Chương 127: Tunnel Vision

Not again, I thought and quickly reactivated [Haste] and jumped down into the cavern. On the way to the floor I noticed two strzygi. One of them was slowly turning around. He probably heard me. For someone not using [Haste] he was surprisingly fast, but not fast enough. I squeezed off two [Clean Entry] powered [Push] bullets at them and blinked toward the tunnel, knowing I was about to get a surge of mana flowing back into me.

The booms that followed sounded slightly more slowed down compared to when I was not using [Haste], but not by much. [Generous Gift +70% Damage] [You have gained 1 level.] [You have gained 1 skill point.] [You have gained 3 stat points.] At last, I caught up to Kasia. The strzygon carrying her must have heard the noise, but hadn't turned around to look what was causing it. Perhaps he knew it was me and wanted to get away as far as possible, not looking back, however, was a mistake.

I fired off a [Clean Entry] at the back of his head, painting the tunnel red. His body immediately went limp and Kasia dropped on the rocky ground, covered in black blood. I deactivated [Haste]. [Generous Gift +75% Damage]"Hecate!" she said.

"I was so scared!" I crouched down next to her.

"Yeah, me too. Are you alright?"

"I… I think so. Just a few scrapes."

"You need a health potion?"

"No. I'll be fine."

"Good. We should probably get out of here. I'm sure there are more of these things," I said, pulling her to her feet. I started walking back to where we came from, but got a bad feeling in my gut.

"Hold up, Kasia."

"Are they coming?"

"No. At least I don't see or hear any. I just… I wonder where he was taking you. And why. What if there are more people? Regular people?"

"You want to make sure?" Kasia asked.

"Yeah. I mean chances are that there aren't, but I feel like we should at least take a look. If you're cool with it, that is. I totally understand if you're not. After what just happened." Kasia was silent for a few moments, then slowly nodded to herself. She must have made a decision, because her solemn expression turned into a grin.

"I think we should…" She paused, and I leaned in, anticipation building.

"… super kill them!" she said with a fist pump. I couldn't help but snort, part of the tension evaporating. I didn't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't that. Maybe I should have. I quickly reminded myself not to get too comfortable, because this place was still potentially full of ravenous man-eating demons that apparently held grudges. I'd be pissed too if someone killed ten of my buddies and took my snack, so I wasn't expecting a warm welcome.

"Try to get one of their heads," Vasil said, startling me. I jumped.

"Woah, I totally forgot you were still there."

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"I'm also still here," Bogumir said.

"Because I can't go anywhere. Because I'm hanging from your belt."

"You gain any levels?" I asked Vasil, ignoring Bogumir's complaining. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. He nodded.

"Four."

"What?! I only gained two!"

"Your level is higher than mine."

"I guess. Should we check out some skills now or after we check out what's going on down here?"

"Hecate. You should take the time to consider your skills in a safe location. Not somewhere where everything wants to eat you." I pointed my chin at Kasia.

"Kasia doesn't want to eat me." Kasia nodded. Vasil shot me a blank stare.

"Hecate."

"Yeah, yeah," I said, waving him off.

"Let's see what's at the end of this creepy tunnel." I took a step deeper into what I assumed to be their lair and nearly lost my footing when I stepped on a bit of strzygon.

"Watch out, guys. It's slippery here. Someone left a bit of strzygon lying around." I chuckled softly to myself. Good one, Hecate. Bogumir groaned.

"You have the humor of a father of three."

"Thanks."

"That wasn't a compliment."

"Why not?" I asked.

"My father is a very funny man, and he only has one daughter. A man with three children must be three times as funny."

"If we survive this, I'm going to find your father and have a very long conversation with him."

"Oh yeah? Unless you think you'll magically grow some legs I doubt that. I appreciate the sentiment though. For now you'll just have to make do with my jokes. But don't worry, when I go back to Asteria, I'll take you with me and you'll be able to meet him." I thought I heard him whisper "what the fuck," but I couldn't hear it clearly, so maybe he hadn't said anything at all. Maybe it was the wind and I was imagining things.

"You say something?" I asked. Kasia turned to me.

"Who, me?"

"No, Bogumir."

"Oh."

"I didn't say anything," Bogumir said, but the way he said it made it sound like he did say something. Clearly, he still had attitude problems. Perhaps he was feeling insecure because he was just a head and not contributing much. I had to save Kasia all by myself, and the information he'd given me about the strzygi wasn't particularly helpful either. Maybe I should say something to make him feel better? I said the first thing that popped into my head.

"Don't feel bad, Bogey."

"What? Why?"

"Don't… uhh… feel bad?" I should have just kept my mouth shut. I assumed telling him not to feel bad would make him feel better, but clearly it didn't. Maybe he wasn't even feeling bad before, but what if now I told him he shouldn't feel bad he'd start to feel self-conscious and actually start feeling bad. Which was the opposite of what I wanted. I started to sweat.

"Sorry?"

"For what?" Bogumir asked.

"I don't know? Making you feel bad?"

"I'm not feeling bad."

"You're not?"

"I am."

"Huh?"

"Well, you killed all my friends not too long ago." He paused.

"Actually, they weren't very nice people, and I guess they weren't really my friends. But I worked with them for a long time." Now I was getting confused.

"So are you feeling bad or not?"

"I, uh, I guess maybe I don't feel as bad about that as I'm supposed to."

"Great!" I said.

"Glad you're feeling alright, then."

"I feel pretty bad about not having a body." Whew. That was a relief. He wasn't feeling bad about anything I'd done. Him losing his body was his own fault, after all. I barely had anything to do with that. I looked down at his head, swinging rhythmically with every step I took. I really was doing him a favor. Back at the Church he was just a cog in the machine, probably super bored, clearing lame dungeons and not even getting any cool loot. Now? He was an adventurer. A pioneer! Sure, he was missing his legs.

And his arms. And everything else that wasn't his head. But he had a front-row seat to history. I wondered if he realized how much he was saving on shoes and food. Probably a lot. I hadn't just saved his life, I'd saved his finances as well.

"Yeah, I feel you," I said in my most understanding voice.

"I'd feel bad too if my own mistakes resulted in me losing my entire body. You're probably pretty glad I saved your life though, aren't you?"

"Saved my… what? My own mistakes?"

"No need to thank me," I said cheerfully.

"Just glad I could help." I heard Kasia snort or sneeze behind me.

"Bless you," I said just to be sure, which prompted another snort. The tunnel didn't feel particularly cold or damp. Maybe she'd caught something earlier.

"Saved my—" Bogumir started, but I put my hand over his mouth. The end of the tunnel came in sight and I could hear high-pitched shrieking like there were a bunch of large birds getting squeezed. I don't know. You'd expect the strzygi to sound more like owls, since they sort of half-resembled them, but they didn't. They sounded like high-pitched big angry birds. I slowly snuck closer, not wanting to reveal myself. The tunnel led into a large hall, though a lot smaller than the cavern from before.

Inside were more candles and more strzygi. From the ceiling hung some human corpses that looked like they had been bled dry. Off to the side was a rusted cage that had some people in it. They still looked normal, and definitely still alive. Probably either what was left of the villagers, or travelers like us. The strzygi were all standing around a flat slab of rock that had what appeared to be a very pregnant woman lying on it. She was on her back and her arms and legs were tied.

Behind her stood a strzygon easily twice the size of the rest, and more bird-like as well. An angry-looking thing. It had huge talons and massive feathery wings. Was it even a strzygon? Maybe it was something else and just kind of looked like them. Maybe it was a closely related cousin? I cast [Soul Index] out of curiosity. I was sure I was far enough away that they wouldn't notice. [Strzyga Matriarch] Status: Ravenous All of them turned to me. Guess I wasn't far enough away.