Back to Kevin and Emilia
As they have been walking a little deeper in the forest but not going too deep in the forest.
Kevin's mind wandered a bit, killing the bear can be considered the first kill for Kevin in this life as Kevin Solaris, Although not a human being as a first kill, it is still a life, and it still doesn't change the fact that he has started taking lives again, after a third life without any killing.
Although this is his first kill with this body, it isn't the first for himself, as he killed countless people, whether they were humans or any other races.
Having different lives with different roles to play can make someone have a problem with his identity, but for some reason, Kevin never had any problem after all the horrible things he had done in the past, it is like his core personality is always protected, and if he has to guess, then it is the doing of the System that has been following him since forever.
Though he doesn't know what's its purpose for helping him and making him experience different lives, he knew deep in his heart, that he will get his answers soon when he reaches a high stage of cultivation in this world.
While lost in thought, Emilia interrupted him by shaking his shoulders when she noticed that he is not responding to her call.
"Hey, why are you lost in thought?" asked Emilia bothered by his lack of response.
"Huh? Sorry I was just lost in thought," replied Kevin after throwing his thoughts about his first kill to the back of his mind, as he knows very well that it isn't going to be his last one, as more are going to come on his road if he wanted to reach the top and keep what he wants to protect safe.
"So how are we going to find shadow panther?" asked Emilia after noticing that Kevin was focusing on her.
"I have no idea, Eve said that it stays in quiet places that are filled with darkness"
"The whole forest is literally quiet," said Emilia irritated.
"We just have to search in the area marked by the guild, just be careful as it uses darkness energy and might sneak attack us as it is an agility-type beast not like the bear."
"Sure, whatever."
Although Emilia replied sloppily, she still kept her senses on high alert and spread her energies to her ears to strengthen their sensory abilities.
Seeing her taking his advice seriously even though she have tons of defensive talismans made him nod in satisfaction inside his head, better be safe than sorry.
Focusing his senses on this area since they have entered the area marked on the map, he kept it active to notice the slightest disturbances.
After approximately 10mins of silence, suddenly there was the sound of something moving very fast and coming in our direction
WHOOSH
Kevin suddenly saw in slowed time, claws as dark as the night were heading into his heart to pierce through it at a very fast speed for an early Lord Rank Beast.
Kevin immediately judged that he wouldn't be able to dodge the claw using his physical strength only so he immediately pumped energy throughout his legs to strengthen himself and make his legs faster, he also added energy to his chest area in case he made wrong calculations and the panther managed to reach his heart.
As all of this happened in less than a second, as the panther was about to pierce Kevin's heart, he immediately retreated backward dodging the attack but not without sustaining small scratches at the skin where his heart is behind.
After this small confrontation that happened in 2 seconds, Emilia that have been walking peacefully by Kevin's side noticed the abnormality the moment the Panther grazed Kevin's skin, she immediately retreated backward after pumping energy into her legs to increase her speed.
Kevin noticed the small scratches on his skin and smiled excitedly as he noticed that he should be able to match the panther's speed if he depends on his physical strength only, the reason why he was scratched even after pumping energy into his legs, was because he wasn't focusing on the panther and was taken off guard.
After the confrontation, the panther retreated a few meters from Kevin.
The panther has smooth black-as-night fur that covered its long body, it has strong jaws, rounded ears, and emerald eyes, and it has an early stage Lord Realm cultivation. It is a Night Panther, our target for now.
The speed at which it attacked me now shouldn't be its maximum speed since it is a beast that is specialized in agility.
"Leave this panther for me" I shouted at Emilia excitedly while keeping my eyes on the panther so it doesn't attack while I was distracted.
It has been a while since I got excited, it got me to remember my days of fighting all kinds of opponents with my magic and body in the past.
Emilia seeing me excited for the first time in her life was startled, although she has been friends with Kevin for 10 years, she still doesn't know Kevin as a whole, as most of the time he doesn't act like a child except in front of his mother and sister.
Other than that he usually acts like an old man who is always calm and sometimes he says some nonsense about how good is it to become young again.
o seeing him excited like a child startled Emilia, so she stepped aside to watch how the battle would unfold.
~~~~~~~~
Getting back to Kevin
Focusing his eyes on the panther, Kevin decided to only add energy into his eyes to increase his eyesight precipitation so he can capture the movements of the panther more clearly.
Immediately afterward he propelled himself at the panther intending to take the initiative in this fight
Closing on the panther, the panther instead of attacking, retreated into the shadows of the tree close to it and sank into the shadow of the tree.
Like that the two kept playing the game of cat and mouse for the next 10 mins and it made me irritated as my excitement started to fade, so I decided to end this game by doing something drastic, focusing energy in my core on one of my fists, and then I punched using the full strength of my physical body + energy not the panther but the ground we were standing on.
Doing that resulted in destroying the area around us as the trees the Night Panther used to hide in their shadows were also destroyed.
Finding no place to hide anymore, the panther started to attack using its speed and its sharp claws.