“Meow!” Twy called his partner, whose eyes were glued towards the grassy field where the pair vanished. 'I know you're at that age right now, but c'mon, we have a dungeon to raid!'

Aster lowered his head and met the kitten's eyes. “Did you notice something too?”

'Notice what?' Twy tilted his head, before he guessed, 'That she has some big boobs?'

“What are you thinking?” Aster narrowed his eyes when he sensed the kitten's joy and excitement suddenly spiked up.

Twy shook his head. 'I thought you were a comrade, but it doesn't seem like it.'

The young man sighed and steered the topic back. ”That woman isn't wearing any defensive equipment or carrying any weapons.”

'She's just confident with her strength and who needs some sword anyway when her companion could do all the slashing for her?' Twy thought realistically, he then trod forward and gestured to Aster with with his tail. 'Forget about them, let's move onwards. I want to fight some demons too!'

The young man have something more to say, it's not only her lack of proper equipment that he noticed but also—'Her brown bracelet.'

Aster found the item familiar, he had seen its bark-like texture somewhere, but he couldn't put his head around where.

He wanted to think more about it, but as he looked at Twy, who was blazing in fighting spirit, he decided, 'I'll look into it later.'

Aster took another glance towards the grass field before he followed after his eager partner.

They traversed the ruin of a colonnade at a much faster pace. Though they're still vigilant of their surroundings, you can see the anticipation in their eyes.

If Lester's guiding words lessened the tension of the two, the woman and her companion's strength unknowingly made them eager to test their might against the demons.

It didn't take long before they reached another junction: one path led to a verdant garden maze, while the other led towards another building, beyond which stood the castle wall to which their target tower was adjoined. Without hesitation, the two followed the latter path.

They reached the end of the devastated hallway and arrived in front of the three-story building, made with the same design and materials as the one in the city outside of the dungeon.

Aster turned his eyes to Twy. “Enter the building or circle around it?”

However, before the kitten could even raise any of his paws, a goblin suddenly appeared out of the wreckage of the gate.

It jumped, instinctively targeting the much weaker Twy, however, it miscalculated when it thought they wouldn't be able to react fast enough.

Aster acted in reflex and stepped forward to block its attack. The impact between his shield and its nails created a loud and irritating sound, but the young man didn't step back—the muscles on his left arm bulged—Aster swung his shield, which slammed the goblin into the hard ground.

“Go!”

Simultaneous with his partner's signal, Twy with his claws out, charged towards the demon as fast as he could. 'You don't have to tell me!

Quick Attack and—!'

The kitten arrived in front of the stunned goblin with his right claws shining in pure light.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Not knowing that its ambush had failed, the poor demon tried to sit up, but what he did only served his head on the silver platter.

'Scratch!'

A silver light flashed and vanished in an instant.

Aster who was about to rush forward stopped when he saw that it was already taken care of.

His eyes then widened when noticed the goblin's neck in a state that looked like a half-eaten muffin.

Aster immediately ran forward and kneeled in front of the kitten. “Twy, don't eat its body you'll get corrupted!”

He had seen videos of beasts that ate demon flesh all of them turned mad and bloodthirsty, attacking anyone near them. However, what he feared did not happen, instead, he was glared daggers by Twy and he could feel his partner's anger.

'Why would I eat something as disgusting as that? Do you take me for some crazy cat, huh!?' Twy started wiping his bloody paw on Aster's pants.

“Hey! Stop that!” the young man stood right away and distanced himself from the kitten, but he wasn't let off that easily.

Twy ran after him, trying to smear the young man with the demon's blood.

For at least two minutes they were engrossed in playing tag, leaving the lifeless body of the goblin to soak into the ground.

“Look, I'm sorry, okay? So seriously, stop!” Aster stopped running and pleaded.

Twy halted, his eyes were still glaring at the young man but his previously racing heart now calmed down. 'It took you this long time to say sorry, tsk, kids these days.'

He then left him with a last glare before he walked back towards the dead goblin.

Twy's cat face grimaced as he saw the gory sight he created, but he didn't look away and inspected its wound. 'I've binged Aria's collection of gore movies, but it's still disgusting.'

After living with Aster, he understood that this world was such a cruel place. There are deaths of beasts and humans every day that didn't even get on the news, only massacres would.

That's why he prepared himself already for the moments like this, but not fully—'Thank god, they looked horrifying and didn't look human.' Twy sighed in relief.

“Of course, I would misunderstand, that wound looks like it came from a bite.” Aster who stood next to the kitten tried to wipe away the smudge of blood on the cuffs of his jacket.

Twy didn't pay him any attention and was instead looking at his right mitten, which looks like a white glove a murderer had just used. 'The technique didn't turn out as I imagined and drained half my stored mana. Still, it's a good start—I just need to improve it later.'

Aster gave up on wiping the blood after he only made it worse, he looked at Twy suspiciously, “So, what was that attack you made? I don't remember the breathing technique I gave you have Battle Arts like that one nor your speedy attack.”

The kitten turned his head back at the young man and sent him waves of his angry emotions. 'And who's fault is that!? You just gave me a breathing technique and nothing offensive or defensive skills before you sent me to battles.

'I have to be creative to not get hurt!'

Aster backed off, sensing the kitten's tail puffing out and his surging feelings. “I don't know what's making you angry, but let's clean up this thing first.”

He sheathed his sword and put down his backpack on the ground, he then raised his head towards Twy while he was opening its zipper. “Guard the place while I dismantle it.”

Twy heavily sighed, before he sat at the ground like a guard dog. He watched as Aster pulled out mixed-colored cloths and a knife out of his backpack.

The young man first tied one of the cloths around his head—a makeshift mask—before he held the knife and then started dismantling the goblin's body.

Twy grimaced, but his curiosity made him continue watching his partner. 'Where did he learn something like this?'

Aster was focused on his work and did not entertain the kitten's curiosity, however, from his steady hands, it's clear that it was not his first time doing it.

'Wait... ' Twy's eyes slowly widened as he stood up from the ground. 'Does this guy have some kind of weird hobby where—'

Before the kitten's thoughts could fully form, Aster who felt his partner's dark emotion welling up, voiced out. “I learned this from school.”

'What kind of fucked up education is that!?' Twy took a step back away from him.

Aster's words further fueled the kitten's fear, and he couldn't help but stop what he was doing to explain to his partner. “Dismantling is an important subject that we have to learn even until college. We have to attend until...”

Twy's ears stood up and his whiskers bounced. The young man in front of him continued ranting, but Twy's mind was captured by his imagination.

'College...

Boring lectures that you're just going to study for before a quiz or exam, professors who don't even attend their classes yet have the nerve to give barely passing grades, and...'

“Did you get it?” Aster asked, having finished his explanation.

Twy eagerly nodded, his eyes shining as he looked at the young man who would soon be a college freshman.

'Besides them and my horrible experiences with alcohol, what I could vividly remember in college were...

The girls!'

Tears almost streamed out of Twy's eyes as he finally saw the light after the bleak days he had been through.

•••