The Battle Rages On

Pimpington’s body undergoes numerous changes as the transformation overtakes him, each more implausible than the last. The man loses his thin, lanky proportions, growing almost triple his height and girth. As his hands grow, his many rings break into dozens of tiny pieces during and the shattered metal falls down to the ground, inert. This makes me feel great relief as well as mild annoyance at the same time. I was hoping we’d be able to steal those as some additional loot...

Powerful muscles bulge out of his frame, and a pair of thin, leathery bat wings rupture out of his shoulder blades. His feet transform into cloven hooves, and his legs grow just as furred as the satyrs we encountered before. He screams while unfurling them, flapping with menace as he grows accustomed to his new, gruesome anatomy. Also worth worrying about is his clothes all explode off of his body, too.

The pimp’s oily black hair bursts out like an explosive mane. Reaching all the way past his knees, it flows seamlessly in the wind of his own aura. Pimpington’s voice distorts while firing off another passionate howl. It becomes deep and monstrous as two long, curly ram horns spiral out of his temples.

Something that looks like a long tail with a heart shape at the end juts out from behind his back. Lastly, the lengthy transformation seems to end when four long, thorned vines wrap themselves around each of his limbs. They constrict so tightly around him that the muscles of his arms bulge outward even more.

“Holy SHIT, y’all...!” The monstrous pimp speaks as his aura begins to fade, giving everyone our first glimpse at the man’s unnatural metamorphosis. “Check this mothafuckin’ pimp out, ya feel me?! I had no idea what any of this would do, but daaaaamn. It’s got my mothafuckin’ seal of approval.” Pimpington steps out of the shroud on cloven hooves, revealing his strange self for all to see.

Now fully revealed, I can see that his arms and face have glowing, demonic-looking tattoos. Rather than being naked, the enemy also has a gigantic metal chastity belt for whatever reason. This belt looks more stylistic than practical, though- not like the Satyr’s at all. Good for us, I suppose... I don’t think anyone here is particularly interested in seeing a fifteen-foot tall monster pimp’s dick.

What I AM interested in, though, is a big, flat, heart-shaped stone on his left pectoral muscle covering where his heart would be. Some sort of weak point? One way to find out.

“You got bigger and stronger, so what?” Sam grips her sword as she stares down her foe.

“Sam, calm down... w-we don’t know what he’s capable of!” Meri reminds her, which elicits a disgruntled grumble out of the Princess.

‘I know capable of offending my eyes,’ Zutiria snidely remarks as she raises an eyebrow at the questionable form Pimpington has taken.

“Real funny,” He scowls, revealing a set of excessively sharp, white teeth. “I know it’s a bit much, but I’ll use anythin’ at my disposal to defeat y’all here’n now before ya go on to become a real threat, ya dig?” Pimpington rises into the air with his wings, extending his arms wide to show off his brand new claws.

With a menacing growl, the boss monster of the Pimpfort flies straight toward Zutiria. What becomes apparent straight away is that Pimpington has lost almost all of his speed. This transformation of his is still fast by its own right, but beforehand, Pimpington could practically zip across the room with a single step.

A plan comes to mind.

“Zutiria, create a spiked wall out of the floor. Meri, get ready to Shield Bash him from behind, use Sam to help if you need to.”

‘Interesting. Let’s see if it works.’ The petite Mage seems to like where I’m going with this, even though it’ll take a third or more of her recently filled mana meter. Raising her staff high and then slamming the butt into the golden bricks at her feet, she chants, “Goldoradomorph.”

The Pimpfort bends to her will, and Zutiria erects a large wall almost ten feet high in front of her. On the side facing the flying pimp monster, she fashions row upon row of sharp, golden spikes.

Sensing the danger, Pimpington flaps his wings to stop his flight before he runs head-on into the spiked wall. Upon safely stopping, the monster sneers, “Pft, like that shit’ll work! Y’all must think just cause I’m bigger, it means I’m mo’ stupid. Sorry to disappoint, bitches, but-”

“NOW!” Sam bends down and holds up her sword for Meri to use as a platform. The Shield Maiden jumps up right where she needs to be, and the Great Blader shoves her through the air aimed at the flat of Pimpington’s back.

“HYAH!” Meri shuts her eyes and gathers her energy in her shield while flying through the air. Using the speed granted to her by co-operating with Sam, Meri tackles Pimpington from behind with a mighty Shield Bash made stronger through solid teamwork.

“Oh, fuck this sh- AUGH!!” Pimpington is forced forward onto Zutiria’s wall of shining spikes. Several of them impale the giant, causing him to bawl as his blood trickles against the trap.

“Nice thinking!” Cherry pumps her fists up as she looks up at me from the makeshift pet bed.

As Meri lands safely on the ground behind the enemy, I use the moment to hammer home an important point. “Take this as a lesson, girls. Bigger doesn’t always mean better.”

Sam snorts out loud. No doubt her mind races with all the potential dick jokes she could be making.

Pimpington pulls himself out of the spike trap and gasps from the torment it inflicted. He wipes off some of his own blood and looks down at it before scowling, “Y’all are in for it now... this pimp got some new tricks, ya dig?” His long, cruel tail glides along the ground before wrapping around Meri’s ankle. She’s lifted up before she can activate her cleats and before I can get a word of warning in.

Pimpington throws her towards the very same wall of spikes the party just utilized. I order Zutiria to help the Shield Maiden, and she responds by casting Cloutress. Meri ends up bouncing off the puffy mattress of white, fluffy clouds, and she falls down harshly on her side.

Better than a face full of spikes...

‘I want to get rid of the wall, Sir. I don’t want to risk this happening again.’ Zutiria says while assessing the situation.

“Do it in a way that can make sure it’s an attack, I don’t want to have wasted your mana. Wait for a chance and then go ahead,” 

‘Roger.’

That chance hasn’t presented itself yet. Currently, Pimpington stands in a cold, menacing manner above Meri with his claws extended. He raises his right hand and thrusts downwards, intending to finish her off. She’s still stunned from falling down so hard, and the enemy plans to make the most of that.

Sensing a moment for her to shine, Sam charges at the dungeon boss with her sword held high. The powerful Princess jumps into the air and twists her entire body as she swings her blade, giving her attack even more deadly momentum. It crashes with explosive violence into the Pimp’s furred knee. He howls yet again, falling over backward as Sam’s strike topples him.

“This almost seems too easy, nyaa...” Snow cups her chin between her fingers and tilts her head. “So far, I’m not convinced that this is an upgrade over his base skills.”

I nod my head without saying anything back. On the surface, what she says is true. Pimpington has become bigger and stronger but lost the use of his terrifying rings, his deadly sword, and his absurd speed. There’s no grace, no elegance, or beauty... he’s lost all the attributes that made him such a dangerous combatant in the first phase of the boss fight.

It’s very puzzling, but I remind myself that the battle has only begun. There’s plenty of time for the dastardly pimp to pull out more unwelcome surprises.

Sam feels cocky on account of her toppling the enemy. She sees a chance to further harass him, but when raising her sword overhead, he kicks her straight in the gut with his gigantic cloven hoof. The Princess smashes into the Duke of Dewhurst’s titanic statue faster than Zutiria can cushion her with another Cloutress. Luckily, Sam is able to stick the landing and cover her head from falling debris with the broadside of her weapon.

Her Highness took a good deal of damage from his sudden kick. She’ll live, but her breastplate is now a whole lot worse for wear.

This momentary distraction was exactly what Zutiria was waiting for, and she casts Goldoradomorph a third time to control the spiked wall she created. The spikes all turn into many thin missiles aimed straight at Pimpington. He scrambles to his feet, and the vines wrapped around his arms come undone, becoming painful, thorned makeshift whips.

“Are you fucking kidding me...?” Sam groans at the sight of more whips.

The mighty monster starts twirling the vine whips in big circles out in front of his body, deflecting almost all of the golden missiles hurtling towards him. Zutiria clenches her staff and squints her eyes, putting more mana into the spell to launch them harder. This proves fruitful, and several of the projectiles pierce through the circular whip shield to rend his body.

“UARGH-” Letting go of his whip, the inhuman monster grits his teeth and staggers backward. “Once this pimp gets used to his new digs, then... then y’all are fucked... mark my mothafuckin’ words!”

Pimpington is taking damage left and right... given the circumstances, it’s hard not to jump to conclusions. Optimism is a deadly poison, but... my thoughts become tainted with it the more I watch this battle. Are we actually going to win? For real?