Chương 224: Curiosity Has Nothing On Me

The purplish feline was a bit of a nuisance to deal with. It struck me with its paw before I could get back up and dodge, but of course, the combination of 'Reinforced Frame' and 'Shock Dampeners' made it so that the blunt damage it could inflict was incredibly ineffective against me. Its idea seemed to be to throw me around against rocks to kill me, which was a fine strategy that would typically work on just about any threat–But not me.

I pretended to be affected, feigning that I was struggling to get up after several hits… The big cat seemed to have already realised that I was a rather tough nut to crack. At one point, it had used its claws to try and slash me, only to realise that it was only hitting steel. This beast was definitely powerful, but not to the point of being able to slice right through the heavy steel making up my body, so its claws and maw were of no use against me.

It seemed to hesitate for a moment, but with my glorious acting at play, I was simply far too convincing, and the felid rushed at me, seemingly attempting to slam me down into the ground with both front paws at once. I used my right arm, which is enhanced by 'Hydraulic Limb', to push myself into a roll out of the way. My opponent had committed to a rather silly method of attack, by using so much momentum and striking with both of its front paws, it was left as a sitting duck for longer than normal.

It turned its head to follow my movements, certainly bracing itself for either a punch or lightning shock–Instead, I spew 'Machine Blood directly into its face and eyes, blinding the beast and making it thrash around in a vain attempt to hit me. Nara, do you think blinding it will have blinded the one watching through its eyes? My little sister took a handful of seconds to answer–I suppose she wasn't making a guess, but actually checking on the spell itself to give a precise answer. …

The beast's master is also blinded–They actually seem to have stopped maintaining the spell, it is deteriorating quite quickly… It would appear that they are instead trying to communicate with the feline Alright, let's not let the fucker speak to it for too long, then. Making good use of 'Quietness', I circled around the blinded beast, and waited for an occasion, which quickly came as my opponent was constantly spinning around trying to defend all directions at once, whilst snarling and growling. My bad, kitty.

You are quite cute, but we might have to befriend one another once your soul belongs to me. I bite down full force on the back of one of its thighs, ripping a large chunk of flesh and muscles in a single go. Well, I think that's the thigh. I never know with four-legged animals, those guys walk on their toes for some reason… The big portion at the top of the legs definitely looked like it should be the thighs, though.

Once again, I could only be surprised by my ability to think about nonsense in any situation, as my adversary reflexively kicked back at me when I bit, sending me flying into the side of a pile of rocks, but I somehow found the time to question my knowledge of feline anatomy while being flung. Not like it matters much, the beast only hurt itself more by striking at me, further tearing its damaged muscles, and effectively rendering one of its hind legs utterly useless.

I could feel intense frustration coming from the creature, but somehow, this negative emotion was being split between me and someone or something else. With every moment that passed, less and less of it was actually going to me, its attacker. Is it getting annoying with its master or something? Wait a minute… I have a slightly bad feeling. Slightly? Like something bad is going to happen, but not the end of the world. A mild inconvenience, if you will.

After all, no matter what happens, the big cat is still blinded by what is essentially oil that got into its eyes, nostrils, and mouth, and it is bleeding quite profusely from a wound that left one of its hind legs damaged enough to hurt its agility, which is one of its main strong points. Can't you feel it in its negative emotions, Nara? Frustration is a big odd emotion to be feeling, don't you think? I just maimed it severely.

It is at risk of death, and even if it survives, without a good healer, it might just remain wounded for the rest of its life, but it's just frustrated? Mark my words, I think the spellcaster looking through its eyes has been communicating with it and actively telling it to hold back. I mean, a big purple cat with a permanently smiling maw? There's no way a creature like this only uses its paws, claws, and maw to attack. It has to have something special.

I reckon Mister or Miss Mage doesn't want the feline to use anything crazy because it might give away this location to other people. Other mages who want the Cursed-Blood Tree, perhaps? Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. How do you rate this little theory of mine, Nara? It sounds very plausible–Oh, and the cat is starting to circulate its own mana into a spell Heh, elementary, Cutie Pie!

Nara further informed me that the beast straight-up cut off communications with the spellcaster–Looks like it isn't even an actual pet beast, how does one even hire a non-sapient creature for a job? The feline cast its spell, and its fur burst with what looked like dense, pink smoke, but it quickly rose into the air, settling above the area like a cloud before doing what clouds are known to do, and unleashing rain. A low fog began to manifest alongside the rain. Water?

An interesting choice when I already showed myself to use lightning, but I suppose that this was THE thing this beast had that was special, and it seemed like it was hoping to wash away the 'Machine Blood' from its eyes using the rain. Still… Wasn't it a bit too relaxed? The moment it used this spell, all negative emotions washed away, as if it was convinced that it had already won and was no longer in danger.

Big Sis, the rain is slightly eroding your mind, and it seems like it is supposed to come with severe hallucinations… The mind erosion isn't very effective on you, it seems, and the hallucinations simply do not work due to your undead-like traits Ah… How sad. Its trump card is basically useless against me. Though I don't quite get why the mind erosion is not working so well on me. I'm not in my 'Molten Steel Form', where all damage types would be suppressed. Mmh…

I think the mind erosion is a gradual thing, and is supposed to be sped up by the hallucinations… That's incredibly unfortunate. I am almost feeling a little bit bad for the kitty–Anyway, let's finish the job. Overly confident in this localised weather change, the feline was totally oblivious to my approach as it stared up at the cloud to let the drop fall into its eyes. Getting 'Machine Blood' out wasn't going to be so easy. This substance was quite viscous and rather irritating.

I doubt it would be able to see clearly immediately, even if it removed all of it. I brought out all of my wires, carefully positioned them, and focused on my 'Faraday Box'. Before it could react, the feline had several parts of its body, including its neck and limbs, wrapped in wires of varying colourations. I activated 'Overcharge', maintaining the excess lightning inside the box before letting it all out through the wires in a single, brutal release of electricity. The cat couldn't even scream out in agony.

The lightning coursed through its body, making its eyes and organs cook and burst at the same time. Its entire body went stiff instantly, and the 'Machine Blood' was ignited. Naturally, this fetched me the beast's soul. If it had survived this, I might have just had to let it go for the achievement. The rain persisted for a few moments, putting out the flames that manifested before the spell broke apart, leaving me alone with the remains of this rather cuddly-looking fellow.

What a shame that I wouldn't get to touch this fluff. Not only had it been fried, but it just wasn't the right way to experience it. The one owning the fluff needed to be alive. Otherwise, it would just be akin to having a grotesque, corpse-plush. I hurried to devour the remains of the beast. I had theorised that the rain spell hadn't come into play until so late because the caster who had been communicating with the felid believed that it would give away their position.

It might not be the case, but in case it was, I quickly jumped down into the pit. … The fall was certainly longer than I expected, but fall damage wasn't a problem for me. I crashed down nonetheless because I landed on a slope, but it didn't matter. The negativity that had been clouding my senses was pushed away by the intensity of the Blood-Cursed Tree. It was… Way bigger than I had been told. Did this thing grow since that skeleton discovered it?

This thing might actually hold some Cursed Essence, but right now, I was more intrigued by what I believed was what I would refer to as 'Curse Energy'. I could actually sense energy that was negative energy, and considering where I was and how yummy it seemed, it had to relate to curses. Boy. My spirit side is definitely not eating as well as my curse side… I began walking closer to the tree. Basking in the ambient energy, a mixture of negativity and curses.

When I reached a certain point, the tree seemed to notice my presence and began attacking. All it could do was direct curses at me, which is akin to attacking a starving person by throwing food at them. The curse-slinging came to a grinding halt nearly immediately after it began, however. I felt fear. A very rough form of fear, the tree was just a tree. It wasn't a beast or monster, but it was absolutely alive, and perhaps a bit more aware than the average tree…

The fear it emitted was even more primal in its simplicity than that of animals. This was nothing but an instinctive response to seeing its one and only way of defending itself be completely ineffective. It might have even noticed that I was absorbing the curses, which definitely meant that I was a mortal threat to its existence.

My initial instinct would have been not to drain it completely and let it recover so that I could come back again and again to feast upon curses, but the dusty skeleton wanted it gone once the wood was collected from it. I didn't have all the details, but it seemed like the organisation was competing with another group for the same goal. As such, the tree couldn't stay standing. That is fine by me.

The force governing the value of things that I eat would have absolutely reduced the value of anything this tree could provide anyway. I might actually be better off sipping everything in a single go. The container I had been given hadn't been damaged in the fight, thankfully. It was solid stuff. I filled the box to the brim before sealing it again.

I carefully placed it back inside my chest cavity before looking up at the tall tree–It was emitting its own glow, a dark-red glow, which seemed to be the colour representing curses in general. Anathema had had the same colour for her eyes. Alright, let's dig in!