Hope and Despair:

 

I emerged from the portal, feeling nauseous, and weak. A dark cave and silence welcomed me. The ground was rough and crushed stones were lying all around. I ignored the stinging migraine and trudged forward, stumbling all over. My vision started to blur. 

I knew my body was giving its all and I could pass out any moment. But I forced myself to walk, to find a safe spot before I blacked out. But... I couldn't, as I passed out still limping with a thud.

I sensed something approaching me. Sound of footsteps.

'Maybe a monster...'

'I have to survive this place no matter what... but' I blinked. 

'........ dying while unconscious is better anyway, let's sleep for a few moments......' I closed my eyes, 'I... won't be able to fight back in this state anyway... ?'

.

.

.

!?

'Monster! where is it?' I shot my eyes open.

'Huh?.... what are these, hills?'

In my hazy thoughts, I tried to grab those mounds, but a hand slapped mine just as I was about to grab them.

'Ow!' I rubbed my palm.

'Shit' Realizing what I was about to do, I cursed myself. "Sorry Ashly, I wasn't fully awake yet that's wh-" I quickly rose from the thighs that were giving me a lap pillow.

"It's fine, you didn't touch them." Ashly shrugged.

"But still..." I sighed. "Thanks and 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 noticed my voice was coming out a bit strange, cotton balls were inserted in my nose and ears. Maybe Ashly inserted them because I was bleeding from those there. I pulled them out one by one, they were completely blood-soaked. I snorted.

The number of dungeons in this world is pretty scarce, just around forty or forty-five dungeons have been recorded officially. And those dungeons are divided into categories and properties. Like 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 crusher stones scattered all around. Stony walls with faintly glowing gems embedded on them, and a not-so-high 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-no we would be lying dead.

"Are you feeling fine now, Jack? Watching you bleed from all your holes made me wonder if you bled from your behind or not, are you though?" tilting her head, Ashly asked.

"Wait a sec," I replied and proceeded to check if that really was the case, but midway, I realized 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!

"Please don't joke about that..." I laughed. 

Giggling, she replied 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. Well, she was a pretty quite kid in the classroom.'

"...Hey, how much time was I out for?"

"Hm? Maybe about fifteen minutes?"

"That's...so, huh."

I was out for too long, that could've been dangerous.

"Anyways, Jack, we should move from here and find some safe place, I don't know why but this place gives me paranoia."

"Yeah, well, no matter where you go that paranoia won't go but still..... Let's move from here. The chances of that bitch dropping us at the most dangerous spot are not any less..."

Ashly stood up, picked up her bag, hung it on her shoulder, and proceeded to march ahead. I followed.

.

.

.

"Jack, how were you able to get out of her control? 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?" Ashly asked as we walked along the tunnel. 

Our eyes had more or less adjusted to the dim lightening and we could see pretty clearly.

"Actually, I really know about it. That bitch asked me about it too... maybe, the "Power. of. Manliness." helped me?" I chuckled, and Ashly giggled as well, awkwardly 

I noticed tear marks on her cheeks. Maybe she wept earlier, that is, before I woke up.

"But are you really a Humanity's traitor, devil's servant?" She looked at me.

".......... I am not that for certain. And I don't want to think that you're one too." I muttered the last part in a whisper. 

"Hey, was there something that made you unusual or had something that other people didn't?" I asked.

"... I couldn't use my skill for all my life. It wasn't that I was born a skillless person. You know how normally they automatically know how to use their skill." She said.

"You might not believe it, but it was the same case for me as well" I smiled.

"Do you think we've met somewhere before? Like before we became classmates.." She asked, her eyes looked expectant.

"Mmmmm, Nope. Don't recall even if we did. Do you think we did?" I said.

She shrugged and resumed walking.

The dungeon had a humid atmosphere, thin webs covered the corners of the walls. It gave a pretty creepy atmosphere, well, that's to be expected but Akane seemed pretty fine walking in a path like this, for a high school girl, that is. 

But the fact is that she isn't an average high school girl, seeing how she had a gun and shot the Goddess. I could somewhat guess what kind of background she had but...

"So, are you a daughter of a mafia or somethin'? " I asked.

"Close enough...." She replied.

"...."

"..."

'That's it?'

"Fine keep your secrets." I smiled.

"Ah, no, no, would you believe me if I told you that I am the granddaughter of the head of Cartel...?"

"Huh? Really! Do you mean THE Cartel? The biggest sinner syndicate of the continent? And the Head's granddaughter- You?"

"Ahaha, yup, yup!"

I was exasperated by her reaction, come on.

Honestly, that's a really big deal. 

That syndicate may be illegal and labeled as a sinner group by the government but to people, they are like dark heroes of society. But enough about that.

The light these stones on the wall emit was 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.

'These stones are called Mana Stones, I think..... I should've studied more about dungeons, but the information about them was too rare to find. Unlike most fantasy worlds that I read about in my past life, this world's adventuring culture doesn't recommends to venture in dungeons. Moreover most dungeons are avoided.'

"Jack..... You tried using your skill but weren't able to, right?"

"Tch, yeah," I scowled. "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 at present... what about yours?" She asked about my skill.

'I guess she wants me to reveal my skill first.......... Is this wariness that I'm sensing from her, from me? I guess I have to take the initiative to form trust.'

I explained to her about my skill and also told her how it would be useful in favourable situations and at present is pretty much useless in most situations.

I don't think my stamina would last enough to outrun a monster. My skill would only be 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 while 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. 

"Tell me your too Ashly, I think we'll be able to use it one way or another."

"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 Newton."

 

"What about range and any other information you can tell me about it?" I probed further.

"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."  

'Hmm, a barrier, huh...'

Ashly is more intelligent than I initially thought, she didn't stop her onslaught on that Goddess even while reloading... such a presence of mind... quite impressive.

'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 formidably useless skill indeed!  

'We're screwed!'

 

"Fuck that bitchy Goddess!"

"Yeah, fuck that Whore!"

"..." I looked at her, surprised.

"what? I can't curse because I'm a girl. Is that what you're thinking?" Ashly joked, 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!" 

Sometimes, cursing can help you calm your mind...

Escaping reality might also be beneficial at times. It can serve as a defence mechanism to keep your mind sane.

Maybe it was because we were two people with similar senses of humor, or maybe it was just Ashly who was steering the flow of conversation away from the dismal. Despite the fact that we were only speaking for the first time, we were getting along quite well.

This kind of mood provided a bit of ease.

To divert our attention away from negative thoughts and the sadness in our souls. Cheerfulness, and [Hope]... huh.

But we are making a blunder......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...

At that moment, we seemed to had attracted one too. But then again, an encounter with a monster was... Inevitable.

I could hear the nibble taps - the footsteps of a monster...

It was approaching us.

Ashly could hear it too, seeing as she put on her guard. There was definitely some monster approaching us from the direction we came from. I knew that we couldn't fight. She knew that we couldn't fight. We ran in the opposite direction to the monster.

.

.

*hah* *huff* *huff* *haah* * haah* *huff*

There were no turns, not even a crack in the wall where we could hide. Panting and panicking, we run desperately.

'I hope we could find some other paths.'

The anxiety and fear were beginning to kick in once again. The mind paniked, 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 kept coming closer and closer.

!?

A dead end.

We ran in the wrong direction, shit. But there was no other place to run off to anyway.

I turned around and faced in the direction from where those nimble steps were approaching. I could see a figure approaching. A very peculiar figure, it had a female upper body, the lower body was that of a giant spider. About 2 m in height and it was... smiling.

I have seen this creature, it had many mentions in the books related to Devils. It was an Arachne.

It halted a few meters away from us. It was cackling in a crescent smile and gazing us with a scowl. 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' knew that it was the - 'predator'.

My breathing became erratic, I could feel the rivulets of sweat trickling down my cheeks profusely. My legs froze in fear, and my heart thumped like it would pop from my mouth.

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 approached us slowly with that wide grin that showed its sharp pointed teeth. Licking its mouth with that long purple tongue, it approached us while dangling its arms sideways.

*SLURP* *grrwauuurrr* *SLurP*

The Arachne was clearly enjoying the look on our scared faces.

'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] was clearly frozen in fear.........

...... but Ashly wasn't.

Maybe because she had encountered such dangerous situations multiple times, her state wasn't as pathetic as mine.

She dashed towards it. But she too was shaking in fear, her legs were shivering, but she still ran towards it, to fight it. The last shred of effort of a human clinging to life.

Ashly swinged her bag in order to hit 'it' with it.

But 'it' isn't concerned, not concerned one bit. It just shrugged the backpack, grabbed Ashly from her neck and threw her on the ground behind like some 'TRASH'.

*Screech*

Making indescribable sounds, it now approached me with slow steps while giving me a creepy grinning.

It was coming closer to me, but Ashly lunged at 'it' from its behind to stop it from approaching 'me'. 'It' clearly was enjoying us thoroughly and was certainly holding back, maybe to "enjoy" us for a bit more time.

I, even being a 'guy' couldn't even move an inch, but that girl was 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 Ashly and slammed her on the wall with a little more force than before. Ashly crashed into the wall and slumped down.

'It' turned to me 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?

Some memories play in mind, memories of my family.

'Mom' 'Dad' '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 overflowed 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 the skill even causes any pain. It will die after some time when this skill connects right, will it not? At least Ashly would survive this monster if I take 'it' with me. Or will it kill Ashly right after me? Screw it, leave it at Luck.

And Invoke it.

I opened my eyes and glared at the Arachne that had leapt to kill me.

DIE!!!! Damn it !!!

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