Chapter Twenty Four

Ione stared up at her mother as she charged up something big. At least she hoped it was something big. These pesky tasty treats were ruffling her glorious fur. How dare they think they had the right to control her? If they weren’t cowards, she would kill them herself, but the tasty treats stayed in their trees. She needed to learn how to use her lightning. Her claws and teeth were unmatched, but as an elemental feline, she must learn how to control her mother’s beautiful lightning. These tasty treats would stand no chance against her.

Her thoughts froze as her feline eyes grew big. Static far beyond what she had ever felt puffed her fur, but she ignored the annoyance in favor of watching her mother raise her right arm toward a group of trees filled with tasty treats. Unlike her, the tasty treats continued to buzz about, unaware of their fate.

Just before the explosive release, Ione closed her eyes, knowing what was coming. A deafening crack flattened her ears, followed by a blinding flash. Curious, her eyes flicked open the moment the flash dimmed to find a streak of lightning on par with one of her mother’s smites impact a throwing knife to their right, setting the tree on fire in an instant. A moment later, the lightning forked to two other knives before exploding in an array of death. Tasty treats died by the dozen as the glorious lightning struck each of them before jumping to the next one. Smoke and ozone filled the air, obscuring her vision, but she doubted any of the tasty treats survived.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her mother move her now slightly charred arm in front of them as the tasty treats chirped in fright but too shocked to escape as she released another payload. Like the previous attack, a blinding flash and deafening crack sounded, but already deaf from the previous attack, Ione opened her eyes unbothered as she surveyed the devastation.

With far more tasty treats in the trees in front of them, the massacre was glorious. Lightning jumped from tasty treat to tasty treat faster than even her unparalleled feline eyes could follow. The lightning pursued the tasty treats with a ferocity a hunter like her could admire. No tasty treat was spared. Even those who lifted off from the trees were met with lightning. Several trees crashed to the ground as the fire spread, only further panicking the tasty treats.

A blood thirsty smile spread on her feline face as she eyed the remaining hundred tasty treats flying in circles, hitting trees in their panic and blindness from the smoke and bright flash. They soon met the same fate as her mother’s blackened and bleeding arm stuttered upward to the left. The following explosion of lightning ripped her mother’s arm apart, causing worry, but she knew her mother would prevail. She always did.

This time, a couple of tasty treats escaped the smoke by flying low, but they joined the others as Ione sprang to action. With a flash of silver, she jumped into the air and bit down on the first one before clawing the wing of the other, then finishing with a perfectly placed bite to the neck. Pride welled up in her as she surveyed her prey, only to freeze when she saw her mother collapse to the sooty ground.

On instinct, she sprinted to her mother, rubbing her body against her while purring like her mother liked, but it fell on deaf ears as a whimper sounded. Ione jumped back as her mother collapsed on her side. Panic sparked from the pain radiating through their bond, but she felt helpless. She eyed the stump that had once been her mother’s right arm as the cause, but discarded it as the pain felt deeper and much closer to their bond.

Fires sparked to life on the now dry jungle floor from the remaining lightning, only ratcheting up her worry. Ione’s eyes landed on the piles of charred tasty treats fighting against the temptation to jump in and devour them, but she tore her gaze away and refocused on her mother. The tasty treats could wait she must protect her mother first.

As gently as she could, she bit into the sleeve of her mother’s right arm, which somehow survived even though the arm didn’t, growling in frustration as her teeth slid off the slippery scales. With a bit more force, her teeth dug into the scales, allowing her to yank her mother away from the spreading flames. A muffled hiss escaped her mouth when her mother’s unconscious body caught on a tree, but with a monumental effort, her growing feline body yanked her free.

She didn’t stop until she pulled her mother out onto the path. Satisfied that her mother was safe for now, Ione turned back to the smoky jungle but paused as her eyes gravitated down the path where they left the useless and annoying scaled treats. But she shook her head a moment later. She couldn’t trust them to protect her mother. What if a tasty treat survived her mother’s glorious lightning? The tasty treats could force them to hurt or, worse, kill her mother. No, she would handle everything herself, but first she must grow stronger.

After ensuring her mother was safe for now, Ione shot back into the forest, back to the devastated clearing. She stopped at the first pile of tasty treats and opened her mouth. Defying everything, the pile disintegrated into motes of purple light before flowing into her mouth.

Ione closed her eyes while purring in bliss as her body grew several centimeters in an instant. However, with a force of will, she moved on to the next pile and did the same. This time, when the growth spurt happened, she pushed through it and continued her devouring spree, knowing if she waited any longer, her tasty treats would burn away. She already passed up on the delicious looking horned things to hide her ability from the scaled treats so she couldn’t waste this opportunity. The faster she grew, the more powerful she became. Soon she could protect her mother. If she were stronger, her mother wouldn’t have to handle everything herself. No scaly treat could protect her mother better than she could.

Low to the ground, she avoided most of the smoke, but the heat and scattered flames proved difficult to avoid. By the fifth pile of tasty treats, she grew over ten centimeters, making it more difficult to navigate the clearing. Still, she continued on, knowing this massacre could offer her a boon.

A glint caught her attention. Upon nearing she found it to be one of her mother’s knives. With the discovery, a new mission presented itself. Her mother needed her knives. She wasn’t sure why she ordered a whip. Anything in melee range would be her duty, not her mother’s. These knives were perfect for directing her mother’s lightning and maybe hers in the future.

As she absorbed piles of tasty treats growing a couple of centimeters each time, she collected knives in her mouth. When she couldn’t hold anymore, she retreated to the edge of the fire, which had spread several meters since she entered and dropped her collection before returning. The smoke grew thicker by the second, but like her mother, she didn’t require oxygen, though the heat proved annoying.

Upon doing a full circle of the clearing, she absorbed all the remaining tasty treats and collected every knife, including the ones that were still stuck in trees, which she retrieved with a precise hop. On her way back to her mother, she noticed a glow near where they were standing. Before investigating, she dumped the knives in the pile.

The now much larger feline stalked back into the smoky clearing, which now had more smoke than flames, as the wet jungle couldn’t sustain a forest fire. Still, despite not having to dodge flames, the trek back to where she spotted the glow took her almost a minute. She found a pile of twenty glowing blue crystals and a vibrantly shining rainbow-colored one which reminded her of the tasty treats a little too much. From her eavesdropping on her mother, she recognized them to be mana crystals and a skill crystal.

Determined to get as much value from their hunt as they could, Ione bent down to grab the rainbow -colored one in her mouth, only to spit it out a moment later. Disgusting, how could something taste so disgusting? Maybe she should dispose of them. No, they were valuable. Even if she or her mother couldn’t use them, they could trade them for something useful, like a ring for her like her mother’s. She felt stronger, but she wasn’t sure if she could use lightning like her mother yet, but maybe a ring like that would help her. Where would she wear it, though? She refused to wear it around her neck. Something about that disgusted her. She was sure they would figure out something.

Decision made, she glared down at the disgusting crystals, then kicked them one by one, using their glowing nature to spot them in the smoke. Even allowing the crystals to touch her paws sent a wave of revulsion through her, but she had to endure it if she wanted a ring of her own. When she piled them up near the knife pile, she stopped and shook her paw, trying to rid herself of the slimy feeling. It was like eating rotten meat. Though she never had to eat rotten meat but she knew that had to be disgusting. She doubted it would taste good, even with her devouring ability. She preferred fresh kills, fresher the better.

Less than five minutes after she first entered, she exited the smoky once rain forest back onto the path carrying all her mother’s knives in her much larger mouth. Despite her much larger size now the size of a Jaguar, she silently padded to her mother’s unconscious body and dropped the knives. She checked over her mother, who, while still unconscious, appeared to be doing better. Her arm stub was much longer almost to the elbow and her glowing veins returned to their usual dimly glowing state.

Satisfied her mother would be fine for a little longer, she reentered the forest and kicked the glowing crystals, trying to ignore the discomfort they gave her.

Suddenly she stiffened at the edge of the jungle, then shot her head down the path, tail tall, hackles raised. The disturbance turned out to be the trio of scaly treats approaching cautiously in formation drawn by the smoke.

Upon spotting Elysia’s state, they dashed forward but Ione hopped over her mother, glaring at the trio with her vibrantly glowing feline eyes. Violet lightning sparked off her flawless silvery white fur as her fin tipped tail flicked back and forth.

They paused, eying the large feline with suspicion before recognizing her as the formerly large house cat sized kitten. Knowing Ione must be intelligent with her background and understanding her protectiveness, Thauzo raised his hands, trying to look nonthreatening. “Hello Ione. Do you need help to carry Elysia back?”

His attempt only incited Ione further. She hissed at them and lowered herself, as if ready to pounce on the scaly treats. Now that she was big, they didn’t need the scaled treats unless they wanted to provide themselves as a meal. She and her mother could fend for themselves.

The trio glanced at one another, unsure of what to do, but seeing Elysia’s unconscious state, they knew they had to do something. However, the now much larger Ione gave them pause in trying to force their way through.

While keeping her ears trained on the trio, Ione glanced at the jungle edge to ensure the glowing prizes were out of sight, not wanting to share them with anyone but her mother, as they did all the work. Satisfied they were out of sight, Ione bent down and gently grabbed her mother before flipping her onto her back. After a few wiggles, she ensured her mother was balanced with her arms and legs dangling off each side, though the now forearm length right arm threw it off a bit. While keeping her slitted feline eyes trained on the trio, she trotted past, tail raised proudly.

As she traversed the path back to the start point, her sensitive ears picked up three pairs of feet following a short distance behind.

Still unsure how to react to the now much larger Ione, they kept their distance even when they reached the now open tunnel out of the dungeon. Several meters away from the tunnel exit, Ione gently laid her mother down before standing guard over her still unconscious body, eyes trained on the trio.