My pack, confused but attentive, began to gather to me.

"SPREAD OUT AND CHANGE VISION!" I yelled to them while I rushed towards where I heard the chanting. There was heavy plant cover between me and my target, so in my approach, I went to prepare my magic, realized I was running on empty, and shook my head frustratedly at myself.

I burst through the foliage and looked around to find out who was Calling the fire. Almost disinterestedly I noted that there were 6 humans hidden in the nearby area. Four had spears lowered and ready, one had a bow with an arrow nocked, and the sixth was faced towards us as they continued calmly completing the Call for flames.

I couldn't discern gender through their thick beralts, but I also didn't care. My goal was to prevent the one who was in the process of Speaking. Luckily, they obviously weren't a Speaker, since they were taking a long time for a relatively simple Phrase. Then... I stopped thinking so much.

I closed in on the first front-liner. They all carried their spears comfortably, and obviously wanted to keep their distance. I didn't let them.

The first held their spear low, obviously expecting me to just try to get at them. Instead, I fixed my left hand into its knife position then stepped almost into range and provoked them into a lunging stab. Then, I stepped to the side and chopped my sharp hand into the rising wooden haft of the spear, just below the head. It cut deeply, then splintered apart, leaving the warrior with a quarterstaff.

To their credit, the warrior quickly shifted his stance to one better suited to the versatility of a quarterstaff. I rushed at him, and he went to hold me back with the staff braced between two hands as I... skirted past him.

I hadn't forgotten my goal, and that was to prevent the Calling from succeeding. The human in the back had a flaming sphere that was beginning to grow to its complete form, about .5m, and I knew that the incoming explosion would be deadly for all involved. I sprinted towards the sixth human, and I saw them startle as I closed in, and they yelled out in my original, Veushten tongue, "Blazing damnation, Koorta!" The voice was a panicked feminine one, and I almost hesitated.

Almost.

I didn't let myself slow as I jumped onto her. I evaded the blazingly hot fireball and bit down with finality over the Veushten woman's neck. I didn't let myself think about the iron blood on my tongue, the panicked heaving of her chest... I couldn't.

Quickly I turned around to see the rest of the pack. Two had been spitted on two remaining spears, while the third spearman was standing near the archer and attempting to ward off the approaching pack. The spearman whose spear I had broken had been taken down, and three of my pack were in the process of dismembering him. I called him a him, since his screams were too bassy to be a woman. The cries for help... I shook my head.

The archer was nocking an arrow, and I saw that Cazala had a long, shallow wound on his side, apparently from an arrow he'd narrowly dodged. I decided to help rush the archer while two others distracted their protector. The archer saw me coming, and screamed, "That's the alpha, take it down, quickly!!" I could hear the panic coloring his pubescent voice, and the woman in front of him grunted back, "Dulvroc take you... Dorgran, you're useless!" She whirled her spear expertly to ward off the two keelish then tried to step to intercept me, but I was coming from too wide an angle, and she didn't want to expose her back to the two foes. I could see her reach for a dagger to throw, but taking a hand off the spear was a bad idea, and she knew it. The two pressed forward, and she was forced to step back and brace herself against the assault.

Dorgran began to stumble backwards as he drew the arrow. Obviously not battle-tested, I thought as I sprinted forward. As I saw him draw the bow all the way, I stepped hard to my right, and the hastily loosed arrow screamed harmlessly past me as I stepped into the killing range. He fumbled for the short sword at his waist and looked down, but it was too late for him. Just as I had a short moment before, I went for the throat. He was so short that I could reach it while we both stood, and then, continuing to tamp down my own revulsion as my teeth ripped through his flesh, I felt the fabric of his beralt catch in my teeth as his blood coated the entirety of my mouth.

I turned back to his guard, and she was holding herself well against her two aggressors. Unfortunately for her, she was only evenly matched against two of my pack, and I, angry with myself and my hesitation, consciously activated [Bloodlust]. My vision tunneled and my mind was cleared of anything but violence, and I relentlessly threw my consciousness into it. Suddenly, even though a part of me recognized that I could still see the world in color, I could only consciously see the world in black and white, with red splotches I knew to be my enemies' weak points.

Rushing headlong, I came up to the back of the female warrior in front of me, instinctively dodged left, raised my right hand in a knifing gesture and amputated her hand at the wrist. Without a delay or even conscious thought, I twisted my neck to my right and almost gently ran my open maw across her throat. I could feel the sprinkle of warm wet on my face, but it didn't register.

I turned towards my next target, the two still surviving foes. They had grouped up, and were being harried by the five still living members of the pack, not counting myself and the two with me. I ran towards them, and my strange new vision held strong. I sprinted towards them, as if I intended to leap headlong into their midst, and the one nearest me lifted his spear so I would impale myself on it... I instead dropped to my side and slid into range. I began to rise as I reached out with my jaws and crippled him at the left knee while my left hand knifed up and into his guts. I stepped forward without ensuring the kill, entrusting it to those behind me. Instead, I turned to the last standing foe, and saw that he was going to swing in the opposite direction of me, and immediately capitalized on the opportunity. I stepped forward and with the entirety of my gaping mouth, I bit out all of the flesh between his rib and hip. Again, the warm wet splashed over my face, but I still didn't care. I ripped into the whimpering body before me, and, disregarding the cries of pain and weak, flailing attempts to shove me off, I gorged myself. Once, another approached my prey, but with a decisive snap of my jaws, they decided to leave me be. Then... I realized I'd almost just taken the hand off of Silf, and I consciously deactivated the skill.

I then was forced to confront what I had just done. I could taste the blood in my mouth, and it didn't turn my stomach. It tasted... good. I didn't like that I liked it, and I nearly vomited as I realized that the pleasant weight in my stomach was human flesh. I gasped as I realized that the gurgles I heard nearby were coming from two locations, one from the warrior whose throat I had ripped out. She was still choking on her own blood, and would be for another minute if nobody finished her off.

The other source of pained gurgles was... Treel. I realized that she was one of the two who were spitted in the initial charge. There was a gaping wound in her chest, and if it were clean, I imagined that I could have seen her lungs shuddering to keep her breathing. As it were, I approached and swiftly realized that there was nothing we could do for her here, and Vefir was too far away to try to heal her.

I looked down at her, and she looked over to me, pride in her eyes. "First on the line... where I belong."

I hunched down and nodded. "Where you belonged."

Her eyes dimmed as she rasped out, "Victory... by fang..." She struggled for breath, then fell silent.

I finished for her. "By fang and blood."

I wanted to mourn for her, but realized I had distanced myself from her emotionally. I felt more from having killed a foe than from a companion's death. Hunched and frustrated, I couldn't help but sardonically acknowledge the flashing [System] notification in the corner of my eye.

[Quests completed. Growth achieved. Quest Board updated. Status updated.]