Natasha the Halve

My glow intensified along with my rage, and I jumped towards the spider.

Then, I offered it a banquet of agony in which I grew obese with hate. So far I had hidden the animal within me, wasting it and casting it to shadows of my own creation, rotting beneath my golden beauty.

I tore the spider's limbs one by one with the ruthlessness of a starving predator.

Its screeches became the chorus of its requiem, the instruments of the waltz that would inevitably break its body. Like a puppet controlled by a child, its movements were erratic and indistinct.

Nothing more than a toy for my entertainment, I thought while butchering the creature.

My spear moved with brutal accuracy, the blade whistling through the air and singing its demise.

Why do spiders scare me? I wondered, slashing its thorax and tearing it open with my hands.

The entrails rained on me, tickling my nose with fetid scents. Nothing that could compare to a corrupted demon's blood, however.

Everything stands beneath me.

I stabbed.

Eager to please those who so generously allowed their continued existence.

I ripped.

Why am I cursed and hunted like game?

I tore.

Why do they dare to point their ugly and pathetic selves in our direction?

I stomped.

Have they forgotten their basic desires?

I slashed.

Have they lost their instincts?

I stored my helmet and bit.

Has peace dulled their senses to the point of idiocy?

I chewed.

Even a beast knows not to taunt those above it.

I spat, the taste not pleasant at all.

The spider had died already, but I continued to maul the corpse solely for my satisfaction.

And yet, anger still drowned my mind. I had opened the gates, flooding my senses with the ocean of rage that bloomed when the vermin chose to commit the greatest of crimes.

Have our ways made them porcine with complacency? They have feasted on our victories, not setting a plate for us on their ingrate tables. I turned around and faced the group, focusing on Alyssa.

She squinted and averted her eyes, blocking her face with a hand. “Can you lower the brightness? You're blinding us,” she commented.

The day will come when the parasites will take aim, pointing at beings above them with their feeble and ugly plans.

I turned back to the gate to the next floor. “They will dare,” I muttered and took a breath. “Because they have forgotten fear.”

Though different in nature, I had already seen a world end due to greed and denial. How destructive the gushing ulcers of industry and ideology are when they devour a world unchecked and blind to the consequences.

Fear is the greatest of faiths. It's a monster lurking in the shadows. It feeds on the mind, corrupting it. Their ignorance will be my weapon. Their hope will be the weakness I will aim for. While they stare with violent envy, I shall give fear a form... to remind them of who their gods are.

Yolin walked next to me and put a hand on my shoulder. “What was that?”

I looked at her and smiled.

She squinted and covered my face with a hand. “You're too damn bright!”

I shall foil their plans with mocking violence, castrating the very ideas off their minds with words so corrupting their inferior selves will revert to the most base of forms.

Alyssa approached me wearing her sunglasses and took my face in her hands. “How can you see? Your pupils are glowing as well,” she commented in surprise.

I stared at the Luzo. To achieve that, I have to elevate their divinity. To make them into beings so absolute and exceptional, those who dare will only see disdain as results of their sins... then be culled like the pests they are.

“Are you okay?” Yolin asked, pinching my cheeks. “Talk to us.”

I hugged them both and rubbed my cheeks on theirs. “Everything that seeks to harm you will experience the worst of deaths by my hand,” I calmly commented. “Such insolence will only gain them the greatest of despairs.”

“Uh...” Alyssa hesitated for a second, pulling back a little. “Who are you talking about?”

“Whoever, or whatever, fits,” I replied with a smile. “I will kill them all.”

The two shared a concerned look and looked back at me.

“Why?” Yolin asked with a small smile.

I turned to her. “If any of you get harmed, I will end those responsible for even trying,” I replied with a serious face.

“Damn!” the Oni blurted out, then sighed with worry on her face. “Is this Halven anger?”

Alyssa's scaly eyebrows climbed her forehead and she frowned. “Don't make decisions when you're angry, Natasha,” she chastised me. “You're not a child, nor are you in a position that allows you to make mistakes that big. How about you channel your anger and clear the dungeon instead?” she offered with a tilt of her head. “We'll have a talk when you calm down. Understood?” she added with a serious tone that implied the conversation was over.

Yolin nodded at her words, waiting for my answer.

What Alyssa said had cleared my mind for a brief moment. Enough to reign in the violence, but not enough to lessen the anger.

I had broken my own rules of anger management and went down an unnecessary path. I nodded, choosing the middle ground. Being stubborn would not do me any good, and the anger still gripping my mind prevented me from calming down completely.

The two had more life experience compared to me, all things considered. A million years in Hell would not make me smarter or wiser than them. Not when things happened the way they did.

Alyssa nodded as well.

I turned my back on them and walked past the dead spider. “Sonya!” I called my mount.

She approached and stood next to me.

I climbed on her and wore my helmet, then took a deep breath. The air going into my lungs intensified the storm within. Now without a target to vent my thoughts to, actions were the only option left.

“Are we going to talk about what just happened?” Pokora asked out loud with a confused voice.

“Keep up!” I announced and pushed E'er into Preparation, Initiation, Dragoon Might, and Monster Hunter with an indefinite time, then tapped Sonya's neck.

The Ratnak rushed forward and broke through the gate that opened to the downward slope, took sharps turns traversing the bends going down, then broke the following gate as well.

I pushed E'er into Intimidate Prey as soon as we crossed into the floor, and shouted, “Come, spider filth!”

Ear-piercing screeches came in response to my taunt.

I stored my shield and pulled a second spear from my storage, then looked around the dungeon floor.

It was a tropical rainforest enveloped in darkness.

I stored my helmet and everything my eyes could see was revealed by my intense glow. I have around twenty spears above Epic quality, I thought with an angry scowl. “Time to go Катюша,” I chuckled.

The first spider rushed forward between the brushes and I instantly threw a spear at it, then produced another one.

A second spider showed up and I shot the second spear in its direction.

Spiders appeared in hordes, rushing towards me.

I threw spears left, right, and above, rotating between the twenty I had. After half a second they returned via shift, making it a close forty throws each second. The shock-waves that the skill produced killed quite the number of spiders while Sonya carried me through the floor. I abused my dexterity to aim a little below their eight eyes, piercing their brains with above-surgical precision.

“We're behind you!” came Pokora's voice.

So, I kept at it.

For forty hours straight I killed everything in the dungeon. Nothing could escape the effects of Intimidate Prey, throwing themselves towards me.

Whenever a Floor Guardian showed up... full-strength spear to the head. Whenever Morthar Swarms showed up, Elena took control over them.

I continually absorbed E'er, keeping my pool above eleven thousand. Whenever it flowed into me, I kept thirty percent and sent the rest through the bond to the party. I also stored everything that looked useful after clearing each floor. Plants and ores were the priority.

When I cleared the 75^th floor, which was a sandy plain with scarce vegetation where desert spiders and scorpions roamed, Pokora caught up to me on her mount.

“Natasha,” she called out to me. “Thelea wants to get her third class for a while now. Let's take a break.”

I stopped Sonya and let out an annoyed sigh. “Fine,” I muttered then went towards the dungeon walls.

Sonya approached and sniffed the wall, giving it licks every few seconds.

I dismounted and walked up to it for inspection. Gordon had mentioned the mine held gold, but I had no idea how it looks like when raw.

Sonya scratched the wall with her claws, removing some of it. She sniffed the pieces that fell and returned her focus to the wall.

To distract myself from the anger I observed the Ratnak.

She scratched the wall and licked small pebbles. She sometimes took large bites of rock only to spit it out after chewing for a few seconds. After a few minutes of scratching and licking, she moved away from the wall and charged at it, then gave it a strong headbutt.

The wall cracked and broke, revealing milky white rocks with gold spots the size of a needle eye.

Sonya rasped and jumped in a circle around me.

“Found gold, huh?” I pointed out, fairly surprised. “I thought it came in larger amounts, though.”

She moved behind me and pushed my back with her head towards the wall.

I walked up to the spot she broke and ran a hand through the ores. “What is that? Looks like quartz to me,” I wondered, peeling a little off with my fingers. “Definitely not marble,” I muttered while looking at the thing.

It was the size of a compact disk and had gold spots forming lines that divided the white mineral. It was beautiful.

Sonya bit the air next to me, making her jaws click loudly.

“Here,” I offered it to her.

She snarled and used a claw to push my hand back. Her eyes went from my face to my hand, then she bit the air again.

I raised my eyebrows. “You want me to eat this?”

She nodded and jumped in circles around me.

I brought the thing to my nose and sniffed it.

It smelled like a rock. Earthy, metallic, cold, and dusty.

I shrugged. “If you can eat ores, why couldn't I?” I muttered and gave it a small bite.

The rock had no taste and it felt like sand in my mouth.

Sonya watched me take the bite and nodded, then trotted to the wall and had her fill.

I summoned a bottle of water and took a sip, then sloshed the liquid in my mouth and swallowed. If worse came to pass I could simply chug a healing potion. I had faith in my body, though.

The Ratnak stood on her hind legs and bit the ores. When her teeth stabbed the stone sparks flew out.

I want to kill something, I thought, looking around the dungeon floor. If only those Changelings would show up... I'd squeeze their pesky necks! How dare they try to kill me. Fucking lunatics.

The sound of sand being stepped on came from behind me.

“Hello, there,” Pokora greeted me. “What are you doing?”

I turned around and showed her the rock in my hand. “Sonya found gold,” I told her.

She inspected my face for a few seconds. “You look angry,” she commented.

“I am,” I admitted with a nod.

She nodded with an unimpressed face. “You're acting pretty calm to me,” she insisted.

I tapped my temple and replied, “Anger management.”

“Ah,” she uttered and walked to my left. “Is it rude if I ask you about it?”

“No. Not really,” I replied, looking her in the eye.

She met my gaze and smiled. “Your entire eye is gold. That's pretty cool,” she chuckled.

Sonya distanced herself from the wall and charged at it again, breaking more of it with a headbutt and revealing a larger vein of the ore.

“So you have trouble with anger...” Pokora muttered with a nod and placed an arm around my shoulders. “Is that why you choked my back in Lakeview?”

I nodded.

“I see,” she whispered. “Well, I can count myself lucky I didn't end up like that spider.”

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. “That's not it, girl.”

“You have to admit that was a bruh moment,” she argued with a laugh. “Also pretty fucking yikes from both of us.”

I snorted. “How is that a bruh moment?”

“Like, I look back on it and think 'bruh', get it?” she explained with a smile.

“Not really,” I shook my head. “I don't think I get it.”

"Well, that's unfortunate," she commented with a shrug.

We continued to watch Sonya eat the ore for a while.