It feels so good to be in my proper form. Having to travel in that small form has been taxing. I growl at my new master as I walk up beside him, two Ratmen in front of us. My master seems obsessed with giving them actual designations, but they're just rats who will fall beneath my claws. They're not even worth eating. They always taste horrible.
It's a good thing that my master is still a little taller than me. I think I'd have a hard time with a master who was shorter than me when I was in my proper form.
"I knew there was more to you than you were letting on. It's about time you showed me. You take the knight and I'll take the champion. Does that sound good to you?"
I gave my master an affirmative growl. In this form, I could actually talk to him, but I feel like suddenly talking to him after just meowing for days would be a distraction. Maybe after this fight I'll grace him with my voice. As for why I don't just talk to him as a kitten, it's because I can't. A kitten's mouth is not the right size to form words.
As much as I say that I like being back in my proper form, there was something so nice about being a kitten. When Érimón told me to come and find this human and help him, I thought the God had lost his mind. How was I supposed to help a human?
I came at night and watched him from a distance. As the night went on, his emotional distress increased. He sat bouncing his legs, he twisted and turned in his seat, and when he walked it was like the legs wanted to go somewhere but had nowhere to go. He finally laid down in his tent and fell asleep. I thought back to what I knew about humans and decided that what this one needed was not my powerful form, but one that was more comforting. So, I changed into a kitten and went and sat on his chest. It was so warm there and when he put his hand on me, petting my back and tail, there was nothing like it.
So, I stayed in that kitten form, and I was able to just ride along. It was so nice just to be able to sit on that pack and sleep as much as I wanted. Of course, he had to start talking to me and I had to start responding. This gave me a chance to egg him on in certain ways.
What surprised me the most about this was that he could understand my meows. This made it so I could be snarky with one word. Yet he knew exactly what I was saying, even though I've never heard him in my head and I'm pretty sure he never heard any words in his. I will say, there is something about being able to make one sound and somebody to be able to get entire paragraphs out of. The way he responded to me showed that he knew exactly what I was thinking. This actually made it more fun. Now I could be sarcastic with one word and that one word applied to everything. Meow. There's a certain charm to it.
I focused myself as I got closer to the Ratman that Master had assigned me to kill. The thing was covered in metal plates. Master found a way to kill one at the last level, now it was my turn to do some damage.
The rat swung its sword at me, which I easily dodged, and as the blade passed me, I lashed out with my right claw, hooking it right under one of the metal plates at its shoulder. I yanked the rat down, slamming it face first into the floor. I hopped on top of it, sitting on its neck and shoulders. With my claws, I grabbed the tail as it began to try to stab me with that metal spike on the end. It was always so annoying.
Dealing with these rats was always more annoying than it was worth. They thought their metal plates made it so that they were protected, but I had long figured out how to deal with them. The only real threat to me was their tail.
With me sitting on it, its arms splayed out to its side, I was able to deal with its tail. The most annoying part was I had to get the metal plates off. The metal plates only covered the top half of the appendage, except for the end where the tip of the tail was inserted into the spike it used. They used leather straps to keep the plates attached.
As the tail flailed at me, I hooked my claws into the fleshy part of the underside, so that I could control what it was doing. Using my other claw, I cut all the straps that held the metal plates on, and they fell to the floor in a loud clang. I brought the middle of the tail to my mouth, just where it was thin enough for me to bite it without straining. I bit down, severing the end of the tail.
The rat screamed and I turned around, making sure that my weight was still enough to keep it from escaping. With my claws, I exposed the area where its neck was and bit down hard, angling the rat's body until its neck broke.
When I told the master that things would go faster if I was doing the fighting, I wasn't kidding. I've killed so many of these things that I can't even imagine the numbers. But Érimón told me I needed to let him learn and grow. He can't learn and grow if I'm killing everything for him.
Oh, my goodness, he just fell and lost his sword and shield. I really hope that rat doesn't kill my master. I have really grown fond of sleeping on him and having him pat me. Plus, I think Érimón would be mad at me if I let him die… wait, what did he just do?