I just stand there.
Brain off.
Soul in critical bug.
"Wait."
I raise a trembling finger to the ceiling.
"You mean... I could have... been aiming for the magic... all along?"
A blank.
Then the answer comes, dry as a slap:
[Previously, your potential was insufficient. What's more, you never made this request].
I freeze.
"Seriously?
I blink slowly.
"You mean to tell me that I've nearly died fifty times... that I've eaten mud, rocks and panic attacks... when I could have been learning to cast spells all along IF I'D JUST ASKED THE FUCKING QUESTION?!"
My scream echoes miserably around the mini-grotto.
I put my hands against my face.
Not to cry, eh?
Just to keep from seeing my own stupidity reflected on the rock opposite.
"Fuck me. Fuck the System. Fuck all of this shit..."
I take a deep breath.
Mistake. The air is still as hot, as thick as old toffee.
I cough like a badly extinguished fag.
Then I stand up again, trembling, furious, motivated by a toxic mixture of wounded pride and cretinous hope.
"So... Now I know it's possible... "
I point to the void, as if I'm yelling at the System itself.
"How do I get this fucking magic?"
[Magic development possible via one of the following methods:]
[→ Natural increase in magical ability (MP) through experience and survival in extreme environments]
[→ Evolution into a race with superior magical potential].
[→ Use of rare skills that increase mana reserves].
"...Couldn't you just say 'do mana pumps'?"
No reply.
Obviously...
"Well, let's see... "Natural increase'... Does that mean that if I continue to burn at idle, my MP will increase on its own? That's just great. I'm going to get a third-degree tan."
[Your magical ability and gains may depend on the technique used, which may pay more or less].
[Also, some magics may be better suited to certain species than others, depending on compatibility.]
My stomach clenches.
I still remember what that damn System said about becoming a "superior monster".
"Honestly... given my current survival rate, I'm not going to play hard to get."
I chuckle, a dry, cracked sound.
No magic for pretty princesses.
No magic wands and unicorns.
If I have to become a magical fucking cockroach to throw fireballs, then so be it.
I run a hand over my burning face.
"Fuck, I'm going to become a pyromaniac monster before I even have a career plan, seriously..."
I let myself fall back against the wall of the cave.
No miracle.
No nice mystical tutor to teach me how to throw "Fireball" in five lessons.
Just me.
My bad luck.
A smile splits my cracked lips.
"Okay. You want fire? You'll eat it till you're blue in the face."
While I'm still ruminating, the System drops a new line.
[Additional information: the Oni bloodline has a natural affinity with the element of fire].
I freeze.
"Huh?"
Is this some kind of joke?
"You mean to say... That I've been predisposed to fire... since the beginning?"
No reply.
Classic.
I growl, a vein throbbing dangerously at my temple.
"Seriously?! You couldn't have told me earlier, you dirty...! ! "
I interrupt myself.
I look around me.
Middle Stratum.
A living furnace.
Sweat pouring off me by the litre.
The ground crunches beneath my scorched bare feet.
A click goes off in my half-burnt skull.
"Wait..."
I blink.
"I'm... in an area that reeks of heat, hell and lava..."
I point at the oozing red walls.
"And I have a natural affinity with fire."
Heavy silence.
I take a deep breath.
"...Are you telling me that technically, this is where I'm supposed to get stronger?"
[Confirmation.]
A pulse of adrenaline surges through my veins.
Rage.
And a bit of very, very misplaced excitement.
"Fucking hell... For once the System doesn't deliberately fuck me up, it's almost touching."
I snigger, my hoarse voice echoing against the burning stone.
I tap my temple with my finger, thinking.
"OK, let's recap.
Oni = Fire.
Middle Stratum = Infernal Sauna.
Now... If I stay here long enough, if I eat enough heat, if I grit my teeth to the point of breaking my jaw..."
A rotten smile lights up my cracked face.
"Maybe I can really learn to light monsters' arses on fire."
I stare at the glowing horizon in front of me.
Lava crackles in the distance.
Massive monsters move, slowly, monstrously.
I clutch my weapon.
A bone stake.
Nothing epic.
Nothing magical.
But for now, it'll do.
I take a long breath.
The heat roasts me from the inside.
And I smile.
"Middle Stratum...
You may be hell.
But you're my hell."
I blink, slowly.
"Oh by the way, System... because I have a feeling you're going to rip me off again!"
[The System exists to help the world, not just one person.]
I squint.
"If I unlock the magic, I'll be able to use it straight away, right?"
Silence.
I can feel the casing coming.
And here it comes.
[Correction: The ability to use magic depends on your ability to control your mana flow.]
I frown.
"Translation for semi-cremating moron, please?"
[Explanation: to use magic, it is necessary to consciously manipulate the internal mana flow in order to construct an incantation circuit suitable for the desired element].
I stand there.
My brain has officially gone blue.
"So... it's not just 'I think really hard about a flamethrower and it works'?"
[Misinterpretation.]
[Currently, your mana reserve is extremely low and your ability to stabilise flow is non-existent.]
I grit my teeth.
"Okay... so even if I had a little mana, I couldn't even use it because I wouldn't know what to do with it."
[Confirmation]
The violence of the confirmation hits me like a brick in the teeth.
I run a hand over my sweaty face.
I growl.
"Fuck... So it's not just about 'having mana'... You also have to learn not to blow your brains out trying..."
[In case of uncontrolled manipulation of mana, high risks: internal overheating, partial combustion, destruction of magic channels].
I freeze
Then I smile.
A strained, twisted smile.
"Partial combustion, eh? Sounds so cool..."
Before I know what's happening, a dull vibration shakes the cave.
A tremor.
No... A step.
I freeze.
"I'm never fucking lucky... If I was the fucking heroine of a classic isekai, why doesn't my author leave me alone for thirty seconds, eh?
I crawl to the entrance of the mini-grotto.
And I see it.
Something huge is slowly making its way into the furnace.
A... catfish.
I mean... Visually, it looks like one.
A gigantic serpentine body.
A flat, monstrous mouth, studded with fangs.
Two yellow eyes, glowing like embers.
Blackened, cracked skin, showing veins of living lava in places.
The monster undulates half in the rock, half in the sheets of molten lava.
Its very presence distorts the air around it, like a walking forest fire.
"A typical monster of this hell."
Something that lives in lava.
Feeds on molten monsters.
And burns anything that isn't unfortunate enough to be fireproof.
I just stood there.
My eyes go wide.
"Don't tell me he saw me..." I say.
My heart pounds in my chest.
I grit my teeth.
"Don't tell me he's come to kill me..." I say.
Pause.
Intense reflection from my burnt-out brain.
"Or maybe I'm just so unlucky that even a lava fish wants me dead.
I tighten my improvised weapon.
The column of bone crunches between my sweaty fingers.
I stare at the creature.
"No sign yet that it has captured me."
But in this world, things can change in less than a second.
I hold my breath.
That's when I hear it. A voice. Not in my head, not the System, a real human voice echoing faintly in the hot air. I freeze, my senses on full alert.
"Don't tell me the monsters in this fucking Labyrinth are talking now, or I'm going to get seriously wired..." I say.
I poke my head out of the shelter, slowly, in paranoid cockroach mode.
And there I see.
Humans.
Fucking humans.
I'm speechless, unable to understand what my eyes are sending to my brain. It's not a hallucination. They're there, in armour, dirty, stinking of sweat, moving forward as if walking through the molten lava version of hell were a normal fucking Tuesday.
My brain bugs to death.
How can they be here? Aren't they afraid of being eaten? What the hell are they doing in this burnt-out shithole?
While I'm asking myself a thousand questions a second, an idea pops into my head. A brilliant idea. Or completely stupid. But it all boils down to the same thing in my state of mind.
"If I help them take out the big thing, they'll adopt me, feed me, carry me in triumph, make me queen of the Labyrinth, aha, ahaha, AHAHAHAHA!"
I'm giggling to myself like an idiot, already building my future empire in my burnt-out head.
And that's when reality catches up with me.
[The System reminds you that you don't speak human language].
One message.
One sentence.
And my whole Machiavellian plan collapses like a house of cards under a flamethrower.
I freeze.
Then I clench my fists so hard my claws scrape against my burning skin.
"Fucking shitty system!"
I growl through my teeth, in subdued fury. Well... maybe he's saving my skin after all. Otherwise I'd probably already be skewered by my over-zealous 'saviours'.
I shake myself a bit, just to reconnect my two melted neurons.
"Anyway... By the way, System, analyse this big pile of scales for me."
[Elroe Guneseven]
I read that.
I stay silent for a second.
Then I run a hand over my face.
"Seriously... Even the name sounds like spit... Fuck, all the creatures in this maze have names like bosses in farting MMOs."
Then explosions follow, fast, brutal, like firecrackers on steroids.
The floor vibrates beneath me, shards of burning rock bounce off the walls.
"What the fuck? Don't tell me they're going to fight!"
I press myself lower against my hiding place, gritting my teeth so hard I can hear my molars crack.
A fight.
A real one.
Not some shitty ambush against crippled insects.
A fucking clash of the titans.
The giant catfish roars, the lava around it exploding in waves. Its tail sweeps through the air in one broad sweep, splitting rock like wet paper. Each impact sounds like a cannon shot.
I can see the humans moving. Not in panic mode. No. They're organised. A team. A real team.
They dodge the monster's tail without losing their rhythm. Some thrust javelins covered in bluish light straight into the monster's side. Others wield shields reinforced against the infernal heat, advancing metre after metre beneath the spitting lava.
I clung to my rock, unable to look away.
Since when are humans supposed to be strong in an isekai?
Like, normally, they're the ultra-weak species.
Meatbags with dreams of grandeur.
Not guys who lift end-zone bosses in "it's Tuesday" mode.
The fish attempts a dive to crush those in front of it. It misses.
Two humans leap out, their capes crunching in the hot air, and dodge with a perfectly calculated leap.
And me, meanwhile, I'm just standing there.
Half burnt.
Half lost.
"What the hell? Why have I been reincarnated here if humans are already more cheated than me?"
I hold myself back from screaming, just so I don't die faster.
A nervous shiver runs up my back.
The fight goes on.
And there's nothing I can do.
Except watch the show.
And grit my teeth.
The Guneseven screams, its gaping maw disgorging a jet of burning lava that splatters against the walls.
One of the humans - the nearest - raises a shield.
The lava bounces off him with a foul crackling sound, as if the stone itself were screaming.
I bite my lip.
I know I wouldn't last a second against something like that.
Not even half a second.
But they're holding on.
They're moving forward.
Little by little.
Like relentless parasites nibbling away at a mountain.
The giant catfish strikes again, its tail smashing the ground with a sound like the end of the world.
One of the soldiers literally flies through the air.
His body crashes inertly against a cracked rock.
I freeze.
Is he dead?
Possibly.
Perhaps.
But the others don't stop.
No time for tears.
No time for tearful goodbyes.
A spell bursts through the air - an explosion of pressurised water that strikes directly into the monster's mouth.
Steam gushes out, opaque, suffocating.
I'm coughing my lungs out, hiding behind my rock.
Through the burning fog, I can make out moving shadows.
A flash of steel.
The cry of a wounded beast.
And then...
A dry sound.
A crack of bone.
The Guneseven collapses with a monstrous crash, its carcass raising a wave of suffocating heat.
Silence.
A thick silence, saturated with ash and sweat.
The humans remain on guard for a few seconds, weapons drawn, muscles tense.
Then, slowly, the tension eases.
Some fall to their knees, exhausted.
Others check their wounds, pick up their comrades.
If even the humans of this world have to shit like this to survive... then I, half-monster fuck-up, had better get my fingers out of my arse.
And soon.
I figure I can just sit there, wait for them to leave, pick up a few crumbs, maybe even squat on Guneseven's corpse to pick up a few useful things.
"Perfect plan!
But...
Because of course there's a but.
Just as I'm starting to breathe a little easier, one of the humans turns around.
A quick movement.
His gaze sweeps around.
And then he stops.
On me.
Right on me.
Our eyes meet.
He's all burnt up but alert, ready for battle.
Me, pressed up against my rock, looking like a raccoon caught stealing crisps.
I blink.
He blinks back.
A little suspended time.
An eternity compressed into a second.
Then my brain screams:
"Oh shit."