"Huff.. thanks for the help, Aron!" Julia wiped the sweat off her forehead. Much of it was not because of tiredness but rather the excitement of landing straight into a treasure trove. *Meeow* She scratched the back of the kitten that had strolled into her lap. The little one yawned and exposed its abdomen making the girl giggle.
"No issues. After all, you are generous enough to share some of it with me. It's only natural I help out." Aron took a long time to come to terms with his dramatically changed situation. Half an hour had passed but there had been a constant grin on his face.
"Hmm. I might have to inform Mrs. Yana about this. It would be very dangerous to let you have this wealth. Though it's not life-changing but you can't be more careful in slave quarters. Maybe you can let Mrs. Yana hold it for you since you are close with her." Her words made perfect sense to him.
Julia continued. "If you make good use of these resources, it's pretty much guaranteed that you can succeed in achieving the student status from the academy. But I will suggest not to rely on it. In the end, your abilities are what will help you in life." Having gained so much from the girl over this period of time, Aron's respect for her had doubled and now he made sure to listen to every word of her with prompt attention.
"Yes, I was thinking the same. So what should we do now? I don't think you are planning to pick anything else?" His gaze was directed to the underdeveloped plants that were too young to be plucked right now.
Julia seemed to be on a spree to misunderstand every gesture of his. She shook her head before taking on a serious tone. "Take this as a piece of advice. Always leave some of the plants behind. Otherwise, you might end up destroying the entire ecosystem. This is the rule all mages follow."
Aron didn't even try to explain now. The more he would try to argue the more shit he would draw onto himself. "Sure. I understand." That was his short answer before he too focused on the kitten in his hands and played around with the guy.
Like this 10 minutes had passed when Julia noticed something peculiar. She put down the feline in her lap and picked up its fluffy tail. She pressed her finger at the end, feeling a pointy sensation she rapidly used her fingers to separate her hair, revealing a very small hook at the end of its tail.
Julia felt her mouth go dry at the discovery. "Aron!! Pass me the other cat!!" Aron was jerked awake but the sudden shout and before he could think, Julia had pulled away from the kitten in his embrace. Once again she did the same with this one and found out that same hook-like protrusion at the end of its tail.
"Shitt!! Shitt.. We messed up.." Aron didn't know what was going on, watching the girl frantically run around the cave, collecting all her equipment and packing everything in her space ring. He didn't have to ask around since her voice rang out.
"We are running away right now. I didn't recognize them earlier but these are not normal kittens, they are offsprings of the Cloud Poison panther. That's not something we can face against." Aron was smart enough to keep his mouth closed, letting the girl tug him away by pulling his hands. He took a last look at the two kittens that were staring at them with confused eyes before following behind the girl.
If Julia was panicking this much then it was pretty much clear that they had fucked up big time. This cloud poison beast must be a strong one that even she didn't have any confidence facing against. It would have been hard to get out from the ditch entrance of the cave, hence they chose the other way round.
"We must escape this area before the mother returns." 'And with the diligence with which we have cleaned her home, I hope she would appreciate that.' Aron added the last part in his mind while the duo madly dashed through the tunnel.
Looks like luck was on their side as they found the entrance clear. Julia made some calculations as decided on the directions. The cave system was quite large and thus they have to make their way back to the valley before they can make a beeline for their campsite.
Being a cultivator Julia could have very easily left Aron into the dust but she was kind enough not to leave the guy behind. Aron was just thanking his stars for that when he slammed headfirst into a soft body.
Julia stood ahead with her feet planted firmly in the ground. Despite Aron slamming into her, she didn't budge an inch. "What happened? Are we going in the wrong direction?" He looked around but found nothing that could warrant their attention.
Julia didn't respond to him, instead, she gritted her teeth before pulling a thin long sword out of her ring. "Fuck.. tch.. we are so dead today!!" Aron carefully followed her gaze and his eyes rested on a large beast standing on one of the branches.
Cloud Poison panther. A completely black pelt with a set of long protruding canines, together with a large feline frame. Even though he had never seen one before, he could tell that this must have been the beast Julia had been talking about. If there was aby more doubt left in his heart, then the meter-long tail swishing behind the beast, put them to rest as well.
A palm-size pincer was attached at the end of its tail and one look at its sharp edge was enough to send shivers down his spine. There was a natural aura around the beast that made the clear distinction between the prey and the predator. Looking into its deep eyes Aron can't help but take a step back.
This was not something he can cope with. Even a single attack from those claws will rip apart half of his body. Not to mention that this beast was absolutely poisonous. In the silent atmosphere, he can even hear every single beat coming from his chest.
Compared to Aron, Julia was very calm. She knew that the beast was appraising them and considering the nature of a poisonous profound beast like the panther, it will certainly choose to attack.
Being face to face with danger, she might invite death if she panicked. Her heart pumped blood to her muscles, while she tightened the grip on her sword. At such a time her mind was working overtime and this everything made sense to her now.
They were just very unlucky. This panther must live deep inside the forest but since it was time for it to lay its offspring, it chose to do that at a safer location, that is on the outskirts of her territory.
One more minute passed and Julia's eyes were tracking every single movement of the beast. "Listen up! Move behind me and take shelter. I will engage the beast. In case I am unable to defeat it, this will be our plan. I give the signal, you run straight, I hold it off for a while before running away too. Understand."
Julia didn't waste any second, taking advantage of the fact that the beast was still undecided on the attack, she explained their escape plan. "Got it." Aron took a deep breath, slowly backing away from his position.
*Grrrrwww* His movement caused the beast to turn its gaze to him but it returned to settle on Julia once again. The beast might have discerned that Aron was no threat to it at all. *Sniff* *Sniff*
*Growl* Julia's blood ran cold. There was a good chance that the panther whiffed the scent of the kittens from their bodies. *Growl* Under the vigilant gaze of the girl, the panther jumped to a different branch, displaying its sharp teeth all at once.
"Summoning magic: Bone Soldiers!!" There was no going back. It was a situation to either kill or be killed. "Death magic: Bone armor!!" "Support magic: Increased stamina!" One after the other Julia called out many spells. Spells that Aron can only hear since he was busy running away.
Finding the closet tree he took cover. Julia had formulated the best plan that they could in this disastrous situation. She would have chosen for Aron to escape since the boy won't be of much help anyway. Yet, the biggest problem was that the beast had blocked their way.
Trying to circle around it would be the same as inviting death, hence Aron calmed his heart and looked on. His only hope was for Julia to either overwhelm the beast or make it back off. Glancing back at the girl he found that she was not alone but rather accompanied by two hooded figures with swords in their hands.
Having worked in the necromancy department, Aron was familiar with this spell. It was one of the first spells the first-year students were taught, summoning undead from the death dimension. Albeit, Julia's skeletal soldiers were full two heads taller than her with hardy frame. This was the very first time he had seen such strong ones.
Usually, the summoned soldiers he had witnessed were no more than 4-5 feet tall with a very fragile frame. Julia must be one of the talented ones from her class. *Growwll!!* The vicious roar attracted Aron's attention to the panther jumping from branch to branch, circling the group, and looking for the perfect spot to attack.
The appearance of the two other bony figures had startled the beast but it was certainly not enough to dissuade it from attacking. Realizing that its prey was unwilling to provide a blind spot, the panther jumped to the ground and sprinted towards the group.
Julia had been ready for this. "Charge!" *Boom* Not long after she shouted multiple clangs rang in the air. Sending the two skeletons for a head-on charge, Julia dived to the side. Her strategy was simple. Distract the beast with the summons and take the opportunity to deal sine heavy damage to its lower abdomen area.
Being from a prominent family, there were very few beasts she lacked knowledge about. *Clang* *Clang* Swords struck against the paws of the cloud poison panther generating loud bangs. As expected the skeletons were holding on quite well against the 4 meters long beasts.
The only problem now was for Julia to break through its defense and land a decent attack to its soft underbelly. *Bang* *Bang* The greatest hurdle for that was the long tail that seemed to have a mind of its own. Thankfully, she knew that a single cut from that poisonous hook can prove fatal.
*Slash* *Grrrwww* Blood splattered on the ground and Aron felt his breath return to him. The valiant girl had registered a long cut. "Shit!" But Julia didn't let the initial success get to her head. Opposed to that she was a bit frustrated because the cut was not deep enough to incapacitate the beast.
The panther had leaped away, choosing to take a breather and circle around the group again. Unsurprisingly, now that it had been wounded, it had grown warry of the girl and chose to employ some caution.
Julia too took the time to analyze her situation. A deep gash had appeared on her hardy bone armor, courtesy to the tail hook. Beside her, the skeletons had many large gashes on their body but more or less they were in fighting condition.
"Attack!" She commanded both her summons and launched themselves on the beast. She was not foolish enough to let it gain the initiative, especially when it was still disoriented from her earlier attack.