NOVEL NEXT Chapter 31: 31 MIXED
Three minutes had never passed so fast. And Rex only knew because Imani was whispering the countdown as they fought.
It was a fight like nothing he'd experienced. It was….. traumatizing.
The drakes were just animals. Wild mindless beasts that had an instinctual response to evolve reflexively. They were like a mini-game with life and death consequences to Rex.
The Goblins were infinitely more….
Just more.
They had different colored eyes. They smelled of fear and rage and some had tears streaming down their faces and thick globules of snot bubbling from curled noses. They were savage and passionate and understandable.
That was the worst of it.
One of the first things they taught in Primary School to prepare everyone to be a Drift Soldier was simple.
"No matter what, always dehumanize the enemy."
Rex found the doctrine stupid. If you dehumanized your enemy, you opened yourself up to being surprised by intelligent— or human, tactics.
But as he slaughtered his first Orc, he got it. He got it in their screams— in the unique words and verbs that must've been the names of loved ones, children, gods they saw as the light left their eyes. He heard it from his own kind in the screaming alleys of the Bloodwoods and the abandoned district of Vet's Row.
"It's easier this way… it's easier when they're nothing like us."
"RAHHHHH!!!" The Orc was covered in old animal blood. It was like a brown second skin that cracked and melted as it's temperature rose with the rise of familial rage. It charged Rex, punching and stomping through its Goblinoid kin to reach him.
Rex took off on all fours, closing the distance with a high speed leap. Stuffing away the uncomfortable thoughts to face the immediate physical threat. To consume the experience. To grow his strength.
He landed on the Orc's face as it roared and spit jungle-fire down its throat.
It's roars bubbled and turned crackly as its throat went ashen in an instant.
Rex flipped off the Orc's face as it fell.
[+200 EXP]
Three Goblins wielding spears surrounded him in the jungle. The fact that they hadn't turned into their enraged orc warrior forms meant they were either adolescents in training or berry-raiders not fit for combat.
"So, either a mirror-match or massacre. No in between." Rex thought.
The closest goblin, wearing bark sectional armor pieces combined with bits of older edition thrown out military grade Kevlar threw its spear.
Rex side stepped the weapon and threw a jungle-fire blast in the similar shape of a spear. His aim was thrown off by the twitch of his left ear as the spear came rushing back due to the tapir intestine rope the goblin had wrapped around the weapon— making it a crude harpoon of sorts.
He rolled out of the way as the weapon came rushing back into the goblins hands.
From the ground, the other two rushed him with daggers and fear cosplaying as wild rage in their eyes.
Rex exploded to his feet and pounced on them both, letting one of each hand grab their throats as he slammed them into the earth.
The harpoon heaving goblin moved to save his allies but Rex was already leaping up the length of a tree with one of the goblins in his feline powered grip.
Below him, Imani moved like a brutal assassin, her braids rustled as she sprinted over dead leaves. As the goblins watched his beastial form ascend, she came from behind, kicking out their legs from under them with a quick spinning sweep kick. Once she was back on her feet, she stomped in the dagger wielding goblins neck. The spear throwing goblin swung at her as it flailed.
She flipped out of the way, grabbing the discarded dagger along the way before rejoining the jungle density surrounding.
From the trees Rex and the remaining dagger wielder wrestled. It's strength climbed— eventually even overpowering Rex's. They battled on the highest branch, over fifty feet above ground. Rex put the green-skinned knife-fighter in a rear naked choke. It smelled like berries, animal blood and furs.
The goblin thrashed, the release of an unknown chemical component spiraled from its pours— soaking into its sweat. The goblin raised its arm— in Rex's enhanced sensory state, the world felt like it flowed in slow motion.
He watched its arm veins bulge and squirm like angry snakes. It's skin stretched and even ripped— creating tiny cuts as the muscles bulged and the bone expanded with violent steam. When the goblin brought its elbow down into his ribs, it was the elbow of an Orc.
The goblin was awakening. Just as he had days ago.
He took the blow and coughed up blood. With the goblin's giant arm, it reached up and grabbed Rex by the face, using its massive hand to grip his snout and begin to crush it.
Rex felt one of his fangs crack.
He yowled from a closed mouth.
From below, Imani watched as the top of the tree exploded with jungle fire.
Seconds later and the both of them were falling from the tree, hitting every flaming branch on the way down.
Rex recovered first, catching the branch just above ground and swinging around just as the half shifted Orc fell for him.
Rex collided with the creature and spun them so he landed topmount as they hit the ground hard enough to raise the dirt.
In the mess, Rex sunk his poisonous fangs into its neck and mauled the Orc.
He distantly listened as its screams became roars until he was—
His ears twitched at the sound of rustling rope.
In the settling dirt, he saw the spear flying toward him.
He dodged and caught the spear, slamming it through the Orc's head on the ground.
The other goblin tried to pull their spear back, instead, Rex grabbed the intestinal rope, yanking the goblin to him where he caught it by the throat and squeezed until its eyes burst.
[+500 EXP]
DING!
[You have Leveled Up!]
[You are now Level 9]
[+1 Stat Point]
DING!
[Unique Instance Requirements met!]
[Due to transformation progression and your physical maturity as a Panthera Sapien, you have unlocked two Skills early!]
[New Skill, (Bite) Unlocked!]
[Aspect Weilder Variant Form Available: (Werejaguar/Nahual)]
Immediately, Rex spent the point on his strength, remembering how the barely shifted goblin nearly completely overpowered him and pondered briefly on the new skills. He didn't need genius level intellect to know what it entailed. Remulus' words echoed in his mind.
Imani stepped out of the bushes with the smell of blood clinging to the foot portion of her martial-skin.
"Two minutes left." Imani said. "Something is different about your physical readings. Your muscular tissue weight distribution changed. Tendon strength….. bone density….. is this the experience you spoke of?" Beads of sweat rolled down the sides of her face. Under the sun it looked like her smooth dark skinned cheeks were cupped in diamonds.
"Yea." Rex said.
"Well. Let's go. Now it's time to plan." Imani said.
Rex didn't move.
"What is it?"
"There's more."
"How many more?" Imani asked, "I did a visual scan and I don't see any traces of goblins. None of their pure hormones, no physical signs—"
"I hear it." Rex took off.
As they ran, he passed through clearings and structures until they hit a camp full of roped up animals and fleeing goblins.
Rex didn't give chase— as much as he wanted to. For the sake of experience. It was like his higher brain knew something the rest of him didn't. He was focused on one scent. Different from the others. The fear was different. The rage was an afterscent. Like something held within— hidden behind the scents of baseline anger and hunger. The hunger was special.
It smelled like home.
He didn't expect to smell home worlds away from it.
"Rex! One minute." Imani said from behind him.
"It's all I need."
Rex began ripping through the village until he stood before a nondescript hut made of jungle trees and mud.
Writings in other languages covered the building. But he also saw English words. Unintelligible. Like a child trying things he'd seen.
The smell was stronger than ever.
He grabbed the two small sides of the doorframe, ignoring the leather tarp flailing and began applying his newly grown strength until he ripped open the doorway walls and was able to enter in his transformed state.
The shadows lifted as sunlight spilled in. His frame was cloaked in the solar rays, hiding the details of his face, making him an enigma of sorts with claws and glistening fangs. The veins in his martial-skin surged. His eyes widened.
"Imani….. look."
He stepped aside— Imani approached beside him.
They both stared at the little boy inside. He was chained up and covered in both scabs, brandings and tattoos made assumedly with a poker dipped in berry dye.
He couldn't have been any older than twelve. He had a curly mop of black hair covered in dirt and ripped out furs— most goblins had brown hair if at all. His was also streaked with gold. A color that didn't match his eyes— which were a beautiful shade of blue. Also not a goblin trait.
Even more bizarrely, he wasn't fully green. His skin was covered in constantly shifting splotches of green. Like his body didn't know if he was supposed to be a goblin or not.
He had the same long curling nose and sharp ears. But he didn't have the fangs or claws. He was too tall for his age.
He was….
"Imani…"
"I know. It's extremely rare. They don't usually live this long. But he's a half-goblin. Born a slave— a training dummy. Powerless and on borrowed time."
Yet there he stood. Instead of cowering and moving like he knew his life would end soon, he stood up and took a defensive stance.
A little boy facing a monster. Listening to his hunger. His surviving spirit. His mania and rage at his circumstances. His hunger for more. A hunger he quenched from time to time based on the smell of blood under the half-blood boys nails.
Rex had so many questions. Many of which assigned to himself.
Rex felt like he was standing in front of a mirror.
Another mirror match. Only different.
He wasn't facing an enemy.
He was facing himself.
And what perfect timing it was.
In a weird way, it was like he was having an out of body experience. Like he was watching himself in the screaming alleys as a little boy, fighting off monsters in the skin of men.
Rex kept his eyes on the young fighter and turned his head toward Imani, "Hey, what did Remulus say not to do again?"
"He said not to—"
"I don't remember either." Rex interrupted and approached the boy.