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Title: Of Cats and Magic

Chapter: 7

Author: Riko Gonzalez

The chamber was expansive, much more expansive than any other chamber of the

cavern they had entered up to this point. Jagged crystals jutted out of the high

ceiling, a bluish glow emanating from them, droplets of some kind of translucent

liquid dripping down from them into shallow pools. Although the cavern had

possessed dim lighting up to this point, the lighting in this chamber was

different. True, it wasn't all that much brighter and still qualified as dim,

but the light here was a soft, bluish glow.

Ruko, having already put the map away, led the group around the many pools

toward a slab of stone at the center of the chamber. Next to the slab was a

glowing, blue monolith. They had finally found the altar. Where was the one-eyed

worm?

As if on cue, tendrils of bluish plasma began extending from the monolith,

growing in number and size. The many tendrils than coalesced, separating from

the monolith and forming a glowing blob. The blob proceeded to take the shape of

a humongous worm with various tendrils forming and deforming along its body, its

head possessing one massive eye, its entire body a translucent blue.

The monstrosity, easily towering over the group before it, let out a silent

roar. Well, at least it looked like it roared. The whole noise aspect of the

roar was utterly missing.

Undaunted by the beast, Ruko stepped up to it. Crouching down, she then sprang

forward, landing a powerful kick on the odd creature. The force of the blow sent

it bouncing back, its body jiggling like gelatin. All this happened without a

sound. Each bounce of the one-eyed worm resulted in no thud. Apparently, this

thing didn't just roar silently. It appeared to just not do the whole noise

thing.

***

"Guess she has it under control," Riko commented as she watched.

In silence, as the battle between Ruko and the one-eyed worm continued, the

liquid from some of the pools around Riko and Timothy began to do something

rather peculiar. Namely, some of the liquid from the pools began to rise up.

Timothy was the first of the two to notice this phenomena.

"Riko, prepare yourself! Some things are forming from the pools!"

As the blue cat spoke, the risen substance from the pools had taken on vaguely

humanoid forms. These forms had already begun to stagger forward. The creatures

certainly weren't fast, but that did not mean that they weren't dangerous.

"I got this," Riko said, summoning her trusty staff.

Darting to the nearest liquid humanoid thing, the wheat-skinned catgirl promptly

beheaded it. Simply put, she had landed a staff swing on the side of its head,

causing its head to splatter. Well, it was basically walking liquid.

The creature, in response, didn't do much of anything. Instead, it merely

continued to stagger forward, paying no heed to the loss of its head.

"Go down already you stupid zombie water!" Riko stated in annoyance, taking

another swing. This time it was an overhead strike. The blow connected and

bisected the creature. The two halves of the creature melting away a moment

later.

The cyan-haired catgirl took on a triumphant expression as she looked to the

remaining humanoid beasts. The triumphant expression didn't last. More of the

things were in the process of forming, adding further to the count.

***

Two tendrils silently swept forward towards the amethyst eyed catgirl. They

missed their target and instead soundlessly connecting with the stone floor.

Countering, Ruko rushed forward, throwing a powerful punch. Her fist found its

target, leaving the one-eyed worm to bounce back, its gelatinous flesh still

rippling when it came to a stop.

Once more, the creature unleashed a silent roar, rearing up as it did. The beast

already easily toward over the blonde magical girl, but it proceeded to puff up

its body anyway, becoming even bigger. Some creatures puff up as an intimidation

tactic. This wasn't merely an intimidation tactic, though. The one-eyed worm was

clearly preparing to crush the much smaller catgirl before it.

Of course, that wouldn't work. The beast's massive body predictably came

crashing down, targeting the lithe blonde with the devastating blow. It was no

match for Ruko's speed, though. By the time the attack struck, the catgirl had

already relocated to the side. An explosion of stone shards followed as sediment

was thrown into the air from the one-eyed worm's massive form slamming into the

stone ground in perfect silence. There was no boom as one may expect.

Ruko blocked a few stray shards of stone before rushing forward. Taking the

opportunity, she slammed her foot into the side of its head, causing the thing

to spin back. Once again, its body was still rippling when it came to a stop.

This monstrosity was proving to be quite resilient --- at least when it came to

physical attacks.

***

"There's no end to them!"

Riko dispatched two more of the water zombies with a swing of her staff.

However, in the time it took for those two to be stuck down, more than two

additional water zombies had been formed. This was the pattern that was playing

out again and again and again. At this rate, it wouldn't matter how many of them

were defeated. There would always be more.

"I see your point," the winged-cat replied to his cyan-haired companion.

If this kept up, they would be overwhelmed. Timothy was well aware of this.

There was simply too many of the things forming at too rapid a rate. However, a

thought occurred to him. What it the water zombies weren't independent? What if

they were connected in some manner to the one-eyed worm? They were the same

glowing, translucent blue that the one-eyed worm was.

He glanced towards the colossal beast, checking up on how the fight was going

against it. Clearly, his blonde ally wasn't in any danger of losing. The problem

was that the one-eyed worm appeared to have plenty of fight left in it. With the

increasing water zombie count, they did not have the luxury of waiting for Ruko

to finish it.

"Riko, try taking out the one-eyed worm with your flame. If my thoughts are

right, that may put an end to this endless water zombie problem."

Riko, though, found a ring of water zombies rapidly closing in on her. Spinning

around, she lashed out with her staff, knocking them back and setting the lot of

them on fire.

"I... uh... meant to do that."

"Sure you did."

With some distance between her and the water zombies, the pink eyed catgirl

turned her attention to the one-eyed worm. It was still engaged in melee against

Ruko, failing to hit her as she landed blow after blow on it.

"Ruko, get out of the way. I'm going to torch that thing."

The taciturn blonde nodded before jumping to the side, putting some distance

between her and the beast. The one-eyed worm, for its part, looked from Ruko to

Riko, clearly confused about what they were doing.

The next moment, there was a flash of light and then lots and lots of flames.

The whole of the gigantic creature was consumed, its body convulsing in agony,

its flesh bubbling. Then it outright exploded, vaporized by the intense heat. As

for the water zombies, they all promptly melted away.

"You set the cavern on fire," Ruko commented in the aftermath.

"How the heck did I manage to ignite stone?"

"Doesn't matter," Timothy replied. "Lets just get out of here before the fire

gets any more out of control."

"I'll lead the way," Ruko said, taking out the map.