13: Horror inside the Dungeon

Suicide – Instantly reduce your Health to 0 and end your life willingly.

Quote: "This twisted world has taken a toll on your fragile mind. You no longer had the drive to press forth and chose to end it here. May the darkness of the afterlife welcome you with open arms as you find more peace in that world than you did in this one. Your story is done."

"Defolta, Defolta!"

Thanks to Nekowa's meddling, the Magical was able to snap herself out from the momentary daze that she suffered thanks to reading the new skill that she recently unlocked.

If even one could even consider that a skill…

Thanks to her High Mind, Defolta took a series of deep breaths to successfully compose herself and looked at Nekowa straight in her eyes, "I'm okay, I'm okay."

"You really lose yourself yet again." Nekowa's sulk was evident on her face.

"Yeah, sorry about that." Defolta said and recovered from the short ominous ordeal, "More importantly, did you see that shit as well?"

"Indeed." With their sights intermingled, Nekowa as well witnessed the notification that the System had delivered to the Magical Girl, "If the System is even hinting about dark intrusive thoughts, then its more of a reason for us to tread lightly at whatever things that greet us here inside."

"This is all too fuck up." Defolta stated with frustration evident in her tone, "What is this, some sort of horror simulation?"

As if answering her question, a notification appeared on the upper left corner of her sights as it told an eerie note:

"Your Sanity declines with each passing moment."

"Really, now." Defolta nervously muttered under her breath, "It's all fun and games when playing video games of the horror agenda. As a matter of fact, I do quite enjoy them for the terrific and quite the immersive story-telling elements. But it's a fucking different story if you are a character living in it."

"Yeah. I myself am not too fond of all this as well." Nekowa voiced out her shaky emotions about the matter, "While you are lucky that you at least possess the capability to defend yourself, the same can't be said about a poor defenseless cat like me."

"Anyways, no use in crying over spilled milk now." Defolta managed to step herself out away from the emotion of fear thanks to her respectable Mind, "I better check my Mana often, seeing that my mind is gonna get screwed from here on out."

Verifying her Mana, Defolta saw that it now sat at 219 /220, showing unmistakable evidence that her Sanity, A.K.A. Mana in this case as she deduced, was truly dropping down. Fortunately, it was reducing at only a slow rate, but it was still something to be worried about, especially since they didn't know what they were going to encounter down the dungeon.

As the pair finally descended deep from the stairs, a narrow hallway greeted them. At first glance, there was nothing out of the ordinary. Only the sound of the Magical Girl's footsteps echoed the whole silent-filled area. With each step being undertaken, the dreadful feeling that she had been feeling for a while now only grew more intense, with the heavy atmosphere contributing to her uneven breathing.

But as they delved deeper, the smell of blood and something foul became more apparent. The walls were now filled with stains of blood as terror threatened to take control of the duo's entire faculties.

"Your Sanity declines with each passing moment."

The System oh so told them again, and apparently, it was not a one-time message, serving to perhaps remind them of the darkness of the situation that they were truly in.

"The smell of death lingered in these hallow hallway that you tread upon."

Mind Check (22), Success.

"Despite the fear encouraging you to walk away, you still persevere, whatever worth that it may be to you."

Painfully trying her best to ignore the ominous messages, Defolta pressed forth with Nekowa acting as her support.

The walls turned bloodier the deeper they ventured. Eventually, they witnessed a trail of blood which led to a door nearby in the left corridor.

"Defolta?" Nekowa's shaky voice was heard, "Are we seriously going to follow the blood?"

"The prisoners might be inside there." Defolta said while gathering her resolve, "Whatever is inside, get ready to run if it's dangerous."

Holding her breath, Defolta pushed the door, entering the room with Nekowa trailing closely behind.

And what came next turned Defolta's whole view of the world upside down.

Mind Check (22), Success.

Despite the successful Mind check, it still did not prevent Defolta from being sick at the sight that was presented to her in full, uncensored view.

Unfortunately for Nekowa, she did not fare better and vomited at the cruel display. It took every ounce of the cat's willpower for her not to faint.

Inside a small prison cell, battered bodies of naked male children were chained to the walls. Their fragile small bodies were injured and broken as Defolta gritted her teeth angrily at the monster who was responsible for this atrocity.

Thankfully, relief washed all over Defolta when she inspected and saw that the children were still alive, thanks to the constant rise and fall of their chests, an indication that they were still breathing.

"M-Matilda?" As Defolta was about to save the boys, she heard the voice of an adult man coming from the right corner of the cell.

When Defolta turned her sights towards the source of the weak voice, shock instantly took all over her as she could not believe at the sight, or rather, the hideous condition of the man that she was presently looking at.

Mind Check (22), Success.

If Defolta would say that the individual in front of her was half the man that he once was, then her statement was true of the most literal way possible.

The man's whole body was amputated in half, with his lower body all gone. Bandages covered the lower region of his upper body while he was also chained to the wall like the children around who he shared the cell with. The man also had bandages that covered his maimed left eye, with the majority of his face bruised up.

He then eyed the newcomer, hopelessness present on his uncovered right eye.

"Matilda… have you finally come to end us all?"