Chapter Nine
Fauraliiithiliana drank in the sights as they moved through the labyrinth. They passed a pair of wildhounds that were patrolling. Hela and Marwo both smiled as they padded by on all fours, their tails swishing behind them.
"They're such cute puppies," Garnet said to the elf. "We're almost to the dungeon entrance and the tunnel to Astovin."
"Tunnel to Astovin?" asked Fauraliiithiliana giving Garnet a curious look. "There is a tunnel to the village?"
"Yep!" Garnet stretched her back. "My big bro and Halia--and you, I guess--got to eat. Not like us monster girls. We just exist off the Void Crystal. But he needs food. We get it from Astovin. So it's easier to send monster girls to buy food by transporting them directly to the end of the tunnel and then moving them all back. So long as we're not being invaded, my big bro can just move us around whenever he wants. You included."
"Fascinating." The elf was enjoying learning all of this. No one knew that dungeon builders could teleport their monster girls around a tunnel.
If they can reshape their domain at will, it makes sense,
Fauraliiithiliana thought.
Changing the layout of the dungeon would necessitate moving monster girls around.
"And he
buys
food from Astovin?"
"Of course!" Garnet thrust her arm into the air. "He's an honorable dungeon builder. He's not one of those evil Demon Lords. He's a good one."
"Demon?" Fauraliiithiliana blinked her violet eyes. "I didn't see any demons here."
"It's a translation of a term from Japan," Garnet explained. "A nation in our world.
Ma.
It means Evil or Demon or even Magic. Then you add
Ou,
the word for Lord or King. So Demon King or Demon Lord is how it usually gets translated. Just means a magical guy that rules over monsters. Like dungeon builders. But he's a good one. He cares about people. He doesn't want to conquer the world but works to live in harmony with people. Kweh, heh, heh, he is awesome!"
There is that strange laugh of hers. And this world they come from sounds so fascinating. Japan. Demon Lord.
Fauraliiithiliana filed the words away for writing down later.
They followed the path through the labyrinth glowing before them. It was all very much the same, stone bricks that looked worn, the floors the same hard surface beneath her bare feet. Her leaf dress rustled as she walked. Garnet's heeled boots clicked with her steps. She wore something. None of the other monster girls wore anything.
"You have boots," Fauraliiithiliana noted. "Why--"
A hissing sound burst from above them. Then something sticky struck her right wrist and her left. She gasped as strands of white had seized her wrists. The strings yanked her arms up in the air. She gasped in shock as they were anchored to the shadowy ceiling high over her head. Something moved up there.
Scuttled.
Garnet squeaked as both her wrists were yanked over her head and she was lifted a foot off the ground. Her booted feet kicked. Her cheeks puffed out in annoyance while her tail swished behind her. Fauraliiithiliana's heart raced as she stared up at the scuttling shapes in the dark, afraid of what they would do to her. She swallowed, her hands shaking.
Arachnes.
The two of them were walking on the ceiling, Fauraliiithiliana could now see. They had been crouched low and hidden. They both had eight legs like giant spiders, just like all the accounts of them told, with black carapaces. The human torsos thrust up from where the heads should be, their skin gray. They had red diamonds between their breasts that were round and jiggling, the points reaching for their nipples. Round faces, looking almost cute, with compound eyes stared down at them.
They both bent their abdomens and then more sticky webbing fired out. Garnet's legs were both hit and yanked wide apart, leaving her squirming and kicking. Then Fauraliiithiliana's feet were hit, sticking them to the floor with globs of webbing.
"Ooh, Damhanalla and Sreaga," hissed Garnet. "This isn't funny. You can't just tie us up."
"We got scared," one of the arachnes whispered. She had her hands pressed to her breasts and bit her lower lip. "She's an elf."
"They're scary," the other said.
"Scary?" Garnet hissed, her tail swishing back and forth. "Sreaga, you think that slender elf is scary?"
Sreaga, the one who had bound Fauraliiithiliana's feet to the floor, nodded. "So scary."
"Elves, they have bows and shoot arrows," Damhanalla said. "We couldn't take any chances."
"She serves my big bro!" Garnet said. "She's cool. She's lots of fun, too."
"We know she serves, little sis," said Damhanalla.
