CHAPTER 7: FIRST DUNGEON (3) – ONE SECOND TOO LONG

Hours.

We had been cutting through green flesh for hours.

The hobgoblins had come in waves, one group after another, as if the dungeon was testing us on purpose. Each time, they hit, bit, screamed. And each time... we crushed them.

I could still feel my heart beating too fast, swollen with adrenaline. My muscles vibrated with new strength at each level-up, up to level 9 we had just reached. Even my breathing adapted. As if my body had understood the rules of the game before I did.

Despite it all, we moved forward. Always. Until now.

In front of us, the stone ended. A circular room, wider than all the others. And at the back... a door.

Not a normal door.

A monstrous thing. Ten meters tall, a matte black that swallowed the light. Engraved with scarlet runes that pulsed like living veins. Each beat echoed in my temples.

I stopped dead. My hand tightened around Aurelia’s shaft, and my lips spat what everyone was already thinking:

— "...Boss room."

Like in a fucking video game. Obvious.

A silence weighed heavy, and Ayame was the one to break it.

She stepped forward, the fabric of her kimono brushing the stone, and her eyes slowly passed over each of us before locking onto mine.

— "We do not go through that door tonight." Her voice rang out, soft but implacable, like a mother forbidding a dangerous whim. "We must regain our strength. Sleep, eat... and only tomorrow will we face what awaits us."

Miyu instantly let out a nervous little laugh. She swung her still-bloody blade onto her shoulder and walked up to the door, the flames tattooed on her kimono seeming to ripple in the bluish glow.

— "Tsss... seriously? We’re level 9, we’re bursting with energy, and you want us to go to bed? Me, I want to burn whatever’s behind there, right now."

She clicked her tongue and turned back toward me with a predatory grin. "Admit it, Nii-san, you’re itching for it too?"

Hikari shook her head, her fingers clenched on her staff. Her voice trembled, but she still dared to answer:

— "No, Miyu... Mom’s right. I’ve used too much magic, I... I couldn’t hold out if a fight drags on." She bit her lip, ashamed, before adding in a whisper: "If I collapse, you’ll all be in danger..."

Reina rolled her eyes. She crossed her arms and declared in a cold tone:

"She’s right. It’s not caution, it’s logic. Fighting tired is handing over our heads to the first blow."

Miyu spun on her heel with a growl.

— "Pfff..." She went to sit against a wall, kicking her legs like a sulking child.

I let out a dry laugh, stifling the adrenaline still burning me up.

— "Either way, it’s decided. We camp here."

I planted my spear in the ground and sat down heavily, my breath still hot. My eyes lifted toward the black door, engraved with pulsing runes.

— "Tomorrow, we open that. And whatever’s behind... we’ll kill it."

We had set our things down in a corner of the room. The shadow of the black door still weighed at my back when Ayame spoke again, this time in a gentler voice:

— "Before eating... let’s wash."

She rose smoothly, readjusted her kimono, and pointed to a recess in the wall where a thin stream of water flowed. The faint sound had escaped me until then. Following that trickle, we discovered a small underground lake, circular, its surface shimmering under the crystals embedded in the stone. The clear water reflected a pale bluish glow, almost unreal.

— "It will be enough for us to wash ourselves and our clothes," she added simply.

No one dared contradict her.

I stayed back, sitting on a flat rock, spear planted beside me. My cheeks were already burning just from hearing them get ready. Fabrics sliding to the ground, silky rustles no sane imagination should feed on... but my mind raced anyway.

Snatches of voices reached me. An insolent laugh from Miyu, followed by a splash. Hikari’s stifled little cry, surely scarlet to the ears. Reina’s heavy silence, whom I imagined stiff and haughty even in icy nakedness. And Ayame... her deep timbre calming the others, maternal, but which in my head twisted instantly into forbidden images.

I clenched my fists on my knees, my gaze stubbornly lowered.

Don’t look. Never. ... Or maybe... just a little? Fuck! What am I saying?! No. Never. Never! NEVER!

But each splash was a slap to my will. I imagined them, despite myself: their pale skins rinsed of dried blood, their hair plastered by water, their curves gleaming under the bluish light...

My stomach knotted. My cock betrayed me, painfully stiff in my pants.

A louder noise, sudden, cut my thoughts short.

A scream.

— "Kyaaa!!!"

It was Hikari. Raw panic, not a whim.

I leapt before even thinking. My hand tore Aurelia from the ground, and my legs carried me straight into the lake. The icy water burst against my skin, stealing my breath... but what I saw finished scrambling my senses.

They were there. All of them. Naked.

Their kimonos and weapons lay abandoned on the bank, splashed by their frantic movements. Water streamed over their perfect bodies, outlining every curve.

Hikari pressed against Reina, her trembling breasts glued to her sister’s icy skin.

Miyu thrashed, splashing everywhere, her enormous chest bursting out of the water with each jerk, bouncing in an obscene dance.

Ayame, behind them, arms raised, her heavy breasts lifted above the waves, tried to push back the shadow rippling under the water.

A viscous hiss tore through the surface. The creature surged: a serpentine mass, dark-scaled, a gaping maw lined with fangs.

— "Kaito!!!" screamed Hikari, her voice broken, her bare thighs splashing as she recoiled in terror.

As I rushed in, my shoulder collided with Miyu, and in an animal reflex her burning thighs clamped around my waist. Her bare sex slid against my stomach, separated only by the fabric of my kimono.

The water had made everything slippery, transparent, and the searing heat of her loins burned through the cloth as if branding me alive.

Reina, panicked, grabbed my arm; her hard nipples rubbed against my soaked side, each shudder piercing through the fabric plastered to my skin. And Hikari, crimson, threw herself against my chest sobbing: her round breasts crushed on me, the thin barrier of cloth between them and my skin only making the sensation worse. Her moist mouth slipped to my throat, letting out a muffled whimper that vibrated against my breath.

And behind me, Ayame. She had seized my waist so as not to be swept away, her heavy chest pressing into my soaked back, the hardened tips molding through the kimono plastered to my skin. Her warmth burned me despite the freezing water. Her breath brushed my neck, a mix of panic and desire she stifled. Trapped between them, I was nothing but a puppet, prisoner of four naked bodies pressed against my clothed one, separated by soaked fabric that no longer hid anything.

The monster lunged at them.

I roared and drove Aurelia into its maw.

A hideous crack, a black jet splattered onto our hot, naked skin. The beast writhed, then collapsed, gutted, its spasms churning the water around us.

Silence fell. Broken only by the girls’ whimpers, their short gasps, their bodies pressed against mine.

I panted, unable to move, my spear still lodged in the corpse.

And suddenly, everything shifted.

I felt my cock, hard and aching, press against something far too soft. A small jolt, a rub... and the three of them felt it at once.

Hikari, first, crimson, her teary eyes locked on me.

— "A... aah... Nii-san..." she stammered, unable to move.

Miyu, cheeks blazing like embers, widened her eyes before letting out a strangled cry:

— "Are you... are you fucking serious?!"

Reina, icy in appearance, but her face flushed to her ears, gritted her teeth. Her voice snapped, sharper than ever:

— "Idiot...!"

Their gazes crossed for a second. All three flushed crimson, then, in the same movement, they shoved me violently away, as if my dick had become a weapon.

I lost balance and toppled backward.

A wet impact. Heat. Curves.

Ayame.

When I crashed back into Ayame full-force, it was even worse.

Underwater, our bodies slammed together. Her arms clutched my shoulders, and my hands slid down her bare hips. Our chests collided, her massive breasts molding against my torso, but most of all... my cock, hard and aching, pressed right against her burning pussy. Only my soaked kimono stood between us, but the fabric plastered to my skin made every friction monstrously real, as if our sexes had sought each other out on their own.

We looked at each other underwater.

Her hair floated around her face like a dark cloud, her brown eyes locked into mine. No words. Only that monstrously forbidden contact, our bodies pressed, rubbing against each other in oppressive silence.

I suffocated, my lungs on fire, but it wasn’t the water choking me. It was her. Her heat. Her closeness. Her lips within a breath’s reach.

One second too long. One second that etched a burn into my memory and maybe into hers as well.

I snapped out of it, broke away as fast as I could and burst out of the water, gasping, my heart hammering to explode in my chest.

— "S-sorry... sorry... sorry...!" I repeated on a loop, stumbling back to my rock.

I collapsed onto it, drenched, face in my hands, my ears filled with their still-broken breaths behind me.

Fuck... I want to die.

Meanwhile, the girls dressed in silence. Not a word, only the wet rustle of cloth and the metallic clicks of weapons being reattached at their belts.

Hikari stubbornly avoided my gaze, her face crimson. Her fingers still trembled as she tightened her belt. Miyu, usually always mocking, chuckled two or three times, but without strength — her red cheeks betrayed her failed arrogance. Reina, true to herself, stayed icy... except for her red ears betraying her turmoil. And Ayame... she said nothing, did nothing, but I felt her gaze weighing on my back every second.

When they were done, I finally stood and threw myself into the water in turn.

Not to relax. Just to scrub away dried blood and sweat. I tore off my soaked kimono, scrubbed it with dull rage, then scrubbed myself until my skin burned. Not a word. Not a glance at them. Just the sound of water and my thoughts on a loop.

I won’t last long like this...

I got out, dressed in silence, and rejoined the camp.

The meal was grim. A makeshift fire lit our tense faces. The dried meat tasted like leather, but I chewed without complaint. No one spoke. Hikari opened her mouth, then closed it right away. Miyu, unable to stand the silence, spat an acidic jab:

— "So, Nii-san... how do you sleep after that?"

I didn’t answer. Didn’t even raise my head. Ayame set a hand on Miyu’s shoulder to shut her up.

— "Eat," she said simply. "You’ll need all your strength."

We obeyed. Like resigned soldiers.

The night was brief. I lay with my back turned, the blanket pulled up to my chin. My eyes stayed open for a long time, staring into the dark. I could still feel their breaths against my skin, their bodies pressed to mine. Rest was impossible. Yet eventually, sleep swallowed me.

When I opened my eyes again, the flames of the fire were nothing but embers. The moment had come.

We prepared without a word.

We advanced together.

Before us, the black door awaited. The scarlet runes throbbed like a monstrous heart, each beat echoing in our temples.

I clenched my teeth. This time, no turning back.

We stopped, lined up, and placed our hands on the frozen stone.

The boss room awaited us.