Chapter 25: Feats and Company

virgilknightley

The grim dusky impish entities seemed to be both living vapors and solid creatures at the same time. It almost gouged at the mind just to look at them, trying to make sense of exactly what they were, but it was impossible to puzzle them out in a single glance. Their shadowy bodies were abuzz with some kind of pulsating purple electricity that seemed to me to have the job of holding their forms together. The areas where the electricity was visibly coursing also had the most solid appearance.

I kept my peripheral vision fixated on Bonny, waiting to see if she’d take action first. She seemed to know what these things were and, thankfully, their presence didn’t appear to bother her much. In fact, the tone of her voice sounded downright giddy when she’d identified them.

“Following your lead,” I muttered, gripping my lance and raising it in its sword-form.

It was like I just set the hounds loose with those words. The shades moved to attack us, but Bonny was too fast, striking them with the force and speed of lightning as she swung her comically large battle axe out in front of her. The red sweep of her axe was easy to identify. She used Cleave to carve through half of them in one go, but it looked like she intentionally grazed them.

“Finish them, Mr. Drake,” she said.

My eyes flashed open with purpose. I used my Dash power to make my way over to her and strike down her stunned targets with my own Cleave. I felt the souls of the Forest Shades course into my blade and through me, their absorption completed.

Meanwhile the other shades were bearing down. Bonny fended them off, keeping me clear of their assaults while I righted myself and readied my next attack.

My weapon burned hot and glowed red as flames danced from its shimmering blade. Poised to strike, I lunged forward with the combination of Cleave and Flame Sword, easily ripping through the other three shades, taking their souls into me as well.

I looked around. “Is that it?” I said, almost disappointed. “Why did they even bother attacking?”

“Forest Shades are mindless troublemakers,” Bonny explained, slinging her axe over her shoulder. She wasn’t the same fidgety bunny girl anymore. Her brown pigtails were a bit messier now, but the woman herself looked settled and comfortable in a way that I’d never seen her.

Usually Bonny was a nervous wreck, at least in my experience with her, but out here in the midst of battle, she was poetry in motion. The fluidity of her movements reminded me of a deadly ballet. A tiny bead of sweat dripped down her cheek, but she was otherwise entirely unflustered by the effort she just put into the battle.

Her light brown bunny ears were floppy now, rather than perking straight up like they sometimes did, and I wondered what that meant, if anything. I supposed that it might mean that she was relaxed. If so, it almost scared me that she could be so calm and chill immediately after easily setting up six kills for me. She was a deadly ally indeed.

Her tanned skin and big hazel eyes looked at me eagerly for further instructions, but at the moment I was just trying not to gawk. Not about her beauty, by the way--though she was gorgeous, and her twitchy nose was always charming. I was just in awe of her.

“What level are you?” I asked.

“I’m the highest level in town,” she said. “23.”

“23!” I repeated incredulously. “You could kick my ass!”

She giggled. “Probably not,” she said. “Heroes and, I imagine, Apex Heroes have similar attributes to monster girls but they tend to be able to do more with them. For example, while I have 16 in strength, it’s probably comparable to if you had 14. Likewise, I expect my moves to be less potent.”

“Looked pretty fuckin’ potent to me,” I said, recalling the size of her Cleave.

“Thank you, Mr. Drake,” she gushed, grabbing her reddening cheek with her free hand. “Shall we continue? Or did you access a new feat selection?”

My expression went dim as I studied my HUD. “So far, no new selections.”

“That’s alright,” she said, twirling her enormous axe between her fingers. I felt the fanning of the axe-blade chill my skin. “It’s still early, and I could do this all day.”

“I’ll bet you could,” I chuckled, eyeing her up and down. It wasn’t meant to be a horny gaze, but I could tell she took it as one.

“Mmmm, Mr. Drake, out here in the forest?” she cooed, letting her axe touch the ground. “I mean, I’m not opposed to it…”

“Oh no, I didn’t mean--I just meant--”

“It’s alright,” she said, grinning at me. “I don’t mind. I wouldn’t be offended if you bred me right up against that tree. I’m ready for motherhood.”

I felt my own face go red. “Jesus Christ,” I mumbled. “No, sorry, we should stay on task for today.”

“I’ll get you one of these days,” she giggled, twirling one of her pigtails.

“I have no doubt of that,” I seethed through a hot gasp, tugging at my collar for air before adjusting my pants. “Fuck, did it get muggy in this forest all of a sudden?”

We continued our trek through the woods, slaying every monster we came across. Most of them were weak and of little threat, and I figured they probably required quite a grind for their souls to be worth all that much, but it was better than nothing.

The big breakthrough did come, though, in the form of a Corrupted Treant, a spirit of the forest that took the form of an uprooted tree that had sprouted legs and arms and a wicked face.

It found us in a clearing where it could move freely, and I tried to kite it into the woods with us to bring it to a disadvantage, but it wouldn’t play ball with that. It hung back, happy to let us escape if it meant not having to face us where it had an obvious disadvantage, but in the end we weren’t about to walk away.

“We could pick at it from a distance,” I suggested. I threw my lance at it, but it dodged with a weird speed you wouldn’t expect from a lumbering tree monster. I grunted in disappointment as my lance reappeared back in my hands.

“When I said I had all day, I didn’t mean that I had all day to fight like a pussy, Mr. Drake,” she teased, making me feel a bit meek.

I charged forward, not willing to have my confidence compromised by a cute bunny girl, and I took my minotaur form, the man-bull, and rammed head first into the tree creature. It stumbled backwards from the strike, and I felt its trunk crack from the force of my blow, but its branches reached down and tried to lift me off of the ground for some kind of suplex.

That’s when Bonny came in and slashed those same branches with her stupidly huge axe. I grasped another branch and ripped it straight off, and the treant gurgled its discontent. A low, anguished growl hissed through the clearing as we started stripping the arms off the treant until it was just a standing piece of timber with a creepy face.

Still in minotaur form, I summoned my lance and used Flame Sword to bring down fiery destruction on what was left of the tree as it tried feebly to run away. Now ablaze, it fell over, writhing in agony until the fire had burnt out the wick of its life.

The soul of the treant swam through my lance and into my body, and I was greeted with the long-awaited message.

Feat Selection Unlocked. Choose from one of the following feats. Some of these feats may reappear in future selections.

Holy fucking shit. Every damn thing on the list was a game changer in different ways. I felt relieved to see that they would likely return as options in the future, but there was apparently no guarantee.

“Bonny,” I said, my voice low and focused, “I’m looking at the feats.”

“Any good ones?” she grinned. I didn’t respond, my eyes flitting across the options again and again. “Should I take your silence as a yes?” She giggled at me, her hand cupping her mouth.

“Sorry. Yeah, shit. I have two feat points remaining. Can I take two from this list?”

She frowned. “I don’t know. What are you thinking about taking?”

Breeding Stud didn’t look particularly good to me personally, but if I was going to have kids, I wanted them to have every advantage in life. And it kinda felt like I was going to have a lot of kids, even with my present company. That, I figured, was top priority, no matter how suboptimal it seemed from a mission-based perspective. It was a hard pill to swallow, but it was the morally responsible choice. “Breeding Stud,” I said, reddening a bit.

“Oh, fuck yeah,” Bonny groaned under her breath.

I ignored that. “And Blade Bond sounds good.”

Her eyes went wide. “That’s a good one. I know a hero who passed on Blade Bond once and regretted it since.”

“It never reappeared?” I asked, listening carefully. What she was about to say may very well change my decision.

“No. It never reappeared since the first time he saw it.”

I sighed. “Shit. Should I take that or Breeding--”

“Breeding Stud,” she said. “I’m not sure what it does, but it sounds pretty ideal for someone about to start a breeding program involving many women. Though, admittedly, I'm biased.”

“It really does sound ideal given that,” I admitted. “Fuck. What a painful choice.”

“Maybe you can choose both?” she suggested my own idea back to me. “Try selecting both at the exact same time. Just… see what happens?”

I nodded. I willed the selection and…

Feats taken: Breeding Stud, Blade Bond

You have spent two feats points. You have one feat point remaining. Please mark more monster girls or continue leveling up to unlock additional feat points.

Markable Monster Girl Slots: 0/3 remaining. Perform heroics and complete quests to unlock more slots.

“Yes,” I said, pumping my fist victoriously. The rest of the selections vanished, though, so I'd have to hope that the next list of feats I earned was just as good. I still had one more point to spend, it seemed. Must have come in when I hit level 15, but it was weird because I didn't notice it before. Might have gotten muddled up in the system with Daisy's drama, I figured.

“It worked!?” Bonny asked excitedly, hopping up and down in place.

I looked at the lance in my hands and watched it fade into the ether around us. “You tell me,” I grinned. And in the space of a wink, it was back.

“I’m so jealous!” she giggled, but she looked genuinely happy for me despite her words. Her bunny ears perked up excitedly, and her pigtails bounced as she continued to hop circles around the clearing. After a minute or so of this, me just watching her blissfully, she stopped abruptly. “Oh. Oh, yes, yes. Should we go back now?”

I sighed, suddenly aware of the time. It was already late in the afternoon. The girls would likely start to fret soon. “Yeah,” I agreed. “It’s time.”

“Good good good! I can still get some work done before it’s too dark,” she said, and she ran up to me and threw her arm around mine, which surprised me, and she could tell from my flinching. “Oh. Oh no, oh no! I’m so sorry,” she said, backing off suddenly. “I thought--”

“It’s alright,” I said, smiling. “I’m happy we’re building some rapport here. I just wasn’t expecting that is all.” I patted her on the head and she her eyes went narrow with a wide grin that elevate her cheeks adorably.

“Good good good,” she cooed. “I just thought with you… being the father of my future daughters, after all, we should… You know. Maybe it’s okay if I show you some… affection? Sometimes?”

“We’ll grow into it,” I chuckled. “I’ve got a lot of affection in my life. I don’t think a little more is going to kill me.”

She giggled cutely. “Yes yes, of course, yes. I don’t mean to impose.”

This whole time, her giant battle axe was slung over her shoulder like it was a fishing pole or something. It honestly didn’t lessen the attractiveness of her demeanor or bunny features, but it did distract from them a bit, especially when she stood so close to me with that thing flinging around, but I realized more and more the longer we spoke that she was in perfect control of it, and by that point I’d stopped worrying.

As we exited the forest, we were greeted by two holstaurs and a unicorn girl who all greedily tackled me.

“My boobies are so full, Bucky-Baby,” May Belle practically hissed in my ear.

“Not half as full as mine,” Daisy whined. "If you don't milk me first, I'll scream."

Rainbow Sprinkle had to have her say, too. “I want to cut you open and lick the wound shut again and again, my Bucky. I love you, I love you so much!”

That last one was woefully different from the previous two greetings, but it did make me chuckle with a sort of ‘What the fuck is my life?’ energy.

Bonny just giggled. “I see what you mean about having enough affection in your life already. I'm jealous.”

Daisy looked up at her with a sudden and suspicious look in her eyes that slightly triggered my danger sense. “Oh, Bonny,” she said in a low voice. “I have something for you. Why don’t you come with me?”

Everyone's need for milking and bloodletting was thankfully forgotten for the moment as the two of them skedaddled off as Sprinkle and May Belle took me back to the bonfire where Autumn was doing her best not to ruin dinner--and failing, mostly, but the effort was appreciated.

“Fucking hell,” she groaned. “This shit is impossible.”

“You’re steaming carrots,” I said, laughing. “How hard can it be?”

She shrugged. “Daisy bagged up most of our carrots as a gift to Bonny, so I figured I’d just use the leftovers. Now they’re all burnt.” She frowned. “I am so bad at this. If my sister saw me now, cooking carrots over a fire pit…”

“Well if she judges you, she’s a piece of shit.”

“Bucky!” May Belle giggled, surprised by my sudden declaration.

“I mean it. You’re amazing. All of you. And we’ve already come a long way.”

Autumn smiled weakly up at me as she served the crispy carrots to us in a clay bowl.

“What did Daisy give away all our carrots to Bonny for, though?” I asked. “Not that I mind. She’s helping us out a ton.”

“I imagine it’s to say thanks for everything. The armor she's working on, your lance, and helping you on your patrol today,” she shrugged. But then her eyes went up like she was remembering something. “Though she did mumble something about a game.”

“A game?” I asked, and I looked over at the cabin where Daisy was making the exchange, handing the salivating bunny girl a large sack full of fresh carrots. The look between them was decidedly conspiratorial, and when they flashed me a wicked grin I felt the hairs prick up on the back of my neck. “Shit, something’s going down.”

“I doubt it’s anything to worry about. Daisy adores you, and Bonny seems to be a growing fan of yours as well,” she noted.

I activated my Mood Reader feat. Sure enough, Daisy’s satisfaction had risen slightly, maybe closing in on about ninety percent. Sprinkle was still hovering at around sixty percent, though. When Autumn’s sister was finished with her visit, that had to be a top priority for me to address. Maybe it needed to be brought up even sooner than that, in some quiet moment when I had the chance to sneak her away for a talk.

But May Belle, still pressed tightly to me, her arms around mine, was settled decidedly at one hundred percent satisfaction. She was humming something as she lay her head on my shoulder, and I couldn't help but smile at her sweet voice. “Mmmm, Bucky-Baby,” she cooed at the end of her song.

“What?” I asked her.

“Nothing,” she said, kissing me on the cheek. “I just like saying your name. Bucky-Baby.”

No sooner had I finished my meal than did we notice a dark shadow being cast down on our fields from the sky. It wasn’t even night yet, but the black dragon-steed of Aldon Murphy, the goth Harry Potter, was descending upon us, growing ever larger as he and Autumn’s sister came in for their landing.

With an elegant thump, they appeared before us, and I stood to meet them, walking up with May Belle on my arm, and Autumn grabbing my hand. Daisy and Bonny came and stood behind us, as well, and Ivy, too, interrupted her watering of the crops to stand by my side.

I smiled and waved politely as the other Apex Hero and his catgirl partner sized me up. I remembered her name was Winter, and I could see why. Her hair was white as snow, but she otherwise looked almost identical to Autumn, the only other difference being her tail and ears were black, and her outfit was sort of a medieval-inspired gothic lolita pastiche. Her and Aldon were a perfect aesthetic match.

It was hard to tell if they were romantically entwined in any way, though I did notice just how tightly she’d pressed herself against his back until the moment they dismounted the dragon-steed. The beasted bucked and whinnied excitedly as they got off.

“Settle down there, Blackie,” Aldon said, soothing his beast. I noticed Winter rolling her eyes at the mention of the dragon’s name. I looked at Autumn smugly, and her resulting eye-roll mirrored her sister’s.

I took a deep breath, ready to launch into some kind of welcoming speech, but was interrupted by the fierceness of Aldon’s appraising gaze. He looked over my gorgeous entourage, his expression starting cold and calculating, but thawing into one of open confusion. He took one look at me, looked at the cabin, looked back at the girls, and then shot one final look at Winter.

And then he spoke. “What the fresh fuck did we walk in on, Winnie?”