'The vegan lifestyle is very much suitable for me,' I thought to myself, taking another bite out of the Bloodbark. Yes, I love mutilating the inside of my mouth!
[29L/100L of blood absorbed]
'See, I even get this as a bonus...sometimes,'
I felt my brow twitch at the thought. I wasn't losing myself to instincts like I'd been afraid of, but I was still a bit frustrated at the slow progress. Don't get me wrong, I'm still grateful, but still...
I decided to lay those thoughts to rest and focus on the situation at hand.
I was currently sitting on top of one of the Bloodtrees, as I called them. I was enjoying a nice bite while coming up with some ideas. This was my plan before I was rudely interrupted by that pile of flesh, and why I aggravated it in the first place. I needed to see how far the fog stretched, and after escaping, I did just that. Avoiding any sleeping piles of flesh, of course.
As I expected, there was none of the chilly fog up here, and I could rest at ease as well.
Except there was a problem.
I looked below me at the slowly flowing, disturbing fog, then lifted my gaze towards the horizon. Scarlet laced the lower half of my vision in all directions for as far as the eye could see. Pillars of sharp-tipped crimson occasionally stretched above the fog as well, making the scene resemble a field of bloodied spears thrusting towards the heavens.
'Tsk. Plan one, failed.'
I clicked my tongue. Escape didn't seem to be an option. I had a feeling that even if I walked beyond the horizon, there would just be more fog waiting for me. Not to mention, I was quite sure the comedy squad wasn't here either. I checked around again a while ago with no luck.
I sighed. It may have been slightly difficult to stay hidden from them here, so maybe it was a good thing.
I proceeded to take another bite of the Bloodbark in my hands, trying to convince myself of its progressive effect on my palate. Despite my best efforts, my plan of becoming a vegan and living out my days in peace here didn't last long either.
'Guess that only leaves one option. I have to conduct some research on the local wildlife.'
Something told me this place wasn't as simple as it seemed, and my monster instincts were screaming at me to get stronger here. Due to that, I felt that it was necessary to fill up the blood meter in this macabre forest, almost as if I wasn't worthy to go further otherwise. It seemed my body knew more than I did. I decided to listen to these instincts while remaining cautious not be overtaken by them again.
I proceeded to finish the final bit of my Bloodbark before slamming my claws into the trunk of the Bloodtree. I slowly began making my way down, soon breaking through the surface of the scarlet fog and leaving the comfort of my treetop behind. Instantly, a slight chill ran across my whole body as the temperature dropped. I continued inching downwards, and before long, my feet hit the ground.
'If preparation is possible, I should do it. So, first order of business: find a willing(strongly optional) test subject.'
While I was fleeing earlier, I saw many piles of flesh wrapped around the pillars, but didn't spot any other Fracturebeasts. It seemed they were the dominant species here, and I would need to fight them.
I knew I had to kill one of those grotesque Frankenstein's, even if they were stronger than me by a Rank, so I needed to find a weakness as soon as possible. I made my way through the scarlet-dyed forest, scanning for any lumpy Bloodtrees. After a couple of minutes, I found one.
A pile of flesh stretched along the length of the tree like an arboreal snake, not even sensing my presence. I decided to walk closer, prepared to dodge at any moment. I was not only a step away from the creature. Still no reaction.
'Interesting.'
I lightly tapped the creature. Its flesh and nearby bones only slightly trembled, but the bundle of maws didn't rise to attack me. I nodded while rubbing my chin.
'I see, relatively harmless for the time being. I said I wouldn't fight it, but this and that are different. This is an experiment!'
Further testing was required. I took a deep breath and tensed my legs, then proceeded to swipe my claws over the flesh pile. Scarlet enshrouded my claws once again. I began counting in my head. There was a brief pause before I saw the bundle of maws lift once again. One of them immediately lunged at me, but I had already evaded backwards.
'I already realized this earlier, but it seems I'm much faster than it. Roughly four seconds for it to attack after being injured.'
I had managed to dodge last time without even being aware of the abomination. I was at a clear advantage with speed. Still, not enough to kill it in four seconds. That thing wouldn't bleed out easily.
As I was lost in my thoughts, the towering pile of flesh and bones slowly unwrapped itself from the Bloodtree. That was when I noticed it - the part of the trunk where the Fracturebeast had been was completely pale!
'Ohh, I see! You feed off the Bloodbark just like me!'
At the sense of my camaraderie, the unfriendly pile of meatloaf sent one of the teeth-lined maws flying at me. I swiftly dodged once again, with little space to spare. It had grown slightly faster after leaving the tree. I was still faster, however.
I was debating about whether or not to just go for it and try to beat the thing with no tricks, since I could outpace it easily, when I noticed its flesh. It had become rough and thorny, similar to the Bloodtrees. It seemed tougher, much tougher as well. I knew I couldn't pierce the flesh pile that easily anymore with my fangs or claws.
'Hmm, maybe its Ability? That's gonna make things more difficult,' I sighed to myself.
I decided to fall back for now, given I had enough information to try some other tricks. I quickly dashed into the scarlet fog once again, with the flesh pile slowly slithering after me.
***
A couple of hours later, I was peeling off more Bloodbark from the pillars. And no, this isn't for my next meal. Well, it is, but that's not the point. I peeled off the final piece of the Bloodbark, leaving the base of the tree naked.
'All in a day's work.'
I walked over to the nearby towering pile of scarlet wood I had accumulated and threw the final piece onto the stack. Looking at the surroundings, I let a bright, toothy smile flash across my face. Hard work can feel nice at times.
I sat down and calmly waited.
Every nearby pillar was stripped naked, except for two. One of them had a pile of flesh wrapped around it, while the other stood perfectly intact right in front of me. I had noticed this after a bit of hands-off observation, but the flesh piles eventually unwrap themselves from the pillars and move on in search of a fresh one. So, what happens if part of their meal is missing?
It took roughly an hour of waiting before there was movement from the lazy flesh pile. It unhurriedly peeled itself from the Bloodtree before slithering towards one of the other nearby pillars. Surprisingly, its flesh didn't change this time. What a careless creature!
Small feelers rose from underneath it and began patting down a barkless tree. The feelers retracted, and the pile of flesh and bones calmly slithered forward with the disturbing maws hovering above it. Seems like I was right. Nobody wants a half-eaten meal.
It repeated this process at every nearby tree, before eventually reaching mine. It didn't even notice me as I held my breath. I watched in anticipation. The feelers slithered out once again and began groping the tree. This time, they remained for much longer before retracting.
'Did it not work? Are not all Bloodtrees suita-?'
I was caught off guard as the snake-like mound slowly rose and towered even higher than before. I watched in shock as the flesh, tendons and bones parted to reveal a bundle of organs underneath. Strange crimson viscera lined its insides, calmly pulsating with rows of milky rib-like bones covering the internals. Thick tubes ran along everywhere, creating a wild criss-crossing maze. Viscous liquids slowly dripped onto the earth from its entrails, leaving a small puddle on the ground.
At the very forefront, a large ball-shaped organ pulsated harder than the rest, with three junctions of tubes running out of it. On top of it lay another small maw, which was stretching its sharp teeth out towards the tree. This reeked of...
'Ah.'
A moment later, the three larger hovering maws struck into the trunk of the Bloodtree. The small maw also bit in, and the body wrapped itself around the crimson pillar. It was all over in an instant. The pile of flesh had grown motionless.
'I see,' I thought to myself, wearing a sly grin.
I may have just found its weak spot.
A plan quickly formulated in my head.