Page 64 of Monsterland Mayhem

He should have left me on top of?—

The mushroom across from me snaps in half as a giant boar-like beast plows right through the stalk.

Oh,I think, watching as the mushroom top crashes into the ground.Okay. Being on top of the mushroom would have been bad.

But now that I’m staring down this snarling horned monster, I’m not quite sure being here is much better.

His black eyes immediately lock on me, his tusks creating a tsking echo that stirs the hairs along the back of my neck.

“Omega,” he says, his voice raspy. “Fertile Omega.” He seems to be tasting the words, his forked tongue licking his lips.

I don’t know what this horned beast is, but I’m not interested in being friends with it.

Unfortunately, he seems all too interested.

Because he frolics toward me.

Not charge. Not run.Frolic. Like he’s dancing on his two hooved feet.

His tongue lolls out of his mouth when he stops five feet from me and bows his head. “My pretty Omega,” he purrs.

“Not yours,” Craze says from behind him. “Mine.”

A whistle sounds through the air as one of the vines appears and wraps around the boar-man, yanking him backward.

The monster snarls, spinning around, only to find himself even more wrapped up in the vine. His hooves claw at the ground as he loses his balance, then the purple ropes tighten and lift him right up in the air.

I gape at the hulking beast and flinch when he snarls his frustration.

That snarl seems to echo, the eerie noise skittering down my spine. It’s intense. Loud. And coming from several angles.

Because he’s not the only one,I realize as four more come charging into view.

Craze stands in the middle with one of those vines clutched between his hands, holding it like a jump rope.

He’s also shirtless.

I have no idea why. And I can’t find my voice to even ask.

Because he startsjumping.

It’s casual at first, the vine seeming to hypnotize the surrounding monsters.

Then he starts to sing, all while jumping rope and twisting his body in a rhythmic manner.

I… I just stare. I’m basically as hypnotized as the boars, if not more so, because wow.Wow. His body moves with a grace that shouldn’t be possible.

And suddenly the rope flicks out to the side, zapping the nearest boar-man. Then flashes out across the path to another, wrapping around the creature’s thick neck and yanking him straight up into the air.

Another rope magically falls into Craze’s hands, his dance continuing as he ties up the other two in a series of steps that leaves me breathless. It’s all so fast, making it impossible to track his movements.

Which is how I find myself suddenly entangled in a new rope, one cast by his hands as he tugs me into his hard body and tumbles us to the ground.

Except the ground doesn’t catch us.

It… it gives out beneath us, sending us spiraling down a hole.

A portal,I belatedly realize as the world spins in darkness.