Chapter 9. Dicey Situation

Chaos was starting to reign in this small slice of the jungle. A few groups of beasts were steadily killing each other. The father raven was sneakily killed by what seemed to be a few snakes, Viscous pythons to be exact. The mother raven was taking on the kobolds with this time both of her children fighting by her.

Ash was being ravaged by the only bear there. The porcupine with seemingly poisonous needles was fighting the majority of the snakes as the others waited to kill off weakened prey. This bear was keen on killing Ash and was beating him silly. One swing, two, four, how many had he taken? Ash fought on but was clearly growing weaker.

He had gashes on his torso, thighs, and head. Bones all throughout his body were broken. He was getting weak and knew the pill would wear off any minute. A combo of medication and adrenaline the only support keeping him alive. He studied what was taking place in his surroundings. The pill helped stop most of the serious bleeding, but he was still getting weaker. When the effects wore off, he would be useless for days. He kept clashing with the bear in an effort to figure out something that would save his ass.

As he looked around, he noticed that the porcupine had fired off a couple of its needles and they were stuck in the ground. He ran at the bear full speed and right when it swung, he broke into a slide. Sliding past the bear he grabbed the needle like spike and rushed forward to the bear once more. Hands burning from the acid emanating from the needle, he pressed on.

The bear turned around while unleashing a devastating roar. It shook him but did not stop his momentum as he still plunged it into the bears eye with everything he had. His eardrums burst and he felt unconsciousness calling to him. He turned and saw the porcupine killed the snakes with only minimal damage. The kobolds were killed by the raven group, but the mother was cut up badly from the strongest kobolds, a makeshift spear had been partially lodged in her chest. Of the baby birds, the red-eyed one had fled while the white-eyed one fought on. It's eyes brightening as it kept fighting.

Ash looked at the white eyed raven and noticed it's skill, a glow steadily surrounding it. Ash felt like he was going to actually die of exhaustion, but he stood still and took in his surroundings the best he could to be on guard. The porcupine was closest to the raven and launched its spikes at her, and then her child. They were the most dangerous threat; the human was on the bottom of the list.

Ash stealthily took out a nutrition pill and a few healing pills to consume. Once done he hobbled to the closest tree and stood behind it watching the fight between the only beasts left. The mother was undoubtedly going to die and the white-eyed child was going berserk. It rushed at the porcupine and unleashed a mighty claw strike. It gave off a white and red hue, and the attack hit the porcupine's mouth. The acidic porcupine released a loud shrill, afterwards it headed to the raven that just injured it.

When in striking range, the beast released a strong glow of green before it's spikes all released from it's back. They slammed forward at amazing speed, the mother raven rushed to appear before her child and took the brunt of the damage. She hit the ground hard, impaled by multiple spikes that emitted a small amount of sizzling poison. The white-eyed raven was still hit and released a loud caw before its white glow dispersed and it fell to the ground.

The porcupine seemed to be weak after using the attack [Missile Hail]. Ash looked over and saw the talisman still at the same spot, just covered in blood. He needed to get out of here, the side effects were starting to show and the damage he took was getting the best of him. His father's gruesome training was the only thing that kept him standing. The old bastard put him through hell his entire childhood to survive his current predicament.

He looked at the porcupine and noticed its lack of energy and the wound the child had given it was still pouring blood. The bird may have two affinities, he thought. Just then, a boom went off, it was so loud that he heard it through his already burst ear drums.

He knew that a higher tier beast was on its way based on the corpses that were flowing with blood. He needed to leave now or this place would most likely be his grave. The porcupine was hesitating whether to leave or feast on a couple of the bodies before that higher tier beast showed up. A loud pop noise emitted from the acidic porcupine and it came from its forehead. The mother raven had not moved from the spot she lay but unleashed the attack [piercing ray] with the last of her life force. The acidic porcupine was critically injured as its forehead was burst open. It howled before dying.

Ash rushed over to the talisman like a crippled old man with a fire lit under his butt. He reached it and took it in his hand. He was about to crush it when he had a thought, that raven seemed special. He had no contract beast, was extremely injured, and was about to be transferred somewhere else unknown.

He wanted to test his luck, he liked not just the potential but the tenacity of the little thing. There were most definitely problems with the raven as it seemed to become reckless in the face of battle. It should have fled like it's sibling but it decided to fight instead; contrarily, it's loyalty and tenacity made up for it's recklessness. He moved towards the bird as danger increased with each passing second. He formed a hand symbol and preformed a status check. What he saw amazed him.