๐๐ถ๐บ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ล
The human scorpion charges at me for a stab with his shortsword then the taurus scorpion follows up with a side slash with its ax. In response, I sidestepped the stab then when the taurus scorpion tried to attack me, I jumped as high as I can before dropping super-low into the ground.
I jumped back making me fall on my butt. When I landed earlier, the human scorpion tried to use that opportunity to attack me since it saw me as vulnerable.
I click my tongue.
I only managed to survive thanks to death perception alerting me about it; Although my long-term goal in this world was to live without regretting anything and as for my short-term goal...
'I want to stop leeching off them.' I said to myself.
Not only was I the youngest in the group, but I was also the weakest link with only my death perception making me survive this long. If I wanted to stop leeching off them, I needed to be able to fight without them or my death perception.
Coming back to my senses, the taurus scorpion tries to hack me with a jump attack. I hold my longsword in a reverse grip before rolling to the side. Before it could attack again, I use to longsword as a crutch to quickly get up and get some space in between us.
'For a creature with such a degrading name, there were intelligent. They have some semblance of communication with each other which is why they were able to combo their attacks and their moves are calculated, leaving no opening.' I analyzed calmly as I hold my longsword normally.
After a moment of staring each other down, we continue our fight. I put all of my faith into my dexterity stat to dodge all of their attacks since I couldn't block any of them due to losing one arm which may have cut down a good chunk of my strength.
I needed to kill the human scorpion first which was probably the easiest to kill. I have no idea what would stop them but the best way to find out was to destroy the brain first then the heart.
A taurus had a thicker hide than a human so it was a no-go. I only hoped that it wasn't located in their armored lowered half.
I see their tail move a bit which tells me that there about to attack too. The human taurus tries to attack me by slashing diagonally which I dodge by dashing back then his tail tries to stab me.
I use my longsword to meet the tail before stabbing me. As expected there was no damage to its tail but it did miss my face. The tail instead pierced the ground beside me before trying to retract it but for the first time in this battle, I decided to take the plunge and counter-attack. The taurus scorpion tries to intercept but I was simply faster.
I meet the human scorpion face to face, with its weapon ready to slash me which I sidestep as a response to it.
After running towards the human scorpion, I stab it under its chin and as I stab deeper, it connects to the brain; I then did a slashing motion while my longsword was still there so half of its face falls off.
It passes me and I smelled a very foul odor, no it wasn't just from the face but its entire upper human body. Looking at it deeper there are many small worm-like creatures slowly consuming the disgusting body however I didn't have to be disgusted by it as my death perception alerts me but thanks to the level two version, I knew that it will come from behind.
The taurus scorpion tries to hack me but I dodge by going around the dead carcass of the human scorpion, hitting it instead. The body was hacked in half with its ax then its tail picks ups the body and threw it to the side, leaving me exposed.
It then picks up the shortsword using its left hand. It tries to slash me horizontally, death perception alerted me that it will land on my arms. 'If I get hit, I'll bleed out!'
I twist my body to the side, making the attack miss, then I tried to slash its neck but it only managed to deal a shallow amount. Its skin was truly thick and strong even if for a dead taurus or maybe I was just weak.
'I haven't done any physically intensive activity, after all, I only did basic exercises like what that easy-to-bribe guard captain told me.'
As I thought that, I remember one of the things he told me when it comes to fighting strong monsters.
""If an armored monster fights you and you can't pierce its armor, you should try to stab it in the eye then stab deeper till you reach its brain. You have great agility so you would most likely hit first, that is of course if you decide to stop being a coward and take the initiative HAHAHA..."" He said arrogantly.
I look around me, the horse was standing still, probably from shock.
'I can't risk losing him, for this gamble' The taurus scorpion was larger so if I wanted to stab that thing, I needed to match its level first.
I ran towards the carcass and the taurus scorpion follow suit. Using the carcass as a ledge then I jumped as high as I can before turning around.
It slashes the carcass again in half then it tried to stab me at the same time using its tail and shortsword. I parried the tail since it might have poison in it but led this to the shortsword from stabbing me in the sides but it didn't make me waver.
I landed the stab then I plunged it so deep that the guard was the one that stopped it from getting even deeper. After that, I fell off and got some distance from it.
I was panting heavily as I stare at the taurus scorpion which wasn't moving but as I thought that, it slowly turns to me before slowly making its way here.
"Come on, recognize that you are dead already!" I said before drawing my silver sword.
Thankfully it falls halfway and I just stared at it, panting heavily. I immediately grabbed the longsword and cleaned it with a spare cloth, no liquid came out of them but I wanted to be safe about it.
After doing so, I put both of the swords back in their sheaths before sighing deeply. I checked on the horse and it finally reacted when I approached it.
It also approaches me like trying to say good job or something; I didn't care but at least, in this short time, it finally saw me as his master.
"If you want me to save you, you better start behaving," I said to him, and in response, it huffed at me.
"Good," I said, ending our conversation.
We approached the hedge maze in the distance and finally, we arrive at the entrance. As Hux said, it had a thick and tall yellowish grass that acted as the wall of the maze.
When I tried to slice the grass, it didn't cut meaning there was some sort of magic here which prevented me from doing so.
I sigh again before entering the maze. I check the map which showed an incomplete map of the maze.
I only stared at the map.
The maze was half the size of the steppes so I understood that it would take a long time to figure out but this map was too little. Right now, it showed me four directions which led to 2 portals each.
I decided to make my way to a portal. I tied to the horse on the long and straight grass before turning left. There was nothing but a dead end there but the map says otherwise.
Grabbing a nearby rock, I threw it at the "dead end" and it suddenly disappear.
"Thought so."
I nodded but I still stayed in one spot. My body was tired and if this is the end of the map, then that would mean that there were threats behind that portal and I was physically drained from the battle, riding to this place and most importantly, the goddamn sun.
Luckily there was a campfire here and a bit of wood so I would be able to camp here. I sat down and waited for the sun to set.
When day turned to night, I closed my sketchbook and opened my waist pack before pulling out some rations.
I lit up the campfire first before I started eating. My thoughts were that I wanted to return as later as possible so I decided to ration my rations which would last me about six days.
I was able to do this since I used to deprive myself back in my world so I was used to being hungry most of the time. After eating and drinking water, I look around.
There was no one but me here then I felt my breathing becoming rougher.
It's been weeks since I did it with anybody and since I was seventeen years old, my hormones were still on overload. This was also the reason, I went alone.
I unzip my pants and as I was about to pleasure myself but I heard footsteps, quickly zipping up my pants, I drew my sword.
I see an unfamiliar figure approach me. She was some sort of humanoid cat. After a moment, I realized that it was tabaxi.
Unlike demi-human who were cats, tabaxi's lean more on their animalistic trait, more than their human traits.
The one in front of me was covered with soft fur, though I say that, but I could see more skin than fur meaning she is most definitely just a cat girl than any tabaxi, yet my menu says otherwise.
As another moment passed, we realized that we had the same insignia as the one Shin gave me, and we stop pointing our swords at each other. She gave me a cute smile after that.
"Name's Jade." She said in a cute voice.
"Himura," I responded calmly.
"Are you also here to explore the maze?" I ask.
"Not really, this place is just the safest place to camp when scouting."
"I see." We both sat around the campfire but for some reason, she sat next to me.
I decided to grab my sketchbook to draw before I head to sleep however, Jade calls out to me. "Hey..."
"Hmm?"
"You're still horny aren't you?"
My mind stops for a bit but I regained myself.
"What are you talking about?" I said in the calmest and most expressionless manner.
"Us tabaxi have a great sense to the point of smelling people's feelings, I only happen to go here when I smelled yours"
"I..uh." Such a trait was able to pass through my lies which made me silent.
"But, you know...us tabaxi, lean more on our animal instinct than our human ones so if you want..."
She didn't finish her sentence but I knew what she was offering.
"But we only met-"
"But I haven't in years you know, so even if you refused it, I would have still pushed you down"
A clear declaration that she would commit such crimes just to do it but she also knew damn well that I wouldn't speak a word about this, after all, I've been wanting to do it too.
"So?"
She pressures me to give her an answer which never really mattered.
"Fine," I said clearly, my face hasn't changed one bit but I could feel my head starting to get hotter.
"Great!" She said in a happy and innocent voice and as she said that, her long tongue enters my mouth before slowly pushing me down.
I forcefully changed our positions. My mind was conflicted about this, not because she was tabaxi or anything but because of something else, however, I still did it with her anyway.