Well, that caught me off guard.
There was no doubt about it, she was almost as used to killing as I was. It felt a bit different though. My bloodlust felt colder and more refined, probably because I literally spent most of my life training to kill.
Hers felt more feral and rage fueled, which was likely the result of having had no choice but to kill to survive.
Whatever, this was no time for a psychoanalysis.
I might have calmed down a bit, but my desire to kill this guy was very much alive.
"Alright let's do this, just make sure to stay out of my way-."
"Are you kidding me? You're the one who can't see in the dark, so you stay out of my way!"
...fair point.
As an assassin, I'd trained to fight in the dark, but that was always with night vision goggles on. Fighting blind was insanely difficult to master, and was pretty unnecessary in practical use back in my old world, so I never really bothered mastering it.
A decision that I'd been regretting the whole time we'd been down here.
Suddenly, the area lit up in front of us, I turned towards it, to see the bald guy holding a flare. Oh right, he probably couldn't see in the dark either, and it's got to be pretty terrifying to be in total darkness while two people who want to kill you are right in front of you. Unfortunately for him, it worked in my favor.
"Well, isn't that convenient?"
"Damn you! You cut off my arm! Me, THE Tahn Ragiu-!"
Persia shot forward, interrupting his rant, her claws aimed for his throat. He managed to sidestep and avoid decapitation, but couldn't avoid a deep gash on the side of his neck. Before he could recover, I flung a few needles at him and dashed towards him.
Unable to dodge, he pulled out a handful of rocks with his remaining hand and shot them to counter the needles. Interesting, so he couldn't manipulate the walls or floor of this maze with Earth Magic? Just like I'd figured when my blade was unable to break into it, the walls of this maze aren't any ordinary rocks.
Unlike the other four Elemental Magic types which could be produced purely from Mana, Earth Magic could only manipulate the earth around you. To put in into comparison, I could produce lightning using my Mana, but someone with Earth Magic can't conjure up a rock out of nothing, he can only control rocks and earth that already exist around him.
Anyway, back to the fight.
He countered my needles, but now he was wide open. I closed in on him and drove my dagger towards his chest, he managed to avoid getting struck through the heart, as I plunged the blade square through the middle of his chest, and sharply twisted the dagger 90 degrees once it was fully embedded.
He howled in pain, his eyes quivering in rage and fear.
"H-how dare you...do this to me...I'm Tahn...Ragi-."
"Hey, don't make us out to be the bad guys here...," I began.
"...when you're the one who tried to kill us first. You brought this on yourself," Finished Persia, after propelling herself forward from behind him and driving her claws through his heart.
Right before he died, he fired a stone he had been clutching at my head. I moved my head to try and avoid it, but the stone razed across my right eye.
"Kuro!"
"God damn it, he managed to get a hit in before croaking. No worries though, it'll heal in no time," I grunted, focusing my Healing Factor on the wound.
She let out a sigh and pulled back her claws as I withdrew my blade, his lifeless body hitting the ground with a thump. For a while, the two of us were pretty quiet, neither knowing what to say. I decided to break the tension, as it was starting to get pretty awkward.
"You, uh, aren't new to killing, are you?"
"Mhm, yeah that's right. The same goes for you too, right?"
We walked away from the corpse we'd just created and sat down, leaning against the wall as the light from his flare began to fade, I was starting to feel pretty tired now, and I'm sure she was too.
"Yeah, I'm an- or rather, used to be, an assassin. I can't really go into too many details, but things went wrong about three years ago, and once that was over, I found myself in the Rustlands. And that's when I decided to try my hand at becoming an Adventurer," I replied, deliberately vague since I probably shouldn't mention the reincarnation part.
Wait, why was I telling her in the place? For some reason, I didn't feel the need to hide my past with her. Was it just because she was a killer too? No, I had met plenty of killers in my old life, never got along with them...something about her just puts me at ease.
"An assassin, huh? That explains a lot, both times you attacked that guy, there was something...efficient about your strikes. In my case, I was sold into slavery by my parents when I was a kid, the slavers tortured me for a bit, and as a result of the stress, my Anima forcibly manifested a bit earlier than most people, and my Elemental Magic got stronger too. It's kind of a blur, and the memories of it are pretty hazy, but I killed every single slave merchant in that trading ring after breaking out of my shackles, and once I was done...I found myself standing amongst a pile of corpses, with these ears and tail...but I don't remember it properly, I felt like my mind turned red, and then next thing I knew...I had killed them all. I then ran away left Goldway and began wandering the outside, finding myself on a long, rocky road. While I wandered, I ran into plenty of merchant carts and carriages that tried to capture me to sell off, or kill, or who knows what. I killed so many of them. I would often hitch rides by clinging on the undersides of the carts without anyone noticing. After what felt like an eternity of wandering, I ended up outside the Rustlands, and to my luck, found myself adopted by a merchant couple that I had tried to attack and steal food from...they were kind to me, I was so paranoid and suspicious, but they managed to gain my trust bit by bit...and I'm really glad that they did."
"Wait, you said Goldway...as in the second most prosperous country? Huh, I had no idea slavery was a thing here."
Damn it, I really should have thoroughly questioned not-God about this place before coming here.
"Aren't assassins supposed to be well informed or whatever? Besides, it's pretty common knowledge that Platinberg, Goldway and Silvland all support and implement slavery within their walls."
"Oh, uh...I don't really remember much from before three years ago. I was set up by my client, and captured by some cult. And I then proceeded to be tortured as a human experiment for the next three years, and by the time I escaped and snuck into the Rustlands after finding myself outside its walls, I'd forgotten most of my past."
Okay, you can't really call these lies, more like I'm bending the truth so that it'd be consistent with this world. Maybe I should have just simply said that I had amnesia. Oh well, too late to change my backstory now.
"Sounds like the Magic Research Group. They're a large organization independent from any of the five countries, though they do work closely with the ones that aren't the Rustlands. Their members consist of citizens from all five countries, on the surface they simply study magic and it's properties, but there are plenty of rumors that say that they use live humans to test out their research on. I've never heard of anyone actually escaping though. And three years is just...wow. I was barely tortured for a month, and felt like I was going to die almost every single day. You know, that explains another thing. No matter how badly you get injured, you never showed any signs of being in pain. At first I thought maybe you were just trying to act, or maybe you were hiding the pain till your wounds heal, or maybe you don't feel pain...but those aren't the case, are they?"
"Yeah. It's not that I can't feel pain, it's just that...I've felt so much of it that I'm numb to it now. Guess that much torture can do that you."
"All things considered, you turned out pretty good."
That kinda came out of nowhere.
"H-huh, what's that supposed to m-mean?"
"No wait, that came out wrong! I mean like, you went through who knows what for three whole years, and you aren't unhinged or crazy or anything. I could feel that you enjoy killing, but when you attacked him, each of your strikes were meant to kill him in one blow."
"Your strikes were the same, weren't they?"
She was right though, I enjoyed killing, but torturing my opponents wasn't my cup of tea. I might try to draw out a bit of suffering if it was someone I REALLY hated, but usually when my bloodlust takes over, my aim isn't to inflict pain, it's to kill my target as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Wait, not-God did mention that he had to fix my sanity and tweak some other stuff...
"Yeah, most of the people I killed, I did so in as few strikes as possible. But when I first escaped from my torture, I know that I murdered my torturers as brutally as I possibly could. I may not remember it very clearly, but by the time I was done, almost every last one of them were in bloody pieces, I was covered in blood, almost none of which was mine. It was downright sadistic, no...more like psychotic."
"No, I don't think it was. I doubt there's a single person alive who hasn't done something they regret while angry or enraged. But regret doesn't change the past, so all you can do is move on and live in the present. I know that's a lot easier said than done though."
"Yeah, I guess you're right. You know what, this got kinda depressing, let's talk about something else!"
"Sure, there's actually something I'm curious about...is the guy we just killed someone important or something? I mean, the last few things he was yelling before he died made it sound like he wasn't just your run-of-the-mill killer. What was his name again, Tahn Ragiu?"
She scrunched up her face in thought.
"Wait...that last name kinda sounds familiar. I can't quite put my finger on it though."
"Well, it doesn't really matter if we can't find a way out of here. If the worst case scenario happens, at least we have the satisfaction of having taken out the person who got us into this mess."
"Yeah, that did feel pretty good. Especially since I got to deal the finishing blow."
Damn it, I'm not gonna lie, I definitely felt kinda unsatisfied that I wasn't the one who finished him off. It was like, when you're eating a meal and you save that last piece of meat for the end, but before you get to it, someone else snatches it away and eats it.
"Yeah, don't rub it in. This was my first time fighting alongside someone else, it definitely felt strange, but at the same time...I guess it wasn't so bad."
"Now that you mention it, same here. I've always fought alone till now too. You know, this whole time we've been down here, you've been kind of a pain, but you're also the first person ever that I've been able to properly talk to. I've never actually held a proper conversation before, I usually just sort of make quiet remarks to myself. It's kinda...nice. Um, thank you."
"Y-your welcome, I'm also, I mean t-too, wait no, uh-," I stuttered, caught off guard, unable to say anything.
"W-wait no, forget I said all that, d-don't take it the wrong way!"
"R-right, okay."
"..."
"..."
"I just realized...you're the first person I've told about my past to this extent...I haven't even said this much about what I went through to my parents."
"Same here...I never expected to reveal my past to anyone either, let alone someone I've only known for a few hours."
An awkward silence ensued.
But, what she had said, the feeling was mutual. I'd never held a proper conversation with another person before either. And she was right, it was really nice. I enjoyed talking to her. A lot.
Wait, what was I thinking!?
I felt my face heat up, and buried my head in my hands. Seriously, I was a badass pro assassin in my old life, how were my regular social skills this bad?
"Hey, are you alri- EEK!" Shrieked Persia, suddenly grabbing onto my arm.
Something had startled her. I couldn't quite focus though. She was suddenly really close. She was tightly latched onto my right arm. I could feel her breath brushing against my shoulder.
Her scent invaded my nostrils. And pressed up against my arm, I could feel her boo- okay NO, snap out of it!
"H-hey, what happened?" I asked, trying my best to ignore my racing heartbeat.
"Something touched me, it felt wet!"
Okay, calm down me, this was no time to get flustered, I mean seriously...I never get flustered!
I took a deep breath to slow down my heart rate and then sparked up an orb of lightning.
"It's...water?"
A small, thin stream of water was moving around, it almost looked like it was alive.
"Huh? Oh, you're right. It's Water Magic," She said, sighing in relief before her eyes widened and she hurriedly let go of my arm, "S-sorry, I kinda panicked."
Usually, I'd probably say something teasing right here, but I was way too worked up.
"D-don't worry about it. Hey, does it look like the water is...beckoning at us? Uh...did one of the others have Water Magic?"
"We didn't see...uh, what was his name again...the sleepy looking guy...whatever his name was, we didn't see him fight, so he might have Water Magic..."
The trail of water appeared to be beckoning for us to follow it. That had to be a seriously advanced level of mastery...
For a while, we were pretty skeptical, since it could be a trap or something, but after we realized that we had no other leads as to how to get out of here, we decided to follow it. It's not like we have anything to lose.
"This is some pretty impressive Water Magic. Whoever cast it sent out a web of water streams throughout the entire maze, and they're skilled enough to sense when one of the streams comes into contact with someone...um, there's a name for this technique, can't quite remember it though," Remarked Persia.
Yeah, this spell definitely would need some pretty intense concentration and control.
Like Persia had pointed out, Azyl was the only one we hadn't seen fight, and since Rai and Key had Lightning and Fire Magic respectively, that only left Azyl, who didn't look like the concentrating type.
But unless someone else was also down here with us, he was the only possible suspect.
After we had walked for a bit longer, Persia suddenly perked up and started sniffing.
"Tell me it's good news, cat girl."
"I think so, yes! I sense Mana from three different people just up ahead! Wait...one of them is charging right for us..."
Huh? Crap, don't tell me...
"KUROOO, YOU GUYS ARE ALIVE!!!!"
I quickly lit up a lightning orb, just in time, as I saw a blur of a blonde head jump towards me, which I just barely managed to dodge.
"Hey, you've got Lightning Magic too!? We totally match!"
I...I was starting to miss the time where I was lost in the maze.
After Rai eventually calmed down, they began explaining their side of this experience. After they fell down here, Key injured her leg in the fall, while the other two managed to avoid getting too badly hurt. They had wandered around for a bit, when suddenly Azyl revealed that his water Elemental magic could be used to find the exit, as well as avoid paths that would lead to any clusters of Goblins.
Apparently, it's a technique that's pretty exhausting and uses a lot of Mana, but I didn't sense any actual fatigue from him, and Persia whispered to me that she could sense that he still had the majority of his Mana left, while the rest of us were all at least below half our full capacity.
This guy was...pretty lazy.
Oh right, and Cat Girl had gone back to being all quiet and reserved, guess she was only comfortable enough to speak her mind around me for now.
That kinda made me happ- No wait, what was I thinking?
I'm probably just delirious from being in the dark for so long. Yeah, that's probably it.
Anyway, I'll cut to the chase regarding what happened next.
We made our way to the exit using Azyls' Water Magic, with Keys' Fire Magic lighting the way. The exit was actually pretty close to where I had blasted those holes, kinda frustrating that we'd were that close but still missed it.
Explaining the damaged walls to the others was a bit embarrassing, thankfully Persia didn't mention the part where I'd blurted out a name for the attack to the others, but made sure to whisper it to me, stifling a giggle as my face turned red.
We finally made our way to the outside of the cave, and I let out a huge sigh of relief.
Finally!
For a while, I was convinced that I was going to die down there. And considering how recently my last death had been, that would have been annoying.
"So hey, whatever happened to the asshole who dropped up into that maze?" Inquired Rai, as we began heading back to the Rustlands.
"He fell down too, didn't he? I remember seeing Kuro toss some explosives at him as we fell down," Responded Key, thinking back.
"Oh...we ran into him down there and killed him," I replied.
The others were silent for a while. Crap, should I not have said that?
"Y-you did? I mean, I don't really know how I would have reacted if I had run into the guy who literally tried to kill us, but...I don't think I could kill another human," Responded Rai, his voice a rare serious tone.
"During you entrance exam, your attacks against Admin Dile would have killed most people," I countered.
"Well...he was super strong, I had no choice but to go all out if I wanted to pass," He argued."
Not true, he was fast enough to have been able to dodge Admin Dile pretty easily for a minute and pass that way.
But I didn't feel like getting into an argument with him right now, so I dropped it.
"Well anyway, I'm personally against killing another person. What about the rest of you?" Asked Rai, looking at the others.
"I'm fine with killing. Sometimes you come across people that the world would be better off without, like we just did. If the situation calls for it, I'll kill without hesitation," I stated bluntly.
It would be pointless to lie, I was stuck with this group for at least a year, so I couldn't hide that fact forever. The only part I left out was that I also tend to enjoy killing.
"What about you, Persia?" Inquired Key.
"I, uh...same as Kuro," She replied timidly, a far cry from the sarcastic, talkative girl I'd spent a few hours with underground, "A-and you?"
"I believe that murder is justified under the right circumstances. For instance, killing a serial killer would prevent more innocent deaths. That being said, I don't know if I would actually be capable of killing someone if I was in such a position, I have never killed a person before. What about you, Azyl?" Said Key.
"The quest..." He began with his usual deadpan, letting out a yawn as the Rustlands' walls came into view.
Huh, what was he talking about? The rest of us looked at him in confusion.
"We...didn't collect a single green crystal."
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