27 Talon

GRAAAAWWRR!!

Lineir terrified made to flee from the noise but froze as a strange rippling growl echoed throughout the chamber.

"Grawr?"

Standing on two legs was a noble looking girl of average height with long red hair and a solid red gown so long she was practically stepping on it. Looking closely, there was actually a spot of white on the back of the dress.

"That dress couldn't have been white originally... that would mean the whole thing is bathed in...blood?" Lineir wasn't a fool. As unbelievable as it was, the hunk of raw meat in her left hand was clearly torn from the super tough False Water Serpent's corpse. She had been eating the thing from the inside out! Mei realized this at the same time and gave up her fake aggrieved silence,

"Hurry and run, that girl is not what she seems!" Lineir began to sprint for the entrance again, but he knew that wasn't an escape option now that he'd been discovered,

"What do you want me to do, jump off and fly? There's no way I can climb down faster than a snail's pace without falling!"

However, he ran anyways because he had no choice, and it was better to do something than to stand around and become another blood stain on her gown. He didn't make it far. From his back came five flaring spots of pain as something small smacked into his back and he was shoved onto his elbows, the bone scythes slithering out to brace his body. Trying to prop himself up on the sharp blades, he turned to see what was behind him, only to catch a glimpse of swirling red fabric and a foot with five talons pressed down on him with ungodly strength. Cheek against the hard ground he could only helplessly look back and slowly retract his bone scythes as Mei quietly also returned to liquid form and seeped back into his veins.

"Hi! I mean you no harm, as you can see, I was just leaving!" He was rather proud of the fact that his voice only trembled slightly while saying this. The girl with her taloned foot on his back only pressed down harder and unable to breath, he shut up.

"Were you trying to assassinate me? If you were, you're a poor assassin, you woke me up!" The girl showed absolutely no fear of Lineir, and after deciding for a moment, actually took her foot off his back.

"What clan do you belong to? I don't recognize those strange claws on your arm."

She tapped his elbow with a talon, Lineir noticed that they were incredibly sharp, and actually gave him a little cut from which drops of blood seeped just by poking him. Not daring to get up, he replied,

"I have no clan, I happened to be inside the belly of that False Water Serpent when it was plucked from the sky. Speaking of which, where are we, whatever did that must have been incredibly strong, we should leave this cave immediately!" The girl simply laughed at Lineir though,

"Oh, is that where you came from? As incredible a story as that is, you're too weak to be an assassin. Don't worry, I won't eat you, I only eat magical beasts, cultivators aren't very tasty. You'll have to get out of here on your own though, I'm not interested in whether or not you slip and fall. Off you go, and remember, if anyone comes and finds me here, you'll be the first one I hunt down and rip apart. I have your scent now..." She bent over and sniffed the back of Lineir's head, making goosebumps appear everywhere and then went back to the False Water Serpent's corpse. Turning from Lineir, seemingly uncaringly, she launched a thunderous kick with her clawed foot and punched right through the scales. Upon pulling it back, a hunk of bloody meat was trapped between and she retrieved it with her hands and began eating it raw. She had literally no fear of turning her back to Lineir at all. He was below her presence. Mei quickly urged the dumbstruck Lineir to hurry up,

"Come on, get climbing before she changes her mind! Whatever she is, she is far beyond your power, be thankful she isn't hungry enough to bother with you!" Immediately Lineir scrambled over the edge, trying to ignore the three hundred meter drop to the green forest below. Stabbing his elbow blades into the edges of a crack in the rock, he began the long and painful process of finding a way down the sheer cliff. While at first, it was tough going, he soon got used to using the bone blades, which were extremely hard and sharp as picks to assist him on his way down. As he went, he discussed with Mei.

"What was that Mei, she was way too small to have made all those holes in the False Water Dragon's body, but she was definitely eating it!" Mei wasn't sure,

"Clearly somebody powerful, to be able to cut through a peak 5th tier magical beast with a talon, she must be somebody with an incredible background. In fact, I suspect she may not be human, but a magical beast assuming human form! Only tenth tier and above magical beasts can do this. I have never been so glad to have such a weak and puny disciple! She never even considered you a threat and thus you lived. I cannot tell if Fate itself is taunting me like this, truly an odd coincidence for you to meet such a being and survive in the wilderness." Lineir was awed, he hadn't known that magical beasts could assume human form.

"Really, magical beasts can actually change into human form? That's incredible, but I don't know. I couldn't tell anything about her at all." Mei's tone was condescending,

"Your world is too small. What you have to understand is that humanity is but a small portion of the many powerful beings in the universe. Indeed, in my world, powerful magical beasts were as common as raindrops in a hurricane, and there was practically no distinction between human and beast experts. I do find it odd though, what a strange place for a powerful being to hang out. I wonder what her true form is?" Eventually, Lineir took one last swing with his aching arms, and managed to drop down to solid ground. At that moment he felt an odd sensation, as if raindrops were falling, though the setting sun was nestled in a clear sky, devoid of clouds.

"Say Mei, is it raining?" Looking at his arms, he tried to figure out what was on them. Presently, another sensation came to him, and he flinched as he looked at the crimson liquid, which had splashed down and splattered on his hand. "Blood?"