== VORTEX QUEST 6-4 ==
== SNAKE BY DAYLIGHT ==
Goro walked with more confidence, more swagger, more calm, now that his tiny black fundoshi pouch once again covered a heavenly cock cage that kept his rod minuscule.
Looking at the muscleman with his umbra-sense, Chay got the impression Goro was as relaxed as if he'd come back from a meditation retreat. And all it had taken was to remove the tiny release valve to their mindboggling horniness.
All that and more, Chay thought about while up to the elbow in the mania-warrior's guts, his eyes wandering over the rippling back muscles that flexed with every anal punch.
While Goro was getting his ass hammered beyond human limits, he 'supervised' Diego who was breathlessly scream-yelping as the Troll mechanic Gonyo Bana fucked into him with the biggest dick Diego had taken since regaining human form.
Chay was of two minds about the newcomer. He had valuable talents, a lot of experience with the abyss, a magical mid-range weapon, and was as trustworthy as a creature in this world could be. But he was different from the pantheon -- not suffering the same curses, lacking esper mind-protection, didn't even share their earthly history -- so they couldn't just make him a full member yet.
Not that Diego was *too* eager to work under Chay, having spent decades as an independent, prideful demonblood.
Gonyo Bana cummed with a long grunt, his Olympia-worthy body spasming as Diego whimpered at the ass-filling load rushing up his over-stretched guts.
A yellow, speckled lizard-face poked into the room. "Almost there, captain. Five notches, give or take."
"Ah, good," Chay said. "Fuel status?"
"We can make it back easily. Another journey like this would be stretching it."
"Hhgng," Diego mumbled, drooling, on all fours, his pulsing ass leaking cum. "Yeah... stretching... ughhng."
"Buy a shade," Chay said, "at Gaff Eeeskr'Wooo. Wake up the other demigods."
As the helmsman retreated, Chay pulled down his fundoshi, his erection wiggling painfully hard.
His fisting arm stayed inside Goro but the berserker kindly bent through his own legs, like Marcus' snail, and hammered Chay from below while the leader creamed out loads onto Goro's ass.
Jerking off had become an irritating duty that cut into his enjoyment of real sex. Yeah, he had started thinking of anal as 'real sex' long ago. But was he ready to put the cage on voluntarily -- for good? Not yet.
===***===
Miles up, near the ceiling where upside-down trees spewed bubble clouds from their blossoms, was a nest, fully enveloping many times a floating rock the size of a mansion. The collection of twigs and entire tree crowns was the home of Starbeholder's old friend.
Furies fluttered around the airborne nest, getting antsy at the Sneak Attack's approach. There were dozens.
Chay was steaming with gray fog like a factory chimney, creating a large bubble of cover.
At a respectful distance to the nest, the pantheon and Diego boarded the latter's ward-bowl, covered by the gray smoke all around.
"Ready?" Chay asked.
"Always," Diego said, slurring his words from superhuman relaxation after taking the eight inch wide Troll cock. "Can you keep up?"
Chay nodded. Without the fan he couldn't make tendrils shoot from his mist but his overall speed had been kindly increased. He created a tunnel for Diego to see their target.
"In there, before the chicken cunts get to react."
"Hold on. Diego Air taking off."
The group dashed to the largest nest entrance faster than the Furies could react. Alarming birdcalls and wing fluttering were audible outside the bubble but the demigods hopped into the next tunnel, twigs and dry bushels rustling underneath their feet. It smelled wooden and fruity.
Sticks were in their way, arranged into a barrier with two Fury guards behind it.
Chay kept the entrance blocked with his fog, took control of one guard and made it knock out the other. Xane stood ready with a purple projectile in each hand, covering their backs, while Marcus' burning hands sliced through the wood barrier like a knife through mere air.
Goro walked ahead, his lit aegis pulled from his fundoshi, a smirk on his lips, fingers on his nipples.
The center of the nest wasn't had to reach. Chay only had to suffuse the area with fog to prevent hypnotic attacks, puppeteering any bird-gal that came too close in the narrow, winding tunnels.
Ruling over the mesmerizing birds was an Astral Wyrm, ancient and power-hungry enough to have grabbed a minute lordship by taking this bird stronghold.
She was pale white, translucent and shimmering. The single serpentine head was raised high over the coil of her body but there was no tension in her. Void traveled along her body. She was ready to vanish at a moment's notice.
Chay raised his hand.
"Greetings mighty Gloomwhisp. We were sent by Starbeholder."
She relaxed considerably. Knowing the Nightwyrm's name meant little but initiating conversation instead of an attack meant a lot.
"You're difficult to reach," Chay continued. "We tried to be too fast for your underlings to fight us so we wouldn't have to kill any."
"And what is your reason for coming?" she asked, now lowering her head. Something poked at Chay's brain and he didn't shut it down. Better she got her information from his mind than Diego's. They'd have to find an Esper Wyrm for him soon if they kept running into fucking snakes at his rate.
"Hm," she murmured. "Temporal protection. I can teach you how to anchor yourselves in the present, yes. Immensely hard to achieve, but less tricky for a demigod, I suspect."
"Great," Chay said. She seemed cooperative. Not eager but willing. She had high expectation for price gauging however. There was no way around a negotiation.
"What will it cost?"
Gloomwhisp acted as if she were thinking but Chay knew she had made up her mind.
"One hundred slaves."
Chay gave a light scoff. "The shortage is not resolved yet, which is of course why you want your hands on-" Was it offensive of take to a snake about 'hands'? She didn't seem to have noticed. "-why slaves would be ideal for you even though you have no use for them. However, the current batch is all low quality. The Reapers only give a three ringspan guarantee until they might fall apart."
"Your ship," Gloomwhisp said. "It uses souls. How long do the slaves really last?"
"Five ringspans, maybe. We barely get to keep them around that long, though, before they go in the engine. Twenty slaves should be plenty."
Fuck, it felt weird to talk about people like that, even if they weren't 'really' people.
"Eighty slaves, then," Gloomwhisp said. "In smaller batches. I can surely sell that much."
"You'd mostly send them to local lords, right?" Chay asked. "Since you're at the border of several territories. More a gesture of goodwill toward your neighbors than profit."
"Perhaps. Sixty slaves and you deliver a letter to Starbeholder and bring me the response."
"Forty and the letters," Chay said, already seeing himself foist the messenger duty on a crewmate, or maybe even Shadowhand if they had a purse of obols to spare.
"Fifty," Gloomwhisp said with finality. "Delivered as you acquire them."
Chay gave a bow. This was going to be a lot of work but doable.
"You may leave as you came," the Astral Wyrm said and gave an ear-shattering whistle.
Chay let the fog fade and saw they were surrounded by waiting Furies who folded their spread wings, hypnotic patterns tucked away.
The five demigods left under a dozen watchful bird eyes with the rustle of feathers whispering throughout the nest structure.
===***===
