"Vesta, no!!" Echo shouted, the tan and voluptuous female amazon companion's eyes lighting up in fear upon seeing her mentor pinned down. Her breasts dangled dangerously in her tribal wear, nearly falling out as she waved her spear in panic.
The oversized jaguar that snuck up to the busty tribal healer Vesta's blind spot knocked the tall amazon beauty down into the jungle floor, where a centipede scurried past her face, the jungle insect fleeing the surprise jaguar ambush that was unfolding into a violent tussle between wild animals and a dwarven convoy with two female amazon warrior guides.
Oh, and a certain boy with a moonlight steel sword slung over his shoulder.
"Raaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!"
The dark haired young man charged at the jaguar perched on top of the busty tribal healer's neck, tackling the jaguar right as it tried to bite down on the neck of the vulnerable amazon warrior.
His body managed to collide with enough force to knock the overgrown jaguar back just a few steps, but it certainly was not the tackle that he'd envisioned in his head.
"Fire in the hole!" the braided beard dwarf shouted. "Duck, boy!"
Devon tried to duck but couldn't react in time, as one of the dwarven war machines shot a massive bola net onto him and the jaguar. He landed onto the floor entangled with the oversized jungle cat, which bit and scratched in a panic, its fur flying into his face. One of the scratches sank into Devon's neck, its claws digging in a few millimeters.
[You have suffered a grievous injury]
[You cannot die.]
Devon groaned in pain, cupping his neck as he struggled to free himself from the thick roped bola. It was impossible, of course. The damn thing was designed to bring down even the toughest of jungle creatures.
However…
[Blessing of the Witch has been activated]
Devon sent a blast of razor sharp wind around his entire body, lacerating the bola to free himself while also injuring the jaguar laying next to him. The ropes of the bola fell harmlessly around him, and he got up to his feet again, hoisting up his moonlight steel sword.
The tribal healer beauty with teal triangle warpaint on her cheeks rolled over after the bola shot and stood up, grabbing her spear to stab at another jaguar.
Devon quickly stepped over the jaguar that got tangled in the bola earlier and swung downwards, the moonlight steel blade flashing as it cut into the jaguar's shoulder. He raised the sword again like a miner mining for coal with a pickaxe, and swung down. Each blow dealt more damage until eventually the jaguar stopped moving.
Having taken one of the overgrown jungle kitty-cats out of commission, Devon panted and wiped the sweat off his forehead. The dwarves were continuing to fire bolas out of their bizarre metal turret contraptions, knocking more of the jaguars out of commission.
One of the dwarves in the convoy piloting a bola turret machine was heavily injured by a bite to the hand, but otherwise there were no casualties yet. It was a totally different situation from the howler monkey massacre back at the village, since these dwarves and amazon beauties knew how to fight and were prepared for the situation.
Devon readied his mana again, seeing a jaguar attempt a sneak attack on one of the dwarves piloting a bola turret at the very back of the convoy. He grimly remarked to himself that the beasts were smarter than they first appeared, as they seemed to realize that the bola pilots were the source of the bolas that had already ensnared several of their jungle comrades, and were priority targets that needed to be taken down first.
Concentrating his [Blessing of the Witch] mana into a disc-shape, Devon launched the razor sharp wind projectile at the jaguar. But a sudden gust of wind that caused the jungle canopy leaves to shake drove the wind projectile off course, as it landed harmlessly on the ground, causing some leaves to fly up.
The jaguar pounced, bringing down the bola pilot dwarf and quickly biting down at his arms as its target. The beast's fangs sank into the dwarf's muscular arms, and it shook vigorously as the dwarf let out a pained yell.
Right before Devon could decide his next move, the jaguar biting at the dwarf's arm let go of its grasp and ran away. Across the river bank, all of the jungle beasts were retreating.
The leaves above the canopy rustled again, this time with more force. It wasn't the wind.
"We have to go!" Vesta shouted, her tan breasts jiggling as she spoke. She pointed at the ground with her spear. "Earthquake!"