The assailant was none other than the weretiger that we were searching for. To my surprise, though, she didn't look like any weretiger that I had envisioned. To be honest, I didn't know what I was expecting. A beautiful girl with car ears, a tail, and wearing a lovely dress while delivering powerful kicks? Or maybe a barbaric-looking girl wearing striped leather, with tiger ears, tiger paws and a tail? I probably was thinking of a human-looking girl with a few tiger or cat features (especially the ears).
I was wrong.
Instead of the stereotypical cat girl or tiger girl that you often saw in manga, light novels, anime, webtoons or manhwas, she was a literal weretiger. By that, I meant that aside from a vaguely humanoid body where she stood on two legs, the similarities ended there.
A tiger on two legs was what aptly described her. A muscular body with a white belly, but the rest of her body was covered in orange fur with black stripes. A feline head with almost sabretooth like fangs, complete with whiskers and yellow eyes, a snout and a button-like black nose. The tail was there, swishing behind, but the legs were articulated opposite of a human's, shaped and bent more like a tiger's. Deadly claws extended from both her paws and her feet, digging deep into the dirt and leaving slight furrows. She was tall too, over three meters in height, and muscular. Her chest was vaguely shaped to indicate that she was female, and that was the only way to distinguish her gender. Otherwise, she was pretty much the wild beast you would expect living down here in the dungeons.
"Okay…I didn't expect her to look like that."
"Why not?" Silvia asked mischievously. "Were you really expecting a cat girl? A cute mascot type character?"
"You were the ones who keep making those references!"
"Jun Wen, you've heard of werewolves, haven't you?" Sylvie asked, her tone more earnest. I nodded, and she continued. "Then you know how werewolves should look like. They aren't dog guys or dog girls, or people with dog ears and a tail. They are monstrous creatures, humanoid wolves that are cunning. Were beasts are all the same. It doesn't matter if they are wolves, tigers or lions. They are undoubtedly spirit beasts."
Oh, right. I recalled pictures of werewolves, and the Lycanthrope Lord that we fought against once, along with its Kobold. Those were true werewolves, not the anime styled bishounen and bishoujo with wolf ears.
…oh, well.
Unfortunately, I didn't have the time to worry over such trivial matters. The weretiger was pouncing on us once more, but I fended her off with my two swords, having drawn Azure Dragon while conversing with Sylvie and Silvia. There were sparks as her claws scratched against my blades, and then she kicked me in the midriff, sending me flying.
"Big bro!" Jun Hai hollered. He clenched his fists. "Why, you…! Go, Vibra Fly! Fly Dragon!"
A pair of Vibra Flies manifested, resembling dragonflies with vibrating green wings and a long body. They had evolved from his Trap Crackers, and similarly shared their affinity with the Earth element. With a pair of antennae and cute big eyes, as well as a couple of fangs, they were a type of dragon bug hybrid.
Their next evolved form was the Fly Dragon, an Earth dragon type spirit beast with large wings. Though still retaining a resemblance to a dragonfly, he looked more like a dragon now, with huge red eyes, his bipedal form hovering thanks to his rapidly fluttering wings. Like the Vibra Flies, he was primarily green, with an outline of red over his lovely wings. His control over the earth element was more pronounced, and he was already kicking up a sandstorm the moment he materialized.
"You really have an affinity for dragons, huh?" I muttered, raising an eyebrow. Then again, my brother loved dragons. I recalled that he used to have some online nickname that went along the lines of Dragonmancer or something. Pretty apt, now that I thought about it.
The weretiger snarled before she was hit by a flurry of sand that spun her away from me and sent her crashing against the wall. With a burst of qi, she slashed apart the sandstorm and pounced on Jun Hai's Fly Dragon, but the Earth ranked spirit beast flew away at rapid speed. Both he and the Vibra Flies were swift, their bodies an insectile blur as they flapped their wings and soared around the cavernous space. Bound to the ground as she was, the weretiger was unable to catch them, despite her speed. They wisely kept out of her range, hovering high above and beyond the reach of her jumps.
"What should we do about her, big bro?" Jun Hai asked.
"We deny her to the enemy," I replied. Jun Hai rolled his eyes.
"And how do we do that, exactly? Are we going to kill her? Make a spirit contract with her? Capture her and bring her back to your dungeon?"
"I originally intended to make a spirit contract with her, but it appears that I can't." I nervously glanced around, but the system didn't display any new windows. Without a Mystic ranked spirit contract, I couldn't bind her to a contract. And the only way to obtain one was via rewards granted to me by the system. Yet it hadn't issued me any mission.
This was strange. The system was never this…unresponsive before. Maybe it didn't like weretigers?
"Can you make a spirit contract with her?" I asked Jun Hai. He shook his head.
"No. I don't have any spirit contracts either."
Was he using the same system as I was? If he was, it explained why he couldn't either. Damn, this was tough. I watched the weretiger pounce and missed the rapidly flying Vibra Flies and Fly Dragon as they darted away from her, weighing my options.
At that point, the weretiger realized it was pointless to continue pursuing the Vibra Flies and Fly Dragon. She spun around and weaved through the sandstorm that they conjured. Fly Dragon descended onto the ground and stomped on it, causing an earthquake, but the weretiger simply leaped away, spinning in midair and bouncing off the debris that shook loose from the tremendous tremors. To my horror, I realized she was coming straight for us.
Having realized that the master of the Vibra Flies and Fly Dragon was Jun Hai, she aimed for him.
Unfortunately for her, despite her sound strategy, I was there. I stepped in and intercepted her, my swords flashing out to parry her claws. I countered with a riposte that would have eviscerated her, but she flipped away and landed, answering with a kick that would have torn my head off if I hadn't ducked. I cut low, sweeping my sword toward her gut, but she twisted away before bringing her paw done in a slash that I parried with my other sword.
My knees buckled from the sheer force and I grunted, but somehow I managed to hold my ground. I flung her away with whatever strength I had, and though my cultivation realm was technically one whole major stage above hers, her physical strength surpassed mine.
As did her speed.
It was only my superior amount of qi that allowed me to withstand her attacks. I reflexively blocked her next slash, and then countered with a decapitating strike that she ducked under, only to jump back when she aimed a kick at my jaw. I attempted to amputate her leg, but she spun away and kept me at bay with a series of slashes that actually sliced apart the very air itself and created sonic booms that battered me.
Similar to the wind blades…and she created it through sheer muscle and speed alone. Impressive.
However, I would be a fool if I fought her on her terms. Since I had superior cultivation realm and more qi than her, I put that into good use. While we traded another few blows, I silently summoned the Sylphs and Undines that I had made a contract with. The weretiger's eyes suddenly widened when she found herself blown away by a hurricane.
First, she spun about to right herself atop the whirlwind, and then she shredded it apart with her claws. I was amazed how she could just use pure strength to destroy a gust of wind, but given that cultivators, qi and monsters existed, it shouldn't be too much of a stretch. Then she plummeted down before swinging down a devastating axe kick that pulverized the ground I was standing upon before I leaped away.
I wasn't done yet. While I evaded, I threw another gust of wind that blew her away. While she fumbled about and readied to slash the gale apart, I called upon the Undines to combine their water magic with the Sylphs' wind spells, merging it into a freezing technique that encased the weretiger completely.
"Great job, big bro!" Jun Hai yelled, even though he was bringing his Trap Crushers, Vibrava Flies and Fly Dragon in to surround the frozen weretiger just in case she escaped. Sylvie and Silvia rounded out the rest, already setting up spirit arrays to imprison her or obliterate her.
"What should we do?" Sylvie asked, turning to me once she had set up an array. "We can destroy her, but I don't agree with that course of action. She's innocent and was never a threat. I understand we have to deny the enemy access to her strength, but I cannot approve of taking her life because of that."
"I totally concur," I replied with a nod. "We are not demonic cultivators. I'm not pretending to be a saint, but I'm not some ruthless, evil murder hobo either. I'm not going to kill whoever I come across just for some objective."
"Still, we can't just leave her here either," Silvia pointed out. "Judging from the fight earlier, she seems really strong and fast."
"Yeah, she is," I confirmed. Having firsthand experienced combat against the weretiger, I could vouch for her strength and speed. To think that a Mystic ranked spirit beast like her could give an Earth ranked cultivator like me so much trouble. In terms of physical strength and speed, she outclassed me. The only advantage I had was in qi, cultivation realm, and techniques. As well as access to arcane abilities and spells, such as my Sylphs and Undines. I understood why the demonic sects were so desperate to recruit such creatures.
The dark elves too…they had relied on Kobold Warriors and Lycanthrope Lords – and what were essentially werewolves or lycanthropes to make up the bulk of their monstrous army in Yggdrasil. There was a good reason for doing so.
"Sylvie and Silvia, if you girls can cast a stasis spell on the weretiger, I'll then have one of my summoned spirit beasts carry her back to the dungeon." This was troublesome. If I could just make a spirit contract with her, I would teleport her directly back to the dungeon, but because I didn't have that option, I would have to transport her the hard way.
"Understood. We'll do so immediately."
"I can have my Steel Tri-horn do it," Jun Hai offered, already summoning the massive metal type spirit beast. I nodded gratefully before my eyes widened.
Kicking off the ground, I launched myself at my younger brother, deflecting another pair of claws.
"What the?" Jun Hai spun around in panic, already bringing his Steel Tri-horn into reality and getting the armored beast ready to fight. I stood beside his newly summoned spirit beast, my swords still shaking from the impact. Behind me, Jun Hai shook his head. "Another weretiger?"
"Yeah…" I studied the newly appeared weretiger, who was glaring at us while casting worried glances at the frozen prisoner that was its brethren. There was some slight difference, but the newcomer was more muscular and larger, and clearly male. I immediately understood their relationship. "Seems like her mate has shown up to the party too."