"My name is Claire, but it doesn't matter right now. We are currently inside your soul-scape."
"Soul-scape?"
"Yes. It is a space where the soul of a being is kept inside the body. As a desperate move for our battle earlier, I used a spell that allows me to invade your soul-scape in an attempt to take your body."
"To take my body? Ho ho, do you think I can just let you do that after doing those nasty things to me?"
"I have no choice. You pushed me to my limits." Claire tries to reason with him. "That's the only way for me to survive. I am in a dungeon, a place where monsters endlessly spawn. It's naturally normal for us, humans, to hunt or subjugate monsters."
"Fair point."
"Hmm?"
Claire is baffled by his reply. She does not think that he finds validation on her argument. It is as if he is not actually thinking like a monster, she wonders.
"You... By the way, the way you think and respond is massively too different from that of a monster. You are too reasonable for one. Are you really a monster, though?"
"..."
He figuratively narrows his eyes at her suspicions. He thinks that his true situation has been uncovered. To further hide his identity, he proceeds to go with the plan he reenacted in his mind in case scenarios like this occur.
"To answer your question, I actually don't know. When I woke up, I was already in this place."
"But you seem to be intelligent."
"I have also been wondering about that thing. I don't know why I have this level of intellect in the first place. I can think better than any creatures in this goddamn huge place. For whatever reason, I have a will that works by reason rather than instinct... But it doesn't matter, are you trying to prolong this shit by your questions, aren't you?"
"N-no!"
Claire is actually trying to buy time to think of a solution, but he eventually catches her intentions. Judging by her reaction, he knows that is the case, however, he chooses to ignore it and uses his high ground to extract more information from her.
"Now, answer my questions. Tell me exactly how you will be able to take someone else's body, in this case, mine."
"Um... Actually, after successfully invading your soul space, I just have to overpower your severely damaged soul with willpower, which I thought I had the upper hand. But it turned out that you have way more willpower than I have."
"So the takeover failed, huh. Then what would happen to my soul if you were to succeed?"
"Your soul would be removed from the soul vessel, the thing that encapsulates your soul right now. Without the connection to the vessel, which links the soul to the mind and the body, the disconnected soul would gradually lose its essence until it is erased from existence. No more revival nor reincarnation would follow."
Lowering her head, Claire says the latter words with a weak voice. By her explanation, he immediately understands why her expression goes grave.
"I see." He nods once in satisfaction. "That means that you are going to disappear some time or later. It seems like I am more superior than you. So, what now? You did kill me right? What would happen to my body?"
"..."
Claire is still down well aware that she might permanently disappear from this world. Until suddenly, she takes note that despite casting Abyssal Gaze on him, her attack did not fully destroy his soul.
Mysteriously, his soul gets fully restored, making her think that it also affects his physical body. She raises her chin and looks at him. Her will to live reemerges and, if she is lucky, she might help him live again in exchange for some rewards.
"Wait. Actually, I didn't fully kill you. It is evident by your powerful present before me. Your physical body is kind of lifeless at the moment."
"Are you saying that I'm stuck within my dead body?"
"Not entirely dead. With the current state of your soul, your body might be currently recovering."
He stares at her for a few seconds to think. He then moves his hands and places them on his eye level. Focusing hid concentration, he can actually feel his physical body as the heat of the dungeon floor touches his gryphon body.
However, no matter how much he tries, he cannot move his body at all. This fact actually solidifies the woman's claim about his almost dead body. If her claim was true, his body would recover over time. After checking his body, he stares back at the woman.
"It seems like I cannot get myself to go beyond this soul vessel or something. Probably because I can't use the magic you cast. As long as I stay on my spot, you don't have the power to touch me. Too bad I have to let a beaut like you disappear in my body."
Saying those words with a smirk, Claire is sure that he would not let himself die for her. Her hope of living entirely vanishes and, if it were not for her current spiritual form, she would have wept even despite the fact that her emotions are suppressed by her awakening.
Nevertheless, she thinks that his words have different meanings. He refers to her beautiful, which makes her assume that he might probably regret wasting someone like her. Believing in her own wild assumptions, she desperately runs toward him and slams her clenched fists on the translucent barrier.
Thump.
"Please, let me live! You want my body, right? I will offer it to you!"
"Your offer is not bad, but a body can only hold one soul, yes?"
"Please...!"
What he just says is true, a body cannot hold more than one soul. Claire tries to reason with him, but she fails to deliver a single word to justify herself. She grits her teeth in frustration and despair.
The monster's body is recovering sure slow. At that rate, Claire is afraid that her pursuers would have arrived before the monster gain consciousness. Basically stumbling upon an unconscious powerful monster, they would happily dismantle the gryphon for its materials.
Her time in this plane is ticking down and she has nothing to do with it whether the monster survives or not. She is like a little flame of a candle fated to run out of wax or blown away by the wind.
Later on, her frustration turns to anger that even her suppressed mind cannot contain. Engulfed by her rage, she unconsciously does something that apparently surprises even him.