Chapter 17 covers "Are you a dog?"
Catherine understood what he meant. He was saying that he had been searching for her for the past few days and hadn't had time.
So... the third person she initially thought was in the cave was actually a "hypothetical enemy" she had imagined?
Catherine paused, and in such a short time, a large patch of her neck was wet again. Tarasco's tongue, with its barbs, gently scraped her skin repeatedly; it didn't hurt much, but rather itched a little.
Catherine, taken aback, instinctively moved aside and chuckled, "Are you a dog?"
She had barely finished speaking when she felt a slight sting on her neck. She gasped and turned her head to meet a pair of angry eyes.
"It's not a dog!"
Catherine truly hadn't expected his focus to be on this. She reached out and ruffled Tarasco's hair: "Pfft, okay, okay~ not a dog."
The temperature inside the cave continued to rise, making Catherine's head gradually feel dizzy. As time slowly passed, her lower back began to ache and feel numb, but Tarasco still showed no sign of stopping.
Finally, Catherine couldn't hold on any longer and cried out. But Tarasco just held her neck, preventing her from escaping.
Time passed slowly, and everything became increasingly difficult for Catherine.
The weather in Devil's Forest had been bad these past few days, overcast for days on end. Inside the sunless cave, time became increasingly difficult to judge. Catherine felt as if an eternity had passed before the torment finally subsided.
Tarasco held her in his arms without letting go, and the two of them quietly felt his body temperature gradually drop.
Catherine was still in a daze and hadn't fully recovered. She leaned against Tarasco, and although the temperature drop made her feel a little uncomfortable, she only frowned and groaned a few times, lazily unwilling to move.
Until, her neck was sucked until wet patches appeared again.
Catherine couldn't help but glare at Tarasco, then pushed him away slightly: "Why aren't you done yet?"
“No, we need to make an imprint!” Tarasco declared confidently.
She'd spent so much time with those damned snakes, her body reeking of their foul stench. Even though his scent had covered it up several times, it still wasn't enough…
Tarasco's expression was rather unpleasant; he still felt a faint, lingering metallic scent emanating from her.
Tarasco's arms weren't as supple as those of humans; they were as hard as stone. He simply wrapped his arms around Catherine, and she was rendered immobile, left to his mercy.
Tarasco was finally satisfied after kissing Catherine's entire neck.
Perhaps because something has been lost once, it is cherished all the more when found again. Unlike before, he did not return Catherine to the "bed" attached to the cave wall, but instead held her in his arms the whole time.
However, Tarasco's normal body temperature was undoubtedly too cold for Catherine. Before long, she couldn't help but shiver.
Tarasco looked somewhat bewildered, as if he had suddenly remembered the fragility of the human race.
He looked up at the bed on the cave wall, then down at Catherine, then looked up at the bed on the cave wall again... The shifting of his gaze easily revealed his reluctance to let go.
Catherine was afraid that if he kept arguing, she would catch a cold first. So, unable to bear it any longer, she made a suggestion: "Perhaps... you could wrap me in those furs and then carry me up?"
In Devil's Forest, where herbs are a rarity, she figured it was best to avoid getting sick as much as possible.
Tarasco's eyes lit up at the words, feeling that the problem that had been troubling him had been instantly solved. He happily kissed Catherine, then put her on the floor, and then happily went to take the things off the bed and put them in his arms to make a new nest.
The thick fur insulated Tarasco from his icy body. Catherine, already exhausted from her long journey, was completely drained by the exertion she had just endured. Soon after Tarasco held her in his arms again, she drifted off to sleep.
Catherine slept soundly and didn't wake up until the next morning when the sound of the wind blowing into the cave as the clouds changed.
Because she had slept for a long time, Catherine was a little dazed when she first woke up. She looked around for a while before realizing that she had changed positions and was now lying on a bed against the cave wall.
She heard rustling sounds from below, and peered out from under the bed. She saw Tarasco tidying up the cave, and it seemed he was about to go hunting again soon.
Catherine's eyes darted around, and she asked knowingly, "Are you going out hunting?"
Tarasco was quite friendly towards this newly found human. He looked up at her upon hearing her voice and nodded in response to her question.
"Then... could you take me with you?"
Tarasco's expression changed instantly, replaced by one of disapproval.
This change in expression did not escape Catherine's notice, who had been watching him intently. However, she did not intend to give up on the suggestion.
She needed to leave this cave. She hadn't forgotten what Tarasco had mentioned before about the human species in the wolf cave.
And coincidentally, a perfect opportunity has now arisen.
Catherine lowered her eyes, looking quite distressed: "Are you going to leave me alone in the cave? But... what if that python comes again?"
When she looked up again, tears had welled up in her eyes, making her look extremely pitiful.
“Even among humans, I am considered weak, let alone facing such a ferocious beast… I am completely powerless against it, I am afraid.” After saying this, as if she had imagined some terrible scene, her whole body trembled uncontrollably.
Even the most clueless person would be moved by such a scene. Tarlasco was no exception.
He immediately stepped forward, reached out and lifted Catherine onto his armor: "I'll take you. Don't cry..."
Upon hearing this, Catherine raised her hand to wipe away a tear that had slid down her cheek, then looked up at him and smiled. As if grateful, she nodded and said, "Mm!"
-
The cave is fraught with danger, and even the alien spiders cannot guarantee that they can keep Catherine within their protective circle at all times.
So for her safety, Tarasco wove a cage out of spider silk. The size of the silk cage was just right to put Catherine inside.
Catherine was a little scared when she first entered the cage.
She had witnessed the corrosive power of Tarasco's spider silk, which could corrode a normal-sized wild boar clean in a very short time.
Although she knew he wouldn't hurt her, at least for now, the lingering images in her memory still made her subconsciously nervous.
Catherine stayed inside for a while, too nervous to relax. It wasn't until her fingertips went numb from squatting for so long, and she accidentally touched a spider web while swaying, that she realized her fingertips weren't even corroded, and she was certain that the cage was indeed completely harmless to her.
So she completely relaxed and sat down on the ground.
The spider silk on the cage was so dense that Catherine couldn't see her surroundings from inside. She felt like about ten minutes had passed when suddenly a violent jolt came.
Catherine immediately shut her mouth, not uttering any sound of fear. She raised her hands and hurriedly grabbed the spider silk on either side to make sure she wouldn't fall too hard.
Once the cage stopped rolling, Catherine knelt down against the cage wall, pressing her ear to the spider silk to listen to the sounds outside. The fighting between the two wild beasts was quite loud, and even though most of it was blocked by the fine spider silk, some echoes still reached her.
It seems Tarasco has started hunting.
The two beasts a few meters away from the cage were attacking each other with all their might. They knew very well that if one of them was defeated, it would become the other's meal that day.
During the fight, Tarasco was clearly too busy to pay attention to Catherine, so he moved the cage to a safe spot nearby before taking her back after everything was over.
Catherine was sitting obediently at the bottom of the cage.
She knew before she left today that it was impossible to successfully reach the Wolf's Den on her first try.
However, firstly, the human-like bag was found on the alien spider's return route. Although his hunting routes are likely to be different each time, as long as she follows him, she has a chance to follow Tarasco through the wolf's lair again.
Secondly, only by consistently following Tarasco can she gradually lower his guard. If she could eventually get him to agree to take her there for a check-up, that would be even better.
After all, the silver python had just kidnapped her, and Catherine was worried that the alien spider would completely reject all requests to take her out of the cave.
As for the rest, all we can do is wait patiently for the right opportunity...
Yes, she never completely gave up the idea of leaving Devil Forest.
Catherine looked up at the top of the spiderweb cage. This place was too dangerous; it wasn't suitable for fragile humans who lacked the ability to protect themselves.
To survive, she had to rely on Tarasco, but that could only be temporary.
He is far more powerful than her.
Perhaps this alien spider seems to be treating her fairly well for now, but if one day he changes his mind and wants to kill her, she'll probably just have to sit and wait for death to come. This disparity makes her uneasy, so she can't truly feel at ease staying by his side as a pet.
Only by leaving the Devil's Forest and returning to the place where humans live... that place is more suitable for her.
A note from the author:
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