13 Primal Instinct

"To put it simply." Hoppington plucked one of the poisonous berries from its stem, before flicking into the air as it perfectly landed on her mouth. She then crushed the berry inbetween her molar before immediately swallowing it, not really eating it like an act of consuming food. "All of us will take turns trying to cultivate our prowess in terms of fighting off harmful substances within our bodies. As for the future usalians, the Patriarch alone would suffice, and we can deal with all of these food incompatibilities when we reach the point of technological advancement to accommodate our ideas."

"Uhm, I still don't understand what all that means," Bluebell said, having a minor brain overload. 

"Just think that we need to suffer a little to achieve greatness in the end~" Immortal Dragon Overlord plucked one of the berries and then shoved it onto Bluebell's mouth.

"Hmmph??"

"Chew it, slowly. You'll feel jittery in about a moment. After that, you can try focusing your self-repairing bio-nanites to fix any sign of soon-to-be damage."

To a great extent, their self-repairing bio-nanites were already part of their immune system,

"Uuuuu… Why can't I just leave my body to do all the work…"

"It's just hurrying the process, so that our body gets used to dealing with the potential problem before waiting for an organ failure to act," Hoppinting said, as she took another bite of the berry. "So, got any name for this berry, Imo?"

"Oy, don't shorten my name."

"Mmmm~ this berry actually tastes good, minus the throbbing. Hmm?" Hoppington then noticed Nagan who seemed to be gazing at the ground, drowning in deep thought. "What seemed to be the case, Patriarch?"

"... Let's get out of here."

"Ogeh." Hoppington nodded, not asking any further.

"Eh? As in immediately or later??" Immortal Dragon Overlord inquired, feeling that something terrible would happen the moment her Patriarch said such words.

On second thought." Nagan smirked nervously. "I want to try something. Forgot what I said earlier, just keep your eye on the surroundings. I got the feeling that the inhabitants of this world are great at playing an ambush as part of their culture."

"Well, speaking of the devil…"

Out of nowhere, a ten meters tall entity of the forest appeared in front of their eyes, except for Bluebell's line of sight, as her eyes were happily shut with her tongue trying their best to savor the taste of the berry she hauled in her arms. If joy is calorie, that would be fattening.

"Mmmm~ I'm starting to like these berries~"

It was a mass hulk of roots and bark, standing on land with six legs as its vine-like fur rustled. Unbecoming of its mighty stature, all that everyone could do was to halt any form of movement and sounds, for the absence of action seemed to be parallel with dead objects.

Except for Bluebell who was busy chewing her berry uncaringly loud.

"Bluebell," Nagan nudged using the telephatical link channel. "Can you hear me?"

Apparently, she can. But the act of indulgent that she was doing had already preoccupied any leftover space in her brain.

It was a nerverecking moment, especially with the escalating curiosity that the beast seemed to showcase. 

At one point, the beast managed to get close to Bluebell, before huffing loudly in Bluebell's ears, startling her out of her trance. 

She was freaked out, that all of the berries in her arms were flung into the air, scattered into the ever lush soil of the forest. The realization of despair and disappointment was so visible on her face, that it was hard to see if it was about the beast or the fact that the berries that she painstakingly foraged were met with dirt.

"Uuuuuu…" Tears began to fall from Bluebell's eyes, before she glanced at the towering beast that was looming right beside her. At that moment, her eyebrows began to furrow, as fangs were bared and clenched. 

Her body began to get outlined in reddish taint, in which the paint began to infect the reality surrounding her. A primal crimson, slowly embedding itself into the air and peripheral vision of those who were there to witness it.

"What is happening to her…???" 

"This might be the first time I felt genuine fear…"

Nagan remembered this vision, this heat, and solemn red. It was the same mind-bending taint that he experienced before.

Bluebell had awakened the {Primal Wrath}.

"I'LL MURDER ALL OF YOUR KIND!!"

Immediately after, Bluebell uncharacteristically threw her shovel in fits of burning passion of rage. The shovel curved and spun faster than what could be seen with the naked eyes, traveling onto the right side of the beast's vision.

Just before the shovel hit its target, Bluebell lunged and propelled herself at high velocity into the air, inhumanely landing at her shovel as if it was wafting still, before performing a second rocket-jump onto the beast head—delivering a powerful punch that was so strong, it produced large shockwave to the surrounding.

And then the crimson rage just subsided out of nowhere, with all of the hint of tainted reality disappearing as if it didn't happen in the first place, "Eh, what am I doing?"

Before Bluebell realized it, she was already in Nagan's arm, watching the startled beast with the skin of its face rippling from a punch equal as strong as what she did unconsciously— the inertia of the strike broke the bone and tore the muscle of her patriarch's arm.

"Feel anything funny, Bluebell?" Nagan uttered in an assuring tone.

"My berries…"

"We'll get more of them."

Using the same broken arm, Nagan lunged at the beast throat from above, hurling his nearly lifeless limb like a spear.

The makeshift weapon consisted of flesh and bones etched itself deep into the beast's meat. 

Nagan then threw Bluebell onto the other two usalians, before thrusting his other arm into the beast's neck with bruteforce.

"Hrrrk!"

Enlarging the raw gap of the wound, nearly removing half of the beast's neck from its torso, spraying its greenish bodily liquid into the surrounding like an arc fountain.

The moment Nagan found that all damage that he received would be able to regenerate in a certain given amount of time, he began to treat every part of his body as a weapon, disregarding the discomfort and pain that he received from using his body past its limit.

Such a sight of barbaric mental gymnastics struck a weird sense of awe from the usalian that witnessed the back of this immovable killer—a monster that could only be stopped by death.

Faint as it might be, there was a hint of tainting red on Nagan's arms.