— The beast let out a roar before lunging at them; its speed was strangely fast for its size, making it difficult for its prey to dodge. They had to jump onto another path to avoid it and fell with a crash —
"Do you have a plan?"
"Nothing comes to mind; I don't have any information. How do you expect me to stop it?"
— Once again, the beast tumbled toward them, this time tearing up the path and falling further down —
"If this keeps up, we won't be able to get back up and we'll end up lost."
— Krax gripped his sword tightly, aiming it at the beast as it rose. He just sighed before lunging at it, but the beast, besides being imposing and swift, was also very resilient. Krax's attacks were so superficial they didn't even seem to bother the beast; it just watched as its prey wore itself out—a sight that terrified Oberon even more. —
"Why? Normally, they would have attacked each other. How naive of me to think the plan would work exactly as I'd imagined. I had to come up with a new plan, a way to escape this mess I'd gotten myself into."
I was gathering all the information I had: the Carbivores, the beast, the other beings at my disposal… at that moment a question lit up my mind: How did Kaelen manage to make this beast fall from above? It's impossible that he pushed it—he's in very bad shape, and the beast looks very heavy. And it was at that moment that my attention turned to the children on the ground.
"Did he really do that?"
— Krax's battle against the beast was one-sided; every attack Krax made had no effect, while for him it was already difficult to take another step. The beast's attacks, though simple, were fast and heavy. During one of them, Krax dodged by jumping upward, aiming to strike one of its eyes, but he didn't see the tail coming at him at full speed, striking him in the abdomen and slamming him into the wall, causing him to fall even lower and lose consciousness. The beast was already preparing to pounce on its meal, but something else caught its attention —
"Look this way, hairy beast"
— A child on the ground, bound with a bandage, being moved as if it were the bait on a fishing rod. The beast followed its instincts like an animal, leaping to catch it, but the bait was quickly jerked in another direction, forcing it to follow —
Kaelen had surely used the child he was carrying as bait, using his bandage as a fishing rod; that would explain how he dove straight toward us. Using that same logic, I thought to make him fall.
—The beast was far from stupid; the first drop would have been very dangerous for it if it had landed farther away. That demonstrated a capacity for trial and error that Oberon had never seen in any other animal, and the worst part was that he could watch it unfold in real time. The beast was growing tired of its little game; when it had one of the children right in front of it, it didn't leap again but walked calmly, trying to muffle its footsteps,
but it didn't notice the enemy above it. Oberon leaped onto the beast, plunging his dagger into one of its eyes. The beast's roar echoed throughout the place —.
"Even you can bleed after all"
— Oberon was clinging on for dear life while stabbing the beast's eyes as hard as he could, but before he could gouge out the last three, the beast leaped desperately downward. Oberon had to let go if he didn't want to end up crushed.
Although he couldn't destroy all its eyes, the situation wasn't so bad for him either; the beast's vision was blurry, and it could no longer clearly distinguish the different shapes in front of it—
Realizing my position, I started running again; adrenaline was the only thing pushing my strength beyond its limits. I couldn't hurt it, and I had no bait left, but my options weren't completely gone yet.
"Hey, over here!!"
I shouted to get its attention; it wasn't hard to make it chase me—it already seemed pretty angry at me.
Its speed was a major problem; it caught up to me with ease, but that was the plan. Jumping and grabbing onto the edge of the road, I let it run past me and fall back down. Now I had the positional advantage again.
— You could already sense the beast's stress; it was breathing heavily and uncontrollably, leaping from path to path, desperately searching for its prey. It was a first for that creature, which stood at the top of the food chain in that place—that creature that had never had trouble hunting. That tiny being, which barely deserved its attention, was cornering it, and once again Oberon didn't waste his chance, plunging his dagger into one of the beast's three remaining eyes. The beast wouldn't let itself be defeated a second time and lunged directly toward the wall in front of it the moment it felt Oberon's touch, slamming Oberon's body with such force against the wall that it cracked.
Oberon lay on the ground, his bones fractured and spitting blood; he could no longer even stand up because breathing had become difficult. He had managed to wound the beast several times and leave it in a pitiful state, gasping for air. The beast was about to end its prey's life when a Carbovoros attacked it from behind, watching as its prey smiled on the ground —.
"Hahaha, hahahahaha, I WIN!!!"
I shouted at the top of my lungs as if victory were already assured. I understood how the Carbovoros' hunting method worked when I first planned to throw the beast from a great height. When they hunted us, I wondered why they attacked me more than Krax if Krax was supposed to be closer to them. Luckily, I got the answer ahead of time, which helped me come up with a third plan. The Carbovors don't just hunt by following carbon dioxide emissions—they also go by how much their prey emits. I emitted more carbon dioxide than Krax, which is why they attacked me more. And following that logic, the bigger the creature, the more oxygen it needs.
— The number of Carbovors attacking the beast was increasing; they were attacking it from all sides, tearing off its skin and biting it nonstop. But even at its worst, the beast wouldn't let itself be killed easily, fighting until the end—an end that Oberon, who was already in a bad way, couldn't bear to watch, and so he simply closed his eyes —
[You have participated in the defeat of an infected; a participation bonus will be granted to you. Do you accept?]
"What is this?Am I dead?"
[You have participated in the defeat of an infected; a participation bonus will be granted to you. Do you accept?]
"Well, yes, if that'll shut you up"
[Calculating participation bonus… Malice increased successfully]