"Anyway, where are we? These halls are simply too large to even see the end. It's like one big labyrinth." Poney asked while we were walking forward, looking for the entrance to a lower levels.
"...Didn't you fix that map into your head? How can you not remember?" I asked with a weird look.
"Well...the thing is that I remember the map but I can't really orient myself..." She replied with an awkward expression while scratching her cheek.
...Well, I don't really hold that against her.
I thought for a while trying to recall where we currently are.
"...We should be pretty close to the entrance to the lower levels but the thing is..." I said with closed eyes.
"What? What?" She immediately tensed up when I didn't finish my sentence.
"once we hit the lowest level, we will most likely come inside one of their barracks or whatever they are calling it." I said with a small smile.
"?! Seriously?! Why are you even smiling?! There must be at least a hundred of them there!" Poney immediately exclaimed with a shocked expression.
"Well, we will see if there aren't any hidden passages we can use and if not, we will be forced to kill our way through." I said with a wide smile.
"Kill our way through...? *sigh* I know tha- Eek! That's gross!" Poney muttered with a dumbfounded expression before she sighed and accepted it, however, she was interrupted by a few overgrown scorpions that blocked our way.
"Stand back, my sword is more suitable for this." I said and glanced at her bare feet.
"They are all yours!" Poney instantly nodded and then pointed at them.
I can't understand why she isn't wearing any boots or armored plating on her shin...
I thought while making a quick process of those overgrown animals. They literally had no abilities and only thanks to their size and potent poison they could be said to be slightly stronger than one of the weakest Danger Beasts.
"Ugh, disgusting..." Poney said while looking back at the bits on the ground of what used to be scorpions.
"Say...Why don't you use boots or armored plating on your legs? You can't seriously expect to contend with swordsman or people using other longer weapons than your legs. Plus your legs aren't tough enough to resist blades." I asked a thing that was bugging me for a while, I had no idea why even Gozuki let her walk around and fight like that.
"Hm? Armored plating would slow me down and I focus on super high-speed kicks so my specialty would be weakened." Poney answered with a carefree expression while looking around the halls made of stone and what looked like sandstone.
Then train with it and gain the same speed after some time...Is that so hard?
"Then why don't you have at least any armored platings on your arms to be able to at least block sharp weapons? I think that you are overly confident in your leg power." I couldn't help but mutter aloud. It wasn't like I was trying to help her but it was seriously disturbing for someone like me. When I previously fought her, I had plenty of chances to kill her, her kicks were indeed very fast and strong but after blocking them I had plenty of time to kill her or at least injure her in case she would be able to dodge impossible.
"...Maybe you are right." She replied with an unusual sad expression while looking down.
---
'That Katsura guy was able to fully withstand the power behind my kicks and keep up with their speed. He practically stripped me of all my advantages in a fight. I can't believe he was a swordsman and not someone similar to me...' Poney thought while looking down with a downcast expression.
---
"Well, as long as you know your weakness then it's alright..." I just blurted out whatever came into my mind since I was feeling a bit awkward for some reason.
...Why does it feel like there is much bigger difference between killing a woman and making her sad or cry? It feels like the latter is still much worse, this is seriously weird.
"You are right! I must complement my weaknesses by making my kicks even stronger and faster than ever!" She clenched her fist with a determined expression while performing a few kicks to the empty space.
...I give up.
I thought while holding my palm over the half of my face.
"Anyway, did you happen to see if everyone was able to keep close to their partner?" I asked since I was busy at that time with finding a suitable route to escape while Poney was just being dragged by me so she had time to look at others.
"...Well, I think that we are the only team that remained together, heh!" She said and released an awkward chuckle when she remembered the scene of everyone scattering around.
"...Why are you laughing at this?! I guess we need to pick up the pace." I said and started moving faster.
Kurome...I know that she is strong but if numerous strong guys jump on her at the same time, she won't stand a chance for a long time. Not to mention that they can turn part of their bodies into animals and use their abilities so they can easily caught her off guard.
We kept walking around, evading traps and killing some overgrown animals and even a few Gravekeepers but none of them were strong enough to stop us for a long time. We somehow found stairs leading to the lower levels and once we descended we ended up in a little bit smaller hall than above but it was still enormous and hundreds of people could fit in.
"Eh, I guess we are in their lodgings? Ha-ha" Poney said in low voice right into my ear and released a forced laugh when the eyes of around a hundred of Gravekeepers landed on us. This hall was filled with tables and chair, most of the Gravekeepers were eating here before we interrupted them. There were even doors leading to other rooms instead of a fully open entrance which I found slightly weird. I doubt that their rooms are connected right to the main dining hall or whatever this hall is.
"Ah, who do we have here~ Did you two perhaps lost your way around?" The first one to call out to us was a girl with a petite body and of a similar height as Poney. She actually had 5 skulls attached to her loose clothes.
I ignored her and looked closely towards the doors just to find chains connected to the wall next to the door and I also noticed some clothes on the ground. Clothes belonging to the Empire's assassination units...more specifically, girls' clothes.
Are they using their prisoners for pleasure?
I thought with narrowed eyes.
"Oh? Don't be disturbed by that, you won't end up like that but I can't say the same about your companion. After all, we need to also procreate and we can't just involve people from outside. I guess guys must be really thanking you for invading our tombs, heh." She noticed where I was looking and said with a smile.
So they are using them as breeding cattle?! I actually thought of having a word with their leader but now...I decided to kill everyone here.
My eyes became even colder.
"Like hell, I would go with it!" Poney shouted with disgusted expression while readying herself to fight many opponents.
"You won't have much of a choice...Anyway, I might actually keep you as my pet, boy. Since everyone is having fun, it feels like I am being left out, hehe." She replied to Poney's disagreement with an indifferent tone before taking a closer look at me.
"I will take care of the girl, all of you, go restrain that boy, be careful not to kill him or I will break your bones, heh." She said with a small chuckle.
"Yes, Umber-sama!" all Gravekeepers replied and started approaching us.
"*Tch, what should we do?*" Poney whispered to me while gritting her teeth.
I was already angered enough from that "Umber's" words.
"*Take care of that girl, leave others to me...*" I found some strength to reply in a whisper before taking a step forward with a smirk while looking a bit down, hiding my expression.
---
'What?! How does he want to take care of around a hundred opponents alone?! Whatever...Akashi said that he will do it so I can only try to quickly take care of that girl. However, she will be difficult to crack with those 5 skulls...she must be strong.' Poney thought with narrowed eyes while moving to the side away from the Akashi and none of the approaching Gravekeepers dared to even lay their eyes on her.
---
.
.
---
"?" The Gravekeeper named Umber looked confused since Akashi and Poney actually went with her plan without trying to run away.
She also noticed how other Gravekeepers stopped approaching Akashi and stopped a few meters in front of him, not daring to take another step.
"What are you doing?!" She shouted at them.
*Crack* Akashi buried his sword into the ground in front of him and rested both of his hands on the hilt.
"1...2...3 skulls at most, huh?" Akashi muttered aloud while raising his head to show enlarged vertical pupils.
The Gravekeepers in the first line closest to Akashi gulped down their saliva in a nervous manner.
'?! What happened to his pupils? Does he have a similar ability to us?' Umber thought with a calm face but she couldn't the pressure the other Gravekeepers were feeling at the moment.
"Stop standing there like idiots and restrain him already!" Umber shouted and others finally woke up, pouncing at Akashi with different transformations.
'?! Shouldn't I really help Akashi after all?!' Poney thought with a difficult expression, she was hesitant whether to help Akashi or try to quickly end her fight with the girl in front of her.
"Allow me to show to all of you...how big is...our difference" Akashi said with contempt in his eyes while a few sparks suddenly escaped from his enlarged pupils.
---
[Absolute Dominance - activated]
[Contempt for the Weak - activated]
With the Absolute Dominance activated, my limiters were also removed on their own.
I gripped the hilt of my sword and disappeared from my position while leaving only a few cracks on the surface under my legs.
"Wha-!" With the first swing of my sword, 5 heads were sent to the air.
The others quickly recovered and attacked me with their abilities, ink, water or even needles. I didn't bother to dodge these attacks since everything evaporated in front of my shield of flames.
"?!" The guy who fired a few needles from his fur suddenly widened his eyes when he noticed my eyes turn at him.
He tried to retreat far away behind his other teammates but I already appeared behind him with my expressionless face.
[Health: 700/750]
I let my sword drink my blood through spikes and send a wave of crimson energy in horizontal arc right through that guy's body, aiming at other Gravekeepers.
"AAGHH!" A few of them were able to dodge but most of them ended up with their upper body sliding off of their legs.
In just 2 swings of my sword, more than 15 Gravekeepers died under my sword.
The screams just began resounding inside the hall, this was by no means the end and I went forward for a more of them. However, despite the differences, they kept attacking me in the hope that they can injure me at least once.
---On the side---
"What?!" Umber looked at the situation when she heard screams and was shocked when she saw how quickly her lackeys were dying.
She suddenly felt an attack incoming from her right side so she nimbly dodged backward.
"Your opponent is me! Don't take off your eyes of me!" Poney shouted with a confident smile.
'...I have never thought that Akashi is so strong. They are unable to even touch him yet he is playing around with them. "Allow me to show to all of you...how big is...our difference"...He is certainly fulfilling his words. But it looks like he is also slightly angered...is it because of what that bitch said about prisoners?' Poney thought with a confident smile across her face but she deep inside she was extremely shocked by Akashi's killing spree.