19 Divergence : Parallels

While Linnaeus was cautiously venturing through the First Floor, a very different scene was playing out in one of the other ninety-nine testing grounds.

Though not the strongest by any means, Saht had been blazing through the First Floor test after killing her opponent during the preliminary evaluation.

Unlike Linnaeus, who was very cautious and tried to avoid direct engagements, Saht had never been the type to overthink things. All she knew was that Linnaeus had also entered the Tower so, in order to reunite with him, she needed to survive and kill any enemies that stood in her way.

Just as Linnaeus had broken through the restrictions of his Blessing, Saht, who spent most of her waking moments in a sem-transformed state, had already reached Level 51 in her [Demonification]. Upon reaching the Level 50 threshold, she sprouted a second set of horns, this time forming a gentle curve around her brows, while a pair of small wings now poked through the slits in her blood-red bodysuit.

Due to their small size, the wings did not allow for flight but, while she was running around at high speeds, the allowed her to swerve and change direction more rapidly. If she put enough strength into her legs, she could also leap very far, using her wings to extend the distance by allowing her to glide, albeit barely.

With these changes, Saht's Strength, Constitution, and Agility were all greatly enhanced. Since she was exceptionally brutal compared to most people, irrespective of being born in the megacity or slums, she had already mowed through several opponents. One had even been unfortunate enough to be pierced by her horns when she charged into them from behind.

Saht didn't believe she was an unstoppable force but, so long as she trusted her instincts and tried to avoid anyone that seemed dangerous, the only thing that mattered to her was progressing to the next Floor. Because of this, she was currently chasing down a duo consisting of a muscular man with bull-like horns and a rather petite girl whose body was covered in a thin layer of white fur. She also had two tiny curved horns at the sides of her head and, while the muscular man carried her, she kept shooting beams of white light to deter Saht's berserk charge.

Even with her new wings, it was difficult to dodge magic in a frontal charge but, despite taking a few direct hits and suffering some severe burns, Saht's rage made her numb to the pain. When she didn't have Linnaeus to direct her, it was as if the entire world blurred on her periphery, giving her a strong sense of tunnel-vision that only allowed her to identify the enemy.

Despite her cute appearance, the petite girl had a layer of moisture in her eyes as she shouted, "Why won't this bitch just die!? Ray Burst~! Ray Burst~! Ray Buuuuuurst~!"

Her companion didn't bother to answer her question as, after trying to defend against Saht's first attack, he had been sent flying several meters by the comparably smaller figure. Since this had also fractured his left arm, while simultaneously draining nearly a tenth of his health in an instant, there was no way he would fight her before whittling down her health.

For the time being, he just focused on his breathing as he ran in a zig-zag pattern to evade getting skewered by the rampaging demoness. The Ba'haat tribe's [Demonification] was relatively famous so he knew it was only a matter of time before her SP ran out, causing her to enter a weakened state. It was fortunate that the girl chasing them didn't seem to have trained her control over the form so, by changing directions constantly, she was unable to overtake him despite having superior speed.

As the bull-headed man expected, the only thing Saht was thinking about were the points the two had as, if she managed to kill them, her passage to the Second Floor was confirmed. This allowed her to ignore the vague feeling that her SP was dangerously low as she continued her relentless pursuit of the fleeing duo.

Eventually, the girl being carried ran out of SP as, on the low end, most offensive Magic spells cost around 200SP. Even if she had been born into a prestigious family, her reserves wouldn't be greater than 4000 points, barring very few exceptions. Since the girl was just an average citizen of Heart, she had only been able to cast seventeen spells, despite pacing herself and allowing her SP to replenish.

With Saht constantly gaining on him, causing a cold sweat to cover much of his body, the horned-man took exception to the fact his partner had stopped attacking. If he wasn't already heaving for air, he would have shouted at her to keep attacking. Since it was possible to overdraft your SP by eating into your Health, he knew she could keep going for a little while longer.

Rather than waste his breath, the man decided he no longer needed the extra baggage, despite the girl only weighing around 37kg. He very unceremoniously tossed her body toward their attacker, an action that caused the girl's mind to blank completely as she traveled in a parabola, directly toward the girl she had been peppering with magic for the last few minutes.

Though Saht was going to rip the girl apart, the actions of the man had caused her focus to lock onto him. When he turned to look back, obviously checking to see if his plan had been a success, she was already right on top of him, causing the man to roll to the side as she crashed passed him and shattered a tree into splinters.

Ignoring the aches in her own body, Saht flicked her tail like a whip, allowing her to shift her center of gravity quickly as she leaped toward the fleeing man once again. He was preparing to dodge a second time but, just as he waited for the proper timing, a beam of white light smashed into his side, causing him to grimace in pain before realizing what had happened.

In the distance, with her eyes, ears, and nose all leaking blood, the girl he had tried to sacrifice was glaring at him with a murderous and vindictive smile. She had overdrafted her SP by quite a bit to make sure he couldn't flee. This allowed Saht to easily close the distance and, though he tried to resist, she began to thrash his body around like a ragdoll, breaking several trees and stones in the process.

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Having already accepted her death, the girl took great pleasure in watching the man's brutal end. He had been nice to her when they first met so, despite not truly trusting him, she had agreed to Party with him due to their complimentary Blessings. When he picked her up and fled, she began to feel a few tender emotions toward him but, during the moment of weightlessness when he had tossed her through the air, the only thoughts in her mind were killing the traitorous bastard.

Despite a considerable amount of fear, the girl didn't look away when the demoness made her way over. The latter was covered in fresh blood and, with wild pink hair, blood-red eyes, red skin, and four ivory horns, it was like looking into the face of a devil who had come to reap her soul.

Against any expectations she might have had, the girl suddenly found herself pushed onto her back before, moments later, a tingling anxiety welled up from her stomach as she felt a pressure against her groin. She was absolutely certain her attacker was a woman so she had no idea what was going on as she weakly cried out, "Please...just kill me..."

Rather than the reprieve of death, the girl heard the sound of someone inhaling deeply before the pressure suddenly subsided. Then, causing her mind to blank yet again, the demoness stood over her and asked in a raspy and ice-cold tone, "Have you killed...?"

Though it took her a few moments to process what was being asked of her, the girl began to shake her head rapidly before stammering, "I-I-I've n-n-nev-" She wasn't able to finish her sentence as the pink-haired demon suddenly picked her up in a bridal carry before running deeper into the woods after saying, "You are innocent...I will protect you..." in a decisive tone.

After this overwhelming series of events, the petite woman didn't have any words left and, as she had been in the Critical Health state after overdrafting her SP, she gave up trying to stay awake. The last thought to go through her mind before darkness claimed her was, "I'm going to get eaten..." as the trickle of blood from her nose increased slightly.

---

There was nothing more important to Saht that being able to reunite with Linnaeus but, no matter how brutal she was during a battle, she would not kill those who didn't fight back. She did not want to become the type of person she and Linnaeus often hunted so, after seeing the man betray his ally, most of her hatred had been directed toward him.

After venting most of her frustrations on the man, even after his death, Saht had calmed down quite a bit as her SP had nearly flatlined. As her [Demonification] slowly began to wear off, she neared the girl who had previously peppered her with Magic spells. She could see the resolve to accept death in the girl's eyes, something she had seen often in young women in the slums.

Once again feeling like she was comparable to the men and women she hated the most, Saht made the split-second decision to confirm something. Before the girl could react, she pushed her down and, knowing there was a distinctive smell that lingered inside a woman after she lost her virginity, Saht confirmed that the girl was untouched. After that, she asked the girl if she had ever killed and, though there was hesitation in her eyes, it didn't feel like she was lying when she began to say she had never killed anyone.

Without any crimes to place on the girl other than defending herself from an attacker, Saht felt a bitter feeling in her heart. After that, she decided to repent by protecting the girl until she had the requisite Aether to move on to the next level. At the very least, she would help her until her own Aether value naturally reached a thousand points on the second day. She already had 917 points so it wouldn't be difficult for her to help another person for a short while.

With her mind made up, Saht dug a burrow with her bare hands before spreading the dirt all over the surroundings to hide her tracks. She then tucked the fur-covered girl into the hole before using a decaying tree to cover the hole. After that, she quickly hunted down a massive quadrupedal creature with spear-like horns that curved backward. It hadn't taken much effort for her to snap its neck and, though she wasn't adept at cooking, due to rarely having anything to cook, even burnt meat was better than nothing when it came to treating the Critical Health status.

Though it wasn't the gentlest way to wake someone up, Saht used her nail to scratch the underside of the girl's horns, knowing that her own were sensitive in the same area. This could be very pleasant if gently caressed but, if someone did it roughly, it was a very startling and painful sensation.

As could be expected, the fur-covered girl awoke with a start, bonking her head on the roof and causing dirt to rain down over her. Since she was surrounded primarily by darkness, she began to panic but, before she could cry out, Saht shoved the slightly overcooked meat in front of her face, saying in the same cold tone as before, "Eat."

After hearing the familiar voice, the girl remembered what had happened so she quickly viewed her own Status, finding that her health was already lower than 30%. Though the meat smelled burnt, she wasted no time in gulping it down. If given the choice between life and death, most people would obviously choose the former. Now that the adrenaline from battle had worn off, her resolution to face death had gone with it, replaced by a very strong will to survive.