"A curse, you say...?"

"Y-yeah..."

So, let me get this straight...

You had a curse placed on you in the past.

Now, if you kiss someone, you will burn them from the inside?

Or, at least that's what they will feel like?

That sounds horrible...

It basically means you will never get a lover.

...

And, it reminds me of last night.

You loomed over me as if you were trying to kiss me...

Fully aware of your curse...

Something seems off...

Why are you spilling the beans now?

Aren't you more or less admitting you tried to use your curse on me?

I feel like I should be on guard against you now...

But at the same time...

You ended up backing out, so...

I'm not sure.

"Why the neck, though?"

"It's the most effective on the neck or lips. And, err..."

Yeah, okay.

I get it.

Kissing an ogre on his lips sounds disgusting.

Actually, even the neck would be gross.

But if you say you are fine with it...

"Okay then, let's try it."

We decided to go with a piggy ride this time.

That way, I can still somewhat use my arms.

The plan is to sneak up on them, I latch onto the ogre's back with my gloves and Ignis does her thing.

Just in case something goes wrong, I will grab her and run again.

It shouldn't be too hard to pull off...

The hardest part is sneaking up on them.

But again, that's where the enhanced senses come in.

I can see, hear and smell them before they can detect us.

I just need to make sure to not make too much noise by stepping on fallen leaves and branches.

Simple enough!

Call me the master of stealth!

No exclamation marks will appear above their heads!

I'll make sure of it!

With the plan ready, Ignis mounts me and I head off in the direction where I can hear angry roars and stomps.

At first, she wanted to hold onto the cat ears, but then discovered they weren't real.

I think it shocked her, but I explained it was just a headband.

It's good that she quickly accepted it.

Though, it meant that now she was gripping my head and messing up my hair.

Oh well...

It didn't take long to spot the enemy again.

It was the green ogre, the blue one nowhere nearby.

Did they separate to cover more ground searching for us?

Seriously, I thought ogres are dumb!

I have some things to rethink after this is over.

Before the ogre noticed us, I circled behind him and approached his rear.

I jumped on him from behind and sank my claws into his back.

He let out a growl and jerked his body to the side.

It was almost violent enough to shake off Ignis, but I quickly pulled out my left hand and caught her.

She let out a girly shriek, but that's probably because the hand I used to support her touched her butt.

"Ugh! Take this!"

As the monster thrashed around, I heard a smooching sound above me.

Following that, an ear-piercing roar that made my head ache.

I couldn't help but quickly pull back my claws and cover my ears.

Naturally, that meant I fell off of him.

And with me, Ignis did as well.

"GRHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARH!!!"

After I landed on my feet and Ignis fell down right in front of me, the giant screaming creature in front of us toppled forward.

His screams and convulsions didn't stop.

Not wanting to faint from the noise again, I took off the headband and placed it in my item bag.

"THAT SHOULD DO IT."

To make ourselves be heard over the ogre, we had to yell.

"I'LL GO AND FINISH HIM OFF, WAIT HERE."

After saying that, I headed off to the convulsing beast and jumped on top of it.

I extended my claws and swiped at its neck repeatedly.

My claws shaved off the thick protective skin and eventually, red liquid poured out.

I stabbed right into it to inject the poison.

A few seconds later, the loud roar subsided and the ogre stopped moving.

But...

With the loud noise gone, another sound entered my ears.

"Nin-! AARGH!"

I turned around in a hurry only to spot Ignis narrowly dodging a tree swung at her.

There he was, the real extermination target of ours.

The blue ogre.

Since I took off my headband, my senses dulled and I didn't notice his arrival.

My feet jumped forward in an instant.

But I wouldn't make it.

It seems like his earlier attack left a wound on Ignis' leg and she fell under a nearby tree.

The ogre held up the tree and plunged it down.

"IGNIS!"

I wouldn't make it.

I knew I wouldn't.

But I still jumped forward.

Straight into the beast's attack.

Was it suicidal?

...

No.

Just before I did that, I felt something change inside me.

It felt familiar, yet alien.

It was like the effects of cat soul.

But...

Different.

...

A small crater in front of the ogre and the nearby tree toppled over.

The creature looked around.

Its prey vanished.

Not even a drop of blood remained.

It sniffed with its nose and perked up its ears.

It clearly felt confused.

But even when it poked into the bushes and yelled at the fallen tree, nothing happened.

It took a good few minutes until it gave up and turned around.

And that's when I decided to act.

As it turned around, it faced toward the sun.

Which meant, its shadow appeared behind him.

Out of that shadow, I emerged, wearing my headband again and carrying Ignis in my arms.

I tossed her on the ground and dashed forward.

It seemed like the ogre noticed me and was about to turn around...

But my claws, searing with black smoke, swiped over its back and made a huge scratch mark.

It roared in anger and brandished its tree to swipe it my way.

But before it reached me, I thrust my hand forward, pumping this new unknown power into the claws.

And sure enough, the energy shot through the monster as if its thick skin didn't exist.

With a black spot on its stomach, it let go of its weapon and coughed up blood.

But it didn't think the battle ended just yet.

As a last ditch attempt to do something, it raised its other arm.

Futile.

I poured power into my claws again and thrust it in the direction of its shoulder.

The arm, it meant to strike me with, feebly fell down along with the rest of its body.

I didn't sever the arm, but it seemed like it wouldn't be able to move anytime soon.

As it lied on the ground, staring daggers up at me, I stomped on its face and ground my slipper into it.

I stared into its eyes and coldheartedly muttered...

"Die."

... before unleashing yet another power thrust right into its face.

After that, the blue mass of flesh stopped moving for good.

The battle officially ended.

How disappointing.

It only took a few hits after I took on this form.

Hmm.

Let's see the status.

Name: Nina

Level: 15

Strength: 29/32

Endurance: 32/33

Speed: 43/45

Magic: 3/26

Equipment:

Kat underwear

Kat dress

Kat ear headband

Kat gloves

Kat slippers

Enchanted handbag

Skills:

Cat soul+ (Panther soul on)

9 lives

Special:

Blessing of the Kat

Hmph.

Just as I thought.

So, this is panther soul, huh?

It's powerful and finally lets me use magic.

I like it.

It made short work of this blue thing, which should have been quite strong.

My thoughts are interrupted by some incomprehensible sounds coming from behind me.

When I turn around, I spot their source.

It's Ignis, the annoying girl who forced herself to come with me and ended up being completely worthless.

She's lying on her behind, crawling back while staring at me in fear.

"What? Did you finally realize just how worthless you are?"

I walk toward her as I ask her a question.

"You weren't just worthless, I even had to protect you when you got injured. Only dragging me down."

After stating these facts, my senses detect something off to my side.

"... so she really is here."

As I mutter that, a horde of pitch black wolves emerge from the forest.

I jump back to gain a bit of distance and prepare to engage.

But they stop in front of Ignis, and growl at me, as if to guard her.

One of the wolves had a rider on it.

A girl with gray hair and half of her face covered in fur.

In other words...

"Cana..."

"I-Ignis! Are you okay?!"

I see.

They know each other.

"W-what are you doing here?! I still haven't- er..."

'Still haven't', huh?

Well, I guess it should have been obvious.

Cana told me that the wannabe harem king was the one to curse her.

And then I meet another young girl with a powerful curse placed onto her, who insists on accompanying me.

She probably planned to use her curse on me and capture me while I can't move.

Why she hesitated is beyond me.

But I won't give her a second chance.

"Are you prepared to face my wrath?"

A rhetorical question.

I intend to attack even if you aren't.

I extend my claws and pour a bit more power into them.

The shadows of the trees over to my left shall become my veil.

I will hide in them and then jump out and slash... their...

...

Huh?

What...

The hell am I even talking about?

Why is my mind filled only with killing?

Since when am I so brutal?!

What's wrong with me?!

"I-it faded?"

"It's gone..."

What faded?

What is gone?

Hey, if you know something, how about you tell me instead of staring at me like that?