They were in a dark cave. A cave so dark that the only source of light was the torch which Orion was holding.
"Hmph... this is sooo boring!" Layla groaned as she picked up a goblin ear from the ground, tossing it into a brown bag.
Orion looked down at the ground. He saw another dismembered body of a goblin, which intensified his nausea.
He looked at her with jealousy. "How come you're not even slightly shaken by this sight?! It's disgusting! Body parts everywhere... ughh!" He shivered in disgust.
Layla looked at him curiously. "You mean that?" She picked up a goblin arm and held it out towards him. "How could this be disgusting? It's funny! Look, look!" She shook the arm.
Orion grabbed his neck and puked on the ground. He looked at her over his shoulder. "Just toss it into the bag!"
"Hmph! You're no fun!" She pouted.
There were more and more corpses as they continued deeper into the cave. The walls were painted with green blood, and the stench was getting so horrible that they plugged their noses.
"Just what are they thinking, giving me Tier Zero after calling me a prodigy!" She looked at him hopefully. "Don't you think I am amazing? That I should be treated better?" She smiled widely.
"If you're not gonna say anything else, then at least praise me!"
He rolled his eyes. "As much as I want to agree with you," he sighed deeply. "I can't!"
"H-huh?! Why? If my memory isn't fooling me, I'm sure you've called me amazing!" She pouted.
Orion nodded. "I did, but tell me, Layla," he paused, giving her a smug smile. "Have you ever held a weapon?"
Layla looked around nervously. "Uhh... I did!" she nodded proudly. "I used a knife on many occasions!"
"A kitchen knife." Orion mocked her.
"Shut up! Just forget it!" Layla pouted again.
"Let's get straight to the point," he flicked her nose with his fingers.
"Ouch!" She eked.
"Even if you'd be able to use a weapon, you'd still be there." He said calmly.
"But why?!" She asked with frustration.
"Because I can't do better than this," he said, looking at the goblin corpses. "I can barely look at those things, and I can't even imagine myself killing them, both mentally and physically..." He sighed. "I'm the person who's holding you back from doing what you want."
Silence fell upon the cave as she stared at him, stunned and confused.
She slapped him softly, giving him a firm look. "Oh, please! What the hell are you talking about?! You can't be saying that you're holding me back from rising just because you don't have as much mana as I do!" She roared in frustration.
She then took his hand and gripped it tightly, looking straight into his eyes. "You are the reason we are here in the first place," she smiled softly. "Who cooked? Who built our squat? Who tried to get a job while I was doing nothing the whole day?"
Orion rolled his eyes. "You couldn't have worked because of your back pain, you literally said it yourself."
Layla gave him a smug smile. "I could've always wrapped something around to hold them~!"
"So you were just... You little..." Orion frowned.
"I was just too lazy to do anything~! After all, I'm your princess and I should be treated as one!" She huffed with pride.
"...You-..."
Suddenly, a loud growling sound echoed throughout the cave. It was loud and seemed to be furious.
Layla hid behind Orion, looking at the darkness ahead of them over his shoulder in fear. "W-what was that?!"
Orion rolled his eyes. "Hiding behind someone weaker is a cowardly move, don't you think so, Layla~?" He laughed.
"Such a big shot, but in the end hides like a little child running away from some bullies~!" He continued mocking her.
She blushed in embarrassment, pulling his ears softly. "D-Dont be so carefree! Haven't you heard that?! The growl?!" She uttered in a mix of fear and frustration.
"That wasn't a growl, Layla! Maeryn said that this is a cleanup mission. This cave was already cleared of all the monsters, so it probably just was the gust of wind-..."
Before he could finish, another growl echoed throughout the cave, it was even louder than before.
He shivered, his eyes wide in fear. "O-okay... maybe it wasn't the wind..."
Layla shook him softly. "What do we do now? I don't know what may be there... but I'm sure it's something massive..." She swallowed hard.
"Let's return to the Guild and report it to Maeryn... she will surely do something about it!" Orion said with uncertainty.
"That's... that's a good idea..." Layla nodded softly.
As they were slowly walking away, a loud thud echoed throughout the cave, and the ceiling began to crack.
Orion looked up, and his eyes widened. He wrapped his arms around Layla and jumped back.
"Watch out!"
The ceiling collapsed, and all the stone fell to the ground, cutting their only escape route.
The two looked at each other. "The only way out..." Orion said, horrified. "...is gone!" Layla finished, tho she seemed more excited than horrified.
Layla smiled widely, grabbing a small rusty goblin dagger from the ground as the heavy footsteps kept getting louder and louder.
Orion's eyes widened. "Hey... what are you doing?" He grabbed her arm tightly.
Layla looked at him. "There's no way out," she then looked at the darkness. "Something big is coming and I will hold it here while you'll be searching for another way to leave this place." She said calmly, yanking her arm out of his grip.
Before she could stand up, Orion pulled her by the wrist. "No! That's insane! I can't leave you here, fighting anything while I'm running away! That's not the way it works! Either we are together, having each other's backs, or we are dead!"
Layla slapped his hand away. "And that's what we will be doing right now! Do you think that protecting myself and you at the same time would increase our chance of killing this thing?!" She grabbed his shirt. "Think, Orion! You get nauseous by just seeing the blood, it's impossible for you to hurt whatever is coming here, not just physically but mentally!" She shook him.
It was clear that she just wanted him to be safe, but he couldn't even think about leaving her alone to fight the monster.
"But... Layla-"
She slapped him. "Believe in me at least a little! I was useless for too long... and now that I can finally repay you for all the hard work you did in the past ten years to keep me alive... I won't miss that chance!" She screamed, her voice firm but also very emotional.
Orion hesitated, but that didn't stop the monster as it was so close that the ground started shaking with each step it took.
He opened his mouth to say something, but Layla cupped his cheeks and gave him a warm smile. "Just believe in me... believe and me and we will be fine..."
The torch fell out of his hand, and he wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly. "...Fine... but promise that you won't die here..." He looked into her eyes.
"Promise!" She giggled, hugging him back softly.
A gigantic goblin that was the size of five goblins stepped out of the darkness. It was very muscular, its veins popping out everywhere. Its eyes were fully yellow, no pupils, just the yellow color, which was manifested from the madness of that creature. It was dressed in a grey armor which covered its crotch, shoulders, and ches,t and it had a huge cleaver strapped to its back.
Orion's eyes widened as he saw the monster. It was really the most horrifying view he had ever had.
He broke the hug and crawled back a little. "L-Layla... I don't think..."
She slowly stood up, turning her back on Orion and looking up into the monster's eyes. "Orion, just go! I will try to distract it!"
He hesitated for a moment, but he slowly stood up and ran towards the goblin.
The goblin looked at it, but before it could attack him, Layla picked up the torch and threw it at the goblin, setting it on fire.
Orion successfully ran past the monster.
"I'm right here, you monster!" She screamed with excitement, a wild smile on her face as she held the sword out, pointing it at the goblin.
The goblin growled as the fire was burning it.
It raised its foot and stomped the ground. The impact was so strong that all the air put out the fire.
"I'm sorry, Orion... I lied to you..."
"...I just want this monster..."
"...All to myself!"
The monster let out a low growl, but its expression wasn't rage. It was an amusement.
Layla's smirk faded a little.
The goblin didn't draw its cleaver, but instead, it walked forward slowly, as if it were the predator toying with prey.
And then, faster than Layla could react, the monster backhanded her across her face.
She flew to the side, hitting the wall with a loud crunch. Her tooth loosened, and blood splattered on the stone.
Before she could even stand up, it grabbed her by the ankle and raised her into the air, smashing her back down into the ground.
Layla's scream echoed through the cave.
"It's... It's playing with me..."
Layla's face was a bloody mess, her insides too.
"Get... off me...!" She screamed, coughing up blood as she forced herself to stand up.
The goblin just stared at her in amusement. It just stepped forward and slammed its forehead into hers.
Her head snapped back, her body going limp for a moment.
"What... what was I thinking? I will die here... Orion..."
Layla collapsed to one knee, her eyes empty. She tried to crawl away, but her body barely responded.
The goblin didn't even bother chasing. I just watched her for a moment and then walked up and kicked her in the ribs.
She hit the wall again, coughing up even more blood.
She lightly placed her hand on her stomach, an expression of pain on her face. "Ugh... broken... my ribs..."
She felt her body give up, but something appeared in her eyes- A flicker of madness and excitement.
She smiled widely, her lips bloody. "Hah... you're not half bad... scum..." She said coldly.
The goblin frowned as it was already growing bored with the game. It reached for the cleaver.
Layla stood up, her legs wiggling like she was drunk. "Hahahahaha~!" She laughed in a sadistic way. "You won't." She said coldly afterward.
With a half-broken goblin dagger in her hand, Layla screamed, her voice full of fury and excitement, and then she charged at the monster.
The goblin turned toward her and caught her face mid-air, slamming her down into the ground again, again, and again.
But this time, she twisted in its grip and stabbed its forearm in the inner forearm.
The monster roared in pain and threw her across the cave into the rubble that had fallen from the ceiling earlier.
She landed with a loud thud, blood dripping from her forehead, her entire body in pain.
She coughed with blood, forcing herself to her feet again. "Come on~... Just fight me like you really, really mean it, sweetie~..." She licked the goblin's blood off the broken dagger, spitting it out afterwards. "Disgusting."
The goblin was bleeding from its arm, and it gave her a different look, finally acknowledging her as a worthy opponent.
It gripped the cleaver, the bandage ripping itself off it out of the sheer grip strength the monster had.
Layla's heart pounded, and she licked the blood off her lips. "Now you're finally going serious~! Couldn't wait any longer~!"
This time it charged at her first, its cleaver raised high.
Her eyes widened, and she didn't have enough time to react.
The edge of the cleaver sliced her shoulder, sending a spray of blood into the air.
She closed her eyes, nearly blacking out from all those injuries combined. "You... you..." She muttered under her nose with hatred. "You will pay... do you know how hard it is to maintain my body in the perfect shape while living in the slums?! I WON'T FORGIVE YOU, YOU GODDAMN MONSTER!" She screamed in rage, gripping the broken dagger so hard that she almost broke the hilt.
The goblin raised the cleaver above its head, preparing for the final blow.
"This is it... I can't dodge something that I can barely react to..."
But then her eyes widened. Everything slowed down. She couldn't move any faster, but she could process information faster. "What... what is this?!"
Every twitch of the goblin's muscles. Every shift of its posture. She could see everything.
Everything was slowed down, but not her mind.
"Right arm swing... Diagonal to the left..."
Everything returned to its normal pace. She jumped to the left, avoiding the cleaver.
"Barely... just barely... but I can dodge it..." Her smirk reappeared on her face, her eyes full of excitement and lust for victory. "I can do it!"
Using the moment of the monster's confusion, she slashed its leg with the broken dagger.
She managed to land the dash right above the calf, in the most vulnerable spot.
The goblin roared in pain, throwing a kick towards her.
Everything slowed down once again, and she rolled away.
It chased her, swinging the cleaver wildly now, but each time, she saw it... she saw right through the monster, reading its every move and emotion, laughing sadistically.
"I SEE IT! I SEE EVERYTHING THAT YOU WILL DO! AND YOU KNOW WHAT I ALSO SEE?! I SEE THAT I WILL KILL YOU~!" She screamed, clearly enjoying this.
But still, it was getting harder and harder for her. She was bleeding, her breathing was heavy, and her vision was blurry.
But she kept smiling and laughing.
"I get it now... I see how this works... this feeling... this rhythm... IT'S AMAZING~!" She yelled, parrying a swing of the cleaver with the edge of her dagger, countering with a slash directly under the goblin's arm and stabbing into its side, twisting the blade to make it feel even more pain.
It backhanded her face again, but she moved with the hit, reducing the damage, but it still hit hard.
She grinned through her bloodied teeth. "This is what I was meant to do! I was meant to kill monsters like you with my beautiful hands~!"
The goblin roared in pain and fury, swinging the cleaver wildly.
Layla was dancing between each strike, broken, cut, bruised, but alive like never before.
She landed a hit to its elbow, then to its neck, none fatal, but still annoying.
The goblin stumbled backward, the calf wound from earlier striking again.
"You're slowing down, scum~!"
Her arms trembled, her legs burned, but her mind was alive.
The goblin prepared for the final overhead swing.
Everything slowed down again.
"I see it..." She stepped to the left.
The cleaver hit the ground, digging deep into it. The goblin struggled to pull it out.
"You little..." She jumped forward with grace, ending up next to its neck.
She held the broken dagger out and spun like a ballerina, driving the dagger into its throat, slicing only half of its neck to keep it alive, in agony.
The goblin puked the blood out, its eyes wide with fury and disbelief.
Layla twisted the blade slowly, and the green blood sprayed across her face. "Shit~!" She said loudly, smiling.
She pulled the dagger out of its sheath slowly.
The goblin grabbed its neck in pain, stumbling backward, falling to the ground, and finally dying in agony.
Layla stood over the monster, looking down at it with a wide and unhinged smile on her face, laughing loudly.
"There's only one winner... and it willalwaysm... and always be me~"
She fell to the ground.