After I emerged from the portal, I felt sick, nauseous, weak, and an extreme migraine attacked me.
Maybe the aftereffects of resisting the ability that Goddess used on me.
I trudged a few steps, stumbling all over, and vision all blurred, but I still forced myself to walk, to walk to a safe place before I could pass out.
But... I couldn't, as I passed out still limping with a thud.
I sensed something approaching me.
*step* *step* *step* *step*
'ah..., maybe a monster,'
'I have to survive this place no matter what... but..... Anyway....., let's sleep..... for a few moments... before the fight, I... can't fight... while feeling sick.... now,.... can I,....I...I?'
.
.
.
!?
'monster! where is it?'
'huh?'
'.... what are these, hills?'
In my hazy thoughts, I tried to grab those mounds but a hand slapped mine when I was this close to grabbing them.
'ow'
'huh?'
!?
'shit'
"Sorry Akane-san, I wasn't fully awake yet that's wh-"
I quickly rose from the thighs that were giving me a lap pillow while I was passed out.
"It's fine, you didn't touch them."
'Why does everyone cuts me in the middle today?'
"But still, I am sorry that you had to take care of me while I carelessly passed out in this..." surveying through my eyes to see the place where we are, I added.
"...- in this dungeon."
I realised that I couldn't talk properly because of cotton balls inserted in my nose and ears.
Maybe Akane-san inserted them because I was bleeding from those places.
I removed the blood-soaked cotton balls inserted in my nose and ears.
There are multiple categories of dungeons that are present in this world.
Dungeons that have no light but all monsters. Dungeons that have artificial or natural lights, and monsters. Dungeons that aren't meant to be wandered without a particular compass or something showing you the way. Dungeons that have lava, dragons and other shits.
This dungeon has a cave-like structure. Rough, uneven ground, with tiny pebbles and stones scattered all around. Stony walls with faintly glowing gems embedded on them, and a not so tall ceiling. About 15 feet, that much high the ceiling looks to me.
I think this dungeon falls in the "Dungeons that have artificial or natural lights" with maybe ... no... surely dangerous monsters that bitch wouldn't send us anywhere near safe, I made a huge mistake passing out like that.
Another mistake, and I-'we' would be lying dead.
"Are you feeling fine now, Itsuki-san? Watching you bleed from all your holes made me wonder if you bled from your behind or not, are you though?" tilting her head, Akane-san asked.
"wait a sec," I replied and proceeded to check if that really was the case, but midway, I realised what she actually said.
I frowned due to embarrassment. I don't know if she really was concerned or just making a joke, but it was an incredibly embarrassing moment. I nearly slid my pants to check moreover in front of a girl.
*facepalm*
"Please don't joke about that..."
Giggling, she said that she wasn't.
Seeing her giggling like that, a rueful smile formed on my lips.
'That's the first time I ever saw her smile like that... or even.... the first time I ever saw her speak more than a few words.'
"...By the way, how much time was I out for?"
"Hm? maybe about five to ten minutes? By the way, you weren't passed out, just slept."
"That's...so, huh."
I was out for too long, that could've been dangerous.
"Anyways, Itsuki-san, we should move from here and find some safe place, I don't know why but this place gives me a sense of insecurity."
"Yeah, well, no matter where you go that insecurity won't go but still..... let us hope we find a relatively safe place and we should move from here as the chances of that bitch sending us to the most dangerous spot are not any less..."
Akane stood up, picked her bag, hung it on her shoulder and proceeded to march ahead.
.
.
.
"Itsuki-san, how were you able to get out of her skill by which she controlled our bodies? I was also aware that my body was moving without my permission, and I too tried everything I could, but wasn't able to gain control, was it your skill?"
"*sigh*... actually, I don't really know about how I did it. That bitch asked me about it too... maybe, the "Power. of. Friendship." helped me?"
She giggled with a solemn face at my joke. Possibly, a cheerful mask. There are tear marks on her cheeks. Maybe she wept earlier, that is, before I woke up.
"Or maybe because you are a Reincarnated person?"
"........ Yeah, that might be it, I think so too..... Tell me, are you a reincarnated person too?"
"No, I am not... the only thing that set me apart from everyone is that even though the priest told me that I had a skill, I couldn't use it till now. I didn't even know what my skill was until that status screen told me."
"Hah, same for me too.", I sighed.
This place has quite a creepy atmosphere, that's to be expected but isn't she too calm in this situation for a high school girl.
But the fact is that she isn't an average high school girl, seeing how she had a gun and shot the Goddess, I am sure that she has some mysterious background.
"So, are you a daughter of a mafia or somethin'? " I asked while kicking a stone on the ground.
"Close enough....", her reply didn't tell anything.
"Fine keep your secrets."
"Ah, no, tell me what your reaction will be if I tell you that I am the granddaughter of the head of Amaterasu?"
"Eh? Seriously! You mean THE Amaterasu? The biggest sinner group of the Gloland empire? And the Head's granddaughter- You?"
"Ahaha, yup, yup!"
Sighing I took another look into the surroundings.
The light these stones on the wall emit is not that bright, but it is still more than enough for us to see each other faces clearly. Some blue, some red and some simple white. Scattered all over the walls and ceiling like stars of the night sky. It is as if it was made to be a makeshift stay.
Well, most fantasy dungeons have this kind of description. What I can say is that it is not very different from any usual cave except for the fact that it has these stones, emitting a faint light.
'These stones are Mana Stones, I think..... I should've studied more about dungeons, but alas, they never interested me in the least.'
"Itsuki-san...,"
"hmm?"
".... You tried using your skill but weren't able to, right?"
"Tch, yeah. Before I could even utter my skill's name, that bitch had already sealed my mouth,.....That reminds me what is your skill?"
"My skill is too useless... what about yours?"
'I guess she wants me to reveal my skill first....... her distrust is valid. But her distrust is making me not trust her too. I guess I have to take the initiative to form trust.'
I explained to her about my skill and also told her how it will be useful in favourable situations and pretty much useless in most situations, such as when a monster coming directly at us for our life, arrives.
I don't think my stamina will last enough to outrun a - Monster. My skill is only useable if the monster begs me to kill it or when it is in a deep nap that it won't notice me approaching it and accepts getting disintegrated even being aware of it.
I wish it happens, but in this shitty dungeon where that Goddess sent us to, I highly doubt that my wish will ever come true.
"I wish my skill was an insta-kill skill like those pesky harem protagonists get!"
"Eh? What are you talking about?"
'Uhhhh, yeah, those kinds of genres don't exist in this world yet.'
"Nothing, just a... well forget what I said."
"Oh-kay? Never mind.... by the way, my skill is 'Psychokinesis', I can lift or move objects at will, I don't need to call its name out loud, but at the moment I can only exert a maximum force of 0.1 N. Its range is 5 m..... I also felt like there is some kind of 'extra' organ attached behind my neck, but there wasn't anything. I think this feeling is the 'special sense' mentioned in my status. Using this skill, I also attacked that Goddess, but it felt like some barrier stopped it before it could reach her. Did you hear the whooshing sound when I paused my firing to reload my gun?"
"Yeah? so, that was your skill, huh"
"No, my skill works without any sound, that sound was made when my skill made an impact with the barrier."
'Hmm, a barrier that can stop psychokinesis, maybe physical strength can break it?'
Akane-san is indeed very clever, she didn't stop her onslaught on that Goddess even while reloading, huh.
'Well, even if her skill reached that Bitch, it wouldn't have done anything.'
Sighhhhh. A force of 0.1 N... hmm. She could've only tickled the bitch to death! A range of 5 m, better than mine at least, a very formidable skill indeed! We're screwed!
That Fucking Bitch didn't even return her gun! We could've used it in this dungeon.
I want to choke that bitch-assed-Goddess to death with my own two hands!
"Fuck that bitch Goddess!"
"Yeah, fuck that bitch!"
"..."
"what? I can't curse because I'm a girl. Is that what you're thinking?" Akane accused me in a joking manner, I chuckled and asked her to repeat after me.
"NO! FUCK THAT BITCH! come on, with me."
"Fuck that bitch!"
"Fuck that bitch!"
"Fuck that bitch!"
"FUCK THAT BITCH!!"
"FUCK THAT BITCH!!"
"FUCK THAT BITCH!!!"
.
.
Sigh.
Sometimes, cursing can help you calm your mind...
Sometimes, escaping reality can help you too. To keep your mind sane, it can act as a defence mechanism.
Maybe because we were two people with the same sense of humour or because it was just Akane taking the flow to the not-gloomy side. We were getting along well despite talking for the first time.
This atmosphere gave solace to our hearts in this dim dungeon after getting thrown here.
To get us distracted from harmful thoughts from the despair in our hearts.
Cheerfulness,
and
[Hope]... huh.
But we are making a mistake...
.....We are being too loud.
Ignoring the place we were in,
This.... is a dungeon.
You don't curse while singing out loud.
Here, you must never be loud.
Not even while fighting.
It attracts monsters.
What else would you expect in a dungeon, townspeople to join you?
Realizing that we were indeed loud, we stopped. But..... it was already too late...
Right now we've seemed to attract one too. But then again, an encounter with a monster was... inevitable.
I could hear the nibble taps - the sound of the footsteps of a monster...
It's approaching us.
Akane could hear it too, seeing as she is on her guard.
There is definitely some monster approaching us from the direction we came from.
I know that we can't fight. She knows that we can't fight. We start running in the opposite direction to the monster.
.
.
*hah* *huff* *huff* *haah* * haah* *huff*
There are no turns, not even a crack in the wall where we might hide.
Only rocks that emitted this faint light showed us the way.
Panting and panicking, we run desperately.
'I hope we can find a turn or some other paths.'
The anxiety and fear are kicking in once again.
The mind panics, once again.
As we ran further ahead, the height of the ceiling decreased, and the width of the path narrowed.
'I hope we can find a small hole in which we could hide.'
'I hope we don't die here.'
Gasping for breath, we ran to save our lives.
But, those nimble steps are coming more and more closer.
.
.
!?
A dead end.
We ran in the wrong direction, shit.
But there was no other place to run off to anyway.
I turn around and face in the direction from where those nimble steps are approaching.
I could see a figure approaching. A very peculiar figure, it has a female upper body, the lower body was that of a giant spider. It is about 2 m in height and.... it is smiling.
I have seen this creature, it has many mentions in the books related to Devils. It is an Arachne.
'It' is cackling in a crescent smile.
It halts a few meters away from us. Maybe, evaluating its target.
'Its' smile grew wider.
Maybe it realized that we are weak, that we don't have the power to resist.
Or maybe,
it sensed the fear in our eyes.
'It' judged us its prey.
It's just showing its curiosity, not any wariness. Fuck wariness, it is not even cautious of us, not even one bit.
'It' knows that it is the - 'predator'.
Now that I see this creature, this creature which marked us as its prey, my whole body is giving out.
My breathing becomes erratic, I could feel the rivulets of sweat trickling down my cheeks profusely. My legs freeze in fear, and my heart thumps like crazy.
An average person will freeze in panic and fear when encountered with such a bizarre and terrifying creature. No matter how much you overestimate yourself, in front of the real thing, you can't do shit.
It approaches us slowly with that wide grin that shows its sharp pointed teeth. Licking its mouth with that long purple tongue, it approaches us while dangling its arms sideways.
*SLURP* *grrwauuurrr* *SLurP*
It clearly is enjoying the look on our scared faces.
My heart is pounding so fast that it feels like it will pop out of my mouth.
I can't think clearly.
I feel like I'll puke.
I feel like my body is burning.
I feel like I'll faint.
I feel like I'm gonna die.
I, the [coward] is clearly frozen in fear........
.......... but Akane isn't.
Maybe because she has encountered such dangerous situations multiple times, her state isn't as pathetic as mine.
She dashed towards it. But she too is shaking in fear, her legs are shivering, but she still runs towards it, to fight it. The last shred of effort of a human clinging to life.
Akane swings her bag in order to hit 'it' with it.
But 'it' isn't concerned, not concerned one bit.
It just shrugged the backpack, grabbed Akane from her neck and threw her on the ground behind like some 'TRASH'.
*Screech*
Making indescribable sounds, it now approaches me with slow steps while grinning with a nasty expression.
It is coming closer to me, but Akane lunged at 'it' from its behind to stop it from approaching 'me'. 'It' clearly is enjoying us thoroughly and is 'certainly' holding back, maybe to "enjoy" us for a bit more time.
I, even being a 'man' can't even move an inch, but that girl is struggling, struggling to fight 'it' before 'it' kills 'me'.
Seeing her like that, I bit my lips as hard as I could to free my body from the terror.
'It' looked annoyed with Akane and slammed her on the wall with a little more force than before. Akane crashed into the wall and fainted.
'It' looked at me once again and licked its lips.
[Despair]
It lunged at me swinging its arms wide to slash me with its long claws, to kill me in one go.
.
.
I closed my eyes as 'it' lunged at me.
'Will I die, here?'
Will it kill me, right here?
Will I really not come out alive from this place as that shitty Goddess said?
That motherfucking bitch, I'll kill her!
I'll kill her for sure!
But... how?
I can't even win against 'this'.
Some memories play in mind, memories of my family.
'mother' 'father' 'brother'...
'Still, I don't want to die!'
'I want to see my mother, my father, my brother.'
It comes to my mind.
Another memory.
Words.
"That's why these sinners shouldn't be allowed to live~"
"Yeah! too bad we won't be able to see their unsightly death,"
"too bad~"
Frustrating feelings are overflowing within me.
These feelings tell me to struggle, to survive.
Move! You Damn arm!
Aim at that fucking Spider!
Invoke that skill.
But! This skill won't kill 'it' even if I died right now, not instantly that is.
'It' may, however, run away from the pain that my skill will cause, if it does cause pain, that is.
It will die after some time when this skill connects right, will it not?
At least Akane would survive this monster if I take 'it' with me. Or will it kill Akane right after me?
Screw it, leave it at Luck.
And Invoke it.
I opened my eyes and glared at the Arachne that had leapt midair to kill me.
DIE!!!! Damn it !!!
< D I S I N T E G R A T E >