Despite Mike's words, the panther did not come and get some. It circled the group, with not a single ranged combatant daring to fire. As it circled, two more panthers dropped from the trees around them, also circling the group. Most of the group collectively backed up, standing behind the ring of campfires that had been set up. The only ones who didn't stand back were the stronger warriors, and of them only the ones with heavy armor.
Mike of course stood vanguard, ready to defend the people behind him. While a good fight was a priority, it definitely didn't overrule his desire to keep the group alive. Honestly, he had no clue how the group hadn't lost more people after seeing the level of the beasts. It became a standoff, the humans staring at the three panthers, and the panthers staring back with a similar level of hostility. Notably, they mostly looked past Mike, despite the fact that he stood closest to them. After a dozen seconds of this, Jonas gave the order.
“Fire, focus on the right one!” He shouted, with the whistling noise of arrows and spells flying coming immediately after.
The night stalkers took this as their signal to also move. With impressive speed, they dodged all but a few lucky arrow shots, and avoided the already poorly aimed spells effortlessly. The few arrows that hit barley made scratches on the skin of the panthers. Mike braced himself, holding his hammer behind him, winding up a swing. The first panther reached him, ducking under his attack and tackling him to the ground.
Mike had definitely underestimated just how fast they really were, the lesson getting smacked into his head just as hard as the ground hit his head. His fortitude kept him from being hurt by the fall, and his armor protected him from most of the damage from the panther that tried tearing into his gut.
Mike kicked the large cat off, surprised by the seemingly low strength of the animal. He saw the other two panthers run by on either side of him, targeting the others who were behind him. He quickly got up, going on the defensive as the panther practically ran circles around him.
He tried swinging his hammer a few times, the heavy weapon just too slow to catch the panther. Remembering how the soul hammer was significantly lighter and faster, he summoned it into his hand, putting his maul on his back. It wasn't large, but it would get the job done. He tried swinging at the cat a few more times, catching it in the head or the legs a few times. Everytime the hammer made contact, the cat slowed a little, hurt and bruised with each hit.
The downside of its high speed showed as it was hit. The creature was definitely focused on speed and overwhelming their prey with it. In turn, they must have made sacrifices to Strength and Constitution. Mike on the other hand, had quite a lot of strength, and enough agility to make it usable. The panther got in a few swipes with its paw, but it was clear that it was averse to doing another attack as reckless as its initial tackle. Mike glanced back at the group, assessing how long they could hold the other two off.
What he saw surprised him a bit. The group seemed to be handling the two cats quite well, though they didn't seem to be able to keep up with them enough to land any meaningful blows. The panthers in turn also seemed hesitant to make a risky move as the group was still surrounded by the fire, which seemed to keep the panthers from attempting to flank them.
Mike looking back had caused him to leave an opening for the panther he was fighting, and it bit his leg, deep holes left where the teeth had sunk in. Mike screamed, the adrenaline fueling him becoming even more effective in response to the pain. He dismissed his soul hammer, pulling out his maul and swinging it at the panther with all his might. The hammer hit one of the back legs of the night stalker. The leg broke and looked mutilated from just the one solid hit.
With its mobility crippled, the large cat decided to finally make a risky play and leapt towards Mike once more. Mike was ready for it this time, and sidestepped the jump. The panther landed on the ground, where it was quickly killed as Mike’s hammer smashed through the back of its skull. Mike stood there, staring at where the cat died.
He felt the satisfaction fill him from the kill, and the power that coursed into him as he leveled up. Taking the newfound strength, he ran over to help the group. The archers had begun using flaming arrows in an attempt to make the panthers run away. The panthers took actual damage for the first time as the arrows found their mark.
The arrows themselves still didn't penetrate, but the fire on them left scorch marks on the skin and fur of the panthers. This made the panthers retreat slightly as danger showed itself. Unfortunately for one of them, they retreated right into the path of Mike's hammer. It wasn't killed instantly, but was rendered a non threat quite quickly as the hammer crushed it’s throat. One particularly well aimed arrow killed it soon after as it penetrated through the eye of the cat.
Seeing only one cat left, the warriors gained a new found confidence, and began to move forward as a team against the lone survivor. Mike watched for a few minutes as the panther was slowly cut, bashed, and stabbed all over. The panther died soon after at the hands of the humans who were a much lower level.
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The group didn't have long to celebrate as one more panther emerged from the trees. This one was significantly larger, nearly up to Mike's shoulder. Mike identified it, once more feeling the excitement of a good fight incoming.
*Night Stalker Alpha (level 10)*
Mike couldn’t tell what it was, but he felt the huge jump in sheer power that was held by the alpha. He was just about to run at it, hammer swinging, when Aaron came up beside him and placed a hand on his leg.
“Hey, what the he-” Mike was cut off as the holes in his leg closed, and blood was no longer pouring out of the various scratches all over his body. “Oh yeah, healer. Thanks.” Mike had completely forgotten about his injuries upon seeing the alpha, and now that he was in nearly peak physical condition once more, he ran forward, calling out to the others behind him.
“Dibs on the pelt!”
He didn't wait long enough to hear the responses as he ran forward, faster than ever before. The level, or maybe two, that he had gained from killing two of the panthers had certainly done wonders for his stats, giving him confidence in facing this foe. Knowing this was going to require him to use every advantage he had, Mike opened his menu mid-run and quickly threw every free point he had gained into strength.
It might have been smarter to put it into agility to keep up with the panther, but Mike just wanted to hit the thing as hard as he possibly could. He could tell from the fact that he had 6 free points to use that he had gained two levels from the fight so far. He nearly salivated at the thought of what he would get for killing this thing. He saw arrows fly past him, bouncing off the fur of the creature. For whatever reason, very few spells flew in its direction, and the ones that did were very weak.
Deciding that finding out the reason was unimportant in the moment, Mike swung his hammer, having reached the panther that was several hundred feet from the group. His hammer hit the panther in its side, sounding like a loud thud.
This panther in particular seemed to enjoy a much more direct approach to conflict than its late comrades used, and went straight to trying to wrap its massive maw around Mike’s head. Mike had no illusion of being able to do this alone, and weaved around the cat, landing minor blows here and there, but not making any big moves.
He was waiting for all the other warriors he saw running to catch up and come help. The size of the cat worked against it as he was able to slip under its belly, getting under it and picking it up. Realizing quite quickly how dumb of an idea that was, he dropped it on its back before it could bite off one of his arms. The panther landed on all fours, quickly using one of said fours to swipe at Mike. The paw hit him square in the chest, sending him straight into a tree.
The air left his lungs as the panther went for the kill, once more aiming for his exposed head. Mike briefly thought about how he should have made a helmet, when the panther suddenly veered away and backed up. Jonas, the fastest of the group, had finally caught up, and the spear he wielded was flaming.
He wasn't sure what the man had soaked that thing in to get it to do that, but he certainly wasn't complaining as the alpha seemed quite intimidated by the weapon. Alas, while the fire scarred the panther, it certainly wasn't as averse to flames as the weaker variants had been. Mike got his bearings once more, nodding his thanks at Jonas.
“Keep it back for a moment, I want to try something.” Mike said, having a plan in his head. He began spinning, his hammer outstretched. He spun faster and faster, his hammer making a noise through the air as it got to ridiculous levels of speed. Jonas had a look of confusion, but complied. Mike, oblivious to the weird looks everyone was giving him, reached his top speed of turning.
He moved towards the panther, using all the built up speed to try and hit its head. He missed several times, spinning back around for another try each time. The panther tried to find an opening to attack, but the hammer of doom spun so fast that it was unable to make it past the weapon. Mike was getting a little dizzy by this point, and made one more big swing, putting as much of his stamina that he had left in him as he could.
The hammer struck true at last, caving in the skull of the panther, and killing it instantly. Mike, just like before, basked in the feeling of another fight won. He was beginning to get a bit concerned about just how much he was enjoying the thrill of each fight. It probably wasn't a problem.
“Holy shit!” Aaron shouted, running over to the two. All the other warriors had also caught up, seeming both relieved and a bit disappointed at missing out on the action. “That thing was so big!”
“That's really all you have to say about that?” Jonas asked, catching his breath as the adrenaline wore off.
“It was quite the big kitty.” Mike commented, agreeing with Aaron. Mike looked over and saw one of the warriors poking at the dead body. “Hey! Stop that, you're going to damage the pelt!” Mike ran over, hefting the corpse over his back and running back to the camp that was set up. As he walked out of ear shot, Aaron turned back towards Jonas.
“He is certainly quite the character.” He said with a grin.
“He is quite the scary, strong, and very skilled character. I’m glad he’s a good dude. I can’t imagine how some guys from before the system would handle getting so strong.” Jonas responded, watching Mike set the corpse down and give dirty looks to any who dared to even look at the corpse funny.
“What makes you so sure he’s a good guy?”
“He saved our entire group, that alpha would have slaughtered us if he hadn't been here. I think he has earned a little trust by now. Also, in his own words, he was being very generous for ‘letting us keep the wolf corpse we had stolen right out from under his nose’.”
The two watched as Mike set the body down, leaned on it, and began scrolling through his notifications.