The blasts of the pepperbox echoed through the cavern as I shot at the giant crab/scorpion thing. I used Quick Step and Aerodynamics to avoid the barrage of stone pins from its one tail, and the purple blast of poison from the other. I was grateful that its size and spindly legs worked against any agility on its part, so I didn't have to worry too much about its pincers if I didn't get too close, but it wasn't exactly stationary, so I couldn't be either.

As I jumped out of the way of another of those poison blasts, I quickly hid behind one of the pillars, tucking the pepperbox under my stump and reloading. I was just barely able to flip the mechanism closed and get out of range as the creature smashed the pillar with its crushing claw. Right as I jumped out of the way, it shot more of those pins at me, so I changed direction immediately, jumping off of an air disk that blocked the pins, and landed safely.

"That is one tough shell to crack." I grumbled as I fired at the beast, my shots doing little to no damage. With one shot left, I made a quick decision; shooting the beast's eye. It let out an ear piercing shriek, backing up a bit as the eye poured out yellow blood. "He didn't like that." I smirked victoriously. My victory didn't last, however. As its remaining eye settled on me, it slammed its claw into the ground, opening up a fissure that expanded right towards me. I quickly jumped out of the way, my leg being grazed by the sharp spike of stone that burst right where I was standing. "And he's a fucking Earthbender. Fantastic." I scoffed as I made to reload the pepperbox, but stopped when Yue slipped off of my back. "Uh, Yue?" I asked as she stood before me, pushing her head and arms through the poncho's opening, making it look like a strapless dress.

"Do you trust me, Jack?" She asked, looking straight into my eyes. The next few seconds felt like an eternity, but in the end, I nodded. "Good." She whispered, leaning forward. I almost thought she was going to kiss me, but then she sidetracked towards my neck. I almost flinched when I felt the sting of her fangs. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears as she fed.

It was at this moment that the scorpion slammed its claw into the ground, bringing up a large boulder, and then whipped its tail at said boulder, flinging it at me. With no other choice, I dropped the pepperbox and switched to the spare, destroying the boulder with a few shots.

"I see your Boulder and raise you Beifong, motherfucker." I hissed as I knelt down, placing my hand on the ground and Transmuting. Multiple jagged pillars and spikes burst forth at diagonal angles towards the beast, poking and jabbing at it, to little avail. As my purple mana worked its magic, the beast responded with a circle of red mana beneath its feet, banishing my spikes faster than I could make. "Yue, he's better at manipulating Earth than I am, so if you're going to do something, please do it soon?" I said through gritted teeth as I redoubled my efforts. After a few seconds, the girl pulled away, and I could hear her heavy breath in my ear.

"That was delicious." She whispered with undertones of pleasure in her voice. With that, she let go of me and turned to face the monster. With a completely stoic demeanour, she raised a hand. "Azure Blaze." She said with calm confidence. Then out of nowhere, a massive ball of blue fire erupted above the scorpion's head. With a downward swipe of Yue's arm, the orb of blue flame crashed down into its head, and the sound it made in response was louder and shriller than anything I'd heard since entering the Labyrinth. It was definitely injured, but that spell very evidently affected Yue as well. She nearly fell to the ground, but I managed to catch her.

"You OK?" I asked, helping her stand up.

"The more powerful spells are very draining." She responded, swaying slightly, but maintaining her balance as I let go of her.

"OK, I think I have an idea." I told her as I looked back at the beast, cogs turning in my head. "I know I'm asking a lot, but do you think you could keep his attention off of me for a few minutes?" I asked. "I don't need a big spell like that, I just need it off of me so I can kill it."

"I can do that." She nodded.

"Good." I nodded, flipping open the pepperbox. Good, two bullets left. It would have to be enough. "I'll be back." I told her, dashing off and building altitude with Aerodynamics. The scorpion tried to blast me with more poison, but Yue distracted it with fireballs to the face.

With some room to move, and a moment to think, I was able to determine the best places on the roof to embed a couple of grenades that would help kill the scorpion. And these babies were packed with three times the regular amount of blast rock. I packed four of them into a large protrusion sticking out of the roof, just a little smaller than the beast's head, before turning to face the scorpion.

With a devious grin, I backflipped off of the air disk, plummeting straight for the scorpion. Or, to be more accurate, the scorpion's tail. One of them anyway. Pushing off of another disk, I shifted from a vertical fall to a horizontal jump, and readied a Gale Claw. With a swipe of my hand, I attacked the tip tail as I flew past it, getting screech from the monster as it turned its attention from Yue to me. I pushed off of another disk, shifting my velocity 180 degrees, and hit the tail with another Gale Claw. The stinger came clean off, falling right on top of the scorpion's head. It yelled again as the stinger penetrated its shell. It wasn't enough though.

With one more air disk, I pushed off into a wide backflip, landing in a crouch right beside Yue, and immediately drew the pepperbox. Right as the beast settled its shaky eye on me, I pulled the trigger twice. The two bullets each hit one of the grenades. The following chain reaction blew off the protruding rock, along with numerous smaller ones, which then fell right onto the scorpion's head, pushing the stinger right through like a hammer on a nail. Yue used some manner of wind magic to shield us from the debris as the scorpion let out a piercing screech before going limp.

"Game set and match." I smirked, twirling the pepperbox and holstering it.

"You came back." Yue mumbled out of nowhere.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"You could have left when I drew the beast away." She looked up at me. "Why didn't you?" She asked, an emotional hitch in her voice.

"Do I seem that shallow to you?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. She just continued to stare, waiting for an answer to her question. I could only sigh. "You suffered a betrayal at the hands of people you trusted. Well, I have some experience with that, and I have no desire to lump myself in the same category as them." I said simply. "I'm not going to abandon a child to die in a place like this."

"I'm not a child!" She exclaimed with a pout. "I was in my 20s when I was imprisoned." She huffed, crossing her arms and looking away.

"Uh, right. Vampire." I recalled, shaking my head. "Well, regardless, I have no intention of abandoning you. Even if we discard the countless moral reasons that could apply, I think our chances of survival are better together." I said honestly, getting a grumble from her as she continued to pout at me.

"So, how long have you been down here?" I asked Yue as we both sat in front of a fire. I anticipated that she'd want to leave the room she'd been trapped in for so long, but surprisingly, she saw the logic in staying in a room with locked doors to rest in the middle of a Labyrinth filled with monsters. I took the opportunity to break off one of the scorpion's legs to get at the meat inside. And let me tell you, that thing was huge. Each 'digit' from its legs were about half as tall as I was.

"I'm not sure." She responded honestly. "What year is it?" She asked.

"Uh, I'm actually not sure how the calendar year works here." I admitted. "I'm not exactly from Tortus." I explained as I used a knife that I'd made from the shark's teeth from before to dislodge the meat inside the leg digit. "But I do remember reading that the Vampires went extinct about 300 years ago." I noted. "Know anything about that?" I asked.

"Extinct?" She whispered with wide eyes. I took that as a no. "Has it been that long?" She asked herself.

"I suppose you were sealed before that." I guessed as I hovered the meat over the fire. "Damn, 320 years old." I whistled, impressed. "You don't look a day over 100." I said wryly. She looked at me blankly once again.

"It's rude to talk about a lady's age." She responded, cheeks puffed.

"Alright, alright, sorry." I held up a hand in surrender. The puffed cheeks did not deflate. "Fine! You're incredibly young and perky, and I bet you haven't aged a single day since being sealed." I said with utter sincerity and reverence. She perked up at that, smiling. I had to shake my head. "So, do all Vampires live that long, or is it just you?" I asked. "Or did the seal halt your aging?"

"No, just me. My body is constantly regenerating, so I don't age." She explained.

"Interesting." I hummed as I picked up the empty exoskeleton of the scorpion's leg digit. "I'm probably setting myself up for failure here, but you wouldn't happen to know where the exit to this Labyrinth is, would you?" I asked.

"No, I don't." She responded. Yep, figured. "But, legend has it this Labyrinth was built by one of the Mavericks." She explained.

"Mavericks?"

"Devout messengers of the Gods who rebelled and turned on their Masters." She said simply.

"Wow, seriously?" I asked, surprised. Impressive. "Picking a fight with Gods. That takes some stones." I quipped.

"Yes. They tried to destroy the whole world, but they failed and fled to the safety of their Labyrinths." She went on. "It's said that their souls still dwell within the deepest darkness of their constructs." She leaned her head on her palm.

"Fantastic." I rolled my eyes. "I'm basically on a glorified witch hunt. Wunderbar." I grumbled.

"But if we go to the deepest levels of the Labyrinth, it's possible we might find an exit." She noted.

"Here;s hoping." I responded. "That's the whole reason I decided to venture deeper into the Labyrinth. I was hoping that whoever built this place would include an exit at the end, otherwise what would be the point of building such a place other than just killing people?" I asked, using Appraisal on the exoskeleton.

Shtar Ore
A unique ore with a high affinity for mana. The more mana it absorbs, the stronger it becomes.
Hardness: X
Toughness: X

"Holy shit…: I whispered as I read the description on my status plate. "Holy shit!" I grinned widely.

"What?" Yue asked, curious.

"I think I just found the best material I could possibly find." I smiled widely. Yue's stare didn't falter, the request for an explanation hanging in the air. "OK, so you know what a Synergist is, yes?" I asked, getting a nod. "Well, I'm an Alchemist, which is basically the same thing, but instead of making weapons and tools, I make potions and brews."

"Alchemists are rare." She responded, impressed.

"So I'm told." I look back at the exoskeleton. "As an Alchemist, I can use Transmute on materials Synergists can't, like plants, wood, and even bone." I told her, gesturing to the pepperboxes. "The downside is that metal and other such materials are much harder to Transmute for me than for a Synergist, so making weapons isn't exactly my forte." I look back at the exoskeleton. "But with this exoskeleton, which is metallic, organic, and strong, that opens up a lot of possibilities for weaponry." I smiled widely.

Yue didn't seem to be as excited as I was, but she didn't refute me. I chose to take that to mean she understood my excitement, at least.

OK, so the first thing I did was remodel the pepperboxes. I kept the bone frames and handles, but replaced the barrels and other moving parts with Shtar ore. This had the double benefit of withstanding the bullet's explosions better, and reinforcing the mechanisms as a whole, making the guns more efficient. I also made some new bullets for the pepperboxes, using Fusion to create an alloy of Shtar ore and Taur stone to do so. I did the same for the new barrels.

My next move was to create a stronger weapon for use in emergencies, where the pepperboxes wouldn't do the trick.

This time, I went for a crossbow. Since it was an emergency weapon, I chose not to worry about having to reload it. The frame and the body were also made from the Shtar/Taur alloy, which I have chosen to dub Star-tower for auto-correct related purposes. I made the limbs out of bone that I'd collected along the way, compressing them and adjusting their strength and flexibility as needed, and the bowstrong out of sinew that I collected from the dead Cyclops' just outside the room. I even added some extra features to make it stronger.

With my mutations, I could afford to make the bow stronger than a typical crossbow, and really jump up the draw weight. A typical crossbow would have an average draw weight of about 70 kilograms, about 155 pounds for the Yanks. With the enhancements made to this crossbow, I was able to get it to about triple that. An ordinary human wouldn't be able to use this weapon, but with my mutations, the weight was no issue. Or rather, it was less of an issue, I should say. I mean, it was like two metres long, with proportionate limbs. You could use the bolts as escrima sticks. Of course it was quite heavy, but not cripplingly so. Not to me.

I'd have to make sure to pack as much Shtar ore as I can carry before we move on.

"A crossbow?" Yue asked when she finally deigned to take a look at what I was working on.

"Yep." I popped the 'p' sound. "Not just a crossbow, a hybrid of a crossbow and a railgun." I grinned like a kid on christmas. "This is going to pack a real punch." A Mach 2 punch, if I had to guess.

"Railgun?" She asked, confused.

"See those two rods on either side of the groove where the bolt goes?" I asked, gesturing to said rods. She nodded. "Those rods have been magnetised, so when I pull the trigger to release the bolt, it'll fly much faster than a typical crossbow bolt." Add in the enhanced limbs and higher draw weight, this was one powerful crossbow. It could probably pierce a tank at close range. "I think I'll call it… The Star-tower Crossbow." I shook my head at my own stupidity.

"Jack, how did you find yourself down here?" Yue suddenly asked.

"Uh, well, that's a bit of a story." I said thoughtfully. Where should I start?

"And where did you learn to manipulate mana directly?" She followed up, kneeling comfortably beside me. Before I could answer, she spoke again. "How can you digest monster meat? Are you even human?" How did you lose your arm?" Each question saw her leaning closer and closer to me.

"Yue, one at a time, please." I gently pushed her out of my personal space. "How about I start at the beginning?" I suggested, getting an accepting nod. "Alright." I gave a small sigh. "I suppose it started when I was first summoned. I'm a teacher, see. Myself, my students, and one of my colleagues all got summoned at the same time. They told us we were summoned to save humanity from the demons." I started.

~Flashback~

"I bid you welcome, to the world of Tortus, brave heroes." The Pope of the local Church gave us a respectful nod as we sat at the long tables in the conference room. "It is an honour and a privilege to have you here with us." He said sincerely.

He then went on to explain the inner workings of the world.

There were three races that lived in this world; Humans, Demons, and Beastmen. The humans and demons have been at war with each other for centuries, and though it had its hot and cold moments, it never really ended. Neither side ever really got a real advantage. Not until the demons somehow learnt to control the monster, drastically shifting the odds in their favour. Humanity is being pushed towards the brink of extinction because they couldn't defend against that kind of power.

So, in a desperate ploy to save humanity, the Church besought their God, Ehit, to grant them the power they needed to push back the demons and save their people. Ehit answered that call, summoning Heroes with incredible power to the Kingdom of Heiligh. We were those Heroes; myself, Aiko, and our students. Just as we were about to swap out classes to move on to our next lessons, that's when the summoning occurred; the entire class. If I'd arrived 30 seconds later, I wouldn't have been summoned at all.

"Well then, that's that." Kouki, the local casanova, said as he stood up. "We have been given a call to arms, and it's our responsibility to answer." He held up a fist. "We were brought here to fight against the Demons, and I say we do just that." He grinned confidently, trying to sound inspirational.

"Kouki, your White Knight Complex is showing." I said blankly, making him grimace.

"Sensei!" He practically whined.

"He's right." Aiko, my colleague, the Social Studies teacher, chimed in. "You're not going to fight in a war!" She flat out rejected the notion.

"I'm in." Kouki's best friend, Ryutarou, stood up. "I wouldn't want you going into the thick of it alone." He grinned toothily at Kouki.

"Ryutarou." I said warningly, making him flinch with a sheepish grin.

"Count me in." Shizuku rose as well. "I don't see any other option."

"Me too!" Kaori joined her. "If Shizuku is going to fight, then I am too."

"Kaori, Shizuku, sit down." I ordered the two of them. They gave a light 'eep!' and did so. One look was all it took for Kouki and Ryutarou to follow suit. "Your Excellency." I stood up, addressing the Pope. "May I ask for a private word with you and my colleague?" I asked. He gave a light nod, gesturing for us to follow. "Behave." I told Kouki with a warning finger.

"Why am I being singled out?" He huffed as Aiko, the Pope, and I stepped into the corridor.

"Your Excellency, I want to make it known that I certainly empathize with the situation you and your people are in, but I want to put an emphasis on the fact that you have summoned children, children, to fight your war." I told him with crossed arms. "As the only adults responsible for them, you have to understand why we would object to this." I said simply, Aiko nodding fervently beside me.

"I certainly do, Mr Meyer, and I appreciate the concern you have for the safety of your students." He said respectfully. "However, we are desperate. It is not just the nation that is at risk of extinction, it is the entire human race of this world. Without the Heroes, we will die." He said seriously.

"That doesn't excuse kidnapping a bunch of children from their homes!" Aiko exclaimed.

"I am sorry, Ms Hatayama, but I cannot undo that." He said regretfully.

"With all due respect, I'm sure you would say that even if you could send us back." I said bluntly.

"Perhaps." I could see that he did not take kindly to the implication.

"So, how can we go about making sure the kids are as safe as possible in this war?" I asked.

"Jack!" Aiko exclaimed, aghast. "You can't possibly be considering this!" She was horrified.

"I don't see much of a choice." I said honestly. "We can't stop them from fighting if they really want to."

"Of course we can! We can forbid them!"

"And how would we enforce that?" I asked tiredly. "Their parents aren't here, and the local authorities aren't going to stop them. This guy certainly won't." I gestured to the Pope, who curled his lip at the crude display, but I chose to ignore it. "The best we can do is make sure they're as prepared as possible."

"I… I…" Aiko hung her head, knowing I was right.

"After that, it was agreed that any fighting would be strictly voluntary on the part of the students." I said as Yue and I leaned against a tree that seemed to be made of crystal. "The rest would contribute elsewhere, also voluntarily." I took a bite of some scorpion jerky and a swig of water. "It was agreed that I would oversee the combatants whilst Aiko oversaw the non-combatants, so I was given an honorary rank in the Heiligh Military. I was to be the right hand man of Captain Meld, who commanded a unit of the Royal Guard. The combatant students were joined to his unit, hence my being his Lieutenant.." I took a deep breath. We'd gone down a number of floors since I started the story.

"Lieutenant?" Yue repeated, intrigued.

"Yeah." I nodded. "As an Alchemist, I was deemed to be useless for combat, but I proved them wrong pretty quickly by mass-manufacturing a couple thousand arrows for the military. I earned some respect after that." I rolled my eyes. It all seemed so silly now. "After that, we took on the Labyrinth. During a fight with a Behemoth, one of my own students stabbed me in the back; sent me plummeting off a bridge." I clenched my fist. "I was attacked by a huge bear. It ate my arm and almost killed me too. In order to survive, I had to eat monster meat. It changed me, inside and out. I decided then that I would survive, and not allow any obstacle to stand in my way. I vowed to destroy anything, or anyone, that did." I sighed deeply. "And here we are."

A moment of silence passed before I heard a stifled sob. I turned to see Yue crying into her arms, tears falling from her eyes as she held back her sobs.

"You're just like me." She sniffled, wiping her tears away.

"Yeah, I guess so." I agreed, drinking some more water. "Don't dwell on it too much. Any sense of responsibility I felt for those children died when one of them tried to kill me. I'm not even going to seek out the one who did it, I don't care anymore." I said honestly. "The only thing I care about is getting as strong as possible. Strong enough that no one ever tries to pull the same shit ever again."

"And after that?" Yue asked, wiping the last of her tears away.

"I haven't thought that far." I admitted. "I mean, I would like to see my parents and sister again, but other than them, my homeworld doesn't really have much to offer me. I honestly think I could thrive much better in this world, so I'm not sure I want to go home."

"Home…" Yue whispered, suddenly depressed. "I don't have a home anymore."

"I suppose neither of us do." I agreed. The silence hung in the air for a moment. "I guess… I wouldn't be opposed to showing you where I came from." I said hesitantly, getting her attention. "There's no magic, the people can be right twats even at the best of times, and the weather is just awful, but it's where I grew up. I wouldn't want to never see it again." I said honestly. "And if nothing else, if we can find a way to traverse worlds, we could even explore other worlds, beyond this one or mine." I said thoughtfully. "What do you think?"

"You're serious?" She asked softly. I gave her a gentle, comforting smile, one she returned quite brightly. Then before anything else could be said, we heard and felt a rumbling in the ground.

"Motherfucker, cock-jiggling, jiminy, fuck-face!" I cursed louder than I have in a long time as I fled from the massive pack of monsters that looked uncomfortably like Tyrannosaurus Rexes. There were a lot of them too. I'd already killed twelve of them, emptying both pepperboxes, and there wasn't any sort of cover for me to reload. And as if it wasn't bad enough that I had to carry my backpack chock-full of materials, as well as the Star-tower Crossbow, Yue decided she'd rather jump on top of the large backpack than run alongside me. "Why are there so many of them!?" I yelled as I sped along, the dinosaurs hot on my trail.

"You're doing great Jack." Yue cheered me on, very monotone I might add.

"That is not the appropriate response to our situation!" I snapped in annoyance as I leapt over a massive rock, hoping that might stall them and put a bit of distance between us and them. Spoiler alert: it didn't. "Am I crazy, or are there more of them now?" I asked with a growl as I sped up.

"I think there's more." Yue responded, still monotone.

"Fan-fucking-tastic!"

"You have a foul mouth."

"Well excuse me Princess!" I spat. Can't believe I just said that. "Were those flowers always on their heads?" I asked, sliding down a slope and jumping off.

"Don't know, but they're cute." Yue gave a giggle.

"Seriously!?" I scoffed. "Wait, didn't we see one trampling on a bunch of those flowers earlier?" I asked, the gears in my head turning. "If the flowers they were trampling were the same as the ones on their heads, then that could mean-"

"Parasites." Yue realised.

"You think so too?" I asked.

"That would mean something's controlling them." She continued.

"Yeah, but what?" I frantically looked around for anything that might help. "If we don't find the source, then we'll have to kill every single monster on this level. I don't know about you, but the former sounds better to me."

"Agreed."

"Uh oh." I said as one of the Dinos caught up, running right next to us.

Thankfully, I was able to spot a crevice in the ground right ahead of us. Before the Dino could snap at us, I jumped right in. For the next few minutes, we endured the rumbling of the stampede above us, but it subsided quickly enough. When I was sure that the Rexes weren't nearby anymore, I allowed myself to calm down. As I climbed out of the crevice, I looked around for anything that might lead me to the source of the flowers. Yue decided that that was a good time for a snack and leaned forward, sinking her fangs into my neck. Strangely, I could barely feel it this time.

As I continued to search, finding more of those flowers, but nothing that belied a source, Yue continued to snack, this time on the other side. I did notice that as the hours went by, each patch of flowers I found was denser and bigger than the last. That must have meant I was getting closer. As I followed along with the pattern, Yue decided to take another glug of my blood. I didn't mind at first, but this was getting to be a bit much. I only had so much blood.

"Yue, I would just like to point out that I'm not a beer tap." I deadpanned as I poked her cheek. It got her fangs off of me at least.

"It's not my fault your blood's so delicious." She said unapologetically.

"Maybe not, but I get the feeling I'm going to need as much blood in my system as possible." I gestured ahead of us. There was a large crevice in the wall, this one was covered in those flowers, more densely packed than any I've seen so far. "Does that look suspicious to you?" I asked.

"Yeah." She nodded.

"Then we should approach with caution." I said, slowly walking towards the crevice. Suddenly, there was another rumble in the floor, and I turned behind to see multiple Dinos approaching. "Nevermind!" I yelled, dashing straight for the crevice. I ran in just seconds before the Dinos crashed into the wall, the crevice too small to fit them. Still, as soon as I exited the other side, I quickly broke the crevice down with Transmute, blocking the entrance. "Made it." I sighed in relief.

"Good job." Yue said, ever so monotone.

"How about you stop using me as a stock horse then?" I asked, mildly annoyed that she had yet to leave her spot on top of the backpack.

"Fair enough." She sighed sadly, slipping down.

"Thank you." I said as I put the backpack down, staring into the dark cave ahead of us. "Now, I don't know if you noticed, the Dinos seemed rather unsettled by our presence here, so I'm guessing we found what we're looking for." I said as I grabbed and reloaded the pepperbox. "Be ready for anything." I told her, getting a nod. With that, we set off into the cave. Well, further in.

For a short while we didn't come across anything. No monsters, no Dinos, no flowers, nothing. The cave seemed utterly untouched and empty. Even my Sense Presence skill couldn't find anything that might suggest a monster lived in this cave. I was beginning to think we were in the wrong place, but then, something strange happened.

"Spores?" I asked no one in particular as some small, glowing green orbs came into view. And by a few, and a lot. "Yue, be on your guard." I said, raising the pepperbox. "And if you can help it, try not to let…" I trailed off when I saw the look on her face. Her eyes were wide, and her pupils had dilated. Her mouth hung open, almost in a diamond shape. She looked ridiculous, and if I wasn't certain that something was wrong, I'd probably be rolling on the floor laughing at how ridiculous she looked. "Yue?" I stepped closer to her. Suddenly, her face reverted to normal, but she looked terrified.

"Jack, run!" She yelled as she held her hands up in front of her ready for a spell.

"Fuckl!" I Quick Stepped out of the way. "Yue, what's going on?!" I demanded. As if on cue, a small green stem sprouted from the top of her head, a pink flower growing from it. The same pink flower that was on the Dinos' heads. "Fuck." I repeated, dodging another spell.

"Run!" She repeated as I continued to dodge her spells, each more powerful than the last. I chose not to respond.

I considered using the pepperbox, but chose not to. Even if I was confident I would be able to hit the flower and not Yue, I'd rather not risk it. My running came to an abrupt stop as one of her spells hit my leg, and I fell to one knee. A split second later, a spore hit my face, erupting into green gas that I inadvertently inhaled. Gave me one hell of a coughing fit. As I looked back up at Yue, I saw that someone else had joined the party; it looked like a voluptuous woman, with green skin, green wavy hair, wearing a strapless green dress, and a large flower on her head. The kicker is that her face was absolutely hideous. She looked like the lovechild of Poison Ivy and a Vileplume.

"Damn, you really put the 'vile' in Vileplume, don't you?" I coughed as the monster approached, standing beside Yue. It put a hand on her cheek, as if she were a beloved pet, and Yue's reaction was to raise her arms and cast another spell as I aimed the pepperbox at the monster. It hid behind Yue, knowing I wouldn't shoot her. I scowled as I lowered the gun, and Yue's spell was released. The orb of mana hit me directly in the chest, but I tanked it well enough. Hurt like a bitch though.

It was at that moment I could feel a flower blooming and sprouting from the top of my head. The monster hissed its satisfaction at the sight of me becoming its new pawn, but I could only laugh. Looking up with a wicked grin, I didn't need to do anything as the flower wilted and died, crumbling into dust as it fell right off my head.

"Poison resistance." I said, standing up. "One of many skills I've acquired since I entered this Labyrinth." I smirked. "Good try though." I mocked. It responded with an angry hiss, ordering Yue to throw another spell.

"No!" Yue pleaded as another orb of mana hit me in the chest. I tanked that one too. As my eyes drifted between the monster and Yue, I came up with an idea to get rid of this thing. "Jack! Please, just shoot!" Yue pleaded, tears in her eyes as I was forced to tank another spell. "Don't worry about me, just take the shot!" She screamed.

"I have a better idea." I responded with a smirk. Right as her next spell was launched, I Quick Stepped out of the way, doing so two more times, closing the gap between her and I in a few seconds. The monster flinched as I stopped right in front of Yue. I swiped my hand across, cutting the flower with a Gale Claw, the pepperbox still in my hand, and with a full 180 degree spin, I aimed point blank at the monster's face. "Die." I said simply, emptying the pepperbox into its face. It may have been a waste of bullets, but at that moment, I didn't care. I just wanted this thing dead. "Thank god for that." I let out a relieved sigh as the creature fell to the ground, lifeless. "Alright there Yue?" I asked, but paused when I saw the serious look she was giving me.

"You didn't shoot." She said simply, looking me in the eyes.

"Well yeah." I responded, holstering the pepperbox. "I mean, I'm confident enough in my shooting, I could hit those grenades back then with the scorpion and all that, but I figured the Gale Claw was the safer option." I explained. "Why? Is there a problem with that?" I asked.

"I think you scraped my scalp." She said dryly, a light pout on her lips.

"It'll grow back." I responded, equally dry. She looked up at me, her face the usual blank before she smiled and giggled, leaping forward and hugging me tightly. "OK, hugs." I said, confused. She was happy about something, I could see that, but what?

Women…

"So, I can't help but notice that you haven't eaten since being released." I said to Yue as I cooked some meat over a fire. "I'd offer to share the meat, but I don't think you want to go through the same changes I did. No telling what would happen to a Vampire who ate monster meat."

"It's fine, I don't need it." She responded, still smiling.

"Really? Because it's been about 36 hours since we left the cell, and I haven't seen you eat once." I responded. "Wait, did you just not eat at all while you sealed away?"

"I did not." She confirmed.

"Didn't you get hungry?"

"Starving. But not anymore."

"Really?" I asked, confused. "Did you eat when I wasn't looking, or…" I trailed off as it hit me. "My blood. You drank my blood." I recalled.

"Yep." She nodded happily.

"So you don't need regular food if you just have enough blood? Or is blood the only thing you can eat?" I asked curiously as I bit into the meat I'd cooked.

"I can sustain myself with regular food." She started, her voice tapering off into something else. "But blood is far more... Efficient." She purred as I faced her again.

"Uh, why are you crawling towards me like a predator on the prowl?" I asked blankly, though really I shouldn't have bothered. "And what's with the lip-licking?" Another unnecessary question.

"You taste good, Jack." She purred as she stood up, dropping the poncho, now completely naked.

"You know, taken out of context, that could be interpreted very differently." I said, getting slightly nervous as her face flushed.

"Your blood is so… rich…" She whispered. Why does she sound so aroused!?

"No! Not when you're like this! Can you at least put the poncho back on?! Back, back succubus!"

"There's no escape…"

"I need an adult! Wait, I am one. I need an adultier adult!"

"Time to eat…"

"The power of Christ compels you!"

"Ahm!"

"OW!"

A bit of comedy in this chapter, I hope I did well. Deviating from Hajime's weapons a bit more here, replacing his rifle with a crossbow. Happy to hear suggestions on other replacements, or just suggestions on what else he could make, and with what.