It wasn't Ikaris who had just shouted, but Grallu. The teenager was currently so glad to have been spared by the Alpha Bison that he didn't care about anyone else. But this was not the case with Krold next to him.
When he saw Karragin's chief being trampled by a rampaging herd, the warrior unexpectedly let go of the bison's horn he was yanking on and ran to the young woman's rescue in spite of all common sense. The old shaman reacted in exactly the same way.
'Are you kidding me?' Ikaris stood there like an idiot, wondering how Malia's plight justified committing suicide just to get her body back.
Besides, a day earlier she never had any trouble fighting the Alpha Bison in single combat. The very idea that this bison could overtake her without her being able to fight back made no sense.
If she was so weak, what made her so much different than him?
"Campfire!" Krold yelled as he aimed both palms at the enemy herd. Three two-meter-high campfires blazed on the ground, forming a circle of flame around Malia and Asselin.
The barbarian stood trembling and dripping with sweat, turning so pale he was almost corpse-like. Maintaining his focus without resorting to his Divine Spark this time, he used his weak Fire Affinity to create more bursts of fire to panic the bison into retreat.
At the same time, Grallu jogged surprisingly fast to the immobile young woman, quite a feat for an old lady who usually needs a cane and someone to help her walk from her cottage to the altar. She scooped her up in her arms and used her staff to incant a new spell.
"Gari, goru..."
Her unintelligible gibberish that changed every time generated a gust of wind that blew over the campfires, which without fuel were already on the verge of dying out. The flames spread towards the enemy herd.
After that, the shaman took to her heels and scampered away as fast as a leopard with Malia in her arms. Krold's jaw was agape from shock, but he shook his head to compose himself and picked up Asselin, who was passed out not far from her.
Unlike Malia's origins, he knew by reputation the aristocratic clan this Asselin came from. If the blond man was still alive, he was their best hope of saving Malia. He was also a valuable hostage.
Ikaris was furious at being ditched like that at the worst possible time by Krold, but his fury and hunger gave him the strength he needed to pull that bison. The transformation also had something to do with it.
[Ikaris:]
[Species: Human.]
[Status: Infected by a Rank 2 Crawling (Transformation to Crawling-Thrall in progress 68%)]
[Side Effects: Night Vision, Crawling Physique 68%, Attributes +2, Vitality+20, Insatiable Appetite, Strict Carnivore, Loss of Sanity, Bloodlust, Absolute Loyalty to the Glenring Race]
The boy didn't realize it, but his strength had increased considerably. He was more than thrice as strong and athletic as the Ikaris of yesterday. Dragging that Demonic Bison was certainly tough and exhausting, but with his exaggerated stamina he was slowly but surely making it.
He had almost made it back into the jungle with his massive prey when his eyeballs popped out as he saw the old Grallu and Krold sprinting towards him as if their lives were at stake. Behind them, the furious Alpha Bison had charged through the flame wall, the other bisons content to trample to death the hobgoblin Klayzer they had left behind.
" Fuck me!" Ikaris gnashed his teeth as he dropped the horns of his prey with force.
Infuriated, he cocked his bow for the first time and nocked an arrow. The pupils of his eyes, which were now almost completely golden, became as narrow and vertical as a cat's and the bovine's movements seemed to slow down.
"Eat my arrow!" The teenager fired a first arrow, then a second and a third immediately after.
The first missed, the second ricocheted off the monster's horn, but the third hit something. Grallu was stunned by his extraordinary shooting performance, but Krold looked away guiltily and continued to run away with Asselin on his back.
'Don't lose control.' He muttered inwardly, praying for his soul.
"MOOOOOOO!"
Ikaris was appalled by his horrible accuracy, but that was to be expected since he had never used a bow in his life before he got here. Not to mention the fact that his bow was as amateurish and crude as it could be. He'd tried it out to make sure it worked, but he hadn't had nearly enough time to become an outstanding archer.
The third arrow had just scratched the beast's muzzle, but it was enough to bring it out of its berserk mode. Its killing intent towards Malia and Asselin was immediately redirected towards the culprit, but Ikaris was just as bloodthirsty as it was.
Seeing that he would get nowhere with his bow, Ikaris mindlessly discarded it and driven by his bloodlust and overwhelming hunger, he drew his knife and charged at the enemy.
The Alpha bison was destabilized, but that suited him too. Bellowing, he charged shamelessly at the frail boy who was not a tenth of his weight, ready to knock him to the moon with one thrust of his horn.
Within a few meters of the inevitable collision, Ikaris' crazed countenance disappeared, replaced by a face as still as a waveless sea.
"Black Veil, See-through Vision, Heart-Puncturing."
The teenager twirled to the side as soon as the Alpha bison lost his sight, narrowly avoiding being impaled. Then the enormous beast kept on running for a few steps before tensing up, then staggering as if it was in tremendous pain.
After a few seconds, Ikaris, who was pale and wobbly, released the three spells and fell to his knees, breathless. On all fours, he took a huge gasp of air and felt his vision blur. A few steps away, he heard the faint mooing of the animal, which collapsed not far from him a moment later.
A short time later, Ikaris struggled to his feet, his monstrous Vitality finally coming into play. He cautiously approached the Alpha Demonic Bison with his knife in hand, but just as he was about to finish it off he almost had a heart attack when the bovine suddenly reared up.
By sheer instinct, the boy retreated with a backward somersault, his legs entwining themselves around a tree branch more than three meters high. Using his legs as a swing, he let himself be hoisted to the top of the branch and once on top he leapt to grab an even higher branch with both hands like a monkey.
In a heartbeat he was over 20 feet off the ground from the Alpha bison. The boy was so awestruck by the height separating him from the ground that he nearly lost his balance. It was only when he clung to the tree trunk he had just climbed that he recovered from his dizziness.
"MOOOOO!!MOO...Mo!"
Ikaris' face twitched as he passively listened to the bison's mooing. He wasn't quite sure why, but he had the feeling that the beast was hurling names at him, getting more and more inventive to provoke him. From the murderous looks that the bovine were throwing at him, they were now sworn enemies.
In response to his taunts, the boy gave him a middle finger. The beast didn't know what it meant, but somehow he got the message. The Alpha charged the tree he was perched on and rammed it repeatedly until it toppled over.
Snarling in anger, Ikaris simply ran to the end of his branch and used it as a springboard to land on another tree. Nevertheless, not appreciating the relentlessness of the beast, Ikaris broke with a disconcerting ease a branch as thick as his arm and after having sharpened its end with his knife he threw it down on the bovine with all his strength.
"MOOOO!"
The makeshift wood pike embedded itself five or six inches deep in the bison's plump buttocks, and the bovine finally realized that he would not get his revenge today. Seeing the boy snap another branch, the beast shot him a last hate-filled, unforgiving look and then reluctantly turned around, heading back to his clearing.
Ikaris kept cutting branches to carve wood pikes for himself and only stopped after ten minutes, once he was sure the terrifying Alpha would not return.
With caution, he slid down the tree trunk, and once he was sure he was alone, he tiptoed back to the bison he had stolen. A miracle! The Alpha had forgotten about it, surely thinking it was dead.
Which was the case... Seeing Grallu and Krold running towards him with the Alpha bison at their heels, he had slit the beast's throat to avoid any incident.
"Finally, I can eat my fill!" He roared with bloodshot eyes, a puddle of drool forming at his feet.
Ikaris forgot his manners as well as the fact that the buffalo clearing was right next door and chomped down on the creature's raw flesh, giving in completely to his hunger.
[Transformation 99>100%]