บท 29: Great, rhinoceros body

In general, it was difficult to man-handle armor. In this case, he didn't want to risk cutting Arila up accidentally!

She was on the verge of death, and a single extra cut would simply push her to the other side. Cautiousness was mandatory, regardless of how they were running out of time!

Gustav tried his best, and soon discovered that the weak spot for such armor, were at the shoulder area. He found a bit of leather there, which was obviously easier to rip up in comparison to metal.

"There we go," He sighed, after a dot of progress.

Once he ripped that leather, the same rip reached below the armpit, where it continued its path all the way down to Arila's knees.

A little pull was the only thing he needed. The front side of the armor popped up as if he cracked a treasure-chest open, in a literal sense!

"Oh, no stabs on the chest. Nice... missed all the important organs too." He quietly celebrated.

Gustav managed to relieve Arila from all that metal, once he ripped the leather on her right shoulder-pad as well. There was nothing keeping her attached to this tin-can anymore, so he decided to carefully pull her out.

"Ah, shit!" The other yelled out, and scared the daylights out of Gustav.

"Did I hurt you!?" He asked.

In one way he did, but in another way he also helped remove the foreign, metal objects that had been bashed against her back!

When the armour had dented earlier on, the impact was so strong that it pierced through Arila's flesh! It wasn't a nice feeling at all, and it was what took a toll on her so far along with all the bleeding.

"You saved me," She answered after a few quick breaths.

The sudden shock of pain had spooked her back to life, but this stroke of luck couldn't last long. The lady was latched on to Gustav, and he gently held those wounds with his big hand.

Regardless of everything that was happening, it was nice to hold her. Gustav was astounded by how phenomenal her nearly naked, rhinoceros body looked. He definitely hadn't seen anything like this before, and this lady was simply wondrous!

However, regardless of how much he wanted to have Arila pushed against his fur, time was running out.

"You're bleeding a lot, let's get you patched up." Gustav said, and gently laid the lady on his lap.

He kept her steady with one hand, and handled the strings of fur with the other. He tied up a few more of them earlier on, before he cracked Arila's armor open.

It was a good decision, as he couldn't move around that much now. The lady had to sit, or else he wouldn't be able to patch her up!

Flinches, jumps and screams of pain followed along inevitably. The wounds were very sensitive, regardless of how numb her back felt!

Gustav didn't want to give up, as they got far enough already. With enough caution, he managed to cover each wound and made sure that it prevented further bleeding.

At first the fur strings alone weren't enough, so Arila insisted for her shirt to be torn up. He didn't want to see her walk around naked, but there was no other option.

"You cut your fur off for me... I can't let you do all the work." She said.

Gustav wasn't nervous by how naked she was now. Although he hadn't seen her bare while in this rhino-like form, that didn't excuse the hours of fun they had in a single night!

They bred harder than rabbits a couple of days ago. Apart from that, it wasn't as easy to feel tingly with all this blood involved. Hilariously, he couldn't even afford to get overly-excited, or else the lady's wounds would flare up!

"Okay, you're still alive so I think we did a good job." Gustav joked, as he continued to hold Arila on his lap.

While she nudged a bit higher on the other's thigh, she muttered. "I'll probably make it... probably."

Afterwards she tried to get even more comfortable, and removed her iron coated, and knee-high boots for the same matter. Or she tried to at least, but couldn't really move much so Gustav helped her out.

With those removed, she was only wearing a thin pair of pants now. The armor she had before was long like a dress, so it carried most of the burden regarding protection, and isolation.

Anyway, she didn't mind being almost naked, near a very good friend that she cared about so dearly. Arila felt safe, and sought out warmth so she clung closer towards Gustav's chest.

"Wish I could help more," He muttered, and dwelled deeper into a hug as well. "We can rest as long as you'd like."

The chances of survival for this lady still seemed bleak, and the tiredness in her tone gestured so.

Their skins or fur were pretty dried up, which hinted that they were here for a long time now. This was alarming, as they were in a cavern full of water before!

Even Gustav's fur was dry and warm, which partially explained an important bracket of time. He was surprised how Arila survived this long, and could only hope that she would fight a little bit longer!

...

About three hours passed, from when he managed to patch his friend up. Although extremely tired, she was still alive.

Gustav was baffled by how much of a fighting spirit these rhino-folk had. Even while tip-toeing with death, she refused to give in. There was barely enough blood in her body, yet she still fought!

It was phenomenal, and by now he guessed that the worst part was over. Now, it was best to get a move on, but they didn't really know where to go.

Arila was awake, and seemed just a bit better now. She didn't have enough power to walk, but that was a minor problem.

Anyway, just a moment later, they heard a weird rumbling sound which diminished all of their worries, as it got them overly nervous! For a second they feared that the 'blood roots' found them again, but that was not the case.

The tunnel's dirt-coated ground erupted, and out of it emerged two figures which Gustav recognized well.

"Oh, finally found your dad, huh?" He added, once he confirmed that these were demonic moles.