<~> CHAPTER 18

The fight with the bear-like thing was a bit of a limit test for me. As much as I had satisfaction in knowing I could take the thing down on my own, it was even more important that I could work in a group. The fight with the goblin made it plain that I didn't know how to work that well in a group and so we would try rectifying that.

There were more of these bear monsters in the hills so we had plenty of opportunities to practice working as a group. They were more threatening to us than the goblins had been but less so than the goblin king we had fought. It was a good middle ground, no one was at too much risk but all of us were challenged by it. The thing that continued to be a bigger problem on this floor was the glare from my eyes but there wasn't much I could do about it. I couldn't fight with my eyes closed, as good as my new senses were, I still relied on my sight a lot.

We were on a hill overlooking one of the bear creatures. The other benefit of hunting these things was that Maxwell thought these pelts would be valuable. He didn't quite know what these things were called but the toughness of the hide and the innate magic in them would be good for certain kinds of armor according to him. It didn't matter much to me at this stage, I had no real reference on how much money we would be making for all of this. My real concern was gaining enough personal strength so that I could protect myself if other people were less friendly than this band of hunters were. But in the end, my best prospect was to follow their lead either way.

("Okay Helena, I'll open with fire magic. Let Maxwell engage it before you enter the fight. Once the monster's attention is on him, you can try and get some slashes in it from behind, just be careful not to draw too much of its attention. If it starts to target you, retreat and let Maxwell get some hits in to regain its attention,") Luna told me.

I nodded. After an earlier discussion, they went back to thinking I should operate like a rogue. Even though I'm durable enough to take a ton of hits, I didn't have the training or skill to hold a monster's attention and keep the others safe yet. Also, the idea of biding my time and taking advantage of when the monsters were vulnerable appealed to both my human sensibilities and my more monstrous instincts. This was the fourth of these we had hunted as a group and each time we had tried a few different things and gotten better at working together.

("Should I try not to pierce the fur?") I asked.

("If you can avoid it, that would be for the best but don't take any unnecessary risks just to preserve the value of some fur.")

I nodded again. ("Okay, I'm ready.")

A burst of fire exploded next to the unsuspecting monster and forced it to the ground. The monster looked disoriented and struggled to its feet. Maxwell was ready and took the fight right to it. He had switched weapons to a mace as a way to avoid damaging the fur but most of his time would be spent holding the monster's attention with his big tower shield.

Piper was formed up near him, her job was to keep him healthy in case he took too hard of a blow and to draw away a little bit of its attention if he lost his footing. Luna stood a small distance away from the fight, she was using her fire magic conservatively to keep the beast off balance rather than trying to hurt it. Fire magic had a tendency to singe fur so her abilities were limited if she wanted to help preserve the pelt.

I closed in on the creature, I would show my presence to it to keep it off balance but I was only going to step in when I saw a good opening.

There!

I pounced forward and kicked the beast's knee. With a loud snap, I broke the monster's leg. I jumped back as the monster roared in pain and turned to chase me. Maxwell took advantage of the beast's lapse in judgment and slammed his mace into its shoulder to knock it off balance. With its broken leg, it fell to its side and gave me another opening.

I dashed forward again and punched its spine. Another loud crack and the bear-thing's rear legs stopped moving entirely. I shook out my hand, I was tough but directly punching bone still hurt. Probably not as much as it should but still plenty enough for me to think twice about attacking that way. With a flourish, Piper finished the monster off by slicing its neck open with her sword.

("Helena, quick! Pick up the beast so its blood doesn't drain onto the fur!") Luna half-yelled through the rings.

I picked the monster up and lifted it from its torso. The dead weight was awkward to lift but it wasn't nearly as heavy as I thought it would be. Piper adjusted its head so the slice in its neck was parallel with the ground as the monster's blood poured out of it.

Maxwell said something to the other women and started pulling out his tools.

Luna turned to translate for me. ("Maxwell says he was really happy with how well we worked together that time. Since this fight worked out so well, he says we should start heading back up. He's running low on bag space with the number of pelts he's collected and doesn't feel confident exploring any deeper on this floor with so little information on it.")

I hesitated but nodded. ("Okay. Does this mean we'll be making our way back to the city?")

Luna placed her hand on my shoulder. ("Don't worry, you don't have anything to fear. Maxwell will be able to speak for us, the hunter's association deals with many odd things, perhaps they will know what's happening to you or how you got down here.")

I shifted back down to my human form and placed my hand on top of hers. Her hand felt so soft against mine and I gave it a gentle squeeze. I was growing more comfortable around her, more so than the other two. I acknowledged that might just be because she was the only one I could speak to but I kind of hoped that it was something else. I felt chemistry between us but I've had so many crushes go bad before that I couldn't be sure if she felt that way back. I thought she did but I couldn't be sure.

Who would want a freak like me anyway?

"Helena."

I turned to see that Piper was trying to get my attention. In a lot of our downtime, Piper was trying to teach me new words. Once she became confident I was actually picking things up she had taken a more active role in trying to teach me their language using the book we had found in the chest from the lake.

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"Sword," she said indicating her weapon. "Shield," she said pointing to Maxwell's shield.

"Sword... shield," I repeated in their language pointing to the respective items. She was satisfied and started reviewing some of the other words she taught me. The teaching was simple stuff, I couldn't understand full sentences yet but I was getting closer to being able to communicate with them. The pronunciation wasn't difficult, the sounds were familiar to me even if the actual words were different. It seemed odd that their names were so... normal by comparison, but it did make them easier to remember so I wasn't going to complain.

I didn't often talk with Piper through the rings, her mana was valuable so I mainly spoke with Luna but... I really wanted to know this word. ("Piper, how do I say friends?")

She looked startled, maybe she forgot that I actually could speak and wasn't just their new pet dog. The thought amused me a bit.

Piper smiled. "Friend... Friends."

I nodded, I was starting to understand the difference between singular and plural in their language. It was hard but I was starting to get used to it.

"Friend. Friends" I repeated.

She pulled me over to Luna, placed a hand on her shoulder, and said something in her language. I wasn't quite sure what she was saying from the context. I understood enough to recognize Luna's name by now but that was it. I just repeated what she said.

Luna's face went from shocked to bright red and she hurried away from us as Piper suddenly began to laugh hysterically. I was confused at their reactions as I looked back and forth between the two of them. I wasn't sure what I said but it seemed to be some kind of mean-spirited joke so I followed after Luna to see what happened.

("Luna? Are you okay? What did Piper make me say? Did I say something bad?")

Watching me follow after her only made Piper laugh more and I suddenly felt a little bit betrayed by the whole thing. Eventually she stopped and crouched down by a tree, holding her face in her hands. I was concerned so I didn't want to get too close, in case she was mad or something.

("Luna? Are you okay?") I asked quietly.

She turned to look at me, her face was still quite red but she didn't look mad, she looked... embarrassed.

("Piper told you a phrase that implied we were... lovers.")

My eyebrows rose and suddenly I felt the blood rush to my face. I quickly looked away, unable to keep her gaze with the sudden revelation.

I coughed. ("Er, right. I could see why that might be embarrassing. I'm sorry...")

Before she could say anything I walked away and shot a glare at Piper, though I regretted it when it only made her laugh even more. Why would she tease me like that? Does she know I'm into women? Ugh, I can't believe she would tease me like that, so mean.

"Lovers," I repeated quietly to myself.

Since the atmosphere had gotten so awkward I decided to go see how Maxwell was doing. As I walked up he squinted before turning around and looking at me. Ah, I think my eyes are making it harder to work.

"I .... .... .... .... pelt. I .... .... .... more .... .... clean," he said pointing at the pelt. I was starting to be able to pick out words but there was still a lot I was missing. I felt kinda proud that I got the gist of it though, he was almost done, he just had a little more cleaning to finish.

I nodded and smiled. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to watch him work much on this floor. Even though the glare didn't bother me, I could tell it did bother the rest of them. I turned and headed to the top of one of the nearby hills and shifted back to my wolf form. I perked my ears and looked around for threats. There wasn't much in the area anymore, we had killed all of the bear-like monsters we could find. Since we weren't planning on going any deeper that meant we would need to head back through the area with the undead animal monsters soon.

I took in all of the scents around me and listened for anything out of place. It was quiet and I didn't smell any other monsters nearby. All I could smell was our group and the trail we had come from. The musky monster smells were gone other than the remnants of the ones we had killed. I hadn't eaten any since the second one, I was still full and satiated from those first kills and I always felt... awkward eating in front of the others.

With a sigh, I stood up tall and stretched. Even in the sun, my smoky fur was pitch black. With every change I felt both more and less comfortable with what I was becoming. I barely felt human sometimes but the strength I was gaining felt good. It was addictive. I felt strong and powerful, on top of the food chain. But the instincts were starting to feel natural, it was becoming harder to tell apart my own desires from the ones that my new instincts pointed me to. The only way I could reliably tell anymore was when they were for something I never did as a human, like stalk prey.

Then there was Luna. I couldn't ignore the fact that I was pining after her anymore but I was so dense I couldn't tell if she liked me back. I got the impression she did with her playful teasing and reassuring touches. She always seemed to get embarrassed and withdraw from me though so I couldn't tell if I was just seeing things as I would like them to be or if she really was interested in me like that. I held out hope though.

I couldn't tell what the others thought. Maxwell seemed a bit aloof but had moments where he treated me as a part of the group. Piper was warming up to me but then there was that prank. Did she do that because she approved and was trying to push us in the right direction? Or did she do it to tease Luna? Or maybe she was teasing me?

I crossed my arms and looked over the horizon. Everything is so complicated right now, I'm risking my life fighting monsters that look like they come from a horror movie. Why do my stupid hormones say now is a good time to get the biggest crush I've had in years?