Chapter 80: Chapter 40: Don't Shoulder Every Burden

I felt strange how things happened so suddenly—pushing the woman back, my feet pushed off the ground, causing a crack to sound as I stepped forward to make room between us, and my body shot forward towards the strange creatures with warped teeth and sharp claws soaked in dark, slimy blood.

In but an instant, my shoulder hit one in the gut, making it cough out some of its black bile and then stumble backwards, though not knocked to the ground just yet.

There was an odd sensation as my eyes left the other two for a moment instead of looking towards my right side, as a black flash appeared from the seemingly dazed monster's arm trying to claw my face.

My fist slammed into its side while I lowered myself, hearing a dull crack on its arm as it passed by, causing something hot to cut across my cheek lightly—a line of blood oozing from the small touch, burning like acid slightly. It stumbled back even further now that I had turned most of my weight towards slamming the monster into the dirt.

The others' reactions were barely visible, with my eyes barely catching the claws swinging at the woman. She jumped backwards, letting one creature swing past her before violently grasping its head with her sharp-clawed hands, digging deep and quickly lifting it upwards while cutting clean through the bottom half of its jaw.

One arm still stuck under me, pressing it against the ground with all my might, the creature beneath let out an ear-piercing scream—a wave of power emanating from it, making me shudder momentarily. Instead of attacking, though, its eyes wildly swung around, catching a glimpse of what happened behind me just as the woman ripped the throat out of her opponent before turning towards it in anger.

She sprinted forward with incredible speed, its wide eyes trembling in fear as she lifted its friend from below me, taking full advantage of its limp arm to toss it to the side almost like an unruly toy, raising a hand covered in slickened blood, ready to strike down onto its chest.

The pitch-black fur covering the monsters shuddered briefly at the terrifying image—only a breath away from being torn apart as she struck downwards!

But there was a sudden shift, causing me to react hastily—its limp arm not quite as helpless as we thought it to be, a hand having hidden below my foot and grasping at something unseen previously!

Zveta's arm was nearly torn off as the limp claws suddenly flashed towards her throat, and her arm, barely managing to catch hold of it, stopped whatever this black shimmer was able to pierce, only managing to graze her neck, drawing a line of blood as it let out a piercing laugh in glee, "Die you filthy mon—"

"Gwe he he he." The monster below me uttered a strange, eerie laughter.

Its laughter turned to a muffled squelch, a sense of satisfaction welling up inside me for silencing it finally. Blood splattered everywhere after hitting its face directly—some mixing into the small cuts on my knuckle, sizzling loudly with a burnt flesh smell, searing as if scalded by boiling water while leaving the tinge of iron in my nose.

Its body quickly grew limp—dead, most likely.

At the same time, its friend raised both arms towards me defensively as my body spun around and kicked out with a brutal spinning kick straight towards its head, the sickening crunch feeling oddly pleasing despite lacking the visual of another enemy falling dead, hearing the soft thump as it limply fell to the ground unconscious.

Panting roughly—my lungs aching heavily—I stood tall as my eyes quickly searched towards Zveta, who managed to slay her final foe even with a bleeding wound but seemed fine aside from that at first glance...

Now, what would happen to her though? Would there be some dungeon laws or rules to kick her out for staying after death? I didn't know, but somehow, an offer left my lips.

"Want to join our Guild? We are called the Lexion Knights, located on the 32nd Island Pamil 8th District (Noble-Area) Medium Size. It sounds a little insensitive after you lost your friends and family... But I think having a place to go outside the dungeon and your home to relax might help..."

The word just came out, not thinking much about what I'd say initially as I planned to leave her, not become responsible for her. It wasn't right or wrong—instead, it was something I found myself doing without understanding, and the invite was sent before I thought.

The face she showed just reminded me of the night I stared into the mirror, the night after I fought my first underground boxing match. Thinking Dad wanted me to succeed—all alone at fifteen, staring into the mirror, reflecting on my battered body, scarred face, swollen eyes, and bloodied wounds... Somehow, I saw myself in her.

Her once pale white complexion started to fade, with colour slowly returning as her tanned cheeks glowed faintly. With a quick nod, her hands brushed against her face, pushing her now long bangs behind her ear and looking at me with strange golden eyes.

"I will take the offer. Let's meet in the future. Give me some time to deal with my loss... Then I will thank you for saving my life properly—please forgive the strange way of speaking when I return... Suddenly, so much emotion, strange images, and thoughts entered my mind that I mistook you for my lover or something, haha."

Once again, her laugh, the hollow and empty sound from her lips, made me realise how annoying my false acts might have seemed to others in the past.

A mirror that showed your insecurities and faults was unpleasant—as she took out the escape item for a dungeon after gathering her friend's bodies, she smiled at me and began to fade from sight.

"By the way, your scene is nice... It's scary to be around you right now. Like a sweet, tempting devil standing over mountains of corpses masking their vile stench, haha..." Were her final words as she disappeared with the corpses, and I couldn't help but wonder if I did have the strange scent she claimed—the smell of death surrounded me...

Shuddering slightly at the image my mind conjured—a frightening figure among corpses—my eyes swept across the surroundings quickly...

"Let's finish this floor and return to those girls who help ease my mind, to soothe my suffering."

However... is this related to me turning those women into different things when we have sex?

Is that to say if they ingested my blood, they would have become werewolves instead?

My mind was creating two questions for every answer, leading me to stupid or unnecessary thoughts—shaking my head and wiping the excess thoughts from my mind. I rushed towards the large encampment of orcs.

There were eight more floors to clear, and it seemed each one was one of the floating lands above my head.

"Let's hope Lumia and Flora aren't mad about me adding another woman to the guild."