Giant Red Mantises were insect beasts that packed a punch within this forest and the one Zoom encounter was a level 10 Giant Red Mantis that stood 2 meters tall with it's body fully coated in the colour red.
"What a pain." Zoom grumbled as he came face to face with the mantis who swiped one of its claws towards Zoom who barely dodged it due to the speed of the swipe.
Zoom had no time to think and had only relied on instinct.
Realising that Zoom had absolutely to chance to fight Zoom did the best move possible... Run as fast as he could, the level gap was evident, level 2 up against a level 10 was currently suicidal plus the mantis was no ordinary Giant Red Mantis but and upgraded one with larger crimson red claws.
"MERCY!" Zoom shouted trying to create as much noise as he could to try and attract different beasts to his location to maybe, just maybe lure the mantis into fighting a different beast.
Zoom had added 10 more points to his agility to give him a better chance of escape and ran with all his might, the large trees that rose up to forty meters saw their trunks receiving countless deep slashes from the mantis's claws.
Zoom continued to shout as the mantis was getting closer and closer to him.
Swipe...
[-54 HP]
Roar!
Zoom could have died in one swipe from the mantis's claws but luckily another beast called the Wind Tiger leaped from it's hiding spot and pounced onto the mantis.
Both of them were upgraded beasts and were level 10 which was an equal matchup.
The scar on Zoom's back was evident as blood oozed out slowly and the pain was felt throughout his body due to the mantis's poison which dealt continuous poison damage for a minute that dealt a total of 100 damage.
"Those two are both equally as strong, I should exploit this situation." Zoom had a smirk on his face as he patiently watched the two beasts from a distance while enduring the pain from the mantis's poison.
The two beasts were in a stalemate as both sides took turns slashing their claws and paws chipping away at each other's health.
As the fight waged on it was evident that the mantis had slightly higher health than the tiger due to it's longer range and the poison that it could inflict.
"Once the wind tiger falls I immediately strike the mantis down before it can face me, it only need's to slash me once to kill me."
Roar! Screech!
As both beasts had their health lower than 30% they entered a berserk state that doubled their stats making them a deadlier opponent which was why you needed a group of people to fight against a beast due to their ability to go berserk.
Swipe after swipe their health finally reached 5% which was the signal for Zoom to focus and strike at the mantis at the right moment.
Screech!
The mantis swiped it's claws but the tiger leaped into the air dodging it and swung it's tail towards the mantis but the mantis slashed it cutting it off from the tiger causing it to roar in pain, while the tiger was in the air it could no longer dodge and this gave the mantis the chance to launch a final attack and swiped it's claws.
'It's time!' Now that the tiger was about to die with this final attack but just as the tiger was about to get slashed by the mantis's claws it opened it's mouth and roared and suddenly a shockwave appeared which threw both the mantis and Zoom 20 meters away.
Both the mantis and the tiger could no longer move as they were crippled and in a weakened state after their berserk form.
Both beast lay on the ground motionless while breathing heavily with their 1% health.
Zoom sat beside the crippled mantis with only a bit of health left from the tiger's roar, he looked at the mantis who was only a foot away from him and appraised it's body.
'I guess my sword won't be too useless.' Zoom took out his sword as he moved closer to the dying giant mantis, he raised his sword and with a bit of force was able to pierce a few inches deep.
[You Have Dealt 11 Damage!]
[You Have Slain The Level 10 Upgraded Giant Red Mantis!]
[You Have Received 300 EXP!]
[Congratulations! You Have Reached Level 3!]
Zoom then walked over to the dying tiger and did the same thing to the mantis and without any delays he swiftly ran away from the scene as fast as he could as only pools of blood was left as the two corpses have both been automatically looted together with their respective beast cores.
Zoom has now reached level 4 from the added 300 EXP from the tiger and with 20 more stat points ready for distribution he decided to add 10 to both strength and endurance.
***
"Look around the surroundings we have to look for the perpetrators!" A lady that looked to be in her early twenties or late teen years and had silver hair commanded and without any hesitations the people around her followed her command and they all scattered.
A group has randomly heard the noise nearby and went to check on it and upon arriving only pools of blood have been left with not a single bone nor any parts of beasts left, cleaning the whole scene with only blood and the markings of a battle the only evidence that could be spotted in the vicinity.
Unlike Zoom who had entered the game solo and without anyone that could back him up this lady had a whole group around her that followed her every command.
Zoom was up in the trees and was only a few hundred meters away from the scene as he used the fur of the tiger as a bandage on his wound to stop the bleeding as he was left with only 10 health points.
'Maybe I should be careful next time'