Eh! Eh! Mrah! Take that!!

  ...

  *CRUNCH*

  I watch as my wooden sword shatters to the ground, debris spilling off the Head lesser Werewolf-looking ape's mouth. I bravely fought my hardest after it lifted me out of my hiding spot from behind my shield. But it got angry upon my deadly dagger striking its nose.

  I hope you get splinters. *Sniff*

  "A cat?"

  Great, now the hired hands defending their cargo on the battlefield also stopped fighting. Everyone's too busy looking at me. WHAT?! Never seen a Cat with a-a wooden SWORD before?! Isn't this a MAGIC world?

  .

  .

  .

  If only I was stronger. Why didn't my flame do anything? I suppose it wouldn't have hurt that chameleon thing, but it killed the parasite!!

  ...

  Didn't it...?

  Without warning, the Head Prowler Ape holding me screamed in my face, saliva splattering across my cheeks. I instinctively lift my claws up and slash, but I fail to reach!

  My animalistic senses are warning me. This guy's about to bite. In an act of desperation, I start flinging potions from my satchel directly at its mouth and nose.

  *Crash!*

  *Tsss*

  Without meaning to, I ended up throwing that smelly black flower at it. The vial cracked against one of its canine teeth, and the exposed flower flew towards its right nostril. I watched as a strange mana oozed out of the black flower, seeming into the creature's nose. Immediately, a burning, acidic sound echoed across the quiet battlefield. The once tall leader of the prowler apes, showing off to its followers after capturing me, was now howling in pain, slamming its nose on the floor repeatedly. I had been long flung aside, now eyeballing my precious stinky flower with horror.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  It doesn't stop there. I can actually...see the black mana from this flower oozing out of it like some strange 'mana pollen'. The head Prowler ape howls like a monkey and wolf, but its eyes are reddening for some reason. It tenses its body up, and its muscles contract before expanding. It seems to double in size and dwarf the others now. Veins threaten to rupture from its bare face, and the fur bristling around it sharpens like needles. It's sonic howl shatters the trees and blows me away.

  As if expecting this, the adventurers all coated their ears with mana and...solidified it? Is hardening mana some basic technique or something? Seems useful.

  I hear nothing but silence. Probably because my eardrums ruptured. Hehe. But at least I don't have to hear its wailing anymore, just this incessant ringing.

  Despite the creature's bravado, I can see the black mana within its body already spread throughout its head and limbs. I believe growing like this was more about trying to halt this mana's progression, rather than the beast intending to "get serious" against a cat. Unless it's dumb.

  Either way, this gives me an idea. I run for the flower while it continues transforming, having backed for away from the teensy black flora. The others are howling in panic and rage as well, but the adventurers didn't seem to notice the flower? They looked on as the beasts behaved strangely and struck without hesitation. The battlefield's tides changed. Though they still couldn't one-shot this pack of lesser-monsters, they indeed had the upper hand.

  I think the head Prowler Ape wanted to destroy the flower, because it immediately tore a tree off the ground and flung it at the flower.

  "INCOMING!!"

  The adventurers dispersed, I grabbed the flower and somersaulted beautifully away from the tree, utilizing my cat reflexes that could even dodge a goblin! Dodging a big tree wasn't much tougher!

  Except the tree bounced off the floor due to the force thrown and crashed into the cart these adventurers were supposed to guard.

  Keywords: SUPPOSED to.

  Lucking there seemed to be an enchantment on the cart, just like the walls that surrounded the village which the Hydra Chameleon thing struggled to destroy. Barely a dent was made in the cart. The horses panicked but faced no harm.

  Though some of the cargo was exposed and scattered. Something in an oval-shaped container crashed against the ground and rolled towards me. I stopped it with my left foot and redirected my focus back to my plan. The Head Prowler Ape was fighting the guard captain now. Most likely the leader of that adventurer's party.

  Hup!

  I held my breath, hoping that will help me against the black mana, which for some reason wasn't harming me, though it made me feel a bit weak, and I ripped a black petal off of the flower.

  *GYAAAAAAAAA!*

  The flower started screaming.

  "MRAAAAAA!?"

  Then I dropped the flower and screamed.

  Why?! Why was a normal-looking black flower screaming??

  But I had the petal I needed! I held the petal in front of me and created another Ghostly Kitty-shaped fire Poe! Making it bite the black petal, I shot it towards the head ape's mouth!

  *Fshhh!*

  The petal took a bit to disintegrate, but as I thought, there was a concentrated amount of black mana in it! After the petal was burnt, the black mana burst out of it, erasing my mana and exploding! Right inside its mouth! Mrahaha! Face that smelly black mana you hate!

  *Crack*

  Hm? I look down and see my left foot was on top of what looked to be an...egg? Ooh! What an interesting design, like black lightning bolts. Was it always black? I thought the blur flying towards me was a lump of white? Hm...

  *GASP*

  Did I squish it?! Did my foot crack the egg?! Oh my gosh, I didn't mean to!! I step off of it and lift the egg up in my kitty claws. Simultaneously, the Head Ape seems to be changing color from reddish-brown and a pale gray face, to a darkening black. It weakly howled, and jumped backwards, towards the woods. As it did, the ground shook, and its followers followed suit in the same general direction.

  What caused me to shutter in tandem to the egg's shaking was the ruthless glare it gave me. As if it was confident we would meet again. That I would one day regret pissing it off.