My eye twitched at her insult.

  “You… did say that!”

  “Nuh-uh. I said I was going to be the queen of beasts and giant centipedes. Something like that.”

  “Whatever you say, failed abortion.”

  Her smile vanished as she stared at me. “I’m going to kill you.”

  I conjured a fireball. “Round two, let’s go.”

  She leapt down from the giant snake, but Hessien quickly stepped between us. “Alright, alright. We have more important things to deal with.”

  Whatever.

  I crossed my arms, and Vacinay huffed, about to shift into her cat form before stopping. “I want to recover all my EP first.”

  Ghomas nodded. “Yeah, same.”

  I could use some rest, too. We sat down for about twenty-three minutes. Vacinay was the first to stand.

  Without hesitation, she morphed her nose into that of a cat, sprouting feline ears and a tail. Oddly enough, they were perfectly proportionate to her body.

  That made me wonder…

  “Is the size of those cat parts natural, or do you consciously make them that big?” I asked.

  She glanced at me. “Eh? Why are you asking a failed abortion?”

  “Bitch, you called me a damn wench! It’s not like you’re actually a failed abortion.”

  She crossed her arms. “You don’t know my sad, tragic backstory...” Her voice cracked. “H-how I feel when… when—”

  “Just get to the point,” I interjected.

  She rolled her eyes. “Fine, fine. Anyway, yes, I control it.”

  “So, have you ever tried making the cat form huge, like a tiger?”

  Her annoyed expression shifted to one of wonder. “Did… well, I thought of that! But…”

  She glanced around. “Anyway, let’s get moving.”

  “Do you think you skipped a cut scene or something?” I asked.

  Instead of answering, she extended razor-sharp claws from her fingers and leapt toward the ceiling she’d pointed at before the snake showed up. Upon reaching it, she clung on with just her feet and left hand, using her right leg to push against a section of the ceiling, shifting it aside.

  With her hair cascading downward, she locked eyes with Ghomas and commanded, “Give me a clone.”

  “Right.” He created a fast clone, which crouched low before launching itself into the new opening.

  We listened intently, bracing for an ambush—

  “Intruder!”

  We exchanged nods.

  Vacinay instantly morphed into a massive tiger with metallic green fur. With incredible grace, she slipped inside. The next thing I heard were screams.

  She works fast.

  I followed, jumping through the ceiling… door? Not sure what to call it. Either way, it was another dark tunnel.

  Hessien came next.

  Ahead of us, Vacinay padded forward in her tiger form, stepping over the brutally torn bodies of three half-men.

  Talk about ruthless.

  She shifted back, leaning on her knees. “Okay… turning that big burns through a lot of EP. Not too much, but more than I want to waste.”

  “It looked powerful, so it seems worth it,” I said.

  “I know, right?” she grinned before shifting the upper half of her face into a feline form. Then she crouched low, sniffing the ground.

  Hessien chuckled. “That’s quite a sight. Ass high, head low. Perhaps… a mating call?”

  “Go fuck yourself,” she responded.

  “That makes me wonder. If Ghomas made a female version of his clone and fucked it/her, would that be incest? Selfcest? Or just ethically wrong?”

  … That’s a good question.

  “Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.” Vacinay thought it was funny.

  “That’s a crazy thing to think about,” Ghomas muttered.

  “But it’s a legit question,” Hessien pointed out.

  “It’s weird!”

  “You’re the one always making weird jokes,” I said.

  “Since when?” he asked, looking at me like I was a nut job.

  “‘So, let’s say you had to choose between marrying an older person versus being trapped in a jail cell with a guy who says, ‘I like you, and I want you. Now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.’ Which would you choose? Personally, I prefer older women, but the prison situation would make for an insane story to tell. Because, like, every night you have to guard your booty.’” I quoted him verbatim.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “Oh.” He fell silent.

  We arrived at a fork in the tunnel: one path straight ahead, one left, and one right.

  “Which way?” I asked.

  Vacinay stood up. “Straight… but I smell people there.”

  Hessien stepped forward. “I wanna clear them out.”

  “What if they’re one of the mega-strong guys?” I asked.

  “Then I’ll just die, duh.” He strolled toward the tunnel, his fingers curling explosive mist pellets—but denser, more concentrated.

  FYI, I didn’t know the actual name of the skill. I just called it that.

  Hessien grinned and dashed inside.

  The moment he entered, nine hulking giants with various skin hues and tails turned toward him.

  “Heh… food!” One of them lunged.

  What’s their level…

  Level: 20

  Level: 22

  They all ranged from level 20 to 22!

  Hessien kept running as they thundered toward him. A blue-skinned giant leapt onto the ceiling and used it as a springboard, launching at him at blurring speed.

  That idiot!

  Time—

  He flung a pellet at its face. The giant howled before crashing to the ground.

  Huh?

  The rest charged in. Hessien fired the remaining pellets at their faces, and one by one, they collapsed, coughing violently—like they were drowning.

  Vacinay laughed. “They’re suffocating?!”

  That’s… really pushing the limits of his ability. What if he applied that logic to his general mist skill?

  Incredible.

  Hessien’s moment of glory didn’t last. His expression shifted as he turned and bolted toward us.

  Drained his EP already, didn’t he?

  “Come back here!” A green giant with a snake-like tail leapt over him, plummeting like an asteroid.

  “I didn’t mean to attack you all! It was an accident!”

  Hessien dodged just in time, narrowly avoiding decapitation.

  “Accident?! You ran in and targeted us!” The giant yanked its massive axe from the ground, eyes locked on him.

  Hessien glanced at the three twitching giants. “Yeah, but… if you think about it, it was future self-defense.”

  The remaining giants charged from all directions.

  Time froze.

  The moment I activated my skill, Hessien—mere seconds away from getting cut down—was spared.

  I sprinted forward, knife in hand. For a brief moment, I felt like an assassin.

  Heh.

  I vaulted over an axe, wrapping my legs around a giant’s neck before pressing my blade to his skull.

  The knife left my hand frozen in time.

  That’s about two seconds.

  I repeated the process on another. Unfortunately, with only two knives at my disposal, I couldn’t pull off a badass moment where they all dropped dead simultaneously.

  Ah well.

  With my work done, I landed and brought Hessien to safety.

  That was about six seconds.

  Time resumed.

  Grinning, I waited for the carnage to unfold.

  The giants continued their swings, expecting Hessien’s head to still be there.

  Then the knives clattered to the ground with a metallic clang.

  ...

  Wait… they… also unfreeze?

  Then I got hit. Hard.

  Everything went black.

  I opened my eyes just in time to hear Hessien screaming as he bolted. "It was an accident!"

  "Accident?! You charged in and attacked us!" One of the giants roared, yanking his axe from the ground, eyes locked onto him.

  DAMN IT!

  What a dumbass mistake. I was experimenting… and it got me killed.

  Ghomas stormed in, electricity crackling around his fingers. Just as one of the giants was about to split Hessien in half, a massive thunderbolt slammed into its skull.

  This wasn’t some normal lightning strike—it was huge. The burnt stench of seared flesh filled the air as the giant staggered, collapsing to its knees.

  And yet… it didn’t die immediately.

  "Damn, that took everything I had!" Ghomas groaned.

  Hessien turned on him. "I took down three of them, and you’re telling me that was everything you had?!"

  Speaking of which… Hessien’s mist didn’t dissipate like it had against those orc-half-man earlier. Maybe he was manipulating it differently?

  Besides, those giants weren’t dead yet. Dying, sure. But not dead.

  I conjured a dense fireball, no bigger than a bullet. One of the giants shifted his gaze from Hessien to me. I raised my hand like a gun.

  With one eye half-closed, I muttered, Target in sight. Requesting permission to fire. Request granted. Open—

  A red beam blasted from its mouth, striking me dead center in the temple.

  …Maybe I should stop screwing around so much.

  My legs buckled. Everything faded to black… again.

  I woke up to the sound of another giant getting blasted by a bolt of electricity.

  Vacinay bounced on her feet, head bobbing like a boxer, hyping herself up. Then, in a sweeping motion, she conjured a massive, two-headed dog—easily over two meters tall and weighing a solid 900 pounds.

  Gripping her sword tight, she turned to me. "You and I are up next! Let’s gooooooooooo!"

  She was still four levels lower than me—

  She suddenly lurched forward with an unsettling grin, like a psychopath mid-fall, and took off. Her monstrous dog rushed to Hessien’s aid.

  And where was she headed?

  Well…

  "First, I’ll be taking those!" she hollered, leaping high with her sword aimed downward.

  With a sickening crunch, she impaled one giant through the skull, splattering herself with blood and brain matter. She wasted no time moving to the next, splitting its head open just as efficiently.

  Hessien’s jaw trembled in betrayal. "You… BASTARD!"

  Vacinay rose from the carnage, blood-drenched and eerily calm, her gaze shifting to the remaining half-men.

  I asked, "You want me to freeze time but leave you unfrozen so you can—"

  She ignored me, dashing forward. At first, she slipped on the blood-soaked ground, but she didn’t let it slow her down. Her legs morphed into feline limbs, claws digging deep into the earth, launching her forward at incredible speeds. She was faster than me.

  She hurled her sword mid-run. The blade sailed through the air and buried itself in the head of a giant that nearly crushed her dog's head.

  Then she transformed.

  Not just into the tiger she had before—but something different. Something much bigger (Like a hyena compared to a rhino). This wasn’t just a size increase. The beast had a mane. It was muscular. Its metallic fur bristled like razor-sharp spikes.

  Did she… level up her cat skill?

  She tore into the nearest giant’s throat, ripping out a massive chunk, before moving onto another—her dog still bleeding heavily beside her.

  Alright. It was time for me to shine.

  I formed another fire bullet and aimed my finger gun. "That’s for last time!"

  The tiny fireball shot forward, hitting the giant half-man in the mouth. It tried the same beam attack—but look how that turned out.

  Its eyes rolled back, and it crumpled to the ground. The flames didn’t even expand.

  I get it now. Flame expansion was dictated by my intent—my instinct pushing its limits.

  After all, it’s called fireball, not explosive flames. If I thought of it as a bullet, it functioned like one, burning and melting whatever it hit instead of spreading out.

  I turned to the last giant. It struggled, desperately trying to keep Vacinay’s claws from sinking into its throat.

  It locked eyes with me, fear creeping in it.

  I placed a finger to my lips. Shhhh.

  Why did I do that? Hell if I knew. It just sounded cool in my head.

  Anyway… time for some kill-stealing—

  With the wrath of a mad king, Hessien roared, spear gun blazing as he unloaded shot after shot at the half-man. Not that it mattered—his attacks barely did any damage.

  Like I was saying—time freeze, baby!

  Without warning, the half-man felt something divine—an angel’s touch upon his neck. A touch so soft, so precious, so unnervingly holy.

  And other fancy words to make me sound elegant.

  He tried to see who it was, but it was too late. I buried my knife deep in its throat.

  I whispered, "You shouldn’t have left me for dead… I told you I’d come back as a ghost."

  His eyes widened in sheer confusion before he collapsed.

  Vacinay turned human again, half-covered in blood and guts, narrowing her eyes at me. "Kill steal."

  "Shut up, wench."

  Hessien exploded in anger. "You both stole my kill!"

  I adjusted my imaginary glasses, holding an imaginary book to my chest. "Did you know that murder is a sin? Thou who commit such acts shall not inherit—"

  BANG!

  Hessien cocked his spear gun, its barrel glowing red with power.