Im had dug a large pit in the woods, using magic instead of his hands—magic sure made tedious work easy. He'd raised several pineapple-shaped stone pillars at the pit's bottom, and Flower had stuck sharpened wooden stakes into the dirt below. Honestly, though, if a real magical beast showed up, Leon doubted those stakes would do much.
Magical beasts had far tougher defenses than ordinary animals.
"Help! Help! Teacher, help!"
Suddenly, both boys heard a desperate cry for help.
Flower turned to Im, his voice tight with worry. "Teacher, was that Dahlia yelling?"
"It sounded like her!" Im nodded, casting a listening spell to amplify his hearing. Sure enough, Dahlia's panicked shouts cut through the forest air, clear as day.
Im took off running, casting a haste spell on himself to speed up. "Dahlia's in danger! I'm going ahead—follow me, and stay alert!"
By the time he finished speaking, his voice was already fading into the trees, he was moving so fast.
On the other side of the woods, Leon was leaning against a thick oak tree, gasping for breath. The massive black panther in front of him was still circling, yellow eyes locked on him, looking for a weak spot to attack.
At first, Leon hadn't been too scared—he didn't fully grasp how dangerous this panther was. But after two rounds of fighting, he realized he had no way to break through its defenses. If he hadn't used his Mage Hand tentacles to block its claws several times, he would have been torn to shreds already.
His crossbow was back at the camp, too bulky to carry while exploring. If he had it, he could have at least inflicted some damage.
Now fear was setting in. The initial adrenaline rush had worn off, and he was left with the cold realization that he was outmatched. Luckily, the panther seemed to have a basic animal fear of fire.
But this wasn't a normal beast. The first time he hit it with a flame spell, it hadn't even flinched. Once it lost its patience or realized the fire wasn't actually a threat, Leon knew he wouldn't last much longer.
He wasn't as fast or strong as the panther. The only thing keeping him alive was his quick reflexes—something he'd picked up from his past life's gaming habits.
Dahlia had crept to the edge of the woods, peering cautiously inside. She saw Leon on the ground, the panther pinning him down, its mouth inches from his throat—only Leon's writhing Mage Hand tentacles were holding it back. It looked like they were tangled in a terrible, desperate struggle.
Dahlia didn't think anything inappropriate—she was too innocent for that, unlike Leon, who'd seen way too many silly internet videos in his past life.
She quickly raised her crossbow, aimed at the panther's unprotected back, and fired.
"Roar!" The bolt hit its mark, sinking into the panther's thick fur. The panther hissed in pain, its grip loosening. Leon used all his strength, plus the help of his tentacles, to flip the panther off him. He rolled away and scrambled to his feet.
The panther got up, ignoring Leon—who clearly couldn't hurt it—and turned its rage on Dahlia. It roared and lunged at her.
Dahlia hadn't had time to reload. She froze in fear, stumbled backward, and fell to the ground.
Leon ran forward, his Mage Hand tentacles stretching out. He grabbed the bolt sticking out of the panther's back, pushed it deeper, and pulled backward. The small wound tore open, and blood started flowing down the panther's side.
Dahlia's bolt was powerful, but the panther's thick fur had slowed it down, so it hadn't penetrated very deep. Leon's action made the wound several times bigger, but it was still just a flesh wound—nothing life-threatening for a beast this tough.
The panther had been about to pounce, but the pain made it lose its balance and crash to the ground.
It got up immediately, turned, and lunged at Leon. But Leon had used the split second to conjure a large fireball—well, more like a big, glowing ball of fire—and hurled it at the panther.
He didn't wait to see if it hit. Using his Mage Hand tentacles to help him climb, he scrambled up the nearest tree as fast as he could.
The fireball blocked the panther's vision, and by the time it cleared, Leon was already twenty feet up in the branches. The panther's back was bleeding heavily, blood pooling on the forest floor. Leon had made the bolts with slotted, three-edged heads—designed for piercing armor and tearing wounds, a trick he'd learned from his past life's knowledge of ballistics.
The panther tried to climb the tree after him, growling and snarling, but it wasn't as agile as a normal house cat. It couldn't climb as fast or as skillfully.
Leon used his tentacles to swat at the panther's paws, preventing it from getting a good grip on the tree bark.
The panther gave up on Leon and turned back to Dahlia, who was now fumbling to reload her crossbow. It had learned from its mistake this time—when Dahlia fired, it dodged the bolt easily. It seemed to realize Dahlia was the bigger threat, so it ignored Leon and charged at her.
Dahlia didn't know what to do. She didn't know if she should run away or try to climb a tree like Leon had.
Just as she was panicking, she heard a loud shout: "You dare!"
A massive fireball crashed into the ground in front of the panther, exploding and sending the beast flying backward.
Im had arrived. He ran to Dahlia's side, scanning her for injuries. "Dahlia! Are you okay? Where's Leon?"
Dahlia pointed up at the tree. "He's up there!"
The panther got up, surprisingly unharmed—its fire resistance was incredibly high. It crouched low, yellow eyes blazing with anger as it stared at Im.
"So it's a Shadow Bladed Panther," Im said, his voice serious. "That's why we couldn't track it or sense any mana residue. These creatures are masters of stealth."
He turned to his students to explain. "Shadow Bladed Panthers can hide their mana and scent completely, moving through shadows without leaving a trace. They're the perfect ambush predators. If we hadn't found its claw marks, it would have attacked us at night, and we would have been lucky to escape alive."
Before he could finish speaking, the Shadow Bladed Panther turned and vanished into the shadows. Im quickly raised his staff.
"Light Burst!" A brilliant, blinding light exploded from his staff. The panther was forced out of the shadows behind a nearby tree, its black fur glowing faintly in the sudden light. No one knew how it had gotten behind Im so quickly.
Im waved his staff, and a flurry of sharp wind blades shot toward the panther, hitting it from all directions.
The panther was caught off guard. It tried to dodge, but it was too slow. Several wind blades cut through its fur, leaving deep, bleeding wounds.
The panther roared in fury—it had never been hurt this badly before. It spat a shadow bolt at Im, but Im summoned an ice shield to block it. The ice shield corroded under the shadow magic, but it held long enough to protect him.
Im cast a slow spell on the panther. The beast suddenly felt its body grow heavy, every movement becoming slow and labored, like it was moving through thick mud.
"Shoot it!" Im ordered Dahlia, conjuring a large ice lance in his hand.
Dahlia did as she was told, firing her crossbow at the panther. The beast was slowed by the spell and couldn't dodge in time. The bolt hit it again, sinking deep into its shoulder.
The panther roared in agony. It shook its body violently, as if that could break the slow spell's hold.
Then the ice lance shot through its chest, pinning it to the ground.
The Shadow Bladed Panther twisted and struggled for a moment, then went still, its yellow eyes glazing over.
"Dahlia, are you okay?" Flower finally arrived, breathless—he'd gotten lost on the way over, the typical latecomer.
"If you'd come any later, I'd be dead," Dahlia said, her voice shaking as she got to her feet.
Flower looked around, his eyes widening when he saw the massive black panther pinned to the ground by the ice lance, blood pooling around it.
"Wow, that's huge! And it's completely black! Is this the thing that attacked you?"
"This is a Shadow Bladed Panther," Im explained, cleaning his staff off with a cloth. "They're incredibly rare and dangerous. We got lucky we caught it in the open like this."