Mutilation

I was ready.

There wasn’t any time to waste. It was now or never.

I raised the Pink Strawberry, opening my mouth in anticipation of eating it. If it tasted awful, it wouldn’t concern me.

My teeth motioned to clench, but even before my taste buds felt the skin of the strawberry, something happened. My moment was taken from me.

“What the hell do you think you are doing?” A panting, tired voice called out behind me. It wasn’t feminine, so it had to be Ren.

Before I could spin around to look at him, he snatched the Pink Strawberry from my hand, and stepped in front of me.

“You don’t seriously think I’m going to let you waste one of those on you in here? Don’t be silly. Stand back…I’ll handle this.”

Perhaps Ren didn’t believe in me. Or perhaps he believed so much in himself, he simply wanted to ensure victory. Both made sense, but, either way, the fact I wasn’t going to have the chance of defeating it was certain.

Ren gulped the Pink Strawberry, and began to transform into something uneasy on the eye.

His muscles grew to an astronomical size, mirroring that of what we humans conceived giants to look like. His muscles bulged and curved in places I had never seen before as his black armour disappeared from his body in an instant.

As numerous winding veins popped from his shoulders and chest, two sharp, bending tusks jutted out from his mouth.

Ren had gone, and whatever this was had taken over.

His face appeared ten times as bloodthirsty as it had back at the Goblin level. He drooled, staring forwards keenly with beaming red eyes as he exerted a deranged roar before charging at the flying monster.

Just before he did, however, Ren spoke with a monstrous tone.

“You guys stay back. Taro, fire from a distance when you think necessary. I’ll trust you to help me.”

It scared me a little, and I gulped quite heavily. Though I was partially annoyed, I wasn’t going to disobey Ren’s orders.

Almost in just one blink, he cut from right in front of me, and appeared up-close to the monster.

Ren, in beast-like form, rapidly shifted away from me, and threw a thumping upper-cut to the monster’s hardened chin. The punch thrusted it upwards before it came crashing to the floor, shaking the entire cave and causing some rocks from the ceiling of the cave to fall.

Their fighting ensued, and after a while of me trying to find the right angle, I noticed that Ren was more or less fighting on his own accord, neglecting me as a supporting force.

I never truly had an opening during the fight. Ren must’ve given me positive advice so I wouldn’t get involved any further.

After Ren threw several more punches, some landing and some evaded by the monster, it squealed and lunged towards Ren, its skull slamming into Ren’s hands as they locked in a brutal test of strength and willpower.

Both roared, muscles straining, neither backing down. Until, oddly, Ren did. He slid back, his feet carving two lines through the dirt.

I thought he’d lost. But just as it charged at him again, Ren flipped into the air, landed on its back, and engraved his hands into the monster’s wings, soon tearing them off like paper.

That must’ve been his plan all along. He was clearly playing with its mindless emotions. Though, he played with mine as well. I didn’t see that coming.

Despite it now lacking wings, the monster’s scream that followed Ren’s impressive counter failed to let my nerves settle. The deadly look on its face made me all the more unconvinced that Ren was safe.

And as they stood off against each other once again, Ren’s growing confidence seemingly proved erroneous, instead blinding Ren of the monster’s capabilities.

More clashes between the two followed, but it was after about a minute or so that a thrashing tail whip plunged Ren to the side and into an edge of the cave. Saliva and a trickle of blood spewed from Ren’s mouth as he screamed in agony. A deep dent marked the wall where he had crashed.

Ren collapsed to the ground, lying on his front and appearing unconscious.

I paused, wondering whether this was just another one of Ren’s tricks to deceive the monster. Yet with every step the monster took to edge closer to Ren, my doubts grew.

“Ren!” I screamed, attempting to wake him up.

He didn’t move.

I didn’t have much time to think, so I did what anyone else would and tried my best to protect him.

I lit my sword with fire like I had done earlier, and threw it at the monster as hard as I could, hoping to divert its attention from Ren.

CLANGGGG! A solid hit.

My sword bashed against the edge of the monster’s many teeth, cracking one slightly and burning part of its face.

While I had successfully saved Ren with my throw, I realised I hadn’t considered what was inevitably going to happen next.

The monster darted towards me with a frightening scream, its tongue hanging from its mouth with hunger and vengeance.

It scampered so fast I could do nothing but squint as it approached me.

Just like with the crab, I didn’t move. I watched the monster as it crept closer and extended its mouth to eat me.

I had accepted that, this time, there was nothing I could do, or anyone who could help me.

So long as my efforts gave Ren enough time to recover properly and defeat the monster, I was satisfied.

As its horrible breath battered my senses and its eyes bulged, staring at me with a joyous intent, its jaws crunched.

Yet I had not been eaten. Once again, miraculously, I had survived being the prey of a beast.

Only for a brief moment was I confused. The second the monster squealed and began retreating backwards against its will was when I knew he had saved me again.

“Nice one, Taro. I was unsure if you’d read me, but I’m glad you did.”

I wasn’t sure what he was talking about, but I was sure that he’d explain what he was talking about soon enough.

Ren appeared from behind the monster as he lifted it up from its tail, and began to swing it about with a grin riddled on his face.

“Smart, wasn’t it? Hey, Taro?”

“Ren!” I was too relieved to answer his question properly.

“This stupid thing is like a child, you see. Once something sets it off, it won’t leave it alone until it has caught it. That’s why I needed you to distract it for me. Once it sets itself onto something, it becomes oblivious to everything else around it.”

“How come you didn’t think of that immediately, then?”

“From what I’ve figured, not everything functions completely like the real game. From now on, we shouldn’t assume all will be exactly the same,” Ren shouted as he continued to swing the monster around.

“Now, time to finish this!”

Ren squeezed the monster’s tail tighter as it writhed and screamed, its flailing limbs growing weaker by the second. Then, with a strong grunt and a mad grin, he hurled it into the air like it weighed nothing.

As it flew into the air, spinning helplessly, Ren pulled out his special sword which crackled with a blue lightning. Ren then launched himself into the air with a force I couldn’t believe.

Mid-air, he let out an unhinged roar and slashed the monster with such incredible power that it split clean in two. The lightning flared with a harsh vigour as the sword sliced through the monster.

Blood poured from the cleaved halves, raining down like a cursed waterfall, drenching both Izumi and me beneath.

It was grotesque. Vile in fact. But nevertheless…undeniably awesome.

Ren delicately reached the ground, morphed out of his monstrous form, soaked in its blood and cheekily smiled. “Well that was disgusting,” he spat, “but damn — have you ever seen anything cooler?”

I couldn’t argue.

After seeing that, there was no question he should’ve been the one to eat the Pink Strawberry.