The centipede reacted as Red expected. Squirming around, the beast felt extremely angered by the being latched onto its back. Its mandibles clicked together as it tried to twist its upper body to reach the prey that was bothering it so.

 

Unfortunately for it, this was something Red had accounted for, as he climbed further up the creature's body and closer to its head, such that it wouldn't be able to touch him with its deadly mandibles. Seeing that its plan did not work, the centipede went from a fit of anger to a berserk state. Lifting its upper body, the monster started shaking itself around in wide and fast movements.

 

The boy had to reach around its underbelly and clasp his hands together so he wouldn't be thrown off. His ribs still screamed in pain at him because of his effort, but Red was able to shrug it off with pure adrenaline coursing through his veins. He knew the discomfort he was feeling now was preferable to being killed by the monster once it managed to shake him off and get its jaws on him.

 

The centipede's panic only mounted as it felt the weight was still on its back. Suddenly with a lurch, it threw itself on the ground before it started rolling around in a frenzy. Red felt his vision blur and spin as the monster twisted itself against the rock floor for god knows how many times. His back scrapped and hit against the floor, adding more and more bruises to his already beaten-up body, and for a moment the boy felt his grip slip from the carapace.

 

Still, not willing to let go, Red instead latched onto the monster's insect legs for support, the rest of his body being shaken around like a ragdoll. Just as the boy was feeling his consciousness slip away, the centipede stopped its thrashing, clearly the effort also confusing its senses and taking a lot out of it. His vision slowly came back, and Red felt like vomiting out the contents of his almost empty stomach.

 

"Between the eyes, right on top of its head!" A loud cry reached his ears. "STAB IT!"

 

It took him a few seconds to recognize the owner of the voice. Viran. It took him another second to even register that the man was speaking to him. Almost out of instinct though, Red decided to follow his instructions. The centipede was still recovering from its panicked state, the knife lodged into its compound eyes also taking some of the spirit out of it.

 

Taking this opportunity, Red reached up with his right hand, grasping the handle of the weapon before pulling. The knife was stuck tight though, and the centipede once more reared its upper body in pain with a loud hiss. The boy held on with his right hand, as the left one also shot up in a hurry to pull the knife out of its eyes. With some trouble, he managed to yank it free, as some greenish blood spurted out from the centipede's eyes.

 

It twisted around in the air and Red slid back from his pulling effort, his hands raised above his head from the momentum. His legs, though, wrapped around the monster's body, allowing him to not be thrown off. Still, the beast was about to re enter its berserker state and Red doubted he would be able to hold on for another round of twists.

 

Suddenly, his eyes focused on the spot Viran had told him about right on between the eyes of the centipede. At that moment, the boy had no time to consider whether his last-ditch effort would be successful in penetrating the thick carapace of the monster. Strength Red didn't know he had welled up in his arms and with a downward motion, he stabbed the knife down in the spot he was aiming for.

 

A spurt of green blood hit him in his face as the weapon lodged itself right to the hilt, the carapace cracking around the wound. The centipede, in another echoing hiss, threw its body back in a jerk and this time Red's efforts weren't enough to avoid letting his grip on the monster go and being thrown to the ground.

 

Falling onto his back, he felt his wind being knocked out of him. All the wounds and exhaustion he had accrued over the past struggle seemed to finally catch up to him, and the boy felt like it was a monumental struggle to even sit upright. Looking to the side, Red was barely able to see the silhouette of the centipede frantically twisting and curling its body around the ground. Not even being stabbed right on its head was enough to kill the monster right away. Red, however, was absolutely tapped out at the moment.

 

From behind him, he could see the figures of some slaves approaching the centipede. Viran was amongst them.

 

"Throw the ropes around it and hold it down!" He barked orders to the people around him. Red thought he saw him look in his general direction. "And someone make sure the boy's not dead!"

 

He didn't know if it was the comfort of knowing the centipede was dealt with or the fact that it seemed like Viran wouldn't leave him to die, but as soon as those words were spoken, all the strength left Red's body and his vision went black.

 

...

 

Pain. This was the first thing Red felt when he woke up. His entire body ached as it had never before. It reminded him of the first time he had practiced the training routine Viran had taught him. Except this time it seemed his situation was much worse. As he took a deep breath, a sharp pang of pain shot through his chest and the boy almost felt his consciousness slip once more. His hand couldn't help but shoot up towards his ribs as an agonized groan escaped his mouth.

 

"Hmm, alive and well then?" A voice came from his side, but Red did not register it. "Don't worry, pain is good, means you can still feel."

 

Ignoring the words, Red felt like he discovered more and more new sore and bruised spots as he squirmed around. Not making the same mistake of breathing too quickly again, the boy finally calmed down, taking short and slow breaths as his eyes adapted to the light and inspected the environment around him.

 

A warm orange light illuminated his surroundings and it didn't take long for him to recognize the leathery ceiling above him. He was in Viran's tent. Twisting his head around, he saw the man sitting on his stone bench and munching on some kind of food with gusto. Right by his side, Red could also see his bed covered in black fur. Even now the man was too stingy to even let the wounded child rest in a comfortable bed.

 

"Take your time getting up." Viran spoke in between bites, seemingly unconcerned. "A broken rib is no joke."

 

It seemed like the assessment of his injuries was on point. Red noticed some bandages wrapped around his chest, a kind of luxury very few people down here could afford. He decided then to gather his strength to sit up. It took a very long and painful half-minute before he accomplished the task, dragging himself back to support his back against the tent wall.

 

Staring up, he saw that Viran's attention had turned back to the food on his stone bowl. Whatever he was eating had a very unappetizing brownish look and a rather unpleasant smell that spread through the tent. It didn't take much for the boy to figure out this was the centipede they had fought earlier. After a long silence, Red finally spoke up.

 

"What happened?" He didn't remember much from his confrontation with the insect, everything blurring into his mind as adrenaline and instinct had taken control of him through that confrontation.

 

"You killed it." Viran spoke, a smile forming over his face as he looked back at the boy. "Well, you didn't really kill it, it would still have taken a long time for it to die even after having its brain stabbed, but you made it easier for us."

 

"Did we get all of them?" Red didn't feel any pride even with what he had accomplished. If Viran hadn't been there to rescue him, he would have still died from his wounds all the same, so he felt it was still a loss on his end.

 

"Three. The fourth one ran away." He paused, before throwing another piece of cooked centipede in his mouth and chewing it down. "Never seen that many together this near the surface. We only get one or two, and that's after setting the bait to attract. Those were just waiting there." Viran's face turned serious as he frowned. "It's not a good sign, Red. Either they have been breeding way too much and don't have enough space to share or a stronger monster has been pushing them out of their territory. It's not a good sign for us up here..." He let his words trail off as he started eating his food again.

 

That definitely wasn't good. Red had seen his fair share of monsters that came wandering near the places where the slaves lived and a pile of corpses was always left behind in their foray. This had gotten better after Viran came around, but if even he was worried about these monsters, how could Red find any comfort in this new information.

 

"How many people died?" He asked. Before he passed out he remembered there were at least two people that had fallen victim to the centipedes' bites.

 

"Seven. Five were killed on the spot, two others were bitten by the centipedes and we had no way to save them from their venom." Viran responded. He did not seem that bothered by their deaths, stating it similarly as before.

 

Red was not even aware that these creatures could inject venom through their bite. Anyone who had been bitten by one of those generally didn't survive the first attack, so they obviously had no way of knowing those things carried venom with them. The boy was thankful that he was careful enough not to get hit by those nasty mandibles.

 

Red was ready to continue their conversation, but as he slowly got accustomed to the pain, the smell of cooked insect meat registered in his senses. Even as unpleasant as it smelled, it still brought attention to his now empty stomach. Red had neglected to ask how long he had been out, but after all the energy he spent it was no wonder he felt like he was starving. His attention settled onto the bowl of meat in the old soldier's hand.

 

"...I'm hungry." Red suddenly spoke up.

 

"Hmm?" Viran stopped chewing and stared at Red with a confused expression.

 

"...I helped you hunt and kill a centipede. I deserve my share of the meat too." He replied, his tone indifferent.

 

A few seconds of complete silence went by before the man suddenly burst into laughter.

 

"HAH! Of course, you need to eat something! I sometimes forget you're still just a child, you know..." Reaching back, Viran grabbed another bowl, full of cooked centipede parts with questionable colors. Getting up, he approached the boy and crouched down to his level. "Here take it."

 

Red was about to grab it before Viran suddenly pulled it out of his reach.

 

"Ah, yes, I forgot. First I need you to answer me something..." His carefree expression suddenly twisted into one made of pure steel.

 

The killing face.

 

Red suddenly felt an immense sense of danger as a cold shiver ran down his spine.

 

"How many acupoints have you opened?"