It won't work

"It's not enough, Captain." Edlynn eyes search the treasures with her eyes as she explains. "This is the hub that feeds all the other seven wardstones. If this central ward fails, they all fail." She seizes a large amphora by its handle and understanding her intent you grasp the other side; together you carry the sealed jug inlaid with silver to the ebony disk in the rear of the vault. If this works, Sir," the panting priestess smiles at you in what feels like genuine appreciation, "you will have well-earned whatever price it is that you exact from my body." You haven't forgotten how good it felt to have the slender priestess' legs wrapped around you as you popped her cherry up in the sanctuary, but her off-hand reminder sends a wave of desire through you. Even now, naked except for the chain wrapped around her neck and draped between her breasts she looks almost like a goddess herself, to have her willingly open her thighs for you again makes your cock swell under your smallclothes. It is a short-lived moment because as the holy water from the amphora floods the pitted surface of the polished wardstone you see immediately what has the cleric of Athena so alarmed. A circle of red is clearly visible under the frothing liquid and you can see cracks of pulsing heat that crisscross the inner circle like the fractures on a broken eggshell.

As soon as the extent of the damage to the black disk has been made apparent, the priestess by you side begins to chant in a language far older than anything you've ever heard spoken. Judging by the sweat that is beading her brow, simply reciting the words is taking more effort than carrying the heavy amphora. Not that it seems to be doing any good.

As you watch, a long slender hand with claw-like nails pierces the softened stone and claws at the surrounding rock tearing a handful of it away like soft clay on a riverbank. The next time the hand breaches the ward, you strike the long thin fingers with your sword, but the weapon glances off the demon's hand without even scratching it.

"Don't bother!" Edlynn stops her chanting long enough to admonish you. "Your blade can't harm that demon's physical body, save your strength for the flesh golems."

"What do you need?" You ask as whole disk pulses like a smooth pond when a rock is thrown into the center.

"I need priestesses trained in the warding ritual, but the only ones still left in the Temple are acolytes." Edlynn doesn't have to remind you that many of those young women are probably not in any condition to perform any kind of ritual, but you decide to do what you can. Turning to Adriana, you send her to get help.

"Tell your mother that we need any of the acolytes who can to come immediately, my men can accompany them if they like. Only the gods know what we can do, but it's better than giving up without a fight." Edlynn nods silently as she surveys the assorted artifacts and then points to the weapons.

"Arm your men with the spears, Captain; they're said to be relics from the first Titan wars. If they truly are, you may make the demons think twice about forcing their way through the breach." As you pull the spears from the rack you decide to upgrade your sword to the gladius that sits on the gilded stand, you may burn up in a ball of holy fire for your blasphemy, but better that than to strike uselessly at your foe.

When you get back to the ravaged wardstone, you find Cassiopeia has joined Edlynn in her chant. The pretty young acolyte is clearly doing her best, but even you can hear the hesitation in her voice as she tries to follow along with the unfamiliar ritual. It doesn't seem to be enough; the polished black stone continues to wobble like a bowlful of pudding and this time it is not one clawed hand that reaches through the growing breach but two. The two hands claw at the edges of the hole and the gap is now roughly the size of your head. With a cry of anger, you swing at the black claws and this time when your newly acquired sword strikes the hands tearing at the cracked disk you see a flash of white light and hear a howl of pain and anger from the demon below.

It takes almost three minutes before help starts arriving from the sanctuary above. Luckily the seriousness of the situation was obvious to both the acolytes and your men. When the head and shoulder of one of the slit-eyed demons bursts through the growing orifice the tension between your men and women they had dragged down here abruptly ends.

The monster wields a sword of his own, longer and heavier than the Sword of Athena that you swing. Even more disturbing is the skill with which the demon wields the blade, twice parrying your blows and once almost reaching you with a lightning-fast riposte. Thankfully, until he could **** his other shoulder through the melting stone, he lacked your mobility, and each time his blade parried your cuts a flash of white light burst out a shower of glistening sparks and you can see the monster burning where the embers land. He roars a challenge and you see the second arm squeezing through the hole that is softening despite the growing volume of the chanting priestesses and acolytes.

It is Grettionius who turns back the birthing demon. You last saw the giant of a man struggling to fit his massive organ into the tight slit of a pretty blonde acolyte less than half his size. He is now standing naked by your side with one of the holy spears grasped in his hands. The short-haired giant might not be much of a gentle lover, but he knew how to use a spear and just after the demon's chest burst through the rupture in the black warding stone, Gettionius's spear exited through the back of his armored chest. The bloody point of the spear looks surprisingly similar to the hoplite's cock, still half-swollen, that is also dripping blood from his earlier conquest. But you have only a heartbeat or two to consider this before both the demon and the warrior's spear explode in a burst of darkness and for just a moment the chamber falls silent.

"Get me another damned spear." The burly hoplite roars as yet another demon begins to crawl up out of the gaping slit vacated by the **** of his companion. You note with a hint of surprise, that the same petite acolyte that had been screaming on the lap of your man is the one who pushes another of the ancient spears into his hand. In spite of the dazed look of her tear-stained face, the white spunk dripping from her fat tits and the obvious discomfort emanating from her bloodied thighs, the young blonde had apparently decided that she was happier with the giant hoplite who had violated her untouched body than the demons below with their reptilian eyes, rows of teeth and scaly serpentine erections.

The battle is renewed as ferociously as before, but you can sense that it is just a matter of time before one or more of the demons is able to break free of the aperture in the black-stone ward. You can see the exhaustion of the chanting priestesses who are struggling to preserve the integrity of the wards protecting the city from the demons below.

"I'm sorry, Captain Caderos," the blonde priestess of Athena has stopped chanting and her hand rests upon your aching shoulder. "I had not intended to cheat you of your prize." She gestures gracefully at her slender form before continuing. "I truly do wish I could lay with you again; I was just starting to understand what you meant by the gift of Aphrodite." Her slender body is now covered with sweat as well as your drying seed, but she looks as amazing as ever as she shyly brushes your cheek. "Perhaps we will meet again in the Gardens of Elysium, and you can chase me through the flowered fields until I am unable to escape."