Zyra braced herself, expecting claws or fangs but out of the shadow emerged a squirrel with eyes glowing faintly, its fur bristled in jagged patched. Its tail twitched like a whip.
The mutated creature wedged itself beside her, both of them pressed against the stone wall as the thunder of the battle raged outside.
She locked eyes with the squirrel. Neither moved. The air between them was thick with suspicion.
The squirrel’s nose twitched, sniffing her, as if deciding if she was food or an ally. Zyra tightened her grip on the dagger in her hand, but she didn’t draw it. One wrong move, and the beasts outside would hear.
The squirrel shifted, curling its tail protectively around itself. It unloaded a nut from its pouch, shooting suspicious looks at Zyra as it nibbled.
She scoffed before mirroring the gesture, pushing her knees closer to her chest. Zyra didn’t have the guts to eat while two beasts tangled. She certainly had no plans to fight a squirrel over a nut!
At the moment, they were two creatures, a human and a mutant--sharing the same fragile hope that the creatures outside would kill each other and leave them unnoticed.
Outside, the battle seemed to be reaching a bloody climax. The Grey-Maw Ape pounded its massive fists against the tortoise’s shell, creating deafening CLANG-CLANG sounds that made Zyra’s ears bleed. In retaliation, the tortoise snapped its razor-sharp beak, tearing a massive chunk of flesh from the ape’s arm. Dark red blood splattered across the rocks.
Zyra crossed her fingers. There was no back exit to this cave; she was trapped like a rat in a hole. Whichever beast won this bloody brawl would immediately come to pull her out of the crack and eat her, even if it couldn’t, it would just be a waiting game after all she could not stay in there forever.
She peeked outside and the sheer brutality of the fight made her squeeze her mother’s knife tightly, her knuckles turning white. The fear seemed to catch up with the squirrel, because the creature decided to hide in the small space behind her.
It made a few chirps, communicating something that she did not understand. But she had a feeling that it would be kicking her out to be eaten first if things went sideways. Their temporary truce was almost over.
She ignored creature. If there was real danger, she could hide in the space. Even if it was just for two minutes, that would buy her time for the beast to move on. If she had to choose which one she would face off, her choice would be the ape.
Please let the ape win. Please, please let the ape win! she mumbled.
The squirrel also chirped, perhaps making the same wish as her. Or scolding her for her choice. She couldn’t tell which.
All she knew was that if the ape won, it would be injured, and she could use her mother’s spear form to pierce its soft flesh or go for its eyes. She had a fighting chance. But if that monstrous Iron-Shell Tortoise won? She was completely doomed. Its shell was a literal fortress of impenetrable metal, and it moved faster than a sports car. Her little fighting skills wouldn’t hold a candle to its prowess.
A terrifying crunch echoed from outside, followed by a pained roar from the ape. Zyra opened her eyes, her heart sinking into her stomach.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," she whispered, her voice trembling, peeking out carefully.
The ape was staggering backward, its heavy limbs shaking violently as bright blood poured from its shredded chest. Zyra swallowed hard, a cold sweat breaking out across her forehead. Her worst nightmare was coming to life right before her eyes. The terrifying Iron-Shell Tortoise had won the fight.
I am dead. I am literally going to be eaten to death, she thought, closing her eyes to prepare for the worst.
But just as the tortoise opened its razor-sharp beak to finish off the ape, a loud, whistling sound echoed from the dark sky above.
"Dibs on the energy stone!" a boisterous voice shouted from the sky.
"Screw you, Fungus! I saw the ape drop first! The energy stone in its chest belongs to me!" another voice roared back, followed by a chorus of rowdy, joyful laughter.
Zyra’s eyes snapped open. She peered through the narrow crack in the rock. Descending from the night sky were several massive, flying creatures including an Avian Wolf hybrid, their giant feathered wings beating the air into a frenzy. Riding on their backs were humans in tactical armor.
Hunters. And judging by the casual way they floated over on two medium level mutated beasts, they were incredibly experienced ones.
Zyra let out a tiny sigh of relief, thanking the heavens because they would help her kill the tortoise, until a sharp, mocking voice carried across the clearing. "You lot are fighting over pennies. Those energy stones are nothing compared to the massive bounty reward we’ll get from the mayor when we drag Zyra Scorpion back."
Panic, cold and sharp, instantly coursed through Zyra’s veins. Her breath hitched. A bounty was already placed on her head! Of course it was, her snake had killed Hans. But why the mayor? How had she offended him? Did the Duggar family have such impressive connections?
Down below, the hunters didn’t waste a single second. Three of them fired heavy harpoon guns, launching high-voltage nets directly over the victorious Iron-Shell Tortoise. The metallic net crackled with fierce, blue electricity. The tortoise let out a muffled, agonizing shriek as thousands of volts surged through its armored body. It didn’t even last ten seconds before its massive legs buckled, and it blacked out, slamming heavily onto the rocky ground. The Grey-Maw Ape was already dead beside it, having succumbed to massive blood loss.
Zyra recognized the woman leading the hunters. It was Sheila Blue! A legend of her own in the circle of hunters.
Sheila Blue jumped gracefully from the back of her Avian Wolf, landing right next to the dead ape. With a casual flick of her wrist, she pulled out a glowing hunting knife and sliced the ape’s chest wide open. She reached inside and pulled out a giant, pulsing, high-grade red stone that radiated a lot of energy.
"Holy crap, look at the size of this!" she laughed, wiping the blood onto her pants. "This beast must have eaten a lot of high energy food to cultivate a crystal this big. It’s going to fetch me some good supplies and weapons!"
Nearby, another hunter used an axe to cleanly slice off the head of the unconscious tortoise. "Help me hoist the rest of this thing up," he grunted to his buddy. "The guild treasury pay a premium for iron shells. We can turn this into shields for the elite republic hunters."
From her hiding spot, Zyra’s eyes scanned the rest of the group. Her heart dropped straight into her boots. She recognized most of them from her last life. These weren’t low-level hunters, these were top-tier hunters from Myrtle city. She knew instantly that she didn’t stand a chance in a fight not even with the spear that she was yet to learn to use well.
If she wanted to fight them, it had to be tactical. Take them out one by one, not the whole group together.
A new group arrived, right at their center was General Garon Borne, a towering man with terrifying scars. He reached into his bag and pulled out a familiar piece of fabric....it was Zyra’s sweater, which she had left at the training grounds of the clan.
"Go on, boy. Find the little rat," General Garon muttered, pressing the sweater against the snout of the Stone Salamander.
The salamander raised its ugly, rocky head. The disgusting holes on its face, which served as its nostrils, enlarged and throbbed as it inhaled her scent from the cloth.
All the hair on Zyra’s body stood!