n

n

nHuh?

nActually, whatever had just landed on me wasn't that heavy.

nIt certainly made an impact, and definitely broke a bunch of my ribs, one of which was sticking out of body, but it hadn't crushed me flat. Okay, so it wasn't a rock.

nSo, what was it? I reached up to lift it off of me, and touched something smooth and soft. Also, it smelt kinda nice.

nWait, what?

n

"Eek!

"

nNo seriously, what?

nIt was way too dark to see, but I had figured out what happened. One of the others must have fallen on me. And based on the voice, it was one of the girls.

nOh right, I could illuminate my surroundings with a few sparks of lightning. I gathered Mana at my palm and formed a ball of electricity, intensifying it to increase the brightness. On top of me, was a dazed Cat Girl.

n

"Persia?

"

n

"I-I'm so s-sorry!

" She cried, hurriedly getting off me.

n

"Uh, no need to apologize. Dammit, the next time I see that bald cunt, I'll rip him to shreds,

" I groaned.

n

"Your injuries...oh my God, one of your bones is sticking out!

"

n

"No worries, I'll be fine in a few minutes. On another note, I might owe you an apology. Where exactly did I touch you earlier?

"

n

"Hmm? Oh, you mean when you grabbed my shoulders earlier? N-no, that's fine, I k-know you couldn't see anything.

"

nThat's a relief, I almost had a heart attack when she said the word 'grabbed'.

nMy lightning orb faded as I focused more on healing myself as fast as I could.

n

"I'll spark up some light in a second,

" I said, as the darkness returned.

n

"Oh, um...actually, I can see fairly well in the dark. Your healing ability is incredible by the way, I've never seen anything like it. I've heard that rapid healing like that can only be done using some type of magic scroll or crystal, but I didn't see you use anything like that...can you heal yourself naturally?

"

nHuh, she was being a lot more talkative than before.

nAlthough, a near death experience, and then witnessing someone healing their life-threatening injuries with no major effort was probably enough to forget to be shy.

n

"Yeah, my Healing Factor is a result of my Anima,

" I explained, standing up as the last of my injuries closed up.

n

"Huh, you don't seem to have any physical mutations, so I assumed your Anima wasn't very strong. What animal is it?

"

n

"A type of jellyfish known as the immortal jellyfish. As for the physical mutations, it's my hair,

" I replied, lighting up another ball of electricity.

n

"Oh, I see...it is kinda see-through.

"

nOur conversation was suddenly cut short as we heard a patter of multiple footsteps heading our way. They sounded too light to be human, which meant they had to be Goblins. I quickly scanned our surroundings.

nThe upper level was way too high to climb up to, and at any rate, the walls of the maze were far too smooth to scale up.

nI drew my dagger and tried wedging it into the wall. No good, this wasn't any ordinary rock, I couldn't pierce through it. The walls were also quite tall, which meant we couldn't jump over them, even if one person was boosted by the other.

nThe others had probably fallen somewhere else inside this maze. This was bad, even if we could handle all the Goblins down here, which was a big if, it'd be pointless if we couldn't find our way out of this maze. They'd just respawn while we were running around blindly.

nAnd the longer we're down here, the more Mana and stamina we'll drain, not to mention hunger and thirst. Plus, it was dark as hell down here.

n

"Here they come!

"

nPersia blasted herself forward, focusing shredding spirals of wind around the metal claws of her gloves, swiping her arm across the Goblins that had charged forward, ripping a bunch of them into ribbons in a single swipe, before they disappeared into dust.

nA couple of them got past her and ran towards me.

nThey both jumped at me, I dodged their blades and grabbed them by their heads, as their daggers dropped to the ground.

n

"FYI, this is gonna hurt!

"

nI ran lightning from my fingers into their heads, forcing a constant stream of electricity into them, the monsters howled and screeched, scratching at my arms in desperation, until I had completely fried their insides and they disappeared into nothing.

nThat felt pretty good. I wasn't the most sadistic person when it came to the way I kill, but after going through three years of electrocution, it felt nice to be on the opposite end.

nBut that attack had used up a bit more Mana than I'd expected. Between that and the bit of stamina that I'd lost to my Healing Factor, I probably wouldn't last more than a couple more hours down here if I don't be a bit more conservative.

n

"I kinda overdid it. After everything that just happened, I felt like I needed to let it all out. But now I have less Mana than I'd ideally need in this situation,

" Groaned Persia.

nYeah, that move she just did was pretty impressive, but like me she had gone overboard with her Mana.

n

"You used up quite a bit too, didn't you? It's hard to explain, but I have a pretty good sense of smell, and I can smell how much Mana someone has left. Umm, it's like a perfume, the more Mana you use up, the weaker than scent becomes. When a person's Mana is full, to me it smells like they're wearing way too much perfume.

"

n

"Wow, that sounds both convenient and inconvenient at the same time,

" I replied.

nHuh, she really was getting more and more talkative.

n

"Well, I've learnt how to dull my sense of smell using Mana, so I've learnt to live with it. Hey, we should keep moving, we need to find our way out as soon as possible.

"

nI nodded, and began sparking up an orb of lightning, but she stopped me.

n

"Don't use up any more Mana, we have no idea how many Goblins we may run into after this. Just follow me, I already told you I can see in the dark.

"

n

"This hardly takes up any Mana though, and I might be able to follow the sound of your footsteps, but there's a good chance I'll crash into a wall or something in this darkness.

"

n

"Fine, hold onto the corner of my vest or something, we really can't afford to waste even a little mana!

"

n

"That's...kinda embarrassing though.

"

n

"Who cares, it's not like anyone can see you.

"

nI sighed and gave up, reaching out to hold onto her top. She let out a squeal of surprise as I grabbed something long and furry.

nOh no...was that her tail?

nI let go in a hurry, and began to apologize, but before I could, I felt something sharp clamp down on my hand.

nDid she just bite me?

n

"My bad, I couldn't see a thing. I should have been a bit more careful though,

" I apologized, healing the bite wound.

nAnother drop of stamina wasted. I probably shouldn't mention that to her though.

n

"Whatever, let's just get going!

" She snapped, grabbing my wrist and pulling me forward as she walked.

n...how do I deal with this situation? This was all completely new to me.

n

"You seem awfully mad, I mean, it was an accident, just like when I grabbed your shoulders earlier. Wait, I know! You're mad because when I mentioned that I could crash into a wall, it reminded you of how you began your entrance exa-,

" I began, interrupted by her intensifying grip on my wrist.

n

"Keep talking and I'll bite you.

"

n

"You already bit me, Cat Girl.

"

nI couldn't stop myself.

nShe wasn't the only one who was getting more talkative, I was starting to say whatever popped into my head without a second thought, just like I used to in my old life. But unlike in my old life, I found myself being more teasing than antagonizing towards her.

nAs we made our way through the maze, we ran into multiple groups of Goblins, but we managed to dispatch them with relative ease since they usually appeared in groups of no more than five or six.

nHowever, we were no closer to finding the exit, and it was starting to take its toll, especially on Persia. I had trained pretty extensively to withstand hunger, thirst and fatigue, but even I was starting to lose my grip in this unforgiving darkness.

nI had completely lost track of how long we had been down here.

nWe decided to take a break and rest up a bit, we desperately needed to figure this maze out, wandering around aimlessly in the dark was seriously taxing, both mentally and physically.

n

"By the way...don't call me Cat Girl, my Anima's a panther,

" She suddenly stated, breaking the silence that had persisted after we had begun to tire.

n

"I mean, a panther is still a cat. And besides, Panther Girl doesn't quite have the same ring to it as Cat Girl does.

"

n

"Oh yeah? Does 'my claws in your eyes' have a nice ring to it? You sure are talking a lot now, go back to being all quiet and hanging around the back like before.

"

n

"You're one to talk, you barely said a word till we ended up down here. Besides, if there's a chance I'll die down here, I'm not going to bother keeping my thoughts to myself, I'll say whatever I feel like saying. Aren't you doing the same thing, Kitty Cat? I mean, you were a lot quieter than I was before we fell down here, go back to that, I was waiting for the perfect opportunity to say 'cat got your tongue?' but that's not gonna happen with you all talkative like this.

"

n

"Oh, wow...you're such a-,

" She began to retort.

nFootsteps. And a lot of them, heading straight for us. Hold on, from which direction?

nOh, no.

n

"Damn it, they're coming from both sides! Watch out, Persia!

" I growled, standing up and drawing my blades.

n

"I, uh...don't think we can handle this many.

"

nWe were completely surrounded from both sides...yeah, we definitely couldn't take them all on, even if we could come out alive, it would drain way too much of my stamina.

nThere was only one choice.

nLet's see, my Mana was down to about a third of its full capacity, I had just about enough for this move. The group of Goblins in front of us were about three quarters of the total that were surrounding us, the remaining quarter were behind us.

n

"Persia, do you think you could handle the ones behind us by yourself?

"

n

"I guess so. But you can't take on the front by yourself, there's just too many of the-,

" She trailed off as I brightly lit up our surroundings.

n

"This is the strongest Lightning Magic attack that I can control and fire right now, it'll wipe out most of my remaining Mana, but we really don't have a choice here.

"

nI was charging up lightning in both my hands, compressing them into the middle of my palms while intensifying their potency and fueling the lightning with more and more Mana, as violent sparks began crackling all around me.

nThis uses up a good quarter of my Mana when I'm at full capacity, it was insanely destructive, but does take a while to charge up. Fortunately, the monsters simply stared, frozen in fear and confusion, I doubt any decent human opponents would stand still and let me charge it up like this.

nIf this was an anime, I'd probably give this move a cool name or something.

nHuh, I wonder what I'd name it?

nFinal Flash? No wait, that was already taken.

nHow about Railgun? No, that was kinda taken too.

nMaybe...Giant Lightning Blast? No, too generic and literal.

nWait, what was I doing, I needed to fire this thing.

nOh wait, what about...?

n

"Lightning Incineration Canon!

"

n...crap, I actually said it out loud.

nThe recoil nearly knocked me off my feet, I was just barely able to keep my balance and maintain its trajectory, as I fired the massive blast of lightning forward. The screeches of the Goblins barely lasted an instant, as the flash absolutely incinerated them almost instantly.

nSparks crackled out from the blast area, the path through which I had fired it had been scorched.

n

"What's wrong...cat got your tongue?

"

nYes, nailed it!

n

"That was incredible...you made a hole in the wall ahead, and in the wall ahead of that one too. Just...drilled through them like a warm knife through butter. No, that's an understatement...

" Replied Persia, too stunned to respond to my quip.

nNo gonna lie, her amazement made me feel pretty good about myself.

n

"What happened to the Goblins behind us?

"

n

"Hmm? Oh, they ran away as soon as you blasted through the front. I mean, you took out a ton of them in an instant. Maybe you should call yourself the Goblin Slayer or something.

"

n

"Nah, that's already taken.

"

n

"Huh?

"

n

"Uh...never mind.

"

nGuess I'd underestimated how powerful that blast would be, I'd only ever fired it up at the sky before.

nI sparked up a tiny orb of electricity, I needed a bit of light after that. I stared at Persia, before letting out a snort of laughter.

n

"Hey, what's so funny?

" She demanded, glaring at me.

nHer hair, and the fur on her cat ears and tail were all standing up. Guess charging up that much lightning must have filled the area with static electricity. She reached up to her head when she noticed me staring up there, and realized what had happened when she felt her frizzy hair.

n

"Very funny, what are you, a little kid? Oh wait, you actually might be. Was it just my imagination, or did you actually name your attack?

" She inquired sarcastically, letting out a giggle.

nDamn it, she noticed...suddenly I wasn't feeling so good about myself anymore.

n

"T-that was...uh, shut up, Cat Girl!

" I retorted, feeling my face flush with embarrassment.

n

"Your retorts are getting weak, an actual little kid would have been able to do better than that!

"

nShe was right...that might have been the weakest attempt at a retort I'd ever made in my life- or rather, lives.

n

"Whatever, let's focus on the holes I made in those walls and get moving before more goblins decide to swarm us again!

"

n

"Whatever you say,

" She smirked, unable to stop giggling.

nThis kind of embarrassment was a completely new feeling for me. I didn't like it. Hopefully she'd just forget about it eventually.

nYeah, probably not, I thought as her giggles continued.

n

"Heh, what was it called again? Oh yeah, LIGHTNING INCINERATION CANON!

"

nYeah, I think I liked her better when she was quiet.

nWe passed through the two holes that I had drilled, heh that sounded kinda dirty, and continued looking for the exit, if we ran into another large horde of Goblins like we did before, we'd probably die. With the amount of Mana I had left, my Elemental Magic was now effectively off the table, so was my Healing Factor for that matter, and my stamina was dwindling as well. After walking for a little while longer, Persia suddenly stopped and sniffed the air.

n

"Around the next corner...I'm getting the scent of Mana, it's a human! Do you think it's one of the others?

"

n

"I don't know, you tell me. Can't you tell by the scent?

"

n

"What? No, I'm not a bloodhound, the only thing I can distinguish with my nose is a person's Mana and how much of it they have left. I can smell normal scents, but the idea of tracking people by their smell is kinda...gross, so even if I do smell a person, I won't be able to distinguish who they are. Anyway, whoever's around that corner barely has more Mana left than you do.

"

nWait, just one person? In that case, it was probably...

nI felt my bloodlust and rage emanating, as I quietly approached the corner. I strained my eyes to try and see who it was, but it was too dark. Ah, screw it. I shot out a few small sparks from my finger, just enough to dimly illuminate the area for a split second.

nIn that instant, I saw a person sitting down with his back against the wall, turning his face towards me in response to the brief light my electricity caused. That face, and a bald head. No doubt about it, it was him. I let my bloodlust take over.

n

"I'm going to...**ing kill you,

" I said, in a cold, calm voice.

nI shot forward and slashed at where he was, slicing through something. That felt like...I cut off his arm.

nSo, he managed to dodge and survive that.

nHe began crying out in pain, as I heard his blood splattering across the walls and floor. I suddenly felt a bit dizzy, ** I kinda forgot that I was running low on pretty much everything right now.

n

"Hey, watch out!

"

nI felt myself being pulled back by my arm, as a rock went flying past where my head had been. The intensity of my bloodlust diminished, and I was able to think more broadly.

nMy attacks were at their most efficient and deadly when I suppress my emotions and let myself get immersed in my bloodlust, but when I'm in that state, I can't think of anything besides killing. My thoughts, decisions and reactions in a fight are greatly improved, but I lose sight of the bigger picture.

nI mean, I still know what I'm doing and am fully conscious, along with a sense of eerie calmness and rationality, but while in that state I just can't bring myself to care about anything besides killing my target.

n

"Thanks, Cat Girl. It really is way too dark in here.

"

nShe didn't seem freaked out by how bloodthirsty I'd just been.

n

"Don't mention it. Besides, I'm not just going to stand around and let you kill this guy just like that.

"

nDamn it, was she one of those 'killing is bad' type of people?

nI always disliked anime characters like that, especially when they spared someone who very much deserved to die. Wait, what was I sensing? Was that...

n

"After all, I want to kill him just as much as you do, it's not fair to keep it to yourself.

"

nBloodlust?

n_____________________________________________

nThank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism! Also, check out my Instagram account @aimdaqs for posts relating to this book.

n