Ino turned to me, gauging a reaction, and when I nodded, she smiled and turned back to the group. "It should take us a little over twenty-four hours to cross the montane forest. The mountain cats are stealthy ambush predators, so I'd say we arm ourselves the moment we step in."

The others nodded silently, taking in the details as Ino continued, guiding us through the final crucial maneuvers. When she was done, she flicked the Whisperglobe off, and we all stood up and prepared to move.

Everyone began to summon their Bonds into their weapon forms. Ino dematerialized into a gleaming spear that snapped into Dion's grip, while the ferret on Celeste's shoulder streamed down her arm, coalescing into a small, deadly knife in her hand.

I finally got to see Julius's weapon form as Evelyn called him. At her command, Julius dissolved into a dark, viscous stream of blood that instantly transformed into a double-bladed, chained Kama that she grasped securely in both hands.

Seeing that, I couldn't help but arch a brow in curious awe, as it was the first time I had ever witnessed a weapon of that sort. At first, I wondered if it was regarded as a double weapon, but then I figured that it was probably a single weapon with dual components.

That aside…

Aika dissolved into a sudden flurry of black feathers and dark smoke that swirled and pooled towards my feet, and then I pulled her katana out of the smoke.

Not long after, we all headed into the montane forest and the light immediately dimmed as the dense canopy swallowed the sun.

With Dion leading the way, we moved at a strained, persistent pace with our eyes scanning the heavy undergrowth.

The forest was unnervingly silent. Aside from the distant sounds of running water, the only noises were the labored breathing of our group and the scrape of boots on mossy rock.

For the first few hours, the climb was relatively manageable, but as we went higher, things began to get significantly steeper and the footing became treacherous. We were lucky not to have any creatures attack us, but then, rather than offer relief, the lack of creatures made us nervous and paranoid.

During this time, I also noticed that the pain in my neck was slowly getting more severe. I rubbed my neck a few times, and that was when I realized with a sickening jolt that the spot I had been bitten had swollen slightly and was burning hot to the touch. It felt like a fire spreading down my spine, and my concentration was starting to fray.

…Still, I endured the pain and pushed on behind the others.

A few more hours passed in tense silence and relentless, agonizing walking. And then something else caught my attention causing me to suddenly halt.

Because I had my map in front of me right from the beginning, I could see that a few Mountain Cats were waiting in ambush for us.

Seeing me suddenly halt, the others also stopped and turned to me.

Then Evelyn, whose face was already a sheet of sweat and exhaustion, frowned and asked, "What?"

I pointed my katana tiredly towards their direction and replied, "Mountain Cats."

She paled and immediately whipped her head toward the direction I pointed. Then she tightened her grip on her chained Kama and braced herself. Dion and Celeste took a step back and also braced themselves.

At that moment, the mountain cats began to move. It seemed they were aware that we had noticed their presence, and so they began to silently slink closer, using the heavy undergrowth to discreetly fan out and complete their circle around us.

Then, all of a sudden, the six creatures launched themselves at us simultaneously. They resembled tawny, muscular lions, but were horizontally striped like a tiger, making them look terrifyingly unnatural.

The very moment they did, Dion slammed his spear point into the ground and roared, "Push!"

Instantly, as if an invisible hydraulic press struck from above, all six of the ugly creatures were suddenly and brutally slammed flat onto the rough earth.

At the same time, both Evelyn and I immediately lunged forward. I raised my katana and plunged it deep into the skull of the nearest cat, killing it instantly before it could rise.

[EXP:+180]

The one a few meters next to it barely managed to lift its head when I ripped my katana free, swung the blade high in a swift arc, and brought it down with all my force, shearing the head clean from its body.

[EXP:+180]

Simultaneously, Evelyn leapt with both hands raised and plunged both blades of her chain kama deep into one of the cats. Then she pulled the sickles out violently, sending a spray of dark blood spattering across her.

Without slowing, she immediately used the centrifugal force of the withdrawal to whip the chain kama around in a deadly, wide circle, aiming the spinning blades at the next stunned cat.

By the time we had both killed two of the cats each, we spun around to see that the last two predators had also been eliminated.

Apparently, while Dion had impaled one with his spear, Celeste had killed the final one.

I shifted my gaze from them to the dead mountain cats. I couldn't help but feel a spike of grim satisfaction as this ambush meant that we finally had enough meat to eat.

Since we didn't have time to waste skinning them now, I quickly deposited all the corpses into my inventory, and we continued our journey.

The hours blurred into a relentless, upward climb. When night finally fell, we ignited our fire torches and kept on walking as we had already decided not to make camp until we were above the tree line. Though we did make a lot of stops from time to time catch our breath.

During one of our breaks, I felt a sudden agonizing throb deep in my neck. I raised my hand to the bite mark, and that was when I noticed the swollen spot was now beating rhythmically like a frantic second heart. Not only that, black, bulging veins were spreading rapidly from the wound, snaking down my chest and back. I yanked up my sleeve, and the terrifying network of veins was already visible and pulsing faintly beneath the skin of my forearm.

My body trembled as the realization of what was happening slammed into me.

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