After a few minutes of regaining her breath, Eleanor turned a glance my way. She still had anxiously furrowed eyebrows, but she cleared it after she closed her eyes, calmed herself, and stood back up. Her gaze swept over the destruction and mess that was left from the fight, stopping only on what remained of the minotaur’s meat.

With her left hand clutching her right hand over her chest, she walked over to what remained. She stopped a couple of steps away from it and stretched her right hand slightly before retrieving back. There was a look of regret on her face as she tightened her mouth and shook her head.

Eleanor turned to look at me with that same look. “I guess… We should keep going.”

Saying that, she turned around and went back; in the direction that we came from and not deeper into this path. I looked at the remains of the fight, but I couldn’t see an issue with picking back up what was dropped, or even trying to harvest the remains of her new kills. Though, just judging from her expression, it seemed like she didn’t think the same.

Still, if that’s what she wanted, then I wasn’t going to do anything about it, so I also turned around and followed her.

We walked for a while until we reached the same place where the path split in two directions, only that from the side we were coming, the path divided itself to either go forward or to the right—back to the entrance of this whole place.

Eleanor stopped in the middle of the crossroads to look at the right side. After looking at it for a few seconds, she sighed, and shook her head. “There’s no way to go out of this place from the entrance, right?”

I remained quiet. There probably was, but she neither had the power to do it or had found a way to do that without the power of a God like me, that other Goddess, or something strong enough to match whatever created this place.

She looked forward to the one path that we hadn’t gone down. “Hopefully, if we go that way, there won’t be any strange monsters—Though…”

Eleanor didn’t finish what she was saying, but it was easy to know that there was a high chance we’d meet monsters or something similar. It could’ve been a better idea to continue with the left path, as that horde of monsters might have been the only dangerous thing there.

But, maybe later she’ll change her mind.

“Let's keep going, then,” she said with a somewhat tired voice.

* * *

We moved for a few hours on this side, and nothing strange appeared. I noticed that the road had a slight curve the deeper we went, making it so we were slowly turning to the left, so by now, we were likely walking forward and further away from the original entrance. Eleanor didn’t seem to notice, and it appeared like she was already getting tired—judging from the dark bags growing under her eyes.

And sure enough, after a short distance, she stopped walking and I with her. She turned to look in the direction from which we were coming from, and then forward once more. Then, she looked at every shadow around us, the ceiling, and then back to me.

I couldn’t help but tilt my head in confusion. I couldn’t understand what this mortal was thinking by doing that, until she crouched down to look at me.

“Kyun… I need to relieve myself,” she said, her eyes glancing in different directions. “Can you please keep a lookout?”

I was struck with another wash of confusion after she said that, but she didn’t elaborate on what that was and moved over to be closer to one of the walls and behind a pillar. I was tempted to follow her to know what it was that she was doing, but since I didn’t need to do that, I followed her with the gaze of the cat-like being. She couldn’t see me, but I could see her.

I immediately realized what she meant when she crouched and removed her underwear, which is when I stopped watching and did as she asked me to do. I even turned around my cat-like body to give her the privacy that she needed. I might not be a mortal that needed to do those sorts of things, but I understood that for a lot of mortal beings, it was a vulnerable state, and giving her the space she needed while keeping an eye out for potential danger was the least I could do if I was going to follow her.

Stolen story; please report.

After a few moments, Eleanor walked out from the pillar. She sighed while coming closer with one hand placed on her stomach. “It feels terrible to do something like that here, but… I couldn’t hold it forever.” She then smiled at me and nodded. “Thank you for keeping a lookout. Let's”—she heavily sighed while looking at the road— “keep going.”

She kept going down the same path and, as always, I did behind her. I noticed some minutes later something strange about Eleanor. She was almost dragging her feet, her body was swaying slightly from side to side, her head was slightly tilted, and her eyes were half closed. It appeared like… she wouldn't be able to hold the tiredness much longer.

Mortal necessities were so bothersome, but such is the way of creation. Some beings last longer than others without needing much, while others have more annoying necessities. As a normal human girl, everything that happened since being thrown in here was already putting a toll on her. Perhaps it would be best for her to stop and sleep… But her eyes were still set on the distance of the depths, and even if her body was swaying and her eyes threatened to close, she kept going.

We went for a while longer, but just when I thought that she was going to keel over, a loud barking noise resounded in the halls. Her eyes opened wide once more, her body straightened, and she stopped walking. One hand was placed on the hilt of the sword, while the remaining one was at the side.

“Did you—did you hear that?” she whispered in a worried tone.

Eleanor wasn’t looking at me, but I still nodded to let her know that she wasn’t hearing things as a few barks followed right after. She finally took out the sword from the side and swallowed hard as her tired eyes focused on the darkness.

The sound of nails tapping the ground could be heard—several, from the quickness of it. From beyond the darkness, a pack of dogs—or wolves—was illuminated by the dim light of the torches.

They were not too different from the other monsters in this zone, as they shared the same naked pale skin with no fur and red eyes. Their size would clearly make them appear to be wolves—if not bigger than that—and their red fangs were completely exposed even when their mouths weren’t open.

Eleanor took in a sharp breath and a step back. I was tempted to encourage her to stand her ground, but she held her sword tightly and prepared herself.

The monster wolf at the front suddenly opened its mouth wide, and from the insides, an orange fiery ball formed. It was quickly fired, and the ball traveled at a much faster speed than the wolves, going straight for Eleanor.

Since we were still far away, Eleanor was able to react to it by crouching to the side and covering her head with her left hand. The fireball passed right by her head, and deeper into the path we were taking until it lost speed and crashed to the ground, creating a small fiery explosion and leaving a black mark.

She quickly realized she couldn’t sit there and allow the monsters to get to her, which is when she took a step forward and swung her left arm to the side. This time, the black arm appeared without her being in a dangerous position. She placed it at her front and braced for the incoming attack.

The wolves barked louder and louder until they were just in front of Eleanor, which is when the leading one leaped from the spot and directly at Eleanor’s black hand.

She timed her retaliation just right to slap the wolf away, causing it to fly back and take down the few other wolves that were behind it. Taking that opportunity, Eleanor shouted and rushed ahead to the dogs.

“Aahhhrggg! I won’t die here! You won’t kill me here!” she shouted as she cut down the first wolf that stood back up.

It fell to the side, spurting black blood that painted the floor the same color. Then, with a punch to the side with her left hand, she managed to hit another one of the wolves, causing it to fly with booming speed into a pillar, where it made a crunching sound, before falling lifeless to the ground.

And the last one, she grabbed with the floating hand, imprisoning it between her fingers. The wolf whined and struggled to get out, but Eleanor simply clenched her hand, crushing the monster in her fingers and causing its black liquid to taint the ground under her hand.

She heaved and looked at the dead group of wolves that had just assaulted her. I walked closer to her, but just when I was about to stand next to her, she fell over, landing flat on the ground and letting go of the sword that clanked when she did.

I urgently hopped and skipped a couple of times to get to her and make sure that she wasn’t wounded, but as I inspected her body, I saw nothing strange. The monsters hadn’t touched her.

It was when I saw her face that I realized that she had just passed out. Her body couldn’t go on anymore and needed to rest.

I looked in both directions of this road. It wasn’t a good idea to sleep in the middle of a combat zone like this, since another one of those monsters—or something else—could pop out and end her. So, with my tiny paws, I poked her face a couple of times. Her head moved, but she didn’t wake up.

There could be more forceful ways to do it… But I decided to let her rest. If nothing else showed up, then I would leave her as she was and wait until her mortal body recovered.

And so, I sat down to wait…