Just as he set out to hunt, he smelled a big group of snacks entering his hunting grounds. Normally he only ate these snacks if they were in smaller groups as they could hurt him if enough of them were bunched up. He needed food to attract a mate though, so he prepared to ambush the group of snacks a little down their way. Snacks were always so predictable, following the paths they created without a fault. Soon enough they were coming his way, having sped up slightly due to his presence.
He got ready to pounce. Looking at the group, something felt wrong. Warily he eyed them and decided on the target he would kill in surprise. Two of them were way more dangerous than the rest. Two small females that did not smell like prey unlike all other snacks. They were the most dangerous of the pack but still young enough they shouldn't pose that big of a threat to him. He would try and kill the furry one first, it reminded him of himself.
As they neared his hiding spot the unease he had been feeling intensified but he ignored it as even a group as big as this wouldn't pose a real threat to him. He would need to shift his hunting grounds to dodge the retaliation force that was sure to be sent afterwards but it was time to move on anyways.
As the group neared his hiding spot he prepared, and once they were within striking distance he launched himself out of the forest with a powerful leap right in the middle of the unsuspecting group.
He closed his mouth around his target and leaped back into the forest before he even registered he had been fooled. Without the added weight of the snack and its mount his jump was slightly too long and he crashed into a tree. Yet the miscalculation still brought him out of the dangerzone as spell were launched at the where the group had been before. Looking for the origin of the spells he could see several snacks charging at him with angry shouts.
Were he his young self he would see these as the biggest threat, but age had taught him those that stayed at a distance were the most dangerous. Before they could attack him again, he started charging at his enemies as well, letting out a loud roar.
On the whole way he had to dodge a myriad of attacks. Still, some were so fast his big body being a disadvantage for once. Looking forwards, he could see he was drawing near the charging enemies. Straining his hind legs once again, he jumped above the enemies and their mounts and continued his charce towards the enemy backline.
Just before he reached them one of the other predators finished her first attack. With a loud bang a lightning bolt hit one of his legs. With the current entering his leg it locked up for a critical moment causing him to stumble and slide over the road towards his enemies.
The few moments he needed to get back on his feet were devastating though. He was hit by several spells all piercing his legs and slowing him down further. More importantly he lost most of his momentum to the ground and he was too close to the enemies to build it back up. With a deviant and angry roar, he stared at the small female promising death and jumped in her direction.
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Mary’s attack hit the cat with a loud crack. It didn't seem to expect it as it stumbled to the ground losing most of its momentum and allowing the others to get one attack in before it managed to get back up. Once it did, it stared at her with a glare that promised a painful death. That sent shivers down her back as she saw a rudimentary intelligence that was beyond what most of these beasts developed in those inhuman eyes. She had been suspecting something was up when it jumped above their melee fighters as most monsters attacked the people that ran at them screaming first, instinctively seeing them as the bigger threat.
He obviously had experience to spare and the intelligence to apply his experience to new situations. That arose a worrying assumption in her but she didn't have the time to worry as the monster charged them one again. She could feel three of the students start to built up a kinetic shield that would stop the beast in its tracks and hopefully give the melee fighters time to catch up.
The monster impacted the barrier with a thud and was thrown back a few meters as the momentum was reversed by the mana the three students supplied to the shield. A barrier like that was a last effort to save your life and entirely unnecessary in a situation like this. While it was next to impenetrable against physical attacks, that worked in both ways. That just meant they were not able to attack with spells that would actually hurt the monster, spells that had their own mass.
The monster got up again and Mary hit it with another lightning, doing no damage but slowing it down a bit as its muscles locked up again. The others flung spells that had no physical component on the monster as well, but to no avail as the thick fur and hide blocked the brunt of the attacks.
Getting up, the monster ran at them once again, only slightly slower than before and ran up to the barrier, ramming it with its head and hitting with its paws, each hit causing the three idiots to flinch as parts of their mana was sucked out of them.They wouldn't be able to hold this up for much longer Mary concluded. She gathered the five students nearest to her and instructed them to start casting a poper barrier, one that wouldn't try and rebound all physical attacks directed at it and be able to let other attacks out.
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Barriers like that were harder to cast but as they dispersed the energy that entered them into the ground they were way easier to hold up. The five seemed to be relieved of someone else taking charge as they did so without complaint even though they were older than she was.
The new shield was just finished as the three others fell unconscious completely without mana.
“You can attack again, do it.” Mary commanded.
The others complied and started flinging spells at the monster with renewed vigor just as it let out an angry scream as it hit the new barrier. Before they could fire off more than one spells the other arrived, finally having managed to slow down their horses and reverse the charge. A charge they couldn't use anymore as they would ride right through them if they went with it. Instead they had to dismount and attack it on foot as their horses didn't not want to go towards the big predator without running.
The seven melee fighters of their group, Vincent among them, crashed into the monsters back before it shook of the first barge of attacks flung its way after the barrier fell. Mary could see Dehla throwing one of the dwarfs on the monsters back while it was distracted swatting away most of the melee fighters. Just as the dwarf was about to hit the monsters back Mary sent another lightning bolt at its face so that it didn't notice the dwarf’s landing.
It worked just as intended, the monster flinched from her attack and didn't notice the small being landing on its back. While the dwarf made his way to the monsters back the rest of them made sure to distract it all the while. Luckily the treecat wasn't that big of a monster. It was among the biggest of feline monsters but they relied on speed rather than endurance. Reptiles were the biggest monsters generally, with true dragons being the largest monsters there were.
The dwarf climbed up the monsters back using magic specifically designed for such actions to get enough grip to not fly off its back while it moved. The dwarf needed two minutes to reach its neck, a long time in a fight. Once he did he stood up and brought down his axe with a yell. That took the treecat’s focus in an instant. It was seriously wounded for the first time in the fight. The hit also stopped its attack on their shield as it noticed the melee fighters were able to deal damage to it too.
Knowing its mass to be superior to that of the people surrounding it, the monster rolled on the ground after it noticed dislodging the dwarf wasn't possible while its neck was bleeding profusely. The dwarf had to jump off the monster to avoid being squashed by its mass and landed a on his feet a little unsteadily. Before they could react the cat finished its roll and ran at the dwarf, the hate in its eyes paralysing any that could have stopped what was to come. With a single mighty bite, the dwarf lost most of his upper body and his head.
The legs and lower body of the dead body slowly fell to the ground, stopping the noise the others had made until now for the moment they needed to process the death of their companion.
The rest threw themselves at the monster with angry shouts, yet also staying way more careful than before. While the dwarf didn't have any metal armor, he had been known for such reckless attacks, they would still be in serious trouble if they got caught in between its jaws. With the wound the dwarf inflicted the fight proved to be vital though.
If the monster wouldn't be losing blood as quickly as it did they would probably be hard pressed to kill it as it was faster than any of them and could easily avoid the ones at the front while keeping those behind it at bay with its tail.
Even though the monster bleeded liters f blood out of its neck the fight lasted nearöy a third of an hour after the dwarf died. There were three close calls of someone nearly dying as it suddenly broke the shield with a powerful pounce and lunged at her, something she managed to avoid just in time. After they had the shield back up and running it tried eating two of the melee fighters again, one managed to avoid that just in time while the other got protected by his armor as it had metal that stopped the monster’s teeth from deeply piercing the wound which was promptly healed by the dwarven woman with them.
They were all exhausted and low on mana after they finished killing the monster when Mary sought out Vincent.
“You know who we killed?” She asked.
“I have a guess.”
“The same one I have I assume?”
“If you are thinking of the beast of the east than we are.” He said.
“I am. We got lucky.” She agreed. The beast of the east was kinda legendary. It had first surfaced a decade ago, killing an entire caravan of traders and their escort. When the merchants guild had sent out someone to investigate they only found the remains of the caravan without any of the good missing. Further investigation showed a powerful treecat to be the culprit. With a monster that hunted for fun like this one obviously did they had sent out a cobalt ranked team to take care of it. As far as they knew the team of five had managed to track the monster down but were ultimately killed as they were never seen again afterwards. Ever since than the monster had terrorised the entirety of the empire’s east killing everything from normal peasants to powerful adventurers. Over the next decade the guild sent several teams after the monster until they finally stopped as no one had the guts to try and hunt a monster that had killed several upper ranked teams. Afterwards the guild had just set up bounty for whoever wanted to try his luck on the monster. Only one team had managed to flee after confronting it and because of them it was known the monster had a long scar on its upper head.
That they managed to kill it was nothing short of a wonder though their numbers probably had something to do with that as well. They would now have to make a small detour to visit one of the bigger towns in the east to confirm the kill and get the bounty.
“Let's skin it and get going then, I want to be home as soon as possible.” She said.
“ALRIGHT LET'S SKIN IT, WE WILL HAVE TO MAKE A DETOUR FOR THE BOUNTY!” Vincent yelled, instantly becoming the center of attention.
“What do you mean bounty?” One of the others asked.
“We killed the horror of the east.” Mary said. The rest of the group perked up, the bounty was sizeable even if split between all of them. As only three of them, Taimanu Vincent and her were nobles they could always need the money.
The others also seemed to be way more accustomed to death as they moved on from the dwarf’s death faster than her team had. She really hoped that the rest of the powerful monsters on their way decided to stay in their dens, one interruption such as this was enough.