Blood
No matter how far apart this current moment was from that dreaded hour, the scent of blood still followed him.
Sniff
At every moment, he couldn't help but detect the smell of blood. He didn't have to, but he just kept going.
Eww
The faint realization that he was still covered in blood and drenched in piss. He was completely dirty. And it didn't help that the blood all over him had already dried up, making him look like he was covered in irremovable scabs.
Sniff
But when he placed his nose close to his arm, the smell of blood was far weaker than the putrid scent that wafted in the air. That's when he knew that the smell came from somewhere else nearby.
Yohan: Huh?
And to his suprise, he wasn't the only one riddled in blood throughout the surrounding expanse of his visual range.
****
From his sprawled out position, he could see a trail of dirt that looked as if someone heavy was dragged along it. And so, he traced his gaze long that trail, which led to god-knows-where. At least, he stared at it until he saw something that stood in its way.
It looked to be a huge patch of fur. A patch black fur that was curled into a ball shape. For what reasons, he had no clue.
Yohan: Huh?
Nonetheless, that furball looked familiar to him. And accordingly, he attempted to approach it. But that would be a challenge.
Yohan: Grr.
He had already gotten to standing up, but that wasn't going to be quite easy. After all, with that missing arm and that gash on his leg, it wouldn't be surprising if he couldn't move at all.
So, as you can imagine, getting up was quite painful.
Yohan: Grrr!
Regardless, he didn't complain. Instead, he gritted his 31 teeth and pushed through the pain. He did have one less arm to help push him upwards, but with the help of the...
Yohan: Lucky me.
Ever since he woke up, he had realized that he was lying against something, but he had never given thought as to what it was he was leaning on. And to his fortune, it was a huge stone. One that was just the right size for him to place his hand on the top of. And just like that, he managed to support himself by pushing his hand against the rocks' cold surface and forcing his knee to flex its muscles. Keep in mind that he was heavily injured, so it took him a while. Probably 5 to 10 minutes.
Nonetheless, that time eventually passed, and eventually, he would stand upright on his own two feet.
Yohan: Hah... that... was hard.
After all that worked, he tried to gather his composure by breathing in and out heavily. Surprisingly, throughout the entire 10-minute span, his painful groans and hoarse breathing were the only things he could hear within the vicinity. Compared to that turbulent hour where he had been faced with death every second, these tiring 10 minutes were completely peaceful.
For once, he had taken a time-out in this hell.
Yohan: But how?
Yohan had asked himself that question right as he began walking towards that black patch of fur he saw earlier.
He had not been asleep for so long that he forgot about that turbulent hour, and he surely hadn't forgotten about the hell brought upon him by the allure of a certain flower.
But he had to wonder why he wasn't being attacked by another monster? When he had been dealing with the wolves that had been left behind after the death of that white monster, he remembered that there was one that didn't die along with its comrades.
And he remembered that he had left himself vulnerable to the full brunt of that wolves claws and fangs.
So why was he experiencing this rare moment of peace? No, why was he alive in the first place when that wolf hadn't been killed?
Yohan: Kh... Ugh!
And his answer laid right in front of him, in that patch of black fur. No, that patch of black fur was his answer. From afar, it would've only been recognizable by Yohan, who was familiarized with its appearance. But from up close, even someone other than Yohan could tell that...
Yohan: ...This wolf seriously bit the dust, didn't it? How the hell did that happen? Hrk!
Cutting off his own line of questioning, he held his hand that was still covered in blood to his mouth. It looked like he wanted to puke. Maybe the sight of the wolf, that had ceased all movements, and was riddled in gruesome wounds was what made him want to puke.
Sniff
Yohan: Hrk-- Blegh!!!
But it wasn't the sight of the wolf's corpse that disgusted him. It couldn't have been. After all, he hadn't been inflicted with nausea even from the rather unsavory sight of the white monster. Neither did the one-sided slaughter on the wolf that caused him to lose his arm, which was too brutal even for a gore film. It was something else that pushed him to puke even when his eyes were closed shut.
Yohan: BLEGHH! Kh! Stop sniffing dammit!
Made sense
Sniff
Yohan: Hkr-- BLEEEGH!
Nonetheless, the smell had still gotten to him. Somewhere along the line of this situation, he turned to a different direction, and his wretch had landed nowhere in close proximity of the wolf's corpse that dozed with blood.
Yohan: Gah! Stop! Grr!
Almost aggressively, he pressed his hand against his nose and forced it close so he wouldn't smell it. Thus, he would slowly gain back the composure he lost and open his eyes again.
Yoha: So that solves...
... Nothing. Of course, that wasn't what he was planning to say, but his voice trailing off seemed to indicate something along those lines.
Yohan: Fucking hell...
That's when he saw something lying in this forest. Actually, he saw some things lying in the surrounding area. In that moment, he was grateful for turning away from the wolf, as he wouldn't have seen them otherwise.
Yohan: Should've known I'd come across more of you guys.
Yohan wasn't really expecting an answer, so he had whispered those words to himself. But the need to whisper wasn't there. Unless of course...
...He didn't want to wake them up, that is.
*****
They were all sprawled along the surrounding forest area. Their sizes varied. Their color varies. Their individual bodies' constitutions were different. Some had scales. Some had feathers. Some had fur. None of them were recognizable to him, but all of them had something in common.
Yohan: Can't they just leave me alone?
As his whisper to himself would suggest, it was quite clear.
They were all monsters.
And they were all monsters he'd never seen before. This upped the danger factor by 100 as he wouldn't be able to tell how each of their individual nature's worked.
He had struggled to do that with a few wolves, but he surely wouldn't survive against this multitude of monsters that he was too scared of to even count.
Nonetheless, he had to make sure he was calm enough to find a way out.
Yohan: ...Thank God they're asleep.
Actually, that switch was flipped way too easily. It really brings to question what sort of hell he's experienced on his other adventures before arriving here.
Yohan: Gotta think of something fast.
As he said that, he licked his lips that were parched from the stress he was feeling. After all, it truly was a miracle that all these monsters were asleep. If not for that, then he himself would have never woken up to begin with.
Yohan: Maybe I should leave before they wake up?
Running away seemed like a good idea, but he wouldn't be able to, as his injuries had slowed him down considerably. And he feared that by the time that was barely out of this encirclement, these monsters would have already woken up and began to catch him like easy prey for an upcoming feast.
Yohan: So I'm stuck here? No, I can't be. It'd be the same as waiting for my death sentence. Rather risk your life than let yourself die.
So maybe he should just take the risk. After all, not taking it would still equate to him dying. So he should still make the risky choice. Or maybe he should make the riskier choice?
Yohan: Guess I have no choice but to fight back.
Made sense. After all, the scent of his blood should have still been strong enough to instill fear into the wolf and allow him to order it to fight for him. That would've been a great idea, if not for the corpse next to him being his one key to freedom.
So right then, and there, he moved. However, he moved not towards the outside of this encirclement but straight towards the corpse of that wolf. He abandoned the idea of stopping himself from sniffing the putrid scent and reached his hands towards that very corpse. Specifically, the head.
What in the world could he be planning to do with the head of a corpse? No, what could a corpse possibly do to help him survive.
Yohan: ... Let's do this. Sniff... wait...
Despite the urgency of the situation, he had decided to halt his movement. Only to continue sniffing again.
Sniff
Yohan: Hrk!
Sniff
Yohan: Kh... weird.
Indeed, there was a problem. And the difference between life and death lied in that very problem.
Maybe he had simply grown accustomed, but he wasn't hurling at the scent of the corpse, which oozed putrid blood. Mind you, his face was in much closer proximity to the corpse. No, rather, he was literally staring into the corpses absent soul. Quite gross, but this wasn't the time to think about that.
Sniff
Yohan: Wait...
Nonetheless, disgust was at the center of this problem. Or at the center of the solution.
And as if to demonstrate how appalled he was, he tossed the corpse in his hand like a ragdoll, defiling it beyond its death. But that wasn't the time to care about that.
Sniff
He tilted his head upward as if to focus his noses sense of smell towards the air rather than the putrid patch of fur and blood next to him.
Yohan: Hrk-- BLEGH
And as he expected, he couldn't handle the scent.
Yohan: Gah! Hah... maybe... hah... maybe...
As he collected his breath, he realized that he had stopped whispering.
But if his guess was correct, then he didn't have to anymore.
And so, he moved towards the edge of the encirclement. No, he moved towards somewhere else.
No, he went towards something else.
Yohan: Hraah!
He then proceeded to kick the monster harder than if he were to kick a soccer ball. He didn't even waste any time on recognizable its appearance, which he found no worth in familiarizing with.
It was a suicide move. It was like he wanted the monsters to wake up and eat him alive.
But... nothing happened.
Drip...
Well, that happened.
Yohan: I... was right.
Nothing that happened. Even after being kicked so hard, that monster didn't move to kill him. Rather, that monster didn't even wake up in the first place.
Drip...
All that moved was that drop of blood that flew through air and landed on his cheek.
Yohan: I... was right.
That's when he decided to look at the other monsters. He looked at the differing monster species. Those that had scales or claws or fur. Thise that had their eyes closed or had them open. Those that had a small body or a medium-sized body.
They should've all had their eyes closed if they were sleeping. Yet they didn't move at all.
Yohan: ... They're all dead?!
A smile should've appeared at the thought of his safety, but he was merely confused.
Who in the hell could've killed all these monsters? And for him nonetheless.
Then he remembered something he glimpse not too long ago.
Yohan: Could it be...
In his mind, a flashback as short as a frame of film appeared in the back of his head.
It was a mere image. But it was a rather disturbing image.
Yohan: Was it you?!
It was the image of fangs that were drenched in blood that was still wet as if they had recently been used to kill someone.
Those very fangs on the dead corpse he stared into.