“How many this time?” Aleph asked.

“Three—no, four. The last one’s injured and moving strangely.”

I could see three giant, gray, ape-like beasts skulking between tree trunks ahead of us. Their arms hung down to the ground, ending in giant knuckled fists. Angry red tufts of fur covered their backs.

“You two stay right here with Aleph. No heroics!” Tetora leapt forward on all fours, letting out a loud roar. One ape, larger than the rest, screamed in response and shot forward to meet Tetora’s charge. The other two apes hooted excitedly but made no move to join.

Aleph pointed. “He challenged the alpha, so the other redbacks should hang back. When Tetora wins, the others will take off.” I nodded as I stared. Were those costumes? No, they were too big. Animatronics? Even Eura shouldn’t have that big of a budget! Maybe I was just hallucinating at this point. They looked too lifelike!

The combatants were circling each other now, warily. The alpha ape attempted to lunge forward first, but Tetora dodged to the side. As he landed, he twisted his body and drove his claws into the ape's underbelly. The ape screamed again, though this time it was filled with agony.

Tetora pivoted around the ape in a fluid movement, jumped onto its back, and drove his right fist, claws and all, into its side. The ape collapsed to the ground with a howl, and Tetora jumped back. The other apes cautiously melted back into the stone forest. As the alpha glared at Tetora, it slowly got to its feet and backed away to join its companions.

Nora suddenly shouted, “Over there!” She pointed, and both Aleph and I turned. To the right, two giant alligator-like lizards joined the tree line and ran straight towards us.

“Megalanies!” Aleph shouted as he charged forward, poised to strike. One of the giant lizards veered off to one side while the second darted the other way in a flanking maneuver. Aleph smashed his war hammer into the skull of one while the other came at him from behind.

Nora aimed the orb of her staff at it. “Fulgura!” she shouted. A bolt of lightning shot out from the orb and coursed through the tail of the giant alligator, shocking it throughout its body. The monster stopped moving entirely. Aleph took the opportunity to strike the other alligator again in the eye, throwing it back as it let out a pained hiss. All I could do was gape at Nora in disbelief, though she seemed just as surprised as I was that her spell had worked.

“Behind you!” The voice inside my head screamed as it seized control of my body, whirling me around. Another ape had taken advantage of the chaos and hurled itself at me.

“Better to meet this head-on!” I found myself running towards the new challenger. Unlike the other apes, it made no audible challenging calls.

“We’re going to have to kill this one outright. It no longer eats or thinks rationally.” I noticed its jaw appeared to be hanging somewhat slack. A fragment of bone was sticking out from the side of its cheek.

Kill it? Are you crazy? I don’t have any weapons! Despite my silent protests, I was still running forward.

“You have your fists, feet, and teeth, don’t you?”

There’s no way I’m going to bite that thing!

“Then stay out of the way and let me handle this.”

The enraged ape threw up its arms to smash me to the ground, but my body moved on its own as I dove under them and drove an uppercut into its injured jaw with all the force my arm was capable of. The ape crested my height even when it was on all fours, but my blow forced it to stagger backward. I drove a front kick into one of its exposed knees while throwing up my arms to block counterattacks. I tucked my feet under myself and launched myself backward to put space between us. Blood was pouring from its mouth, and the leg I had struck collapsed slightly inwards. Just how hard had I struck it?

“Not hard enough. Tetora is correct. You need to train.”

As if the voice had summoned him, he leapt from behind me, smashing his clawed right fist directly into the ape’s eye. It quivered, then fell to the ground, dead as Tetora retracted his claws. He was puffing, and I could see him trembling with anger.

“What did I tell you?” His voice was dreadfully quiet, contrasting with what I assumed was his usual yelling.

“It w-wasn’t me…” I stammered.

Go on, talk to him, Raelynn!

“I’m not Raelynn.”

Then who are you?

“Raeonna, third Appointed Hero of Legend.”

Raeonna? A predecessor of Raelynn?

“Well, I’m waiting for an answer. If it wasn’t you, then who was it?” He was snarling softly now, his tail flicking side to side.

“Raeonna.” He blinked and considered my answer for several moments. Maybe he never heard of her?

“Tell him he should stop favoring his right side so much. One of these days, he will get knocked on his back permanently.”

Now doesn’t seem the best time to criticize him!

“Nonsense. Do it, or I will.”

I swallowed and repeated Raeonna’s message. Tetora’s anger slipped away, and it looked like he would take those few words to heart. Aleph and Nora had joined us.

“Rae! You punched that redback in the face and broke its jaw!” Nora shadowboxed for a moment.

“It was already broken… Wait, why are you so surprised about what I did? You just cast a… spell! Y-you summoned… lightning!” There were several expletives I omitted at the last moment.

“You’ve never used animus before?” Aleph asked Nora.

“No, that was my first time!” she said, and I could almost hear her thinking, ‘And it won’t be my last!’

“You may need training even more desperately than Raelynn.” Aleph frowned thoughtfully. “Let’s keep moving. It would be best to reach the village before the sun sets.”