Chapter 725: The Were-Jaguar Vs The Advanced Horrors (2)

The moment Charlotte landed against the tree, the demon had already adjusted to her new position. It came from below, climbing the trunk with terrifying speed before launching upward. Charlotte tried to push off, but the demon’s claws reached her first.

They tore deeply across her torso.

The strike opened her from below the ribs down across her abdomen in a brutal diagonal line. Blood exploded outward, hot and immediate, spraying across the tree bark and splattering onto the leaves below.

Charlotte’s breath caught, then her claws lost grip.

The demon slammed into her fully afterward, and both fell from the tree.

Charlotte hit the ground first, the impact driving the air out of her lungs.

The demon landed above her, jaws opening wide.

Charlotte’s left arm shot up just in time, forearm pressing beneath its throat to keep the jaws from closing around her face. Its weight crushed down on her, claws digging into the ground on either side of her body as it tried to force its head lower.

Charlotte snarled, blood pouring down her torso.

Her vision flickered at the edges.

The demon’s teeth inched closer.

Charlotte’s right hand found its side and slashed repeatedly, claws tearing through flesh again and again, but the demon ignored the wounds. It wanted her throat. Its jaws snapped, catching strands of dark fur near her neck before she forced it back.

’No.’

Her golden eyes burned brighter.

’Not like this.’

Charlotte planted one foot against the demon’s abdomen and kicked upward with everything she had.

The demon lifted just enough.

Charlotte rolled out from under it, leaving a trail of blood across the dirt as she escaped. She staggered onto all fours, breath rough and uneven.

The demon turned toward her, its wounds already closing.

But Charlotte’s were not.

She could feel the form straining now. The were-jaguar body wanted to keep fighting, but her Myst reserves were being eaten away with every second. The wound across her torso was severe. Too severe. Her body was using too much just to keep her from collapsing.

The demon began circling again, alone now, but still careful.

It had learned.

Charlotte could see it in the way its head tracked her shoulders instead of her feet. It was watching where she preferred to push off. Watching the direction her tail shifted before she moved. Watching how she favored her left side now because the right side of her torso burned with every breath.

A low laugh escaped her, rough and breathless.

"You’re learning now?"

The demon clicked its jaws.

Charlotte moved.

She didn’t run straight.

She leapt to a tree, kicked off, landed on a root, spun behind a trunk, and swiped across the demon’s shoulder as it followed. The cut landed, but shallow.

The demon turned faster this time.

Charlotte moved again.

Same pattern; tree, root, trunk, then strike.

The demon blocked part of the next attack with its forearm, taking the cut across its limb instead of the neck.

Charlotte moved again; tree, root, trunk, then strike.

The demon adjusted sooner.

Its claws passed close enough to cut a few strands of fur from her shoulder.

Charlotte’s breathing became heavier, her blood marking every surface she touched now.

Tree bark, roots, leaves, and stone, the demon saw it all.

And it followed.

Again, Charlotte moved through the same pattern.

Tree, root, trunk, then strike.

The demon lunged early this time, predicting where she would appear.

And that was exactly what she wanted.

Charlotte’s body shifted mid-motion.

Instead of kicking off the trunk like before, she dropped.

The demon’s claws tore into empty bark above her as she landed beneath its chest.

For a fraction of a second, its throat was exposed, and that was all Charlotte need.

She immediately sprang upward, her maw opening wide as the fangs sank deeply into the demon’s throat.

The Advanced Horror thrashed violently, claws raking across her back and shoulders, but Charlotte did not let go. She bit down harder, jaw muscles tightening until flesh, cartilage, and bone began to give beneath the pressure.

Then she twisted her entire body, tearing the throat open.

A massive chunk ripped free between her jaws.

Black blood burst across her face and chest as the demon staggered backward, choking on a sound that could no longer form properly.

Charlotte spat the torn flesh aside and slammed into the demon before it could recover. Her shoulder drove it off balance. Her claws hooked into its chest. Together, they crashed to the ground.

The demon’s throat had already begun twitching as regeneration as taking place again.

Charlotte saw it and her eyes widened with fury.

"Like hell you are."

She rose over the demon and drove one clawed foot into its chest once, cracking the ribs.

Then again, caving in the chest. She stomped again as the demon’s claws scraping weakly against the ground, but that didn’t move her. She only continued to stomp again and again.

Black blood sprayed upward as the demon’s chest split open. Then core became visible beneath shattered bone and torn muscle.

Charlotte only stomped down harder now.

The core cracked, causing the demon to convulse violently as Charlotte kept on stomping.

Eventually, the core shattered, but she did not stop.

Charlotte stomped again and again; until the body beneath her no longer twitched, until the flesh stopped trying to close, until the faint pull of regeneration vanished completely.

Only then did Charlotte stand still above the corpse, breathing heavily.

The forest around her was silent now.

Truly silent.

Three Advanced Horrors lay dead beneath the trees, their blood soaking the ground in thick black pools. Broken branches hung overhead, and the trunks around the small battlefield were carved with claw marks, impact scars, and streaks of blood.

Charlotte stood in the center of it all; massive, bloodied, and shaking.

For a moment, she looked every bit like the predator she had become.

Then her knees almost buckled.

She caught herself with one hand against the nearest tree, claws digging into bark.

"Okay..." she breathed roughly. "That... was not fun."

Pain returned all at once.

The wound across her torso throbbed violently. Blood continued pouring from it, matting her fur and dripping down her legs. Her vision blurred again, and the sounds of the forest stretched oddly in her ears.

She couldn’t stay here.

The blood would attract more demons, and the corpses would attract scavengers.

And she was in no condition to fight another battle.

Charlotte forced herself toward one of the taller trees nearby.

Each step felt heavier than the last.

Her claws scraped weakly across the ground as she reached the trunk and looked upward. The branches above were thick enough to hold her. High enough to hide her scent slightly. Not safe, but safer than the ground.

She began climbing.

The first few movements were slow, but the next were even worse.

Her arms trembled. Her injured torso screamed every time she pulled herself higher. Twice, her claws nearly slipped from the bark because blood had slicked her fingers and palms.

Halfway up, the transformation began failing.

The dark fur along her arms started receding as the claws began to shorten.

Her massive frame began shrinking slowly, muscles pulling back beneath her skin as the were-jaguar form unraveled. Her breathing hitched as the strain of the transformation finally overwhelmed what remained of her Myst control.

"No, no, no..." she muttered through gritted teeth. "Not yet."

She forced herself higher, one branch after another.

Her tail vanished before she reached the upper canopy and her beastly legs returned to human shape.

By the time she dragged herself onto a thick branch high above the forest floor, her were-jaguar form had completely disappeared.

Charlotte collapsed against the trunk in her human form.

Bare skin pressed against rough bark as she curled slightly around the terrible wound across her torso. Blood ran over her stomach and down her side, dripping from the branch in slow, quiet drops.

She was breathing hard, too hard.

For several seconds, she simply lay there, one arm wrapped across her body while the other gripped the branch to keep herself from slipping off.

Then, with shaky fingers, she reached toward the dimensional storage ring still on her hand.

The runes flickered faintly, then a small opening formed beside her palm.

Charlotte reached inside and pulled out a glass bottle filled with green liquid.

A healing potion, the same kind she had given Liam the night before.

Her hand trembled as she uncorked it.

"Please work fast," she whispered.

Then she drank.

The liquid hit her throat cold at first, then warm.

Almost immediately, heat spread through her body. The wound across her torso began to steam faintly as the torn flesh slowly pulled itself back together. Blood continued to flow for a few seconds before slowing. The deepest parts of the slash knitted first, closing enough to stop her from bleeding out completely.

The pain did not vanish, but it dulled.

It was enough for her to breathe properly and her fingers to loosen slightly around the branch.

Charlotte leaned back against the trunk and let out a long, shaking breath.

For a while, she simply stared up at the canopy above her.

Then a weak laugh slipped from her lips.

"...That went better than I expected."

It was absurd.

Completely absurd.

She had nearly been torn apart, nearly bled out, and had used a form she had avoided relying on because of how much it blurred the line between her and the beast inside her.

And somehow, she had survived.

Barely.

Her eyelids began to grow heavy, as the exhaustion came quickly now.

Myst depletion, blood loss, the transformation strain, and the battle itself.

All of it pressed down on her body at once, heavy and merciless. Her limbs felt distant. Her breathing slowed. Even the branch beneath her felt almost soft now, despite the bark digging into her back.

Then a flash lit the distant forest.

Charlotte’s eyes opened halfway.

Dark red light flickered far beyond the trees. A breath later, white-orange fire answered it.

The shockwave reached her faintly, rustling the leaves around her branch.

Charlotte stared toward the distant glow for a moment before another flash came.

Red.

Then fire.

Then red again.

A tired smile tugged weakly at her lips.

"That suicidal lunatic..." she muttered, her voice barely above a whisper as her eyes grew heavier.

"...My bae is still alive."

Somewhere far away, Liam was clashing with the Berserker demon and all Charlotte could do was let out one final quiet chuckle before exhaustion finally took her completely.

And beneath the moonlit canopy, she slipped into sleep.