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Luka's Story-Paradox	By : Ditmag Category: +M through R > Monster Girl Quest Views: 2709 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Monster Girl Quest Paradox is the intellectual property of Tortorro Restistance. I make no money from this.

Chapter List
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I woke up unable to move. I looked down. I was wrapped in a cocoon up to my chest. Silk may have been a refined lady, but she wasn’t very considerate. I had an appointment. I had no idea what time it was. I looked around to see if anyone was close by who could assist me. To my left I saw a snake body. I looked up. Alice.
“You want to explain to me what happened?” Alice asked.
“Silkworm girl,” I answered.
“That much is obvious. Since when did we recruit a silkworm girl?”
“We didn’t,” I replied. “I found out when I was already half wrapped up.”
“That’s what I suspected,” Alice said, then turned away from me and yelled at the top of her lungs. “Listen up! I want every monster out here right now! Maid!”
One of the automated maids materialized next to Alice. “Yes, your majesty?”
“Get all the monsters who aren’t within earshot out here on the double! I want to see everyone in five minutes!”
“Shall I summon the non-monster residents as well?” the maid asked.
“No, this is strictly a monster problem,” Alice answered, shaking her head. “I swear, you can’t take some of these people anywhere.”
I was still securely cocooned, so I wasn’t going anywhere. Nor was Alice offering any assistance. I tried to shift a little. That was a mistake. My penis moved against the silk, causing an orgasm.
“Fyah!” I cried.
“Really, Luka?” Alice asked with derision. “Try to have a little discipline.”
“You could get me out.”
“Soon. I’m trying to make a point here.”
“You’re not mad at me, are you?”
“At you? No. How can I blame you for getting ambushed while out on a jog? What were you going to do, blow her up? Seal her? Beat her up? Actually, I might administer a few beatings myself.”
Monsters began to gather around us, whispering to one another about my current state, as well as Alice’s obvious anger. When enough monsters had gathered to satisfy Alice, she began to let them have it. I made her big with a simple thought so that her words might be taken more seriously.
“Would someone like to explain what is wrong with this picture?” Alice asked the assembled group. I noticed that Silk wasn’t among the assembled.
Kitsu tentatively raised her hand. Alice acknowledged her. “Whoever ate him just left him out here?”
“Very good, Kitsu,” Alice replied. “Luka, you see, has a very important appointment today with the Queen of Grand Noah. In two hours, actually. I’ve been looking all over the place for him, only to find him dumped out here like a discarded food wrapper. There’s been rumors around here about me and Luka. I’m not going to address those rumors at this time, because I recognize that we are all on a vital mission and such a mission requires everyone to be at peak strength. But eating Luka is a privilege. And some of you are abusing that privilege.”
Matis raised her hand. Alice acknowledged her. “He’s really tasty. Heehee.”
“Okay, first off, who are you?” Alice asked. “Were you the one who left all those eggs in the hallway? Secondly, I don’t know half of you! Where did you all come from? What do you contribute?”
No one really had an answer. The ones who contributed didn’t need to brag, and the ones that didn’t were too ashamed to speak up.
“From now on, no one gets recruited without Luka’s approval, or mine! Luka is the leader, and this is my castle! That was rule number one! Rule number two! Some of you think I love this man. Treat Luka as if those rumors are true! Be gentle, and when you’re finished eating, take him back to his room! Don’t leave him like… this.”
There was a guffaw from the back, cut short by Alice’s cold glare. “Rule number three!” Alice shouted. “Stop treating this sacred place as you would your lair in the wild! No laying eggs in hallways! No blocking the hallways with webs! No pooping without cleaning it up! Better yet, POCHI, learn how to use a toilet! We have modern plumbing!”
Pochi looked down and whimpered.
“And Ayisha!” Alice continued. “Does a bear shit in the woods?”
“Um…. Yes?” Ayisha answered tentatively.
“Not in my woods!” Alice yelled. “Ilias stepped in a huge pile of your crap a few days ago and I could hear her cursing all the way up in the throne room! We have extra large toilets! Use them!”
“Hope you have extra large plungers,” someone joked in the back.
“All of you, get out of my sight!” Alice yelled. Most of the monsters left quickly, but a few brave souls, such as Nanabi and a Yuki-Onna I didn’t recognize, stayed behind.
“Can I help you?” Alice asked.
“I’d like to help you,” Nanabi replied. “Shouldn’t we unwrap Luka?”
“I’ll do it,” Alice said. “You can go. We’re about to go into battle, probably sometime in the next few days. Train hard.”
“Yes, your majesty,” Nanabi said respectfully. The Yuki-Onna followed her, looking at me intently as she left. The few other monsters that had stuck around to offer their assistance ambled off to do whatever it was they did.
When everyone was out of sight, Alice turned back to me. She knelt down and picking up a very tiny strand, started to pull on it.
“Alice, there are monsters that can cut this off of me,” I suggested.
“I’m hungry,” she replied by way of explanation. “Now be quiet. This is a very delicate operation. This silk can make you orgasm from the slightest movement….”
“Ah…ah!”
“Argh!” Alice muttered in frustration, grabbing more silk and tearing it off since I was already coming. She exposed my penis and began licking around the area where my semen had spilled. The touch of her tongue on my sensitive shaft as she cleaned me up nearly sent me over the edge again.
“Guh! Alice, if you keep on doing that it’ll be hours before I can go before the Queen!”
“Then it will be hours,” Alice purred. “She knows what you face every day. I’ll just tell her that some monster put you in critical ecstasy.”
“Oh, well I guess that’s tru- Fyah!”
That silk had really done something to my sensitivity. It was an incredible aphrodisiac. Alice had put my penis into her mouth and I’d started coming again. She began greedily drinking it as it spurted out. Just as my orgasm died down, the motion of her swallowing caused it to rise back up again.
“Oh, this is easy!” Alice mumbled with my dick in her mouth, going down on me a few more inches, causing the feeling of orgasm to rapidly overtake me agan. I wasn’t sure how many orgasms I had, as the combination of Alice’s skill and the silk touching me for so long meant that for the next few minutes, I was never NOT coming. All Alice could do was try to keep up, swallowing quickly, trying to keep it from spilling out of her mouth.
I must have been awake all of fifteen minutes before falling into unconsciousness again. The last thing I heard was Silk’s voice.
“Did you like the gift I left you, Monster Lord?”

At least I woke up in an actual bed. I was in Alice’s room, apparently carried there by her. She was in the room with me getting ready to meet with the queen. I looked down. Instead of the nakedness I was expecting, I’d already been dressed, and much better than I would have dressed myself.
“Good, you’re awake,” Alice said. “Maid!”
An automated maid appeared before Alice. “Maid, please summon Ilias, Sonya, and Sara. We’ll depart for the castle as soon as they arrive.”
“As you wish, your majesty,” the maid said tonelessly and disappeared.
“I have to admit, that silk sure did make eating a lot easier,” Alice said conversationally while checking her hair in the mirror.
“As if it was difficult before?” I asked.
“I’m a busy woman. Especially lately. Did you know it had been more than a week since I’d last eaten? So who’s been your favorite girl so far?”
“You, of course.”
“As if you’d pick anyone else,” Alice chuckled. “But seriously, besides me.”
“Most of the girls don’t bother me anymore. Mainly it’s the new ones who come after me.”
“Ah yes,” Alice nodded. “They are still in hunting mode, looking for the choicest cut of man meat. Hopefully what I did back in Yamatai fixed that. You’re going to need your energy.”
“What did you do back in Yamatai?”
“Recruited a few really hot, delicious young men,” Alice said with a smirk. “Yamatai men have potent semen and taste absolutely delectable. Or so I’ve heard. They also stay conscious longer. Did you know that Yamatai men are so strong that they can spend a full year in Yamata No Orochi’s cave and not die?”
“I did know that, actually,” I said. “I helped end her reign of terror back in my world.”
“Impressive,” Alice said, raising an eyebrow. “You somehow managed to resist the temptation of all those lamia heads licking you?”
“Your one head is far better than her eight any day of the week,” I replied.
“Hmmmm….” Alice mumbled, kissing me affectionately. “I might have to let you experience it more often. Assuming you have time. I’m trying to take some of the pressure off of you. The monster population in here got too high. We need to limit ourselves to monsters who can fight. You know who I saw in the hallways yesterday? The Akaname sisters, with Ilias! I hope she wasn’t dumb enough to recruit them. They have literally no use. I can’t imagine a reason why Ilias would want anything to do with those three idiots. Oh, Ilias! We were just talking about you!”
Ilias walked in, followed by Sonya and Sara. “So, we ready to do this?” Ilias asked. “We’re already behind schedule.”
“Luka, would you like to do the honors?” Alice asked. I climbed out of bed and simply wished us back into the Grand Noah Palace.

I was becoming pretty proud of my teleportation skills. Monsters couldn’t safely teleport indoors. I could, because I, and whoever I wanted to take with me, simply ended up wherever I wanted to be, with perfect accuracy. So long as I could clearly picture the place in my mind, that is.
“Good to see you again, Hero Luka,” the queen said, completely unalarmed at our sudden presence. Her guards had nearly had heart attacks. “Did you learn anything while investigating Esta?”
I explained to her what I’d seen in the Tartarus Rift near Esta.
“Angels are involved in the disappearances?” the queen asked, astonished. “I never would have imagined something like that. Thank you for discovering such valuable information. I’m afraid finding answers to why angels are taking people to another universe will have to wait, however. Our preparations for a counterattack on Grangold are complete. As I mentioned before, we would like your help.”
“Within reason, you have it,” I said. “I’d have to hear what the plan is to make a firm commitment to join you in carrying it out.”
“I can explain the details of the plan to them,” Mephisto volunteered. “Shall we go to the war room?”
My companions and I followed the queen and Mephisto to the war room. One of the reasons I couldn’t commit to specifics was Mephisto. I trusted the Queen of Grand Noah. I knew her to be one of the most effective and ethical leaders I had ever had the privilege to know. But Mephisto was a pawn of Alice’s mother, who wouldn’t hesitate to use me for her own purposes. I had to be sure that our interests and Mephisto’s were reasonably aligned.
“Our strategy plans to end this war in one grand move,” Mephisto began once we were all seated. “Not only are the three major allies countries working together, but we have other forces joining in as well.”
“Other forces? Besides us?” I asked
“Actually, I mean just you,” Mephisto answered. “Sara and the elected government of Sabasa approved a Sabasan expeditionary force, and the pope approved one from San Ilia. But you, Luka, and your companions, are the key to the whole thing. The first part of our plan has already been put into motion. We haven’t even hidden our preparations. San Ilia, Sabasa, and Grand Noah are mobilizing their armies. Our enemies will certainly notice. That is our intention. The Grangold army is aggressive and proactive. They will bring their main force into Grand Noah to intercept and disrupt our preparations.”
“Can you win that battle?” I asked.
“It would not be the first large scale battle of this war,” Mephisto answered. “But all of the previous large scale engagements have ended indecisively. I expect this one will as well. Even against all of our combined forces, the Grangold army is somewhat superior. But we have usually inflicted enough losses that they retreat back to their own territory rather than trying to hold ours.”
“That doesn’t actually sound very aggressive,” Alice noted. “At least not strategically aggressive. Grangold uses ants as the backbone of their military. No one is better at using the land to survive and keep supplied. It almost seems as if Grangold wants to keep the war going rather than actually conquering other kingdoms.”
“It is certainly possible,” Mephisto replied. “Your role will be to infiltrate Gold Fort while the bulk of the Grangold army is engaged with our forces. You’ll slip through Gold Fort, and make your way into enemy territory. As a small, elite force, you have a very good chance of succeeding.”
“Getting through Gold Fort doesn’t sound too challenging,” I said. “But what comes next? Are you expecting me and my twenty-odd companions fit to fight to somehow conquer Grangold?”
“We have spies in the enemy’s territory,” the queen said. “They can assist and guide and even soften up hard points in their defense so that you can reach the captitol.”
“So it is an invasion!” Ilias exclaimed. “But twenty people, even with the help of some spies, can’t hold Grangold.”
“Perhaps you would like to listen to the plan rather than make assumptions, Goddess,” Mephisto suggested. “We are not sending you to do anything you are not capable of doing. First, you will stop in a town called Goddard and meet up with a spy of ours who will assist you. Then you will assault the castle and neutralize the Queen Ant. We believe that she is controlling the King.”
“When you say neutralize, you mean kill,” Alice said sourly. “I see the urgency, however. If the Queen Ant is behind this war, then we may have to kill her to end it. Ants follow their queen unquestioningly. If we take out the Queen Ant, Grangold’s forces would fold quickly.”
“I would never suggest such measures under normal circumstances,” the queen said.
“I understand,” I said. “I have my own ideas about what’s going on with the Queen. If she is the mastermind, then I will kill her if necessary. But I’m hoping it won’t be.”
“Do you know something, Luka?” Sonya asked.
“Maybe. We’ll talk about it on the way. So we first go to Gold Fort?”
“First you’ll meet up with one of our agents in the ruins of Lima,” Mephisto instructed.
“Lima was destroyed by the Gold army,” Sara explained. “The villagers were massacred.”
“Yes,” the queen said. “Burn the sight of that town into your minds. That’s the level of brutality the Gold army is capable of. We can never let them reach any more villages. If you fail, our armies have to stop their advances. Many lives will be lost.”
“So, Luka, can we count on you?” Mephisto asked.
“I’m in,” I assured them.

“Are you ready to tell us what you know?” Alice asked as we left the palace. We would head for Lima early in the morning.
“I know the Queen Ant,” I said. “She has no motivation to start a war. I could see her trying to take over Grangold, and maybe that’s what initially happened. She had reasons to attempt that in the world I came from. But if she’s got ambitions of empire, they are coming from someone else.”
“I don’t even want to think about the implications of that,” Alice said. Even someone as dense as I could tell she was thinking about her mother.

I made dinner that night and noticed the change in the atmosphere since Alice had read the monsters the riot act. Gone was the flirting in the kitchen between me and those who helped me, especially Eva and Odette. No one approached me for semen after dinner. I wasn’t disappointed. I found that I enjoyed the ladies’ companionship more than the sex. Most of them were fun and interesting people. I also knew that unless Alice made a move to claim me, most of them would be trying to get into my pants after a decent interval. But with our group going to war, it was probably best that I be at full strength. Some of the monsters had gotten careless with me.
In the morning, our core group set out for Lima. For all the companions I’d assembled, I still didn’t get many opportunities to use them. This particular mission, we decided to keep it small, although if we ran into a large unit of Grangoldian forces, we could always summon the cavalry.
Lima was far worse than I’d imagined. I’d expected a destroyed village, but I hadn’t expected there to still be bodies on the ground. My power rose up in me again, seeking an outlet, seeking someone to lash out at for this carnage. Ilias tried to give me that target. She did not take the site of dead bodies well.
“All these people!” Ilias cried. “I… I did this!”
“You had nothing to do with this, Goddess,” Sonya said gently. “This was…. Whoever is really behind this.”
“No, I know! I didn’t do this, but I did this same thing! All over the world!”
“The Great Monster Wars,” Alice said coldly. “You’re the Goddess! Surely you knew the consequences of your actions!”
“I did….. but I didn’t have to see the results with my own eyes! This is... indescribably awful! How can I ever atone for this?”
“Eden from my world once asked me the same question,” I said. “I’m afraid I can’t give a good answer, other than to tell you to do your best. You’ve taken a lot of lives, Ilias. Worse, you forced good people to take lives for you. Eden. Micaela. Lucifina. You created the three of them out of the best parts of you. It made you even worse than you already were.”
“You should do to me what you did to Ranael,” Ilias said softly. “This isn’t my world. I’m convinced of that now. If you destroy this body, I cease to exist. Forever.”
I took Ilias by the shoulders. “Ilias, you’re the best Ilias I’ve met. Maybe it’s only because you’re weak, and so now you know what it’s like to be weak. To be a victim of forces far beyond you. But the important thing is that you’re here for a reason, just like me. I need you, Ilias. I need you to help me save this world. Save all the worlds. And when it’s all over, I need you to go back to where you came from and be the true goddess your world always needed.”
“I’m sorry, Luka,’ Ilias replied, stifling her tears. “I’m making this all about me again. You’re willing to die for this world even though you just got here. You put others before yourself. Something I’ve never done before. I promise you, Luka, if we succeed, I am going to be that goddess you say I can be. I’ll live to serve the world, not rule it. I am done with selfishness, forever!”
“Selfishness isn’t that bad,” a voice said from behind us. I recognized the voice immediately. Alma Elma! “You have to find a balance in life, girl. Living just for others is boring and depressing. But living only for yourself is an empty life, a life without meaning.”
“Am I seriously getting life lessons from a succubus?!” Ilias asked in wonder.
“More importantly,” Alice said in awe. “Who are you and what you have done with my Heavenly Knight?!”
“There’s always been a lot more to Alma Elma than she lets on,” I said joyfully, hugging Alma Elma fiercely.
“Affectionate as always, Luka-boy,” Alma Elma said cheerfully. “When we get a private moment, I’d love to talk about a dream I had about you.”
“A dream?” I asked. “Or a memory from another Alma Elma?”
“Who knows?” Alma Elma shrugged. “But chaosization is definitely increasing. I had a little chat with Tamamo just after you guys left. Tried to give her a pep talk. During the conversation she mentioned that she hasn’t been having dreams, but she was getting impressions. She recognized your scent as soon as you stood before her. She knew she loved you. For me, it’s different. I have no particular feelings for you, and do I know you from Bob. But the day after we fought in the colosseum, I had this dream.”
“I’m sure it was obscene,” Alice muttered.
“Oh, the most obscene imaginable!” Alma Elma laughed. “But that discussion is just for Luka and I. Right now we have business.”
“I take it you’re the agent sent to assist us?” Alice asked. “I never thought I’d live to see the day that you worked for somebody.”
“I worked for you quite happily, Monster Lord,” Alma Elma said breezily. “I put on a good show of not giving a crap, but if you remember I always followed your orders when orders were given. I simply offset that loyalty by irritating you at every opportunity when I had no orders.”
“Good to know,” Alice replied. “Now I know to always make sure you have something productive to do.”
“So you left the Heavenly Knights?” Ilias asked.
“It was always an informal organization anyway,” Alma Elma chuckled. “I love Grand Noah. It’s my favorite kingdom, mainly thanks to the colosseum. And besides, I don’t appreciate the way the Monster Lord is doing things.”
“So why is my mother doing all of this?” Alice asked. “Is she even my mother? Could she be another version of my mother?”
“This multiverse thing is new to me,” Alma Elma replied. “And I don’t really get what she’s up to myself. All I know is that one day you were gone, she was back on the throne, and she started giving strange orders. Real cloak and dagger shit. Corrupt members of royal families, which I thought would have been fun, assassinate various people… if they were bad people I’d be happy to do that as well. They’d get a better death from me than from a dagger to the throat. But she wanted me to kill good people. I got fed up and quit. Now I’ve been declared a traitor and my best friend is hunting me down.”
“So even the Four Heavenly Knights aren’t privy to her plan?” Alice asked. “What the hell is she up to?”
“Tamamo seemed to know a lot more than she was letting on,” I pointed out. “That was true in my world when the Monster Lord…. Oh God.”
“What?!” Alice asked. “You know something?”
“Yeah, I do, and I can’t say anything right now. If I told you, you’d do something rash and I don’t know for sure.”
“You have to tell me!” Alice yelled, grabbing me by the arms.
“No, Alice,” I said firmly. “This is something you taught me. I don’t know for sure. I can’t tell you and have you doing something insane based on bad information. What I can tell you is that if she’s planning what I think she’s planning, I’m part of that plan. And I promise you, Alice. I won’t let her succeed.”
Alice nodded reluctantly and let me go. She couldn’t very well be mad at me for following her own rules.
“You’ve piqued my curiosity as well, Luka-boy,” Alma Elma said. “But that, and our talk about that obscene dream I had, will have to wait. Our plan begins now.”
I’d expected to begin a journey to Gold Fort, although it was only a few hours away from Lima. Instead, Alma Elma teleported us all to the gates of Gold Fort, just out of sight of the single guard at the fort’s entrance.
“Wow, that’s some seriously lax security,” Sara observed.
“Human guard,” Sonya said. “I guess their ants and automatons are their elite forces, so they’ve left humans to guard the fort?”
“Looks like it,” Alice said. “Makes things easy for us. Humans are weak.”
“I don’t really want to beat up my fellow humans,” Sonya said.
“Didn’t you beat up Luka countless times?” I asked. “I read that in his diary.”
“That’s different! Luka was my friend!”
Oh, that made perfect sense. Alma Elma as usual wasn’t patient, however.
“Leave that guy to me,” Alma Elma said. “It’s the luckiest day of this soldier’s life.”
Alma Elma didn’t even attempt stealth. She simply walked up to the solder, who noticed her and fumbled clumsily with his sword.
“Who goes there?” the soldier said, voice quavering. “Guh! A succubus?!”
“Wanna play?” Alma Elma asked.
“Yeah,” the soldier said weakly, although the eagerness could be seen on his face. Alma Elma needed no further invitation, picking the poor(lucky?) bastard up and tossing him into some nearby bushes, laughing as she leaped in after him. The bushes rustled for about fifteen seconds, his moans turning into cries of ecstasy.
“Thanks for the meal,” Alma Elma said, emerging fully clothed from the bushes, wiping some semen off of the side of her mouth.
“Please tell me you didn’t kill him,” I said.
“I’m with you right now, Luka,” Alma Elma replied. “So I do things your way. He’s only in dreamland. And a very nice dreamland at that. He’ll be having wet dreams for the next few hours.”
“I love that spell,” Alice chuckled.
“I do too,” Alma Elma said. “And now that I’ve gotten some good energy from that guy, I can take out the rest of the garrison without even touching them. So let’s go, troops!”
Alma Elma pulled a Leeroy Jenkins and ran into the fort alone. We hastily followed. Four more men were already unconscious, their pants stained with semen.
“She has got to teach me that,” Sara said in wonder.
Alma Elma, powered by the wind, appeared in front of us, having been gone only seconds.
“That takes care of every human soldier in the fort. None dead, all having the best dreams they’ll ever have,” the queen succubus reported.
“I did see a few ant girls and dolls roaming around, so we may get into a few fights, but nothing we can’t handle,” Alma Elma said. “So let’s go!”
“Wait, what kind of dolls?” I asked.
“Paizuri dolls,” Alma Elma said. “Lethal, because they can bind foes. But also lifeless, so don’t hold back on that power of yours.”
The first fight we had as we made our way through the fort was with a small group of ant girls, who charged us on sight. Alice drew her rapier, Sonya her club, Sara her sword, and Ilias her bow. My own Angel Halo came out as well. The ants were overmatched. My opponent was sealed in seconds. The others were beaten more severely, but we hadn’t taken any lives.
Next we encountered three Paizuri Dolls. They were the oddest thing, but I guess in a twisted world like this one they made sense. Pleasure could disable a man in this world as surely as pain or death, and I was sure that some kind of sexual magic was backing up their attacks in order to insure critical ecstasy. I prepared to use my power to get them out of our way, but Alma Elma was faster, whipping up a gale force wind that carried the dolls back down the corridor and then down some stairs.
The assault was actually quite easy. I’d been growing used to easy combat lately. As a group, we were pretty powerful, as long as we didn’t run into Heavenly Knight level opponents or above. So we breezed through the opposition in Gold Fort without breaking a sweat, or even a paper cut. We exited the fort in less than an hour, the kingdom of Grangold open before us. But Alma Elma was acting strangely. She’d treated the whole exercise as a lark, but she had a serious look on her face, as she stared at the Gold For exit.
“Is something wrong, Alma Elma?” I asked.
“Let me deal with this,” she replied, dead serious. “You can go ahead without me.”
“No, we stick together,” I said.
“Wise words, boy,” Astaroth said as she and Morrigan materialized in front of us. “Do you really think that you, a mere queen succubus, can take on both of us?”
“We heard you held your own against Lilith,” Morrigan added. “But don’t you think fighting us two on one is a bit crazy?”
“Go!” Alma Elma urged. “You’re weak to pleasure, Luka! You’re a liability here! Besides, I work better alone!”
“She’s right, Luka!” Alice said. “We have a mission! Alma Elma fights best on her own. The way she fights, you can’t help her! You’d only get in her way!”
“I’d better see you again!” I yelled in parting as I shamefully fled the battlefield with my friends.
“Believe me, you will!” Ilias shouted as we ran. “That walking obscenity is impossible to get rid of!”

We had to camp for the night. The Pocket Castle wasn’t working. Alice explained that there was an anti-teleportation field in the area.
“The Pocket Castle uses a form of teleportation magic,” Alice explained. “We’re going to have to see if we can find a countermeasure.”
“It doesn’t block me, does it?” I asked.
“Very unlikely,” Ilias said. “I’m very concerned about the presence of this field, though. This is near god level magic. I can do this, the Dark God can do this, and…. Maybe three other people, all of them immortals.”
“That sounds bad,” Sonya said.
“Even powerful magic can be countered,” Ilias replied. “Often with a much weaker spell than the one being countered. I may not have power, but I have the knowledge. Perhaps Luka and I can work something out using his power.”
Despite the friendlier relations between Alice and Ilias, there were still secrets being kept between them. Ilias did not want Alice to know that she could use my power to some extent while in contact with me. Clearly she intended to get me away from the party whenever she judged it safe to do so and see if she could use me to counter the barrier. Then there was Ilias’ secret life in the castle…. But that was nobody’s business but hers and whichever monsters she was having fun with. Besides, rumors spread like wildfire in the castle and some of the monsters she’s was carrying on with had loose lips.
“So what’s the next step?” I asked, having completely forgotten. I was relying on Alice’s steel trap mind to keep us on mission.
“Now we go to Goddard to meet up with another agent,” Alice said. “Goddard is just a few hours north of where we are now. Supposedly he’ll help us get into Grangold and get us close to the Queen Ant. I’d also note that the last spirit you need is in this region. I imagine you’ll want to find Salamander while we’re here.”
“Absolutely,” I agreed. “But mission first. People are fighting and dying on the front lines.”
“Can we really rest in good conscience?” Sonya asked. “The more time we spend resting, the more people die.”
“Our mission is critical,” Sara said gently, placing a hand on Sonya’s shoulder. “If we fail because we weren’t rested, a lot more people die.”
“Then we should probably turn in,” I said. “We rise at dawn.”
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Luka's Story-Paradox