I Hate Systems

Hiss!

Krager, the one that turned into a cat hissed as it jumped onto a tree branch, turning into a snake to coil over it, reaching the top. It then watched a shadow flash by on the ground, tussling with the bird that had attacked Krager before.

It was a mongoose. But, unlike a regular mongoose whose body—excluding the tail—grew to a length of 2-3 feet, this was double in size. And, it was faster, flashing on the ground as it constantly swerved directions, attacking the bird from multiple directions.

When the bird took off to the air, the mongoose jumped onto it, biding its claws before dragging it onto the ground.

It then bit into the bird's wing joint, injuring it, preventing it from taking off to the air. And in response to the bird's pecking, it jumped back, evading the attack. Without even a single pause, it arrived behind the bird, feinting an attack to distract the bird before targeting its claws this time, injuring it severely.

Other than the size difference, the mongoose also sported a horn on its forehead, one that faintly glowed a mysterious radiance as it continued to attack the bird.

From the start, the bird was disadvantaged, unable to take the initiative. After all, the moment it evaded, the mongoose would directly run towards its nest and devour its egg. That was the reason it had arrived there in the first place.

So, the bird could only throw its life to defend the mongoose's fierce attacks.

Upon seeing how strong it was, Krager frowned, thinking, 'System, what the heck is this mongoose? How is it so strong?'

He frowned, only met with silence, sighing as he muttered, "It seems I have to rely on myself to defeat this thing."

He had no other choice because he was aiming for the egg himself. And, if the mongoose got it first, then he would have failed his Quest. Left with no other choice, his cat form jumped from the tree branch, landing on the ground before it sprinted towards the mongoose.

The mongoose calmly noticed its approach, not even flustered as it let go of its hold over the bird's claws and jumped back, accelerating towards the cat.

Immediately, the two creatures tussled together as Krager was alarmed to see his scratches, bites, etc. failing to harm the mongoose. Its skin was tough, as if layered with a steel mesh, causing the cat's paws to bleed every time it attacked.

Moreover, at times when the cat tried to deliver a critical hit onto the mongoose, something coincidental would happen that would offset its attacks. Due to this, it was unable to gain an upper hand.

'Ugh!' Grunting in pain, the cat glared as its eyes healed, watching the mongoose reveal its blood-covered teeth to screech once before jumping onto it.

The bird had recovered a bit by now to join in, realising that the mongoose was the strongest enemy, intending to deal with it first.

With the two attacking it, the mongoose was unable to harm them as much. Or rather, the cat's tail slapped the bird, healing it too. With the bird making a complete recovery, they were able to fight against the mongoose.

And no matter how many injuries they sustained, the cat healed them all, intending to tire out the mongoose first before killing it.

Having been observing the situation, the mongoose suddenly crouched a bit before its figure vanished. And when it reappeared, it was a couple of metres behind the cat, holding a large chunk of flesh in its mouth.

As for the cat, its eyes lost all lustre, dropping to the ground, now dead. Immediately after, a snake appeared in its place, hissing in response as it glared at the mongoose.

Internally, Krager was raging, 'Dammit, my cat form has been destroyed by that freaking mongoose.'

Death to his beast forms wouldn't affect him. If they died, he would only lose their form. Only when his human form was killed would he actually die.

But, losing the cat form meant he was losing one of his cards, suffering a reduction in strength he attained from it. He only had three forms, the cat form, the rat snake form, and the parrot form. Now that the cat form had died, he only had two more forms remaining.

And when he turned into the rat snake form, he regretted his decision immediately. After all, a mongoose was a snake's natural predator.

Its figure flashed and before Krager could notice what was up, the mongoose had bit onto the snake in the middle and violently shook its head, using the force to lash the snake onto the ground like a whip.

The force of the impact caused loud noises as the snake's head slammed into the ground, exploding into pulp.

Right as the mongoose planned to devour the snake, Krager appeared in his human form, ambushing it with a kick, sending it flying away.

He then grunted in response, feeling an intense sting from the leg that he used to kick it. And in response, the mongoose calmly shook its head and got up, not even injured from his full-powered attack.

"Dammit!" Krager grunted, pulling out two knives from his backpack as he crouched a little, holding them in his hands as he focused on his enemy.

As for the bird, it cautiously positioned itself before the thicket of trees, standing before the shadow that unfurled its wings from time to time within it.

The three parties glared at each other as Krager and the bird glanced at each other, understanding that they had to form a truce until the situation was resolved. The mongoose was just too strong.

Whirring up his healing Skill, Krager sprinted towards the mongoose, lunging forth for an attack while the bird swerved diagonally, aiming at the mongoose from the other side, intending to attack it when it dodged his attack.

As for the mongoose, it suddenly opened its mouth, revealing a cunning grin as its horn brightened up for a moment.

The light flashed onto his face, causing him to pale in response as a thought resounded in his mind, 'Oh shit!'

Boom!