Laz landed with his back against the brick of the wall that made up the building, his mouth opened ajar in agony from the pain he felt, but he seemed not to think about it at the moment.
His thoughts reeled to what was happening in the distance before him, where he heard the loud growl of the Little Rodent and the high-pitched shrieks of the Crimson Cannibals.
'So, the Little Rodent Monster was only trying to save me?' He thought, 'acting more like the Tamed pet of its owner, right? Wrong owner though.'
If only he could witness what it is would ensue between these monsters. Little Rodent with its dagger-sized claws and sluggish moves clashing with the Cannibals. He imagined that the forest creatures must be extremely fast.
Carefully, he stood and as if struggling to pave the way with his hands, walked in steps towards a corner to rest on a tree. Remembering that he was still drenched in blood, and should not alter more creation of cannibals, revolted off the tree and crawled onto the floor, back to the wall.
'I wish this should not be a permanent defect on me. I sincerely wish I would drop off any disability once I'm able to return.'
He wanted to scream out these wishes and so much more, but cautioned himself immediately, reminding himself that Little Rodent had possibly thrown him off to this distance as a form of protection.
Even though darkness had blocked his sight of the crimson environment, he still had his sense of feeling. The air around swiveled with fury, the atmospheric mood turning into high tension.
'If only I witnessed what it meant for two monsters to fight themselves. The sight alone would be...'
'Now that I think about it if Little Rodent was a Tamed Creature, how about the Crimsons?'
He leaned back on the brick walls, slanting his knees upwards and wrapping his hands around them. Then, with keen interest, he pressed his head against his raised knee and paid attention to whatever was happening in the far distance, so that he could feel.
***
The fight between Rodent Monster and the Crimson cannibals had begun after the deep growl and loud shrieks that were a means of announcing each of their presence and acceptance of the battle challenge.
The ground quaked.
Laz could feel the crimson light of the sky, pouring like bleeding sunlight, and the Primevalis watching over what it had created to perform another ritual of blood. He imagined how happy it would be if it happened to be a human.
At the roots of the tree, Little Rodent stood akin, and ready for what was to come. Its claws were positioned sideways, ready to face the bark-fanged shadows before him.
Two of them.
Two Crimson Cannibals.
Like malformed newborns from a nightmare womb, both of them dropped from the pulsating wound in Crimson Hollow. Their bodies were warped — spindly, bark-armored limbs, spore-puffed shoulders — yet, vaguely humanoid. Ichor from the Crimson tree dripped down from their claws like venom, their eyes flew, glaring with intelligence dulled by pure instinct.
Laz couldn't tell what positions the battlers had taken. All he patiently waited for was for them to begin to move. Even though darkness had clouded his sight, the movement of anything around him came as shadows flashing before him.
So, he wanted to begin seeing those shadows.
This time, he left the spot where he was and crawled noiselessly to the roots of a tree nearby. He shouldn't stand, he wasn't going to, in order to avoid attention. He would remain seated there until everything was over, he thought.
The Cannibals were the first to move.
They slithered from the hollows, down to the root where their prey stood. One slid to the left while the other took the right, encircling Little Rodent with clawed feet clicking on the wood like talons on stone.
One let out a shriek through its spine, urging Little Rodent to come forward. And it did.
It lunged forward, targeting the cannibal on the left. It had leaped so suddenly, and as savagely as one could imagine.
Laz gasped in silent awe, surprised as to the shadows he begot.
'Is that not Little Rodent moving so fast now?' His thoughts were bare, unable to ascertain what the possibilities could be. Letting off the distraction, he kept his attention focused on the fight once again.
Little Rodent had made a successful approach to the cannibal on the left, sinking its claws into its neck, and dragging it down with feral strength. But, instead of getting destabilized, vines shot from the cannibal's back, wrapping around the monster's torso like snakes that had been constricted.
Then came the sound.
CRACK!
The other cannibal was the causative of the sound. It had struck Little Rodent from behind with a swipe of its thorned tail as a jagged line of blood burst across the monster's back and it rolled away, snarling.
'As expected. Monsters fail to calculate their actions in the midst of war.'
With a loud thud, Little Rodent landed hard on the crimson ground. Laz could hear its hitched breath from the distance where he was.
'Pitiful saviour.'
Laid clutched on the ground, the vines from the first cannibal snapped and retracted around Little Rodent. Bounding it to restrict its movement.
As if acting on planned strategy, the second cannibal leaped higher than any natural beast could have, crashing down with its claws poised like a guillotine.
Thanks to the invisible savior, Little Rodent didn't remain stuck there.
It twisted at the last second, and slammed into the cannibal's legs, breaking its posture and sending it tumbling across the bark. Yet, as wild as the Cannibals were, the second had returned almost immediately, inserting a venomous pain on the monster as it sunk its teeth into Little Rodent's side.
It roared in pain, thrashing its limb forward. And then, acting based on instinct, grabbed the Cannibal's skull and slammed it head-first into the ground repeatedly until the wood-like skin cracked.
But, Laz doubted it was enough to kill the cannibal.
Before Little Rodent could breathe after making such a furious move, the second returned again, latching onto its arm, trying to tear it off.
Instead of its normal growl, Laz heard a high squeaky scream.
Blood sprayed.
The monster, still holding the skull of the first cannibal with its left hand on the ground, sent its claws sinking into the second cannibal's chest — deeper — then threw it with the last monstrous strength it could gather into the tree's wall, where it bounces off and skidded into the black grass.
Now, judging from the scene Laz was able to feel, he could tell what the ranks of the creatures were.
They generally acted like they owned dominance and the nature around them, by making use of what they were created from to engage in the battle. Their aggression showed their innate, pathological need to dominate their environment.
If they had wanted, killing Little Rodent wouldn't be much of a deal for them, but they wanted the monster to feel they owned the place. They wanted not to kill, but to conquer. From the shadows Laz saw, he could tell that their motion, from how they stalked their prey to how they manipulated their vines, was their way of demonstrating that they had control over all living things in their surroundings.
'Little Rodent would die anyway, sooner than later. If not in their hands, in mine,' Laz thought sheepishly, forgetting his situation.
Back to Cannibals, they could have ended the monster's life the moment they wrapped their thorned tails around it. Or, tried to break one of its arms.
But they didn't.
Laz couldn't see, but he could tell that the screams and growls from Little Rodent showed that the cannibals enjoyed causing torment on their prey before they killed. Even in a group, their cooperation is minimal, but the warlord movement is still aligned for destruction.
'Tyrants! They are tyrant-ranked creatures.'
Not only were they not faster than Little Rodent, but they were also larger.
He doubted the possibility of the Tamed creature surviving their attacks. They were a rank above Little Rodent and possessed more cores than it.
Or, was he judging based on human analogy?
The chiming of the system's sound cleared his thoughts immediately.
«↓ Congrats! You have slain a Crimson Cannibal ↑»
Laz gasped.
«↓ Congrats! You have slain a Crimson Cannibal ↑»
"Eeh... I have?!" he couldn't control his tongue as he asked with surprise.
***
Laz was about to celebrate glory when a huge creature dropped, shrieking as it landed with a tremble beside him. He rolled his blank eyes, moving his head upwards.
"Another—"
BOOM!