His body is infused with ki, so although I was expecting it, I barely manage to twist out of the way.
“Bella!” shouts Vanessa.
“I’m fine,” I call back.
Jinlan continues his assault, and I continue dodging by just a hair. I haven’t taken any real damage, but I am getting a bit bruised, just from the sheer amount of ki he has radiating from him. I underestimated him. He is indeed only first rate in skill, but he has much more ki than a normal first rate would.
It seems like my third theory was correct. I have no idea why he’s so intent on killing us, but it’s highly unfortunate. I want to retreat back to Vanessa, but Jinlan is too fast. I would never make it if I ran, and I can barely avoid his strikes backing up. I’m not sure I can safely maneuver around him. If I want to get back to Vanessa, I’ll have to defeat him.
…But I don’t have to do that now. Right now, he’s pushing me back toward the opposite archway, straight toward the treasure. Maybe I could fight him now, but what if the treasure is a weapon? That would make things much easier. And if it’s not? Well, whether I fight him now or in an hour, it doesn’t really change anything.
I let him push me back further and further. His eyes get more desperate, and his attacks get wilder, but that only makes him easier to evade. When I’m only a few feet from being out of his range, he tries to dive at me and wrap me up, but I saw that coming. I take a half step in and deliver a kick to the inside of his knee, causing it to buckle slightly, ruining his jump. I use his brief moment of imbalance to dance back the last couple steps into the far hallway.
“Bella!” shouts Vanessa again.
“I’m fine,” I repeat. “Just stay there.”
“Get back here,” says Jinlan, leaning forward, the chain taut on his ankle.
“No,” I say. “Why are you trying to kill me?”
“Come back here and I’ll tell you.”
I glare at him for a few seconds, then look past him at Vanessa. The girl is pale with fright, but her eyes look as clear and observant as ever.
“Vanessa, I’m going to go grab the treasure,” I call. “I’ll be back in a bit. Whatever you do, don’t go into the room.”
“A-are you going to be alright?” she calls back.
“I’ll be fine,” I say. “Just stay right there.”
“Okay!”
I take a final look at Jinlan, then turn and walk down the tunnel. Contrary to what I was expecting, he doesn’t try to make me stop. Either that means he’s given up, or he’s confident he can win, even if I get the treasure. Both are good for me, so I just keep walking.
There are a few more traps in the tunnel, but all obvious and avoidable, and after only a minute and two turns, I come upon a staircase leading up. At the top, there’s a door, and I can tell that whatever is producing the ki is just behind it. I ascend, and for a moment, I wait, checking for traps. After confirming there aren’t any, I open the door and enter.
The entire room is just a circle with a flat ceiling. The only entrance is the door I just came through, and the room’s only notable feature is a white pedestal with a simple wooden chest on it. The ki around the chest is intense, and has the same vibrant quality of the ki I felt leading me here, but as I approach, I realize that it is the chest itself producing the ki, not the contents.
I suppose that makes sense. It’s meant to be a test, but some treasures likely don’t give off enough ki to be properly detected, so they use the chests to make it more fair. It’s a bit disappointing though, since I was hoping for a thousand year ginseng or something like that based on the ki. Maybe I can take the chest with me though. Even if I can’t actually find a long-term use for it, something with that much ki will be almost indestructible, making it potentially a good tool to use against Jinlan.
I still don’t quite trust whoever set this up, so I make one last check for traps before opening the chest. There’s no lock, and the hinges are well-oiled, so it opens easily and without a sound. The contents are not as quiet.
“Mrrraw!”
Before I have time to react, something leaps out of the box, touching my hand. A spark of ki travels up my arm and into my head, and for a brief moment, my vision goes dark. When I can see again, there’s a cat nuzzling its head against my still-outstretched hand.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
I leap back and get in a defensive stance. The cat peeks out over the edge of the chest with a confused purr, making me take a step back. That is not a normal cat.
The most obvious abnormality is its eyes. It has two ordinary yellow ones, and then a third in the middle of its forehead, this one with a purple iris and black sclera. It hops out of the chest and onto the pedestal, revealing that it also has three tails. While clearly supernatural in some way, those features alone aren’t what makes me react like this. Rather, it’s the ki.
It looks like a kitten, but it has more ki than Jinlan, and there’s something incredibly unsettling about it. I can’t tell what it is, exactly, but it makes me feel like there’s a colony of ants living under my skin. When I look into its third eye, I feel intense vertigo, and I have a feeling that staring for too long could be dangerous. Fatal even.
It jumps to the ground and starts approaching me, and the skin-crawling sensation gets worse, so I back up even further until I’m right at the doorway. It doesn’t look like it intends to attack me. In fact, it looks quite friendly. I’m still not going to let it get close. I don’t like how it makes me feel, and I’d prefer if I never saw it again. After a moment’s hesitation. I back out a bit further and close the door.
“Mrraw?”
I hear its call, muffled through the door, but I ignore it. It should be fine there. Whoever put it there will come to pick it up later. I’m sure it’s one of those treasures Ganyu mentioned. Probably even a really good one, considering it was past Jinlan, who should be unbeatable for ki-less humans. I don’t care. I don’t want that thing anywhere near me.
I turn around and descend the stairs, hearing it scratch at the door behind. It has a lot of ki, but those doors were sturdy. For something that small, it would take a while to break down the door, and by then, I plan on being long gone.
The further I get from the treasure room, the weaker the unsettling feeling gets, and I begin to relax. That only lasts about a minute though, because then the feeling starts getting worse again. I speed up, but then freeze in place. I can feel something up ahead. It’s familiar… but it can’t be…
“Mrraw!”
The cat walks around the corner, and when it notices me, it starts running. My first instinct is to turn and run away, but I stop myself. It won’t help. Even if I do outrun it, the only thing left that way is the treasure room. I tense my body as it takes a flying leap and lands on my chest. It scrambles up until it’s sitting on my shoulder, then starts purring and rubbing its head on my shoulder.
Oddly enough, as soon as it touches me, the unsettling feeling vanishes, as though it was never there. The cat’s ki is still there, but it feels ordinary. Frankly, that’s even more unsettling. I freeze in place, letting it rub its head against mine for a full minute, then I gingerly raise my hand to touch it. I gently stroke its back, and it starts purring.
“...Good kitty,” I manage.
For another minute or so, we stay like that, and I begin to relax a bit. Then, I flinch as I feel its tongue on my ear. I reach to gently try to pull it away in case it starts biting, but my hand closes on empty air as the cat leaps back to the ground and starts walking forward. Despite no longer touching the cat, the unsettling feeling thankfully doesn’t return.
Another sense of danger does though, as the cat continues on, straight on the path of one of the traps.
“Wait!” I call out, reaching for it, but I’m too late.
One of its tails slips through my hand as its paw sets down on the danger zone… and nothing happens. It walks straight through the place where I sense the trap, and out to the other side, unharmed. Tentatively, I gather a bit of ki in my hand and toss it onto the ground where it just walked. Immediately, long, thin, metal spikes shoot out, stabbing three feet into the air, their tips dripping a foul-smelling viscous black liquid. After a few seconds, they retract again.
Meanwhile, the cat continues walking, stepping over yet another trap without activating it, only stopping when it reaches the bend in the hall, at which point it turns around and looks at me. It stares at me, its yellow eyes full of confusion, and its black and purple one giving the impression it is staring into my soul. I shudder, then make to follow, skirting around the traps it seems to be immune to. Whether the traps are only set to activate for people, or whether there is simply something about the cat that makes it immune, I don’t know.
Seeing that I am following, it turns the corner, continuing down the hall. Or at least, that’s what it looked like it was doing. However, when I turn the corner, there’s nothing there. I wait a minute or so for it to reappear behind me or something, but it doesn’t. It’s like it vanished. I hope it’s for good, but I doubt I’ll be that lucky. I wouldn't be surprised if I find it waiting for me in the main chamber, sitting atop Jinlan and Vanessa’s corpses.
I don’t like that mental image, so I stop wasting time waiting and hurry forward, moving as fast as I dare with so many traps around. Fortunately, when I return, the other two are alone, and the cat is nowhere in sight. Vanessa looks visibly relieved when I reappear, but something is different about Jinlan. The hunger in his eyes is still there, but it’s overwhelmed by something else. Fear? Desperation?
I can’t tell exactly what it is, but he looks like he’s taking things more seriously this time. As soon as I round the corner, he gets in a fighting stance. It’s a simple stance with one leg slightly forward, and both arms raised to protect his face. He is standing right in the middle of the room, making it clear that he has no intention of letting me pass.
“Why are you doing this?” I ask.
“I have to.”
“Do you?”
“I do.”
“Is there any way I can talk you out of fighting me?”
“None.”
I stare into his eyes, trying to get a read on him. Beneath the hunger, fear, desperation, and whatever else is driving him, I can sense a deep resolve. I have no idea why he’s doing this, but it seems he’s telling the truth. I sigh and start doing some stretches to warm up my body. This won’t be easy.