Legends: The Emerald World

Ase stood and rushed into the main hallway, after climbing the stairs with a few quick leaps, she ended up in the upper section of the dungeon where normal prisoners were kept, not dangerous ones like herself.

The only reason she was kept in solitary confinement is because she can kill guards with ease. They weren't a match for her even if she was unarmed.

The difference was their level, she was a level 34 fighter while the guards only ranged from level 10 to 30. If they were higher, they would've been promoted to knights and sent to the frontlines.

The only threat to Ase in this whole fortress was the captain, the one commanding the whole fort. He was a level 48 commander, he's someone who fought in the frontlines for years and would be able to cut her down with a single sword swing. Luckily, he's busy with the dragon, hopefully, they both kill each other.

The upper hallway was empty without a single guard around, all of them seemed to have gone to face the dragon. The spider pointed in the direction where Ase should go, it was to the left through a small window in the thick walls.

But Ase stopped, looking around. She bent down and started sniffing the ground and walls, something was off. The spider's scent had come from another direction. She didn't come from outside, she came from the inner hallways, where the other prisoners are kept.

"Spider, where is your master?" Ase asked, but the answer that she got was to go out the window and jump into the mote.

The emperor knew that he'd be a burden in his current condition, no, even if he was a healthy man, he'd only slow Ase down. From the start his goal was to save the beast woman, he never intended to survive this encounter. He had promised to keep the spider as his tamed beast for the rest of his life only because he knew he wouldn't be living any longer. She won't annoy him for more than a few minutes at best.

Sniffing that something was off, Ase's ears wiggled as she ignored the spider's directions and followed her scent trail, trying to get to the spider's master.

Due to the shaking, all the torches illuminating the dark inner hallways had fallen and snuffed out, turning the hallways into a pitch-black maze that no human could navigate with his bare eyes. But to Ase, this darkness suited her best.

People of this world are divided into three major kinds.

Earthlings: The common living beings of the world, consist of all the animals and humanoids, like humans, elves, and dwarves. Those were generally seen as the baseline of all beings, the progenitors of bloodlines.

Mythicals: Those are the magical enchanted living beings, mainly monsters and beasts. Since humans sometimes can't differentiate between monsters and beasts, the main difference is intelligence. Monsters with humanoid levels of intelligence are called beasts, and the majority of them can take a semi-humanoid form. Ase was a beast, a cut above the common folks.

Fiends: Those are mainly demons and devils. Devils are intelligent and live in hell, they are the ones to plot and scheme, but demons are the opposite, they are mindless blood-thirsty creatures akin to monsters or animals.

Ase ran silently on all four across the dark hallways, her night-accustomed eyes seeing everything as if it was clear daylight. On her way following the spider's trail, she came across one of the guards who was lost in the darkness. She had heard his clunking armor from several yards away, and he wasn't silent, calling to the other guards trying to get someone to respond.

Ase didn't slow down, even though the guard before her had his sword drawn and was ready to strike anything that got close to him. The prey hadn't noticed her yet, an ambush wasn't needed.

The guard only felt a faint coldness rush across his back as he heard a snapping sound, his vision immediately blacked out and his soul was relocated to the afterlife. He died without knowing how, he didn't even realize he got killed. A silent hunter was set free in the fortress.

Seconds later, two guards had come in rushing with a torch to find their calling comrade, they needed every arm and sword to face the dragon. But what they saw was horrifying.

The guard's corpse lay hanging on top of the gate of one of the cells. His neck was ripped off from the back, and his spine protruded out, dripping blood. Those marks, those large gaping wounds. They immediately knew who did it.

"The cat is loose! FIND HER!" The guard immediately shouted, only to hear a faint moan behind him. He turned with the torch, catching a glimpse of Ase dragging his friend by the neck into the shadows with her mouth.

"FOUL BEAST! Show yourself!" He swung his sword at the darkness, hitting the stone walls where he thought Ase was. The moment his blade bounced off the wall, his vision faded as he felt a cold chill running down his spine. He was as dead as the others, even though he saw the attack coming, he couldn't fight back or struggle.

Those poor guards were dealing with an apex predator, not just any woman.

The spider stared at Ase with a terrified face as they rushed across the hallways. Ase was indeed holding back a lot when fighting her, those quick bites and how wide her mouth opened up, that horrifying scene only got worse after she saw the large and massive rows of fangs and molars hiding inside her beautiful face.

Ase was a cat woman, a beast that had taken human form. Her body still hides all of her natural abilities and just like normal cats, their adorable face still hides a powerful maw.

On the other side at the section where the emperor was, five guards rushed in, "Get them out! They'll do the job!" The large guard who dragged the man before rushed in, ordering the others to drag all the prisoners out.

The guards were losing the battle against the dragon so they needed some bait to secure an escape route. They'll use their prisoners and flee as the dragon is busy eating them.

The guards opened all the cells and dragged the prisoners out, chaining them all with a long rope. "What about him?" One of the guards looked at the emperor. "He never ate or moved in weak, he'll slow us down. Leave him." The large guard growled, they didn't have time nor strength to carry him outside, only the prisoners who can move when whipped would be useful.

Dragons are known to like their food to move and squirm after all. They won't bother eating a motionless corpse.

At that moment, a shadow rushed across the door and the guards pulled their swords. "Who's there?" The large guard growled, but he could only hear one of the guards squirming like a dog. He looked back, seeing Ase biting the guard from the throat, dragging him away.

They were nothing more than rats stuck in a room with a cat.

"You beast!" He roared, lunging at her and swinging his sword.

Ase climbed the cell bares with the man still dangling from her jaw, dragging him to the other side of the room before the large guard could even reach her. She left the corpse hanging on one of the open cell doors as she landed down, the sight of her blood-soaked face sent terror across the prisoners and guards alike.

Seeing her standing on all four licking her lips with a deep growl coming from her throat made them all realize, they better treat her like a wild lion or a tiger, otherwise, they are going to end up as her next meal.

One of the guards took a deep breath and pointed his sword at her, "Get back to your cell." He growled.

Ase growled back, her hair standing up and her ears bending backward, "MEOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" She wasn't backing up.

The guard lunged at her, swinging his sword at her neck.

Before he could even hit her, she smacked him five times in the face with her hand, like a cat swinging her paw, the attacks were too fast for the guard to react to. In the blink of an eye, his beautiful mug had become disfigured thanks to Ase's sharp claws ripping his flesh out.

They aren't facing a human, but an angry cat.

The moment she hissed at them, one of the guards turned to run away. A spider was dangling from the door's frame.