That was a really good meal, the white-haired, red-eyed boy thinks to himself, as he swallows the final piece of meat down his mouth. He inwardly sends a grateful thanks to Syr and the people of the [Hostess of Fertility] for having given him such a delicious meal. He peeked into the basket and saw that there was still some bread and some leftover fishes, but opted not to eat them all straight away and save them for later, just in case he got hungry again. His stomach was satisfied with his current meal, it was one of the rare moments where he got to eat so much during lunch since he would normally go with small pieces of bread and cheese, and the occasional biscuits to avoid spending too much on Valis.
Now then… Having finished his meal, he wraps the food with the white blanket and places the rest into his bag, leaving only the basket. He's going to have to drop off the basket later so he won't have to carry it all the way with him to the Dungeon. With his lunch done, he stands up from the bench he was sitting on and prepares to head off for his usual dungeon exploration. He glances down at his knee and moves it around a bit, and winces at the slight jolt of pain. He knows he should be recovering, but...
… if it's to reach "that person" then he can't afford to stop now.
He'll just have to be careful not to push it too far—he wouldn't want to worry the others. He nods to himself, and with a determined smile, walks off to his destination.
Neptune slowly opened her eyes, giving a couple of blinks as her vision had to adjust from the bright light that had engulfed her. As soon as her eyesight recovered, she noticed that she seemed to be lying down on some rocky terrain. She moves her body to get up, but slightly winces in pain as she notices a couple of scrapes on her face and arms. How did she get those?
… Wait, if she recalls, when that bright light shone, she felt like... she was being sucked into something. Could it be that she ended up falling into this location? Neptune sighs, looks like she could never end up being teleported somewhere without face-planting along the way.
She brushes off the dirt and dust in her clothes and looks around. She looked to be in some cave location of some sort, seeing as how the surroundings were quite dim, had it not been for the green lights that were placed along the cave walls. Neptune doesn't recognize this location. She doesn't think she's been here before. Ah, could it be that she got warped into one of the [Cursed Hell Devil Death Bloody Spectral Tower]'s floors? After all, she never really got to explore the entire place except for the 9,999th floor to find the flowers they needed to cure the Candidates from the [Bad End Syndrome].
"Hmm... anyway, I should get to the warp point so I can properly warp myself to the entrance," Neptune says out loud.
Just as she makes one step to head off, she hears a sound that makes her stop. "Huh...?"
*Grrrck*
*Grrrrck*
The cave walls seemed to be actually breaking apart as it looked like tiny green creatures started to crawl out from inside of them.
Neptune could only stare in shock as her mind was processing what was happening in front of her. "Holy moly! That's the first time I've seen monsters spawn like that!"
The tiny green monsters let out these tiny low growls that Neptune assumed was their battle cry, as they were starting to come rushing at her. Neptune stared at the incoming monsters with a calm, albeit confused look on her face as if she was examining them.
"I've never seen monsters like you before. But I don't have time for you guys, so I'll finish this off quick." Neptune raises her arm in front of her, as if to summon her sword. A couple of seconds tick by, and nothing happens, making her blink in confusion. "Huh?"
Neptune had to dodge as the little green monsters had already reached her, swinging their tiny long arms in her direction. They were surprisingly faster than they looked like. She leaps back to get some distance, staring at her hand and wondering why her katana wouldn't manifest.
"Aw man, do I have to say a summoning chant or something?" She mutters to herself. But she's pretty sure she's never had to do that before—"Whoa!" Another one of those things came at her! Was it trying to bite her or something?!
Neptune huffed. Fine then, if her sword won't come out, then she'll resort to brute force!
"Tee-yaaaah!"
Drawing her leg backwards, she kicks the incoming green thing with her foot like a soccer ball. It soars backwards in the air like a projectile and hits the wall with a harsh thud, its body sliding down into the ground afterwards. Neptune's eyes widen momentarily when she disturbingly realized that even though it had been defeated, it didn't burst into data—but had to focus her attention on the other monsters who were coming at her with even faster movements; perhaps not taking it too kindly when they saw their comrade fall down. Neptune sweatdrops as she ends up doing a lot of kicking afterwards.
"Phew, guess that's all of them," Neptune says with a sigh, placing her hands on her hips as she looks at the motionless bodies of the monsters around her. One, two, three... yep, there were five bodies in total. Her expression turned into that of unease. Not only were these monsters unusual... even their defeated forms were unusual! Why no data disappearing?! While she was curious about the cause, she knew that standing here and thinking about it wasn't going to accomplish anything. She had to get out of here, meet up with the others, and then they could help her think!
She takes another step forward when—
*Grrrrrccckk*
—"Oh come on, what is it this time?" Neptune groans.
She turns to face whatever it was that was going to crawl out of the wall, expecting another one of those tiny green guys, but when some human-like shadow with arms came crawling out menacingly without a sound, from its stance alone Neptune could already tell that thing was not to be messed with. It rushed at her with impressive speed, and Neptune could only dodge to the side as one its "fingers" had nicked at one of her arms that she had raised defensively. It only scratched her, but it was quite painful.
Neptune clutched her wounded arm closer with a freaked out look on her face. "Uwah, that thing looks like bad news...!" Spotting a couple of rocks nearby, she hurriedly picks one up and hurls one with impressive force at the shadow-like creature, but it dodges the attack with its fast speed. Neptune "Tsks" at the miss, as she realizes that kind of tactic won't work. She could probably take it on if she had a weapon, but...
*Grrrccckkk*
She could hear the sound of more walls cracking, most likely more monsters appearing, and with that shadow-thing here, she'd rather not stick around to fight it and other monsters accompanying it.
So, turning on her heel (It's a tactical retreat!, she tells herself), she dashes past the shadow that barely managed to swipe at her, running off at the path which she assumed was the way out. "Maybe that's the exit!" She hears fast movement behind her, and when she turns to look, her face blanches when she sees the shadow creature still chasing after her.
"Gaaaah! Run away, run away!" Neptune runs as fast as her feet could take her.
"Ha!"
A green frog with one eye shoots out its long, sticky red tongue in an attempt to catch the boy, but he moves far too fast for it, as he slices its tongue with the dagger he held in his hand. The monster panics at the loss of its tongue, sputtering out incoherent blubbers as red liquid continued to drip from its sliced off tongue before it eventually collapsed and lay dead.
Seeing that the monster was defeated, the boy relaxes his stance. "All right, that should be enough for the day—"
"Daaaah! Move, move, mooooove!"
He had just turned around to see the source of the scream when he felt something barreling into his chest hard, that it sent them both crashing into the ground. They both simultaneously groan in pain, but the girl who was on top of him recovers faster and jolts her head upright behind her.
"It's here...!"
The boy, who was still wincing from the impact, lifts his head to see what had gotten her so worked up, when he pales at the creature that was coming at them with frightening speed.
Really, a [War Shadow]?! What was it doing here?! It was only supposed to spawn on the 6th floor, so why... he notes the girl's panicked expression, and deduces that it must have chased her from the 6th floor somehow.
As soon as it nears, he pushes the girl off with a hurried "Sorry!" as he rolls to the side just as the shadow had extended one of its long arms that would have hurt them had they remained in that position.
He stands up, gripping his dagger tightly, as the boy stares at the shadow creature with nervous eyes. He remembers he's faced this monster once before, but that was back when he was so caught up in his despair-filled emotions that he had fought it mindlessly without thinking of the consequences. It was even the cause of his injured knee.
… Still. He knows its weak spot, and there's only one of it. Compared to the numerous amount he had to battle the previous night, this should be easier. And plus, there's a girl, right? He can't let her get hurt, right? This is the kind of scenario that he frequently used to fantasize about, and if his grandfather were here, he'd want him to man up "now". His knee's not that painful anymore, he can deal with this.
Mustering enough confidence, he breathes out to calm himself and dashes forward, dodging the arm that just barely grazed his cheek, and takes another step to dodge its other arm. It would retract its arms back and attempt to slash at him again—with those sharp, claw-like fingers—but the boy somehow managed to avoid every single one of its hits as he drew nearer to the main body.
It was fast, but the boy was faster.
With her body still sitting down on the ground, Neptune couldn't help but stare in awe of the boy's fast movements. He was good. He might just give IF a run for her money in terms of agility. His white hair made him look like a white blur, and his red eyes seemed to be glowing with determination.
Kind of like a white rabbit.
The last time the boy killed a War Shadow, he had pierced it through its face. And with his fist, nonetheless. But that was in a moment of sheer desperation. He wants to make sure he gets the [Magic Stone] this time, so he carefully aims his dagger at its chest and cuts through it. It starts to flail around a bit at the pain, but once the Magic Stone drops out of its chest, it stops and eventually crumbles away into black ashes.
The boy released a tired sigh, but at the same time he sounded relieved. He bends over to pick up the fallen Magic Stone.
The sound of clapping catches his attention, and he faces the girl with mild surprise in his features who was currently rapidly clapping her hands together. "Ooohhh! That was really amazing! You were so fast! That shadow thing couldn't even land a hit on you!"
The boy's face grows a bit shy at the sudden praise the girl was giving him. At the very least, he does find comfort in the fact that he was able to dodge its attacks this time. "Um... thank you...?"
"I didn't know what I'd do when that thing came after me! Thanks for your help, uh..." She trails off, not knowing what to say next.
Seeing that she didn't know his name, the boy responds. "Oh, my name is Haru Fenris."
Despite the dirt and scrapes on her face, he thinks the smile the girl gives him is very radiant. "The name's Neptune! CPU of Planeptune, at your service!"