“You are to be rewarded,” I breathed in her ear. “In the fullest manner possible.”
That was her breaking point.
Suddenly, the world pitched as she tackled me to the floor, but I was no longer just a weakling elf. Her own strength now raced through my veins in potent savagery. Her mouth was against mine in an instant, kissing me with wondrous force. Her tongue slid into my mouth as my hands curled into the powerful muscle of her ass and her thighs. My fingers found the fastenings of her bodice, and the knots fell apart with a few well-placed tugs.
I groaned as her teeth sank into my own neck, and I laughed at her mimicry. My right hand caressed her opening, and she squeezed my shoulders as though trying to crush me. My left hand gripped her breast and fondled while her hips rocked against me. I throbbed within my pants and thought to tear them off when the half-troll slid down to my crotch and removed my pants almost delicately.
The first and final delicate movement of the night.
She took me in her hands and then we were complete, united in our thirst for passion. Her hips torqued as she straddled me, her breasts beaded with sweat. Then she used her powerful arms to spin us both so I was on top of her. My tongue found the full curves of her breasts and ventured to the hardness of her nipples.
The dimly-lit halls of the First Floor shook with a half-troll’s moans as her hands found my hair and pulled me closer to her chest. I could have died within her flesh, suffocated between and within the fullness of her.
Except this was only the beginning of my avatar’s timer, and Puck would be gone for the whole hour.
Chapter Nineteen
The echo of Bertha’s final, animalistic moan had barely died away before Puck’s shrill cry rang out. The imp’s clarion call continued as he swept down the stairs and toward the Pretzel.
Had the Sand Pirates finally arrived?
I couldn’t communicate telepathically with the imp while in my avatar form, and didn’t think it kind to Bertha to allow the imp to burst in while she was stark naked. I gave her a passionate kiss, then shifted my consciousness so it returned to the core on its pedestal once again.
At least Puck had obeyed my orders—he’d stayed just shy of the Pretzel while he howled for my attention out of sight. No saying he hadn’t heard anything, but at this point, my mind was far too charged with excitement to care.
Bertha grinned as she watched my elf dissolve into the floor. The half-troll then flipped off her back and landed smoothly on her feet like a circus acrobat. She caught hold of her bodice and refastened it before wrapping her battle skirt around her hips. Her fingers found her flowing hair and tied it into a braid. Her halberd shot to her hands after she scooped it up with her foot.
She was ready for my orders only a few minutes after she’d climaxed; just my kind of girl.
“Reward enough?” I chuckled to her.
“Thank you… Master.” The way she teased out the last word playfully made my jewel flicker mischievously in response.
I ordered Puck into the First Floor’s chamber, and he sprang out of the shadows eagerly. The little guy must’ve had a constant flow of caffeine instead of a bloodstream because the energy levels he had at his disposal were fucking unnatural. I was pleased by it, though—he was my eyes and ears outside of Zagorath and likely fast enough to outrun any potential dungeon divers he discovered. Shadow Crag was quickly becoming familiar territory for him, and that worked for me.
“What do you have to tell me?” I asked from within my jewel.
“There is a party bound for Zagorath, Master.”
“Sand Pirates?”
“Not these.”
“What are they then?” If these weren’t Gavin’s pals, then they must have heard about Zagorath through some other means. It would mean more visitors to my dungeon, but I was happy to entertain any and all guests just for the chance to grow stronger.
“Probably best to call them raiders, Master,” the imp replied. “The name adventurer would not be accurate for thieves and brigands such as these.”
“What more can you tell me of them?”
“There are thirty in all.”
Thirty? Fucking hell. I had five blades, two massive spikes, and twenty Hellbats. And, as I realized after a moment, I had my two champions. We’d killed Gavin as well as an entire horde of imps and a mother-son duo of trolls. Von Dominus wasn’t to be counted out, either, but I was better off using my traps, minions, and champions to deal with the impending horde.
“We can handle them, Master,” Puck said, as though able to read my troubled thoughts. “Twenty-eight are half-orcs, by the looks. Their enchanted brandings aren’t like Gavin’s either. The sigils look less refined, most likely fashioned by an unskilled hand.”
“What about the other two?” I asked.
“Humans. One appears to be a man of magic, and the other has a refined branding much like Gavin had.”
“We will kill them all,” Bertha growled. “Zagorath with never fall to half-orcs and a pair of humans.”
“We won’t be killing all of them,” I cautioned.
“You do not want to consume their essence?” Puck asked, surprised.
“We need at least one survivor to spread word of the dungeon,” I explained. “We can’t kill our only method of advertisement.”
“Understood,” the half-troll said. “Then we will brutalize all except one. Perhaps the human. They have big mouths.”
I smiled at that and realized Bertha knew nothing about my history as a human. She was definitely right, though, about our mouths.
“What should we do now, Master?” Puck circled above my jewel like an eager child.
I cast my mind up to my entrance, but I couldn’t feel any disturbance in the air around it. There wasn’t anything
