Royal Dragon Hunt (part 2)

Story by Fenryx on SoFurry

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#2 of Royal Dragon Hunt


Mufasa storms back into his quarters to watch the festivities; dragging a giggling Olga with him. Once in his bed chambers a variety of transparent crystal screens wink into existence. A quartet of rats quickly strips Olga without Mufasa ordering it and tying her to their master's bed. Olga is gagged but her facial expression is clear that she does not like this. "I am altering the deal." Mufasa says to her unvoiced question. Taking out a jeweled dagger of decidedly Arabian style and manufacture he places its blade to her neck. "I will be taking what I want. I am Lord and Master here and you will learn your place, bitch!" Olga openly laughs at him. "You think that Fenrys can save you from me? Or do you think you can leave me in the frozen landscape you call your homeland? I always get what you want." Olga does not stop her grinning. Her gaze seems to suggest that she is fully expecting Mufasa to undo himself. Angrily the lion takes the wolf bitch in his chambers, sating his lust and expectations of power. For her part the wolf bitch just lets him have his way for now. If the devastating desert dragon he plans to hunt later does not kill him the ice dragon will. And if that doesn't happen and he plans to force her back to serve as his personal pleasure pet; he has not taken into account what a sorceress like her can do in her natural environment of ice, snow and bitter cold.

And while the lion takes his sexual prey the first obstacle for the mercenaries presents itself. Rising from the desert sands is a swarm of scorpions the likes of which is rarely encountered in the wild. A rabbit ronin tries desperately to cut his way through the swarm with his katana. Unfortunately there are too many of them to battle with mere steel. Fenrys has spent much time in the forbidding wastelands and tries to disperse the swarm with a thrown flask of Alchemist's Fire. The resulting firebomb slaughters the swarm and finishes off the rabbit caught in their midst. Other mercenaries loot the body of the dead samurai as Fenrys presses on. While he may not have intended to kill off a rival mercenary, Mufasa ultimately did. Now a field of fifty mercenaries competing for ten positions within the confines of Al-Taliban's staff is reduced by one. Up in his room, Mufasa sees how easily Fenrys defeated the scorpion swarm and slaps Olga for her smirk of triumph. But this is just the opening gambit as Fenrys slips past the dune hiding the scorpion nest as another sorceress, this one a cobra with a skull like gem situated on her forehead sends a fire ball of magic at the dune he was just crossing that obliterates the nest and would have killed him too if he had lingered. She hisses her displeasure as a pair of red panda ninjas, both female, slink past her. A big bull with an oversized war hammer brushes her aside; which prompts the cobra to bite the bull, getting whacked into a sandstone wall with the maul for her trouble. Blood smears the wall as she crumples to the floor. Unfortunately for the bull that bite injected him with poison that slows down his reaction time and when he tries to smash Fenrys in order to help himself get ahead in the competition he falls prey to a huge scorpion with the ability to shoot magic darts at those it sees. And Fenrys is smart enough to let it see the minotaur first and then finish it off before it can sense him. Mufasa is amazed at how well he handles his axe in taking down the launcher scorpion faster than the Prince himself ever could.

The more Prince Al-Taliban watches Fenrys the more concerned he becomes. Pacing about his room he sees the volcano chamber he had constructed long ago for this very purpose infiltrated by the wolf very easily. Ribbons of lava both deep and wide dominate the chamber. They wind like streams from a large lagoon of the primordial liquid and providing illumination for those that traverse it. As combatants navigate the forest of pillars in this underground portion of the maze they must be careful not to wander too close to the streams of liquid fire so as to avoid the attention of the cruel inhabitants of the vicinity. A male panda in attire of a traveling monk enters the volcano room with an iron pole acting as both a walking staff as well as his weapon of choice as he travels from one side to the other. While traversing a metal bridge to reach an iron island in the middle of the plasma lake in the center of the room, one of the larger denizens of the area rises to the surface.

A quintet of eyes surrounding a balloon like head of red skin is the first to arise the murky magma pool below the bridge. Below this alien octopus head are tentacles, to be sure but how many cannot be determined from the vantage point the panda monk, or Fenrys himself has as he observes the bold daxiong mao. One of the red pandas stalks her more bear like cousins even as her sister stalks the wolf. On the bridge the monk uses his staff to bat away the tentacles that slither up to probe his defenses. A full onslaught of its serpentine appendages proves too much for the panda monk to be able to handle as he is dragged into the lava. But he does not go alone as the red panda ninja gets too close and is grabbed instantly.

The other red panda is shocked enough that Fenrys can pounce her without getting stuck himself. Dragging her to a secluded section, he proceeds to strip her of her clothing and then have some fun with her. While she was initially protesting her rough treatment, the red panda changes her tune once the wolf enters. Submitting to his unspoken proposal saves her in the end as Fen uses cuffs set in the pillar to restrain her for his purposes of lust. Watching in his bedroom, Mufasa gets off on watching the red panda willing allow herself to be used as a plaything for the wolf. After Fen finishes up and leaves her hanging on the pillar, the pillar itself opens up to swallow the red panda within. While she has failed to be hired as part of the staff, she will be enslaved for the harem thanks to her performance.

Sprinting over the bridge the others were dragged under, Fenrys tosses another glass container into the magma containing true blue water. The steam produced as bitter cold meets unyielding hot is enormous. As the monster within the pool starts to rise, Fenrys begins to chop at its head at first and then its tentacles, severing a few that dared get too close. Descending again as fast as it can the magma octopus realizes it cannot hope to beat the northern ranger as he knows too well how to deal with the likes of beings such as itself. Not satisfied, Fenrys takes out a javelin made of pure ice from his quiver he throws it at the beast and finishes it off as the spear melts while embedded in the head of the monster.

Upon exiting the volcano room Fenrys finds himself in another chamber more than a little bit Greek in its style. He can hear someone or something slithering about the room. The abundance of hissing leads him to conclude that something serpentine lurks here although just what he has no idea. Statuary abounds as well leading the Northern ranger to conclude that he is about to encounter one of those gorgons he has heard so much about. Picking up one of the larger shields he finds a razor thin rim sharpened so it can be used as a weapon as well as armor. Carefully holding it so as not to slice his hand, Fen throws it in the general vicinity of the hissing as he knows looking at the gaze of a gorgon directly can kill him via petrifaction. All of this is lost on the Bengal tiger assassin stalking the ranger; twin katars in his paws. The shield Fenrys threw clatters and lands at his feet. Looking around the assassin comes face to face with the gorgon, who is a beautiful human woman of snake skin from the waist up, all snake from the waist down and the traditional hair of snakes. Fenrys has a front row seat as the tiger makes the instinctive mistake of looking at the gorgon and by this gaze is turned to stone. While the gorgon examines her latest kill, Fenrys acts. Swinging his axe full force he decapitates the distracted gorgon and jumps back to ensure none of her poison blood lands on his body.

Mufasa is beside himself with rage at how easy Fenrys is taking out the monsters of the maze as well as the competition. He is so enraged, that Olga shuts up, afraid of what the lion would do to her in his current state. Pacing up and down his chambers he takes up a paddle and has Olga re bound so her rump is placed in prominence as Al-Taliban lightly slaps his own hand with the paddle as he looks to see what is going on with Fenrys. Olga is starting to wonder if she is going to be good for Fenrys after this is over as she watches the ranger continue

Fenrys is moving from the shade of the previous portion of the maze into an open topped maze with walls of sandstone. As he makes his way inside flickering movement causes him to pause. A trio of impala dressed like Zulu warriors come up behind him and tap their hooves impatiently as he takes stock of the situation. Chuckling at their impatience, he lets them pass by and observes as they get ambushed and slaughtered. Bipeds with fore arms and heads that display no eyes or ears or any evidence they can perceive the world around them yet they do. One of the things had a kind of gun attached to a forelimb that squirted acid, another had a grafted sword like appendage. Sighing to himself, Fenrys knows of creatures from his studies and his nightmares. Created by demons that have long since abandoned their progeny they are rarely seen but their effects can be felt. The hunter has heard of whole villages that disappear overnight leaving piles of bones and goo to represent their former occupants.

Shaking his head Fenrys slides along a wall as the reptilian insects are too busy eating the impala to notice him. While normally Fen would just bypass the hazard and continue on, the monsters in question among those he knows could threaten all life in this portion of the world and as much as Prince Al-Taliban is quickly becoming deserving of a tail whipping in his opinion, this is not what he or his constituents deserves. Besides he can always bill the Prince for pest control services rendered. And with that thought he kills the four juveniles at the corner effortlessly and goes looking for a nest or three.

Al-Taliban meanwhile sees the scaly bugs and nearly goes into a panic. He had no idea such monstrosities were infecting his fortress and while he should be grateful that Fenrys is doing what he is doing the mere fact an outsider is doing what his private guard should be doing is an outrage. Olga's ass pays the prices for the lion's frustrations and while her rear is getting to be a nice bright red, she sighs and shakes her head.

Fenrys does indeed find a nest of the things and begins to prepare a flask of Alchemist's Fire like a Molotov Cocktail he remembers that these things are highly resistant to fire. Unfortunately his plans on attacking them stealthily is dashed by a buffalo armed with a huge stone set in a wooden handle like the war clubs of Native American manufacture. As the wolf blinks at the brouhaha going on as the buffalo stampedes his way around the central plaza other creatures are emerging. Things like fully adult versions of the juveniles he slaughtered earlier. But the buffalo is handling them easily enough. However it is the big thing that looks to stop the stampede. Long and coiled like a snake with scorpion like stinger. Its head looks especially armored with a beak like clipping shears. The buffalo is drugged up on something that much to Fen is clear as the hits he takes would have downed him much earlier. However, it is the scorpion tail serpentine monster that manages the slow down the buffalo enough for it to devour him. It was at this point that Fen lays down his knapsack. He takes out various pieces and puts them together. So far the kythons have not seen him. But that may change soon enough. Right now he is most concerned with taking down the big thing. After that the rest will fall easily enough once their leader is down. Setting up his arbalest or siege crossbow is time consuming, the last thing he needs is more mercenaries disturbing him as he looks for the best place to line up his shot.

A shadow looms over Fenrys as a slightly larger than normal adult kython creeps up behind him. But Fenrys is not totally unaware. The palms of this monster are spring loaded with spikes. Only two of the four spikes hit but that is painful enough as he grabs his axe and starts hacking away. The sheer fury of his attack carries the day but the struggle brings the slay master towards him. Gathering up his equipment he runs aided by his own magic. Fortunately parts of this maze are indeed enclosed as he discovered a second level to the labyrinth. It is here that he finds a nice niche to assemble his crossbow. Lining up the shot is actually more difficult than assembling the crossbow in the first place. Mentally he keeps a tally of how many other mercenaries have been eliminated as the sun starts its descent. Eleven people have lost their lives for the lion's entertainment. From his perched position Fenrys watches as a team of gnolls, two males, two females and a flind assault the compound as a unit.

The flind is slightly smaller to the gnolls he is commanding but with his iron nunchuks he keeps the group well disciplined. All five are rangers and it would seem that they are after the kython. Four gnolls carry partisans with the flind keeping the signature weapon and a shield as he directs the others. Teamwork is the key here as Fenrys just watches them from above. While the gnolls are quite effective at slaughtering the adult and younger kythons they are no match for the slay master. Their leader sacrifices himself to try and protect his charges, giving the insect snake a good beating before getting eaten himself. As the hyenas are reduced to a single female Fenrys takes his shot. Enchanted before it left the bow the bolt is well aimed and once it embeds itself between segments it explodes and finishes off the monster just as Fen had planned it would. After the rest of her little pack had been slaughtered, the lone female gnoll fled the scene. After packing up his crossbow and putting it in his enchanted backpack the pair meet and the gnoll bitch had some choice words for the lupin.

"You! You're that Overkiller we've been hearing about. What is you reasons for being here, huh? Come to grab back your little girlfriend?"

"The fact that Olga was here was unknown to me when I answered the lion's hiring call." Fen says honestly. "You lost your pack, little bitch, what did your flind want here anyway?"

"Employment, food on the table," the gnoll bitch admits. "Those kython things have been killing off our people left and right as of lately. Shang, the flind, thought we might find their nest and destroy it along with securing some regular pay for our tribe. I am Tamara. I am to take it that it was your shot that killed the slay master?"

"Yeah, I was getting ready to line up my shot for an instant kill when your war party barged in. Valiant effort but it proved to be of great cost." Fenrys says with a smile. "But you are lucky to be alive, Tamara."

"I know, but how did you take that thing down?" Tamara asks with great interest.

Fenrys smiles and takes out the pieces of his siege crossbow. "I have had much training with weapons. This is an arbalest or siege crossbow. It does a lot of damage but is very slow to load and aim properly. That and a little magic always helps."

"Ah, you can cast spells, like Shang could." Tamara starts out proud and ends up tearful.

Fenrys gives her a hug. "Shang was your mate?"

"No, I was one of his secondary wives. Shana was his mate. A flind bitch."

Fen notices something strange. "Come with me to the one blind I set up, it's getting dark too quickly."

Once they get into the blind, it begins to rain weirdly.

"I don't like the looks of this, rain, Fenrys," Tamara says as it the living it touches dance about as if splash with acid. "Blood rain! This isn't good. A dark shaman must have cast some really bad mojo into the air and ceded the clouds with evil." She looks askance at Fenrys. "Why are you looking at me like that? It wasn't my tribe that did this. Although I would not put it past Shana..."

The blood rain washed away the rest of the kythons in the area and even destroyed their eggs. It rained all night, and at some point Tamara let loose some of her inhibitions and had sex with Fenrys. Upon the next morning they wake up inside of one another. A few of the other mercenaries got caught in the rain and were reduced to piles of goo. What was once a competition of fifty mercenaries competing for ten slots is now down to thirty. The sandstone maze is still deadly as not all the kythons were destroyed in the deluge the previous night.

While moving into a region that looks to be safer than most through the maze Fenrys and Tamara encounter a gang of rattlers. Ten rattlesnakes in all and all are determined to assassinate the competition and emerge as a group hired by the Merchant Prince. A poisoned blow gun dart incapacitates Tamara but not Fenrys as half the squad attack with kusari-gamas intending to shred the wolf and the hyena so as to take the prize. Except that the snakes could not conceive of him being able to whirl around in the web of chains, and so when Fenrys was able to disembowel the five warriors set upon him the rest started to flee. It took the better part of an hour but Fen was able to kill the other five and get enough of the poison used on Tamara to make an antidote. But his fight and compilation took longer than Tamara's constitution would allow and so when he was ready to administer the cure, he found the hyena had already passed on. Infuriated, Fen did something he rarely does and defecates on the corpses of some of the rattlers. Pocketing the cure, he moves on into an area underground where the temperature drops to near freezing.

Icicles form on the ceiling above him. Fenrys has to tread carefully so as not to lose his footing. Almost immediately upon coming into the frozen wasteland Olga has prepared Fen sees a group of five zebra Zulu warriors take on one ten huge white toads. Fen shakes his head and simply watches as the Zulus get slaughtered and took down half the frost toads with them. Once the surviving toads gorge themselves Fenrys tosses a couple of flasks of Alchemist's Fire which ends up killing four of the remaining toads and weakens the survivor enough that a single swipe of his axe is enough to kill it. "Olga, I sincerely hope you have something else in here that is more challenging, otherwise I'm going to get bored." Fenrys quips as he casts a spell on his feet that allows him to move about on the ice as if utilizing ice skates.

Olga has managed to escape her bonds and make her way to where Fenrys would go to complete his test. Mufasa is too interested in monitoring Fenrys's progression to be bothered taking stock of where Olga secreted itself. And while he wants someone to abuse the sheer speed at which Fenrys is moving holds him fast in awe.

At the speed he is gliding it takes very little time indeed for Fenrys to reach the interior. It is here that huge statues roughly hewn of ice and animated through magic rise from the ice to challenge him. Twin giants oppose him throwing chunks of ice as big as he is. But with speed and his own strong arms he manages to avoid most of the boulders and even trick the golems to do some of his work for him. Shouldering his axe, Fenrys walks up to the entombed Julnar and runs a hand over her breasts. "Olga, Olga, Olga, this is criminal of you to encase such a pretty kitty. Now, how do I free you without killing you?"

Fenrys chops away at some of the ice around the entombed cheetah. Taking out a skin of Alchemist's Fire he pours some over the ice which melts it even more quickly. When she is fully freed, Julnar collapses to the cold floor only to be supported by Fenrys via tossing her half conscious body over his shoulder and climbs out of the chamber where Olga is waiting. Olga leads Fenrys to a private chamber where the cheetah and male wolf can have some fun. Although Olga joins them more for fear of Mufasa than anything else, as she fears his retribution for his escape of her abuse. Unfortunately her assumptions are mainly correct. But not in the manner in which she thinks as Mufasa searches for the newly triumphant Fenrys, a great scimitar in his paws ready to attack the wolf on sight.

Bellowing the wolf's name, Mufasa is spoiling for a fight and as he snuggles with the cheetah and the bitch equally, Fenrys is getting annoyed by his intrusion. Seeing how fearful both females get at the angry shoutings of the lion. Making sure his armor is where it should be, Fenrys takes up his axe and walks out the door to confront Prince Al-Taliban and if possible to teach the spoiled cat a lesson in humility he won't soon forget.