The melancholy in Nimra’s gaze was almost painful to look at. He had never seen her act with such savagery and her Totem Art had never taken this form before. Or rather, he had never seen her go this far with its transformation.
Rhos frowned because he could tell that she was losing herself. Watching her lick the monkey blood like that sent a cold sweat trickling down his temple. It was concerning now.
Even some of the monkeys struggled to approach her, fearing doing so would be delivering themselves into the maw of the beast.
Loss of control to the Patron Spirit’s baser instincts was not uncommon, although temporary, it was still very troublesome to deal with.
"Hey, this isn’t the time for that. Suppress it!"
There was too much going on already. He was already surrounded by enemies, having another one that was even faster and more ferocious did not seem like an ideal situation to find yourself in.
Nimra lowered her gaze toward the blood dripping from her hands, and said in a strained voice.
"I told you... I haven’t eaten in thirty days...I only meant to transform partially but...I couldn’t suppress it anymore"
When a monkey leapt at her, she caught it by the throat without looking. She tightened her claws and snapped its neck instantly, bringing an end to its futile resistance.
"Red Deer...I’m hungry, so so hungry"
She stared at the corpse lingering uselessly in her hand, her breathing becoming uneven and saliva starting to leak from her mouth.
"The blood...the meat...the smell...It’s getting harder to tell ally from food"
She swallowed hard.
"If I lose control in this form....I’ll attack whatever’s closest....including you"
Having regained some bit of semblance of control, she forced herself to look away from the fresh blood pooling beneath her feet. She let the monkey in her hand fall to this pool of blood before ripping straight through the one that attempted to jump her from above.
"....Run"
Rhos opened his mouth, he wanted to say something but after seeing her gaze became even more predatory, he understood that she was already gone. Also, he never got the chance to say anything because...
"What the–ahh?!"
Half a dozen monkeys suddenly crashed into him from behind. They grabbed every limb of his body before he could react. And just like that, he was thrown into the air.
A monkey hanging on the branches of a tree caught and threw him again, even higher this time. It went on like that with a couple of more of them. Like children passing a toy between themselves.
’Dammit, not this!’
Being thrown around like this made him a bit disoriented. But he was still able to recognize the tactic.
’When they encounter a target that’s too troublesome to overwhelm directly, they launch it higher and higher into the sky before letting gravity do the rest’
Unwilling to let that be his fate, Rhos struggled violently, dishing out every kick, punch, or elbow he could manage while he was still being tossed around. Eventually he broke free, but by then... he was already ascending to the sky.
The thick canopy exploded apart as he shot through it. Leaves and broken branches burst outward around him before disappearing beneath his feet.
The moment he cleared the treetops, a freezing gust slammed into his face with enough force to make his eyes water. The sunlight that hit him after did not make it any better.
He had spent nearly two days beneath that suffocating canopy where daylight barely existed, the brilliance that assaulted his vision forced him to raise an arm over his face.
"Ghaa, too bright!"
It was not only his eyes, his lungs were already starting to get accustomed to the humid, stagnant air trapped beneath the ancient trees. It became almost overwhelming when he suddenly found himself flooded with crisp, clear wind.
For a brief second, he could not catch his breath. It felt as though someone had punched him square in the chest.
But this did not last long, his senses gradually adjusted to his new predicament. When he looked down, he saw the forest stretching endlessly beneath him. It was like an ocean of green.
From this height, the gigantic trees that had seemed impossibly large from the ground now resembled nothing more than tightly packed shrubs.
At the corner of his eye, Rhos caught something moving through that sea of emerald. The figure had red horns spread across its silver fur, deep crimson eyes and an enormous tail that swept lazily behind it.
It was the Wrath!
’You’ve got to be kidding me’
The creature had its nose lowered toward the earth while moving slowly as if it was following something. Rhos’s pupils contracted when he saw it reach the giant tree they had used as shelter.
’I knew you’d follow us’
Gravity finally caught up with him. The forest rushed upward, forcing him to ignore the panic that threatened to seize him and focus on what was happening down below.
What he saw was a stark contrast to the greenery, it resembled something completely different. As if someone splashed red on a green canvas then added some black patches.
Monkey corpses littered the forest floor. Others fled desperately through the canopy, leaping from branch to branch without any coordination whatsoever.
They all fought to get away from the streak of green light. It moved so quickly that even Rhos struggled to keep track of it. Wherever it passed, it left mangled corpses in its wake.
’Cat...’
When he thought about the feral woman chasing after the fleeing monkeys, a sudden realization hit him and his amber eyes widened.
’Wait’
They hadn’t been throwing him upward to let gravity finish the job. They had been passing him toward the highest branches to disorient him then he would be kidnapped and dragged to their resting place.
’They judged me to be the weakest prey. They actually looked at the two of us and decided I was the easiest option to have for dinner?!’
A vein bulged on his forehead. That seriously pissed him off. When he crashed back through the canopy, he saw dozens of monkeys climbing upward in complete panic.
What they were retreating from was right next to him, latched onto a tree trunk with her claws. Her green eyes had become completely feral with blood dripping from her mouth.
Once those eyes locked onto him, every muscle in her body coiled as she wasted no time in launching herself straight toward him. Her claws aimed to shred his throat in a single swipe.
"Seriously?!"