Rupegia

Chapter 173: Massacre – Part 1

Today is the 4th, An, day of Wind. Dawn of the Final Day. Twenty-something hours until the battle.

And I wake up to Kaatohe and Hukarere sharing my Cock as the wind loudly whistles outside our bedroom. Then I unleash the bounty into the air, and the two furry girls have a little fight to steal it all. They very much enjoyed using my Seed as skincare, so they were given the honor of waking me up to return the love that was given to them and spread all over their faces.

It's too windy to have breakfast on the balcony. Like, really windy. Like, unreasonably windy. Like, Chesa-going-out-of-control windy.

"Is everything going to be fine?" Ciel worriedly asks as she observes the brewing storm.

"It's an 'unlucky' day of An," Hukarere wistfully hums, and Kaatohe nods in agreement.

"Man, storms are kind of scary over here," I remark and glance at the girls, who quietly agree with me.

"Not as scary as the idea of a 'flood,'" my naked cat wryly replies.

"Or drowning," Hukarere adds with a snort.

"It does sometimes get windy like this over at the Throne of Ascension, too," Urmeie grunts as she eats. The warrior Princess felt like intruding upon our breakfast today, and so she did.

"I assume it's a storm from the Broken Skies that has leaked out to the lower lands," Kaatohe calmly deliberates, and the Princess gives her a subtly displeased look, which makes me believe she dislikes the "lower lands" part, but at least she doesn't bite back.

"How did your people survive and thrive over there?" Hana suddenly asks a rather wise question.

The white wolf glances at the cat, then snorts and shrugs. She's just a soldier, so she knows little about history.

Kaatohe isn't a scholar either, so she becomes a bit troubled about how to approach this, but our kind smiles soothe her worry about being embarrassed about her lack of knowledge. Then she organizes her thoughts and begins her explanation, "When the God of Creation sent us to the Broken Skies, They prepared a small paradise for us, a fertile group of islands that we call Pourakau. But it was too small to sustain our population, so we were forced to brave the Broken Skies. I assume that it was our proximity to the huge Wind crystals that kept our island afloat that made us all naturally good at [Wind Magic], easing exploration, though I believe skills didn't exist back then."

"Just like how the Thunderplains was essential for the growth of the [Ritualism] mages that allowed the Emperor to conquer the continent," Lina scholarly chimes in.

But Kaatohe shows a bitter smile as she takes a sip of coffee. "Yes, it seems that Pourakau was the key to our expansion, for the Sky Landers weren't able to do the same and reclaim our lost empire."

And I try to temper her disappointment, "Fear may also have been a factor. What says that the Petrification Calamity won't happen again? We don't even know for sure why it happened, to begin with."

She hums thoughtfully as she stares at her cup and reflects upon my words for a moment, then seems to accept them at face value. "Hmm… Yes, perhaps we're being too harsh on them."

Ciel then frowns softly as she's reminded of a rather sensitive topic for her, then she slowly begins to share, "Every day, a new baby is born with the call of wanderlust, which will influence them to live only for seeking the unknown. They can't possibly have all died in the Broken Skies, can they?"

She herself is an example of wanderlust, so she has a soft spot for other adventurers. Though, she's all soft, on the inside, on the outside, all over her curvilicious body, so are adventurers really that special?

But Kaatohe doesn't have the answer to that. "I can't say, so I'll ask Prince Hekeman about their expeditions, but to conquer and settle the Broken Skies, you'd definitely need a lot more than just a few fellowships."

"Can't you all not talk about smart stuff first thing in the morning?" Urmeie quietly complains, seemingly not a morning gal. My cum has a rather invigorating property on the girls, so everyone in my harem is definitely a morning person.

"Enjoy the free 'Wisdom' training," Hana immediately teases the grumpy bear.

"I'd rather remain dumb; makes it easier to have fun," the Princess retorts with a snort.

"I beg to differ," my emerald dragonkin haughtily replies with a proud snort.

"You'd understand Sa'Haa better with higher 'Wisdom,'" Ciel kindly advises.

"Stop being reasonable; it's annoying," Urmeie grunts and frowns.

"You will receive our support, and you'll like it!" Roxanne cheekily exclaims.

The bear sister plays along, dramatically waving her arms at the pale teaser, "No! Away with you! I shall remain an irresponsible and unreasonable Princess!"

And we chuckle at the playful silliness.

We do our usual mana circulation training while listening to the whistling of the wind, and I also create a few more proximity fuses because there's no way we have enough. We don't know the limits of the swarm, so we'll never be truly ready, but we must attempt to break through while our morale is high.

As Lords, our job will be to make sure that our army doesn't collapse in case things don't go according to plan, and also to safeguard their retreat if too much shit hits the fan. But if we do succeed in massacring the swarm, then the wives, the golems, The Four, Urmeie, Caterina, a detachment of Companions, a couple of Punishers, and I will infiltrate the fortress and carve a path for a full invasion.

We reflect upon all of the different scenarios that could happen and how to deal with them, but it's basically impossible to truly prepare yourself for the unknown. It isn't like me to do a blind attack, but the more we scout and probe the monsters' fortress, the more alert and prepared they will be. Scouting is a double-edged sword in this situation, but it's currently tilted in our favor since the Sky Landers already did some scouting themselves long enough ago that the monsters have dropped their guard.

So our war goal is to wipe out the swarm and then exploit any opportunities to deal with the fortress once and for all, but we've also prepared the men for the chance that we'll be pushed back and need to retreat. A soldier's morale is also a double-edged sword because they have a tendency to become suicidal if it rises too high, and the thing that I hate the most is suicidal bravery, so we make it clear that it won't be a walk in the park, unlike our previous battles with monsters.

Man, I'm a really kind Lord, aren't I? Do other nobles love their men as much as I do?

"Gayyyyy~…!" Roxanne immediately howls inside my soul space.

"Pious Lords are very protective of their men, too," Ciel shares her perspective.

"And perhaps you love your 'men' a bit too much," Yunia calmly adds, teasingly stressing the important word.

Yeah, I guess the Companions being a pseudo-harem isn't exactly common.

For lunch, we eat a hearty meal but not too hearty because we still have one last training session to go through, and this time I'll also be participating.

And then we gather at the underground training yard because the wind makes it too annoying to train in the open.

"You know you look like a villain like this?" Lily remarks as she watches me arm my tentacles.

"Cool," I mumble aloofly, just to annoy her.

"Chuuni," she grumbles back just to annoy me.

Urmeie ignores our "flirting" and moves things forward, "How are we going to organize our formation? We have a lot of melee fighters here, so it's going to be cramped inside the fortress."

And I promptly give her what she wants, "You have the front, or whatever position you want. If I don't let you run wild, I have a feeling I'll regret it."

The big, beary Princess raises a nonexistent eyebrow at me (though she technically has an eyebrow since her whole face is furry), likely considering whether or not she should be offended, but then she snorts and glances at her stoic bodyguards.

"Sounds fine to me, though I'll definitely get reprimanded for my recklessness when I go back," she wryly remarks, and just from the bodyguards' intense gaze, we know who is going to tell on her.

Yunia clears her throat and soberly states, "The front should be Hana, Lily, and Urmeie, with Aoi there too if she can fit."

"Wait, why me?" Lily asks skeptically.

"Don't you want to fight?" Hana questions her with a confused look.

"N-… nyes?" the loli cutely answers a bit embarrassedly. We know she's a bloodthirsty little bundle of fun, but she's seemingly ashamed to admit it.

"Damn, girl, you're a dwarf berserker; it's a waste to keep you at the back," I sassily tease.

"And you're a fucking blender," she barks back, which means she's already over it.

Then Samkelo starts chuckling loudly at that, and even Chesa looks amused.

Yunia sighs at our unrelenting silliness and again soberly states, "We'll rotate the front if the battle goes on for too long, and that's assuming we'll be able to wipe out the swarm."

"Are we going to enter a fellowship to share Experience?" Urmeie raises a question we weren't prepared for.

And everyone becomes awkward. I've been in a fellowship with the wives since always, except for that brief period when we got separated inside Legado, so I don't want to mess with it. The Four also seem a bit protective of their little Earthling-only fellowship, which is understandable since they've been together from the beginning of their isekai.

The Princess quickly realizes why we're hesitating to answer, so she grins and teases with a cutesy, nasally voice, which doesn't fit her at all, "Hah, how cute. You're all in a family fellowship."

"Well, I can't deny that being in a fellowship is a precious thing for us. We're family, after all," I calmly state, happy to get a chance to brag about our tightly-knit family, and then we all turn to The Four.

"You're making me feel icky," Lily dryly deflects.

"We're family!" the gnome exclaims with exaggerated cheerfulness and slaps the back of Thant's thigh.

The roasted cinnamon loli rolls her eyes and decides to lean into it, "Chesa is my 'daughteru,' but you stinky males are merely my 'comrades.'" Then she hugs the mer girl's waist, who doesn't know how to react aside from showing a bemused smile.

This makes me nostalgic. "Stinky males" was something my Lily once said to mock lesbian fetishists like me.

But Urmeie doesn't care about this melodrama, so she promptly shouts, "Enough talking! More training!"

"And I thought I was the barbarian here. She's making me feel insecure about my heritage," Hana remarks through [Bind] in disbelief.

"You just got tamed," Roxanne explains with an internal shrug.

"That I did…" my loyal half-dragon girl wryly hums back, then decides it's better to not be ashamed of what I did to her.

Then, at last, we finally train together.

Intermission – Hukarere

I have to admit that when they're all together, they look mighty fearsome. Not that the Royal Ryders aren't fearsome, it's just that I never truly felt fear when sparring against them, just humbleness. But now, I fear facing all these powerful nobles together.

We're so weak in front of them that we feel like fodder, merely bodies to take stray arrows and spells in place of someone more important. I'd gladly die for the Ryders, but it'd be a lie if I said I'd do the same for the Imperial Princess. Though it isn't all bad as the girls are all eager to survive and get plowed by Wolfy as a reward, and there's no Cock for the dead…

Wait, I'm dead. I kind of forgot that.

Oh… is every Companion going to become like me? Is this actually alright? Won't we fuck with the Cycle of Reincarnation if we keep doing this?

Focus, you slutty wolf!

I shake my head to clear it of these thoughts and focus on the now. I'm the standard-bearer, so it's also part of my duties to cheer everyone up, and I think everyone needs some pep-talk. This will be a long day, and we can't lose our motivation.

We have a moment to talk after the first bout, so I immediately begin before the officer can start droning on, "Alright, girls. If you want to be called for tomorrow, you've gotta prove yourself today. We need to match these Punisher brutes in might, or we'll just be dead weight. So, no holding back, and no mercy, no matter who they are. Imagine that they all have the dwarf or gnome Traveler's face and strike them hard!" I energetically exclaim. The last part is my personal feelings, but I think everyone shares the same fantasy.

"The one who falls first becomes our sex toy for a day!" an elven girl follows up.

"That's a bad punishment…" another elf retorts.

"No sex for a day?" a dead girl suggests.

"Also a bad punishment," another dead girl amusedly replies.

So the same dead girl tries another angle, "Has none of their fetishes fulfilled for a day?"

"Also a bad punishment…?" the same second dead girl repeats, not very confident, but you never know with these girls.

"I think that's Queen Alissa's fetish," a raccoon dead girl states, and I think she's right. Then I remember that she's been in our bed before, so now I'm definitely sure she's right.

"I was going to suggest a light beating or lashing…" the officer girl wryly remarks and starts playing with her elven ear, embarrassed to say it out loud.

"Yeah…" I hum in agreement. That one also wouldn't work.

"How about getting peed on…?" a dog girl shyly chimes in, and we all slowly turn to look at her.

"Are you suggesting that because it's your fetish?" a cat girl immediately teases back.

"N-no? I'm trying to find an actual punishment!" the dog girl angrily barks back.

But I mean… she's a dog girl, you know?

"Letting the gnome give us a lashing?" a red demon girl tries her luck, and I get a bad feeling from her.

"Now that is a punishment, but…" the officer begins.

"Yeah, I don't think the King would like that," I immediately finish. This demon girl is a bit dangerous.

But at least she doesn't insist and puts on a thoughtful expression. "Hmm…" So maybe she isn't that kind of dangerous, though she could just be an airhead.

Like Queen Ro-…

But I get a chill that stops me from finishing that thought.

Then a human girl finally comes up with something good, "I've got it! First to fall shames us… unless they last, like, really long."

"Reasonable, yes," the officer agrees.

And so do I, so I cheer everyone up, "Alright, let's go!"

Intermission end.

The Companions are being very energetic today, so I might invite them for some "relaxation" this evening to make sure they're all well-rested for tomorrow.

As for the sparring, our formation is still a bit wonky because of how many people there are and the wildly different powers we all have.

Ramble/wall-of-text incoming. Thant and I overlap a bit since we're able to reach just about anywhere, but it makes more sense for me to be at the center and support wherever it's necessary while he stays in front of me and focuses on assassinating melee targets with his extendable spear of light. Lina and Lily are our most stable melee fighters, and they obviously pair up perfectly (even though they don't like each other very much), so they stay at the center, leaving Hana and Urmeie free to rampage on our flanks. Yunia does well on Lina's side, but it's still less efficient than when she pairs up with Hana because of the heavy mismatch in height and weapons used. Ciel is already blocked from flying due to the ceiling, so she's relegated to being a mere Wind mage and healer hybrid, though she can sub for Hana or Urmeie when either breaks formation or sneak in a glaive thrust from above the dwarves' heads. Aoi can take a beating, but she isn't very adept at actually defending herself when attacked (and I won't let my little dragon get hurt unnecessarily), so she's best as cavalry that breaks through lines and retreats. Caterina is also a great fighter, but there's no perfect place for her in the front line, so we're grateful that she and her men don't mind taking rearguard duty. Alissa, Roxanne, and Chesa will have trouble shooting past our heads since not everyone shares the [Bind] that allows us to lean out of the way, so they can only lob projectiles, which is impossible with a low ceiling, forcing them into support duty with utility spells or magical arrows. The Companions will at least do well covering our flanks, though they'd love it if they could be our front line. The golems are the only ones in a perfect position since they're very good at supporting no matter where they are because they just use [Telekinesis] to smash stuff.

The biggest difficulty is fully utilizing everyone's utility without interfering with the others' fighting effectiveness. A prime example is Aoi charging forward and blocking projectiles while occupying most of the corridor, and then she also needs room to retreat back, which will be difficult to coordinate without [Bind].

These are problems that a couple of days of training won't solve, so we've gotta make do with what we have.

And I believe it's enough.

"UOOOO!" both Urmeie and Hana roar at the same time as they [Shield Bash] their opponents away, then have an energetic exchange of blows with the nearest Punisher, creating a lot of space on our flanks.

At least there's one pair with high compatibility among us.

"Alright, this was better than the last training session," Thant cheerfully remarks as we take a breather. Then he downs a glass of cold water.

"Damn right. With everyone together, we're unbeatable," Hana confidently states with a fearsome grin.

"More like we weren't being pounded down all day," Lily impassively retorts.

Yunia won't let the loli sour the mood, so she gives the angry little thing a reminder, "We did say that the purpose of that training was to push you until the teamwork failed, but this time, it's to get us more accustomed with fighting alongside each other."

"What she said," Urmeie grunts in agreement, then turns around and scans the table, choosing which snack she'll have.

But Lily isn't fazed and retorts rather sternly, "Yes, that I know. I'm talking about the part where you used your telepathy to pound us, specifically, harder than everyone else."

Oh, fuck, she noticed.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Alissa immediately replies with an intentionally badly-hidden cheeky smirk.

And the angry, roasted cinnamon loli angrily narrows her eyes. She's quite perceptive of banter, so she quickly realizes that Alissa just got her.