When Ithil got down from the tree, Lerth had already started attacking with Hikor staying a bit further back. Hikor was looking for openings while Lerth kept the giant thorn cat busy. Ithil decided to stay out of it unless they needed his help.

The giant thorn cat grew long, thorn-covered vines that started whipping at Lerth. The constant attacks from the giant thorn cat forced Lerth to back away.

‘I might need to help…’

The thorn cat then started expanding, with the vines growing along with it. It went from a height of slightly under a meter to over three meters. The vines started whipping again, twice as fast as before.

“I have a stun, get out of the way!” Hikor shouted to Lerth.

Hearing this, Lerth jumped to the side as Hikor threw something at the giant thorn cat. It tried to avoid whatever was thrown, but one of the vines accidentally hit it and caused it to explode. Small shrapnel flew out and some kind of powder spread over the giant thorn cat.

The powder seemingly caused irritation and the giant thorn cat had a hard time getting the powder out of its eyes. Lerth used the chance and jumped in with his daggers.

One of the daggers managed to get past the flailing vines and stabbed into one of the cat’s front legs. It cut through multiple tendons and struck the bone. Lerth couldn’t get the dagger out and let go of it as the vines started flailing even more, becoming too much for him.

“AEEEIGHH!”

The giant thorn cat screamed out in pain and rage. It shook its leg, causing the dagger to fly out and hit a nearby tree. The wound started closing at a speed visible to the eye.

‘It seems I’ll need to do something. It will be back to peak condition in just a few minutes.’

“It’s too much for us to deal with, we should try to escape,” Lerth said.

Hikor nodded.

“I agree.”

Ithil stepped forward and got into battle position.

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“I believe we can do this if I help.”

“We need to be more prepared, we can’t counter its healing,” Lerth pointed out.

“I haven’t even gotten to show my abilities yet,” Ithil said.

“You’re saying that you have something helpful on you?”

“My fists are very helpful.”

Before Lerth and Hikor could try to stop him, Ithil walked forward. Or, at least he felt like he walked. To Lerth and Hikor he shot forward at an unnatural speed.

‘Maybe I’m a bit fast? I don’t want to seem too suspicious…’

Slowing down slightly, Ithil threw a weak punch toward the giant thorn cat’s flank. It could barely dodge and Ithil’s punch still hit, but only at an angle. The giant thorn cat was sent spinning away and stopped after a few meters.

Ithil had felt its hip crack slightly.

‘I’m limiting myself to little. I don’t want to take it out by myself.’

Lerth and Hikor were stunned for a moment. Hikor got out of it first and tried to get an advantageous position in the trees. Lerth then shook his head and started circling around, trying to attack the giant thorn cat’s back while it was focused on Ithil.

The vines started whipping at Ithil, even faster than before now that it had recognized him as a threat. Ithil dodged while intentionally letting some hit. They only scratched up his clothes, his tough skin not being affected at all by the onslaught.

‘That’s a problem. What if I come out of a battle without being hurt? It would make me very suspicious…’

The giant thorn cat jumped at him. Before it could reach him, arrows hit its side. Flinching because of the pain it deviated slightly to the side, allowing Ithil to grab it by the neck and weakly hold it in place. Ithil barely needed to use his strength in order to keep it in place.

Before its vines could start attacking Ithil, Lerth attacked from behind. He cut up deep wounds on its entire backside.

Before the wounds could heal, Ithil swung the giant thorn cat into a nearby tree, stunning it for a moment. Lerth and Hikor started attacking its backside again, deepening the wounds and not allowing them to close.

The giant thorn cat was losing blood quickly and started getting sluggish. Ithil jumped up to the giant thorn cat again and threw a punch at its neck. The giant thorn cat, weakened by the blood loss, couldn’t avoid Ithil’s weak punch, and its neck broke. It died on the spot, the rage in its eyes fading away.

“Just who are you to be able to wrestle a beast of that size? Are you sure you’re not using magic?”

Ithil panicked a bit at Hikor’s question.

‘How can I get out of this? I can’t lie about magic, since it can be easily measured…’

“I train a lot!”

Ithil answered with a smile on his face. Hikor and Lerth looked at each other. They both shrugged and walked up to the corpse, which had started shrinking the giant thorn cat’s original size. Hikor bent down and started cutting through its neck.

“Just how did you manage to break that thick neck…?”

“Practice?”

“…Anyway let’s head back.”

Hikor finished cutting off its head and gave it to Ithil, who was closest at the moment.

“You hold it, I need to be agile in case we get ambushed by some other beast. Plus, you’re the strongest.”

Ithil didn’t complain and they started heading back through the forest.