DD1 ASC - Chapter 14 - Help

"So why are you even doing this?" Arilla asked, her brow raised in question as they walked along the wild fields surrounding Rhelea.

The late morning sun was beating down on them both. The cool breeze from the mountains to the west was notably absent, and without the benefit of shade from trees or nearby buildings, their walk was growing increasingly unpleasant. The wild plants that had sprouted out from the once tilled soil seemed to be suffering almost as much as Arilla was beneath her heavy mail coat. The plantlife bleached yellow and brown as its springtime growth wilted in the summer’s dry heat.

"I'm trying to blend in," Typhoeus admitted awkwardly, well aware that his disguise had lasted all of four days with Arilla before being compromised, six if you counted the time when she was unconscious.

"You're not doing a very good job." She said with a wry smile.

"I know…" Typhoeus acknowledged, his eyes momentarily closing with frustration as he mentally recounted his numerous errors at passing for a normal human mage.

"Couldn't you just power through the early levels really quickly?" Arilla asked, sounding more curious than afraid.

The ‘revelation’ about his second class, had seemingly piqued her inquisitive nature rather than triggering her fear response. It wasn’t the greatest indicator of her intelligence, especially seeing how the Great System typically only offered skills capable of obscuring class information to the more nefarious sounding classes. Then again, from his conversations with Arilla, her education on all the important aspects of the Great System seemed to be severely lacking. His favourite human having latched on to bards tales as a highly fallible method of educating herself about her place in the wider world.

"I could, but then it would be really obvious what I was doing if I did that." He said with a huff. "If I returned to Rhelea after a couple of days in the wilds, dozens of levels higher than when I left, people would question it. People like the Shining Swords and those questions would get me killed."

"You're hiding from them?" She asked, her apparent unease making itself known in the tone of her normally light voice.

"I'm hiding from everyone, although I prefer to think of it as tactically picking my battles," Typhoeus said with an awkward smile.

"And you won't tell me what your hidden class is?" Arilla asked, sounding more than a little bit curious.

"I'd rather not say," Typhoeus said, wincing internally at the sense of discomfort that he felt as he actively concealed the truth about himself from her.

"Okay, I’ll let it go for now.” She said, her words causing Typhoeus’s heart to quicken with elation. “But are you sure that the Shining Swords don’t know? After you told me you were hiding your class I thought for sure that they knew, and that’s why Caeber and Mara were so invested in you."

"No, they don’t know anything, only you do. I suspect they just care because they are good people, and I think that Caeber feels guilty because he failed to kill the dragon." He said, a smile on his face as he watched her freckled cheeks blush in response to his words.

"What dragon? Wait, do you mean The Stunted Dragon? The Tiny Drake of the foothills?" She asked incredulously. “What does that have to do with anything?”

Typhoeus gave her a look.

"Did I say something wrong?" Arilla asked.

"No, I guess you didn’t. I met them in the foothills of the Dragonspines, they think that they rescued me from the Tiny Drake, but I wasn't in any actual danger." Typhoeus said quickly, hating that he had to use one of his more unflattering monikers.

"A dragon really? Wow! Uhm just wow!" Arilla spluttered, the human seeming to be more than a little bit awed by the prospect of meeting a dragon in the flesh. The irony of her expressing that to him as he agonised over concealing his true form, was not something that he appreciated.

"That was barely coherent," Typhoeus said disparagingly.

"Okay, so uhm you weren't in any danger because of your class?" She asked, shaking her head as she refocused on the conversion.

"Because of my class." He repeated in confirmation, not quite lying to her but aware that he was definitely bending the truth.

"I think I get it." She said, her tone sounding less confident than her statement suggested.

"You do?" He asked.

"Yes, but…" She said.

"But what?"

"They're going to figure it out eventually. They’re not dumb, and you are awful at blending in as you put it." She said, hurtling through the words as if she was afraid she wouldn't be able to get through them otherwise.

"I'm getting better at it." He said, feeling a little bit hurt by how unconvinced Arilla looked. "What?"

"I could help you." She offered quietly.

"You are helping me; we’re hunting goblins," Typhoeus stated.

"No, I mean that I could help you with other things. Like blending in better." She said, her confidence rising as she met his eyes with hers, the look on her face showing her seriousness as she clarified her offer of help.

"You'd do that? Is it because we…" He said, trailing off, still uncomfortable talking about the sexual nature of their relationship.

"I'll do it because I'm a good person, and I know what it is to be afraid. You can't live your life constantly worried about being outed. Just promise me you're not a necromancer or a diabolist or something else just as bad." Arilla said assertively.

“I promise.“ He said, relieved at least that he didn't have to explicitly lie to her again. That wasn’t to say that he didn’t feel conflicted about making this promise, for he did. While to his eyes being a dragon was as natural as the hot summers day that they were both tolerating. To her, it probably was as bad if not worse than being a necromancer or a diabolist, even if his class didn’t require a fresh supply of corpses or live sacrifices. Still, he made the promise, not just because he needed her help, but because he wanted her specifically to help him. For reasons he didn’t entirely understand, he knew that he wanted to tie her life closer to his even if it was with lies and broken promises. It was selfish and perhaps even a little bit cruel, but he was a dragon, and despite his best intentions, inevitably, dragons always did whatever they wanted.

“Okay, then I’ll help you. Just know that if you violate my trust I will never forgive you.” She said, her words hammering home his resolution to put off telling her the whole truth for as long as he physically could.

Things as a whole had changed a lot since their fight. In many ways they were better, he was much more open and honest with her than before, but he was conspicuously aware how all of their problems were his fault. Already he found the simple admission about his ‘second class’ had made his life significantly less stressful now that he didn't have to lie to her all of the time. He still wasn't being completely truthful, but he had settled into a comfortable fiction that was as close to his truth as it could be without him saying the three magic words.

I'm not human.

Typhoeus was fairly sure he knew exactly how she would react if she ever found out the truth about him. While she had surprised him before, Arilla had made her views very clear about how she perceived non-humans. It was disappointing to be sure, but it was to be expected considering the culture that she had grown up in.

He was learning a lot of valuable lessons from her about her species. Her quirks and mannerisms better informing him on how to act, and with his high mental stats he found himself quickly learning how to incorporate the minute movements into his own body language as he came to slowly perfect his disguise. He really shouldn't have been surprised that living in such close proximity with a human for a few short days was far more informative than years of killing and eating them ever could be, but he was.

They had moved their camp away from the butchered ogre before spending a few days grinding Arilla's two skills up to level 4. Typhoeus, with his own pair of low levelled mage skills, was not limited by a comparatively small mana pool, and he had no trouble quickly levelling them up to 4 while Arilla had slept. As he was able to simply leverage his massive mana supply to quickly brute force his way through the early skill levels. For [Sorcerers Reservoir], he pushed mana into and out of the silver teeth that he kept in his dresses pocket, and for [Sorcerous Empowerment], he had reluctantly sacrificed his HP to fuel several volleys of manabolts that he sent flying into the pile of rotting goblin corpses. The predictably messy result of which only gave them a greater incentive to move their campsite.

Spending his HP to empower his magic was a very dangerous prospect. Especially when it eventually came time to use the ability on a more appropriately levelled enemy, but for now, he just ignored the mild discomfort it caused him, as he enjoyed the modest increase in his offensive potential. The training had been tedious for both of them, but it had given Arilla more time to recover from her manaburn whilst also giving them both some distance between them and their heated confrontation. By the time that they were ready to move on, the trail of the surviving goblins was even colder. Fortunately, they remained incredibly easy creatures to follow. While their tracks may have been a week old, it hadn't rained at all during that time, and the feral creatures had left a trail of faeces and broken branches that were obvious to Typhoeus's nose even without the benefit of [Sovereign's Perception].

He led Arilla further east as they followed the tracks, quickly leaving the abandoned farmland behind them as they moved deeper into the untamed wilderness that separated the human settlements from one another. As they got further away from civilization, the trail began twisting and turning. Likely the goblins going out of their way to avoid the scent marked territories of other more dangerous predators. They travelled for another day like this before finally bedding down together beneath the open night’s sky and feasting on some small game that Typhoeus was able to lure in with a simple spell. With his arcane wards, they were able to sleep without watches, confident in the knowledge that in the unlikely event they were discovered by anything able to power through his magic, that they would at least wake up first. In practice, this meant that they spent their nights in relative comfort, staying up late talking by the fire before settling down to sleep in each other's arms.

It was romantic in its own way, and when Arilla's lips found Typhoeus's in the dark, she was surprised to learn that he tasted like cinnamon. By this point, they had already done everything but kiss, making the simple act of affection feel almost illicit as a consequence. Arilla may have initiated the kiss, but Typhoeus retaliated with the hunger of a dragon. Him having been too insecure in his adopted form to even talk about, let alone act upon his body's myriad of confusing urges.

Their lips mashed together as they both fumbled with each other's clothing beneath the open sky. The unspoken lie of their shared sleeping bag, a decision allegedly made for warmth and frugality’s sake being finally revealed for what it was. Within the tight confines of the fur-lined leather they were unable to easily navigate each other's bodies. Awkward knees and elbows digging into each other as they frantically grasped for one another's flesh, desperate in their mutual need to taste and feel.

With youthful enthusiasm, they explored their bodies together. Their current efforts putting their past attempt to shame as heedless of their exposed environment or the discomfort of their thin mattress over the bumpy ground, they pushed each other forwards in their pleasure. Typhoeus lay on top of Arilla, the much taller woman subjugated beneath his vastly superior strength. Any thoughts of holding back his capabilities forgotten as he held her wrists down high above her head with one hand as she enthusiastically bucked her hips against the other.

His fingers roamed the delicate folds of her vulva. The dragon analysing her reactions as he experimentally stroked her exterior lips before finally settling into the tried and tested 'come hither' motion with his index and middle finger, circling his thumb around the harder button of flesh that was her clitoris.

He continued kissing her as his hand worked; his efforts made all the more difficult by both Arilla's vigorous thrusts and the bountiful lubrication that her body was making. The multitasking was hard, but it was far easier than flying and much more rewarding, so he persisted. Grateful at least that his collection of erotic art and pornography was finally proving to be even a little bit useful.

Arilla's moans rapidly grew more unintelligible until her orgasm overtook her. Her legs locking as she screamed into Typhoeus's love bitten neck with her release. Moments passed as they lay entwined with one another before either of them spoke.

"That was... gods above... that was good…." Arilla said, her naked chest still heaving with exertion following her orgasm. “You’re getting better at that.”

"Of course, I told you, I'm good at everything I do," Typhoeus said, earning himself a playful punch on the arm.

"You didn't… I mean, I didn't… I haven't done anything for you." Arilla panted.

"No, you haven't, but it's not like we're finished now, are we? Now take a minute to catch your breath, for we have all the time in the world. And well..." Typhoeus said, trailing off.

"And what?" Arilla asked, smiling wider than Typhoeus had ever seen her do so before.

"And I'm hungry." The dragon said, his predatory smile once again sending shivers down Arilla's spine.

He waited far less than the full minute before he began spinning about within the sleeping bag, an inelegant manoeuvre made all the more challenging by the limited space available to him as he clambered over Arilla. Orientating himself so that his face was hovering over her glistening crotch, and hers presumably beneath his. He licked his lips in anticipation as he lowered himself down, spreading her open with his fingers as he moved his mouth to suckle on her erect clit.

Her reaction was as immediate as it was gratifying. The young warrior bucking her hips as she moaned with pleasure, grinding her wet pussy into his face as she reached down with her hands to push his willing mouth down harder against her clit. Typhoeus had to exert all of his strength just to push her straining hips back down on the ground as he tried to retake control of the moment, even if he did enjoy the fists that she made with her tight grip on his hair. He felt his own arousal grow between his legs as he carefully used his teeth to delicately hold her sensitive clit in place as he enthusiastically lashed the organ with his tongue, enjoying the taste and feel of her in his mouth as he sucked at her sex.

Arilla relented somewhat, succumbing to his efforts to hold her still even if she maintained her painful grip on his hair. The pain adding to the perceived illicitness of the act and driving his lust forwards. He explored her body, dragging his fingernails over the soft skin of her inner thighs, tracing the contours of her flesh until he worked his way around to the firm cheeks of her pert butt which he vigorously squeezed as he pulled her hips closer against his face.

He felt a wet tongue experimentally lick along the entire length of his vagina. Starting at the base of his canal and slowly working its way up between the folds of his inner lips, stopping agonisingly short of touching his throbbing clit. The sudden stimulation causing him to very nearly lose his hold on Arilla’s as his burning arousal transcended into pleasure as Arilla’s tongue repeated its slow and deliberate path across his vulva. Inside him the tongue went, spearing itself deep within his folds before it smoothly extricated itself and passed up along his labia, stimulating his sensitive flesh as it went.

Moments before her tongue stopped short of touching his clitoris, he quickly ground his hips down onto Arillas face. Surprising her as the two organs made blissful contact for the briefest of moments before she pulled her tongue back. Denying Typhoeus the stimulation he craved as she continued to tease him.

Taking inspiration from her, Typhoeus finally released Arilla’s clitoris from his mouth, and he instead mirrored her movements. Dipping his tongue into the soaking canal of her vagina where he savoured the musky sweetness of her fluids before following her example by leading his tongue between her folds. He felt her tugging on his hair, urging him to resume his assault on her clit as he felt sharp stings of pain run through his scalp, the sensation mixing with the pleasure coming from his pussy and only serving to heighten his arousal as he denied her the stimulation that they both so desperately wanted.

Arilla caved before him, maybe it was the difference in their willpower stats, or maybe she was just closer to cumming than he was. He felt her mouth close around his clitoris, pinching it slightly as her tongue lapped against it. The building tension in his body finally coming to a head as he finally came against her face. She continued to give him what he wanted, orgasms following each other in rapid succession, and he returned the favour. But it was hard to focus his tongue between his involuntary moans that forced their way out of his mouth as he kept cumming. When he was spent, he realised that she hadn’t cum once since he removed his fingers from her what felt like hours ago. So he experimentally delved between her lips with a curled digit and was immediately rewarded by her whole body violently shaking as she violently came.

Her orgasm was so vigorous and unexpected that he had an unpleasant flashback to when she had her prolonged seizure, and he reflexively immobilised her with thick bands of golden light that held her in place as she finished cumming. When he realised what he had done he quickly dismissed the spell, but it was too late, and Arillas eyes were wide with surprise as she waited for him to reorient himself before explaining.

“I’m sorry, you caught me off guard,” Typhoeus said quickly, his eyes downcast as he apologised.

“It’s okay, that was a really big one. I should have told you that I always need a little penetration to finish, but what was that at the end?” Arilla asked him breathlessly.

“It was just a little spell; it was harmless really, so you really don’t need to worry about anything.” He said, his tone urgent as he tried to forestall another potential argument.

“It’s okay. It was unexpected but not entirely unpleasant.” She said, her calm tone surprising him.

“Good, I was worried I really fucked up at the end there.” He said, the relief evident in his voice.

“Well you did, fuck up I mean. But I can forgive it just this once so long as it doesn’t happen again without me asking for it first.” She said with a small smile on her face.

“Okay ...Why would you ask for it?” He asked.

“Well, why don’t you start by telling me what other shapes you can do.”