Katelyn.

  Shouting exploded outwards through the din and cmor of distant combat. Goblinoid shrieks and many human outcries of desperation and horror filled the curving chamber as she stalked forward, the presence of this test deviation returning caution to her prior, somewhat zy attitude. Of which had been steadily growing.

  "Why are there—so—freaking many of them?" A somewhat masculine and frustrated voice called out, his tone forcibly calm but betrayed by both the choice of words and the interspaced grunts between them. "It's a bloody swarm!"

  No others immediately replied, though the sounds of combatants exerting themselves within a desperate melee for survival were clear while bouncing off the walls.

  Sneaking a peak around a corner while her main body was hidden by stone, Katelyn observed the one-sided sughter, even as those who were doing the deed were hemmed in on all sides.

  "We're at the freaking first boss of the dungeon!" The spear-wielding fighter growled again, clearly compining but also about the business of kicking a goblin clear of his weapon with an armored boot. "The hell did they all come from?"

  There were at least ten corpses littering the ground, with a probable dozen or so still standing, more numbers than Kate might have expected, and all closing in around a small party of five motley individuals who brutally held the attackers at bay.

  In their center, a truly rge creature bellowed its fury as yet another armed and shielded man wielding a sword constantly dipped in and out of the giant hobgoblin's flurry of blows.

  His movements were almost artificially graceful, avoiding contact with the oversized club by, at times, what looked like mere breadths of a hair. All the while occasionally beating his bde against his shield while two archers at the back turned its unarmored torso into a veritable pincushion of arrows.

  Further back still, a young woman held a gnarled staff above and before herself, bespectacled eyes closed, lips moving in a rhythmic chant that caused a sort of—oily distortion about the air around them.

  The occasional goblin attempted to fnk the spearman who solely held off the horde, only for it to howl as though in pain and back away again, even as its immediate foe gutted it at the tip of his spear.

  "Is the hob going to die any time soon?" The other warrior called out, parrying a thunderous blow that knocked him off bance, causing him to need to duck and roll back to his feet, wherein he returned to his smming racket that drove his foe wild with rage.

  The response was more arrows, of course.

  Yet, the two archers were clearly breathing heavily; one, the shorter of the pair, using a much smaller bow as she repeatedly released, reached for a new arrow, knocked, drew, then released again, her efficacy blinding. The rapid pace of her attacks looked like the medieval equivalent of a semi-automatic handgun.

  Beside her, a chap with feathers sticking from his cap took a more measured approach, lining up his shots for a much longer time, extending the drawing phase of his motion to a near-shaking aim before his rger bow twanged with the force of wind itself, smming home with satisfactory noise but, not having much of a visible effect on the massive and berserk creature.

  The five fought with commendable teamwork, separating their foe's attention and systematically whittling them down while avoiding any significant injury.

  More and more goblins fell as their ranks were slowly thinned, Katelyn watching in utter fascination, loving every moment of what she saw and marveling at the pure visceral thrill she got from it.

  Games couldn't reach this desperation, this carnal drive, that primal need to survive, to grit one's teeth and dip the chin and battle for one's life. And, she found herself almost primitively euphoric at the sheer animalism involved!

  It was visible on both sides, and something about how real it all was lit a fire in her stomach the likes she hadn't felt in… well, ages seemed an appropriate enough phrase…

  Certainly, sex with Brandon (the condom syer) wasn't this exciting, given how often and quickly he was known to climax...

  Even as the rge monster staggered a fraction, its head shifting with woozy disorientation, Kate felt like a schoolgirl cheering her crush along at the sidelines of a basketball game!

  Her non-existent breath was stifled with eager anticipation as the swordsman switched tactics on a dime, rushing the creature and slipping his bde behind the beast's knees, arterial blood spurting through the air as it screamed in agony!

  A disgusting creaking ripped through the air as its weight betrayed itself, causing the nightmare to fall in a cringe-inducing snap of ligaments and tendons!

  Still, it wasn't beaten, savagely swinging its club to catch the warrior's quickly raised shield.

  The boss gave as good as it had gotten as the man shrieked in pain, the pnks of his defense breaking beneath the horrid blow and sending its owner sprawling to the ground.

  He knocked one of the archers from his feet, both men toppling over themselves, even as the spearman pivoted on a heel and pnted his weapon through the behemoth's ear, the shaft cracking as it howled, the man twisting the weapon violently.

  The beast toppled to the side with the sheer ferocity of its sudden jerk, nding, broken shaft first, against the stone and, finally, growing entirely still.

  The spearman, despite nding the killing blow, dropped the broken weapon and drew a mace from his hip.

  So much had happened in what felt like mere seconds that Katelyn had to shake herself with a force of will to snap into motion. Her chance, if there was to be one, was quickly slipping away from her, even as she moved!

  Katelyn wasn't willing to exactly get stuck into the brawl, but neither was she without her own quickly forming a pn. Not entirely confident in her aim given the distance, Katelyn manifested as many coins as she could fit into a pocket formed of her tongue.

  Then, flinging them from as close as she dared to, as hard as she was able, she put to use her potentially obscene strength to devastating effect.

  Her barrage shredded several of the goblins as most of her coins went low or wide; however, a handful caused painful grunts to emanate from the yet-standing fighter, while behind him, the archer screeched with horrid agony as she dropped her bow, reaching to one of her eyes.

  Better still was what happened to the mage who, despite the range, found herself crying out as well, one of her legs raised in pain as the girl staggered and her spell fizzled...

  There was a moment, brief as it was, where all seemed to grow—still.

  A sullen silence filling the cave, broken only by the sobbing wails of the young archer still on the floor.

  The spearman, now absent his primary weapon, shook himself, staring as though in disbelief as several copper coins clinked against the ground, releasing themselves from the subtle impressions into his thick jacket, eyes following them as they went.

  He righted himself, blinked as though in surprise, and then groaned as several goblins around them took a collective step forward.

  “Oh… gods damn it…” Was all he managed to say before the green creatures screamed with maddened bloodlust, lunging at the party, those still with their wits drawing small bdes in turn.

  What had been an admittedly visceral life-or-death battle, which had Katelyn on the edge of her seat, transitioned into a savage moshpit entirely without the exhiration and romance of it all.

  Body crawled upon the body as the smaller but more numerous goblins tried to overwhelm their foes!

  Kate saw the longbowman scream in terror and pain as at least three of the monsters repeatedly stabbed him with a relentless fury of prison rules shanking.

  The wounded warrior who'd been tossed finally managed to find his legs, quickly retrieving a small vial at his belt before staring at the carnage before him, then started running back the way he came!

  There was a thunderous shout from the remaining fighter who doggedly refused to die, killing contender after contender who got within reach; promises of death, revenge, hauntings, and curses all filled the air to follow his departing companion.

  Yet... Eventually, the fighting settled.

  And as Katelyn crept forward, cautiously observing the situation, she noted that all remaining combatants y dead or dying in a single bleeding pile of bodies.

  The partially blinded archer was wheezing wetly, each breath sounding ragged and horrible as she panted, limbs stuck beneath two dead goblins.

  The mage, though unmoving, appeared simply unconscious as she rested against the stone wall, a tremendously rge welt across her temple alluding to a vicious strike from a club.

  One was for certain dead, the second archer who she'd seen dogpiled and simply butchered, while the warrior who had stood his ground was ragged but victorious.

  He was ughing as he reached for his belt, only to find broken gss on his fingers, the precious liquid they held seeping to the floor while he visibly took in the dark humor of life with exhausted eyes...

  He sighed, coughing a bit of blood from his lips as he leaned back and rested his head, though not yet ready to simply die.

  "Role count?" He dejectedly asked, tone bitterly amused as he corrected himself a moment ter. "Except for that weasel we picked up at the bar?"

  "A-alive…" The archer whimpered, her own voice barely audible through its scratching.

  "Bia? How about you?"

  When nothing was forthcoming, the warrior grimaced as he rolled himself over, wincing from a gut wound that a hand was already covering while peering over the bloodbath, eyes gncing at the silent magician before he just—sighed and let himself fall back down.

  He grunted as a nearby goblin shifted, knife still in his hand as he efficiently pnted it in the creature's skull and ripped it right back out again, chuckling as he did so.

  "Bia, how's the potion situation?" But, when the girl still didn't reply, he snorted, a hand reaching out for the dead bowman not far away. Rummaging blindly for some sort of pouch before he retrieved an intact vial with a smile.

  That was when Katelyn struck.

  Her tongue snapped the potion from his weak fingers as she deposited it within herself, happy she could get one without it breaking!

  The man—blinked at her, no doubt catching the retreating pink tongue and the sudden appearance of a random chest that most definitely hadn't been there before. He stared as though disbelieving for several moments, then sneered with visceral hate.

  "Go fuck yourself…"

  Species: Human.

  Name: ???

  Age: ???

  Height: one-point-eight meters.

  Sex: Male.

  Level: Twelve.

  Css: Warrior.

  Profession: ???

  She ate him a moment ter, dragging him face-first into her maw and snapping shut over his neck, not wanting to take any chances. She heard a pitiable gurgle as she nguidly pulled her prize further and further into her, Katelyn looking down in her phantasma form as the young archer woman watched with complete despair as her comrade was devoured right before her eyes.

  Species: Demi. (Half Human, Half-Elf).

  Name: ???

  Age: ???

  Height: one-point-five meters.

  Sex: Female.

  Level: Ten.

  Css: Hunter.

  Profession: ???

  Katelyn eyed the woman as she finished her meal, ignoring the messages and notifications as her body turned to face her, thoughts calcuting and cold as the girl tried to scream and crawl away, horror, tears, and pleas for mercy all babbling from her lips as she scrabbled at her comrade's robes.

  Objectively, Katelyn knew what she was about to do was—perhaps, somewhat callus; however, that sort of knowledge hadn't ever stopped her before.

  Her tongue shot out to rope the girl in, the archer kicking and screaming, holding on to whatever she could as Kate's tongue began reeling her in!

  Was it bad that she felt a tingling exhiration in the girl's hopeless plight?

  No. They'd wanted her to be a monster.

  This was what they deserved.

  Kate nearly had the half-elf to her maw, but a heartbeat before the sound of unraveling paper caught her attention. Despite her alert disposition, she was completely caught off guard by the sudden action from the mage.

  Her woozy expression and dazed eyes did not seem to hinder the sudden and rapid chanting that flowed from her lips, magical words causing a glow to fill the space around them the same instant she attacked; then, the world around her went blisteringly—white…

  Katelyn found her perspective rapidly jerking away, her phantasmal form flying as though on wings propelled by chemical rockets as her body tumbled end over end, smashing against the far wall!

  She was stunned for several moments, her body unable to seemingly react; all the while, her ghostly consciousness watched with sheer disbelief and confusion as the mage hoisted her wounded comrade to her feet.

  Light was shining in bring blooms of radiance from one of her hands as the woman chanted and worked her fingers before dumping a vial of crimson potion down the other girl's mouth, then on her ruined eye.

  She cast a frantic gnce in Katelyn's direction as the monster girl made to rise, still—partially paralyzed and shaky before, again, a scroll burned from her fingertips, and the monster sat helplessly as a raging inferno was hurled towards her!

  This time, she felt the pain, and she screamed, body and soul both as her form burned! Lid chattering with agony, her phantasmal form feeling like it was alright with dragon fire!

  Everything hurt!

  It was madness!

  She couldn't think, couldn't act!

  Her entire world descended into a tightly packed pit of agony and despair from which she knew no soce!

  When it finally subsided, the—pain slowly dispersing, at least that which had attacked her soul, the cave was completely quiet.

  Her monstrous form rose back onto its makeshift legs, wounded but decidedly alive and functional, naught but the searing memory of what had come before standing to remain...

  Hours seemed to pass as she tried to orient herself, trying to shake off the lingering sensation of molten fury that had her seemingly wandering in a daze of disorientation and confusion when, once more, the world around her vanished into darkness...