Empire Builder 1: Breed, Populate, Conquer by Dante King (free e books to read online txt) 📕

dining hall table, setting the whole thing ablaze. Flames leapt up, scorching the blade fiend.

“I have to get in there, before it’s too late,” Ben said.

He opened the intercom to the room where Melody, Nipper, and the others were waiting. “I’m coming up. We have to get into the fight now.”

Melody looked up at the ceiling, where Ben’s voice was coming from. “Has everything gone according to plan?”

“Uh, not exactly. I’ll explain when I get there.”

Ben shut off the intercom. “Sir Gallant, I’m leaving you in charge here. Let us into the dining hall and then lock the doors again. Don’t open them unless I tell you otherwise.”

“Understood, master.” Sir Gallant got close to the screen. If he jumped, he could hit the controls required.

Ben dashed off toward the elevator, ready to save his child and give the mages the justice they had now earned. He imagined Melody wouldn’t be too happy when he arrived and told her where their younger child was, and who she was killing.

Chapter Eighteen

Ben exited the elevator on the second floor of the tower’s crown, where the dining hall was located. The others waited for him in a semicircle, restlessly fidgeting.

Nipper stood beside Melody, mewling anxiously. The nymphs shivered in fright. Only Sir Gallant remained motionless. No doubt he was much better at that than the monsterkin, having a frame made of metal, even if it were a little rusted.

“Ben, I can’t find Pearl anywhere,” Melody cried out as soon as Ben stepped through the elevator doors.

Ben held up a hand. “I can find her using the cameras in the control room. We’ll deal with that soon.” None of that was a lie. He would explain the danger in a moment, but he needed everyone to keep their heads for just a little bit longer. He was having enough trouble keeping himself under control as it was.

“The mages are fighting off some monsters right now in the Dining Hall,” Ben explained. “But Sir Gallant the Younger won’t have the mana to summon monsters for much longer. If those mages start attacking the doors, I don’t know how long it will take them to break out. They’ve already tried and failed, but they might discover some way out eventually. I doubt we can starve them in there.”

“What are we going to do?” Vinata asked, bravely keeping her voice steady.

“Don’t be afraid,” Ben said. “I’m going to see what I can do to defeat the mages using my Drain spell. Once I get null locks around their legs, they’ll be powerless to harm us.”

Ben made it all sound simple, but he knew how much could go wrong in that process. He didn’t want the nymphs worrying about all that though.

“We have to face their footsoldiers as well, don’t we?” Sir Gallant the Elder pragmatically asked.

“The monsters have almost completely finished them off,” Ben said. At least one thing had gone right about his plan so far.

“Is there anything else I can do to help then, sire?” the knight asked.

Although Ben didn’t want to put anyone in harm’s way, the knight’s support would be invaluable to him in this combat. If he were killed in there, it wouldn’t be long before everyone else was slaughtered or enslaved after him.

He glanced at the knight. “Can you handle yourself in combat?” It seemed like a silly question, but he had to ask it nonetheless.

“I can, sire. I was a formidable knight-errant before joining your service.”

“Very good,” Ben said. “I will need you to defend me in battle, and distract the mages if you can, while I try to lock them up.”

“How many monsters are left in the chamber now, sire?”

Ben liked the knight’s approach. He was practical and thought ahead.

“Most of the monsters have been killed,” Ben said. “There’s still a blade fiend, however. Melody, do you have any more mana crystals? My supply is low.”

Melody fished one crystal out of her satchel. “It’s the last one I have.”

Ben consumed it, bringing his supply up. It wasn’t much, but it would have to do. If it was enough to let him drain the mages of their magic, it would be sufficient.

Ben looked at the women. “I need you all to wait out here, I can’t have you facing such danger.”

“But Ben, you will be alone in there,” Melody said. “You can’t face those mages on your own.”

There was nothing else for it. He had to tell them now. “Pearl is in there fighting as well.”

Melody gasped, her face draining of color.

“You didn’t think to mention this earlier?” The catgirl’s tail swished, and she turned, ready to run at the doors.

“I needed you all to be prepared first, Melody. I will go in and rescue her myself.”

“But she’s just a kitten,” Melody said. “She’ll die in seconds.”

“She’s already evolved,” Ben said.

Melody looked at him, wide-eyed, not sure what to say in response.

“She’s a great werecat now,” he explained. “All the same, I have to hurry. It might be crazy, but I have to go in there and face those mages, for the sake of my child.”

“It’s not crazy,” Vinata said. “It just shows that you really are the Forgotten Ruler.”

Lulu agreed. “You have the courage to face deadly danger to save those who need you most.”

“Are you sure you couldn’t just make more children, sire?” Sir Gallant the Elder asked, pragmatic as ever.

Ben gave him a glare stonier than even Sir Gallant the Younger could have managed.

“Right, yes, I see, sire. Onward to the dining hall it is then.”

Ben looked up at the ceiling. “Sir Gallant the Younger, what’s happening in the dining hall now?”

The stone homunculus’ voice squeaked through the intercom. “I’m keeping the mages busy with monsters, and Pearl is handling herself wonderfully. But I’ll run out of mana soon, so you need to hurry.”

Melody’s shoulders relaxed slightly as she heard the news, but her stance was still tense.

“Melody,” Ben addressed her. “You have the null locks?” He held out a hand to take them.

“I will go with