Plansect Forest

Alice wanted to leave the next morning, but given that this might be the last really nice place we'd get to visit I talked her into staying a few more days. The food was what clinched it for her. I had an ulterior motive as well. I knew she wanted to leave because Tamamo had hurt her feelings as well as made her look bad in front of me. But I also knew that as far back as they went, if they stayed in close proximity they'd reconcile. Thankfully, they did. The very next day, in fact. They had a tete-a-tete over rice balls without me present. Where was I during this? Sleeping, of course. I slept longer than Alice under normal circumstances. After a tough day, she could be up a few hours before me.

When I awoke, she was just returning from her long talk with her former mentor. She was candid about where she'd been, since she knew I was concerned about them, but as usual, not too forthcoming otherwise. Alice's version of the discussion was that Tamamo had come to see things more her way, at least on the "why isn't Luka your lover?" question. I felt I could already guess what Alice's argument was. If being Alice's lover meant also having her protection, that would be a problem if I was going to fight her Heavenly Knights. I was even more convinced of this given that Tamamo's last words to me when we left Yamatai was that she would hold nothing back when I came to the Monster Lord's Castle.

But I'm getting a little ahead of myself here. While I know talking about how great my vacation was is probably a little boring to the reader, who wants to read about sex and battle, it's important to me to really make clear that there were good days too. Three more days in Yamatai just enjoying the food, hanging out and talking with other monsters, getting to see Alice and Tamamo spending time together, was really good for my morale. In case you haven't noticed by now, the ups and downs of this journey tended to make me angsty. If an adventure is defined as almost dying a lot, it will tend to make you emotional and moody.

Yamatai didn't have much to do other than eat, so this was more like visiting with friends and family. If your friends and family were mainly monsters, that is. Tamamo avoided controversy other than to offer me a more extended session with her special tail, right in front of Alice, to which Alice made a point to stress that it was okay if I wanted to accept. I diplomatically declined, saying that I was sure I'd get plenty of opportunity to experience that tail once she defeated me at the Monster Lord's Castle. Tamamo liked that answer. Alice's reaction was intentionally neutral.

We also spent quite a bit of time with the cat girls, who enjoyed getting fed and scratched by Alice and me. None of them spoke human. I asked Tamamo and Alice about this, and they told me to not be fooled, the cat girls were just as smart as the more intelligent monstrous species. They just weren't going to be bothered to learn anyone else's languages when they could get what they wanted regardless.

Next up on the agenda was Undine's spring. The easier route to that location was through the Plansect forest, where local rumor had it that mainly plant and insect monsters lived there in civilized fashion. The rumors were all over the place on how well they were getting along, with some who had been there reporting that they got along wonderfully and others reporting lots of fighting. That was a whole lot better than the old "people go to that place and never return" rumor, which I'd heard more than enough of, thank you very much, and I had even gone to those places and returned!

The trek over the mountains was made much easier by the village elder of Yamatai giving us directions on where best to exit, which helped me avoid the high, cold altitudes. As a result, we were able to camp just outside the forest in a large clearing. We didn't talk much, either during our hike or at camp. There was still a certain level of discomfort between us. We weren't mad at each other, just…. I don't know. When you fight, you can clear the air. When you're happy, you frolic. When you're sad, you cry on each others shoulders. When you're uncomfortable, you just have long, uncomfortable silences. I wasn't too worried about it. Something can always be counted on to happen on an adventure, which has the virtue of resetting things.

In this case, it was dropping into the middle of an all-out war. Shortly after entering the forest the next day, we encountered several insect monsters facing off against two plant monsters. The plant monsters were getting the worst of it. What I did next I don't consider my fault. I knew very well that I had no idea which side was right and which side was wrong. I only could see which side was losing. I asked Alice what I should do. This was one case where she had two very reasonable options to keep me from making an ass of myself. One, she could have told me not to intervene. It was monster business and I should stay out of it. I would have listened, honest! Two, being that she's the Monster Lord and all, she could have intervened herself, which seemed to me to be part of her job description. Instead, she responded by rolling her eyes and vanishing. I was beginning to think she wasn't very good at her job.

I put myself in between the plants and the insects, demanding that the insects cease attacking the plants, who had no fight left in them. That didn't go so well.

"If you're defending the plant monsters you're our enemy too," said a rather pretty but belligerent mosquito girl. "I'll have quite a feast today. Vegetable juice and human semen!"

Either their numbers must have made them overconfident or they really wanted to keep me intact, because they agreed before coming at me that the first to make me ejaculate would get to claim me. The battle itself was mostly a breeze. Because they were competing for me they didn't use teamwork, nor were their attacks very formidable. The only briefly troublesome moment was when a caterpillar girl who had been staying away from the melee tripped me with some silk, which caused the other insects to dogpile me. It was actually kind of erotic, all the breasts and strange bodies, and I was pretty sure I felt two tongues licking my penis at one time, the only example of teamwork during the brief fight. I thought I also smelled pheromones, which would make sense with insects. I'd have to watch out for that in the future.

"You saved us!" one of the plant monsters exclaimed. "But why? You're a human!"

"I couldn't let you die right in front of me," I said. "Would you tell me what's going on here? Is this a war or something? I'd heard plants and insects got along here at one time."

It sure looked like a war zone. There were dead and wounded everywhere. "That's a thing of the past," one of them replied. "Plansect village has been divided into two factions. "

The other one spoke up, somewhat less articulately, but quite informatively. "War! Us plants and those insect bastards are at war!"

To say this was discouraging news would be an understatement. Where in the hell was Alice? Even if it was to tell me to stay out of it, that would at least make a minimum of sense to me. Even though the fight was over, she was still nowhere to be found.

"Powerful human, please save us!" the more articulate one pleaded. "Help us end this stupid war as fast as possible! Us plant monsters don't want the fight to continue."

"Save you?" I said. "It sounds like you just want me to fight on your side. I helped you because you were in trouble and I just can't stand by and watch a slaughter happen in front of me. I'm not here to wage a war."

"At the very least listen to our story," she said. I guess that couldn't hurt. I nodded. "Our leader's name is Priestess," she said. "Please, just meet with her!"

By now you know I don't say "no" very well. Being able to say no not once, but three times to Alma Elma was progress I guess, but it didn't hurt that I hated her. I still needed to learn how to say no to people who I felt sorry for. Maybe that's why Alice was just watching. Maybe she guessed that I was just going to rush in to help those in need no matter what. I really should have called to her just then, because I knew I was walking into something I shouldn't. See, I do learn! Well, mostly. I didn't actually call to Alice, I just passively waited for her to show up.

"Ok," I replied. "if it's just to listen."

"Thank you so much!" she said gratefully. "We'll escort you to the priestess!"

The two introduced themselves as Arum and Rooty. Rooty was the less articulate one. I loved that name but decided not to say anything about it because I was sure everyone must comment on a plant named Rooty. We walked for awhile, and that's when I realized that I knew when Alice was around and when she wasn't. And now I was positive she wasn't. It's like a background sound that you're not aware of until it goes silent. I decided to think the best of her and assume she was doing something to handle this in her own way.

"So I'm not very familiar with plant monsters," I said, trying to be conversational. "Would you two be Alraunes?"

"Yes," Arum replied. "Alraune is our species but we come in many subspecies. There are a wide variety of subspecies living here. I'm actually only half airaune. I also have dryad blood. We also have living here ivy species, mushroom species… All kinds."

Soon enough I was brought before the priestess. I had already started to appreciate just how grand this adventure was becoming. I'd been mostly calling it a journey up until now, but I felt that once you've met three monarchs, it's officially an adventure. I'm sure it's a rule somewhere. Was this my fourth? I guess if I was losing count due to all the stress, I must definitely be on an adventure. It occurred to me that adventures must be much more fun to talk about after the fact. Because all I remember about this moment was how rattled I was at being set down in the middle of a war. Furthermore, at this point I knew I was going to be manipulated, and felt even more idiotic than usual that I might still go along with it even though I should have known better.

"How do you do?" the priestess greeted me. "My name is Aira Priestess. Since the reign of Alice the fourteenth, I have looked after this land."

"I'm honored to meet you," I responded. Despite not having training in this, I thought I was doing a pretty good job of being well mannered so far.

"I wish to thank you for rescuing those two from certain death," she said. I'm ashamed to say that her gratitude caused an involuntary reaction in my pants. When monsters thanked me, sexual acts often followed. But not this time.

"We are all quite in awe at the prowess you showed when you repelled all of those insects by yourself," she continued. "Many of us have fallen in fierce battles up until now. Even a single additional reinforcement could mean the difference between victory and defeat."

"It sounds like you want me to fight on your side," I said. While I was quite addicted to praise, I could also tell when someone wanted something from me that I wasn't sure I should give them.

"This village was peaceful until ten years ago," she said. "Us plants and the insect race lived together peacefully. But the insect race's leader, Queen Bee, began to oppress us. Her intense cruelty was limited only to those of the plant race. The cruelty continued to escalate. At first, the insects massacred us, clearly superior in fighting ability. In front of that overwhelming force, the blood of young and old alike flooded the forest."

That made sense, and this is where my unconscious bias got the better of me. Plants were nice and harmless. Insects were cruel and merciless and had stingers and pincers and they swarmed and… You get the picture.

"We couldn't allow the genocide to continue," she explained. "So we resisted. With the power of the mercenary Canaan Sisters from a foreign plant tribe, we managed to compete on equal terms."

Rooty spoke up. "That reminds me, Priestess, what happened to the Canaan Sisters?"

"They have been resting since the battle two days ago," Priestess replied. "Those two have fighting skills that surpass even mine. For the battles that are surely to come, we must preserve their strength. Now, back to the original story. With the power of the Canaan Sisters, we are on equal terms with them. But there isn't a single one of us who wishes to fight. If the insect race would cease all violence, we would put down our arms in a second. So please, join us to help end this as fast as possible."

I was really not liking any of this. But I was listening and clearly being persuaded. She could smell it. Then she started to reel me in.

"Please, human hero," she said. "We were just discussing a counteroffensive. Won't you join us in our offensive and get rid of the source of evil, Queen Bee?"

The other plants present echoed her plea. I had one more question, one I thought was sophisticated. "If I went to the Queen Bee and had this same conversation, what would she tell me?"

The Priestess answered without hesitation. "You would never get that close to her. A human walking through insect territory? You would be sucked dry without hesitation simply because you are human. Insects are predators. Do predators listen to prey's arguments about why they should not be prey?"

I'm glad Alice wasn't present, because if she had heard me agreeing with that argument she would have been absolutely disgusted with me. My prejudices got the better of me. Monsters were all predators. So were humans. I should not have assumed the plants were the victims here. To this day I don't know who the real victims were. Maybe they didn't even know anymore. Not knowing how to say no to these pleas, I agreed to join the offensive. I also admit I was relying on Alice as a crutch. I hoped that if I was making the wrong decision that she would stop me before I made things worse. This assumption was based on my faith that she must know what she was doing. She was the Monster Lord after all!

"I'll do it," I said reluctantly. "But this is no pledge of allegiance to you or your cause. I'll help you with this and this only."

"We have relied on mercenaries before," she said. "I have no expectation of your allegiance. You are just a kind traveler who wants to help. A true hero. While I know you aren't doing this for reward, know that the rewards you receive if you succeed will be beyond your imagining. The sheer number of species we have, the multitude of ways you can experience pleasure…"

"That…. That won't be necessary," I said. "Your gratitude is enough."

"Damnit!" Rooty said.

The Priestess silenced her with a look. "Thank you, human hero," she said. "On behalf of all my brethren, I thank you. If gratitude is all you desire, gratitude is what we shall honor you with."

"All right!" Rooty said. "You're our ally now!"

"Thank you for joining us!" Arum said.

"Just this one battle!" I reminded them.

"Now," Priestess said. "Let us talk about our ongoing operations. Our base of operations is in this Planforest. The insect base is in Sectforest. Queen Bee's hive is located there. "

"Makes sense," I commented.

"Currently," she continued. "our troops are advancing toward Sectforest. On the way, they encountered the insect race's troops in the middle of the village, where a battle is taking place. "

"That's where the two of us were wounded," Arum added. "You saved us as they were withdrawing from the battle."

"So you want me to join that battle?" I asked.

Priestess shook her head. "No. We have a different role in mind for you. In fact, our direct assault is a decoy. We wish to attract their forces in what they think is a final confrontation, as we send a detached force directly to assault Queen Bee. To assassinate her, we chose some of the highest skilled plant monsters to sneak in. Those girls are taking different routes to infiltrate Sectforest. With the huge battle being waged in the village center, the security around her should be lax. Only one assassin needs to reach her. That's the plan."

"I think I'm seeing what you want me to do," I said.

"I would like you to be a part of the detached force," she confirmed. "infiltrate Sectforest, and take out Queen Bee."

"I think I've got it."

"You can see that large tree way over there, can't you? That is the heart of Sectforest. It is where the Queen Bee's hive is located. The other members of the detached force are already spread out through the forest and on their way."

"As soon as we recover, we'll head out too," said Arum.

"Us plants can recover quickly if we drink water!" Rooty said. "We'll be good in about an hour! Of course, semen would make us recover even faster…"

Arum slapped Rooty. "Moron! If you take his semen then he'll be the one who has to recover!"

"I'll be praying for your success," Priestess said. "Please bring us victory."

That was my cue to get moving. As grateful as these plants were, it was obvious they were hungry. I wondered if they might be more insistent on showing their gratitude once they no longer needed me hearty and hale.

As I began moving towards Sectforest, guess who finally made an appearance?

"You idiot," she said by way of greeting. I don't think I need to give you any more clues. "You got seduced into that quite easily."

"Don't even start, Alice!" I warned. "This is not even my business, it's yours! I made a call because you weren't there."

"Idiot."

"You're the Monster Lord!" I argued, confident that I would actually win this time, proving that I was indeed, an idiot. "You can end this war with an order!"

"Oh, so now you're an expert on monster politics?" she said sarcastically. "Plansect Village was entrusted to the divided rule of Priestess and Queen Bee by an earlier Monster Lord. A dispute in the area between two rulers is not the place for the Monster Lord to meddle in."

"So you're not an absolute monarch?"

"I'm not familiar with the term," she replied. "But if you are asking if my rule is absolute, it is not. It's not possible for the Monster Lord to govern all of monsterkind from Hellgondo. So most of our authority is delegated to various regional rulers. Humans do the same thing. I'm not a tyrant. Sure, I could go yank the Queen Bee from her hive and Priestess from her throne and force them to come to an agreement. But it would be meaningless. They'd be pressured into an agreement neither of them wants. The peace would be fragile. It wouldn't last far beyond my leaving this forest. In order for a war to end, either one side has to win, or they both have to want the fighting to stop."

"I understand where you're coming from, but doesn't it affect you in any way to see them killing each other like this?" I asked.

"If conflict is what they want," she replied. "Conflict is what they will have. Sometimes in this world, things have to go to ruin before peace can come."

"So do you think I should just not be involved?"

"We'll talk about that once you deal with the threat," she said.

"What threat?" I hadn't been listening to the wind, so focused was I on Alice. Now I did listen, and felt it. An enemy was approaching.

It was a centipede girl. Centipedes aren't insects, but I decided not to fight it. The concept. The monster, I was probably going to have to fight.

"It can't be," she said in surprise. "A human soldier? I can't believe it. The report was right, a human really did join the plant side."

"You interrupted me in the middle of something," I said. "We don't have to be in conflict. Just go away and I won't have to hurt you."

"You flap that mouth of yours very well," she said. "Let's see if you can do that while moaning in ecst-"

Sealed. I didn't have time for this. "Alice, you can come back out now," I said. Nothing. I did sense her presence now that I knew what to look for. Was there another enemy near? There didn't seem to be. Great. I guess it's back to the original plan that's idiotic but which I'm doing anyway because I don't have any better ideas right now, I thought.

As I probed deeper into Sectforest I noticed cocoons on the ground. Some of them were wriggling. While I tried to decide if I should attempt to cut them open, I sensed the probable maker of the cocoons nearby. It was a silkworm girl. She wasn't a challenge either, since her only dangerous attack was wrapping me up in silk, which was not strong enough to hold me as long as I wielded Gnome's power.

I rushed over to the nearest cocoon and carefully cut it open. It was a plant girl of some sort.

"What happened here?" I asked.

"We…. We were part of the detached force," she replied. "We were…ambushed and imprisoned."

I quickly cut free the rest of them, but they were too weak to continue the mission. I urged them to try to get back to friendly territory. That, I felt, committed me. If I was going to send my allies back to safety with the assurance that I'd go on in their stead, I could no longer back out.

I encountered no more trouble on the way to the hive. To my surprise, at the hive itself, there were no guards. Knowing what I knew about bee hives I expected there'd be plenty of opposition inside. Or perhaps not? Priestess had been certain I'd be able to do this and she gained nothing from sending me, a perfectly good food source, into an insect trap where I could then nourish her enemies. If there was ever a situation that called for just charging in quickly, this seemed to be it.

As expected, resistance was light, if a little difficult to deal with and still dangerous if I lost my focus. The bee girls that were present had stingers that I presumed could paralyze or poison. In addition they could fly out of my reach which I remembered had made the harpies impossible to hit until they got close. But back then I did not have Sylph with me. Using Sylph's power to be able to move faster was a huge help in that situation, although not being able to also use Gnome was risky given the teamwork abilities of the bees and the likelihood that multiple attackers might try to restrain me. I would really need to work on that being able to use both. Still, I was becoming amazed and hopeful at how much my fighting ability increased the more I learned how to use the spirits. Maybe I really would be a match for the Knights!

I reached the Queen Bee after sealing a few of her subjects. She was as majestic as any of the other queens I'd encountered, although like most insects a bit odd looking. Beautiful in her own way but definitely not that universal classic beauty that the more mammalian monster girls possessed.

"Why did you come here, human?" she addressed me.

"I want to end this war!" I yelled. Sorry, it was the adrenaline.

"Unfortunately, we cannot stop fighting," she replied. "I govern this insect tribe. I must protect those in my charge."

I had really been hoping for someone more along the lines of Lila, to give me an evil laugh and speak of conquering first the plants, then the world. She sounded as reasonable as the Harpy Queen. Yet I still had no choice but to give this fight everything I had. She would almost certainly kill me if I lost, or worse. This had to be the right thing. I was getting used to the fact that Alice wouldn't help me, but she wouldn't allow me to make a war in her own domain worse, would she?

Since she seemed likely to be faster than she was strong, I summoned Sylph. I was also worried about the likelihood of a pheromone attack, something I definitely did not want to deal with while my mind was already clouded by doubts. Once the battle was joined I needed to concentrate on my survival above all else.

She attacked with four arms, using four fists that hit like jackhammers. She was indeed fast. Without Sylph I would have been easily battered into submission. She was powerful as well. Multiple hits with Angel Halo failed to seal her. Early in the battle, she attempted to take to the air and impale me with her stinger in what appeared to be the insect version of Demon Skull Beheading, but I was able to dodge and land another flurry of slashes.

"You are the strongest human I have ever encountered," she said in wonder. "You will make superb breeding stock! With your genes we will crush the plants!"

That sounded a little more evil, which helped to increase my resolve. Thanks to Sylph, her only effective attack against me were those pounding fists. She attempted to take me down to apply a sting, but I was far too fast for that to be possible. I was also pretty sure that she tried to kiss me at one point, presumably to give me a dose of pheromones. Since Sylph's wind shield was keeping the smell mostly away from me, she must have wanted to opt for the direct approach.

After taking several hard blows that made me woozy, but delivering as good as I got with my sword, she was finally sealed. I'd fought some tough battles lately, some easy ones, been bailed out, even beaten, but that one had been long and painful. I knew for certain that by tomorrow the swelling in my eyes would make it tough to see. The extensive bruising on my body would probably cause a lot of stiffness as well. It's funny, whenever I got hit mainly with pleasure attacks I'd been afraid that I'd be defeated much more easily, but when an opponent foregoes pleasure attacks and gives you a severe beating that will take days to recover from, you start to wish for the pleasure attacks.

A bee girl that I had not encountered yet buzzed into the room. "Human," she said. "Queen is…?"

"No, not dead," I replied, trying to sound reassuring. "Just sealed. She'll return to normal eventually. But now this war is over."

She didn't seem to understand. Was she going to attack? Not only was I still exhausted, I noticed that if I used the spirits for too long they got tired as well. Even though a bee was a fast opponent I might have no choice but to go with Gnome since she was still fresh and hope that she'd enable me to withstand the battering.

However, just then the cavalry arrived. "Stop right there, insect scum!" It was Rooty!

"Your queen has been vanquished," Arum said. "Thanks to Luka, our victory is certain!"

"Plants!" the bee girl cried.

"Hehe…" Arum said. "Time to hunt down the remains."

With that, Arum grabbed the fearful bee girl, wrapping her up in her petals.

"Now to suck out all your nutrients," she said sadistically.

"Wuaaaa!" the bee girl cried.

"No!" I ordered, the bee girl's fear causing adrenaline to surge through my body once again. "The war is over! There is no reason to harm her!"

"What?" Rooty asked, looking at me as if I had gone insane. "We won the war. All of the insect scum are spoils to be made into food."

I pointed my sword at Arum. "Let her go! Don't make me have to fight you too!"

Arum shrugged, "If you say so." She opened up her petals. The bee girl's desiccated, lifeless boy dropped to the ground.

No! My hesitation had led to the poor girl's death! Enraged, I charged at Arum, sealing her in an instant. Rooty looked at me dumbfounded.

"Why are you betraying us!" she whined. "You were our ally!"

"I'm no one's ally," I growled. "I made that clear. You were there! I came here to end the war, not to help you slaughter the insects!"

Rooty extended her arms, vines shooting towards me to wrap me up. I dove to the ground, rolled forward, and drove my sword into her belly, sealing her in one hit.

A caterpillar and another bee had just entered the chamber. "Why are you protecting us?" the caterpillar girl asked. "Didn't we lose? Aren't we all going to be eaten by the plants?"

"If you had won, is that what you would have done?" I asked.

"Ewwww…." She said. "Plants are yucky."

Just arriving was the cute mosquito girl I had fought earlier, apparently already restored.

"Not good," she said. "The plant army is going to be here soon."

"How many?" I asked.

"At least thirty," she replied. "there's going to be a siege."

"No," I said, cold determination in my voice. "There won't be."

I walked past the insects to the entrance of the hive. Dumbfounded, the insect girls simply watched, except for mosquito girl, who followed me.

"What are you going to do?" she asked.

"I'm going to end this war if I have to seal everyone in this damn forest," I replied.

She stopped following when I reached the entrance, unwilling to face the plant monsters waiting outside while outnumbered. Most of them were still inbound. I counted five gathered outside the hive. I couldn't even begin to identify their species.

One that looked to be some type of mushroom species greeted me. "If it isn't the hero of the war," she said. "thanks to you, the victory is ours!"

"Go back," I said, in a tone that threatened dire consequences. "The war is over. The insects have no more will to fight."

"Yes!" she exulted. "You can join us in our feast! Oh, you don't eat insects, do you? You can rape whoever you want, then!"

"There will be no more killing," I said. "Go. Back."

"Aren't you our ally?" she asked. "Did you betray us? What kind of traitor switches to the side that already lost?"

"Priestess sent me to neutralize the queen bee to end the war," I replied. "I have completed the mission. That means the war is over. I'll ask you one last time: Go. Back."

Another plant girl who was rooted to a giant flower that looked like it was made for trapping and sucking prey said, "We must punish traitors."

"Traitor?" I said in disbelief. "It is you who has betrayed me! Priestess said you didn't want to fight! She said the war would be over if I did my job! I will have my vengeance on you and on her!"

I had never spoken like this before. I was angry, filled with a righteous fury like none I had ever felt before. I realized later that I had briefly returned to my old overdramatic shtick. It had somehow come out in my anger.

Something about the look on my face caused them to hesitate, but realizing they had me badly outnumbered, they advanced on me. Idiots, I thought. They actually think they have a chance. Summoning Sylph once again, I waded into them, sealing them one by one. The five were reduced to small, harmless plants in less than ten seconds.

"Give up, traitor!" Three more plant girls emerged from the forest. "You can't defeat us all!"

I charged them and sealed them as well. I ran through the forest, sealing plant monsters as I went, doing my best impression of Granberia slicing through heroes. Nothing could keep me from my goal. Priestess. The one who had lied to me with a straight face. The one who had taken advantage of my naivete.

A larger force was up ahead. Within seconds they became a field of flowers. I stopped for a moment to catch my breath. Sylph also needed the rest. I had never made her exert herself to this extent before.

I felt Alice's presence once again. "Alice?" I said, the fury leaving me. "Please show yourself. Please?"

She complied, materializing in front of me. "Did I mess things up?" I asked her.

"No one ever goes to war thinking they are the ones at fault," she responded. "Both sides here believe they are right. You got seduced by the plant side because you only heard their side of things."

"Priestess lied to me," I said wearily.

"What are you going to do about that?"

"I was going to take my revenge on her," I replied. "But what do you think I should do?"

"You should do what you think is right," she replied. "Vengeance sounds like as good a reason as any. I'm surprised to hear you speak that way. It's not like you."

"That was how I felt a minute ago when I was really angry," I said. "But now I want to do it in the hopes it will end the war. If both side's leaders are neutralized…."

"It's the most idiotic way to try to end a war that I've ever heard of," she said. "But at this point it's got a better chance of working than anything I could suggest. Go to it."

I don't know whether it's because Priestess ordered her soldiers to let me through, or perhaps Alice did something, but I got to Priestess without any further opposition. "My, you are quite the violent one," Priestess commented. "How many did you defeat before coming here?"

"Your entire siege force," I replied. "Every single soldier you sent to massacre the insects. You said you wanted the war to end. You can end it as you promised, or I'll end it for you."

"I made no such promise," she countered. "You inferred from my words what you wanted to."

It's a good thing I wasn't trying to defeat anyone with the force of my arguments, because I was starting to gain the impression that I couldn't out debate a toddler.

"Once the insects are exterminated," she continued. "the war will be over. Until the threat of them has been removed, we will never know peace."

"They have no more will to fight! The only opposition left to your side is me!"

"Then I will have to defeat you myself," she said.

"After I defeated your entire assault force, do you actually believe that's possible?" I asked.

"In combat prowess, you indeed surpass me," she said. "But in the arts of pleasure lies my chance. If I can exhaust you, victory is assured. I am a high class Alraune. Scum like you doesn't deserve to touch my reproductive organ. But a simpleton like you can be violated in other ways. Now come, I shall dominate you!"

So it was like that. Thus far nearly all attacks against me had been physical attacks. She was smart enough to recognize the futility of that. I was suddenly nervous. Although I didn't worry about my will anymore, critical ecstasy was still critical ecstasy. I imagined that if she rendered me helpless she'd have a pretty cruel fate in store for me.

She rose from the throne of vines she was sitting on and approached me. Her hair flew outward, undoing my pants. With a quick side kick she knocked me off my feet. With incredible speed she stood over me, her foot on my groin. Her foot was so soft it made me moan with pleasure as she used it to rub my penis.

"As I thought," she said. "All of you human warriors are as weak in this way as you are strong with the sword."

I grabbed her ankle and flipped her to the ground, rising to get on top of her to drive Angel Halo into her breast. I needn't have made the effort. Her hair grabbed me and pulled me towards her as she lay on the ground. Her hair had also restrained my sword arm.

"Perhaps not as weak as I thought," she said. "I'll have to be more serious. Be immersed in the ecstasy of my scent!"

Sylph's wind tried hard to blow the pheromones away, but between my closeness to Priestess and Sylph's fatigue the result was less than effective. I felt both weaker and turned on. With ease, the smaller woman flipped me, never letting go of me with her hair.

"You don't deserve anything more than my foot," she said, standing up with her hair still binding me and resuming her foot torture. I had only gotten a half dose of those pheromones, but combined with her monster magic just her foot was putting me in a dangerous position. I attempted to flip her again, but with only one hand free and her hair anchoring her, I was unable to stop her. However, my struggles were enough to irritate her.

"You're quite strong for a human," she said, beginning to walk back towards her vine throne, her hair dragging me behind her.

She pulled me into position next to the throne and sat back down on it. Vines from the throne wrapped around me, binding me in place more securely. She released her hair from me and began working on my penis with both feet.

"Do you like my feet?" she said haughtily. "A traitor like you doesn't deserve anything more than this. While I play with you I'll contemplate all the ways I can have you disposed of. Perhaps the Canaan Sisters would like to enjoy you for their next meal. Insects are nourishing, but there is no taste for a carnivorous plant better than the taste of an unbaptized human."

The only thing that was saving me from defeat was her insistence on not utilizing her full range of pleasure attacks. I intended to make her pay for her hubris. She thought she had me firmly bound with the vines from her throne. Instead of struggling, I had been probing for weak spots. Okay, I might have also been enjoying the foot job, having never experienced one before, and her feet were SO soft! I made my move as soon as I identified a portion of the vine trap that I felt I could break. I did so, and then attempted to break more vines, but I had misjudged the strength of the remaining ones. Unable to think of anything else, I attempted to roll away, which brought the throne, and Priestess sprawling down on top of me. Now we were both trapped under her throne. She had become tangled in the vines as well.

"I have to give you credit, human," she said, her face inches from mine. "You really must want me to get intimate with you even though I have nothing but contempt for you. In that respect, consider yourself the victor!"

She began to rub her body against mine while kissing me. Her breath was intoxicating, full of pheromones that in seconds would make it hard to think. I had gotten my sword arm partially free. I saw her eyes go wide as I sank my sword into her side. I had to hope that she was weak, or else I was doomed. She was. She became sealed into the form of a flower.

Cursing and struggling, I managed to free myself from the rest of the vines and move the throne off of me. It was a good thing, too. I sensed trouble in the wind. I suspected that this must be the Canaan Sisters.

Sure enough, it was. Drawn by the sounds of combat, they entered the clearing. One of them appeared to be a venus fly trap, another a pitcher plant. Two of the deadliest plants in existence. The third looked even more dangerous, with a gigantic mouth-type extension that looked big enough to accommodate two of me.

These three were pros. There was no talking, no threats. They attacked in unison, with excellently coordinated strikes. The pitcher plant girl primarily tried to use her vines to herd me towards the mouths of one of her sisters, while the other two sought to opportunistically grab me in those mouths at the first opportunity. I was horrified at the thought that Priestess had meant to feed me to these monsters.

Sylph was pooped, so my extra speed was gone. Given the likelihood that I might be trapped in one of those giant plant maws, I summoned the fresh Gnome. Fortunately, the battle was much easier than I had anticipated. These three mercenaries specialized in killing and eating insects. Their ability to do harm to humans was sufficient against a normal human, but not against me, even without the spirits. It took some time, but soon three new harmless plants joined Priestess.

Alice reappeared once again. "It looks like it's really over," she said. "But nothing has been solved."

"Did I do the wrong thing?" I asked.

"Who knows?" Alice said. "Good, evil. Right, wrong. Do you believe those things can be so easily defined? For now, you've ended the war. You did it idiotically and used more violence and brutality than I've ever seen you use, yet at the same time I'm impressed. Taking on two armies by yourself. Without that righteous anger you'd worked up it wouldn't have been possible. Maybe you really can achieve your goal. Just remember that the two sides also had righteous anger. They used that to justify all manner of brutality against one another."

"I really wish you'd told me what to do here," I said.

"Why?" she asked. "You need to rely on yourself, not me. I've told you that enough times."

"This is your business, though!" I argued. "I could have made things worse! Maybe I have."

"I already stated my position," she responded. "I wasn't going to interfere. If they want peace, they'll have peace. If they want war, they'll have war. If I thought you were going to make things worse I would have advised you to stop. You haven't made things worse. Maybe you haven't made them better, but at least now they have a breathing space to think things through. Someone just came out of nowhere and trashed both of their elite forces and leaders. At the very least, it will be a big blow to their confidence. That might have been what they needed. It doesn't excuse your stupidity in letting one side talk you into joining them. Which I'll note, I did point out to you."

I felt something in the wind. Alice seemed to sense it as well, because she stopped talking and faced towards the source. A plant monster came into the clearing. There were more behind her. They looked fearful. Insects began to emerge into the clearing as well.

"Is it over?" one of the plants said. "Is the war really over?"

"For now it is," I said. "are you soldiers?"

"No," she replied. "We are the ones who refused to fight. While everyone was fighting, we all ran away because we didn't want to be a part of it. We stuck together, deeper into the woods. We came back because we heard something strange was happening."

"Can we stop running and hiding now?" a tarantula girl asked.

"For now…. Yes. The Priestess, the Queen Bee, the Canaan Sisters, all sealed."

"Everyone, did you hear that? The war's over! No more fighting!"

Countless insects and plants began to emerge from the forest. Their numbers were as great as the enemy forces I'd faced.

"There are so many casualties," an Alraune said.

"Let's split up the first aid duties," tarantula girl replied. "We'll head over to Sectforest while you all deal with this area!"

"With this many monsters helping them with their own magic power, they'll be unsealed much faster than I expected," Alice observed.

"Won't that just renew the fighting?" I asked.

"The monsters that live here aren't fools," she said. "After this, the futility of the war might be impressed upon them. As stupid as you were, you took no lives, and perhaps even made a point here. It's up to them whether they choose to get it or not. And maybe…. Maybe I got the point as well."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"We'll talk about it later," she said, voice low. "It won't do for my subjects to hear me doubting myself in front of them. Best for them to think you were my agent. Part of my plan to teach them a lesson. Let's go. There's nothing more you can do here."

As we began to put distance between ourselves and the battlefield, Alice spoke, resuming her normal voice, "This time can we go where there's something good to eat?"

"I'm afraid not," I said. "We're going to Undine's Spring, remember?"

"Ugh. Fine. I can't complain, it's a necessary trip."

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