Hanaya's stone smashed against one of the chimera's horns, chipping a chunk out of the curled beast horn. The girl whimpered but began fumbling for another rock just as the monster charged. Ango yelled defiantly and raised his shield. Baik dropped the dagger and shifted over, placing his hand on the kobold's back and pushing just the chimera lunged into a bite. Ango raised the shield and blocked the open maw, growls and roars of defiance filling the woods whilst the beast snubbed its nose in the wood. Its strength had both Baik and Ango being pushed back, but their combined weight and strength held; the shieldbearer grit his teeth, letting his tail sway.
"I got it! This is easy!"
The chimera drew its head back and swiped a fanged paw, only for Baik to swing his club down and crack it on the ankle; the beast staggered and the bone edge caught, a sickening crack adding to the chaos. But their counter-attack wasn't over yet. Ango shoved his burning torch forward at the chimera's head, nearly slipping it into the chimera's mouth but instead smacking its nose and grazing its face. The monstrous being roared louder and stepped back, raising its wounded paw and turning while it retreated to get some distance from the flame.
"Damn it," Ango yelled. "It didn't go in or catch fire!?"
It's not over. Kill it!
Another stone flew past them and smacked the beast on its shoulder. Nehlka had thrown it and it didn't hit with much force. The chimera growled and snapped around on a dime, leaping toward their flank to try and go after the female. Her green scales went pale but Leik immediately moved between the pair, striking the chimera across it's damaged horn with his club. It stumbled off and fell, this time between the three boys and a sitting duck for Hanaya's sling. Another edged stone shot in and smashed one of the chimera's eyes. Blood flew from the remains and gave Baik its blind-spot; yet as he lunged in with his club, Ango appeared in the corner of his vision. His shield raised once more, he slammed his back against Baik, knocking him off balance and forcing Leik to step around to cut off the chimera's path.
"Ango, what are you doing!?" Baik couldn't believe his luck, looking at the male kobold initially with anger.
But that faded as he saw the smaller kobold's shield shaking, a snake biting down on its rim. Although their attack initially worked, he had forgotten its tail. Ango's shield was ripped away but both of them hastily retreated.
"Damn," Ango watched his shield get slammed against the ground by the angry reptilian appendage, shattering into pieces. He drew his bone knife and stepped a tad behind Baik, all whilst the chimera strafed around and away to gain distance.
"Don't worry," the prince reassured him. "We'll get another chance."
Leik must have dropped the spear bundle to attack; currently, the stack was between both Baik and Leik in the open space the chimera was guarding.
They'd be better warding the chimera off... but we need actual killing power, too. My dagger should be to my right... but it's even more exposed. I should've charged in with it sheathed! We still have the torch and our clubs.
Nehlka frightfully yelled and threw another rock from behind Leik, not even making the cautious chimera flinch when it struck him. "Go! Get!"
Hanaya readied another rock, looking to Baik for the signal. Neither of the girls wanted to be fighting and neither expected to have to; kobolds never dealt with female fighters so the fact they were still standing their ground at least showed their loyalty. The prince nodded to her and readied himself, knowing he had to commit to one plan and stick with it; they had hoped to finish it in one go but now had to think on their toes. Leik took his club in both hands, ready to move as the scavenger kobold raised the staff and swung.
The rock struck the already-damaged horn, finally snapping it off and earning a pained yowl from the chimera. However, unlike before it didn't immediately charge; the beast lowered itself as both Baik and Ango surged forward. Baik swung his club and the chimera swatted its paw, slapping it off-course and flashing its fangs. The torchbearing kobold grabbed Baik's shoulder, stepped up onto his tail, and leapt over him; the torch smacked down into the chimera's face, nearly striking its good-eye but catching between the horns. All the color drained from Ango's face, mere seconds before the chimera's tail snapped forward over its back and bit him by the hip. The massive snakehead held him in the air, the kobold's tail swinging and his legs kicking as the torch fell away.
But Baik didn't falter; sacrifices were part of being a kobold and if Ango did get killed then he would have to avenge him. He tossed his club to the kobold and darted, drawing the gaze of the chimera's main head as he bolted for the dagger nearby. The beast didn't just watch, though; it sprung after him, sprinting and carrying Ango by its tail.
Baik dived for the dagger, rolling and turning himself mid-jump so that he recovered the dagger and came-up onto his knees. The chimera was charging and ready to kill, completely ignorant of Leik rushing in from behind. He swung the massive femur bone at the base of the snake tail, bludgeoning the scales so hard that many bristled and burst straight off the beast. Pain raced up the snake and it spasmed, dropping Ango just as the beast's main body winced and looked back.
One moment, Leik was standing there with a proud grin. The next, the chimera's foot cracked up and kicked the kobold boy's head so hard his neck snapped, crumpling to the ground instantly. Baik's body froze up at the gruesome and instant death, hearing the girls combined screams above Ango's own pained cries. All because he hadn't realized the tail was so dextrous and accounted for it, Leik had been killed.
"Fuck," he whispered. "You... you fucker..."
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Kill it.
The voice boomed, snapping him from his momentary weakness. Back in his old world, he could cry and mourn anytime he wanted to. Being nice was part of surviving and avoiding trouble in that world. Yet this world wasn't anything but brutality and death for the kobold species, where the deaths of kobold children during this test was expected. It didn't matter that they thought most would make it back. The value of life was in the hands of its owner and Baik saw a kobold he had come to rely on killed instantly.
So he lunged, rushing just enough into the creature's blindspot so that the distracted chimera had no idea where he was. The gored eye couldn't have remotely seen him with the blood washed over the socket even if it still functioned. Baik sprung up from below, reaching up over the chimera's neck and grabbing its horn while simultaneously thrusting the dagger up into its neck. The blade bit true, plunging deep inside and forcing the chimera to scream louder than before. It swept is good paw at him, clawing his exposed leg while tumbling onto its side. Baik felt the pain but didn't register it, his red eyes staring down at his victim while snapping his tail around its ankle.
"Kill it," he yelled, twisting the dagger grip to earn another pained roar. "Kill it!"
The snake tail finally gained control over itself, wobbling in the air in the corner of his vision. It lunged forward and bit down on Baik's right ear, ripping the tip and some feathers away in one final attempt to protect the chimera. Baik turned and saw the reptilian... only to bite down on its head, feeling his strengthened teeth sink through and crush it instantly. His own ear, feathers, and blood filled his mouth along with the tail but the killing instinct was too strong. The prince's grip on the horn strengthened, pulling it towards him so that the chimera's head rolled.
As its head rolled, its neck turned; the dagger sliced upward and the kobold prince sawed out the top-end, sending blood arcing skyward and all over him before driving the dagger back down into the top of the chimera's skull. The grotesque battle ended in a flash, all the calmness and planning completely destroyed. Ango shook on the ground nearby and Baik had a good idea why; his vision fogged and the dagger clattered onto the grass nearby. Both of the girls were yelling, rushing toward them with tears in their eyes.
But Baik didn't see them approach. Instead, his vision went black and he collapsed as the venom raced through his body.
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"Aggel, chimera tails are snakes, right? Are they venomous?"
The shaman blinked, frowning and looking over Bai; he had been sitting on his throne, seeing any of the elites who came to speak. Now, however, the older prince chuckled and turned his attention onto the pair.
"Yeah," he said. "But you shouldn't worry about it. If you ever get bitten by a chimera's tail, one of two things will happen."
Bai raised his massive hand, holding up two fingers while Aggel returned to fixing food for Baik.
"First; you get bit and pass out. The venom acts at different speeds, but it depends on how close the bite is to your head. Assuming you pass out, the chimera is likely going to kill you."
Baik understood that much; it sounded like a fairly adept defense system. The chimera is a match for multiple kobolds somewhat made sense. "And the other thing? What else could happen?"
"Well... it's complicated, but-"
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Baik's eyes shot open, gasping and peering up through a veil of green snaking across his vision. His body writhed against his will, refusing to stop and shaking him. Hanaya appeared, her voice sounding muted and hollow as if through a wall.
"Prince? Are you okay? You stopped breathing!"
Baik's lungs felt as if they were being filled with flames, holding his voice back and choking his own pained cries. His ear felt like it had been dipped into boiling water but he couldn't check how bad the damage was. All he could remember now was the memory that had raced at him from the darkness.
"-I guess the best way to explain it? It's possible that the snakehead will inject you with the chimera's mutagen instead."
Baik stole control back of his arms long enough to grab his chest and ear; his hand squeezed around the end of his ear and tried stemming the flow of blood, beating the other's palm hard over his heart.
"If that happens, what do I do?"
The prince's vision turned darker green, almost blinding him yet again. Hanaya grabbed his wrists but she didn't have the strength to stop him; all she could do was try to slow his shaking, hearing the footsteps of Nehlka approaching out-of-view. Ango had been bitten and gone quiet, yet he didn't hear his muffled cries or any panic; if she was running to him, then Nehlka had likely confirmed he was alive. Compared to Baik, he had got lucky with the poison. His palm burned as the mutagen dripping in his ear rolled across it, hitting his chest again. Avoiding his mind from being overwhelmed by any single massive source of pain was important to avoid shock; the mutagen changed the body's capacity to endure shock trauma greater than any other substance Bai knew of.
"Well," Bai laughed, looking toward a skylight within his throne room. "Then it's going to be a close call. Mutagen makes chimera evolve, after all; in our case, where a Prince is naturally a better species than normal kobolds, it would make us go even further. However... I had a friend who was given a dose of mutagen, from what he told me. He said it awakened him."
Baik's pain suddenly stopped and his vision changed yet again; this time, the green was eaten away by a sea of red. His thrashing slowed and his ear-squeezing hand relented, slowly pulling back. The missing tip had regenerated, already sprouting new feathers and causing both girls to recoil in fear. Yet in the void of pain, Baik felt an almost unexplainable sensation; it was as if every part of him was tingling, slowly spreading an unease across him. Slowly he sat upright, almost falling forward from just how easy it felt.
"Awakened? What does that mean?"
He raised his head and looked through his crimson veil at the chimera corpse, finally realizing he knew this sensation but simply hadn't experienced it like this before: overwhelming hunger. But the reason it didn't feel awful was that the now-crawling prince had experienced the euphoria and relief that came with having a meal. He pushed past both girls and half-collapsed onto the chimera's ruined neck, biting deep into it. Baik wanted- no, needed to eat.
There was no order or class, he merely pulled at the body and pulled fur from the flesh; Baik swallowed every mouthful like a kobold rightly should, eventually biting into the horn. His tail snapped at the air like a pleased wolf, spreading its fan so that every time it moved he could use it to worm deeper into his fresh kill. No prince acted like this save for his kind and there wasn't any shame in being seen conquering his foe in the ultimate form of devouring. Yet the tingling sensation changed, shifting from hunger and ecstasy to something calming. Slowly the veil of red fell... as something greater swirled to life deep within his body.
"It's like being reborn, Baik. He suffered through such an extreme hell, only for the mutagen to heal his wounds. It triggered the demand to adapt and evolve that all Kobold Princes inherited from the King. Some of us only undergo it once in our entire life... but the mutagen jumpstarted his. He was so hungry he ate three of his subordinates after finishing off that chimera!"