[Ghouls]
They are horrid creatures, forever living without any will or purpose of their own. They run rampant, driven only by their own desires. They are the dead, who did not gain the soft pleasure of death.
To men, they are known as the embodiments of desires, of the lust and greed of a man that drives them to surrender to their sinful acts. Stories have been written, time and time again, their tales further diluted by time.
Ghouls are naturally, monsters. They are the evolved state of a normal zombie. While zombies themselves are common to the point of becoming a nuisance, it is quite rare to see a zombie that successfully evolves into a ghoul. Mainly because they are hunted before they get the chance to.
Beyond being a ghoul, there are several rumoured paths that it could take as an evolution. One such path, is the infamous vampire, a being that steals the lives of men and drink under a banquet of blood.
That said, it was quite clear that Rei was slightly different from the casual variants. Unlike those unrefined beings that simply feed on the bodies of the dead, Rei doesn’t choose her prey by random and has a sense of taste, even going so far as having some knowledge on human food.
However, even Rei herself didn’t know why she does that, or rather, couldn’t remember why. Her past life as a living being had been convoluted and blurred. How long has she been alive? When was she born? How did she end up at the withered forest? These were all questions that she could not answer.
All that she knows, was that she was a ghoul when she came to, she had probably lived for a long while, and that she likes to eat, a lot! She’s seen humans come and go, maybe occasionally interrupt their pleasant time and send them to meet Eiki, with Diana being the first human she hasn’t killed off in a while. Then again, Diana wasn’t exactly human, was she?
“…Die.”
But! Let’s save that for later, shall we? The poor zombie’s head that she had just chopped off earlier was gracefully dancing in the air. She wasn’t the hungry as of yet, since she just ate, like, 5 minutes ago.
Averting her eyes from her fallen foe, she turned around and ran back towards the exit. The faster she was, the faster she would meet up with Diana, and the sooner she could get to tasting some of her cooking! Well, that’s what Diana promised her anyways.
Well, thoughts for yummy food comes later. Right now, this floor’s guardian was in her way, and she needed to get ready to pound it back down to dust! Time to *Wuuann Puuaancchh!!*
……………………
Meanwhile, back with Diana,
“UUUAAHH!! GEETT AAAWWAAAYY!!!!”
*GGGUUAAAUUAUUAUAAAAUUAAAA!!!*
Right now, both Diana and her assailant were having a nice game of tag. Just, instead of being it if she got caught, her entire body will get eaten! Well, if she slimed away fast enough, she should be able to survive, but that’s scary!
And, as her screams got louder, even more of the ‘sisters’ came to play along! By the time she looked back, there was a resounding total of 25 of these monsters chasing her slimy tail!
“[S-SLIME WAVEEEE]!!!!!!”
*GGGUUUAAAGAUA???!!!*
In her desperation, she stomped her feet down and sent a giant wave of slimy matter onto the incoming monsters! And it worked-, for the most part. Out of the 25 total, 11 of them managed to evade in the confusion and continue chasing her!
And then, as she entered the next room, a large gap stood between her and the door leading to the next. Looking down, the bottom of the pit was filled with, a-are those human bones?!
*GGGGUUUAAAAA!!*
Sh*t! No time to think now! Fully using her newly upgraded skill, [Slimic Sublimation], she pretty much cheated the jump by creeping up the walls and around the gap. She even did a graceful landing and donned her cloak back on-
“T-They can jump too?!”
To her not so pleasant surprise, the ‘sisters’ were able to jump across the gap, and with insane speeds too! Did she need to-
*BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!*
Suddenly, to both their surprise, a sudden collage of gunshots could be heard coming from behind her. And then, a stream of bullets came flying past her, and shot right through the heads of all 11 monsters! Without any strength, they all lost their speed and plummeted down into the depths.
“W-Wha?!”
Turning around, she was almost ready to burst into tears, because, there, standing with what seems to be a modern-day rifle, a young woman could be seen! Yes, that’s right, another human being!
“Hua…ha…? Hya…?”
“Oya, you sure look dead. Are you going to be okay?”
“Nya…? Uh, y-yeah. J-Just, how…?”
Diana was at a complete loss of words! This time, not because of happiness and gratitude, but at utter shock and disbelief, as she eyed that mystical mechanical weapon she was casually holding in her arms.
Perhaps, it was a sense of sudden recollection. It’s not like, after she was finished a pop quiz, find herself brought into another world, live as the opposite sex, see and battle against monsters, use magic, turn into a slime, and witness all these amazing things would she ever expect to suddenly encounter a weapon of murder from her previous life. She would-, no, anyone would be shaken.
“Hey, wanna sit down for a bit?”
“Ah, uh, y-yeah! That’ll be nice, un.”
“Are you thirsty or something? Need some Pocari?”
“W-What?! E-Even that too?!”
Ayaya?! What’s with all these modern-day earth items?! Wait, those on her belt, are those grenades?!
“W-W-Who are you?!”
“Mu? Me? The name’s Nestra. Pleasure in meeting you, Diana.”
“Hunya?! A-And you know my name too?! How?!”
“Oya? Did you not sense me coming? Muu~, I guess I’m like…A support NPC in a shooter? This place created me in your image as your personal helper.”
“And using game terms too?!”
Well then~! It seems like this dungeon wasn’t playing around! Because it probably knew that Diana her was way too weak for these guys, the ‘spirit’ of the dungeon decided to help her and send in her backup!
Which means-!
“T-Then! You’re here to help me?!”
“There you go, Diana! Finally see the full picture I see!”
It was at that moment, that Diana finally broke down, and cried her tears out. Sadly, Nestra wasn’t born with any tissue boxes at her disposal, so she couldn’t give any to her.
Some time after crying and drinking some Pocari,
“S-So…You’re made in my…image, right?”
“Y-Yep! Pretty much!”
“Does that…make you…me?”
“Well…not, exactly? How should I say it…Umm, okay, uh, so I’m made, not exactly in your image, but something close to, it? I suppose? I don’t really know either. The creator seems to imply that I’m some sort of alternate personality.”
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“He~? So, who’s this ‘Creator’ guy?”
“It’s the narrator.”
……Ah, sh*t. I forgot about that. This ‘Creator’ of theirs made Nestra in Diana’s image, which meant that the personality traits, likes and dislikes, and even the jokes and the references she makes are quite similar to hers. Which then also means,
“EH?! You know if that guy too?!”
“Well, yeah! Since you have a strange aptitude at breaking through the fourth wall and directly talking to that guy, it seems I have that ability too.”
“Hehe~, Neptune taught me the ways!”
Well, fourth wall breaching aside, that also meant that Diana now had 3 alternate personalities. One is, the original 616 Diana, the second was the lonely sign, Sig, and the newest instalment was Nestra!
But, this was no time to be joking around. There were still many of those monsters walking around, and their talk from before should have caught the attention of several of them. They needed to make their move!
“Follow me.”
“Un.”
Now this truly feels like role-playing as Solid Snake! Making their way around elaborate areas(This labyrinth), stealthily moving around and taking down the enemy(Those monsters), and trying to reach the exit(The portal back home). Just, Diana’s being the escort target this time.
Also, it was quite sad to see that Nestra was pretty much getting a [HEADSHOT] every time she fires her rifle. Anything that came in their way, whether it be the still pleasant female version, or the terrifying monster version, they were all eliminated in style. It kinda reminds her of her previous life back as ‘ProDavin888’. Ah~, good times~
“Umm…Nestra?”
“Yeah? What’s up?”
“Can I…uh, borrow a gun? So, you know, I can help?”
At first, seeing the heads of those monstrous beings was quite fun and exciting, but over time, she began to feel sad, and then she begun to feel depressed too. Being a gamer, and a master class sniper, seeing someone else take her job was kinda…saddening.
Sadly, the answer was,
“Not this time. These guns use up the ammo I have, so save all the shooting to me!”
“U-Umu…”
“And besides, you don’t have the [Shooting] skill, do you? Mine’s at level 7, so my DPS is higher than yours.”
“……Umu……”
Pretty sure she cried a little bit there on the inside, because, one, she has the [Shooting] skill, and two, she’s already at level 7 at that thing! The DPS output that rifle can dish out must be insane! Well, that explains why every single head she snipes turn into a puddle of goo.
If only she didn't lose all her stuff when she teleported, especially that laser cannon!
But, as they were walking on, she began to have a suspicion about something.
“Hey, Nestra. How many of these monsters are there?”
“Umm~, pretty sure they respawn every 5 minutes or so.”
Uwah~, that’s bad! That means that the numbers of these monsters are practically infinite! But, even worse that that, since Nestra’s doing all the killing, all the potential Exp she could get from these things are being lost!
“Nestra, can I fight too?”
“Well…I don’t suggest it. I mean, your specialty is turning into a slime, right? If you’re caught, then you won’t be able to respawn, you know?”
“Eh? But why? I can just slime out!”
“Nu-uh, I don’t think so. Their Bite attacks also have a cloak of magic on it, so even if you turn into a slime, it’ll still damage you. Actually, it’s completely covered in magic, so, just don’t get hit.”
“Muu…”
And so, she continued to feel depressed for about 30 minutes after that.
…………………
“Whoa~, what’s this place~?!”
“It’s a science lab, obviously.”
It’s been about…2 hours, I’d say, and Diana and Nestra had found themselves quite an interesting room. It was a room that definitely did not fit in with the theme of a normal labyrinth, a sci-fi fan’s dream, a futuristic science lab!
Everything about it was sci-fi! It’s wall was seemingly made out of titanium, the lights were full on LED, there were rows of tables with stuff on them, and there were even several large titanium test tubes at the back, big enough to fit two or three humans even!
“Hey, hey~! Can we look around?”
“Well, sure. I might get to get some ammo drops from those loot boxes at the side.”
Abandoning their goal for a moment, Diana and Nestra split up and began searching around the science lab. Nestra was going towards the many sci-fi themed boxes, to try and replenish her supplies. Diana was just, looking around, I suppose.
“Ho? This looks dangerous.”
Right now, Diana was having fun looking around at the tables, particularly the many tubes of chemicals that was placed there. One of those tubes, happen to contain some sort of black liquid, that seems to be, moving.
She was somewhat curious as to what would happen if she shattered the chemical tube, but an alien entity might jump out and try to eat her soft face, so, no thanks.
*GGUUUAAAUAAA!!*
“! Diana! Behind you!”
“Hya?!”
Actually, forget it! She’s taking that evil-looking vial, and throwing it into the mouth of the monster! *Pasha!* The grass shattered and the liquid fell into the monster’s mouth…Actually, it looks absolutely fine.
…Eh? The monster was beginning to glow. A-Actually, the monster was growing in size! Oh no…Did that vial enhance the monster?! Did she just bring about the doom of Nestra and herself?!
*GGGGUUUUUAAAAAUAUUAUAAAUUAAAAUAUUA!!!!!*
Damnit all! She needed to do something, fast! In a frenzy, Diana picked out as many chemical vials she could from around her, and threw them all into the monster’s mouth.
Umm…The monster just changed colour…And its claw was growing in size…It was radiating an intense amount of energy…And, uh, did it just grow 4 sets of eyes?! What kind of monstrosity did she just create on the fly?!
“Damn! Diana! Get in one of those test tubes!”
“E-Eh?!”
*GGGGUUUAUUAUUUAUUUAUAUAUAUAUUAAAAAUUUUAAA!!!!*
She tried to move, but her legs wouldn’t respond. This wasn’t just some boss, this was something she created, and something that could very well end her in one swipe. Careful or not, strong or not, fast or not, this thing will destroy her. It was the perfect enemy to kill her.
That was when it hit her. ‘Kill’, this thing will kill her. Her slime form was useless, the ground below her was titanium, rendering her corrosion useless. The bullets Nestra was firing didn’t even put a single dent on it. This thing, will kill her, and she will die.
“Diana!!”
“…!”
No! Not yet! Not like this! If she was to die, then make it some final boss, not like this! She has people waiting for her, her slimy pet was waiting for her, Nestra was calling for her! She will not, fall here!
“DIANA!!!”
Standing up, she grit her teeth, and ran as fast as she could! She ran, and ran, and ran, and-
*BOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!*
“DIANA!!!!!”
But it was too late, the gigantic monster’s arm was brought down, and crushed Diana. An attack multitudes stronger than anything she had ever felt before, crushed her, and destroyed her. There was nothing left.
“………”
*………*
Silence, with only the soft hiss of the aftermath filling the atmosphere. With nothing else to see, the beast turned around and left the room, leaving behind Nestra, who was hiding inside the test tube, and an enormous hole in the ground.
…………………
Seconds before the calamity, Rei was in her usual mood, tearing through the monsters on this new floor she was exploring, and eating up her gathered food when she became hungry.
Then, it happened.
*BOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!*
“…!”
The ground shook, the earth trembled, as a shockwave of continental scale was sent out, pulsing in every direction. The entire tower of Tartarus shook. Everyone could feel it. Rei, Crystal, Nestra, the three judges, Igor, and even Slimey who was trapped.
For Rei particularly, the effect was incredibly strong, since she was technically the closest to the blast. Then, she caught sight of the monsters of this floor, running away in a frenzy. And behind them, were the monsters that Diana had fought against just then!
“…Enemy!”
Whatever caused that ginormous attack, must be very strong. And if these guys were running away, that meant, that the beast was heading this way. And if so, she needed to leave. And she was about to, until a familiar smell came in.
“…This, is!”
Yeah, no doubt about it! It was the smell of Diana, and also blood, lots of it. The friend she had been looking for, was close! But, there was still an entire army of monsters heading her way, so it’s time to bulldoze through!
Using the full potential of her *Ora*’s, she punched, kicked, and rammed her way through the first wave of random enemies, before she finally made contact with these dark vile-looking creatures. Rei was, very fair, and gave the same treatment to everyone, which meant that she was also going to send these suckers up into the afterlife!
She ran, and ran, and ran, and ran. Monster after monster, fist after fist, she slowly made her way through the enormous wave of unending enemies.
Until finally, she saw her, Diana! But-
“…Diana?”
Her body was bruised everywhere. An arm and a leg of hers had gotten torn off, most likely because some jerk monster was eating on her before that enemy wave happened. She was bleeding from, everywhere, and she was sinking into her own puddle of blood.
Rei got closer, but there was no answer. She touched and called for her, but her mouth didn’t move. She patted her and pinched her cheeks, but her body didn’t move. She tried feeling for any warmth, but it was cold.
She couldn’t understand it. Why was she not answering? Usually, she would reply back with a smile, a shriek of surprise, or something else, but why wasn’t she moving at all?
Could she have fallen prey to these monsters? Just like those men from before did to that woman? Was Diana now only a corpse? No, that can’t be! She’s a slime! She can just revert back!
But, nothing. No sounds, no movement, no signs, nothing. Does that mean, Diana was now only, a meal?
“…!”
No! She couldn’t think that! Diana promised her to cook some of those food she talked about from before! She couldn’t just leave like that! It couldn’t end like this! She wanted to try eating ice cream, hot dogs, and go to this place called America!
“Diana.”
She continued to call for her. Diana. Diana. Diana. She called over and over again, waiting for the reply. She needed, to wake, up!
“Wake, up.”
“Wake…up.”
“Wake……up.”
Why? Why was she ignoring her? Did she do something wrong? Was she too late? Did she take too much time? Was she in the wrong for telling her about this place? Was it her mistake to reply to Slimey’s comment? Was it her mistake…for meeting them?
“……”
What was this, heavy feeling? Somehow, did this place, just get darker? This, pain in her chest, what was it? It felt…familiar. Somehow, everything was getting, heavy. Her arms, her legs, her body, and her heart.
*Guuuuu*
She looked back up, and there, there, along, was a single wolf. It was eyeing Diana’s cold body, and drool was coming out of its mouth. Its eyes were glaring red, full of hunger.
Before she knew it, her body moved, and stabbed her hands right through the wolf.
Hot. She wasn’t feeling heavy again, but everything was hot. Scorching hot. What was happening to her? Was she becoming sick? Her mind, body, and soul, everything was hot.
And then, she felt it, hunger. And there, sinking into her own pool of blood, the perfect meal could be seen. Slowly, she walked to her. She kneeled down,
And waited, for her friend to, wake up.
“…I’m, waiting.”