As the muscle puma approached slowly from the surrounding bushes, everyone's expressions became increasingly pale. Even Lucy, who had talked about a semi-permeable mindset, was sweating this early in the morning.
The profound beast before them was on another level compared to the servals, which had nothing special about them. The muscle puma had Rei flowing inside its body like blood.
Lucy's shin was in bad condition, but he was in no position to care about something like that. He started to rack his brain.
'I want to use the weak ones among this group to tire it out, and then let the strong finish it. But the logic of the strong eating the weak doesn't work in this situation, since, unlike Tama Artists who can sense their auras from one another, we mortals can only try to guess a person's strength using our bodies. But I know too well that everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses.'
Before he could stand up from the shade he was sitting in, a strangely handsome boy with a strong jawline took everyone's attention.
He recited:
"Stand as one, face the test
Draw strength from each other, and do our best
Rise above our fears, and shine like the sun
Together, we'll conquer, and we'll have won"
Everyone was captured by his poem, and that made his following words easy to listen to.
"Everyone, there is power in numbers. If we work together, we will be able to take down this beast. Remember, one finger can never kill a bug on its own. Just like what we did with those wild cats, let's team up and take care of this horrible beast. At the end of the day, it's just a mere cat that spent the rest of its life doing squats and press-ups."
Lucy scoffed at the fake-scholar's words. He was the type who believed that going to school was the key to success, but the key to success was knowledge. Even someone who couldn't solve the easiest geometric equations could have it.
However, some people were mesmerized by the words that came from this person who made poems for a living.
"That's right! All we need to do is believe in ourselves, and everything is possible!" one of the teens exclaimed.
"You're correct! We believed in ourselves and chased those giraffe cats away! This is just a slightly bigger cat!" another teen said.
"Yeah! Let's go!" the group chimed in unison.
Before the crowd could move, Shinji clapped his hands to gather their attention.
A smile that defied his inner thoughts got pasted on his face. 'Wow, you all have a lot of energy! How can you be so naive to believe my words? That thing is out of this world. Any logical person could tell that we're dead meat! We should be running in different directions instead of fighting it!'
He faked a cough to put his thoughts aside for now. "Before you go, I just want to let you know that I'm an archer and won't do much in close combat. When there's an opening, I'll take care of that cat in one shot."
Some of the teens looked at Shinji in awe, inspired by his words. All they had to do was create an opening, and this great scholar would take care of the cat. Shinji started receiving praises, and Tsukino and Lucy exchanged disdainful gazes at how glib his tongue was.
But they soon raised their brows in astonishment when they saw a group of people rush towards the muscle puma with clear resolve in their eyes. It was amazing how a single person's words could make people disregard their lives like that, even though it was clear what was going to happen next.
All four boys lost their heads after receiving only a single slap from the puma, and the others hesitated as they looked at Shinji for assistance.
"Sir, Scholar, can't you fire shots to distract the cat while we attack it from the side?"
"That's right! We can all keep our lives if we employ such a plan!"
Shinji looked at his bow with a wiry smile on his face. He had never used it in his life and was just saying that to motivate the group so that they would tire the puma out until a lucky someone killed it. But it seemed he wasn't the only coward there.
'This is bad! Shouldn't this group be aggravated by the sight of their dead friends?'
Shinji was quick to understand why this group was suddenly immune to death. For an orphan like him who grew up in the streets, he was used to the sight of people dying from malnutrition every day.
'It's that guy! If he hadn't killed that person before, this group would have been terrified by the death of their comrades and acted rashly against that cat!'
Shinji's black eyes started to scan the group, and after a few seconds, he met a boy with shoulder-length red hair staring at the puma, which was feasting on one of the four dead bodies.
"Aren't you going to say something?!"
Lucy was startled by this call and raised his brows at the sudden interruption. He shot a cold glance at the brown-haired man.
"What is it that you want?"
Shinji was not frightened at all by this, and smiled at Lucy before saying, "The Tama Artist from before seemed to trust you a lot, and I was wondering what your take on this is."
"Yes, he's right. You seem to be at a better understanding of profound beasts more than we do." Tsukino supported from the side, and although she was burning with fury that she was the only girl in this group, she had to admit that Lucy had a clear mind that everyone among them lacked.
However, this only made Lucy scoff at them. "You're all grown-ups, and you want me to think for you?"
Lucy's question was met with a deathly silence. They were indeed waiting for him to think for them, and this made him click his tongue in disdain as he stood up, before coldly glaring at the bunch.
"My plan is simple. We split into groups of ten, and each group will fight the beast for a count of 60 Kojin. Considering how many we are, we will have enough time to rest. If you're lucky, you might not even have to fight." (1)
Lucy said the last part on purpose, only idiots would think there was a way to get away from this without fighting, since all of them would need to engage in battle sometime to completely tire out the muscle puma.
Tsukino understood Lucy's intention, and although she was not someone who started killing today, she stepped up front.
"I will join the first team to attack."
Lucy also joined the first team; it was his plan, after all. Surprisingly, Shinji joined the first team as well.
After a few minutes, the first five teams were complete, and the first team moved over to attack the muscle puma. Lucy swung his hammer, and the crowd started counting.
1 Kojin! 2 Kojin…
Lucy's hammer struck the puma's head, but nothing happened to the beast. Instead, Lucy was the one who felt his body vibrating from the impact of the clash.
"Damn it!" He cursed in his mind, as the beast growled in his direction, showing its malevolent intent.
He pulled one of his unlucky group mates towards the puma. The beast hit the poor boy with the back of its palm and killed him on the spot, which made Tsukino roar in Lucy's direction.
"What are you doing?! Is that the way to treat your teammates!"
Lucy shrugged her off and threw another boy towards the puma, which crashed against its face, making it growl as it tore apart the boy. Lucy's cold eyes suddenly locked onto Shinji's direction, and the fake-scholar started running away, making Lucy chase after him.
Seeing this, Tsukino finally realized the reality of the situation as her expression darkened.
"Those two were never going to fight in the first place!"
She had to admit Lucy's cunningness, bringing up a plan that he was never going to take part in.
However, she had no time to care about them and focused on the other five with her.
"Let's hold on for a few seconds, and the second group will replace us!"
The group nodded at her words; however, the moment they got close to the puma, they froze in fear.
Thanks to Lucy aggravating it, the puma was more hostile than before, but luckily enough, the greatest words of their lives echoed behind them.
60 Kojin!
However, the puma was able to kill two more members of the group, and Tsukino could only grit her teeth at how weak she was, while Lucy and Shinji heaved a sigh of relief at how they got through this easily.
The second group fought with the puma, but all ended up as food for the beast. The third group only had one survivor. More and more groups kept coming, and the puma started to feel tired while fighting group 30, which had all its members alive.
After nearly half an hour, group one went back to fight the exhausted puma. Unlike last time, Lucy was playing fair, as most of his swings were connecting against the puma, making it even more enraged, especially by Tsukino, who was poking it from the side. Even though her attacks were doing nothing thanks to its skin being strengthened by Rei.
Suddenly, Lucy narrowed his eyes as he watched the muscle puma wide open its mouth, rushing in his direction, as it saw him as the most dangerous opponent. The young man did not waver; he violently swung his hammer, trying to stab its neck. The beast twisted its body to dodge the attack, leaving Lucy in the open.
'Damn!' He cursed in his mind as he saw the puma jump at him.
Before he could process his next move, an arrow pierced through the beast's neck, killing it on the spot.
Everyone turned to look at Shinji with wide open eyes in compliment of his skill, but little did they know that he was just lucky... not really, though.
'Damn it! How did I miss that red-haired guy? I thought he was going to move his hammer, so I shot in front of him, but I even helped him in the end.'
However, on the outside, he just showed a calm look, as he received praises from the others. But his joy was short-lived, as Katsura walked up to them with an emotionless face.
"You will get a six-hour break! After that, you will go hunt a stage 3 profound beast!"
The group's faces fell at the announcement, and they couldn't help but look at each other in dismay. They had barely survived the stage 2 muscle puma, and now they were being asked to hunt a stage 3 profound beast?
The man continued.
"I'm not asking you to defeat it. I'm asking you to survive. You have six hours to rest and prepare. After that, you will be given the map, and you must set out to hunt the stage 3 profound beast."
With that, Katsura turned and walked away, leaving the group to stare at each other in shock and dismay.
----
1 - Kojin is the currency, and is the only thing Lucien can count.
The reason why Shinji made a poem as his introduction, it is because that it is his own way of taking attention, which is also why he puts on a scholars robe even when he is not.