Chapter 34 – Second floor of the dungeon
The group was currently exploring the Forsaken Maze dungeon. After Sophia went on a rampage and ordered the genocide of all spyder-like monsters, they finally found the stairs leading to the second level of the maze.
"Soo… I'm guessing there's a welcome trap for us here as well?" Sophia looked around in the path they followed after going downstairs, trying to find anything suspicious.
"Yep, there's something in the walls."
"Hmm, arrows?" She took a wild guess based on the books she had read before.
"It seems that way. What will you do?" Fen looked at her.
"Let's see… Maya, want to try if you can outrun an arrow?"
"How about no?" She wasn't a fan of the idea.
"Fine, I'll do it my do it myself."
"E-Ehh?!"
"Okay!" Sophia got down in a crouching-start position and prepared herself. Carefully adjusting the power she's going to use on her earth magic, not to recreate the disaster where she launched herself into a tree, she instantly accelerated on the spot. While it almost seemed like she was leaving after-images, the girl sped down the corridor. Sophia had already arrived at the end and barely stopped before crashing into the wall there, and only then the arrows started to shoot out of the other walls.
"Uhh…" Maya had a blank expression.
"Wow, you could totally outsprint me with that one, Sophia." Fen was impressed instead. "Ah, my danger detection stopped responding. We should be good to go now." The wolf started walking.
"Ahh, sure…" The cat-girl followed behind him, looking slightly tired.
"Fen, I'm sensing quite a lot of monsters now. A-Are there any more of t-these… things?"
"No, I've exterminated all spyders present. Actually, almost all of my monster reactions are of the slime type."
"Ehh?" She didn't like them that much more. With a disgusted look, Sophia remembered the slimy tentacle slimes she ran into the moment she arrived in this world.
"S-Slimes?!" Maya had a much bigger reaction as she suddenly cried out. "O-Okay, let's go home, you two!" Her face was as white as a sheet. "I-I'm not taking another step! S-Slimes are… no… They are the enemy of every woman!"
"I, uhh, wholeheartedly agree, but…" Sophia surely wasn't a fan either. "M-Maya, did s-something happen between you and those slimes in the past?" She thought her reaction was a little too strong.
"N-Nothing too extreme, I assure you… I-I just don't like them." The cat-girl's face still turned red. "Nothing b-bad happened to me, but… A-Anyway, don't ask… okay? Please…" She turned her head away.
"Ahh… is that so?" Sophia's voice suddenly turned flat and monotone, missing any sort of emotion. "So it has become personal now, huh?" Even with the lack of said emotion, it was evident that the girl was angry. "As if there weren't enough reasons to hate you things… Ahaha~." Once her eerie laugh ended, the group was suddenly cocooned inside an earthen dome. A while later, steam started to rise from the earth as it was slowly turning red, and the temperature inside was climbing at an alarming rate. Before it became too unbearable, Sophia stopped whatever she was doing and removed the dome again.
"H-Huh?" Maya was shocked while she looked at their surroundings. The walls, ceiling, and ground absolutely everything was covered in a thick layer of black soot. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that some of the structures melted and turned into something glass-like, even though it was solid stone. "W-What did you do?"
"Hmm? I simply erased any form of life except us from this floor." Sophia's perfectly calm-sounding voice, together with her lifeless eyes, made her look really scary. "Fen, once we're back outside, we're going to eliminate every slime on this planet."
"C-Calm down, girl." Even the wolf was taken aback.
"I am calm."
"That doesn't make it any better!"
"S-Sophia… thank you for getting angry for me, b-but you don't have to do that… okay?"
"Nonono, these things crossed a line they shouldn't have. It's game over for them." Some kind of fire was burning in her eyes.
"N-Nothing even happened!" Maya turned to the wolf for help. "F-Fen, do something about her!" Maya turned to the wolf for help.
"Mind telling me what exactly?"
"Err…" She had no idea. "W-We need to divert her attention somehow!"
"That job is more suited for you, girl."
"Huh?"
"Ehehe~, I can't wait to hunt down every single one of them~." Sophia was losing it more and more.
"You should hurry, cat."
"What an unreliable retainer!" Maya complained about something he didn't understand before she raised her arms into the air. "Whatever! I don't care anymore!" Giving up, she walked over to the enraged girl and hugged her from behind out of nowhere. "How about we stop that, idiot?" She whispered into her ear.
"E-Eh?!" The effect was immediate. Her eyes turned back to normal, or rather began to swim around in confusion because she didn't understand what was going on. "M-Maya?" Getting embarrassed from being embraced, together with the feeling of the cat-girl's hair brushing against her cheek while she rested her head on Sophia's shoulder, was enough to overload her brain. "W-What is going on… here?" As if snapping back to reality, she almost seemed disoriented and entirely forgot about her slime-genocide plan.
"T-Thank goodness!" Sound relieved, Maya let go of her again. "You're one scary girl!"
"H-Huh? What happened?" She was still confused.
"You went out of control. Again." Fen answered her.
"Ahh…" Sophia averted her eyes.
"That girl brought you back." He looked at the cat.
"T-Thank you…" After awkwardly thanking her, Sophia turned around in shame and quickly walked forwards. "O-Okay, let's keep exploring!" She ran away.
"…" The wolf followed her without saying anything, and Maya was right behind him.
"Fen?" She was staring at him. "What is going on? Out of control…?"
"Well, it's rather hard to explain because I shouldn't go into details, but due to some circumstances… Sophia's emotions or character traits got a bit… I wouldn't say messed up, but rather, she cannot properly control them the way she wants sometimes. If she's unable to process something or gets stimulated above a certain point like getting too angry… that happens." He referred to the attempted slime genocide.
"…" Maya needed a minute. "Has-, Has she been cursed?"
"I wouldn't go that far. Though, someone definitely has altered her personality in a way. Sophia actually likes most of the changes because she didn't like the person she used to be. She has yet to get used to these changes, though. So, when she goes out of control again, we have to stop her."
"I-I see. Well, not really, but sort of...?" It was a lot for her to take in. "W-Wait, was it really okay to tell me all this?"
"Probably not." Fen paused for a moment. "But I wanted you to know anyway. It seems like the girl's enjoying your company, and so you should know what you're dealing with."
"T-Thanks for trusting me. Okay, I do feel kinda happy that she got so angry for my sake that she went out of control… I've made quite the high-maintenance friend, did I not? Well, she's quite huggable, so it could be worse."
"Yes." Fen nodded his big head. "You won't ever get bored, though."
"That's true."
"Ah, but don't mention I told you, okay?"
"Now you say that…" Maya rolled her eyes.
"Ahaha, you'll understand why she's a little complicated once the girl does tell you about her circumstances. Don't try to be too shocked. It's quite something."
"Haha…" The cat-girl let out a dry laugh. Inside her head, she had already created her own slightly ridiculous backstory for the girl on her own.
"Oi! Are you guys coming or what?" Sophia, far ahead of them, urged the two to hurry up.
"Yes!" They picked up their pace.
----------------
As there was absolutely nothing left on this floor, thanks to the girl's rampage, the group didn't explore much of this charred mess and headed straight to the third floor once they found the stairs that led them down. A pattern was slowly forming here.
"Oh, there wasn't a goodbye trap, was there?" Sophia tilted her head while they were descending on the stairs.
"Err, I'm pretty sure that whatever trap there might've been, it simply got melted down to nothingness." Maya had a wry smile while she answered.
"Ehehe…" An awkward laugh later, the group arrived on the third floor. "U-Urgh, it stinks!"
"Y-Yeah!" The cat-girl agreed.
"Undead, huh? I'm not a fan…" Fen was the one who disliked the floor the most. Having a great sense of smell wasn't doing him a favor here. "A-At least, I'm not detecting many of them…"
"Undead? Stuff like zombies and skeletons?"
"Zonbies, but yes, that kind of stuff."
"Same difference." Sophia stopped caring about these weird names, which had no sense of continuity whatsoever. "Uhh, just asking to make sure, but what happens if a zonbie bites you?" According to her old world, this should be avoided at all costs.
"If they bite you?" Fen didn't understand. "Well, you get bitten? I don't think that's any fun, though."
"Ahh, I see…" She actually sounded a tiny bit disappointed.
"How about we try to clear this floor the normal way for a rare change?" Maya made an unreasonable request.
"Normal…?" Sophia tilted her head at the foreign concept. "Want to take the lead then, Maya? Go all out if you want." She couldn't do such a thing as normal and gave up her leadership.
"Really? Can I? I wanted to try some magic anyway!"
"Yeah, no need to hold back. Ah, but there's a condition for you."
"I… don't like the sound of that." The cat-girl had a bad feeling.
"Anything except chantless magic is forbidden."
"Starting with a big hurdle from the get-go, I see. Well, okay… but I want a reward if I manage to clear the floor on my own that way!"
"A reward? I don't think I particularly mind, but what do you want?"
"That's a secret~." Maya had a mischievous smile while her tail happily swished around.
"S-Should I be scared…?" She already was.
"No, it's nothing bad." Her playful expression didn't change, though. "Probably."
"I-I'm not entirely convinced, but…" Sophia had her doubts while looking at the cat-girl but let her have it. "Well, whatever… Sure, go ahead."
"Great!"
Having agreed on whatever Sophia agreed to, she let Maya take over the lead before the group started to explore the third floor of the Forsaken Maze dungeon.
Chapter 34 – Second floor of the dungeon
The group was currently exploring the Forsaken Maze dungeon. After Sophia went on a rampage and ordered the genocide of all spyder-like monsters, they finally found the stairs leading to the second level of the maze.
"Soo… I'm guessing there's a welcome trap for us here as well?" Sophia looked around in the path they followed after going downstairs, trying to find anything suspicious.
"Yep, there's something in the walls."
"Hmm, arrows?" She took a wild guess based on the books she had read before.
"It seems that way. What will you do?" Fen looked at her.
"Let's see… Maya, want to try if you can outrun an arrow?"
"How about no?" She wasn't a fan of the idea.
"Fine, I'll do it my do it myself."
"E-Ehh?!"
"Okay!" Sophia got down in a crouching-start position and prepared herself. Carefully adjusting the power she's going to use on her earth magic, not to recreate the disaster where she launched herself into a tree, she instantly accelerated on the spot. While it almost seemed like she was leaving after-images, the girl sped down the corridor. Sophia had already arrived at the end and barely stopped before crashing into the wall there, and only then the arrows started to shoot out of the other walls.
"Uhh…" Maya had a blank expression.
"Wow, you could totally outsprint me with that one, Sophia." Fen was impressed instead. "Ah, my danger detection stopped responding. We should be good to go now." The wolf started walking.
"Ahh, sure…" The cat-girl followed behind him, looking slightly tired.
"Fen, I'm sensing quite a lot of monsters now. A-Are there any more of t-these… things?"
"No, I've exterminated all spyders present. Actually, almost all of my monster reactions are of the slime type."
"Ehh?" She didn't like them that much more. With a disgusted look, Sophia remembered the slimy tentacle slimes she ran into the moment she arrived in this world.
"S-Slimes?!" Maya had a much bigger reaction as she suddenly cried out. "O-Okay, let's go home, you two!" Her face was as white as a sheet. "I-I'm not taking another step! S-Slimes are… no… They are the enemy of every woman!"
"I, uhh, wholeheartedly agree, but…" Sophia surely wasn't a fan either. "M-Maya, did s-something happen between you and those slimes in the past?" She thought her reaction was a little too strong.
"N-Nothing too extreme, I assure you… I-I just don't like them." The cat-girl's face still turned red. "Nothing b-bad happened to me, but… A-Anyway, don't ask… okay? Please…" She turned her head away.
"Ahh… is that so?" Sophia's voice suddenly turned flat and monotone, missing any sort of emotion. "So it has become personal now, huh?" Even with the lack of said emotion, it was evident that the girl was angry. "As if there weren't enough reasons to hate you things… Ahaha~." Once her eerie laugh ended, the group was suddenly cocooned inside an earthen dome. A while later, steam started to rise from the earth as it was slowly turning red, and the temperature inside was climbing at an alarming rate. Before it became too unbearable, Sophia stopped whatever she was doing and removed the dome again.
"H-Huh?" Maya was shocked while she looked at their surroundings. The walls, ceiling, and ground absolutely everything was covered in a thick layer of black soot. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that some of the structures melted and turned into something glass-like, even though it was solid stone. "W-What did you do?"
"Hmm? I simply erased any form of life except us from this floor." Sophia's perfectly calm-sounding voice, together with her lifeless eyes, made her look really scary. "Fen, once we're back outside, we're going to eliminate every slime on this planet."
"C-Calm down, girl." Even the wolf was taken aback.
"I am calm."
"That doesn't make it any better!"
"S-Sophia… thank you for getting angry for me, b-but you don't have to do that… okay?"
"Nonono, these things crossed a line they shouldn't have. It's game over for them." Some kind of fire was burning in her eyes.
"N-Nothing even happened!" Maya turned to the wolf for help. "F-Fen, do something about her!" Maya turned to the wolf for help.
"Mind telling me what exactly?"
"Err…" She had no idea. "W-We need to divert her attention somehow!"
"That job is more suited for you, girl."
"Huh?"
"Ehehe~, I can't wait to hunt down every single one of them~." Sophia was losing it more and more.
"You should hurry, cat."
"What an unreliable retainer!" Maya complained about something he didn't understand before she raised her arms into the air. "Whatever! I don't care anymore!" Giving up, she walked over to the enraged girl and hugged her from behind out of nowhere. "How about we stop that, idiot?" She whispered into her ear.
"E-Eh?!" The effect was immediate. Her eyes turned back to normal, or rather began to swim around in confusion because she didn't understand what was going on. "M-Maya?" Getting embarrassed from being embraced, together with the feeling of the cat-girl's hair brushing against her cheek while she rested her head on Sophia's shoulder, was enough to overload her brain. "W-What is going on… here?" As if snapping back to reality, she almost seemed disoriented and entirely forgot about her slime-genocide plan.
"T-Thank goodness!" Sound relieved, Maya let go of her again. "You're one scary girl!"
"H-Huh? What happened?" She was still confused.
"You went out of control. Again." Fen answered her.
"Ahh…" Sophia averted her eyes.
"That girl brought you back." He looked at the cat.
"T-Thank you…" After awkwardly thanking her, Sophia turned around in shame and quickly walked forwards. "O-Okay, let's keep exploring!" She ran away.
"…" The wolf followed her without saying anything, and Maya was right behind him.
"Fen?" She was staring at him. "What is going on? Out of control…?"
"Well, it's rather hard to explain because I shouldn't go into details, but due to some circumstances… Sophia's emotions or character traits got a bit… I wouldn't say messed up, but rather, she cannot properly control them the way she wants sometimes. If she's unable to process something or gets stimulated above a certain point like getting too angry… that happens." He referred to the attempted slime genocide.
"…" Maya needed a minute. "Has-, Has she been cursed?"
"I wouldn't go that far. Though, someone definitely has altered her personality in a way. Sophia actually likes most of the changes because she didn't like the person she used to be. She has yet to get used to these changes, though. So, when she goes out of control again, we have to stop her."
"I-I see. Well, not really, but sort of...?" It was a lot for her to take in. "W-Wait, was it really okay to tell me all this?"
"Probably not." Fen paused for a moment. "But I wanted you to know anyway. It seems like the girl's enjoying your company, and so you should know what you're dealing with."
"T-Thanks for trusting me. Okay, I do feel kinda happy that she got so angry for my sake that she went out of control… I've made quite the high-maintenance friend, did I not? Well, she's quite huggable, so it could be worse."
"Yes." Fen nodded his big head. "You won't ever get bored, though."
"That's true."
"Ah, but don't mention I told you, okay?"
"Now you say that…" Maya rolled her eyes.
"Ahaha, you'll understand why she's a little complicated once the girl does tell you about her circumstances. Don't try to be too shocked. It's quite something."
"Haha…" The cat-girl let out a dry laugh. Inside her head, she had already created her own slightly ridiculous backstory for the girl on her own.
"Oi! Are you guys coming or what?" Sophia, far ahead of them, urged the two to hurry up.
"Yes!" They picked up their pace.
----------------
As there was absolutely nothing left on this floor, thanks to the girl's rampage, the group didn't explore much of this charred mess and headed straight to the third floor once they found the stairs that led them down. A pattern was slowly forming here.
"Oh, there wasn't a goodbye trap, was there?" Sophia tilted her head while they were descending on the stairs.
"Err, I'm pretty sure that whatever trap there might've been, it simply got melted down to nothingness." Maya had a wry smile while she answered.
"Ehehe…" An awkward laugh later, the group arrived on the third floor. "U-Urgh, it stinks!"
"Y-Yeah!" The cat-girl agreed.
"Undead, huh? I'm not a fan…" Fen was the one who disliked the floor the most. Having a great sense of smell wasn't doing him a favor here. "A-At least, I'm not detecting many of them…"
"Undead? Stuff like zombies and skeletons?"
"Zonbies, but yes, that kind of stuff."
"Same difference." Sophia stopped caring about these weird names, which had no sense of continuity whatsoever. "Uhh, just asking to make sure, but what happens if a zonbie bites you?" According to her old world, this should be avoided at all costs.
"If they bite you?" Fen didn't understand. "Well, you get bitten? I don't think that's any fun, though."
"Ahh, I see…" She actually sounded a tiny bit disappointed.
"How about we try to clear this floor the normal way for a rare change?" Maya made an unreasonable request.
"Normal…?" Sophia tilted her head at the foreign concept. "Want to take the lead then, Maya? Go all out if you want." She couldn't do such a thing as normal and gave up her leadership.
"Really? Can I? I wanted to try some magic anyway!"
"Yeah, no need to hold back. Ah, but there's a condition for you."
"I… don't like the sound of that." The cat-girl had a bad feeling.
"Anything except chantless magic is forbidden."
"Starting with a big hurdle from the get-go, I see. Well, okay… but I want a reward if I manage to clear the floor on my own that way!"
"A reward? I don't think I particularly mind, but what do you want?"
"That's a secret~." Maya had a mischievous smile while her tail happily swished around.
"S-Should I be scared…?" She already was.
"No, it's nothing bad." Her playful expression didn't change, though. "Probably."
"I-I'm not entirely convinced, but…" Sophia had her doubts while looking at the cat-girl but let her have it. "Well, whatever… Sure, go ahead."
"Great!"
Having agreed on whatever Sophia agreed to, she let Maya take over the lead before the group started to explore the third floor of the Forsaken Maze dungeon.
