Yuri

Labyrinth

Senna blinks a few times in surprise at her new power (and, to a lesser degree, Cernunnos's sudden appearance), before giving a satisfied grin. "This power is awesome, Cern! Thanks. And, um... I'm glad you liked my strategy. Floor Guardians seem like the real deal, those other monsters were kind of... bad."

Going over things in her head, the small girl quickly began to get a better idea of the situation, and how the Labyrinth was supposed to be approached. You were supposed to kill the weaker Monsters to get stronger, sure, but the "boss" encounters at the end of each set of floors was the most important part. From what she saw, the weak enemies could probably be handled solo with no problem, but that Metal Slime... if it weren't for Alexander, she probably wouldn't have stood a chance.

With these thoughts in her mind, she briefly considers the pros and cons of teaming up with the others. She had tagged along with them until now, sure, but she hadn't had any real personal obligation to assist them besides simple self-interest. If they formed a sort of "party", to take down the larger prey, surely that would be an ideal path to take against these "Floor Guardians".

That said...

'Cats always hunt alone.'

The words of her adoptive father come back to her, and she can't help but feeling their importance now. She knew this better than anyone else. It's true that her father, and by some extension she, had been made soft by the passage of years. But, the two of them knew better than anyone else that at the core of their characters, they were selfish creatures. For them, survival and self-interest would always hold the highest priorities. Everything else was an afterthought.

And so, after a moment of quiet contemplation, Senna comes to her conclusion and returns her thoughts to the world around her. The look in her eyes was notably more resolved than before, but that impression was quickly silenced and her entire body returns to a neutral, unassuming state. Nodding and waving at Cernunnos, Senna gives a quick goodbye to her godly patron before heading straight back in the direction of the Labyrinth.

When she reaches the entrance, she takes one last look at the outside, before quietly walking once more through the floors, senses directed outwards. Her presence was completely concealed. If there was anyone in there, she had no doubt that she would be able to take them unawares, even if they were a Monster. With this confidence in mind, she examines everything they had been through until this point, walking past fallen slimes, blood, and a whole lot of rocks. Something bothers her about the first floor, but momentarily occupied by her thoughts, the girl ignores it for now.

Now, standing at the entrance to floor three, she stops.

Why?

Because, from this point on she knew there was nothing but carnage. She would not bother trying to cross the field of poisonous and acidic slime, not just to turn around once she reached the entrance to the next floor. So, deciding she was done her little walk, she returns to the first floor and tries to figure out her weird feeling.

She suspects it was a result of Cern's mysterious new power. And, if that was the case...

Maybe the adventurers had been fooled from the very start.

Labyrinth

For a moment, random bystanders might notice the small girl's eyes momentarily transform into the shape of gold coins, before she immediately gains back her composure and coughs into her hand. "Well... seems like a good deal to me."

And with that, she just hands him the corpses and swords, taking her money in exchange. "T-Thank you," she says awe-fully as she counts the small coins. She expected to make some cash from the deal, seeing as the swords were metal and the goblin corpses were probably worth something, but she hadn't expected to almost double her savings this quickly. She doesn't dawdle, instead deciding to just quickly place the money into her purse and smile pleasantly. "I'll be heading out then, see you around, Tanuki!"

Feeling proud of her newly obtained money, Senna decides to look around and try to find Cern. So, she does that.

Labyrinth

Senna's route for escape was very simple, but rather than take the teleport statue up, she decides to cut through the first floors of the Labyrinth first. As she goes past, she decides she might as well check some stuff out and goes about looint gthe weapons of the Goblins she could find. After a few moments of thought, she uses her superhuman strength to throw a few of the bodies over her shoulder, carrying them with little effort as she heads out the Labyrinth's entrance.

There, she sees a collapsed Alexander and the other man from before.

"Hi. Oh, it looks like Alexander got out too, I was a little worried." She looks over Alexander briefly, but after discerning he was alive, she turns back to face Vincent. "We went down without you guys, fought some Acid Slimes and found a "Floor Guardian" or something. He called himself a Metal Slime, and he... was way stronger than us, so we escaped."

After briefing Vincent on the events that had transpired without him, Senna nods at Alexander's collapsed form. "You might want to take him somewhere to recover, he looks a little beat up. I would, since he saved my life down there, but my hands are full. Thanks~"

As she starts walking off, the tiny ranger stops and turns to Vincent. "Also, watch out for the floor that's covered in dead Slimes, if you're going down. A lot of it is poisonous, and the rest of it is corrosive. You'll have to jump over the parts that are totally covered."

And so, with that final warning, Senna heads off into town. She walks to the town square, where that guy Cern had mentioned would be, hopefully. She tries to find his stand, or store, or whatever, and would approach it with a pleasant smile on her face. "Hey, you're one of Hermes's Guild members right? Mind if I sell you this stuff I picked up in the Labyrinth? Also, I have some Goblin corpses here too. I don't have to take them apart myself, but I'm sure you could get some worth out of their parts. What do you say?"

Labyrinth

Sorry for the posting delay, even though nobody was waiting for me~

Also, jesus this roleplay has been alive longer than I thought. Already over 100 posts in the IC...

Labyrinth

Having already committed to her pair of attacks, Senna couldn't do much to stop herself from being blitzed. It was surprising, to find an opponent who surpassed her blessed speed so greatly, but the girl couldn't panic now. She had to evade. Alexander would try to cover her, she knew, but for the time being she knew she had no choice but to abandon him.

A whip-like spike of metal was being aimed at her chest. Open space was to one side, and her fellow party member to the other. So, taking the most likely direction of escape, Senna quickly steps in a diagonal line backwards, leaning towards the temporary safe spot behind Alexander's body. She doesn't stop, in a single, quick motion, she tries to back-step all the way to the foot of the stairway. Her excellent awareness would prevent her from tripping as she hopefully hits the stairs and dashes up, trying to escape from the spooky slime.

Good luck, Alexander.

Labyrinth

From the very first moment she entered the Boss Room, Senna was completely aware of the danger faced to them by this Slime Prince. Panic starts to rise from within her chest, but in an instant, it halts and is replaced with calm, analytical observation.

Think.

The boss was in the center of the room. On his hand, was one "Acid Slime", red of colour and seemingly hiding itself on the hand of the Boss. There were no traps visible, and the entire floor consisted mostly of a large, circular stone plane, completely flat, and with solid stone walls. It was large enough for there to be some delay before the enemy's attack and it reaching them, hopefully.

See past the obvious.

The enemy called themselves a Metal Slime. The enemies they've been fighting up until now were Slimes. Weak point: Core. If its body consists of metal, then its core will be hard to reach, because they won't be able to see it from a distance. They'll have to fight it in close quarters eventually, so they'll be at a disadvantage in this fight, given the apparent invulnerability of Slimes besides their singular mortal point.

Then, the question was, could their weapons pierce the Metal Slime's body? It was worth using a few arrows to test this. And so, Senna reached her inevitable conclusion. Drawing a pair of arrows from her quiver, she locks her eyes onto the Slime Prince's body, visualizing her attack in her head, preforming thousands of minute adjustments to her draw strength, balance and firing arc.

Hold breath.
Count.
Release.

An arrow is launched, in the direction of the slime prince, aimed directly at the being's chest. But, the girl wouldn't stop there. Her second arrow is drawn almost immediately, and once again, she takes careful aim at almost twice the speed of the previous shot, as her aim was already prepared beforehand.

She didn't need to think. She fires again, aiming roughly at the torso of the Boss in front of her.

Only then does she speak to her partner.

"We need to feel it out first, to see if we can hurt it. Then we should probably back off, and try to find the others, so we can face it together."

Labyrinth

Senna like, follows Alexander to the fourth floor, or something. She nods her head too, but wonders to herself what exactly an "Acid" was.

Alexander was more scientifically minded than she thought. Was he a wizard, maybe?

Labyrinth

...

It was a little overwhelming at first, to be honest, but Senna quickly regains her senses and nods her head. "It looks like it worked, Cern. Hey, Alexander, come put your blood on this statue. It's like... magic, or something. It says that you can use it to teleport between floors."

Senna steps back from the statue, giving Alexander plenty of room to approach it and do his business. In the meantime, she looks around the room, trying to get an impression of the area before preparing to head out. Her eyes drift past where her arrow was lying, but she didn't give it enough attention to notice the corrosion, and instead focused mainly on the puddles of slime themselves.

Deciding to wait for Alexander, she kneels down next to the stairway and peers down it, bow readied. She also puts her knife back, because she wouldn't need it at the moment.

Okay.

Labyrinth

"Um... okay... H-Hi, Cern."

Receiving telepathic directions from her Goddess, which surprised her more than anything else, Senna quickly pulls our her knife and pricks her finger, letting her bloodied finger touch the statue's chest area. She was feeling kind of dumb looking, but there must have been some reason for Cernunnos's odd request, so she went along without questioning.

"Now wha-"

And then stuff happened.

Labyrinth

Frowning, Senna watches the sizzling slime from across the room, her sharp hearing letting her hear the sources of all the sizzling sounds. Glancing at the fallen Red Slime, the ranger girl takes a moment to consider things, but she didn't really know what could be making the sizzling sound. She couldn't feel any heat coming off the slimes, so it wasn't as if they were made of fire, but the sounds they were making reminded her of bacon sizzling over a fire.

"Careful, Alexander. We're not sure what the red ones do, so we shouldn't touch them yet."

Her expression lightens, and she skips her way across the room over to Alexander, avoiding stepping on the slime wherever possible. With her superhuman capabilities, she had no problem jumping over the large slime puddles, and reached the young warrior's side after only a few seconds. Smiling, she bends over and takes a look over at the fleeing slime.

"Oh, and I won't forget about that offer. I'll definitely take you up on that later~"

She decides that it wasn't safe to collect her arrows, given their coating of strange substance. So, heading over to the entrance to the next floor, completely aware of her surroundings, Senna takes position near the exit and waits. She tries to get a handle on what might be in store for them on the next floor without actually descending.

"Do you think we should wait for the others before heading down? We seem like a pretty good team, but who knows what kind of monsters could be down there. What do you think, Alex?"