<~> CHAPTER 48

It took over an hour for everyone to be back in shape to keep moving. Unlike the previous floor where you couldn't escape the heat, I didn't mind the slightly longer break this time. We had been going non-stop on the previous floor so everyone was pretty tired but I wanted to at least go until we could get near one of the lakes so I could bathe before crashing. And with that enticing argument, I managed to rouse everyone to at least camp near the nearest lake and tree outcropping along the dirt road.

("What kinds of monsters do we need to worry about on this floor?") I asked Luna again. It was quickly becoming one of my favorite questions every time we reached a new floor.

Luna's ears perked and she looked over at me with a smile. She's been in a much better mood since we came to this floor even though she seemed quite groggy now. ("This floor is relatively safe as far as floors go. There are these large quadrupedal bull-like monsters that roam the plains in groups, giant hawks, and aggressive bloody rabbits.")

She tapped her lip as she looked up at the clouds. ("The bulls monsters are probably the toughest but they are only aggressive when you get close to them. Sometimes they run in large herds but you can avoid them when you see them coming. The giant hawks are more of a nuisance than actually dangerous, at least for us. They will swoop down and try to take your things, especially when you camp. They also might try and dive at you but between our shields and my fire magic, we shouldn't have any trouble scaring them off. The bloody rabbits are the monsters we'll fight the most but they're fairly easy to kill. They're extremely aggressive though, they'll often come running at you before we can even spot them. They act almost the opposite of normal rabbits in that regard. They bite hard and have strong kicks but they shouldn't be a threat to any of us, not even Aria.")

("What about in the water?") I ask.

("Nothing to worry about in the water. There's some fish if you're hungry and these monstrous octopi, but those only attack you in the deeper parts of the lakes,") she said.

I grinned. ("Does that mean it's safe to bathe in the water then?")

She looked back at me with an amused smile. ("Do you think you would have convinced us to push to camp near the lake if we didn't intend to bathe in them?")

I shrugged. ("I'm not sure, but it's great to hear that there shouldn't be any issue bathing here. I certainly need it after the last floor,") I said gesturing to my sweaty clothes.

("I'm looking forward to it. It was one of the only things keeping me going on the last floor. The trek past the eleventh floor is worse on the way down because all you have to look forward to is the cavern full of crystals. It's pretty but that's less of a consolation after being tortured in the heat. It is nice that there isn't any sun there at least. The sun is setting on this floor but it's still warm,") Luna said lifting her arm to catch the orange sun to our left.

As we kept walking our trip was interrupted by a group of six bloody rabbits. They looked like giant white rabbits with bright red eyes and sharp teeth that extended out of their mouths. Our group immediately got in formation as the six rabbits charged at us without any sense of self-preservation. I chose to take a cue from the others and stand in formation around Luna holding my shield as my body shifted into its large werewolf form once again.

The rabbits pelted themselves against us and just like the slimes on the maze floor, I watched as Maxwell flung one of the rabbits off of his shield then turned to catch it with his sword as it had been knocked away. I tried to follow his example a couple of times but my large axe was too unwieldy to hit them in time as they flung themselves away at high speeds before trying to dash at us from a new direction.

After three attempts, I dropped the heavy axe behind me and decided to try and catch one with my claws instead. I didn't need to worry about being burned with acid like I had before. This time when one of the rabbits heavily flung itself off my shield I managed to grab it with one hand as it tried to speed away. With an almost casual flick of my wrist, I broke the monster's neck and dropped it in the dirt before another one could hammer itself against my shield. We managed to kill four of them before Luna's magic flared up and burned the remaining two to death.

When Luna's magic subsided I noticed that only the ones we hadn't managed to kill were burned up in her magic, the corpses that lay around us were left untouched. With the knowledge that the burned ones would probably be worth less than the one I had killed, I managed to push myself to go eat one of the burned ones rather than the one my instincts screamed at me that I claimed and should be my right.

I couldn't help myself and I immediately broke formation to chomp into one of the char-grilled rabbits. The smell of its singed fur wasn't pleasant but it didn't give me much resistance when I tore its chest open and plucked out its small heart. Like a grape, I burst the heart in one bite and shivered as a surprising amount of magic flowed into me. Two heartbeats later a strong shooting pain ran up both of my legs and I fell onto the dirt in agony.

("Helena! What's wrong?!") Luna asked rushing to my side. Piper also ran to my side and began to examine me with her magic.

My legs felt like they both cramped up at once, sending shooting pains all the way from the balls of my wolfy paw pads to my hips. ("Ffff-fuck, my legs are cramping...")

Luna reached forward to touch them and hot shooting pains seared into me everywhere her hands brushed against me.

("Ah! Luna, don't touch! It hurts!")

She nearly jumped back three feet in response and I just wriggled in the dirt as the pain started to shift to a dull throb rather than the shooting pains they had been.

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This time I targeted Piper with the rings. ("It still hurts but it's getting better...")

("Nothing seems wrong with you on my end, I'm not sure what's happening,") she responded in a clinical tone. Part of me respected her stony unflappable tone as I squirmed on the ground.

I started to pant and relax as the pain began to taper off. They still felt hurt, like I had a big bruise all over them. My legs even felt a little swollen but I wasn't sure if that was actual swelling or just numbness that had come over them.

Just as I thought the worst was over a large crack filled the air as the bones in my leg shifted, causing me to cry out in pain once again. Luckily this time the pain was sharp but fleeting and quickly changed to a dull throbbing in time with my elevated heart rate.

I flopped onto my back and panted. "I- worst over..." I panted out.

Piper shook her head. "I still do not see anything wrong," she said slowly, likely for my sake.

Luna crouched next to me and reached down to touch my forehead. I got the sense she was trying to comfort me rather than check my temperature, something that wouldn't really work in my wolf form. When the dull throbbing finally stopped I leaned forward and gingerly rubbed my legs. When they didn't immediately burst into pain I put a little more pressure. They still ached but now they felt more like they were tired after a long workout instead of feeling like someone took a hammer to them.

I reached out my hands. "Help me up... please."

Luna took a step back and Piper and Maxwell held out their arms to lift me back onto my feet. I took a couple steps and wobbled. My center of balance felt off and my legs felt weird. I held onto the two of them and lifted my leg up only for it to bend a little bit more than I felt like it should. The large paws I had always walked on in this form were already digitigrade like a dog's but now it felt like I was walking a little bit on stilts. I was able to lower my elevated heel to the ground which felt really weird. When I stood like this my legs... looked a bit like a rabbit's. I closed my eyes and sighed. What the fuck. At least I wouldn't be left wondering what this heart did. I felt like I went through a lot for that little grape of a heart I ate.

I awkwardly took a few more steps before letting go of Maxwell and Piper and taking a few more steps on my own. My steps felt a little bit more... springy and agile. I took a few more bouncing steps and found that a few skips sent me flying much faster than I had been able to run before. It would take a little bit to get used to my newly altered gait but... this does seem like an upgrade, if an awkward one.

("I think I'm okay now...") I told Luna as I walked back. ("My legs still feel weird but they don't hurt anymore.")

She nodded and looked over them. I seemed around half a foot taller than I had been, which was saying something because I was already tall. It seemed like it was all in the legs though.

("Can I touch them now?") she asked curiously. ("Do you think it will still hurt when I do?") she asked.

("I don't think so, just... be gentle. They feel weird and I don't think my balance is normal yet.")

She nodded and slowly began to feel along my legs. She stroked along the slightly repositioned and sinewy muscles of my leg. Her warm hands felt kind of good against me, kind of like a nice massage.

"We should keep going," Maxwell said to us. "We have been up for a long time," he said speaking slowly.

"Alright," I said before turning to look at the rabbits. It seemed that all of them had been picked up, including the one I had ripped open. Most of them were tied on Aria's bag except for the one I had ripped open which she held in her hands, pinching the singed fur closed.

Luna held my hand as I got used to my new awkward stride. It almost felt more comfortable to move faster than slower now. It would be easier to keep the momentum of running going rather than the awkward stilt steps I had to take normally now. It sorta felt like I was stuck in higher heels than I was used to.

Eventually, we finally reached the side of one of the large lakes. A small copse of trees blocked most of the sun from the area we set up our camp in, leaving it in a relaxing state of dim light. I walked around collecting firewood and getting used to my new strange steps as the others hammered the tents into place and Aria began to strip and clean the rabbits. It seemed that for once I wouldn't be the only one that would be eating this kill. I did notice that Aria kept the one I had partially ripped open off to the side and covered by a cloth to ward it from insects. Likely in case I preferred the monster rabbit's meat raw to cooked. It would be the first time I could try it both ways! I was kind of excited.

I stared down at my legs. They didn't actually look all that different despite feeling completely different. I was really lucky I didn't try to eat that thing in the middle of battle because I could have been killed... or, well, let's be realistic. It could have hurt a lot if the bloody rabbits kicked me when I was down.

I wiggled my still wolfish toes. It mainly looked like the internal structure of them had changed and not any of the surface details had. I didn't have big rabbit paws attached to me, I still had big wolf feet there, they just felt weird now. I'm sure I would get used to them though, and maybe eventually I'll like the change, perhaps after I go sprinting all out eventually.

I brought back the pile of firewood I collected into the fire pit that had been dug and with a warm flash of heat, Luna started a fire right below the beginnings of a rabbit stew that Aria had started to make for us. I smiled and kissed Luna on the head. I was still determined to take a bath before we split up watches for the night.