Jasper's encounter with the rhino, put him in high alert making him very vigilant of his surroundings. This also made him measure every step he took forward.
Jasper changed the path he walked on many times when he felt the current path to be too dangerous. He moved slowly through the jungle while making marks on the barks of the trees.
The marks were made to ensure his way back to Paradise Spring.
After hours of running, Jasper had travelled a considerable distance and was far away from the Rhino, when a young kitten obstructed his path.
It was just a kitten and he did not see any reason to stop, but then something made him stop in his tracks and look back at the kitten.
The kitten was injured near its legs and was struggling to move forward while a feral coyote was chasing it. Looking at the situation, Jasper realized that the coyote was hunting some poor kitten as its prey and planned to eat it.
This did not have any significance to Jasper and he did not care what happened between the kitten and the coyote. He ignored it and had just passed by, when the coyote caught the lynx in its paws.
"Meaeeeh, Meaeeeeeeeh,Mmmmm "
The lynx moaned and whimpered due to the brutal slash delivered by the coyote and this attracted his attention despite his best efforts.
The moment Jasper looked towards the kitten happened to be the same moment when the kitten locked its eyes with him.
The kitten was very adorable and its once playful eyes were filled with pain and misery. He did not have the skill of communicating with beasts but he knew that it was begging for his help.
Jasper grappled in his minds about the cons and pros of saving the kitten while the kitten's situation kept turning worse. He couldn't wait much longer if he planned to save the kitten.
Jasper decided to save it and ran.
The coyote had caught the lynx by its tail and pinned it down. It proceeded to eat the lynx but Jasper stopped it by smashed its jaw with all of his power. The coyote was sent rolling for some distance.
It got up and growled and shouted back at him expressing its anger.
"Better stay down, coyote. I have decided to protect the lynx so you have to go through me if you want to harm the lynx. "
It was unknown whether the coyote understood Jasper , but it attacked him with its sharp claws. He evaded the strikes by bending in unnatural angles and even managed to kick the coyote which sent it flying away.
Jasper was surprised with the coyote's speed and the power.
The power behind the coyote's strike was dangerous. If Jasper had not dodged the attack at the right moment then he would have received a lot of damage.
Still, this amount of strength did not pose a threat to him. He took out his hunting knife and lead the charge, attacking the coyote.
Their battle was breathtaking, mixed with Jasper's strikes on the coyote while it swiped at him with its sharp claws. In the beginning, it was a easier fight and he was able to cut the coyote in many places. But, as the battle progressed his advantage kept diminishing and he started receiving many scratches that effected his battle power.
"You might be stronger than I anticipated but this strength is still not enough to deal with me."
The cougar must have understood Jasper as it took a small runup and used the momentum gained to pounce on Jasper, which turned out benefiting Jasper and gave him the opportunity to use a very powerful martial art technique 'Tree Splitting'.
The martial art was name as such, because of its ability to split a tree with just a simple strike by the hand . Jasper used this technique near the coyote's stomach and broke all the bones around the point of impact and bent it in an unnatural angle.
Given the strength and impact of the strike, Jasper was certain that about the lynx's death , but...
"The coyote is too resilent. Most of its bones are broken but its still in a condition where it can attack back. It will defineitly die due to internal bleeding and other problems but if our battle continues then it will take me down with it.
Damn Magic, damn Arcane World, damn it all."
It was then that Jasper realized the little lynx he had been trying to save was standing in-front of him staring very intently at the coyote and surprisingly the coyote stood still as if glued to the ground.
Jasper's combative mind immediately noticed the chance created and acted quickly.
This time, Jasper took a small runup and jumped in an anti-clockwise manner with his legs landing dead center on the coyote.
This martial art was Jasper just used was known as the Rainbow Destroyer. As, Jasper's legs moved in anti-clockwise manner, it experienced some resistance from gravity increasing the power contained in the leg which reached its peak and landed at the coyote.
The strength in his strike was 5 times more powerful than his normal strike. The coyote did not stand any chance against such a scary attack and turned into a pile of blood and pieces of bones.
Rainbow Destroyer took a lot of stamina out of Jasper and he was barely able to stand, still returning back to Paradise Spring was a must if he wanted to survive the night.
' I have to reach before nightfall otherwise I will have no hope of ever seeing the light and save Jennifer'. He dragged his weary body towards the Paradise Spring while being cautious of his surroundings afraid of alerting some mighty beast.
After a long time that felt like an eternity to Jasper, he finally reached Paradise Spring. He dragged himself till the bed before he lost all of his strength and fell into blissful sleep.
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Jasper woke up the next morning at his usual time and had a look around when he locked his eyes with a pair of shinning innocent eyes . Both of them kept staring at each other before he reacted," What the heck??!"
The lynx tilted it head questioning Jasper's curious expression and then again felt sleepy and lied down again, "No way, am I going to allow you to sleep in my bed. Get out of here."
Jasper pulled the lynx out of the bed while it desperately held on to it. Of course, he was successful in pulling it away but he ended up laughing because of the ridiculousness of the situation and the lynx also revealed an expression that resembled laughter.
"Please leave this place. Living with me will put your life in dangerous and there is no need to feel indebted to me in anyway. I allow you to go anywhere you want". The lynx understood Jasper but still nodded its head in denial not planning to leave him. "
"C'mon, please go!!!"
The lynx was adamant in its decision and did not seem to ever budge from its stance. Jasper racked his brain and came to a conclusion, " Do you want to be my pet?"
"Meah," the lynx agreed without any hesitation, pleasing and surprising Jasper, " Hmm, you are a sly fellow aren't you. Planning this from the starting " It wiggled its tail and started jumping around him in an excited state.
"Fine, you can be my pet, but on the condition that you follow all of my instruction and if you disobey then I will abandon you."
"Meah"
Jasper went to Jennifer and fed her medicines he had prepared from the rare herbs he had obtained in the jungle. The medicines were taking effect and improving her condition but the process was too slow.
If Jennifer's recovery rate did not increase then they would not be able to leave this jungle with their life's. Yesterday's experience taught him that. He had to hurry up with his exploration and try finding clues to escape the grave they had dug themselves in.
Jasper's exploration was not effected by his previous day encounter instead it made his resolve stronger to keep searching. He moved along with the lynx and crossed the 150 km radius again and started exploring again.
The difference between yesterday and today was, he had the lynx as his pet. It had lived in this region for most of its life and knew the place like the back of its palm.
The lynx guided Jasper through the safe routes of the region which meant that he was able to avoid meeting any dangerous beasts. This would have been impossible but the lynx made it possible.
However, tragedies happen when you least expect it and want to avoid at all costs.
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