Chapter 42: Catkin

After dodging the attack, I searched for my assailant. My eyes landed on a cat woman wielding a beautiful silver knife with an embedded red gem, who was right next to me, less than 1 meter away. The cat woman, instead of fleeing, continued to attack me with a series of fast and precise thrusts. Despite her great speed, I kept moving with agility, dodging each blow by mere millimeters. Seeing that she couldn’t finish me, the little cat woman retreated a few steps and, before my eyes, began to vanish, as if camouflaging herself with the environment. I then remembered that Cat People are capable of using the [Stealth] ability and are extremely lethal. The strange thing is that, unlike Kobolds or Sealakels, Cat People are not a demon race, but a beast-human race, which made their presence here even more unusual. I didn’t understand why I hadn’t thought of it before when I saw their names in the intruder alert in my area. Perhaps I was too focused on the alarm signal, certainly not because Manaia was straddling my cock, filling me with pleasure... I could no longer see the cat woman; it seemed I was completely alone again, not a sound or movement in the grass, but something in my instinct told me that wasn’t the case. The pressure in the air, the silence, it was too perfect... Without hesitation, I activated the [Lunar Senses] ability to try and find her. And there she was. My vision showed her as if she were a sexual target; I could clearly see her figure, and her entire body was painted with different colors of desire. Her cat tail, in particular, vibrated with the strongest red color, while above her head floated the numbers 12 and 95, showing that she wasn’t aroused at that moment, but harbored great frustration and sexual desire. The cat girl began to try to retreat while moving on all fours, trying to make the least noise possible, like an elusive shadow. I took a cautious step towards her, when out of the corner of my eye, I perceived a shadow. Turning, there was another figure, but this one had no colors of desire. It was just an opaque, shapeless mass of orange color, that began to approach me slowly. Seeing me turn towards her, she froze, waiting; I could even see her chest stop rising and falling. This assassin was even holding her breath. I activated the [Temporal Evaluation] ability, and before me, information appeared about who I was facing: [Noble Catkin Level 37] Lucien Shadowclaw, Heir of the Shadowclaw family. [Noble Catkin Level 25] Jayde Moonclaw, orphan. The two Catkins seemed unwilling to move, waiting for me to give up so they could ambush me again or retreat. I drew my bow and invoked a lunar arrow, pointing into the void in front of me, or at least that’s what the Catkins thought, until the arrow pointed directly at Lucien, the male Catkin. "Come on, kitty, drop your ability or I’ll force you out of it," I told them. Despite the seriousness of my words and having an arrow pointing directly at him, the Catkins doubted I had discovered them, overly confident in their stealth ability. "It seems they won’t stop until they die..." I released the arrow, activating [Accelerate]. The arrow disappeared for a moment, reappearing directly in front of the Catkin. He couldn’t even react, falling to the ground and clutching his shoulder. The lunar arrow had cleanly pierced his shoulder, leaving a large bloody hole. "Aghhh!" "If I wanted you dead, you already would be. So get out, cat, don’t make me put my arrow through your ass, or you can test my capability." I stared intently at the cat woman who was still camouflaged with the environment. She deactivated her ability and walked towards her companion, keeping her guard against me. "It’s rare to see Catkins. What are you doing in this place?" "Damn human... I’ll kill you when I see you again..." The Catkin spoke in a strange language, but my [Lunar Senses] ability showed what he was actually saying. I said nothing, just kept smiling as I walked towards the injured Catkin. When I reached him, the Catkin woman retreated in fear, opening enough space for me, like a shadow, to kick the Catkin in the chest, sending him rolling several meters until he crashed into a tree. "Don’t test my patience, beast... I speak, and you answer, or you can go straight to hell." I invoked a second lunar arrow, aiming at the head of the female Catkin, Jayde. Seeing they didn’t answer, I fired a second arrow, piercing Lucien’s other shoulder. "Last time I’m asking. Is that clear?" "Damn human, kill me if you have the balls, my family will hunt you until you no..." The female cat ran towards Lucien and covered his mouth with a rag to prevent him from digging his own grave. "Y-yes. I, Jayde, promise you..." "I don’t need promises, I don’t even believe you, so just answer the damn questions." The female Catkin trembled with fear at my attitude, knowing I would rip her head off the moment they tried anything. I know that as a former otaku gamer, I should love furries, but during this time I was ambushed and nearly killed on more than one occasion by Beastkins. A damned rabbit woman with the most erotic body I’d ever seen took advantage of my carelessness to stab her weapon into my heart. I was lucky not to die that time. "First of all, what is this?" I pulled out the stone I had taken from the Orc’s corpse. "That’s ’Omaishi,’ a sacrifice for the clan’s altar. The elders use it to make offerings to the altar." "How do they offer it to the altar?" "They place it in front of the altar and the altar absorbs it. I don’t know how it works, I’ve only seen it from afar." "Why did you come today of all days?" "..." "It seems you’re still not willing or convinced." Seeing she didn’t answer, I generated another lunar arrow, aiming again at Lucien’s head while staring intently at Jayde, threatening her. "Once he dies, you’re next. I only promise you that before you die, you will know what hell is."