tail, too. Good offense, good durability — all of it."
Sophia had a point. The Lamia looked solid. She'd been put on the back foot because she was a bit of a klutz, but if she'd fought properly from the start, Lan-lan-i would have had a rough time of it.
"Nnngh! Take Naa-a's skiiill!"
The Lamia windmilled her arms in a frantic circle. A water cannon erupted from the ring she'd drawn.
I had an epiphany.
"So the Lamia's a water-attribute minion!"
Of course a game needed elemental attributes. Lamia was water, Lan-lan-i was brawler-type, and me… holy attribute, maybe?
True to her element, the Lamia sprayed water cannons everywhere. Lan-lan-i compacted blood droplets into a shield, but the water punched straight through it.
Not because Lan-lan-i's power was weaker — she'd simply bled too little, and lost the war of volume.
"Trident, come baaack!"
The Lamia seized the opening as Lan-lan-i fell back and reclaimed her weapon. Bracing herself on her tail, she thrust the trident forward — and the pressure rolling off her was genuinely threatening.
"Naa-a's invincible nowww! Naa-a said it was an accident and you didn't liiisten! Time for reveeenge!"
"Lan-lan-i won't lose!"
Lan-lan-i suddenly shot me a look.
"Mad Demon! Cheer!"
"Huh? Go Lan-lan-i?"
Minion — Lan-lan-i's skill 'Dad, Cheer Me On'
Having received her father's cheer, Lan-lan-i's physical abilities rise across the board.
Sophia had always called a non-combatant minion handing out buffs a broken skill — and then complained that it was a shame the buff never applied to Lan-lan-i herself.
But now that Lan-lan-i was a minion? It had evolved into a two-way mutual buff. An absolute cheat skill!
"Lan-lan-i's the best!"
"A true martial artist grows in the midst of battle. This lady is proud of Lan-lan-i."
"Awawa..."
Sophia was so overjoyed she couldn't even form coherent words. Lan-lan-i crouched slightly and made her declaration.
"Lan-lan-i feels power surging up three times over. This is the feeling of the Rape Demon that Mad Demon always talked about."
"Mad Demon. When we return home, you and this lady are going to have a talk."
Cheonsol, Sophia, and the spirits all stared at me like I was garbage. I was the victim here.
"Eeeek!!"
The Lamia screamed. The tip of the trident she'd been thrusting so boldly drooped toward the ground.
"R-rape...? But we're both giiirls..."
"No more talking!"
Lan-lan-i charged the Lamia. The ground shook — she'd unleashed that Cheonsol Dominion Step of hers.
But the Lamia was a species that braced on a tail. The contact surface was far broader than two feet, and she rode out the tremor successfully.
"Naa-a will protect her chastityyy! Naa-a will never lose to yooou!"
Tears welled in the Lamia's eyes as she shouted. The moment a tear struck the trident, a blue light flared along the blade.
Sky-Leon, who still hadn't left and had been watching with rapt interest, suddenly launched into an explanation.
— Tears are salty. Seawater is salty. The Sea God's spear drinks tears and raises the ocean.
What kind of nonsense is that? Anyone who'd cracked open a science textbook for five minutes would know that was garbage.
"I see!"
Sophia was impressed. If it was a law of the universe, there was nothing to be done about it.
"The skiiill Naa-a trained while getting yelled at by her big sisters! Sea Miiist!"
Fog billowed from the spear and swallowed the whole area. The mist was so thick you couldn't see a thing inside it.
"Player-exclusive skill! Open Vision!"
Sophia swept her arm, and the interior of the fog became visible.
"It's a player-only skill for when a minion blocks your line of sight! If a minion could get help from the player, it'd be a trash skill — so voice communication is cut off, but you can still see!"
"There's a feature like that? God-tier game design."
With communication locked out, I settled in to enjoy the Lan-lan-i versus Lamia battle in peace.
The Lamia could apparently see through her own mist — she pinpointed Lan-lan-i's position with perfect accuracy and drove the trident home. Whether it was the water energy laced through the spear or just a high-quality item, it punched through Iron Man flesh.
"Surrender! Just surrender alreeady!"
In moments Lan-lan-i was a bloody mess — and she smiled a smile of pure triumph.
"Did you think Lan-lan-i was just taking hits for free? Lan-lan-i has mist too! Blood Mist!"
The blood streaming down Lan-lan-i's skin evaporated and became a crimson fog. Blood Mist and Sea Mist locked into a territorial war.
"Gooooh. Kwaaah!"
"Mad Demon. What exactly are you doing?"
"Felt like it needed sound effects."
The clash of mists was violent enough to warrant them. The Lamia could only see through her Sea Mist, and she lost track of Lan-lan-i's movements again and again.
Lan-lan-i seized the openings and landed her first clean hit.
"Cheonsol Fist!"
A straight punch slammed into the Lamia's solar plexus. Tears squirted from the Lamia's eyes.
"Owwww!"
"Hurt more! Ei! Ei!"
Lan-lan-i drove her fists in with ruthless precision. The Lamia blocked with her tail, but Lan-lan-i's punches — now wrapped in even more blood — shattered the scales.
Watching those beautiful scales crack and green blood drip free was almost painful. Those pretty scales… stroking them during sex would probably multiply the sensitivity several times over…
"Cheonsol Fist! Cheonsol Palm! Cheonsol Kick!"
"Hwaaaaaah!!!"
In the end, moved beyond endurance by the sheer quality of Lan-lan-i's handiwork, the Lamia burst into tears. Lan-lan-i raised both arms like a UFC champion.
"Lan-lan-i wins!"
"Hic… hic… I looost."
True to her water-attribute nature, the Lamia poured out tears in a steady fountain. Sophia worked the system, then started hopping in place with pure delight.
As always, her chest bounced. Those enormous breasts swung up and down, then suddenly whipped sideways in a long arc, bobbed upward, and settled into a springy bounce right where they started.
"Lamia! You're mine!"
Lamia — Na-a has become Sophia's minion.
Still holding her triumphant pose, Sophia turned to praise the preening Lan-lan-i.
"Lan-lan-i, you did amazing. Growing strong enough to beat a Lamia with two talents and a skill… I think we can look forward to the regular season."
"Lan-lan-i really did great!"
"This lady thinks so as well."
"Dad is really proud of Lan-lan-i too."
After the obligatory round of praise for Lan-lan-i, I checked on the Lamia. She was wiping her tears, still reeling from the shock of defeat.
"Lirota. In my homeland, there's a fable called the North Wind and the Sun."
— And what, pray tell, is the sudden meaning of that, Master?
"I need to cast Holy Magic, so hand over the blood."
When dealing with a slave, you come down like the north wind — cold and relentless. I downed a drop of spirit blood, excellent for restoring Divine Power, and approached the Lamia.
She'd been staring at the ruined scales on her tail with a sigh. Now she looked up at me.
"Whooo are you?"
"Hold still. I'll heal you."
And for the woman who would carry my egg, you come on like the sun — warm and gentle. That was the 19+ version of the traveler's cloak fable. The North Wind and the Sun strategy.