Yue

"Ahem* Sorry for the late introduction, my name's Hajime, Nagumo Hajime. And you are...?" Though I know her name, I should pretend to not know yet.

"I...don't have one. Hajime, I want you to give me one."

No name? Oh yeah, 'Hajime' named her. Completely forgot about that fact haha.

"Alright, then how about 'Yue'?"

"Yue...?"

"Yeah, it means moon. I think it suits you."

"Yue...I like it! Thank you, Hajime!"

"You're welcome," I grinned as I patted her head.

"Mm~"

[Analysis done.]

'Nicely done, A-chan.'

With this, I copied her abilities. Those abilities will come in handy.

"Then, Yue, let's get out of this place." I offered my hand to her and she took it.

"Yes, Hajime!"

And that, kids, is how I met my first companion. I've taken another step toward my goals now. Next stop, advancing to the lower floors!

.....

"Hmm, so you're over 300 years old?" I took a bite of the skewered meat in my hand.

"Such a rude thing to say to a lady." Yue pouted. How adorable, she's like a kid that got her candy taken away. But to call herself a lady...I glanced at her. Yeah, that's stretching a bit...

"Did you just think something rude about me?"

"Haha, of course not." How scary, a woman's intuition. I should probably change subjects. Yue...your gaze is piercing me.

"Ahem! In the books I've read, it's said vampires went extinct 300 years ago. How long do vampires live?"

"I'm different, I have 'regeneration', I don't age. I was 12 when I awakened my powers and since then I was like this. By 17, I was the queen of the vampires. When I was 24, my uncle became king and I was to be executed as a monster. But my 'regeneration' kept me from dying so they sealed me instead and the rest is history..."

"Hmm, from that story, I assume vampires aren't much different from humans then."

"Yes, vampires have a longer lifespan of around 200 years, and have a higher affinity for magic. However, vampires have lower fertility than humans."

A way to balance the slightly longer lifespan huh?

"Do you know where we are?" Let's see how much she knows about the labyrinths.

"I'm not sure but it is said that this is a labyrinth created by one of the traitors. Once followers of god but challenged him in ancient times. It is said they tried to destroy the world. Their schemes were discovered by the gods and they fled to the ends of the world. And the places they fled to are the seven great labyrinths.

"Traitors?" Pff– don't laugh out loud, me! Traitors, she said, that Ehit guy took it that far. Well, I'll surely pay him a 'visit' and have a 'nice' chat with him. He was the one responsible for summoning 'Hajime' and indirectly...Me.

"Hajime...?"

"Oh sorry, I got lost in my thoughts."

"Okay...Hey, Hajime, why...are you here?"

"Ah, that? Haha," I chuckled and told her how we were summoned into this world, how I was betrayed by that guy, and fell here. Of course, I excluded A-chan and my transmigration. These will forever be my most kept secret, at least until I am powerful enough to not care about anything.

"Anyway, that's all there is to it. Let's sleep, we still need to go down tomorrow." I immediately lay down and closed my eyes.

"Good night, Hajime."

Good night huh? Didn't think even simple words like those can make me smile. Must be the effect of finally having a companion in this abyss.

.....

"After all those floors, now it's a forest? And dinosaurs?"

This labyrinth sure is weird, I've been going down the labyrinth floors with Yue for a few days now and our progress is quite fast. The corresponding floors are easier now since we are now a team.

We just arrived on this floor and it was a forest with dinosaurs as inhabitants. The weird part is, there are flowers on their snouts.

*Raaawwwwr!*

"Ah they noticed us"

"Sorrow" Yue casually fired a light arrow that pierced through the T-rex knockoff monster.

"Hajime, am I helpful?" Yue looked at me with anticipation in her eyes. She reminds me of a dog I used to own.

"Pff– haha"

"Why are you laughing...?" She pouted.

"Nothing, anyway, you are helpful, Yue." I patted her gently. It has been quite a habit these past few days.

"Hehe~"

"Yue, get ready, we have some 'guests' approaching."

It didn't take that long before we saw a horde of raptor-like monsters, and they have flowers on their snouts too.

"Let's go, Yue!"

"Yes! Sorrow!"

Multiple light arrows shot out from Yue. Not to be left behind, I took out Donner 2.0 and shot multiple shots powered by my lightning. After killing these guys, we proceeded to walk around but they kept coming, and we discovered something weird.

"...Parasites," Yue muttered.

Yeah, more than likely, these flowers are parasites that controlled these monsters. There was a similar fungus back on Earth too. So they have that here too but...

"Someone must have been planting it on these guys."

The monsters' movements were far too organized to attribute to only parasitic flowers controlling them.

"Let me extend my magic sense."

Hmm, I spread out my magic sense but its distance was limited. Though I did find something weird in a certain place. The mana there is flowing differently.

"Let's go, I think I've found it."

"Mm!"

I kicked off the ground followed by Yue and we both rushed towards the place. We found the place, it was a cave. When we were inside, I felt the mana in this place different but I didn't feel any presence.

!? I suddenly felt something creeping toward us.

"Yue! Behind!"

*Swoosh!* *Bam!*

I hastily dodged an incoming attack. I had no time to counter it with my sword or gun.

"Tch," The dust settled down and I finally saw it. The monster was a humanoid one, it resembles a woman but half of her body was plants with thorny vines. It held Yue in her arms.

"My body...I can't control...it."

"Is that so...? Okay!" I grinned then took out Donner 2.0 and pull the trigger.

*Bang!* *Splat!*

The sound of something being squashed resounded in the cave.

"You okay?" I walked towards the stunned Yue and patted her.

"You fired..." She muttered.

"Huh? Of course, how else would I have killed it?"

"Not even a moment's hesitation..." She said while slightly trembling.

"It's not my fault you got caught even when I warned you. Besides, leaving it for longer would be more disadvantageous. Killing it by surprise is the best in that situation."

"Uughh, leave me be! Hmph!"

"You're sulking?! What are you, a kid?"