Sleeping up amongst the trees was not as romantic or relaxing as one would think after hearing some tales of wandering merchants or mercenaries... but Siu was also used to it. It wasn't the first time he'd done it, traversing the land without any cultivation to speak of, camping in the wilderness many times before reaching the Hollow Song Sect. Nevertheless, here, it was still different, his eyes snapping open before the sun could break through the canopies, as this forest was strengthened by the concentrated essence of the world.

  And waking up like this... Told him that something was off.

  "..."

  For now, he just kept listening, and as he did so, he immediately noticed that the forest's sounds had become muted. Besides the occasional gust of wind and the rustling of leaves, the rest of their surroundings had gone silent. Checking, Arya was still curled up against his chest, tucked inside his robes like a secondary vest, her body pleasantly warm, her breath tickling his chest. Still, she was just as aware, because the moment she sensed Siu had begun to move, one of her ears twitched against his skin as his fox was starting to stir.

  "Wake up..." Siu urged her mentally, keeping his breathing slow, trying not to give away that he was up, while listening to that rustling sound... it had... a pattern? He couldn't tell yet, but...

  “Morning... mhm... nyaaauh...” Arya mumbled back to him in his mind, yawning and about to stretch, her paws tapping against his chest.

  “Something's not right,” Siu replied, still listening to the rustling, trying to determine where it was coming from, but the damned thing kept changing positions.

  “That’s bad,” she stiffened, her ears standing up at once, beginning to sniff the air, but she could only smell Siu with being tucked into his robes.

  "..."

  Nothing. In the end, the rustling had also stopped, and for the next five minutes... nothing had happened.

  “Weird...” He muttered to himself.

  “Whatever it was, it probably got scared, seeing we woke up?” She shifted inside his robes, pushing her head out to sniff the air, then froze.

  "What?" Siu went on full alert once again, seeing her reaction.

  “Master...” She repeated, sniffing again.

  “Yes?” He asked impatiently, scanning the trees, looking for enemies not on the ground but above and around them.

  “There’s food!”

  "What?" Siu frowned slightly, looking back down at her as she climbed out from her nest. “We have food... But don't scare me if you are just hungry!”

  “No,” Arya corrected him, her ears flattening as she kept sniffing the air, unsure if she should be worried or not. “Other food... Hm, hm... Fresh... It's... hm... Hot.... And... hm, hm... Smelly.” She muttered as she kept inhaling the morning air, her mouth partially open, tongue sticking out.

  “What kind of food do you smell?” he asked, now crouching in a ready position, hating the fact that his heartbeat was still too damn fast.

  "I don't know... It's... weird. Sweet but... stinky? I had never smelled something like this! Master, I'm hungry..."

  "Okay..." He muttered, eyes still on the canopies of the trees around theirs.

  Unable to see anything, Siu slowly reached for his pack and pulled out a strip of dried meat and a small wrapped bundle of crushed nuts and grains, the latter mostly for himself, to have the energy, leaving the meat to Arya, who wouldn't touch anything else. Seeing it appear in his hand, her body began twisting and twirling already, wiggling her butt happily, only looking at the meat, salivating, and waiting for him to give it over.

  "Don't gobble it up, because until lunch, we are not stopping," He handed it over, watching her instantly chomp down, chewing with visibly exaggerated enthusiasm.

  She just begun swallowing when Siu's body reacted, dropping everything he had in his hands, pushing Arya off the branch before he himself jumped away, yelling out loudly.

  “WATCH OUT!”

  By then, the branch they used to sleep had exploded into millions of fragments as something heavy had slammed into the space where his head had been just a heartbeat earlier. The impact was so violent that bark and splinters sprayed into the air like blood, and even the tree shuddered as if it was struck by lightning... Falling down in the air, Siu twisted his body, just like a cat, intending to land on his feet. That instinctual movement alone had saved him again, as he moved sideways, dodging a secondary attack when a claw swiped through empty air. The force of the blow hit the tree again, sending massive chunks flying, the claw getting lodged in it. Falling, he heard Arya scream after he flung her in the opposite direction, barely seeing her tumbling through branches, somehow grabbing onto the tree's trunk on the other side, sliding down before disappearing from view.

  Even if everything happened just under a second or so, the whole ordeal felt like it took minutes before he finally landed on all fours, glancing up, watching the culprit, now hanging on the tree. One of its claws was lodged into the trunk, the other held the backpack, tearing it apart with its jaw, throwing everything that it found in it right into its mouth, before glancing down at Siu, its eyes burning red, a thick tail curling upwards behind its body...

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  A Red-Eyed Squirrel... Just his weird luck... huh?

  The moment their eyes locked in, the creature was already moving again, and despite being the size of Siu himself, even thicker with all his fluffy fur, the bastard was fast. With a stomp, the crazed creature rebounded off the trunk with a whip-like crack echoing in the forest, heading straight for him. Dodging one more time, the squirrel’s claws tore through the space where his torso had been, the impact gouging deep grooves into the ground.

  CRACK!

  With the dodge came a counterattack, as Siu struck the side of the beast, and even though he landed a hit, half of the power behind it was dispersed by its thick, marshmallow-like fur. The only issue was that it still felt pain, and with a squeaking roar, it slapped at Siu with its tail, wanting to crush him.

  Luckily, the moment Siu had felt that his punch was being swallowed by its body, he disengaged, using his footwork to gain some distance, watching as the reddish tail whizzed past him, striking nothing but air. Of course, the squirrel wasn't happy about it, so it went after him, paying no mind to anything else, clearly in a maddened craze to have a human for breakfast.

  "Goose-sized my ass!" Siu cried out, this time for real, realizing they met something way worse than intended. This was big... way too big!

  He didn’t have time to curse anyone again or think about how he would never trust a book until it was one that he had written himself. If he had had the moment to further his thoughts, he would have even guessed that all he read about the Icecrown Stag was nothing but incorrect bullshit, downplaying its actual strength. Were they trying to kill their disciples?! What's up with these codex authors?!

  But all those thoughts had to wait in line, overtaken by his survival instincts because the squirrel had lunged again. At least he could match its speed... for now... so he pivoted, barely avoiding a swipe that would have taken his leg off at the knee as he felt the wind of it pass by his clothes, ripping them open. He struck back instinctively once again, an open-hand blow reinforced by his cultivation, aimed for the neck, wanting to land a killing blow... To his surprise, the impact was loud as his hit landed... And did nothing. Well, it didn't finish it off...

  The creature itself flinched, its mouth opening, and then he could see into it. It was full, both sacks almost as big as its head, stuffed with... well... stuff. Not just with food, because he could see meat chunks, nuts, everything that was in his bag, a full nest with eggs, even rocks and bones, and... a pair of eyes? Blinking at him.

  Siu’s eyes widened a fraction when it happened, and he was already dodging when a tiny squirrel flew out from the open mouth of the big one, spreading its limbs apart, stretching its wet flaps open, landing on Siu's face, blinding him.

  Wanting to yell, he thought this was a counterattack, trying to get the thing off his face, stumbling backwards, but that other squirrel... it was holding on for dear life. Even when he managed to pull it off, it still grabbed onto his hair, scrambling to hold on... deathly afraid, lost in its own panic and terror.

  Even as he was fighting against the sudden obstacle, Siu had forced one of his eyes open, looking for the Red-eyed, seeing it claw at his throat, still feeling the impact of his attack. Apparently, some of the stuff in his mouth was probably sliding down the wrong hole, causing it to cough and grunt... and then to realize that something had jumped out of its mouth, now holding onto dear life on Siu's head. The human was stealing... food from him?! The realization had raised its rage tenfold in that moment.

  "Let go!" Siu yelled, still trying to get the one off his head, but now he had to settle for just making sure it wasn't getting in the way of seeing things...

  And he saw the Red-eyed recover and rush him down. He could adjust, somewhat, at the last moment, right when the massive squirrel slammed into him bodily, knocking him backward into a tree trunk with bone-rattling force, making him cough up some blood, and feeling his body resonate within. If not for reinforcing his bones to their current level, he knew that he would be dead, or his back would be broken at the least. Especially with how sharp the pain was, flaring across his back.

  "Fuck!" He grunted because he knew he couldn't dodge again.

  The next moment, claws dug into his shoulders, pinning him to the tree, only leaving Siu to twist his head to the side as the squirrel's sharp front teeth snapped at him, biting into the bark instead of his head.

  Everything hurt, but it was dulled by his adrenaline as Siu roared, slamming his free elbow upward, smashing into the squirrel’s jaw, closing it down forcefully the moment it lodged, wanting to go for a second bite. As those teeth snapped closed, the tongue that was sticking out got severed, spinning in the air, blood spraying everywhere, splashing Siu just the same. From the sudden pain, the beast shrieked and launched itself away, rebounding off the tree, and freeing Siu, who refused to slump down, as there was no time for that.

  Mostly because the squirrel didn’t give him time to think anyway, because with a profusely bleeding mouth, it came at him again, zig-zagging through the underbrush, its movements erratic and unpredictable. Fleeing, Siu retreated to the best of his abilities, moving step by step, forcing himself not to panic, and trying to buy space. When the creature got closer, it leapt at him once again, wanting to pin him down, but Siu was ready for this attack. The only advantage he had, and he knew that, was the crazed state of the beast... It wasn't thinking, it was simply acting, giving him the only chance to survive. With a footwork, combining the Fox and the Cat, he moved out of its way, using the momentum, putting all his weight into his counterattack, boosted by the Ox as his fingers struck out again, this time aiming for the eyes.

  The squirrel screamed once again as one of its red-colored eyes was forever blinded, penetrated by Siu's fingers, but... he couldn't kill it. The moment they reached the skull, the tip of his fingers rebounded from the bone, refusing to crack it.

  "Tsk!"

  This was bad... very bad! He could feel his own power wane while yanking his fingers out, skipping backwards. He couldn't tell how long it would take before he wouldn't be able to put up a fight or run for it... but it wouldn't be long...

  With a missing tongue and eye, now its whole fur glistening from its flowing, sparkling red blood, the Red-eyed Squirrel had turned once again towards Siu, ready to attack again... Yet, before it could, from its blind spot, a twinkle of moonlight flashed by, right when the rising sun's rays shone down on both of them, finally arriving in a breaking dawn. It was the meeting of night and day at the same time, becoming blinding even for Siu for a moment, but when the flash died down, he saw the Red-eyed slashing around with its claws, rolling on the ground, screaming in pain.

  "Arya!" Siu yelled out, noticing the panting little fox, landing on the ground, skidding to a halt, the creature's remaining eyeball between her mouth, ripped out, its nerve endings flopping around before she spat it into the bushes, grimacing, blood flowing from her tongue and teeth.

  Siu wasn't going to miss this opportunity, so he rushed ahead, sending all his remaining strength into his legs, jumping up in the air, and coming down with the weight of a rampaging Ox... precisely landing on the neck of the squirrel, letting a grunt, a crack, and a gurgle echo between the forest at the same time. A second later, dozens of items spilled out from the Red-eyed Squirrel's mouth, before its body finally stopped spasming, going limp.

  It was dead... but Siu couldn't celebrate yet, because whatever strength he had was all spent in that attack, causing him to suddenly black out, collapsing backwards.