*Vrmm*
"Tch. I can't believe I'm meeting them again!"
"Sen, there's two more coming from the right!"
A bright red four-wheeled All-Terrain Vehicle busted from the trees. Immediately following its lead, at least 7 Spotted Tigers leaped as well, their countenances indicating they didn't take kindly to the noisy intruder roving around their home.
It was smooth sailing for the ATV riders at least in the first tens of minutes. However, as soon as they entered the smaller path leading to Randel, a bunch of tigers Senna was familiar with came out of the bushes as if to ambush them.
"Bel, can't you do something about them?! I can't use my sword while driving!" Senna pleaded to his Husky companion.
"I need wide open space to use my awesome power, Sen. Being cuddled to death like this disturbs my concentration too much." The dog barked in response, at least, according to the terrified girl holding him in a painful-looking chokehold.
Ran was so panicked she didn't notice her driver pleading with his dog.
"Damn it!" The situation was urgent. If he let the big cats be, sooner or later they would manage to catch up to him due to how rough the old road was. Worst case scenario, if he ran out of mana during the chase…
Senna thought hard about his options. Glancing down, his eyes noticed the dangling Steering Chakram he always carried around now.
"Guess it's now or never."
Gripping it by the spoke, he unhesitantly threw it at one of the tigers running behind him. It was rather stupid of him, but Senna hadn't even once tried the darn thing to see how the 'steering' function actually worked.
Well, even if he failed, at least it would stop one of the tigers in its track. It was far better than doing nothing.
'Come on, hit!' Whether it was because he had a good aim or what, the chakram struck the tiger right on the head. Blood spurted out of the wound. 'Yosh! To the next one!'
Using his mind to imagine the chakram freeing itself from being lodged in the tiger's head, Senna commanded it to fly to the second one right beside it.
And the ring weapon did. As if being pulled with a string, it dislodged itself from the skull and rammed into another one. "It worked!"
«Two Spotted Tigers defeated. Reward: 10 PP.»
Paying the system no mind, Senna focused on both driving and maneuvering the chakram. It was slow going as he was still uncostumed with such specific multitasking. However, the tigers were indeed gradually being brought down one at a time.
«…Another Spotted Tiger defeated. Reward in total: 25 PP.»
Only one of them was left. Maybe they were exceptionally stupid as living creatures, but even with all his comrades dying, this one didn't seem to have any intention to retreat.
Seeing a rather good open spot up ahead, Senna decided to brake. "Haaah… Look, just give up will you…?"
"Scram off, pussy!" Cybele joined in the jeering.
Ran didn't seem to be in the mood to go along with the fun. Eyes closed tight, she held onto Senna's back as if her life depended on it.
"My God, it won't leave…" Senna sighed seeing the last tiger still warily approaching him. "Ugh, my headaches coming back…"
His mana must be running low. Perhaps it was also due to his usage of the Steering Chakram, draining his supply more rapidly than he first planned.
*Whirl*
Calling the ring weapon back, Senna held it in his hand ready to throw it to the tiger manually.
"Get lost, you stup… id…?" He trailed off after noticing something was amiss. "Earthquake?"
The ground beneath them was vibrating. First, it was subtle and gentle, but gradually the shaking grew more and more intense as time passed.
"What the—"
Senna's blood ran cold when he saw the sight in the distance, behind the rows of trees and foliage.
An army of Silverback gorillas was advancing toward him at full speed.
"Hell, what the heck is wrong with this forest?!"
He wasted no time pulling the throttle back again. The four wheels jumped forward like sprinters in the Olympic finals.
There was no way for Senna to resist that stampede filled to the brim with big ape violence. His fuel tank was already diminishing, and there was also a limit to how much he could take out with the chakram.
His only choice was now simply to reach Randel village before he ran out. And after that… maybe furiously praying to God Nyaru that the simian army wouldn't overrun the village.
"Please there be a gate, please there be a fence, please there be a wall…" Repeating the wishes as if chanting a mysterious spell, Senna drove the ATV recklessly through the uneven dirt road.
"Sir Senna, are we there yet?!"
"Dunno! Just keep your eyes closed for your own sake!"
"Frozen chow! The entire Silverback population seems to be on our tail, Sen!"
"I don't need late and obvious commentary, Bel!"
"I'm not giving any commentary, Sir Senna!"
The intense journey was brimming with tremendous alarm and equally tremendous banters.
Soon, from a distance, Senna finally sighted what seemed like smoke rising into the air. "There it is!" The sign of a recent fire unexpectedly created an obvious landmark to guide him toward his destination.
However, as the village gate slowly got ever closer, it was immediately apparent that something seriously wrong was happening inside it.
And it wasn't about the desolation due to the great fire.
"Holy… hell…"
"No… why?"
A savage battle between man and beast was taking place all over Randel, amongst the burnt ruins of buildings and on the streets.
Stopping just before the wrecked wooden gate, Senna observed the spectacle in disbelief.
The villagers were desperately fighting off assaults from ferocious beasts of the forest. Among them, there were the gorillas and tigers Senna was familiar with, but there were also some that he hadn't seen before.
The biggest ones seem to be what looked like a combination of two-horned rhinoceros and hippocampus. Those megafaunas were rampaging through the streets and bulldozing every ashen carcass of the wooden houses in sight, with nobody seemingly able to stop them.
Then, farther away, a vicious duel was occurring between a giant muscular man wielding an axe and a massive snake resembling a King Cobra. He was assiduously parrying the oversized fangs poking menacingly from inside the slithering reptilian's mouth.
Besides those two mentioned, there was also an assembling cast of tusked boars, grizzly bears, monitor lizards, and even a squad of bald eagles flying overhead.
Randel Village was now the site of an epic clash between humankind and the residents of nature, the latter seemingly went berserk and possessed by an impulse of extreme violence.
"What in the world is happening…?"
Even concern about the encroaching gorilla army chasing him just now was immediately erased from his mind seeing the scene unfolding before him.