Catgirls And Dungeons (Yuri)

Now that the spiders are taken care of, and Eris has collected their mana cores, we finally return to the real matter at hand—

The one that's never truly gone away.

"Okay, so…" Eris's voice breaks the silence. Calm, but edged with steel. Her expression sharpens, eyes narrowing with focus. "How are you feeling right now?"

The chaos of the battle had numbed it—muted the dread like a buzzing I'd pushed to the back of my mind. But now, as quiet settles once again over the frozen forest, I close my eyes and let myself feel.

Ba-thump.

Ba-thump.

That same pressure clamps down on my chest. Tight. Suffocating.

"It… it's still here," I whisper, my voice shaky. My fingers close tightly around Eris's hand. "That feeling hasn't changed at all. It's still nearby."

"I see," she murmurs, her tone deepening, the playfulness from earlier now completely gone. "So it wasn't the spiders after all."

I nod slowly, my brows knitting together.

If it wasn't them… then what?

There are no more enemies here. No movement. Just the mangled remains of battle strewn across the snow—and a cold, dead silence that refuses to lift.

But the fear inside me?

It hasn't left.

If anything… it's grown.

Eris folds her arms across her chest, her expression hard. She scans the treeline, eyes flicking between every shadow, every unmoving branch.

"Hmm…" she mutters, her fingers tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Actually… I think you're right. Something is off."

I blink, startled. "W-What makes you say that?"

"It's their smell," she replies, her gaze darkening. "Yeah, spiders always stink. But this? This was worse. Way worse. Like they were already rotting—even while still alive."

A shiver runs down my spine.

"And normally," she continues, her voice low and intense, "after I kill a dozen or so, the rest would run. Retreat. They're aggressive, not suicidal. But those things?" She glances over her shoulder at the carnage behind us. "They just kept coming. Like they didn't even care if they died."

My stomach twists uncomfortably. "Like… they'd gone crazy?"

"Exactly." Eris gives a grim nod. "It wasn't normal. It was like something infected them. Something driving them into that frenzy. Either they were starving… or there's something nearby that's messing with their minds." She clicks her tongue. "Tch…"

That sound—that sharp, impatient noise—makes my skin prickle.

Her frustration is rare. Which only makes me more nervous.

"So… what do we do?" I ask quietly, shifting my weight from foot to foot. The dread in my chest pulses harder, like it's clawing at my ribs from the inside.

Eris says nothing.

Instead, she slowly lifts her hand.

With a flick of her fingers, a shimmer of shadow pulses beside Eris, a ripple of dark energy that twists and coils in the air.

From it, a weapon takes shape. A sword.

Long. Heavy. Forged from pure shadow.

It hums softly with restrained power, its edges barely visible, as if the light itself refuses to touch it.

Eris grips the handle and rests it over her shoulder.

Her gaze sharpens. Her voice lowers into something colder, more serious.

"Now that we're already here," she says, "I want to investigate this thoroughly. But…"

She pauses, turning to me. Her eyes soften just a little.

"…only if you're okay with that."

"I-I'm fine!" I say quickly, straightening up. My tail flicks once, nervous. "Don't worry about me."

This fear, it isn't going to go away on its own. It's not something I can ignore.

I need to understand what's causing it…

Otherwise, I know I'll never sleep peacefully again.

And more than anything, I don't want to hold Eris back.

Eris nods, her expression firm with quiet approval.

"Then, if you can still feel it… can you tell me which direction it's coming from?"

"Hmmm…"

I close my eyes, trying to center myself.

It's not like normal sensing.

There's no magic aura. No sound. No signs.

Just this overwhelming pressure.

A pulse of dread.

Thick. Heavy. Invisible.

I don't even know if I can really do this.

But still… I try.

I begin turning slowly, rotating in place like some kind of broken compass.

First clockwise. Then counterclockwise.

Nothing.

Nothing—

Then suddenly—

THERE!

!!!

As I turn left, it slams into me like a wall!

My breath catches in my throat.

My ears twitch violently.

My hair stands on end.

My tail bristles like it's been struck by lightning.

"T-This way!" I gasp, pointing into the dark. "I can feel it! It's coming from that direction!"

A flicker of resolve sparks in Eris's eyes. "Got it."

She steps forward, her boots crunching into the snow, then reaches back and extends her hand toward me.

"You guide me," she says. "And I'll keep us safe. Stay close behind me. No matter what happens."

I swallow hard.

"Nn…!"

I slip my hand into hers.

Thus, steeling myself, I become her compass— one led not by logic or sight, but by instinct and dread. Every step I take in that direction tightens something in my chest.

The pressure grows thicker. Heavier. Like walking through sludge made of pure fear.

Above us, the sky still dances with auroras—ghostly veils of green and violet rippling across the heavens, but somehow, the light feels dimmer now, like it's afraid to touch this place.

The air grows colder too with every step. Sharper. It cuts through even our enchanted coats, chilling me to the bone.

And the silence…

It's unnatural.

No wind. Not even the creaking of frozen trees.

Just stillness.

Complete, suffocating stillness.

Even Inky, now in his small, catlike spirit form, floats beside us with his body puffed up and ears twitching.

He's silent too. But his glowing eyes scan the shadows with the same unease I feel in my bones.

Crunch.

Crunch.

Crunch.

Our boots sink into the snow, each step leaving behind faint, shallow prints that vanish almost as quickly as they're made.

The snow here feels different.

Heavier. Denser.

Like it's swallowing sound.

Like it's swallowing us.

And the deeper we go, the more it feels like the world is closing in around us. The trees leaning closer, the silence deepening.

Eris walks just ahead of me now, her silhouette framed by the dim, shifting light above. Her grip tightens around her summoned blade. Her eyes never stop moving, sweeping across the terrain, the trees, the shifting shadows. Every few steps, she glances back at me, silent.

Her gaze asks only one question:

Is it getting worse?

And every time…

I nod.

Yes.

Minute by minute.

Step by step.

The pressure intensifies.

It crawls across my skin like a film of ice.

It settles behind my eyes.

It coils along my spine like a frozen serpent, squeezing tighter with every heartbeat.

My chest feels constricted.

My breaths grow shallow, quick.

It's like something is watching us, something just out of sight, hiding in the silence.

Waiting.

Then, finally, we push past a thick wall of frost-covered trees.

Their gnarled branches reach for us like brittle claws, scraping across our coats, snagging on our sleeves.

And suddenly, the forest opens!

I stop.

My breath hitches.

A clearing stretches out before us, bathed in soft aurora light that ripples like torn silk across the sky above. The colors shift faintly—green, violet, pale blue—ghostly, beautiful, and wrong.

At the far end of the clearing…

A frozen waterfall.

Not large. Not grand.

Just a modest cascade suspended in time, the icy sheets glittering faintly beneath the shifting light.

And beneath it, the pool is still and pitch black—blacker than midnight, blacker than spider blood.

The stones around it are coated in frost, jagged and pale.

And beside that pool…

Spider eggs.

Dozens.

No—hundreds.

Clustered in thick, twisted nests of silk.

However, there's no adult spiders nearby.

None…

…maybe because Eris slaughtered them all earlier? I wonder…

My blood turns cold.

This place—

This place feels wrong.

"H-here…" I whisper, barely able to get the words out. My voice shakes, breath catching in my throat.

"It's… it's here."

Eris narrows her eyes.

She looks ahead. Then back at me.

Her voice lowers, quiet. Cautious.

"…Wait. You mean this waterfall?"

I swallow hard, my mouth feels dry as dust.

"…Yes. It's… inside the waterfall."

And the moment I say it out loud…

That pressure slams back into me. Full force!

Hoooolly shit….

Like a vice around my skull. Like a scream I can't hear, but feel in my bones.

My head throbs.

My knees nearly give out!

But Eris is there, her hand anchoring mine, keeping me grounded.

And because of her…

Because she's here…

I manage to stay standing.

Barely.