000

That was probably still good for crafting.

I still frowned. "Less meat though..." I had been looking forward to seeing what a hundred-foot life-stealing chimera tasted like on the grill. At twenty feet, it could still feed a large crowd, but not the enormous interdimensional barbecue I had begun imagining.

How tragic...

Golden light surrounded me. My massive body compressed as blue foxfire swept across my fur. Paws became hands, my muzzle shortened, and the world appeared to grow around me until I stood in humanoid form beside the corpse.

My fox ears twitched atop my head. Ten golden tails swayed behind me, several singed or dirty from the battle. The damage would repair itself quickly, but I"d need a long bath to remove all the stone dust.

I rolled my shoulders. "That was interesting."

I genuinely hadn"t expected the White Wraith to absorb so much power. Its original body should have torn itself apart after the first substantial infusion of my magicules. Instead, it had adapted continuously, rebuilding itself every time it reached a new threshold.

Things had gotten slightly out of hand.

Only slightly... Meh... I handled it in the end.

Thor"s arrival had been less helpful than expected.

The thunder god descended from the sky wrapped in enough lightning to turn night into day. He struck the White Wraith directly in the face with Mjolnir, staggered it half a step, shouted something about aiding his future brother-in-law-

And was immediately swatted through several mountains.

It had been unexpected. It was also extremely funny.

I spread my senses across the surrounding landscape and found Thor"s divine presence buried beneath several thousand tons of rubble. He was alive, but his energy had become unpleasantly still.

I walked toward the crater. "Thor?"

No answer.

I hopped down, using platforms of foxfire to descend past shattered ledges. Near the bottom, I found part of a red cape protruding from beneath a collapsed slab.

"Are you still alive?"

"Ow..." Thor replied.

I chuckled. "That sounded alive."

"Brother-in-law," he groaned, "I believe many of my bones are no longer where the Norns intended them to be."

"That happens sometimes." I lifted the slab with one hand and tossed it aside.

Thor lay embedded in the rock beneath it. His helmet had cracked, one arm bent in an alarming direction, and a large portion of his armor had folded inward across his chest. Mjolnir rested several feet away at the end of a furrow.

The White Wraith had struck him almost directly in the face.

I pulled out my Flask of Crimson Tears.

Thor tried to raise his head and failed.

"Drink."

"I cannot feel my jaw."

"Then this might get messy." I opened his mouth carefully and poured a small amount of Crimson Tears between his lips.

Red-gold light spread across his body.

The broken bones repaired first, snapping back into place beneath the skin. His ribs expanded as his crushed chest restored itself. The dented armor shifted outward, pushed by regenerated muscle, while cuts and bruises vanished.

Thor shot upright. "Ha!" He climbed from the crater as if he hadn"t been reduced to divine debris moments earlier. He rolled both shoulders, stretched his neck, and summoned Mjolnir into his waiting hand. "That was an amazing battle, brother-in-law!" he declared. "One day, when my family takes Asgard back from my evil father, we shall sing this tale for ages to come!"

I climbed after him. "You should probably leave out the part where you got taken out in one blow."

Thor"s face reddened. "Yes," he said solemnly. "We should definitely leave that part out."

"Maybe claim you were struck while protecting innocent villagers."

"An excellent suggestion!" Thor looked around the devastated mountain range, apparently deciding the battle had been a resounding success despite his limited participation. Then he remembered something. "I must return to the forest and retrieve my prize."

"What did you kill?"

"A mighty pink ape!" Thor spread his arms to demonstrate its size. "The beast possessed magnificent fur and strength worthy of respect. I defeated it in honorable unarmed combat." He said that last part slightly too quickly.

I sniffed the air around him. He smelled clean now, but faint traces of something unspeakable clung to Mjolnir"s leather strap.

My eyes narrowed. "Did anything unusual happen during the fight?"

"No." The answer came immediately. Too immediately. Thor"s gaze shifted toward the horizon. "The ape fought honorably. There were no strange or humiliating developments worthy of discussion."

Interesting...

"I"m sure."

"The pink fur shall make a beautiful coat for Lady Jane," Thor continued. "Though I confess I do not know how to forge the hide into proper clothing."

"I found a human camp nearby."

Thor"s attention snapped back to me.

"They"re professional monster hunters. They have a blacksmith named Gemma who specializes in turning monster parts into weapons and armor. I"m sure she can make Jane a proper coat."

Thor grinned and clapped one massive hand onto my shoulder. "You always seem to have everything planned out."

I laughed. "It only seems that way in hindsight. Most of the time, I"m just winging everything."

Thor stared at me for a moment. Then he threw back his head and laughed. "I suppose we are more alike than we initially thought!"

I couldn"t help chuckling. Maybe he was right. We both tended to charge into unfamiliar situations, fight whatever looked interesting, and solve the consequences afterward. The primary difference was that I was usually much luckier. Usually.

Thor summoned a storm around himself and rose into the air. "I shall retrieve the ape and meet you at the camp!"

"Try not to get farted on again."

Thor dropped several feet. His face went pale. "How did you-"

"My nose is very good."

"THAT DETAIL SHALL ALSO BE REMOVED FROM THE SONG!" Lightning cracked across the sky as Thor flew toward the forest at maximum speed.

I turned back to the White Wraith. Its corpse would fit into my storage space easily now. I touched one blue scale and opened the dimensional inventory beneath it. The body disappeared into a ripple of distorted air. I also stored several broken chain segments scattered across the battlefield. Gemma could analyze them separately without cutting into the main corpse.

Once everything useful was collected, I launched myself into the sky. Blue foxfire formed beneath my feet. The ruined mountains blurred behind me as I crossed the forest and desert. Without the need to follow a scent trail, the return trip took only minutes.

The Hunters Guild camp came into view near the cave. Every lantern had been lit. Dozens of people stood outside.

I descended in a spiral of blue fire and landed several yards from the entrance. My feet touched the sand lightly, though the residual energy around me sent a ring of dust rolling through the camp.

Nobody spoke.

Alma stared at me with her notebook hanging limply from one hand.

Gemma stood beside her, still clutching a smithing hammer. Her eyes moved from my face to my ears, then slowly counted all ten of my tails.

The Hunter rested his new greatsword against one shoulder. His Palico hid behind one boot and peeked at me.

Fabius looked like a man trying to decide which of several hundred urgent questions should come first.

Sasuke leaned against the cave wall with his arms folded and an expression of profound irritation.

Everyone else simply stared.

I looked behind myself.

Nothing was there.

I checked my clothes. The battle had destroyed my shirt, but I still wore trousers, so that wasn"t the problem.

My ears twitched. "Why is everyone looking at me like that?" I asked.

XXX

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