*Bang* *Bang* *Bang* Aron can see the sparks flying in all directions, every time the swords collide against the claws. In the center, he saw the girl fearlessly swinging her thin sword and wading off the beast's strikes. Strangely, he found her extremely handsome right now.
The profound beasts were not totally devoid of intelligence. Instead, their mind grew in contrast to their cultivation levels. Being not completely dumb the panther and figured out that the skull-faced soldiers in was fighting against were not living beings and hence can't be killed off.
Although the cost of reaching this conclusion was a few more strikes to its bottom. Its guts were revealed to the atmosphere and Julia can tell that the beast was heavily injured. From a distance, Aron was excited that the girl had finally trumped over the beast after an epic showdown that continued for a full 20 minutes.
Yet, Julia was not so optimistic. Profound beasts were known to fight till the very end. Sometimes, they might choose death over running away. The more time passed, the more Julia felt that this one leaned heavily to the earlier option.
Contrary to the beast her summons had lost a limb each and she too was barely holding on with her mana reserves dwindling. *Gulp* *Gulp* This was her third recovery potion. She can't afford to lose her helpers. To keep the skeletons in this dimension, the mage had to maintain a steady mana connection with the summons at all times.
If she loses that connection the skeletons will be forcibly thrown back to the death dimension. And she didn't possess enough mana to cast another summoning spell. Throwing the small vial to the side she was ready for another round.
Sure enough, the beast didn't disappoint her, pouncing at them. This time its attack pattern had changed evidently. Now it was not foolishly focusing on fighting against the skeletons, but instead, it was mostly avoiding their attacks and targetting Julia directly.
"Dammit.. just die fucker.." *Slash* One more perfect strike left a chunk of the beast's organs hanging out. *Growl* "huff.. hufff.. huff.." Both the fighters were at their respective limit. The panther was unable to walk upright. Yet, even with a limping leg, it refused to run away. Julia can see the madness grow in its dark red eyes.
*Cough* *Cough* The girl was not completely unharmed as well. A big claw mark had dug deep in her left thigh, leaving a grievously bleeding wound. 'I need to end this now!' *Gulp* One more vial of recovery potion was expended. She threw away the vial and took her stance, waiting for the beast to madly dash at her, any moment.
With every new recovery potion, its benefits keep on decreasing, such that after a fourth one the next ones will barely help out. Her body inherently had lost too much mana and on top of that, she was losing her blood as well.
Hidden behind the tree Aron was waiting for Julia's signal, that he had not received yet. It means that she was confident of taking the beast down on her own. Nevertheless, he was not so confident of her chances. She must be at her limits and looking at her condition, it would be miraculous if she can last 5 more minutes.
"Hhaaahh!!" *Clang* *Clang* *Boom* As soon as the new brawl began, one of the severely damaged skeletons was grabbed by the crushing jaws of the panther. It was immediately swung like a rag doll and thrown at a tree, disabling it.
Julia can't let this chance go away and she swooped in for another attack. Sadly though the beast had its senses heightened after being put down time after time. Additionally, it was way more aggressively now.
*Slash* *Bang* "Julia's sword had landed right on her face and made a deep cut, leaving its jaws dysfunctional. But just as she was stepping back from a successful charge, a large paw struck the side of her chest. The strike sent her flying into the distance.
*Cough* Julia had fallen to the ground, coughing out a mouthful of blood. Her face was getting paler by the seconds. The strike should have been enough to rip her body apart but thankfully her armor took the punishment and disintegrated into pieces. 'Shit!! Don't tell me I will die here.'
Her eyes searched for the boy and found her hiding in protection. *Bang* As she had expected her other skeleton was thrown around as well, leaving her to face against the beast all alone. Gritting her teeth she got up for the last showdown. "Run!!"
She didn't even look back at Aron and ran towards the beast with her long sword gripped in both her hands. Fortunately, her last attack had left the jaws useless so that was one less faculty that she had to fend off. One minute, two minutes, three minutes with every passing minute injuries kept on piling up for both the girl and the beast.
'He must have been far enough now, hopefully.' Three minutes should have been enough for the boy to circumvent the valley if he give it his all. It was time for her to run away as well. That was her thinking but alas, this short lapse in concentration led to wrong-footing, leading to her defenses cracking.
The eyes of the beasts shined as they threw its claw right at her face to end this fight once and for all. 'Shit!!" In the milliseconds before the claw would hit her, Julia tried to duck away and sacrifice her shoulder instead of her head.
*Slash* *Grrrrwww* *Grwwwooll* *Growwl!*
Julia felt extreme pain but miraculously her shoulder was still attached to her body with though with a deep wound. Her senses stabilized to find the beast frantically jumping around. Focussing at its head she found a long spear lodged in its skull, puncturing its left eyeball. Her mind spun to make sense of this situation and very soon she found the culprit.
Aron's heart felt like it would leap out of his chest any moment. Sweat poured like rain from his forehead. This must have been the most valiant endeavor he had ever performed in his whole life. Despite the signal from Julia, his steps had refused to move.
In his mind, he knew that the girl must be confident that she could escape with her life if she didn't have to worry about his sorry ass. But somehow Aron can't even move a muscle. This girl had been one of the very few who had shown him such great kindness. Only at that point, he realises that it was just not in his nature to abandon his friends.
It turned out that he had made the right decision as the girl had started getting cornered by the rampant attacks of the beast. Thus, he took his stance and threw his spear at the face of the panther. Though he had targeted its head, the fact that he struck its eye was a pure coincidence.
*Growl* Fury. Extreme fury. That's what Aron saw in the leftover eye of the beast. Suddenly, he can't move from his place. His mind told him to seek cover but terrifying pressure emanating from that eye seems to have petrified him.
*Pounce* Needless to say the Cloud Poison panther had a single target in its eyes. A sneak attack is the worst you can do to a profound beast. *Growl* Next second it had leaped towards the boy.
However, there was someone who had anticipated this and was even faster to move. Julia ran towards the boy, being closer to him meant she reached him faster.
Aron can only watch in frustration as the image of the beast grew in his vision. His body just can't move away from the possible attack. Just before the beast rammed into him, he felt a thrash from his left and the force of the push had sent him flying into the distance.
He landed face-first in the ground. The pain from the thrashing knocked away the petrification spell of the beast. *Clang* *Clang* "DIE FUCKER!!" Aron looked back to find that Julia had held onto the spear with her right hand and shoved it deeper in its skull.
The girl and the beast struggled to the ground. *Rip* *Crack* Julia's sword had pierced the skull of the beast, in the end. *Grrww* A final few twitchings later the winner had been decided. The beast had fallen silent. Its body had fallen limp as the girl stood with her open hands, looking down.
Aron's heart thumped. She had won. She had killed the beast single-handedly. Respect was the only word in Aron's mind. He had witnessed every single minute of her fight. Her dedication combined with quick thinking had won them their lives. Well, he too had a minuscule amount of contribution.
Getting back on his feet he approached the heavily breathing girl. His eyes landed on the dead carcass of the beast. There was no sign of life in its leftover eye. Unable to stop himself he hugged the girl. "You were awesome Julia. Wow.. I got no words. You saved us both. Thanks!!"
His emotions were heartfelt. At any point in time, she could have run away but she persisted, with all the injuries accumulating all over her body. There was no way he can remain unaffected by such a display of pure righteousness and courage.
Julia on the other hand was completely silent, not even responding once to the acclamations. "What happened? Ohh yes.. you are injured. Come, let's sit there. I will dress your wounds." Aron saw her dried-up lips and blamed her state on her injuries. The gashes were bad but they were not something life-threatening.
He held onto her soft hand and tried tugging her along but the girl didn't budge from her place. Aron's initial enthusiasm had died down and he can notice that he was missing something. "What is the matter, miss Julia? You want me to carry you?"
Once again his questions fell on deaf ears, making him check her face closely. Aron found out that she was not looking at him but rather her pupils had dilated and she was staring into the distance without even blinking. "Idiot!!" She opened her mouth and those were the only words she can say before the lids covered her eyes and she lost consciousness, falling into Aron's arms.
"She must be exhausted!" Aron didn't think much of it. It was only normal to collapse after such a tedious fight. Not wasting any time he picked up the girl in a princess carry and that's when he noticed something peculiar.
On Julia's right arm, he found a very small cut that had sliced open her sleeves and left a bloody mark on her skin. The cut was not deep but its precision is what troubled Aron. He had seen the whole battle with his own two eyes. He can tell precisely which wounds she received and how.
Yet, he can't tell about this one. It can only mean that this happened when he had been shoved to the ground. His mouth dried out at the possibility. With Julia in his arms, he walked to the backside of the Cloud Poison panther and dropped on his knees.
Aron felt the blood in his veins clot at the discovery. The sharp hook at the end of the slender tail was lined with a thin patch of blood. "It can't be!" Aron was losing his mind. What should he do now? The situation might not be as bad had Julia not fainted. The girl might have advised him on how he could remove the poison.
He got on his feet and looked all around. There was a single direction he could identify. Thinking through his options he carefully carried the girl back to the cave.
< Kudos!!>>