Zoran finally faced the Evolved Panther. There was confidence in his eyes, with a hint of excitement like a kid just waiting to play with his new toy.
The Panther eyed Zoran warily. This sudden change made it acutely aware that something strange was happening, especially with Zoran stopping his repetition of his words.
Zoran was still in a critical condition. His internal organs was decaying continuously in his body, with his internal defense system unable to do anything.
He was huffing and puffing, evidence that he was at the limits of his endurance. His stance had long weakened, with wide openings in his weak points like his neck and limbs.
By all these factors, the Evolved Panther should have attacked Zoran. This was its chance, with its prey at the weakest. Just one attack to his heart would kill him instantly and painfully.
If this was any other prey, the Panther would have long ripped it to shreds and took its head as a trophy. But with Zoran, its instincts took over its physical body and prevented it from moving. The Panther understood; it wanted to watch and be on guard.
This was the right move. The Panther watched as Zoran powered up his Tyrannical Miasma Strike, with a tremendous amount of energy up to its limit. It was confidence. It's as if Zoran knew this attack would finally land.
Did Zoran find a way to track its movements in the 4th dimensional leap, the Panther wondered.
Then that would be truly dangerous since it knew that it would challenge death if Zoran's tyrannical fist landed on its body. The Panther knew fighting at close quarters was a death sentence, hence it used the 4th dimensional leap in every encounter.
If Zoran figured out a way to predict where the Panther would land after the leap, then it would be defenseless against the tyranny of his fist and be forced to forfeit its life.
Even if it was able to survive after that one strike, it knew that Zoran had the capabilities to land combo after combo to his opponent while they were in a state of immense pain from the tyrannical fist. Many Puma Soldiers witnessed it first hand, and even more would experience nightmares from then on.
The Evolved Panther didn't know how Zoran would have figured out its leaping patterns. It trained hard and spent most of its life sharpening its battle IQ to the point where no one in the army could catch it.
But there were bound to be biases in its movements, and perhaps that was how Zoran would have been able to predict its movements. If that was true, then the Panther would simply have to change its patterns to something completely different.
That should have solved the threat of Zoran. There should have been no worries plaguing its mind with Zoran's presumed tactics dismantled before he even attacked. Yet its hind legs stayed. Its instincts still blocked it from action.
Why was Zoran so dangerous?
And that answer came running at the Evolved Panther. Zoran charged at his opponent with glee similar to a student who finally figured out how to solve the cultivation problem his mentor gave him.
The Panther was still afflicted with caution, but it decided to leap into the 4th dimension to evade Zoran's attack. It had no choice.
But before it could escape, it saw a scene that it could not comprehend. It couldn't understand how because it couldn't believe what was happening.
Zoran's body disappeared into the darkness of Miasma as if he was jumping onto an invisible window. His whole being disappeared, stunning the Evolved Panther into immobility.
A 4th dimensional leap?! The Panther was distraught from the impossibility that Zoran achieved. How could this strange creature replicate its ultimate technique? The 4th dimensional leap was its inherent skill, a privilege birthright given to it from a benevolent being.
Even the Puma Soldiers and the Miasma Panthers could not obtain this technique even if they wanted to. And it was arguably more reasonable for those creatures to achieve the technique since they were from the same species.
But Zoran was different. He was not even a creature from the Miasma, yet he figured out the secret to the 4th dimensional leap.
It was one thing for Zoran to decipher the immensely complex and complicated technique, but replicating it after just a short fight was nothing short of impossible.
It could be believed that Zoran was a genius of tactics and battle IQ as he figured out a way to deal with the 4th dimensional leap. But was it supposed to believe that Zoran was a master of fighting with a complete understanding of skills at the fundamental level?
That was impossible. That would take a lifetime upon lifetime of training and hard work, something the Panther didn't think Zoran had.
This situation was hard to swallow for the Evolved Panther. But the longer it took for the Miamsa Beast to accept reality, the faster its death would come.
Zoran appeared directly behind the Miasma Panther with his Tyrannical Miasma Strike at its peak of destruction. It was ready to strike at the head of the beast to finish this fight in one hit.
But the immense training and hard work ultimately paid off for the Evolved Panther as its body moved at the very last second purely by instinct even though mentally, the Panther was still unable to comprehend Zoran's terrifying abilities.
It moved to the side and avoided a headshot. But that didn't mean it escaped from Zoran's attack unscathed.
The tyrannical fist hit its torso instead, sending a large wave of Miasma rippling through the center point of the contact.
The Panther's body flew through Miasma, with its body starting to blur and melt into the black goo. It was damaged beyond its limits, especially since the Panther hadn't used any defense against Zoran's attack.
Immense pain shot through the Panther's body and woke it up from the muddled mess of its thoughts. Its brief brush with death sobered it up from thinking unnecessary thoughts in the middle of a battle.
Black Miasma goo melted off the Panther's ribs, but it didn't faze the Beast anymore. Its eyes grew clear and looked at Zoran.
Its instincts were correct. It should have killed Zoran before he was able to comprehend the secrets of the 4th dimensional leap. But its conceitedness underestimated Zoran's abilities.
Now, Zoran wasn't just a prey, he was a danger.
It growled at Zoran. He might have obtained the 4th dimensional leap, but the Panther had already mastered it. That was a difference in skill that could not be rushed. Zoran needed time, which the Panther would not give.
But there was something that the Panther didn't know. Zoran was not just simply replicating the Panther's 4th dimensional leap. Zoran improved the technique and changed it to something completely different that would suit his abilities.
He learned that lesson the hard way: imitation was a limitation.
He looked at the Panther and shouted.
"4th Dimensional Extraction Punch!"