Catato Patch 

Hey, I was the one that was actually hurt!

 

To think I actually thought that you guys had a human side and weren’t all cold blooded animals, I was such an idiot! If a human couple ever had a situation where one side feared the other, the most that would happen was domestic violence or a divorce.

 

You guys actually ate your husband and even put on a [I’ve been wronged] expression...in all my three lifetimes, I’ve never seen such a shameless display. Today, I’ve finally learnt something new.

 

This brother finally understands, for an honor student like me, there’s simply no way to communicate with these medusas. We aren’t even on the same page, the same dimension...

 

The mission to rescue Harlow was one that required speed, and so the only people we had all together were namely me, Habona, Majosha and Manasha. With the slowest being me, Habona picked me up without a second thought and carried me all the way. On her sides, the two medusas slithered along, keeping pace with the anxious werewolf without much difficulty.

 

Roughly half a day of sprinting later, we arrived at the spot where Harlow was kidnapped. There was no signs of blood or corpses nearby but judging from the remaining murderous aura, a battle had definitely happened here recently.

 

Violet Snow had mentioned that the patrolling undead were essentially the janitors of the Prison of the Dead. This must’ve been their handiwork.

 

I had to admit these hardworking fellows were truly model workers. They toiled tirelessly without rest or respite to maintain the cleanliness of this massive maze despite of the constant battles.

 

In my opinion, the Prison of the Dead was just a giant arena where countless organisms including the undead, lived together, fought against each other and suppressed each other. Every day was a bloody affair for the residents here and while this might seem like a meaningless endeavor, it helped to maintain the life of these lowly life forms.

 

In actuality, not everyone here could evolve into a four-star. After all, the issue of talent existed here as well. An analogy would be human society, while there were resources available for people to cultivate, not everyone had the talent to reach four-star. Instead, the majority would be stuck at one to two-star, doomed to be fodder on the battlefield. The best they could hope to achieve was being a squad leader of 10.

 

Going back to the matter of my subordinates, under normal circumstances, we should’ve had a large number of two-stars by now, given the amount of battles and food they’ve consumed. However, we had less than 10 two-stars as of now, and as for three-star, not even one of them showed any sign of evolving anytime soon.

 

This was an issue of talent, if they weren’t talented enough, no amount of hard work would allow them to escape the fate of being cannon fodder.

 

With this in mind, the rule which allowed a four-star to leave unhindered was a problematic one. While it wasn’t impossible to achieve, only the few sitting atop this bloody pyramid could get to enjoy this privilege.

 

“Hey, don’t just stand, start singing, quick!” She roughly lowered me onto the floor, which forcibly interrupted my ruminations and brought me back to reality.

 

Ah, I went off track again…

 

I shook my head and gazed at Habona: “What should I do now?”

 

“Sing. Any song will do.” She hurried me, sounding more impatient than before. “Harpies are jealous creatures; having someone sing better than them is the one thing they can’t stand. As long as you sing well, those despicable birds will appear.”

 

“If that’s the case, I’ll just sing that previous song, *cough cough* mhm.” I cleared my throat with a light cough and immersed myself in the lyrics once more:

 

Turn on the lights, the scene in front of my eyes

The spacious room, the lonely bed

Turn off the lights, it’s all the same

The wound in my heart, unable to be shared

 

…

...

 

As the last words left my mouth, there were still no signs of the harpies anywhere.

 

I opened my eyes, waking up from the sorrowful trance: “Where are the harpies?”

 

“They’re probably too far away to hear you.” Majosha’s face fell as she shook her head. A strange sight occurred as her head swung from left to right, the little snake heads at the end of her hair actually shook their heads in tandem with her.

 

“They were definitely here recently. Their scent is still strong amidst the smell of battle.” Habona furrowed her brows as she looked around. “ Perhaps we are simply just too far from their nest. Why don’t we change locations?”

 

“They flew off in that direction with Harlow.” Majosha took the lead as she slithered off. A few hundred meters and a few patrols later, we came upon some crossroads. As there were traces of the harpies’ scent on all three routes, Habona was unable to determine which way they took and so it fell onto me to try once more.

 

Without much choice, I began singing once more, this time, I chose a happier song. While it wasn’t as moving as the previous song, it had an energetic feel to its beat. Even the two worrywarts were infected with its energy and began swaying to the rhythm. Clearly , they enjoyed the song as well.

 

Manasha even tried to learn a few lines from me but unfortunately her voice was slightly on the impaired side...she sounded like a siren, a siren who could kill with just her voice.

 

Seeing it fail to attract the harpies, I tried a different style of song but the result was still the same.

 

Our brows tightened as we faced the same dilemma once more. With three choices to choose from, the likelihood of choosing the right one was low. While there was still some time before Harlow gets drained completely and loses his will, it might be time for us to take this risky gamble.

 

Even though she had faith in Harlow’s mental fortitude, Majosha couldn’t help but cry as the thought of potentially losing her lover wrecked her heart. At the side, Habona busied herself with sniffing the surroundings once more, hoping to get a better lock on Harlow’s scent.

 

However, the harpies’ scent were too strong and ended up overwhelming Harlow’s scent. Even with their sensitive noses, such a cacophony of scents wasn’t an easy mass to dissect.

 

In the end, we had no choice but to try my songs once more, praying that we were close enough to attract the harpies. If it failed once more, we would have no choice but to try our luck.

 

“By the way, why did you all capture Harlow? Was his genes that superior?” I suddenly blurted out an irrelevant and seemingly useless question.

 

“What’s genes?” Majosha turned towards me with a curious look having never heard of this term before.

 

As if I was teaching a bunch of illiterates, I began to feel a strange sense of achievement as I explaining the term to her.

 

“So, what I wanted to say was, why was Harlow chosen by the harpies? After all, there are a lot of males in the Prison of the Dead, for both parties to choose the same target seems to be to much of a coincidence to me.”

 

To think that I am now a part of the smart kids faction, these otherworldly residents are so uneducated.

 

Without feeling any shame about her reproductive preferences, she bluntly said: “That’s because mating with higher level creatures result in an offspring with higher talent.”

 

So you’re saying a dragon gives birth to a dragon while a rat gives birth to a child who only knows how to dig a hole?

 

“So what’s Harlow’s level?”

 

“Three-star.”

 

“...” Harlow is actually a three-star. I assumed he was merely a two-star since he got captured so easily by the harpies. If that’s the case what’s the level of this medusa over here? She had to be at least three-star… perhaps even four.

 

Since the purpose of their hunt was to aid in their reproduction, let’s choose a more sensual song. Hmm...a sensual song...I haven’t heard this song in a while...was it 10 years ago? Mhm, it’s coming back to me.

 

It’s the kind of song that was not only sensual but was also extremely raunchy, the type you couldn’t clean, even with bleach. The kind which would earn you a beating from your parents, the scorn of your classmates and would make your friend put on earmuffs…

 

Ahh~Ahh~Ahh~Ahhh~Ahh  Hahh~Hahh~Hahh~Hahh~Hahh~

 

As the first line left my mouth, the black fur on Habona’s body stood up immediately. Even the two medusas turned red from hearing the lyrics. Let’s not forget that these two were extremely open about their sexual habits just a while ago!

 

Luring people to pluck the forbidden fruit

The sweet taste as I steal a nibble

Reaching for the cherry within the depths

Her body starts to shiver

My tongue moistens her inner thighs

 

…

…

 

I sang every word to the best of my abilities, however flirtatious it sounded was exactly how I sang it. It could be said that I expended every bit of my vocal arsenal to bring forth a faithful rendition of <<Overflowing Awe>> the devil’s edition...

 

In fact, the song seemed to tempt me into singing it. As I continued singing the lyrics, they filled me with an excitement and passion to continue singing. In the end, I sang it three times, back to back.

 

Compared to the two medusas, Habona reaction was rather docile. The medusas were driven into a state of heightened coital agitation. Their snake tails coiled around each other as their somas writhed in a piquant manner. Their physiognomies abraded against each other, their tails smacking the floor in tandem with the swaddling of their dorsal surfaces…

 

Is this the famous white lily league? How could two women behave in such a shameless fashion. Men being with women is a great dao of the world and obeys the laws of yin and yang!

 

As an upright youth with morals and principles, I must condemn this action! In order to do so, I must get a closer look! Step by step, I stealthily crept up on them, all the while focusing my judging eyes on their every action.

 

Just as it approached the climax, the pair suddenly stopped.

 

Hey, why did you guys stop? Go on, don’t mind me, I’m not done condemning yet!

 

Habona stepped in front of me, forming a wall with her towering figure, shielding me from the front. She lifted her head and looked in front, her ears twitching as she did so.

 

A while later, she finally opened her mouth and with barely contained excitement, said: “They’re here.”

 

“Here? Who’s here?” By the way, stop blocking me, I’m not done condemning them.

 

“The harpies are here, we can finally locate Harlow.” Her voice sounded relieved as she thanked me: “Many thanks, Soul Bard.”

 

“...” This brother has already sang so many songs and yet none of them even garnered a second look from you guys. Yet when I sang <<Overflowing Awe>>, you guys immediately flew over? Couldn’t you have arrived a little later?! The shows had just started and you guys ended it abruptly...don’t tell me this raunchy song is really that effective...

 

“Don’t try to resist when they capture you.” Habona turned around and lifted me up into her embrace. My tiny body was immediately wrapped in what felt like a comfortable fur blanket.

 

“You...what are you doing…”

 

Her sudden embrace immediately brought up memories of <<Overflowing Awe>>. Don’t tell she’s thinking of doing THAT after listening to Overflowing Awe? There’s no way I’m doing THAT with a wolfhead.

 

I immediately resisted her embrace, causing her a great deal of discomfort as I violently writhed in her arms. She tightened her hug, nearly crushing my skull with her herculean strength.

 

“Don’t be scared, these harpies have the habit of bringing their prey back to their nests. As long as we don’t resist, they will definitely escort us safely back to their nests.”

 

“Tig...ht...can’t breathe…” I desperately forced out my opposition to her hug. Noticing this as well, she finally loosened her hug after which, I took the opportunity to climb up  to her shoulders in order to get a better look in front.

 

Hmm, they aren’t here yet.

 

“CAWWW!!!~~~” Just as that thought crossed my mind, a sharp, half eagle, half female cry resounded within the bony corridor, followed closely by a flock of human faced eagles diving at us from a distance...