Monster Jousting Book 3 - Chapter 1 (Patreon)

A bloodied Thraz crouched in the middle of the street. The massive buildings cast a large shadow at his back. Behind him lay three dead monsters. Crabs. Each one with pincers the size of grand doors. Each one capable of tearing his limbs off with a quick snip.

Psst. Psst, he whispered, trying to gain the attention of something in the darkness. It emerged. First was the dainty whiskers belonging to that of a cat. Then a small snout that twitched innocently. After that came little, fragile paws. Claws hidden. It was a cat. A soft, fluffy, orange cat.

Psst. Psst, Thraz whispered once more. “That’s right, come to Thraz.”

Only it wasn’t a regular feline. Once fully emerged from the darkness, the cat had the tail of a scorpion. It swished back and forth as the small creature purred.

It neared Thraz. He stretched out his fist. The cat nudged it with its fragile head. Thraz smiled. He looked into the dark, green mottled, spotty eyes of the cat. Upon closer inspection, it was evident the cat had four eyes in a square formation.

A warm sensation bloomed within Thraz’s heart. Is this what Noah feels with his beast slaves? Thraz thought as he placed his scaley hand on the cat’s fur coat. He stroked it. The little beast was friendly as it cooed in satisfaction.

“That’s a good–” Thraz frowned. He picked up the cat, stood up, and inspected its belly. He continued, “boy.” The cat meowed and purred.

Thraz had been following it for a while now. Hours. He didn’t know exactly for how long, but the sun still tried to push its rays through the towering wall of green surrounding the island.

He glanced over his shoulder. Building after building, cobbled street after cobbled street, it all looked the same to him. Thraz would have gotten lost if not for the help of the enormous castle walls in the distance.

He was nearing it.

The closer he got, the air of the city changed. Thraz could sense it. It was the same feeling of walking into the den of a predator. Bloody, musky… quiet. It was time to turn around. If he had learnt anything from Noah, it was that once he took a kill, he needed to move. Soon, this area would be filled with other crabs.

But he had already spent too much time goading the cat.

Dink. Dink. Dink. The sound of hardened shell striking stone arrived from all sides. Thraz tensed. There was nowhere to run. But he had to try. He couldn’t become surrounded.

Thraz turned on his heels and sprinted toward the pier. The sound was getting closer. It arrived. A crab turned the corner, clashed its pinscors against the building along the street, and used to to propel itself toward Thraz.

“Hold on,” Thraz reminded the cat as he placed it on his shoulder. The cat brought out its claws. They were sharp. They pierced Thraz’s scales. Blood seeped. He ignored it.

With one hand, he removed his axe from his back and hefted it in one hand. He used [Earth Step] and leapt over the crab. The crab tried to twist its body, snapping its claws shut. Thraz heard it close, then landed on the cobbled streets. He ignored the monster and sprinted ahead.

He glanced behind. Four crabs collided in a clash of chitin. Eight legs each intertwined each other. They recovered fast and turned their desire back to Thraz. Dink. Dink. Dink. They tore the cobble from the ground as they chased.

Thraz heard something from the front. He grit his teeth and readied his axe. Another crab smashed through a building. Not even the apocalyptic storm could create such damage. It was two times taller than the rest. It had crimson blades for pinscors. Two jagged horns rose from the top of its head. It clacked its mandibles together. It was part insect, part crab.

The pinscor snapped at Thraz in an instant.

Thraz relied on his instact to dodge the hit. If he relied on his vision; he’d be dead. The pinscor snipped shut; the sound rattled Thraz’s eardrums. The cat on his shoulder hissed. Its hair stood on edge, raised, puffy, like it was about to punch at the monstrous creature.

Grunting, Thraz activated [Sunder]. He swung his axe in a devastating arc as it collided against the crabs claw. Sparks flew, the blade scratched against the shell, then his axe bounced off the natural weapon. It continued, striking the wall as he was unable to stop the might of his swing.

Eyes widening, Thraz leapt high up in the air with his weapon in hand. The monster's claw chased. It opened around his body in an instant.

“Bor–” Thraz cried out.

Then Thraz saw it. The darkness. It was all consuming. Like a violent wave, it surged through the streets. From the black, emerged two white orbs the size of marbles. Then came a frightening grin like that of a ghostly monster. The savage maw was wide and white. Half a second later, he arrived.

His lance was as black as sin. But as it pierced the veil of darkness, the contour of a tip created from bone made its appearance. It had the vague image of a beastly tooth.

It clashed against the closing pinsers. The crab’s claws were beaten back. They crashed against the wall of the nearby building.

“Run!” Noah shouted. Thraz listened. He landed on his feet with a thud, then bolted in the distance. Noah followed half a second later on the back of his strange bat-wolf hybrid.

“Don’t stop,” Noah said from behind. “I’ll lure it away.” The human darted into one of the streets.

Noah, Thraz gazed at the disappearing human figure. The young human was born for this world. It took Thraz a while to realise it, but even he himself couldn’t catch up to the wreckless human. He was crazy, took untold dangers for the bounties he could reap.

He was a demon in human skin.

Ten minutes later, Noah arrived. Krall the Corrupted was nowhere to be seen. But in the next second, he appeared from one of the many, maze-like streets.

Where did he come from? How did Krall know we were here? Thraz wondered.

***

Noah wiped some dust from his face, and said, “What’s that?” He pointed at the cat. For some reason, it gazed at Noah with worry.

“I followed the little guy here,” Thraz said, stroking the cat to calm him down. He listened. His raised hair settled as he started licking his paw.

“You picked up a stray. And you trust it?”

“It’s a him, not an it,” Thraz spat, “your beast Krall is an it. Corrupted.”

“Woah, alright.” Noah chuckled. “No need to get defensive. You must like him then.”

“I do!” Krall said as he put his hands under the cat’s arms, then pushed it forward. The little feline dangled in the air, purring. “He has a little engine inside of him, powering his little movements. How cool is that, Noah?”

“It’s called purring, Thraz,” Noah continued. “It’s what cats do when they are content. Or happy. Well, saying that I knew a cat from the streets back on Earth. It would purr, luring you into a false sense of comfort, then slam!” Noah clapped loudly. “It attacked. There’s one thing you need to learn Thraz. Cats are assholes.”

Thraz exhaled. “Noah, take it back! Look at him!” Thraz held the cat out further. The feline’s eyes grew wider by the second, eyebrows rose. If a cat even had eyebrows, that is. The cat was cute.

If not for the corruption within its eyes. Not only that, Noah spotted the small incisions clawed into Thraz’s shoulder. The cat wasn’t as defenceless as it led the foolish dragonborn to believe. If its claws were sharp enough to penetrate his friend's armour-like flesh, then it was a high level.

So Noah pried.

Level ?? - Ferolkin Feline.

As he thought. Noah looked at the cat in a new light. Was the beast trying to lure Krall and Noah into a false sense of comfort, just like the street cat had done back on Earth? If it was, then it could simply kill them in their sleep without any effort wasted. A single swipe of its claws and they would be gurgling on their own blood.

If it did have such intentions, then it was hiding them very well. Noah had a keen sense of danger thanks to all the monstrous qualities he had from Krall and Gluttony. Not even them could detect any danger. Either the feline didn’t hold any malicious intentions at all, or it was a master of disguise.

It was tough to tell with cats. Satan's pets.

“You’re just jealous that your slaves aren’t as fluffy,” Thraz said as he placed the cat back onto his shoulders.

“Are you calling the cat your slave?” Noah asked. “I wonder what he would think about that?”

Noah waited for a reaction, but the cat didn’t seem to care. Noah squinted his eyes, inspecting the cat closely. I’m onto you.

“No, my cat isn’t a slave. He must be a highborne creature if he has taken a liking to me. If that’s the case, then he will be my equal.”

“Well if he shits in our house, you’re the one going to be shovelling it up.” Noah laughed as he walked back to the pier. He gleaned over his shoulder, and said, “You might find yourself becoming a slave.”