Good Girl, Cat
"Help me—!"
I froze. I hadn't thought there could be any other humans in this dungeon besides our party — but screaming like that was suicide. It was no different from standing up and announcing to every monster in earshot that you were right here.
I didn't know who it was, and I wasn't about to die alongside some dumb bitch.
...Shit.
I started walking the other way, away from the voice — then Gael and the captive woman we'd split from earlier flashed through my mind. A pointless guilt I couldn't quite name settled over me.
I'll just... hide and take a look.
Ready to run if I had to, I pressed myself into the dark and strained my eyes toward the sound.
Huh?
Gael?
And that woman...
That's the hostage from before, isn't it!? No — more importantly, why is Gael being carried on her back— ah.
The woman was staggering, Gael slung over her in a way that looked ready to collapse at any second. Looking closer, I saw his neck wrapped tight in torn strips of cloth, as if someone had tried to stop the bleeding.
The sight of that deep wound made my eyes fly wide. I burst from the shadows before I could think.
"What happened!?"
"P-please, help! He was protecting me and a monster got him...! hic—!"
I rushed over, and the woman explained in a tearful, frantic rush.
"Put him down first!"
"Yes... hic..."
Weeping, she lowered Gael to the floor with difficulty. I scrambled to check the wound — then I saw his closed eyes, and I understood.
He's dead.
My mind went white.
It wasn't the first time I'd seen someone die in a dungeon. Far from it. I'd watched more adventurers meet miserable ends than I could count. But this was different. We'd fought, sure, but I'd grown fond of the guy in my own way. The thought flickered through me that if we hadn't parted the way we had, maybe it wouldn't have ended like this.
"Ah..."
A pained sound escaped me as I looked down at his pale, still face.
I didn't have time to drown in it. The thief's instinct that had kept me alive this long caught on something wrong, and the questions started stacking up.
If a monster had killed Gael, how had the woman carrying him survived? If she'd run on her own, that I'd understand. Escaping monsters with a grown man on her back was another matter entirely. And a dead body goes completely limp — a woman hauling one around and still moving is next to impossible.
Aria would have called it a miracle of the gods. That she'd gotten away. That she'd made it all the way here. I wasn't Aria.
This wasn't a miracle of anything. There are no coincidences in a dungeon.
Which meant—
A sudden wrongness from behind. Or hostility. Every hair on my body stood on end as my beastkin senses screamed a warning.
THWACK—
SLASH.
"Keh!?"
I drew my dagger and slashed behind me in the same instant something heavy smashed into my skull. I felt the blade catch on something, but it was a passing sensation I didn't have the luxury to think about. Blinding pain exploded through my head. My vision swam, and the instinct to survive threw me backward, putting distance between us.
Drip—
"Ugh..."
I clutched my wounded head, and the blood running down into my eyes blotted out the world. If I hadn't dodged, I'd have been finished in a single blow.
Sh-shit, my skull's ringing... I can barely see—!
Whoosh, whoosh—
I slashed the dagger wildly in every direction through my ruined vision, trying to keep whatever had hit me at bay.
Thud.
I focused on the footsteps matching my retreat, and the captive woman came into view. She was approaching with a sneering grin, like a completely different person, a bloodstained rock clenched in her hand.
So that was who'd attacked me. Why was another question. But the question didn't last long.
The thing my blade had caught earlier — it had been her face. The wound wasn't bleeding. Torn hide hung in strips, and beneath it, another creature's face showed through in patches. From the split at the corner of her eye, a beast's pupil — something like a monster's — gleamed as it locked onto me.
"W-who... who are you!?"
"Who? What are you talking about? I'm human, same as you. Ah... or am I? You're a little kitten, so I suppose we don't count as the same species."
She let out a cheap, wheezing laugh. Watching her, I understood. She wasn't human.
Danger. Every sense in my body, every instinct I'd built surviving this long, was screaming at me to run. The thing in front of me did not belong in this world, and it was going to destroy me.
I didn't think. I turned to flee.
And then—
"Kuhut."
A monster with a club was already standing behind me, blocking the way. It looked like the same kind we'd fought with the party — except this one was incomparably bigger. Its massive bulk had closed in to point-blank range, sealing off every path of escape.
"Ah..."
The sound that slipped from my slack mouth was despair.
CRACK—
SLAP—
"Nyaat!?"
The slap across her cheek jolted the naked cat awake where she lay collapsed on the floor. Coming to at someone else's hand, she blinked in a daze — then found me squatting over her, looking down, and her face changed.
"Y-you..."
"Cat. You're awake?"
The Mimicry skill had worn off and I'd returned to my original form, but the cat recognized me from the woman's hide still clinging to my body in unpeeled strips.
"A... a monster? That's impossible! How can a monster look like a human... and speak like one...!"
She stared at me, eyes round with horror. I ignored the question and asked one of my own, smiling.
"Aren't you a cat? Why are you the one speaking like a human?"
"What are you— nyaah!?"
Before she could finish, the loyal monster born from Cecilia grabbed her silver hair from behind and hauled her up.
"Nyaah! W-what are you doing!! Kya!? Why am I naked!?"
Dangling in the air by her hair, she thrashed and kicked, her face twisted in pain. She realized a beat late that she was naked, and both hands flew to cover her swaying breasts and her sex, shame flooding her face.
So I stepped in toward the cat who still had the gall to think of herself as human, and I raised my fist.
THUD—!
"Kehhet!!"
I drove it into her unprotected stomach, and the sound that burst out of her was something other than a human groan. A few drops of spit flew, and pain bloomed across her face.
"Kelk!! Kelk!!..."
The pressure crushing her gut collapsed her lungs, and she coughed and coughed. Gasping, fighting for air, feeling the pain in full — for the first time, fear surfaced on the cat's face. She looked at me with trembling eyes and opened her mouth fast.
"P-please, spare me! I'll do anything—!!"
Smart cat. She didn't ask what I was anymore. She didn't ask why I commanded the dungeon's monsters like my own limbs. She understood that the only thing that mattered in this moment was that I held her life in my hands. A thief's instincts, maybe. Her read of the situation was fast.
Unfortunately, it still wasn't the right answer.
THUD!
"Keheng!!"
I drove another hard punch into her stomach. She cried out and clutched her gut with both hands. Bent double, drooling onto the ground, she lifted her head with effort, her eyes swimming with tears.
"Kelk! P-please, spare... spare me...!"
Still didn't have it. I supposed I'd have to give her a hint.
"Meow~."
"......"
The cat's face went stiff.
"Meeooww~~."
The last hint did it. The quick-witted cat understood, and her mouth opened a fraction — then closed again. Whatever humanity and pride she still had in her reared up and stopped her. But at the end of that struggle, the cat chose to live.
"...Nya."
She forced her mouth open, looking away from me as she spoke.
"Meeooww..."
The faint sound was pointed in the right direction. Unfortunately, it still wasn't the answer. I'd given her the hint and she still couldn't get it right. This time, I'd show her with my fists instead of words.
THUD—!!
Thud.
"Guhk—."
The punch put her on the floor. She curled in on herself, clutching her stomach.
"Keheng—. It hurts...!! I-I'm going to die—"
The words came out on reflex — then she saw my shadow falling over her and let out a thin, terrified shriek.
"M-meeeooww~!!"
She snapped her head up, finally on her knees, meeting my eyes as she produced the perfect sound. Looking up at me with tear-wet eyes, her face was nothing but groveling.
I bent down and stroked her head. She didn't know what to do with herself, then offered an awkward little smile. The way both corners of her mouth twitched, trying so hard to live — it was pitiful, and cute.
Sliiiide.
I presented my still-flaccid cock in front of that face. She flinched, then glanced up at me, reading my expression. I flicked my eyes in a gesture that said suck. Her pupils darted, hesitating, and that was her answer.
Tsk. Still not fully trained.
THUD!!!
"Kieeng—!!"
This time I kicked her in the stomach, hard. She went sprawling onto her back, coughing and coughing, over and over. The beast whimpered, drool running from the corner of her mouth, and looked up at me with tear-soaked eyes.
There was no more hesitation in those trembling pupils. Only pure, complete terror.
"Come here."
I swung my massive cock — still soft — in front of her face like a pendulum, the way you'd dangle a toy fishing rod to tease a cat.
She understood. Drooling in misery, she started toward me on all fours like an animal, reaching for the swaying cock.