Chapter 7, when she tested her hopes for his return, what she received was...
Catherine stepped forward, lowered her head, and obediently finished her portion of raw meat for the day.
Her body had gradually adapted to the stimulation of raw meat, and her reaction was far less severe than at the beginning. After eating, she only coughed for a while and quickly returned to normal.
There were very few porcupines left from the hunt, and this meal was her last one.
After Tarasco waited for Catherine to finish eating the raw meat, he routinely held her and comforted her until her cough subsided before getting up and heading towards the cave entrance to prepare for the hunt. Just as he was about to leave, Catherine called out to him.
"When you come back today, could you please bring me back some dry branches?"
Tarasco turned around and stared at Catherine, his dark red eyes revealing no emotion.
This was probably the first time she had ever made a request of the alien spider. Catherine softened her expression, her eyes pleading: "I just need a little bit, that's enough."
Tarasco neither agreed nor disagreed. He simply glanced at Catherine again before turning and stepping into the Devil's Forest, disappearing in no time.
Catherine's face returned to its expressionless state as she watched the direction Tarasco had gone, lost in thought.
Hopefully, when he returns, he will bring her good news.
It was noon, and the thick fog in the Devil's Forest had dissipated somewhat. Although the full view of the distant terrain was still obscured, the visibility had increased considerably.
Tarasco carefully concealed his figure using the dense vegetation of the Devil's Forest.
He wasn't too unlucky today; he quickly found a pile of fresh droppings on a patch of grass. He scrambled closer, sniffed it, and confirmed that it was the excrement of a giant fire rat.
As food, giant fire rats are undoubtedly a very good choice. They are slightly smaller than hybrid porcupines, but their attack power is weaker. Although their ability to breathe fire is somewhat annoying, it is not a difficult problem to solve.
Tarasco raised his head, carefully sniffed the lingering scent in the air, and then headed straight for the direction from which the scent was coming.
In the Devil's Forest, there are no species with formidable offensive power, yet none have gone extinct; all possess incredibly keen senses. The instant Tarasco entered their perception range, the giant fire rat, which had been cautiously grazing just a moment before, immediately raised its head and sprinted in the opposite direction.
Although Tarlasco hurriedly spat out spider silk in that instant, he was still just a hair's breadth away from it.
The giant fire rat felt the breeze brushing against the spider silk, and its eyes, no bigger than mung beans, widened in alarm, filled with terror.
The startled fire rat moved much faster than usual, quickly widening the distance between itself and Tarasco. If the chase continued like this, it seemed certain that the fire rat would escape soon.
Tarasco quickly glanced at the surrounding terrain, then flicked a few strands of spider silk towards a tree branch not far away. The instant the silk stuck to the branch, he swiftly retreated, then abruptly stopped...
The strong spider silk carried Tarasco's body and launched him to the opposite side of the giant fire rat.
The giant fire rat's small eyes widened to their limit. It came to an abrupt stop, its claws gripping the ground and leaving two deep gashes. However, it was too late to turn around. It glared at the alien spider and spewed a large burst of flames from its mouth.
Even if it's likely to end in certain death, the beasts of Devil's Forest will not surrender willingly.
Tarasco dodged to the side almost the instant the flames erupted. He was quick enough that, although the close proximity inevitably caused some of his hair to be singed, the damage was negligible.
The flames struck the grass behind it, instantly igniting a raging inferno. In the firelight, despair welled in the giant fire rat's eyes. That had been its final attack; having missed, its death was inevitable.
...
Tarasco dealt with the giant fire rat with relatively little effort. Its attack power was negligible compared to the alien spider. Carrying his spoils, he quickly scrambled towards the cave.
The flames spewed by the giant fire rat were difficult to extinguish, and with crackling sounds, the fire continued to spread outwards.
Just as the fire was about to get out of control, a rustling sound came from the bushes not far away, and soon, Tarasco's body emerged from them. He was carrying the corpse of the giant fire rat in his hand, but his pace was not slowed down by the weight, as if it were not a burden to him at all.
As Tarasco's massive body drew near, they noticed that his face was no longer calm as it had been when he left; instead, it held a hesitant expression.
Tarasco stood before the raging flames, glancing at the giant fire rat in his hand, then at the burning inferno. After a few seconds of contemplation, he looked at the fire rat again, then at the flames once more…
He frowned, no longer willing to stand there any longer. With a forceful flick of his wrist, he threw the giant fire rat into the flames.
The flames surged and enveloped the giant fire rat, and soon an enticing aroma wafted from within.
Tarasco cleared away a large circle of grass around the fire, concentrating the flames in the center. Once the meat was nearly cooked, he quickly pulled it out with his hooves. By then, the giant fire rat's entire hide was charred black, a stark contrast to its appearance before being thrown into the fire.
Tarasco frowned and stared at the prey in his hand for a long time, somewhat doubting whether it was really edible.
But then I remembered the snake I had just encountered…
The venomous snake looked at the raw meat he was carrying with disdain, and mocked itself with contempt, "Don't you know that humans love to eat cooked meat?"
Tarasco initially didn't want to pay attention, but remembering the violent reactions that human had experienced after each meal, he decided to give it a try.
But now... looking at the charred rat meat in his hand, he decided to take the snake's words with a grain of salt.
Carrying the thoroughly cooked giant fire rat meat, he headed back towards the cave. Tarasco's expression was uncertain, because the prey's appearance was hardly appetizing. He couldn't imagine what kind of expression Catherine would have when she saw it.
The place where the giant fire rat was killed wasn't close to the cave, but with Tarasco's speed, he arrived there quickly.
His return startled the people inside the cave. Tarasco paused for a moment, and then saw Catherine's face emerge from within.
Her face beamed with obvious joy: "You're back?"
Tarasco didn't understand what was so exciting about this. Hunting at sunrise meant either returning if successful or dying out there if unsuccessful—wasn't that the norm in the Devil's Forest? He raised his hand and touched his heart, confirming that it was calm, just like every other hunt had ended.
So if everything is normal, why is she happy?
Catherine didn't notice Tarasco's expression because she was thinking about the dry branch she had asked him to bring when he went hunting at noon.
But when she looked at Tarasco's hand, she saw only emptiness. Her heart sank, but she didn't want to give up and looked at his other hand.
He was carrying something in his hand, but it was just an unknown wild animal with charred black fur.
Undeniably, Catherine was somewhat disappointed, and she honestly showed it on her face, but she wasn't particularly upset.
This is simply because Tarasco hasn't developed any feelings for her yet, so naturally he wouldn't remember her request. This is perfectly normal.
Catherine was not discouraged; she calmed herself and prepared to wait for the next opportunity.
But just then, Tarasco suddenly raised his prey in front of him. He was so fast and quick that he almost grazed her nose.
Catherine quickly took a few steps back to create a relatively safe distance from the food. However, when she regained her footing and looked up, she saw that Tarasco's eyes were drooping and his shoulders were slumped...
She seemed to see a large, lost dog.
Before Catherine could understand why he was feeling this way, the aroma of roasted meat wafted into her nostrils.
Having eaten raw meat for several days, Catherine couldn't help but sniff it a few more times. A look of joy appeared in her eyes—when she was a nun, she never imagined that one day she would feel pleasure from a piece of roast meat that smelled completely bland.
She followed the scent and discovered that the aroma originated from the prey that Tarasco was carrying.
Just then, a piece of charred flesh broke off from the fur, falling to the ground with a very slight crackling sound. Catherine was stunned. So... this color wasn't the prey's natural color after all.
She seemed to understand why Tarasco had that expression...
Catherine looked up at Tarasco, then opened her arms and smiled at him. Tarasco looked at her quietly for a while, and finally, just as Catherine had expected, bent down and lifted her onto his armor.
Sitting atop the alien spider's carapace, Catherine buried her head in the crook of his neck: "I'm so happy that you still think of me when you go out hunting."
The soft whisper traveled on the wind to Tarasco's ears. Her voice wasn't much louder than a kitten's meow, but he heard it clearly.
Goosebumps rose uncontrollably on the skin of his neck, and Tarasco felt his heartbeat quicken involuntarily, the sound traveling through his bones to his ears as loud as muffled thunder.
Tarasco jerked his neck back as if startled, but the faint itch seemed to linger on his skin, unable to dissipate immediately.
He raised his hand to his chest, his face showing some confusion. He didn't understand why he would react so strongly to a single, ordinary sentence from this human.
He only feels his heart race when facing a formidable opponent. And this human species…
Tarasco glanced down at Catherine—not that he underestimated her, but in fact, he could completely subdue her with just one hand.
A note from the author:
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