Seed of Titan-Chapter 54: Encounters in the Jungle

Back in the jungle, Drai was making his way through the dense vegetation.

After failing to locate his friends despite walking for so long, Drai figured they had decided to cut through the jungle. So, he abandoned his original route along the cave wall and entered the jungle too.

Jian wasn’t there to cut open a path, so Drai’s pace was significantly slower. He mostly followed the route where the plants was the sparsest.

At this moment, Drai felt something poke the back of his neck.

’What was that?" Drai thought as he turned around. However, there was nothing behind him aside from the plants that he had passed by.

’Strange...’

Drai shrugged it off and continued walking. But after taking a few steps, he felt another poke, this time on his leg.

Drai quickly turned around, but he still couldn’t see anything that was out of place even after squinting hard.

He then resumed his walk, but this time he immediately turned around after two steps, trying to catch the culprit off guard.

Yet to his disappointment, there was still nothing there.

’What the hell is happening to me? Is this some kind of jungle sickness?’

Drai didn’t think he was imagining things. He could sense that the spots that were hit were slightly numb.

’If Auri or Flo were to get hit by this, it would be quite dangerous,’ Drai thought.

But since he couldn’t find the cause, Drai could only resume his trekking.

Not long after, Drai was trying to walk over a log when he felt a familiar poke on his butt.

Fed up by the harrasment, he pulled out a rock from his storage and smashed it toward the area behind him.

After the dust had settled, Drai inspected the area and spotted a creature lying under a tree.

"What’s this?" Drai remarked as he lifted the creature by its tail.

It was a fat lizard with an unproportionally long tongue. The tip of its tongue was round and covered in small spikes.

What grabbed Drai’s attention was the lizard’s skin; it was showing a spectrum of colors that was constantly shifting.

’Seems like this guy can blend into the surroundings. No wonder I couldn’t spot him earlier.’

Drai looked at the strange lizard for a bit more before tossing it away and carrying on.

’I hope I don’t meet that guy’s friends too often. My stock of rocks are pretty limited after all. Hmm... maybe I should’ve brought the little guy with me. It’s probably valuable enough to submit for our side mission. But my priority should be reuniting with the party and finding a way out. And we can always go back if needed after securing our escape.’

After trekking for some time, Drai decided to rest. He took out a few lunchboxes from his storage, along with a water canister.

’I wonder what the guys are eating. Most of their food are with me,’ Drai thought as he ate.

However, Drai soon put his lunchbox down and stood up, readying himself for combat. His usual carefree expression was gone, replaced with apprehension despite having Titan’s Fortitude.

But his shakened state was understandable because a 5-feet tall tiger had just emerged from the nearby bushes.

The huge feline approached slowly. Its fierce eyes were closely watching the prey before him. Baring its sharp fangs, the tiger let out a low growl as it inched closer.

A bead of sweat ran down Drai’s forehead. He eyed the tiger’s claws and fangs, wondering whether his body could withstand them. Depending on their sharpness, they might just easily rip Drai apart.

’If it’s just being territorial, I might be able to run away. But if it’s hungry...’

As Drai was thinking about this, the tiger suddenly pounced at him. Its speed was too quick for Drai to evade, so he gritted his teeth and pounced back at the tiger.

Drai’s reaction surprised the tiger. It then promptly swatted Drai with its paw.

Drai’s arms were already raised in a defensive position, but they were rendered useless as he was still blasted away, slamming into a large tree before falling to the ground.

Pound for pound, Drai was probably stronger than the tiger. But this didn’t matter in a frontal clash as the tiger had at least five times more mass than Drai.

Seeing that its prey looked vulnerable, the tiger rushed for the kill.

Drai was just getting up when he saw the rapidly approaching tiger. Thinking quickly, he pulled out a rock and smashed it toward the beast.

Drai’s strategy seemed to work as the tiger flinched and frantically swept his front paws against the incoming rock hail. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Realizing its effectiveness, Drai pulled out the remaining of his rocks one after another, smashing them forward without aiming much. For the last one, he decided to fling it toward the tiger, which resulted in a loud thud and a painful whimper.

Not waiting to see the result of his attacks, Drai immediately turned and sprinted away.

’F**king tiger! If only I had my gigantification, I’d be the one smacking you around!’ Drai inwardly cursed as he hastily made his way through the jungle.

Drai kept running for few more minutes before he finally slowed down. Panting heavily, he looked back and was relieved that there was no sign that the beast was following him.

Drai slowed down to a jog in attempt to stabilize his breathing. His body was now covered in vines and leaves due to his blasting through the countless bushes during his escape.

After a few more minutes, Drai finally stopped and slumped to the ground. He lied there quietly, recuperating his stamina.

’Maybe I should get myself a big weapon in case of similar encounters in the future—unless I can quickly afford that f**king pricey skill. Who says size doesn’t matter...’

Not long after, Drai felt that he had recovered enough, so he finally stood up and went on his way, looking way more vigilant.

***

In another part of the jungle, the rest of the party were making their own way toward the other end of the cave.

Unlike Drai, they hadn’t encountered any problems except for the lush vegetation that continuously blocked their path.

At first, Jian constantly complained that Christo was needlessly adding to his work by choosing routes that were often far more obstructed than the other paths. Yet, Christo didn’t heed Jian’s complaints and insisted on following the path that he had chosen.

It was only after quite some time that the rest of them realized they hadn’t stumbled into any kind of danger for so long, which seemed impossible upon recalling their previous encounter with the large root.

Without saying it out loud, the others were starting to believe that Christo’s so-called "intuition" was real, or at least its effect was.

Therefore, the members were now complying with Christo’s instructions without commenting much, including Jian who was now quietly slashing their way through.

Out of a sudden, Christo raised his fist and ordered, "Everybody stop. Crouch down and be quiet."

The group didn’t know the reason for this sudden command, but they complied nonetheless.

As the group waited in silence, a series of muffled barks and shrieks resounded. At first, they seemed to be coming from a distance, but soon the sounds got closer and louder.

Then out of nowhere, a group of dog-like beasts appeared at a close distance. They were encircling another group that looked like fat little monkeys.

The party watched as the dogs toyed with the monkeys, occasionally snipping a tad of meat and fur or sweeping them with their paws.

The yellow furs of the small monkeys were bloodied. They looked distress and constantly shrieked and clawed as they tried to fend off the dogs.

The party quietly waited for these rowdy bunch to pass, but Auri and Flo had complicated expressions.

Unfortunately, it didn’t seem that the nearby scuffle was going away any soon, for some of the monkeys had succumbed to death—perhaps from bleeding out—leaving the rest of them stranded as they could no more run away. Their cries were getting louder as their end became more imminent.

"Christo..." Auri quietly said.

"No."

"What? I haven’t even—"

"You want to ask if we can rescue them, right? The answer is no. Just wait for them to go away after they’re finished," Christo sternly said.

"Look at how desperate they’re struggling to survive. Can’t you—".

"No."

"Please..." Auri pleaded, but Christo remained silent, for his answers had obviously fell on deaf ears.

Seeing the pleading Auri, Jian and Natalia shook their heads. Both of them were aware that what Auri suggested could jeopardize their group.

And this was such an unnecessary thing to do too, for this spectacle was probably a daily occurrence here. It’s merely a phenomenon where the strong preyed on the weak, the law of the jungle.

Being ignored by Christo, Auri pursed her lips and looked at the pitiful monkeys painfully.

As a few more monkeys succumbed, Auri couldn’t take it anymore. She gritted her teeth and stood up, immediately casting a spell. A yellow ray then flashed toward a dog, knocking it away.

Seeing this, Christo, Jian, and Natalia facepalmed.

Auri’s attack instantly attracted the attention of the other dozen or so dogs, making them stop harassing the monkeys and alarmedly look around. They quickly found the perpetrator, and the dogs started growling while baring their teeth at Auri who was standing at a distance.

"Sigh... At least I get to let off some steam," Jian said as he stood up and stretched. He then unsheathed his sword, ready to fight.

Natalia also stood up and readied herself. Just like her father, she chose not to wield any weapon since her class would have plenty firepower in its arsenal later on. However, she only had her scales and physical stats to rely at the moment, along with a couple of skills.

"Flo, stay in cover. We don’t have Drai to protect you, so just wait in a safe distance," Christo instructed as he took out a whip out of his satchel.

"Oh my, our leader’s getting kinky," Jian remarked upon seeing the new weapon Christo had brought out.

"Pretty suitable for a pack of wild dogs, eh?" Christo replied with a smile as he brandished his whip.

"I’m sorry guys," Auri apologized as she was aware of the trouble she had forced onto her party.

"Save it for later. Now let’s go," Christo ordered.

The four immediately charged forward in their usual formation minus Drai and Flo. Jian was at the forefront with Natalia following close by. Christo was slightly behind the two, and Auri was a small distance away at the rear.

Meanwhile, the pack of dogs also charged toward the party while loudly barking. Their saliva was flying everywhere as they bare their fangs, ready to chomp down their newfound prey.

As the frontmost dog was only several feet away from Jian, it leaped forward, aiming for Jian’s neck.

"Too slow!" Jian remarked.

"Crescent slash!"

As Jian slashed horizontally, a sky blue crescent projection shot out from his sword. It flew toward the leaping dog’s torso and cut it cleanly into two.

Seeing their mate being killed, the other dogs became enraged. They sped up their charge and pounced forward.

"Crescent Slash!" Jian shouted once again as he slayed another dog before evading the incoming pounces.

Meanwhile, Natalia’s arm flashed as her fist slammed into the face of a dog that was leaping at her. The dog whimpered as it fell to the ground with a thud and stopped moving.

Another dog was a couple feet away from biting her neck, so Natalia quickly shielded with her arm.

The dog chomped on Natalia’s forearm, biting it with all his might. But Natalia’s fist came slamming into its temple, rendering it unconscious as it slumped to the ground.

"F**king filthy," Natalia remarked as she looked at her forearm. Her sturdy scales had protected her from the dog’s bite but not its saliva.

At this moment, another dog pounced at Natalia. But before Natalia could respond, the dog’s head suddenly snapped as a cracking sound went off. It immediately went limp and flew past Natalia who had dodged.

"You’re welcome," Christo said as he retracted his whip behind Natalia.

Natalia eyed Christo briefly before rushing toward another dog.

Meanwhile, Auri was sniping the dogs from afar. This time, she used her red ray since the dog that was hit by her yellow ray earlier had quickly recovered.

The red rays weren’t as fast as the yellow one, so they often missed their targets that were constantly moving fast. But this also served as a distraction, as some of the dogs became less aggressive with their attacks, wary of the incoming rays.

The number of dogs quickly dwindled, and soon there was only one of them left standing.

"Fierce Thrust!"

A sky blue spear-like projection skewered the last remaining dog, concluding the battle.

"Must you shout the name every time you use a skill?" Natalia asked with a tinge of annoyance.

"Yep. Everybody does it in cultivation stories. Besides, it’s pretty cool, isn’t it?" Jian proudly stated as he sheathed his sword.

Natalia shook her head, not wanting to argue with this maniac.

Nearby, Auri was crouching near the remaining monkeys. She looked at their bloodied fur pitifully.

"Poor little guys... Let’s see if Flo can heal you," she said as she tried patting the monkey next to her.

However, as soon as Auri’s hand touched its head, the monkey twitched and bit Auri’s hand before quickly limping away with the rest of his kind, disappearing into the trees.

"What an ungrateful bunch," Jian remarked as he watched the monkeys go.

"At least they’re okay," Auri said with a smile. She then looked at the dead bodies that were scattered around them.

Auri suddenly felt sick in her stomach. She then ran to a nearby bush and puked.

"Hey, you okay?" Jian asked worriedly.

"I-I’m fine... Looks like my stomach can’t handle the gory sight," Auri weakly replied, wiping her mouth.

"You’re lucky we’re in a hurry. Otherwise we’d be skinning these dogs and monkeys and collecting their pelts, fangs, and other valuable stuff," Christo said as he inspected the corpses.

"You can handle a bit of blood and innards, huh?" Natalia remarked from the side.

"I’ve seen worse," Christo shrugged. He then signaled them to return to Flo who was waiting for them.

"Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it," Natalia said as she patted Auri’s shoulder on their way back.

Auri simply nodded. She rubbed her bitten hand silently, wondering if her intervention was worth it.

***