Expedition. (6)

Kumkani looked to his left as the feline let out a roar so thunderous, it would have deafened him had it not been intended squarely for the snake. It formed a cone and hit the snake, sending it flying into a building behind it. The giant cat, which was the colour of a lion, yet was built like a tiger and even had a few stripes by its hind legs roared as it bore its towards at the snake. It's long and large sabretooths glistening as its mouth quivered in anger. The Venator quickly collected himself, and after looking around and up in the sky, he ran back the way he came, before ducking behind a building close to the fight. He then used the trees and branches to climb up the building, in order to get a vantage point to not only observe the battle, but to scout for stragglers. Once he got up to the roof, he was taken aback by what he saw – just the sheer size of what he had initially thought was a town, as well as just how small a sample size they had all taken of Zone 14. There were high rise buildings and gigantic trees as far as the eye could see. The further in to the city he looked, the taller both the trees and the buildings were, and Kumkani could see a number of LARGE winged creatures roosting on the buildings, whilst equally large quadrupedal beasts in the trees, as well as other concentrations of monstrous monster races, all within the territories that the massive building and tree dwelling behemoths lived in.

'This place is truly massive. I don't know how far that Guild will be able to scout using weak fodder, but at some point, they'll have to bring in the heavy hitters themselves. Luckily, the battle down below has kept the flying beasts away from here, or I wouldn't be able to observe from up here.'

The fight between the two was bruising, with the cat and the snake exchanging physical blows, before using bombastic power moves that sent them both flying and made them crash into everything around them. Something that was readily apparent to Kumkani however, was the fact that the cat was coming off worse in the exchanges and taking the brunt of the damage, to the point that it was bleeding quite heavily. Watching the fight, as well as listening to the sounds and even paying attention to the cat's reactions, something became abundantly clear to Kumkani.

'…that cat is still a baby. It's a kitten.' He thought to himself as he closed his eyes and groaned audibly. 'In this Dimension, why am I surrounded by the things I have the softest spot for?'

The Venator, who was crouched on the edge of the roof, looked down at the cat, which was baring its teeth and hissing, as if readying itself for one final strike, and grimaced as he pursed his lips in frustration while thinking as hard as he could about what he could do to affect the situation. He suddenly remembered something, and dug in his rucksack, before pulling out both a blood bag and one of the Runes.

'In theory, this should work.' He thought to himself as he poured a bit of the blood onto the jewel – which immediately absorbed the blood.

Kumkani then proceeded to pour all of the blood in the pack onto the Rune, which greedily absorbed it all until there was nothing left. What happened in return though, was that the Rune, which had been dull and lifeless before, suddenly began to glow brightly from within, as if suddenly recharged with Mana.

'As I thought – using blood as a Mana alternative is not new to me.' Kumkani thought to himself before picking the Rune up and holding it in his free hand. 'Connect the blood in the stone to the blood in my body.'

Kumkani, who was still perched on the roof, concentrated fairly hard, as if there was nothing going on below as the two creatures were in a stand off of their own. That being said, it barely took a minute for him to establish and feel that connection, prompting the Rune to glow even brighter that before.

"Done." He said out loud as he opened his eyes and looked at the Rune in his hand. "This thing isn't going to last long. It's now or never."

He looked back down at the creatures, the cat now breathing heavier, and pretty much soaking in a pool of its own blood, leading to Kumkani sighing deeply once more. The snake, having decided to go for broke, attacked the feline one more time, and just as the cat was about to retaliate when a fireball flew down and hit the snake square in the face.

'Well, that went according to plan.' Kumkani thought as he held the glowing Rune in his hand. 'Considering that those Goblin staves produced fireballs, it was safe to assume that these are Fireball Runes.'

He looked at down at the Rune, before aiming it towards the snake again and firing off a few more balls in its direction, and as one hit the target once again, the other was deflected by one hood wing and sent flying into an old road sign. The snake looked up to try and find where the fireballs had come from, but Kumkani had already darted away. That didn't stop the serpent however from attempting to fly up and find him, yet it was tackled by the cat, which was using the opening to try and finish the snake off, but its scales were so tough, especially by the hood and head, that it was difficult to pierce them, especially considering how injured the feline was. Another volley of fireballs came flying at the snake, and after swatting the cat away with its tail, it proceeded to slither away and avoid them all.

'Shit." Kumkani thought, having leapt to another building's roof.

Due to them fighting in what looked like what used to be a popular area of town with restaurants and the like, the buildings were close enough to each other that he was able to leap across to each roof. After launching a few more fireballs, the snake was able to find him and started to go after him in earnest, yet each time it did, it was interrupted by the cat, which was still trying to take it down for some reason instead of running.

'That stupid kitten.' Kumkani admonished internally. 'Judging by level of intelligence animals have shown in this place, I'm sure that idiot can see I'm creating openings for it to escape. I don't many more opportunities to create for it.'

Kumkani, who had been ignoring the sensation in his right hand, was more than aware of the fact that the Rune was burning his glove and hand to a crisp.

'Considering the state of my hand, I may have to do something flashy and end this now.'

The Ventator turned around and made his way back to the roof he had originally been stationed on as he muttered something under his breath. He kept an eye on proceedings down below and just as the cobra wrapped itself around the cat looking to finish it off, the Rune in Kumkani's hand became engulfed in flames, eliciting a grimace from him. He then immediately leapt off of the roof, pointing his flaming fist towards the snake and firing off a large, sweltering stream of flames directly at the snake's head. It tried to shield itself with its hood, but the flame thrower coming from Kumkani's hand was far too hot, and far too powerful to be deflected like that. The head was engulfed, and caused the snake to let out a pained his, quickly releasing the cat and backing away. All Kumkani did after that was aim the flames at the rest of the snake's body, setting the entire thing alight as it thrashed about. Immediately afterwards, the Rune ceased its smoldering, however the light within it was now far dimmer than before.

"You. Forget that snake and RUN if you value your life!" He screamed at the cat before turning tail himself and absolutely belting it out of the clearing. He ran with his head down as if he knew where he was going and after almost five or so minutes of flat out sprinting, Kumkani reached a steel drum that was filled with water. He had seen it earlier while he was running towards the battlefield, and he immediately dunked his hand directly into it. The Rune and his hand immediately sizzled in the water, and Kumkani finally allowed himself to release the Rune as his face quivered due to the pain.