I Became A Starter Beast

“So?" The mysterious girl, Eliza, asked with a smile on her lips.

Aster paused for a moment before he replied. “Sure, but can you handle yourself against the demons?”

“Yes!” Eliza bobbed her head up and down before she showed him her fists—each finger's worn metal rings.

“They're no match for these guys!”

But, when she saw the look on Aster's face the strength she put her fist diminished. Her ears and cheeks then turned apple red. 

“What happened a while ago is different though!” 

“I know, even I would've run against a horde of goblins.”

Aster consoled her before he put his bag down and stretched his hand out inside.

Eliza watched the young man and her shifting eyes suddenly glimmered like a cat.

She leaned over and asked, “Are going to dismantle them?”

“Mhm.” Aster nodded without turning his head.

With clear enthusiasm, Eliza moved closer. “Do you have spares? I can help!” 

“Here, thanks.” Aster took out another knife from his bag and gave it to her.

“You're welcome!”

Twy who hated the girl's body odor had long jumped out of his partner's shoulder. He ran a few distance away and only stopped after her smell dissipated from his sensitive nose.

The kitten watched as the two, young man and woman, started cutting the goblins apart. Yet amidst that gruesome scene, they're having a peaceful conversation.

'This world is nuts! Who the hell could be that calm and joyful while dicing that child-sized thing!?'

Twy's tail subconsciously tucked themselves as he looked at Aster.

'I hope this isn't the moment that he would pick when he told his child, 'That's how I met your mom,' 'Cause that girl is seriously bad—as bad as my coworker whose job is to wipe my boss's table every day.' 

Twy's whiskers flickered as he watched them. His right paw wiped the corner of his right eye. 

'Sorry partner... I am so weak that I can't stop you from sticking it into crazy.'

The kitten looked at the ceiling, dim as the future.

'If only I am stronger!'

•••

'He's misunderstanding things again.' Aster sighed inside as he looked at the small figure watching them as cleaned up his tools.

Whenever Twy's emotions start bouncing like a crazy ball, the young man knows his mind is up to no good.

'I need to talk to him about it, but—' his gazed then turned towards his right. Eliza was there, packaging their loot in a cloth-like what one would do with their lunches.

When she saw him look at her, she smiled like an innocent girl before giving him the well-packaged bloody loot. “Here you go! That's the last one!”

“Thanks.” Aster took it and put it in his bag before he stood up.

The moment he raised his head, his eyes met Eliza's.

“So... where are we going? Head deeper? Or go out and explore?” 

Aster turned his eyes away from her and looked through the dim and moist path ahead. 

“Let's head deeper.”

“Oo~oh!” she cheered like they were going on a camping trip instead of diving into a perilous dungeon.

They continued their journey. The three stepped onto the mossy floor while the insect's wild anthem followed their feet. Except for the occasional high-spirited voice of Eliza, things stayed like that for a long time.

It wasn't until they both heard the eerie voice coming from behind them that their adventure came to a halt.

“Me~ow!”

Aster immediately turned his head towards Twy, 'He rarely cries like that, what's wrong?' he voiced his thoughts for the kitten to hear.

“What's wrong?”

“Did you sense something, Twy?" Eliza chimed in with her signature smile.

However, before Twy could think how to convey his thoughts a creepy sound echoed off the moist walls of the dungeon until it reached their ears.

“Kikikiki...”

Aster's eyes widened. He immediately shouted out loud, “Duck!”

Eliza saw their grim expression and without any question, she crouched. Barely two seconds after she did so, a purple ball of flames brushed past over their heads. A small explosion resounded the moment the fireball landed on the moist ground.

“Meow!” “Run!”

Aster and Twy's voices overlapped as they immediately turned their backs towards where the attack came from and started sprinting forward—the latter though exploded his mana before jumping to the former's backpack.

Eliza reacted a beat slower. Once she caught up with them, she looked at the young man with wide-open eyes. “What was that!?”

“It's an imp! Most likely the one that chasing—” In the middle of Aster's narration, he felt Twy's paw tap his neck.

 “Dodge!”

He jumped to the side, and his shoulder scraped against the wet walls, but it was better than being burned to death.

After another fireball exploded Aster sighed when he saw Eliza on the other side.

The young woman moved closer to his side and between her bathed breath she suggested, “Imps are weak melee, so instead of running we should attack it.”

However, before Eliza could hear Aster answer, she saw Twy, who shoved his left paw between their faces. He then popped out two of his claws shaking it in front of their eyes.

“No? Two?” 

Seeing the confusion on his young man's face, the kitten has no choice but to play a charade. Twy repeated the previous action, before pointing the path behind them, then he started patting his ears.

“No... Two... Behind... Ears, no, hear!” Aster's eyes shined the moment he comprehended Twy's puzzling acts. While running he recited, “'We shouldn't attack them cause there's two more demons following it?'”

Twy raised his right paw, impressed by how fast Aster found what he wanted to say. 'I guessed all those banters wasn't a waste.' 

“Wow! The connection between you guys is impressive!” Eliza's eyes were glimmered, clearly impressed by their stunt.

'No, this guy's just a talented mind reader.' Twy thought smugly, but his grin vanished and he immediately tapped Aster's neck.

The young man didn't even have time to shout, he lunged towards Elisa, making both of them fall to the ground.

The wall that Aster's previously running next to was charred by the fireball leaving a big section of void amidst the fluorescent mosses.

'Damn, that flew much faster!' Twy cursed while holding onto the backpack for his dear life.

Aster didn't swear—his expression didn't even change—he pulled Eliza up and they started running once again.

“I'm sorry for that.” 

“No need to say that. You saved my life.” Eliza replied with a grateful smile, she then glanced behind them before she asked him, “If we could not attack them, what should we do now?”

Aster's eyebrows furrowed.

“Run. We'll just run until we find a place to hide or they get tired of chasing us.”

•••