Hours passed and Eleanor remained sleeping. Seeing her in such a vulnerable position, I decided to use what strength this body had to move her to the side. She wasn’t particularly heavy, so I was easily able to take her and her equipment behind a pillar, somewhere where the shadows could obscure her sleeping figure. It didn’t guarantee that things wouldn’t be able to find her, but it was better this way.

I looked at her sleeping face. It was tense in a frown, and there was sweat forming on it by now.

A nightmare, most likely. The things that a young noble woman like her had experienced lately weren’t things that most were prepared to face, even if from the last encounter her will to live and fight seemed to have been sparked a little.

“Nhhgg…! Help…!” she whispered while sleeping.

It appeared like whatever her dreaming mind was showing her was just as bad as the things she faced. Not even in her sleep could she escape her reality.

To appease her slightly and help her get a little bit of rest, I placed my paw over her forehead and softly caressed her. There were other ways to heal a person’s mind, but this time, I was just trying to comfort her. The movement of my tiny paw somehow helped her relax the tense expression on her face, and her breath turned softer. Once she went back to sleeping normally, I removed my paw and let her rest for a while longer.

I moved over to the other side of the pillar. I could still see her beyond it without having to move, but I wanted to focus my attention on the road.

The wolf-like monsters that she killed before had started to fall apart already, but they weren’t rotting or getting flies or anything of the sorts. Their bodies were simply melting down into a black goo. I couldn’t really be sure of why that was or what they were made of, but just looking at it was enough to know that they weren’t good to consume. If Eleanor wanted to have more to eat, something else had to be hunted.

The sound of a rock falling from the depths caused me to turn to look in that direction. I couldn’t see anything yet, but in this place, any strange sound was likely something that wanted to fight. It would be a good idea to wake Eleanor up, but I wanted to be sure of what was coming.

Another strange sound, like something heavy dragging on the floor followed soon after. I tried my best to see what it was, but all I saw was just darkness, hardly being illuminated by the torches. However, the longer I looked at it, the stranger it became. It seemed like the darkness was getting closer…

And sure enough, it was indeed getting closer.

A large monster, covering almost the whole road, was slowly coming this way. It looked like a blob of leathery, dark brown skin. It had a couple of tiny, beady eyes, each one at the sides of the head, completely black, and looking in opposite directions. And at the sides, it was moving itself by grabbing on to the middle of the pillars with enormous hands being connected to the body by comparatively thin arms that pulled and dragged the whole body forward.

I quickly hopped and jumped to be next to Eleanor, who was soundly sleeping. It would be a good idea to wake her up so she was ready to fight or run. I tapped her face a few times with my paw, but she remained soundly sleeping, while the sound of the moving blob kept getting louder.

“Kyun! Kyun!” I loudly called out to her, this time using both of my paws to shove her body.

But all I did was move her aside and to the pillar, where she remained sleeping. It couldn’t be that she wouldn’t wake up…? I had to try something more forceful; something that may hurt her, but it was for the best.

I raised my paws, created a small set of tiny black claws, and readied myself to scratch her awake, but before I swiped, the large hand of the blob grabbed the pillar where we were. I stopped myself momentarily, my attention on the large hand. It seemed like it was too late for Eleanor…

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

However, I just heard a bassy grumbling noise from the blob monster. It wasn’t attacking, nor looking for anything. Perhaps, if I remained quiet and didn’t force Eleanor to wake up, it might pass by, so I watched what the monster did without trying to wake Eleanor.

From the lower part of the blob, a large thin line appeared, going from one side of the body to the other. Then, suddenly, the line completely opened to reveal the leathery-like insides of the monster. The loud sound of air being sucked in followed, and the black goo and melting bodies of the monster wolves were sucked into the body of the blob.

In an instant, the part of the road where Eleanor fought was completely cleaned, leaving nothing more than the rock floor, as even the dry stains of the black blood were cleaned away.

Once nothing remained, the blob closed its mouth, made a deep humming sound, and then moved its large hands to the next pillars, dragging its body like it was doing before; completely ignoring both me and Eleanor.

I took a careful step outside of the shadows of the pillar to have a look at its back. It was no different than the front, with its beady eyes on the side still visible. It continued dragging its body deeper into the path we were taking before Eleanor passed out, but right before it was out of my sight, it suddenly stopped, and its body shifted slightly to the side.

It was looking at me. I knew it was looking at me as such actions wouldn’t be missed by my senses. However, despite it noticing my presence, it did nothing, and simply shifted its body back in the position that it had before and continued dragging its blobby body the same way until I couldn’t see it anymore.

Strange. Monsters in this place appeared to take notice of me, but they all chose to do nothing. It couldn’t be because of my real power, as this body of mine in here had no more power than Eleanor’s original power before being thrown in here, so I wasn’t a threat to anything or anyone. I designed this body mostly to be nimble, quiet, and able to get anywhere easily, so if they wanted to fight me, they would only have a hard time catching me and nothing else.

Could it be instinct? But…

I turned to look at the sleeping Eleanor. She didn’t seem to have a particular fear or aversion to me. If anything, she looked at me like I was just a strange cat that any normal mortal humanoid might find in one of this world’s cities.

She might be different from everyone else… But I wasn’t sure, and right now, even if she was awake, I couldn’t ask her. So, I turned back to sit close to her and wait for her to wake up.

* * *

After about an hour, I tried to wake her up again, placing my paw over her face and softly pushing it. Thankfully, this time, she slowly opened her eyes.

“Who is… Ugghhnn… My head…” she grunted, placing a hand over her head. She looked somewhat dazed, her eyes barely open, and a pained expression forming in her face as she clenched her teeth. “Kyun…?”

I said nothing and waited for her to get her bearings. With the same pained expression, she slowly sat up, and placed her back against the pillar. She reached for the little container full of water at her waist, and clumsily opened it, nearly spilling it, but catching herself at the last moment. After taking a breath, she took a sip from it, looked at the inside, and shook it a couple of times. It was going to be empty soon enough. Realizing this, she closed it once more and strapped it back on her hip.

Eleanor leaned forward and tried to stand back up but stopped herself and fell back on the pillar. “Ugh, my body aches all over…”

She had indeed been hit by the minotaur monster before, dragged to the ground by the four-legged human deformities, and walked for a while before fighting the wolves. It wouldn’t be strange for her to be in pain; though, it seems like the power accumulated from killing the shadow monster in the previous zone was more than enough to strengthen her body and keep her alive through everything so far.

If she had been with a group of people, or an army like what the prince had, the spread of power would’ve left someone like her weak—and likely dead, just like the corpses that we’ve seen so far.

After rubbing her legs for a moment, Eleanor finally reached for her sword and strained herself to stand back up. She took a deep breath and turned around the pillar to look at both sides of the road. There was nothing, and the blob monster had long been gone.

“Eh?” she exclaimed to herself, her eyes on the holes and destruction caused by her fight with the wolves. “Where are the monsters from before?” She turned to look down at me. “Did you get rid of them?”

I shook my head in response.

“Is that so…?” she replied, turning to look at the hall once more. “Did they just disappear? How long have I been out?”

“Kyun,” I let out, walking ahead of her to stand on the road. I couldn't answer her, and she had rested enough. It was time for her to move on.

“Hm…” she thoughtfully looked at me. “Ah, well. I guess that if you can’t talk, then it doesn’t matter what I ask you—besides, if I want to survive, I must keep moving.”

With a renewed look of determination, she stepped onto the road once more, looked in the direction I was looking, and started walking. She went past me but stopped a few steps ahead to look back at me. I didn’t need her to speak to know what she wanted, so I did like she did, and started walking as well, moving on to whatever was ahead.