My Dungeon Life: Rise of the Slave Harem

“Hahahaha…” A laugh bellowed out as I painfully grabbed the stump that was now bleeding profusely. “Well done, Deek. Well done.”

My attempt to Power Bestowal had shut off, but that didn’t mean I regained my strength. I had been emptying all of myself into the girls for far too long, and now I barely had enough strength to get to my knees. I downed a water of life just so I could cure myself. That meant that all of the girls were suddenly weakened, and their fight that had started advanced had turned just as quickly. They were now being overwhelmed and pushed back.

The blade arm a distance from me turned into Alysia, as well as my severed arm lying next to her. She was on the ground, coughing up blood. She looked nearly as bad as I felt.

“I’m sorry… Master…” She croaked, barely able to lift her head.

“I-it’s okay…” I tried to reassure her. “It looks like we’re out of options.”

“A soul bind? How quaint.” King Roth’s mocking voice broke out. “Someone should have warned you that such a skill is impossible to accomplish. You might be able to bind fragments of the soul to yourself but to bind an entire living soul is impossible. Everyone had a will of their own, and any such attempt always quickly led to disaster. To do a successful soul bind, two people would need to be completely in tune, their wills, desires, and minds would need to become as one. Such a thing is impossible. I’ve tried it, even going so far as to groom a child from birth to think and act completely submissive to my will, and yet it still failed. What hoped did you ever think you had?”

His words hit me with a bitter feeling. I didn’t have room to argue. I had known that every time I had attempted to move my soul toward another, there had been some kind of repulsive force at the last second. I had tried to force it with a skill, and when I had needed it most it had failed. That’s why everything had felt off and awkward. Alysia and I had been two wills fighting against each other as much as we fought the lioness.

“You forced me to bring out my beast form for the second time. I have to say, it has been interesting seeing you struggle.” She responded casually as she began to approach me once again with that predatory stride. “I hope you understand now that your methods are insufficient. You don’t have the right to call yourself a harem master.”

“I never pretended I was anything that I’m not.” I spat out as I held my missing arm, barely having the strength to move. “I’m not a harem master or a slave master. I’m not a hero or dungeon master. I’m just a man, and I will die to protect my women. Selena, now!”

“Master!” She squawked.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Selena flew into the lioness from the side. She had been in hiding and waiting. My codeword had been ‘it looks like we’re out of options’, and so she pulled out the orb and tossed it to me before attacking the lioness.

I lifted the orb in my only good hand. It started to glow as I began to cast the spell. “All of you, escape!”

“Master! No!” The girls gave stunned looks as the fighting seemed too slow.

I couldn’t let them die with me. I would eject them from the dungeon at the last minute. That wouldn’t guarantee their survival, but they had a chance. As for me, my soul would burn, and King Roth would die.

“No!” For the first time, King Roth looked startled. “Slave Order! Get that orb away from him!”

The Lioness Queen let out a scream as if she was in pain, but then she went wild, kicking Selena away as she was still flapping around trying to block her. She threw a knife at me. I tried to dodge, but it struck my hand and the orb went flying away. My spell was broken just like that. I had just needed another twenty seconds, but King Roth’s brutal decisiveness had caused the Lioness Queen to act somewhat rashly.

The speed she had acted had put some kind of backlash, and her beast form disappeared and she ended up coughing blood up, but a moment later, she shot me an insolent glare. The orb had rolled somewhere in the brush, but I had used the last of my mana trying to ignite my soul, and I no longer had an ounce of energy left.

“You are right about one thing, Deek Deekson.” She snarled. “You will die!”

She lunged at me, raising her blade and sending it down. As the blade descended, I realized the end had finally come. Perhaps I did fail.

Boom!

Something slammed between the lioness and me with a massive force. Lighting struck down, and the lioness was forced to abort her attack and jump back, narrowly avoiding being struck. She stumbled slightly back in surprise. As the dust cleared, I looked to see a long spear embedded into the ground. A cloaked form was balanced on the very end of the spear, facing the lioness. That’s when I saw a long striped tail wag across my vision, just managing to tickle my nose.

“I’m sorry I’m late, Master.”

That voice was unmistakable. “Lydia…”