*Minor edit made with the Lime Scene at the end and expanded upon it a little*
Stay tuned in till the end of the chapter for my response to reviews/comments!
[-Chapter 3: Undead Slayer-]
"I understand what my mission is. I do not like it, far from it, in fact. What it is you ask of me… I cannot fathom why you would thrust that burden upon me, to doom an entire portion of whatever this "Multiverse" is to a fate worse than death. But, considering all of what it is that you have done for me, I see this as my chance to make it up to you. After all, who am I to say no to someone as powerful as you? Oh, Formless Mother, grant me your strength, for today, I give a man the devices to turn into a God." – A doctor in Heian Era Japan, 912, embuing the Accursed Blood of The Formless Mother, The Outer God of Blood, into a blue spider lily.
Jolyne knelt at the coffee table in her apartment, dressed in the same tank top and shorts that she had been given to her by Mono, frowning as she tapped the end of her pencil against her cheek, a contemplative frown on her face as she stared down a page of a math homework packet given to her by that piece of shit teacher of hers.
A few days into her time at Hope's Peak Academy had gotten her to utterly loathe the man. He was boorish, rude, and a total creep. Why? She caught him staring at her chest today and had seen him smirking to himself when he stared at another girl in her class's rear, and she also could've sworn he had been drooling, too.
It wasn't just him who had noticed. It was that blonde-haired chick, too—Kuzuryu, if she had remembered her name correctly during the attendance call-out. And she was just as pissed off as she was, except, she voiced her displeasure to anyone who could hear her. Even to Jolyne herself—which was weird, because from what she gathered from Kuzuryu was that she hated her guts. For what reason, she didn't know.
Maybe there was like, some kind of love triangle that had been going on with Hajime prior to "her" attempted suicide? That was probably it. Of course, there could've been other reasons, but that was probably the most likely. High school was still high school, and there was no reason to actively hate another student based on vibes alone.
At least, that was Jolyne's opinion, anyway—but enough of that. Petty drama between two high schoolers was not what was important, the perverted Takamura-sensei was what was important here.
She utterly hated teachers like him. He was a perverted piece of crap who preyed on children, even if it was just staring at them and getting his rocks off to it. What was worse was that it wasn't like she could really do anything about it. Sure, she could complain, but she knew how those things went. The principal or headmaster or whatever they were called in Japan would say that they'd "look into it" but nothing would happen, and the problem would only get worse after the teacher found out which student snitched on them.
Unless the teacher was actually caught doing something inappropriate with a student, i.e. touching them or having sex with them, the school board would do nothing about it. And even then they were lucky if they weren't just shipped off to another school like a catholic priest having been discovered molesting an altar boy.
As she stared down her piece of paper, trying to figure out the answer to a very annoyingly difficult algebraic equation, frustration about her current teacher situation boiling over in her head, Mono's robotic voice began to speak, addressing her directly.
[Jolyne. I have given you more than a day to "think" about going on a dungeon run. Yet, your thoughts have been nothing but focusing on school, that teacher of yours, and building your friendship with Hajime Hinata, and mind you, you have not increased your affection status with him. May I ask what it is that is taking you so long to come up with an answer?]
Jolyne frowned, sitting forward with a gleam of annoyance within her eyes, arms laid flat against the coffee table. Truth be told she was so caught up in school work that she had completely forgotten about that. Frankly, she was shocked Mono hadn't reminded her sooner. Then again, Mono was probably waiting for her to acknowledge it.
Still, she felt a little bad for ignoring him. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that, Mono. I've been… caught up on the smaller things in life."
[You do not have the time to be "caught up on the smaller things in life" Jolyne. Now, do you have an answer? Yes, or no?]
Jolyne bit back the urge to snap at Mono for his attitude. It wasn't as if she wasn't going to do this stupid Dungeon Run or whatever. But why did it have to be now? How long does she even have to get strong? If it was so prudent for her to begin her training, why hadn't Mono given her a timetable or something like that? This wasn't a one-way type thing, was it? Did she have to guess?
Because if it was, that was infuriating.
"Here's a question for you. If this is so important, why haven't you given me an actual reason to start now, huh?"
[Jolyne Brooks. I-]
"Nuh-uh, you be quiet!" Jolyne spat, rising to her feet with narrowed eyes and an annoyed sneer. "I'm serious, Mono! What's so important about this whole thing anyway?! Why do I have to be the one that supposedly "saves this world from itself" didn't you say there were others here who could do that for me?! What makes me so special, huh?!"
[It is because you are a Multiversal System User. That is what makes you special.]
"Like that answers my fucking question! What the hell even is that!? And again, why can't it be someone else? Why me!"
[Because Loki chose you.]
"And what the fuck does that mean?!" She had only realized now that her voice had gained a slight, distressed edge to it. "What does that mean, Mono?! Why did Loki choose me?! Why is it so goddamn important that I'm a Multiversal… whatever! Make it make sense!"
This time, Mono remained silent. As if he had been either offended by her words or he was processing a response. Frankly, she didn't want to be anything special. She just wanted to live her new life. That was it. Was that so hard to ask? Was being normal too hard to ask, even if it was only for a little bit?
Slowly, she sat down on the couch, combing a hand through her hair as she sat slack against the cushions. Her heart was beating a mile a minute, and the adrenaline flowing through her was slowly beginning to wind down. Maybe it wasn't fair to Mono to be lashing out like this. It wasn't like she had done anything yet.
"Look… Mono, I'm sorry. I just…"
[I understand your confusion, Jolyne.] As Mono spoke, his robotic voice seemed to try to sound somewhat sympathetic, even if it didn't sound all that convincing, the attempt was made, and that was all that mattered, right? [I cannot truly explain to you the full reason as to why Loki chose you, or what makes you special. Not without causing panic. What I can do is assure you that there is no need to get overly emotional or worked up over this just yet. So please, calm yourself.]
Jolyne sighed, slouching forward as she draped her arms across her legs. Why did everything have to be so confusing? Why couldn't she just get a straight answer? Was it that big of a deal that she wasn't allowed to know yet? Or was there something else going on here that she had failed to catch onto?
[Now, perhaps you may answer my first question. Are you ready to go on a Dungeon Run?]
"I take I don't have a choice?"
If Mono could "laugh" then his robotic "ha ha ha" would have to have been what it was, and given the attempt, it was kind of charming. [No. Not really.]
"Figures. Alright, let me finish my homework and I'll get on it," Jolyne said as she knelt back down to the table, when suddenly, in the blink of an eye, just as she picked up her pencil, all of the questions on the sheet were answered, with work shown as to how to get to the answers. Confusion quickly set in as she flipped through the booklet, showing that it wasn't just on the first page. It was the entire booklet.
"What the…?"
[You can thank me later. Now, if you would like to pay attention to your Mini-Map,] Mono began, as Jolyne glanced at the mini-map in the top-left corner of her vision. The map suddenly began to jet in the northeast direction for a handful of seconds, before stopping at Nikko National. And, last she checked, that was more than a few hours away from where she lived.
"Do you honestly expect me to walk that distance? I don't think I even have the money for a train ticket to take me there," Jolyne said, a hint of annoyance in her voice as Mono "hummed".
[I see. Unfortunately, that is the closest dungeon near you at the moment that is currently plausible for you to do at your current level. Unlike major locations, however, I can teleport you to the entrance of these dungeons. It will cost you 250 yen to do so. You currently have "782 Yen" in your digital system bank account. Would you like to spend it to travel to the Dungeon?]
A "Yes or No" option appeared before her, causing her to frown. One might be asking how she had lost a good chunk of the change she had earned from stomping out that Yakuza guy and the answer to that had been pleasingly simple. She had spent some of it on a cheap drink at the school's cafeteria vending machine—an Orange Panta if she remembered correctly. It wasn't even that good, so she saw it as a waste of money. And now she was being asked to spend more of it for a fast travel?
"Well, it beats walking that far…" Jolyne thought, tapping the "yes" option. Before she knew it, a beam of blue light surrounded her, blinding her for a split second as a meter appeared atop her exp meter, showing that Mono had taken 250 Yen from her account, leaving her with 532 Yen. She had enough for one more fast travel to another Dungeon if she saw fit.
The blinding light disappeared, allowing her to see once again, where she found herself at the entrance of Nikko National Park—at least, that's what she thought anyway. It was a giant stone archway that was easily 20 feet tall, its design matching what she would've believed to be an archway for some kind of royal entrance palace. Some moss had started to grow on the sides, showing its age.
Surrounding the entrance of the park were tall, healthy trees accompanied by various species of wildflowers, bushes, and plenty of wildlife. The sound of cicadas echoed throughout the densely forested area, along with birds chirping and other miscellaneous noises belonging to small animals and insects.
It was all quite gorgeous, and also not at all what she was expecting. Calling upon "her" memories, when she pictured what a National Park looked like, she pictured a fenced-off area in the middle of a city that outstretched for a few miles before stopping abruptly. At least, those were the ones that "she" was familiar with.
And just in case she found herself doubting her location, her mini-map marked her current location as being Nikko Toshugo Shrine Entranceway, and it was only then that she realized that, looming behind her, was a giant Buddhist, or perhaps even a Shinto, temple. It was indescribably beautiful, to the point where if words could describe it, it wouldn't be enough to encapsulate its beauty. It was only marred by one, tiny little thing. The floating, locked dungeon doorway seemed invisible to the countless passersby. Invisible to all, except her.
The door was wooden, with a brickwork-like frame made of stone, covered in moss and, in comparison to its surroundings, ugly as sin. The door looked slightly damaged as if it had been attacked, and in front of it was what appeared to be a floating text box.
This was what she was asked to do. A door that seemingly had nothing connected to it? It sounded stupid and made no sense, but given her current situation nothing was supposed to make sense, now was it. Ever since she had been reborn, her life had been confusing. Not that she needed to re-go over what it was that she was experiencing. It was now even starting to annoy her.
Slowly, Jolyne approached the dungeon's entrance, cautious like an animal sensing a trap. It radiated off a type of energy that made her skin crawl. It was not friendly—not even in the slightest. Which, considering it was most likely chock-full of enemies, it probably wasn't supposed to give off a friendly vibe.
When she got close enough to the door, she was able to make out the text box a little more clearly. For starters, it didn't match any of her own text boxes. The ones that Mono produced for her were dark green. These were more pitch black, and even somewhat glitchy. As if they weren't supposed to exist.
The text was also different. The font that Mono used seemed to be Comic Sans. This was italic Times New Roman, meaning that whoever created this dungeon—probably The Almighty—used a different font than the System Users, such as herself—which, by the way, she was still looking for answers as to what that exactly meant. She was stupid, mind you, but still, the whole "System User" thing sounded dumb.
Then again, the other thing that she thought about, calling herself a "Gamer" sounded equally as stupid. Maybe it was just her, but both sounded far too… cringy. No, not cringy. One sounded more sophisticated while the other sounded as if a ten-year-old had come up with the name. Then again, she'd rather be called a "System User" rather than a "Gamer" any other day of the week. So, she'd take what she could get.
Small tangent aside, the textbox in front of the door read as follows:
[Rotting Flesh Catacombs]
[Difficutly: Easy]
[Objective: Defeat Boss at the end (Zombie King – Lvl 10)]
[Rewards: 1,850 Exp upon Dungeon Completion. Various other rewards from enemy exp and loot drops.]
[Recommended Level: 1 ~ 10]
"That much Exp for completing an Easy Dungeon?!" Jolyne thought, keeping herself from openly gawking at the reward. She only needed, what, 650 exp to level up next. That would give her an additional three, possibly even four levels! Then again, it also did say that the enemies that were killed gave exp too, as well as loot.
Taking in a deep breath, Jolyne reached out to touch the Dungeon's door. The moment she raised her hand the door opened as if it had already known that she was going to enter it. It revealed nothing but a dark, empty abyss, and frankly? She was a tad scared. Although, maybe she shouldn't have been, especially because the dungeon was marked as "easy" but that didn't change anything.
"Well, here goes nothing!" Jolyne thought, taking a step into the entrance of the Dungeon. Once she entered and passed the doorframe, the sound of the door closing echoed throughout the void, and as soon as that happened, the void gave way to a large, mossy stone arch-shaped corridor, with a set of stairs leading down further into the catacombs. The floor, the walls, and the ceiling were all made of stone overtaken by moss.
And that wasn't even mentioning the smell. It was humid and rotten. Almost as if something died in here. Which, given the name "Rotting Flesh Catacombs" and the boss being mentioned to be a Zombie King it was to be expected, not disgusting nonetheless. Pinching her nose shut, Jolyne stuck out her tongue in disgust. "Out of all of the Dungeons, you teleport me to, you send me to one that smells of dead people?"
[Think of it as a punishment for making me wait this long, Jolyne.]
"Love you too, Mono," Jolyne replied, sarcastically, letting go of her nose as she rolled her neck from side to side. Before she could take another step, a series of screens appeared in front of her, all with various bits of information, and, as expected, all of it was extremely useful.
[Welcome to Dungeon Runs! Here are some of the basics that you should know!]
[For Starters, when entering a Dungeon, please pay attention to the difficulty level, as these are important for first-time spelunkers, once you enter a Dungeon, you cannot leave until you complete it, or die trying. But, do not fret! Dying in a Dungeon does not mean you will die permanently! After a set amount of time, usually a week of in-real time you will awaken in your place of residence, fully replenished. So, do not fear death too much, though it is still not recommended, considering dying hurts.]
[Next, please pay attention to the "Level Recommendation" when entering a Dungeon. You are currently level [2] meaning that you are okay to enter this Dungeon with it retaining its difficulty! However, if you stumble into a Dungeon that would, say, recommend the minimum level be level 11, then you will be in trouble, as the enemies within those Dungeons may or may not instantly kill you depending on how much damage they deal.]
[Next, I would like you to keep in mind that this is a place of hostility. Keep your guard up at all times, and do not drop it regardless of the situation. You don't know when an enemy could appear! Do not drop your guard unless you are sure that you are safe, or, if you're just that strong where damage means nothing to you. Though, considering you're (probably) really squishy, keeping your wits about you is the smartest thing to do.]
[Finally, anything you pick up in this dungeon is yours to keep, regardless of what it is! Also, if you happen across any Upgrading Stones for your weapons, it is highly recommended you head to The Roundtable Hold and speak to Smith-Master Hewg. Do not mind his appearance or attitude, he is quite the sweetheart once you get to know him!]
[Oh! And one last thing! Any armour you have equipped will appear on you instead of your regular civilian clothing! If you do not have any armour, then you will appear in your civilian clothing. So, do keep that in mind when you venture into this Dungeon! Stay safe, have fun, and slaughter some enemies!]
Once she finished reading the pop-ups, she swiped them all away. It was a lot of information, and a lot of it she had already figured would be the case, but the whole Death Insurance thing was good to know. The last thing she wanted to do was die in a Dungeon. Sure, the price to pay, what with waiting a week to come back, was kind of stupid. But, it made sense.
It also alleviated one of her major fears regarding this whole "Dungeon Run" thing. It meant she couldn't die doing it, and that made her far more open to doing more in the future. After all, if there was one thing that Jolyne had worried about the most coming into this whole ordeal, it was dying early into her second lease at life.
Letting out a sigh, Jolyne began to walk down the stairs leading deeper into the catacombs, observing every inch of it that she could. Torches lined the walls, each spaced out evenly so that it wasn't too dark, but not too bright either. The torches glowed with a deep blue, ethereal flame, like the stuff you would see in movies when a house was haunted.
Up ahead, the hallway branched off into the three pathways. One on the left, one on the right, and one down the center. And standing at that crossroads was what could only be described as a rotting, putrid corpse. It was bent over, missing an arm, and had most of its hair gone, only a few strands sticking desperately to its forehead. Its skin was a sickly, fetid white with bits of decaying flesh here and there that looked just about ready to fall off, revealing writhing, bloated muscle shifting underneath.
Its jaw hung loose, slobber gathered and falling like a disgusting downstream. It had scarcely any teeth, and one of its eyes hung out of its sockets. It had tattered remains of a tunic and a pair of brown pants, with most of it being torn off or eaten away by insects. Above its head was a health bar, reading [50/50] and above that was the title of "Weak Zombie – Lv 3".
"What now?" Jolyne asked Mono, and while the question was stupid, the last thing she wanted to do was to punch the rotting zombie in the face. It would just make her feel gross.
[Attack it. Seeing as you have no weapon on your person, you are going to have to settle for punching it.]
"Lovely…" And so, with not much else to do, she balled both hands into fists and charged toward the zombie, who quickly noticed her approaching by turning to stare at her. A low, guttural growling sound escaped its decaying mouth, as it raised a hand in her direction, almost in a grabbing motion, before slowly shambling toward her—not that it made any difference for when she slammed her right fist into its face, causing it to stagger backwards. Briefly, a number appeared next to it, showing that she had shaved off 7 of its HP.
Not letting up, Jolyne used the distance gained to thrust a kick toward its jaw, causing it to yet again stagger backward, as another 7 HP was depleted. The damage she was doing, if she had remembered correctly, was because of her attack stat. But, she had also remembered, that the damage dealt should have been 14 according to the calculation that Mono supposedly ran.
"So why am I not dealing 14 damage instead of 7?"
[That is because Undead, like this one, are resistant to physical attacks. The best way to damage them is via slashing, piercing, or magic attacks. After all, rigour mortis hardens the muscle.]
"Right…" Jolyne kind of felt stupid for that one. But, then again, that made sense. Stiffer muscles meant that physical impacts would be reduced. It was why burly and muscular people were really good at fighting. They could take more punishment than most. Even physically rotund people. But, take a sword or a spear to them and they pop like balloons. The same logic applied to these Zombies.
"Not like I have a choice but to use my fists…" Jolyne thought as the Zombie finished reeling from being punched and kicked. That was another thing she hadn't realized. She had inherited fighting skills, which, again, didn't make any sense because she'd never fought in her life before. Not in recent memory, or in "her past". She chalked it up to Mono giving her the ability to fight. It cut back on her having to train how to fight and made her quality of life easier.
Not giving the zombie any chance to attack, Jolyne closed the distance between herself and the zombie, reeling back her right arm and threw a fast jab to its stomach, which caused it to lift slightly off the ground, its feet pointed toward the ground as it hovered in the air. She followed it up by grabbing the zombie by the collar of its tattered shirt and throwing it down to the stone floor, its head rebounding off of the ground as it took not only the damage dealt by her but damage from crashing into the floor, which was both 7 and 14 respectively.
"Environments seem to ignore defences and resistances…" As Jolyne finished that thought, she stomped down on the zombie's head twice, reducing its HP down to 0. The zombie let out a choking sound, before falling completely still, as he turned to dust and faded away. Jolyne stared at where the zombie had died, as 100 exp was given to her, along with 25 yen.
"So, killing enemies gives me experience, huh? I mean, that makes sense. Most RPGs do, so I don't know why this one wouldn't," Jolyne muttered as she smirked. Suddenly, this went from tedious to interesting. She peered around the corner of the L-shaped center hallway and saw that two more zombies stood staring at two separate walls. They were both on the same level as the zombie from before.
And so, seeing an opportunity to make some easy exp, she walked down the hallway, rushed the two zombies, grabbed them by their faces, and slammed their heads together. The result was 18 damage being dealt to both. If she had to assume why, it probably had to do with Mono registering the damage of the two zombies doing damage to themselves.
The two zombies staggered slightly, which allowed Jolyne to do a sweeping kick to knock them to the ground, which dealt another 7 damage, and another 14 damage from hitting the ground hard. She then followed it up by picking up the zombie on the left, dragging it up slightly, before slamming it against the ground, dealing another 7 damage from her attack, and 14 damage from connecting it to the floor.
The zombie died, giving her the same rewards as the last one before she did the same thing to the zombie on the right, who was in the process of getting up, killing it with ease. 200 exp and 50 yen were given to her. She only needed 75 exp to level up.
Instead of going straight ahead, she turned back around and decided to check the right hallway. If she was lucky more zombies would be down there, and she could get even more experience and level up. That was the whole point of these dungeons, right? levelling up?
Upon getting to the right hallway, sure enough, three more zombies awaited her, shambling over in her direction. They must've heard the commotion going on in the center hallway and were going to check it out. A smirk took up Jolyne's features, her eyes gleaming with excitement. She felt her non-existent heart beat faster than normal, pounding against her chest as she dashed toward the zombies.
Jolyne reeled her right arm back and slugged the first zombie in the face, making it stagger, following the force of her punch, removing 7 hp from hits health bar. Uncurling her fist, she grabbed the zombie by the face, and with herculean strength, lifted the undead off of the floor and slammed it into the other two zombies like a baseball bat, throwing the zombie she was holding in the process, doing 20 damage to all three zombies.
She once again closed the distance between herself and the zombies, who were a bundle on the floor, tangled in each other as they writhed around, trying to get up. Not that Jolyne would let them. She crouched, before jumping up into the air hovering over them for a split second before landing square in the center of the heap of undead, dealing 7 damage to all of them.
An idea came to mind as she leapt back, standing next to one of the torches in the hallway, her smirk turning into a wicked smile. Grabbing the torch and ripping it off of the wall, she arched her arm back in a throwing motion, before chucking the torch toward the zombies, who were still entangled in the pile they had been forced into.
The second the torch came into contact with the zombies, they combusted into flames. And while the fire was only doing 1 damage to them, it was doing so in seconds. Hideous shrieks of pain came from the undead mass of flesh, though it didn't take long for it to stop, and she was awarded 300 exp and 75 Yen.
[-Level up-]
[See stat screen?]
[Y/N]
Jolyne tapped on N, the screen in front of her disappearing. It was only one level. She didn't feel like much had changed, although her HP bar did get a little bit bigger, as did her mana and stamina bar. It was only then that she noticed her thirst meter. It was starting to get low. Really low. She cursed under her breath. She had completely forgotten about the whole "Blood Drinker" trait she had.
She felt parched, her throat dry and her eyes heavy. That was probably a side effect of not drinking any blood, and she only had to assume that it would get worse. "Damnit… guess I gotta go blood hunting after this…" Jolyne thought as she looked over her shoulder. More zombies had crawled out of the woodwork to see what was going on in this corner of the dungeon, and when she looked ahead of her, even more zombies were turning the corner.
"Shit…" Jolyne cursed, clenching her hands into fists. A handful of zombies wasn't that hard to deal with and was hardly a problem. But, a whole group? That could turn into one quickly if not dealt with quickly. Although, out of the corner of her eye she saw something that might have been able to turn the tides of the upcoming battle. One of the zombies had a sword. He was simply holding it, his grip on the blade barely even considered a grip with how loose his fingers were holding on it. If she were able to take that sword…
Jolyne lunged forward at that particular zombie, who in turn brought the sword above his head, letting out a guttural snarling sound. At the same time, Jolyne punched it in the face, dealing 9 damage to it, the zombie swung its sword down, its blade biting into her shoulder as she bit back a curse. The sword cut off 20 of her HP. Not a fatal amount, but it was definitely annoying, and it hurt too.
The zombie fell to the ground, and as it did, Jolyne wrenched the sword out of its hand. The moment she did, a pop-up appeared in her peripheral vision. She closed it without bothering to look at it. Whatever it was about, she'd read it after she dealt with the horde of zombies. She counted about ten zombies inching toward her, not including the zombie on the floor, five on her left and five on her right, with the one lying on the floor in front of her.
The sword in her hand felt right. What was better was that, either by virtue of the system making her life easy or because the sword was extremely lightweight, she didn't even struggle to lift the weapon.
Jolyne looked down at the zombie and frowned with disgust. And then, out of what felt like a reflex, Jolyne plunged her newfound weapon into the zombie's chest, its sputtering up purple congealed blood, before ripping the weapon out, dealing a grand total of 50 damage to it, taking the zombie out in one fell swoop. Her eyes widened at the number of damage she had dealt.
Was that a fluke? Or was that just how weak zombies were to bladed weapons? Spinning around to face her right, she gripped the sword with both hands, turning the blade on its side as she swiped at the closest zombie to her to test if what had just happened had been a fluke or not, and as she did, the sword connected, cutting through the zombie like a heated-up knife to butter, cleaving through its waist, and leaving it cut in half, killing it instantly as purple blood showered the floor and walls surrounding them.
A wicked grin and a murderous gleam took up Jolyne's visage as she charged forward, her sword trailing behind her as she swung at the next zombie in an upward arch, cutting through it lengthwise as its two halves fell to the floor uselessly. The next zombie died just as easily, as Jolyne changed her stance, holding the sword in one hand rather than both of them as she turned the blade on its side, she swung it at the zombie and its head came clean off with a single horizontal strike, a fountain of blood spurting upward and hitting the ceiling and the surrounding ground, none of it getting on Jolyne—thankfully because that would've been gross.
She followed it up by shoving the dead zombie in front of her out of the way before piercing the zombie behind it through the stomach and ripping her blade out of its abdomen, watching as it fell to the ground, dying as purple blood spilled out in a pool. There was only one zombie left in the direction she was facing, which she stabbed in the face, ripping the blade up and through its head as it fell to the ground, more of the noxious purple blood spilling to the ground.
Immediately turning to face her left, the five zombies were still shambling toward her, heedless of their comrade's deaths—if zombies even had comrades. It had only taken her five, maybe six seconds to dispatch the horde surrounding her on the right. The five remaining on the left side wouldn't take nearly as long.
She plunged her blade into the first one's throat after clearing the short distance between herself and it, carving the sword through its next and out of its shoulder, watching it fall uselessly to the ground. The next two zombies were dealt with by a single horizontal slash, purple blood spraying like a water fountain, getting all over her clothing and skin.
For a moment, Jolyne faltered, taking a few steps back as she grimaced. "Aw, come on! That's just gross!" Jolyne complained internally, looking back up at the now pair of zombies, who were still shambling toward her. She sneered, springing forward, gripping her sword and swinging downward as she passed the zombies. Blood sprayed forward as the zombies fell with the spewing blood, hitting the ground with an echoing thud.
1,100 exp and 275. Another level up. And the sweet, sweet feeling of victory. Jolyne's breathing was heavy as she felt her shoulders relax. She glanced over to the wound on her shoulder, only for it to have disappeared entirely. She guessed it must've healed once she had levelled up. One thing that she noticed was that the wound didn't bleed. It splashed blood on the ground, signified by the red stain where she had been standing when the zombie had brought its sword down on her. But after that, she didn't bleed.
Was that because she was a System User? Probably. Once again, it was very, very useful. It meant that if she got hurt it wouldn't leave that big of a mess. "Alright. Now then, what was that pop-up form before?" And as soon as those words left her mouth, the pop-up appeared before her.
[Straight Sword +2 (Common)]
[Dmg: 45 ~ 60 slashing/piercing damage]
[Scaling: Physical Strength (E)]
[Requirement: 5 Physical Strength]
[Skill: None]
[Affinity: None]
"Huh. Neat," Jolyne said, looking at the sword, finally getting a chance to observe it. It was coated in purple coagulated blood, but that didn't stop her from noticing the steel blade. The hilt was made of a sturdy iron-infused wood, and the pommel made of stone, with the crossguard having been made of the same metal as the blade.
It was a simple, bog-standard straight sword. There was nothing special about it aside from the fact that it was a sword. She looked down at her hip and noticed that a sheath had been magically placed there. It must've come with the sword the moment she stole it from the zombie. Not that she was going to put it away. She was still in the dungeon, so for all she knew, an enemy could be around the corner. It would be stupid to put the sword away now.
Looking back at the pop-up, she had no idea what the "+2" meant, but if she had to guess, it was because it had been upgraded twice. That explained why it did so much damage. But, if it did 45 to 60 damage, why did it only do twenty damage to her? Was the zombie so weak that it couldn't properly wield the sword? Was that why its grip on the blade was so weak?
Also… and E in physical strength scaling? Well, if she had to guess, if 45 to 60 damage was an E then she was a little scared to know what a D or a C or hell, even a B would look like, let alone an A or a S.
Dismissing the pop-up, Jolyne checked down the end of the hallway that the other zombies had come down from, and saw nothing but a dead end. On both ends. It was a little infuriating, but oh well. What was also infuriating was running into more zombies. Zombies that she easily took down with pathetic ease.
To put it simply, by the time she made it to a large, wooden door, surrounded by a stone frame, she had killed well over 17 other basic zombies, none of them dropping anything other than exp or gold, giving her an extra 1,700 exp and 425 Yen. She had reached level 5 and was extremely close to levelling up, at least, according to the stat screen that she was looking at.
Her best stats, at least right now, were her HP, Mana, and Stamina, her HP being at 300, her Mana being 250, and Stamina being at 350. Something that she noticed was that, when she swung her sword, her stamina didn't go down. Nor did it go down when she ran or did extremely tedious movements like stretches, push-ups, or sit-ups. She could just keep going no matter what. It didn't even hurt to do those exercises after a while.
Not that it was important, but it was something that she had noticed.
Back to the important thing, the dungeon recommended her to be level 10 for the boss fight. She was half that level. Though, despite that, looking at her stats, she was more than confident to go into the fight and believed herself able to come out on top. After all, if a basic zombie was weak enough to fall to a single sword strike, then a so-called "zombie king" would be easy, right?
Walking up to the door, Jolyne pressed a hand against it. Her hand pushed against the cold dusty wooden door, before heaving forward with all of her strength on one hand. The door, however, would not budge. Frowning, Jolyne took a step back before sheathing the blade she had taken into its scabbard. Placing both hands against the door, she once again pushed, and this time, the door broke away, splitting apart, albeit only enough for herself to fit through the door, and allowing her access to the room beyond.
Stepping through the crack, Jolyne found herself met with a staircase that led deeper into the catacombs. A chill clawed down her spine, causing her to swallow back whatever had been building up in her gut. Was it stress? Disgust? Fear? All three? She didn't know, and frankly, she just wanted to get this whole thing over and done with.
The stairs, much like everything else in the catacombs, had been made out of rock and stone, with a good heaping of moss thrown into the mix just for good measure. A damp, rotting smell invaded her nostrils, much like the rest of this dank, disgusting place. Though this time it was more pungent. More… grotesque.
The want to leave this place immediately became stronger as she stepped further into the darkness, only barely kept at bay by the less-than-useful blue torches. One would think that blue flame would be hotter and provide more warmth, but these torches only seemed to make this place colder. Though, maybe that was a saving grace, given that flesh rots and becomes more putrid in heat.
Luckily, Jolyne didn't have to go very far after entering past the doors that, frankly, shouldn't have been as hard as they were to open. What she found was an archway, free of doors, that led into a giant room. It was barren, save for a few support structures, and it wasn't all that large. It was small, about the same size as an average basement.
At the very end of the room, Jolyne saw something sitting on a throne. A man, by the looks of things. He had a cape over his shoulders, and a rusted golden crown laying atop his barren head. His skin was a sickly, putrid white mixed with splotches of green. He bore no clothing and was completely bare. The only saving grace was that he was so rotted that his lower half was nothing but bones and remaining bits of sinew.
In one hand, there was a bone-like sword. It looked like a spine of sorts, and it dripped with a green substance. The hilt was seemingly made of stone, but aside from that, it quite literally was just a spine on a hilt. Nothing more, nothing less. Though, she did suppose that the metal spikes on the pedicles made it more of a weapon than it had any right to be.
And that was just what she could observe from not being in the room. A part of her really didn't want to get inside, but, then again, what other choice did she have? It wasn't as if she was allowed to leave until she felled the creature within. And so, seeing no choice, Jolyne stepped forward and entered the small room, unsheathing her sword as her hands trembled.
She had no reason to fear the thing before her. It was just a zombie. That was all it was. It was weak, just like everything else inside this damned catacombs. "So, if that's the case, why am I so damned afraid?" Jolyne thought as she glanced behind her. A silver fog set in at the entrance of the room, and as soon as that happened, the corpse sitting on the basic wooden chair stirred.
As it stood, it tore the sword out from the ground with ease, small pebbles dragging up from the ground as its dead, glowing yellow pits it called eyes stared Jolyne down. It still had skin on its mouth, shockingly, and its mouth drew up into a snarl, revealing gnarled and golden yellow teeth.
"You…" The zombie rasped, hoisting its sword up and clenching it with both hands, bracing itself. "You dare disturb my slumber? Very well, thy end is now." And without another word, it lunged forward, faster than Jolyne had anticipated. She raised her sword, its bone-like blade clashing with hers. With strength she could have never assumed it had, it shoved her back, causing her to stumble.
Above its head, there was a name. Bogart, The Last King Of Etheran and next to that was its level, which was 10. A health bar appeared below her vision, with its name above it, without a single indication of how much health it had. A part of her brain recognized this as Dark Souls user interface design, and that slightly scared her.
While she didn't play Dark Souls, "she" did, and because of that, she knew damn well that if this was supposed to mimic a Dark Souls boss, then this most likely wasn't going to go as smoothly as she believed it to go.
Nevertheless, she raised her blade once again, fixed her footing, and was once again met with a charge attack, which she was prepared for. When their blades clashed, instead of standing around like a moron, Jolyne swung her sword downward, causing Bogart's blade to follow her own due to them being interlocked.
But, Bogart was not stupid, as it appeared, as he quickly swung his blade upward, hers in tow, along with herself still holding onto the blade, as she was flung across the room and hit the wall. Pain erupted throughout her body as she made a loud gasping noise. 50 HP disappeared, leaving her with only 250 HP. If one attack did that much then what the hell was she even doing here?! "No. You did this to yourself, get up, and kill the fucker."
But just as she stood up, Bogart closed the distance and went to stomp on her face with its bony foot. She barely dodged out of the way, rolling as she did, as Bogart kicked the wall that she had been against. She used this chance to rush him, sword still in hand—thankfully—as she drew it up above her head, aiming for a downward slash.
Bogart turned but wasn't fast enough to block the blade, as it came down on its shoulder, cleaving through its flesh as purple, congealed blood sprayed in an arc. its health bar took a small chunk out of itself, revealing her to have only done 15 damage. Rather than focus on that, though, Jolyne paid attention to how Bogart's body moved, its shoulder and arm drawing back slightly, the shifting of its left foot back, and the gleam in its eyes. and saw that it was going for a piercing thrust at her right, aiming to skewer her from her torso upward and through where it believed her heart to be. So, she dodged left.
Much like she had predicted, it thrust right, completely missing the attack, much to its shock, not having expected her to dodge, which gave her the chance to slash at its arm. Her sword cut through the flesh on its arm, peeling the skin off like a banana peel, and causing purple, congealed blood to cascade down like a river.
Another 15 damage and another small chunk of its health bar gone, bringing her closer to killing the undead. She jumped back, just in time to avoid a backhanded swing, the metal spikes at the end of the pedicles just barely avoiding clawing up her face. Without delay, as soon as Jolyne landed, Bogart charged forward, attempting to lock her blade with it again, only this time, she didn't swing to meet his sword. She learnt from both times not to do that.
Instead, she side-stepped the charge, allowing its back to be turned to her. Without warning, Jolyne grabbed Bogart by its wounded shoulder and shoved her blade through its cape, its back, and out of its chest. Purple blood sputtered out his mouth as he went slack for a moment, allowing Jolyne to rip the blade out of his back, and kick it to the ground.
That had done 75 damage to it, knocking its health bar down to only a third remaining. If her math was right, she had done 115 damage to it. If that was one-fourth of his HP, that meant that he had 460 HP. It was a little over her amount of health. If she had gone in at level 10, this would have been much easier. Assuming, of course, that the boss didn't scale with her level.
Bogart got to its feet and spun around on his heel, its face filled with indignation as it swiped at Jolyne, letting go of its blade with its left hand and aiming to grab her. Jolyne barely got out of the way from the grab, but missed the mark of dodging the upward slash, the tip of the spine-like blade carving through her stomach and upper chest, before ripping out of her shoulder, an arc of crimson blood showering Bogart.
On top of having 75 damage done to her, leaving her with only 175 HP of her own to work with, a green meter next to her health bar had filled halfway. She didn't know what that meant, nor did she care. A smile found itself on Bogart's face, rancid and disgusting, flashing its golden yellow teeth in her direction and upon seeing it, something in her snapped.
She didn't know what it was about his smile. Maybe it was because it looked taunting. Maybe it was because it caused some kind of Pavlovian response in her brain to take it as a challenge. Or maybe, just maybe, she was more than a little pissed off that he was smiling after cutting through her torso like butter with his imitation of a blade made out of a spine, which caused her to do what she did next.
Despite feeling drained and being in agony, and despite wanting nothing more than to lay down and die, she thrust her sword forward, stabbing Bogart against through the chest, which made it stagger. Purple ichor flung out of its mouth, getting all over Jolyne's cheek and neck. She took this time to punch it square in the jaw with her free hand, whilst at the same time ripping out her blade from its chest, the combined sudden force pulling it forward and pushing it down to the ground at the same time.
Once it fell, back first mind you, another good chunk was ripped out of its HP bar, as she followed up with a downward slash, slicing through its right arm. Though, miraculously, it didn't cut through the arm and sever it. It merely cut through it, as if it was immune to being dismembered. It reached up, trying to pull itself up from the ground using gravity, but Jolyne would not let it. She plunged her blade into its throat, before tearing it out, more congealed purple ichor sprayed outward, getting on Jolyne's shirt before slothing off, hitting the ground as it began to turn to dust.
The combo of repeated stabs brought Bogart's health bar down to merely a quarter of what remained. And then, just to seal the deal, she slammed the tip of her blade through one of its eyes, before ripping it out from the side of its skull, which seemingly did it in, its HP bar disappearing from her vision.
Rather pathetically, he reached his hand out toward the roof of the catacombs. And as he did, he spoke in a raspy, lifeless voice. "Oh, great goddess of Death… grant me wrath… I beg of you… I gave all of mine to you…." And then, without another word, its body turned to dust as the message ENEMY FELLED appeared across her vision in bright golden letters. What came next shocked Jolyne.
From killing Bogart, The Last King Of Etheran, she received 10,000 experience points, and, on top of that, she was given the dungeon rewards for completing it, along with the bloody cape Bogart was wearing. All of this, all of it, appeared before her several text boxes. While she didn't receive any more money out of this ordeal, she still received plenty enough exp from it.
Still, the idea of getting 10,000 exp from one boss was insane. Though, a part of her realized that it might not have been as much as she had originally thought. And considering this was an easy dungeon and not a normal or challenging one, that made her worried about what those would have in store for her.
That, however, was for another time.
Adrenaline flooded out of her system, allowing her to relax, her shoulders dropping as the massive wound healed over. A part of Jolyne was worried her clothes were destroyed after the fight, but, thankfully, it seemed as if healing over her wounds meant that her clothing stitched itself together because that was exactly what it had done.
[-Level Up x 5-]
[Would you like to see your stat screen?]
[Y/N]
Jolyne hummed. She did level up five times, and she felt a degree stronger. Though there wasn't a physical representation of that strength, she still felt it in her bones. And so, seeing as there wasn't much of a reason not to, she tapped Y and as soon as she did her stat screen appeared. Or, at least the ones that changed, anyway.
Health Points: 550 [C-]
Mana: 500 [D]
Stamina: 600 [C-]
Endurance: 275 [D-]
Attack: 31 [F]
Defence: 31 [F]
Magic Attack: 50 [F]
Magic Defence: 50 [F]
Jolyne hummed, scratching her chin with her free hand not currently clutching onto her sword. She wasn't shocked that HP and Stamina were her highest graded stat. Mana was a little on the higher side, and, as she suspected, her magic attack and defence were the higher of the two attack stats. The really annoying part was that her other "requirement" stats didn't see an increase. It was frustrating, but, then again, what was she to do about it? Nothing, really. She still had to find more of those stat tokens.
A sigh escaped her lips as the stat screen disappeared, and in its place, there was the information regarding the cape that she received. It showed an image of the cape, and now that she was staring at it, she could get a decent look at it. And from what she was seeing, it was fairly cool looking.
The cape in question was a deep crimson-red with a white and black speckled feather lining. It was frayed at the end, with tears in the fabric and stained in a green liquid from the bottom up to the center. Thankfully, it didn't stink, and what it did for her was also very interesting.
[Undead Kings Cape – Common]
[Take 15% less damage from slashing/piercing damage. Furthermore, you take 5% less poison and deadly poison build-up (rather than take 33 poison build-up from a basic poison blade, you take 30 poison build-up)]
[Equip? Y/N]
Without thinking, she equipped the cape. As soon as she did, it appeared over her shoulders, flowing down to her knees, before vanishing from sight. Despite it not being visible, she could feel its presence. She tried stepping on it, just in case it would cause problems, and instead of meeting with the fabric, she was met with air.
"Good. That could've been bad…" Jolyne muttered as the information screen disappeared regarding the cape. Finally, last but not least, she received a stat token. And, immediately, she put it into Physical Strength, bumping it from 8 to 9. There was no real change in the weight of the sword this time, though she did feel stronger even more than she already did.
She wondered what would happen once she reached 10 in that stat? She already had 30 in Arcane Wisdom, though she didn't have a spell. That was something that she was kind of annoyed about. She had so much in one stat, yet she didn't have anything to use for it. It was kind of stupid if one were to ask her.
[Congratulations on completing your first Dungeon. Would like to go do another?]
"I would much rather deal with this thirst meter stuff first," Jolyne said, glancing up at the aforementioned meter. It was nearly empty. Maybe prolonged physical movement made it drain faster? That probably had something to do with it. Without saying a word, a white light appeared around Jolyne, and in the blink of an eye, she found herself on the street just opposite her apartment building. 50 Yen was missing from her total amount, dropping it from 1,372 Yen to 1,332.
Jolyne exhaled, looking around her surroundings. The first thing that she noticed was that the sun was beginning to set, the sky bright orange and red compared to it being bright and blue out from when she woke up, to the afternoon she had spent trying to do her homework. "Uh… what?"
[Time flows differently in Dungeons. One minute within the world of a Dungeon is twenty-five minutes out here. And you spent ten minutes within a Dungeon, meaning you spent four hours and ten minutes of real-world time.]
Jolyne grimaced. That was… bizarre. But, then again, it made sense. Technically, entering a dungeon was popping out of the regulated time zone, so time flowing differently made sense. Didn't it? Still, it was more than annoying. She had plans she wanted to get done this afternoon. Maybe attempt to set something up with Hajime and "reconnect" or something along those lines.
"You!" A voice called out to her from her right, catching her attention. The sight that she came across was more than a little bizarre, especially given what they were wearing. A large, overweight-looking man, dressed in what appeared to be an undone strait jacket and a clown mask glared at her. In his right hand was a gun, pointed at the ground, which caused her fight or flight instincts to activate. She got into a fighting stance, prepared to beat the living shit out of the masked freak when something grabbed her from behind, snatching her wrists from in front of her and wrapping them around her back, before kicking the back of her knee out, forcing her to take a knee to the ground.
The man chuckled, holstering his gun as he walked up to her. "Nice work, Nakamura, was worried we wouldn't get anything. Check her pockets and take all of her money," the man said as Jolyne scowled. Those she was being robbed, huh?
"Well, I'll take whatever chance I can get, so…" Jolyne thought as, the moment the guy from behind her, Nakamura, reached for her empty pocket, she sprung up, shocking the man, before manifesting her sword to her hand from her inventory—the sheath having disappearing, most likely because it was considered equipment for Dungeons—and batted the man across the face with the thing, knocking him into the wall of the building next to her.
The large man took a step back, reaching for his gun, only to stop when Jolyne stared him down, the tip of her blade just an inch away from his neck. "W-What the f-fuck?!"
"You made a very, very bad mistake, good sir. Do yourself a favour, and leave. Don't look back, and don't bother with your friend here. I don't want to see you ever again. If I do, it's your head, understand?" Jolyne spat as the man nodded, fear washing off of him. She couldn't lie, it felt good to see someone like that masked man dripping in fear. It smelt good, too.
Maybe it was because her thirst meter was low, and it was just instinct, but she couldn't help but lick her lips just a little bit, staring at the large man. Her eyes narrowed, a greenish, reddish glow emanating from them as she lowered her sword, approaching the man, taking one step at a time, one foot in front of the other, her hips swaying unconsciously as she approached.
She could hear his heart beating from his chest, and his blood coursing through his veins. She could hear him swallow the lump in his throat, and by the time she had closed the distance between herself and him, she had already grabbed him by the front of his collar and pushed herself up against him.
"W-Wha—"
"Be quiet," Jolyne said, her tone of voice gaining a certain edge to it. She felt his body heat cascade off of him, his breathing rapid. She could tell that he was a little excited. Had he never had someone of the opposite sex approach him? Maybe. Not that she cared, really. She wasn't here for that. She was here for something else.
A smile took up her expression, and without so much as a warning, she used her free hand to grab the underside of his chin and tilted his head just enough to expose his neck. And as soon as she did that, she opened her mouth, her teeth gleaming, stainless before she clamped down on his jugular.
The man screamed, but it was no use. Blood streamed from the fresh wound of his neck into Jolyne's mouth, and if she were to be honest, she hadn't considered the taste to be anywhere near this good. If she were to compare the taste to anything, she'd say that it tasted like cherry-flavoured juice. There was a slight tang to it, but nothing too much.
It didn't take long for her thirst meter to be full, and by the time it was all said and done, she shoved the large man to the ground, blood trailing out of his wound as it pooled around his throat. A stream of red pooled down from the corner of her mouth as she wiped it away. A hot sensation filled her chest, and her breathing was heavy.
That felt… good. Too good. It was hard to describe, but, it almost felt like she had been borderline aroused from drinking that man's blood—not because it was his blood, just in general. And it was weird. It was hard to describe the feeling because she had never felt such an intense emotion toward something like that.
She wanted more.
She needed more.
She looked over her shoulder, at the unconscious man against the wall. All she had to do was walk up to him and nibble on his neck. Just a pinch and she'd be satisfied. She could feel something stirring within her bosom. Just one more drop, and she'd explode. She wanted it, needed it, desired it. Just one more—
Jolyne clutched the side of her head, looking down at the concrete as the man's blood continued to pool around him, choking and sputtering sounds coming from his limp form as she took a step back, shaking her head repeatedly. That wasn't her. She knew that wasn't her. She wouldn't—couldn't do that. Even if these guys had tried to rob her, that was all they were doing. They didn't need to die or have their blood drained from them.
She had no idea what was going on, and it was driving her mad. "No… control yourself. Don't give in. Mono! What the fuck!?"
[If I could answer you, Jolyne, I would have already. This is merely the consequence of Blood Drinker. While not expressly stated, feeding on blood as a non-vampire will cause your body to go into overdrive, including your libido. Also, pay attention to the pop-up, it is important.]
Jolyne blinked, attempting to get herself under control, and failing. Although, she was able to look back up at the pop-up that Mono had alerted her to. And to say it was important was an understatement.
[Warning: You have Overfed on blood. You are now 99% closer to becoming a True Vampire. Suggestion: Cut back on your feeding, should you not wish to embrace the darkness.]
[Transformation meter: 99/100]
[Thirst: 199/100 – OVERFED!]
[Overfed: You have overfed on blood. Consuming any more blood within the next five days will cause an immediate transformation into a True Vampire! Duration: 120hrs – 5 Days]
[Temptation: You are tempted by the smell of blood. Even as much as getting a single whiff will turn you Blood Crazed, which will spike your feeling of needing to feed tenfold, no matter how low or high your thirst meter is. – Duration: 120hrs – 5 Days]
[Libido Spike: Due to the amount of hormones in your body due to overconsumption of blood, your libido has reached its limit! You're, quite literally, bursting at the seams. Any wrong touch could cause an "accident" so be careful of your surroundings. – Duration: 120hrs – 5 Days]
"Oh, that is such bullshit!" Jolyne thought, glaring daggers at the pop-up as she quickly covered her nose. She had school tomorrow! That was so unfair! She bumped into people constantly, so if something happened in the hall, or god-forbid in class…. "There's gotta be a way to reverse this, right? Right?!"
[Unfortunately, I cannot help you with status effects. You made a mistake. You must suffer the consequences of your actions. I would recommend you to go home, rather than continue this Dungeon Run. It is currently unsafe. While turning into a True Vampire would vastly increase your stats and grant you Vampiric Magic, becoming one so soon would make things worse, in my opinion, anyway. I will transport you to your apartment. Go lay down as soon as you do.]
Before she could open her mouth, she found herself inside her apartment, specifically next to her bedroom. She could feel her face heating up slowly. She was blushing, wasn't she? She felt all hot and bothered, and while for a moment her eyes drifted to the fourth drawer, she shook her head. No. She didn't want to touch that stuff at the moment. For all she knew, it would make her feel even worse.
Though, she did have one question on her mind. "Just who were those guys… they looked like they were wearing a uniform…" Jolyne thought, frowning. That didn't scream regular crook attire. Well, it could be, but then again, it just didn't feel right. There was obviously more there, but what was it? "Mono, do you know?"
[In fact, I do. Those two are members of a group known as D.I.C.E. And they are, funnily enough, your first Story Quest. You are to take down that group and ensure that they do not get themselves killed. I cannot tell you any more than that. Here is your Quest.]
[Story Quest: Roll The D.I.C.E.]
[Difficulty: Challenging]
[Objective: Take down D.I.C.E. by any means possible]
[Rewards: 30,000 Exp, 30,000 Yen, 5 Stat Tokens]
[Time Limit: None]
Dismissing the pop-up, Jolyne sighed, before falling down to her bed. Her head was so full of nonsense that she could hardly think straight. She needed to go to bed…. At least, that was what she would've done, had it not been for the buzzing sensation from her pocket to cause her to lurch and curl into herself. She bit down on her lip to stop herself from making any kind of noise, the only thing leaving her lips being a forced grunt to suppress whatever ungodly sound would've fallen out of her face otherwise.
Why did it have to feel good…
Quickly, she reached for her pocket and pulled out her phone. It was Hajime. Great, just as she felt the way she had, her friend, and possible ex-boyfriend from before she was who she became, was calling her.
She felt something wet trickle down the side of her leg. An odd sensation rushing throughout her body. Her body didn't process food, so that meant it was… "Oh, fuck off! That's not cool man! You didn't say it was that bad!"
Mono didn't respond, though if he did, she would've assumed he would laugh at her. The phone was still ringing, and it was on its third cycle. She didn't want to be rude, so, she swiped on the answer button, before putting her phone to her ear. Keeping her voice level, she swallowed back whatever feeling she had stirred up within her and spoke. "Hey, Hajime."
"Jolyne? Are you okay? Your voice is a little shaky?"
"Huh! Oh, n-no! I'm fine, just, uh… a little shaken up. I was, uh, watching a horror movie and it really freaked me out," she lied, forcing down her obvious arousal due to the overfeeding she had unwittingly done. She just hoped that Hajime wasn't paying attention and or was denser than a brick. If he wasn't, then this would get extremely awkward, and fast.
"Oh, really? What movie?"
"Shit, c'mon, think think! Uh…." "Saw! The first one and it was really graphic, a-and I'm a bit squeamish," Jolyne said as Hajime hummed in agreement on the other end. She silently breathed out a sigh of relief.
"Yeah, Saw was a bit much. Buh, that's not why I called you. I wanted to call to ask if you wanted to hang out at lunch. There's something I wanted to talk to you about. It involves another classmate. I was hoping you could help me with it."
As those words left Hajime's mouth, yet another pop-up appeared. It was a quest, specifically one meant for Hajime. And when she read it over, she couldn't help but let out a small, silent hiss. Why? Because of what the quest was about.
[Relationship Quest – Hajime Hinata]
[School House Woes]
[Difficulty: Normal]
[Kuzuryu Natsumi will not stop tormenting poor Hajime, seeing him as weak and an easy target. Knock her down a peg, will ya?]
[Rewards: +25 Relationship with Hajime, 3,000 Exp, 1,000 yen]
"Jolyne?"
"Huh?" Jolyne blinked, dismissing the pop-up as she did. "Oh, yeah, sorry about that, spaced out for a second. Yeah, sure, no problem. I can do that," Jolyne said. Suddenly, her legs clenched, and upon looking down, she noticed that her free hand was between her legs, her middle and index fingers rubbing the fabric where her privates were. She blushed, the action being entirely unconscious. She hadn't even intended that to happen in the first place, and yet it was.
"Uh, I'll talk to you tomorrow, Hajime. See you later, bye!" And without waiting for a response, she hung up the phone, pulling her hand away and throwing her phone on the floor, frustration building up in her body. What the fuck was wrong with her!? She bit her lower lip, and tried, damnit she tried, to stop herself from touching down there.
It was wrong. She knew it was, but she had to find some sort of relief, otherwise this was only going to get worse. But if she did, it would start a cycle. A cycle she didn't want to start because she knew the feeling would only get worse as time went on. If she touched herself, would it make the whole libido thing worse? Or would it get rid of it entirely? She didn't know, and she didn't want to find out.
Yet, a part of her mind screamed at her to just get it over with. To let herself feel that pleasure that she would otherwise miss—even if it really wasn't her mind saying that, and that it was the status effect tricking her into thinking that it was her mind. She tried, Gods did she try, and for a minute, it almost worked.
But, she caved. She couldn't stop herself. Every second it just got worse and worse until It was too much for her to handle. One moment, she was holding her left hand down against the bed with her right, and the next moment, as if she had been puppeteered by strings, she found her left hand shoved down her shorts and for both her pointer and middle finger to be knuckle deep within herself.
A gasp escaped her lips as her fingers entered. It was wet, slippery, and all kinds of gross but she didn't care. Her fingers bent once and her legs closed in on themselves, and like a rapid-fire trigger that required repeated pulls, her fingers kept going, unconscious of her own actions as she bit down on her lower lip, her other hand slipping underneath her shirt she fondled her right breast.
It felt good. It felt really good. A soft, muffled moan of pleasure came out as she exhaled, her toes curling as the repeated pulling and pushing of her fingers caused her shoulders to rise, her chin to touch her sternum, and her eyes to close shut. Her other hand was clasping onto her breast, pinching her erect nipple in between her middle and index fingers. Her face heated up, her cheeks stained red along with her shoulders and the base of her neck.
"Why~! Why does this feel so good…!" Jolyne thought, her teeth clenching as she bit back another moan. This was so, unbelievably unfair. And all of this, all of it, because she drank a little too much blood! Hearing Hajime's voice only made it worse. It tipped her over the scales. She blamed him for this. It was his fault, definitely. There was something about his voice that made her mind go crazy—although, maybe it was because of the status effect spiking her sexual desires.
She didn't know, and it frustrated her to no end.
With each stroke of her fingers, it became harder and harder to not moan, not made any better due to how sensitive her nipples were. Whilst she fondled her breast, she felt a surge burst through her body. This was an entirely foreign thing for this body, never experienced before, and she liked it. She liked it a lot.
Her head leaned back, deeper into the pillows as she felt her eyes roll, no longer caring if anyone heard her. Her fingers moved faster, and faster, and even faster as her legs twitched. Thoughts of Hajime pinning her down and inserting himself into her flooded her mind with increasing intensity, and it was starting to get too much for her.
She wanted him. She needed him. She wanted to feel his body pressed up against her own. To hear him say her name as he thrust into her, stirring up her insides with each thrust. A dream, obviously, and not an achievable one, but damn did she want it. And what was worse was that she couldn't tell if these were her thoughts, or if it was because of the stupid status effect.
Maybe it was a little bit of both?
Suddenly, her whole body lurched, stretching out as she could no longer hold back. Her whole body found itself an inch off of the bed, and a loud, semi-stuttered shout of nothing but pleasure and ecstasy passed through her lips. A wet spot developed on the underside of her shorts, her right hand squeezing tight on her breast to the point it almost hurt, before she fell back down with a soft thud, her breathing heavy.
Pure elation flowed through her as she found herself almost giggling, stopping short at a sigh, before a wave of disgust washed over her. She felt dirty, but at least it was over.
The whole ordeal lasted maybe a minute, and even then, it was incredibly short. She knew what happened. She had come. Her face was nothing but a mess of red and embarrassment. She pulled her hand out from her shorts, all sticky and wet as she breathed out, her other hand coming out from underneath her shirt as it flopped to the bed.
This was awful. She felt wrong. But, on the bright side of things, a deduction of 12 hrs came off of the timer for the whole "spiked libido" thing. Even better, she didn't feel like she was going to burst at any given moment.
To be clear, she didn't feel bad about having masturbated. It was probably going to happen regardless of what she tried. No. That wasn't what made her feel dirty. What made her feel dirty was the fact that she was practically forced to do it. The system, due to a fucking status effect forced her to do something that she would've rather done at her own time.
Jolyne sat up, before getting out of bed and marching to her bathroom, so that way she could clean up. The last thing she wanted to do was go to sleep not having cleaned herself after masturbating. Anyone who did that was just gross.
When she entered the bathroom, something she hadn't yet entered due to not really needing to, she found herself more than a little disappointed at what she was greeted with. There was a toilet and a sink, and… that was it. Oh, there was a mirror, but there was no shower. What was the point of a bathroom without having a damned shower!? "Are you fucking kidding me?" This was bullshit. Well, at least she could wash her hands. So, that was exactly what she did.
When she finished washing her hands, she walked back to her bedroom, took off her shorts and panties and threw them into the corner of her room, before pulling out a fresh pair of underwear from her first drawer. Then, without any other distractions, she laid down on her bed, closed her eyes, and drifted off to sleep.
Tomorrow was another day.
[-To Be Continued-]
[Ending Song: Outsider – By: EVE]
So… yeah, that last part. I bet you didn't see that coming, huh? Well, one of the tags is Sexual Content on Ao3, so don't be so surprised. Scenes like these will be more common than in the original, just a fair warning. Now, I'm sure you noticed that, at least on Ao3, I changed the rating to Explicit. That's because, well, as I said, scenes like the one you just read will be more common. I also added more tags, just to drive the point home.
Now, all of that aside, let's get into my response to reviews/comments!
[Response to Reviews/Comments!]
(Ao3) fluffycuddlebug: Thank you for the kind words! Also, you shouldn't have a bad feeling about Himiko and Kokichi's pseudo-relationship. Nothing wrong is going to happen. Trust! As for what "she" is doing, you'll just have to find out, won't you?
(Ao3) Kolt: Your comments are some of the most entertaining things to read, it's crazy. Also, Jackson isn't a Breaking Bad Character, his last name is just a reference to one of the major antagonists of the show, that's all. That's all I can say regarding that. Have a wonderful day, Kolt!
(FF) AidenJacksonSmithDSBB: Hello!
(Qoutev) Sunky Addict: Very lore relevant. Pay attention to them. Also, yeah, Himiko won't just get shafted like in the original story. She's going to have an actual character in this. As for how long she'll be relevant, I can't tell you.
As always, Discord Link: h-t-t-p-s :/ discord . gg / Pva9PNxAzh
I also now have a YT channel, where I play games Live for people to watch. Right now, we're playing Elden Ring as Jolyne, so if that piques your interest, check it out! The channel name is DeathlyJazzHands55. Please subscribe, we're 2 away from 10 subs and that would be really dope!
Anyway, till next time! Peace out!