Catgirls And Dungeons-Chapter 269: Dominating

And just like that, in the blink of an eye, Eris summons over ten freaking shadow rods.

Sure, they aren’t sharp—but they still look intimidating as hell. Thick, dense, writhing with dark mana. If I get hit by those, I’m pretty sure it’ll still hurt like crazy!

"Hmmm..." Alter’s eyes narrow, her usual smirk faltering for the first time. "Now that I think about it... I might’ve gone a bit too far. We could be in trouble, Felicia."

Eh?

EHHHHH?!

ALTER—WHAT DO YOU MEAN TROUBLE?!

She swore she could handle Eris! She laughed at the idea of darkness magic being a threat!

Don’t tell me—

DON’T YOU DARE TELL ME—

She overestimated herself, and now we’re— fucked?

NYOOOOOOOOO—!!

"You know, you are scaring Felicia right now." Alter says to Eris with a smirk.

"Well, I have to get my mini Felicias, no matter what!" Eris grins, wild and untamed. "I’m sorry Felicia, this gonna hurt A LITTLE!"

Her hand snaps forward—

WWOOOOOSH!

WOOSH! WWOOOSH! WWOOOSH!

The rods erupt from the shadows, screaming toward us like bullets—no, like a storm of pure black death!

I can only watch in paralyzed horror as they close in, forming an unstoppable barrage of destruction!!!

(A...Alter?)

(ALTER?!)

(PLEASE DO SOMETHING! ALTERRRR!!)

But Alter just... stands there?!

"Damn, we’re screwed, haha..." she chuckles bitterly. "Well, looks like we’re gonna be moms soon..."

(WHAT?!)

Now that she says it out loud, it really feels like it’s over...

Fuck...

It’s so over for us!

...Though, now that I think about it— having babies with Eris doesn’t actually sound that bad...

Right?

"NAH! JUST KIDDING!"

Alter’s grin suddenly stretches wide.

Then, in a blur of motion completely beyond my understanding, she unleashes a furious storm of slashes with her wooden sword!

Clack! Clack! CLACK!

Every single rod is deflected, shattered aside like it’s nothing!

"WHAT?!" Eris’s eyes widen in pure shock as her entire attack is neutralized in one swing sequence.

(OH MY GOD!) I scream inside my head. (ALTER! YOU SCARED ME!!!)

"Kaka, that was fun!" Alter laughs madly.

Meanwhile—

"Tch! I can’t believe this!" Eris clicks her tongue in annoyance.

But she’s not done yet!

The remaining rods twist and rise again, swirling around Alter like a violent vortex—

Woosh!

WOOSH WOOSH!

They strike from every direction at once!

This one is going to be ten times harder to deal with than before!

(ALTERRRRRRR!!!)

"Heh." Alter scoffs. "Is that really all you can do?"

She swings her sword again, cutting down a whole cluster of rods in one clean motion!

As for the rest... she barely even moves. A slight shift of her body, a small step, a subtle tilt, and every single rod slips past her, missing by inches.

In the end, despite that relentless barrage, not a single rod manages to touch Alter.

Then Eris rushes in immediately, pressing the attack.

But—holy shit!

I watch, growing more and more shocked by the second.

Because no matter how hard Eris tries, even with her darkness magic unleashed at full force, she still can’t land a single hit on the catgirl princess!

One minute.

Two minutes.

Three minutes...

Eris is stuck now. She’s hit the limit of her attack patterns.

She’s even getting slower—I can see her movements clearly now.

Wait... don’t tell me—

Eris...

Is getting tired?

"ARRGH!"

Eris swings her sword once more, her face twisted with desperation and fury!

But Alter casually catches the blade between her fingers, like a total boss, then—bam!— kicks Eris away with ease, just like she’s done so many times before.

When Eris gets back up, her body is covered in bruises, her face and hair soaked with sweat.

She looks... tattered and beaten.

Hoho!

At this rate, there’s no way she can win anymore!!!

But even so... she keeps attacking desperately, refusing to give up.

***

And just like that, Eris keeps attacking relentlessly, pouring in all her strength without holding back.

But despite her efforts, Alter isn’t even sweating.

It’s a completely one-sided fight.

Alter... is the one dominating.

"Felicia," Alter suddenly whispers to me while dodging two shadow rods aimed straight at her head, bending her body backward with effortless grace. "You know this is a perfect learning opportunity for you, right? Aren’t you curious how I’m doing this?"

Oh?

OHHHHH!!

(YES! YES I AM!) 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"Well then," Alter says calmly, "focus on your senses. Not your usual ones—your mana sense. Once you do, you’ll see."

(W-wait... mana sense?)

"Yeah."

(A-alright!)

So I do exactly as she says.

At first... nothing. Everything is happening too fast for my brain to keep up.

But then... little by little... I start to pick things up.

Ohhh...

OHHHHH!!

I get it now!

So this is mana sense!

It’s like Alter has woven a massive network of mana threads across the entire battlefield, with herself at the center, just like a spider spinning an enormous web!

Thus, when something moves—like Eris’s shadow rods or her body—the threads vibrate or ripple, sending instant feedback to Alter’s mind.

And using the information sent by those thread...

Damn!

A complete image forms inside my head on its own. A real time, three-dimensional image of the space surrounding me.

I can see everything. From every angle. Eris’s position. Every single shadow rod.

It’s incredibly taxing on the mind, sure...

But—this is insane!

And she’s telling me... that the information travels faster than sound?

How the fuck is this even possible?!

"Heh. I can even react faster than light."

(WHAT?!)

If that’s true... isn’t this terrifying?

That means she’s outright breaking the laws of physics!

So, if this is what Alter’s mana control can really do at this nerfed state, just how strong was she back then, when she was at her prime?

I can’t even imagine.

"Kaka," Alter asks casually, dodging another attack, "want to learn?"

(Y-YES!)

(B-but... can I really learn something this absurd?)

"You can," she laughs. "You’ve got my genes, after all."

That answer alone sends a surge of excitement through me.

Woosh!

Alter sidesteps another attack with ease.

(B-but even if you can sense everything... how do you actually dodge?) I ask. (Doesn’t it still take time for signals to travel from your brain to your muscles?)

I mean—no matter how fast the information comes in, there has to be a delay, right? The moment data reaches the brain, it still needs time to send commands to the body.

Right?

"Well, experience," Alter replies calmly. "And besides... you can’t increase your neural transmission speed? Who decides that?"

She pauses, then smirks.

"With demonic energy, you can boost it a million times over!"

(WHAT?!)

Hearing that, my mind blanks for a second.

It’s like the world I know— all my common sense, all the rules I thought were absolute— just shattered completely.

"You see," Alter continues, smoothly shifting topics while flicking Eris away with a casual motion, "Eris’s fighting style is still very crude."

(Huh? Crude...?)

"It’s not refined. Not elegant. Just raw speed and brute force," Alter says flatly. "That works on weaker opponents, ones who can be overwhelmed. But against me?"

She lets out a soft scoff.

"Haha, she’s just a fish in a pond."

(W-wait... for real?)

"Yeah." Alter nods, sending Eris flying again with barely any effort. "That’s why I say her sword skill is terrible. It’s not swordsmanship. It’s just flailing around with sharp sticks."

(I... I see...)

"I’m actually annoyed," Alter adds, a hint of anger creeping into her voice.

(Huh? Why?)

"She carries Azaraphael’s legacy, my teacher’s legacy, and this is all she can do?"

Her tone sharpens.

"That’s beyond embarrassing."

And right at that moment—

Five minutes have passed.

Time’s up.

Alter steps forward and twists her body, throwing a high kick.

BOOM!

A shockwave erupts.

Her foot stops just short of Eris’s face, but the force alone blasts the air past her, detonating the ground behind with a thunderous roar.

"Time’s up. Pretty girl, you lose," Alter says calmly.

Eris’s eyes, still carrying that shock, linger for a moment. Her body trembles.

Yeah... she still wants to fight, it seems.

But the fight is over. She has to accept the truth.

There’s no way she’ll ever be able to beat Alter if she keeps going like this.