He refused to let that happen right now. This place was more dangerous, and by its nature when one terror made itself known, there was another lying in wait somewhere. A tree trunk might be a creature's leg, or the creature itself. A rustle in the shadows could manifest into a pack of flesh eating hunters. A rustle in the leaves could be a swarm of flying monsters. A soggy splash could be the footstep of some giant amphibian.
Anything could be hiding just out of sight, and probably was.
Yuko kept her gnawing trepidation at bay, and remained alert.
Yuko smelled the scene of destruction long before she ever saw it. The stench of leaking body fluids was almost overpowering. There was no fire, nor was there any fat sacs being burned by fire. If there had been, the bodies strewn about would have appeared like they were blown away. Pieces of bodies were strewn around. Trees had fallen, others bore scars from loose claws. The scene of the melee was huge, and the remains of every fallen creature here was a testament to their final moments on this land.
Usagi approached the wreckage and saw a massive dead lizard creature's body, impaled through a tree. The creature reeked of decay.
"Over this way." Yuko said, looking down at her feet thirty feet away. Another body. Another. "Must have been thrown by the impact."
"Leave them." Shin said.
A black scuttling shape fell from one carcass's chest cavity, and tried to run. Tsugi swiped at it. It took two more swings to split the spider's body. He stabbed it through one of its bulbous eyes, smearing it into the soil.
"Fucking spider. That's the last thing I needed to see, all things considered." He hissed, swiping his sword to the side, away from everyone.
"I hate spiders." Himari remarked.
"The feeling is mutual."
They observed the scene with keen eyes. Sweating, dirty, bloody, and weary in the heavy heat. They stood in silence and motionless, silently saying goodbye to the vicious creatures. Just ahead Souji froze. He was halfway into a stance, before he relaxed, turned, and pressed his fingers against his lips. He pointed ahead at a clearing in the jungle.
There was a massive pool of blood, feeding into the nearby rivers, streams, and lakes. Despite the crimson liquid, the surface was remarkably still, and was covered with large lily pads, clumps of moss, and knots of grass. There were islands in the middle, scattered with branches, old boles, and grassy ferns. Yuko watched a bird swoop down, and crunch down on a fleeing wasp about the size of her hand. She was thankful she wasn't around the nest of those savage wasps.
"Souji?" Yuko whispered.
He only shook his head and pointed at the islands.
Yuko took a closer look, and spotted subtle movement.
It was barely there. Hardly, but she seen movement. Ripples were pushing and spreading from the islands, traveling across the body of water. The large lily pads rode the ripples, some tipping, and anxious frogs and other amphibious creatures leapt across the pads, splashing up water. Fish sped away, and anything else that was winded, scurried out of sight.
Yuko felt shock as the islands began to lift out of the water. She felt disoriented for a moment. The ground was dropping beneath her feet, and she swayed, remaining upright, but still felt like she fell. Her lips tightened as she seen shapes in the pool of water. Gigantic, majestic water bison creatures slowly rose from the water and grime. Weeds and plants hung from their horns in swaths, easily eight hundred feet in length. Their heads were the size of an island, easily enough, lifting from the water, and turning to focus on the group.
The group chewed, jaws grinding, each time making a wet thud. Water continued to pour from their backs as they rose to their full height. Birds and flying insects landed on their horns, snagging and pinching small creatures and other arthropods from them. Others ripped away the soggy vegetation, sending whatever was using it for cover into the water.
Yuko could sense no threat from this pack of beasts. They weren't as fascinated with them, as they were with them. Some dipped their heads down, and scooped another mouthful of soggy plant from the bottom of the body of water. Others only watched them, curious. These creatures were gentle, unless they were provoked. She was almost certain they were gentle. She had saved a few-though it was a water buffalo-type of creature, and it never made any move to trample or squash her.
"Look at that..." Yuko whispered.
Himari smiled, pleased to see the wonder in Yuko's eyes. It was a gleam she was familiar with the longer they stayed here. The shine of wonder and triumph.
Maybe what Yuko really needed and craved was wonder.
"We're going to pass them slowly. I don't believe they are threat, but be ready for anything. They appear gentle, but..." Tsugi looked at the group, eyes narrowed.
Yuko nodded. "We don't want to provoke them."
"Exactly."
The creatures snorted, and Yuko was reminded of an animal sneezing as hard as it could. She grimaced, covering her nose. She could smell them now. A heavy odor, mixed with something that was like swamp and jungle. The majestic group watched them the whole time they moved around the pool of water, heads dipping back down to gather more vegetation.
Seeing that pack of water bison creatures wasn't the first time Yuko thought about what else might be in these lands with them. That monstrosity of an ape, those huge lizards, that voracious centipede, the snake creature she had slain, the cliff monster, the water buffalo she saved numerous times, that multi-headed snake they recently fought, the giant spiders, and now this...
"Let's move."
Yuko nodded, following after Tsugi.
The terrain grew more treacherous, and soon the massive pool of water was lost in the jungle behind and under them. The ground rose and fell, plants and other vegetation grew thick and spread outwards in a tangled root system. They worked hard to clear a path, growling with each swing. Some of the plant life Yuko recognized, much of it, she didn't know where to start. She was no botanist, by any stretch. She knew that most of the undergrowth here wasn't found anywhere else.
She had studied and heard of carnivorous plants, and knew there were a lot of species that trapped and digested insects. Yuko felt she couldn't trust any of the berries she had seen growing around here. If everything else wanted to eat them, it only followed that the plant life would, too.
It was about a half hour before they came upon a clearing with flowers. They were brightly colored, shining in the sun. Some had large upright cups filled with water. The plants themselves were hundreds of feet tall, so the bulb that held the water had to be twice that in width. High above them, the bulbs formed huge spheres that sucked up the sunlight and left them in darkness. Curiosity got the better of her, Yuko approached the formation carefully. She wouldn't be able to look into them, unless she jumped really high, but she was almost certain that she could see dark spots and bulges through the entire stem.
Himari looked at the stem, hands twitching as they clenched her swords.
"I thought the ones we seen before were big..." Yuko mused, grabbing the stem.
She wouldn't be able to snap this stem in two like those other flowers. The stem was as thick and sturdy as a tree trunk and there were small, white bristles coating it.
Himari arced forward, splitting through the stem. The stem's contents spilled across the ground, and Yuko jumped back, sliding for five seconds until she deemed she was far enough away. There were centipedes, scorpions, spiders, those canine creatures that had ambushed her, a feline creature twice the size, massive lizards, and blue hornets.
All of it was in varying stages of decay, and looked to be decaying still.
"Don't go near it. I am not sure if it is acid or enzymes, but something is decaying what was inside. We don't want to get near any of that." Himari warned.
Yuko looked at the mess of corpses, eyes hardening. Even the plants were top contenders in this place. Any creature that thought it was food, could be used for water, or just wanted to destroy it, would be consumed. They moved side by side, remaining alert, they paused frequently to check their surroundings, rest, all the while sounds and smells assaulted them. Yuko now knew from firsthand experience that when the constant sounds lessened, that they would need to be ready to kill.
Yuko stopped on sheer reflex alone, if she hadn't, she would have walked right into Tsugi.
"Tsugi?" She asked, hand gripping her sword even tighter.
"Path..." He muttered.
Ahead of him was the path he had been cutting through the vegetation and undergrowth. Trailing vines and creepers dripped and oozed sap. Snakes nearby hissed, coiling their bodies up to evade. Shadows faded in and out as spiders and other crawlers sped away, disappearing into trampled leaves. A few feet ahead of his path, was destruction and an opening that was much, much bigger. Boles were contorted and ripped, branches cluttered the ground, chipped and broken, and leaves and twigs were strung about, still flying through the air.
There was depressed foliage and the ground itself seemed to have been caved in. Yuko stepped through the narrow path Tsugi had created, and stepped out into the open. Her brows were drawn together and her eyes were narrowed so much it looked like she was squinting. She began shifting her focus back and forth, until she landed on an oddity.
"Footprint. It's pretty fresh, too."
"What could have made that footprint?"
Yuko was sitting inside of it, easily. There was meters between him and the next opening of this footprint where toes separated and merged. Whatever it had been weighed a lot. It had been humongous, as well. He couldn't begin to imagine what creature did this.
"That must be what killed those creatures before..." Shin trailed off, looking around briefly.
"How can you be so certain?" Himari asked.
Shin remained tense, not relaxing. "Right now, we're in a foot print. However, there are claw marks from arms here as well if you look carefully. That massacre we seen—whatever did that, is capable of walking upright."
Yuko didn't like the sound of that.
"What could have moved so quickly as that and cause that much destruction." Yuko stated, more than asked.
She eyed her surroundings, then turned to Himari, not sensing any danger.
"What creature...Kills and eat like a machine?"
"One that thirsts for blood." Himari replied, tone grim.