Crouching, he leapt into the air, landing behind the line of hyenas which surrounded him.
The hyenas were taken by surprise when an oversized lion flew over their heads, but they quickly skedaddled away once he’d landed. Still, Dominic was able to use their initial surprise to his advantage.
Bite. A hyena cried out loudly as his teeth crushed its back leg as it turned to flee.
Swipe. Another hyena yelped as it caught five claws to the face as it turned to defend its clanmate.
Whoops and giggles sounded as the rest of the hyenas scrambled to surround him again. In the chaos, Dominic charged at one of the large ones. It stood its ground, baring its teeth at him, the group around it presenting their own jaws.
Instead, he once more leaped over their heads and buried his teeth in the throat of one of the smaller ones hiding behind.
His target’s health bar depleted quickly, though Dominic didn’t hang around to make sure of the kill: he had a posse on his heels which wouldn’t hesitate to take advantage of his vulnerable back.
Leaping away again, he quickly established some space between him and the group around the big hyena.
[You have killed Hyena (Basic Beast level 4)]
[You have earned 48 PP]
Despite himself, his eyes widened as the message flashed up confirming his kill.
I forgot how profitable these guys were back when I was level 1, he thought to Leo. Now he was only two points away from being able to level up again.
Concentrate! the lion snapped at him in return. Dominic had to admit that he had a point. This was not the time to start wool-gathering.
He’d absorb the hyena’s body, but he was currently several feet away from it. No matter: if he littered the field with bodies he’d be able to absorb one whenever he had need.
The hyenas were closing in again, more confident now, or perhaps more maddened by having already lost one of their own. Either way, they were definitely more aggressive and Dominic took his first injuries of the confrontation.
Pain sliced through him as he was caught by a hyena’s attack to his rear just as he dodged another attacking his front. Realising that he was once more in the middle of the mob, Dominic quickly jumped out of it again.
Unfortunately, it seemed like the hyenas were becoming wise to his tactics: the hyenas closest to his landing spot quickly dodged out of his way and then snapped at him. I’m going to have to mix my strategies up a bit, Dominic realised. A moment later, he had an idea. They shouldn’t expect this.
Using Quick Strike, he lunged forwards into the middle of a bunch of hyenas, grabbing at the throat of one and shaking his head to rip its artery open. A moment later, he leapt out of it again, bleeding from several wounds, but another kill notice flashing up for his troubles.
[You have killed Hyena (Basic Beast level 4)]
[You have earned 48 PP]
Darting a quick look around the battlefield, he saw the hyenas closing in again. Rushing for the line with the fewest hyenas, he used the bare seconds it took the rest of them to catch up to inflict as many injuries as he could.
Bite. Swipe. Swipe. Bite. Pain flashed through him and made him growl even with a chunk of flesh in his mouth.
No kills this time, unfortunately, but one swipe slashed through the eye of one of his opponents, and another was sent limping with a mangled leg.
Dominic hadn’t escaped unscathed, though: blood was dripping from a bite to his shoulder and another slash had opened up just below his eye. He’d come off better from that one that he might have: it had been aimed at his neck. He might have his gorget, but that didn’t mean his throat was invulnerable.
His hindquarters were burning too, several bites having found purchase there while his teeth and claws were busy. If only I could use my tail armour! Dominic mourned. It would be perfect for this situation. The only issue was that his tail was still struggling to bear its weight – it would be more hindrance than help right now.
Fortunately, he’d managed to place himself in the position he was aiming for: backed up against the rock pile he’d used to such a good effect with the scrin.
The hyenas seemed more excited than they’d been before: they probably felt, like the scrin had, that their prey was now backed into a corner. I’m not prey; I’m a damn predator, Dominic spat back at them mentally.
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Without needing to focus so much in keeping his back clear, he was more able to face the flashing jaws and snapping teeth with his own weaponry.
The uneven nature of the rock pile meant that the hyenas weren’t able to approach Dominic in full strength either – the human-turned-lion was using the same strategy which had kept him alive the last time he had encountered these particular creatures. It seemed to work just as well here, though he was much harder pressed than he had been then.
Fortunately, his own capabilities had advanced in leaps and bounds.
Teeth snapped at Dominic; he snapped back at them, pretending to aim for one’s throat only to lunge at another. Mauling that one with both teeth and claws, he earned another kill even as teeth ripped his shoulders.
[You have killed Hyena (Basic Beast level 5)]
[You have earned 52 PP]
He fell forwards as the hyena he’d been mauling dropped to the ground. Landing on his feet, Dominic yowled in pain as a set of teeth clamped around his right foreleg. It has Crushing Bite, he recalled as even his strengthened bones started groaning.
Consumed by the need to end the attack before his bone fractured, he lunged for the hyena, jaws open. It let go of him when it realised it was being targeted but his enhanced speed, increased even more with Quick Strike, was too much for it to react in time.
His jaws settled over its neck, only a bit higher than he’d been aiming for. Though he didn’t have Crushing Bite – yet – he did have significant crushing power in his jaws naturally. Enhanced by pain, it didn’t take long before he felt the crunch of bone being pierced. The hyena’s skull was damaged, its spine severed.
[You have killed Hyena (Basic Beast level 4)]
[You have earned 48 PP]
Then, realising that he was getting swarmed – exactly what he had been trying to avoid – he leapt straight up, reaching the top of the rock pile.
With a moment of breathing space while the hyenas scrambled to catch up with him, he checked his health bar. It was down a good third from where it had been, meaning that it was rapidly approaching halfway. Still, he’d taken down four hyenas so far. Three of the smallest, one of the medium-sized ones.
Assessing the numbers he could see, he estimated another eight or nine to go, which tallied with his original estimation of twelve or thirteen hyenas in total. That meant he’d already cut through a third of their numbers.
I doubt they’ll fight to the last man. Hyena. Whatever, he mused to Leo even as the hyenas which had swarmed up the rock pile or gone around it to the higher ground came at him.
They’d have already fled were this the old world, Leo responded with a growl. We cannot know how they’ll react now.
True, Dominic acknowledged even as he leapt down to land on a hyena which was behind the rest of the pack. It was one of the ones he’d hit earlier: it was behind the rest of them because of its mangled leg. With its health bar already significantly depleted, it only took a moment before it was lying limp on the ground.
Dominic next leapt at a hyena which was coming running towards him, its jaws stained with blood. This was one of the larger ones, and was so far uninjured. He’d have to be more careful here.
Feinting to the left, he tried to sneak a bite in at the hyena’s throat, but unfortunately it was too canny to fall for that. Instead, he met the jaws of the other predator, their teeth clashing uncomfortably. Blood filled Dominic’s mouth as his gums were cut.
Withdrawing quickly, Dominic tried to swipe at the hyena, but it ducked under his blow, using the motion to propel itself into a lunge at his shoulder.
Its teeth sank into his shoulder-blade and he yowled with pain as they scraped across and even started to crush the bone.
It whooped, the sound muffled against his flesh, and Dominic roared with pain as teeth were suddenly attacking him from all angles, setting into his other forepaw, one of his back paws, and the other hip. They started tugging at the same time as crushing, as if they were trying to draw and quarter him.
What I would give for Overdrive right now! Dominic cried to himself as he struggled against the teeth that were holding him in place to be ripped apart.
His mind worked frantically to try to find a way out of this. Quick Strike was no good when he couldn’t move; Second Wind would give him more health points, but wouldn’t deal with either the injuries or give him more power. Plus, it would then put him on a timer. Lightning Discharge…. Maybe that was it.
Lightning Discharge, he invoked, quickly piling all fifteen mana points into his teeth. It was fortunate that his level up had refreshed them. He didn’t hesitate in emptying his pool: it was all or nothing at this point.
Then, as the moment of increased processing came to an end, he lunged sideways, forcing himself to ignore the pain the sudden movement caused his trapped forepaw. His teeth sank slightly into the hindquarters of the big hyena and electricity rippled through it.
The damage was probably pitiful – a 1:1 ratio meant that it was only 15 points of damage for his 15 MP. That wasn’t what he was aiming for, though.
The hyena had probably never felt electricity before and the surprise was enough to make it release his shoulder, just as the lion had hoped.
Now only pinned in three places, Dominic quickly made sure that was reduced to only two with a snap at the hyena crushing his forepaw. It dropped the limb and backed off before he could crunch its spine, but he still got in a nasty injury to its face, blinding it.
Whirling on the hyena holding his hindleg, he roared in pain as the motion forced the other hyena from its own hold – a chunk of Dominic’s flesh going with it. This one wasn’t fast enough to release him and he ripped its throat out with a quick slash of his teeth.
[You have killed Hyena (Basic Beast level 4)]
[You have earned 48 PP]
The moment the death message flashed up, Dominic consumed the body for resources, a sense of relief going through him as his worst injuries were partially healed.
Ignoring the other hyenas for a moment, he ran unsteadily towards another body lying abandoned on the ground, the movement jarring the nasty bite wounds in his flesh.
The other hyenas were hot on his heels, but triggering the consumption of a body was a matter of less than a second, and then he was onto the next, the disintegrated remains following along behind him until it was absorbed. By the time he’d consumed four of the five corpses, he was feeling significantly better and his health bar was once more a fair bit above half.
It was in a better state of both mind and body that he turned back to the big hyena and its surrounding group.