'She will again go for my head, but the same trick won't work on her this time.' Alex thought, making a prediction, as he perfectly landed on his feet.
Alex knew what attack was coming and instantly swung his sword with all his might at the empty air in front of him, and as the blade reached its full momentum, it clashed with something solid, but it didn't stop and sliced right through it like paper.
"CLASHHHH"
(-3000_HP)
'This felt good.' Alex thought as he moved back with rapid steps, looking at the bloodstained paw of the female panther.
"Growllll"
The attack exchange only took three seconds, and other than flawlessly executing a sword strike and drawing his first blood, the only thing Alex achieved was to piss the mighty panther off.
'The Miasma domain will need 36 seconds to complete, and for my plan to work, I need to stall for at least another 6 seconds before using the Tenacity skill.' Alex thought as he rapidly moved back, trying to make some distance.
The miasma field was moving with Alex as the center, and at this moment, it was a small two meter circle of darkness that looked scary to see, but it did no damage.
'This doesn't look good.' Alex thought, seeing both panthers vanishing from their place like ghosts.
'I hate these speedy bastards.' Alex thought as he jumped to the side to avoid the one shadowy blur he could see coming at him.
The speed difference was too great for Alex to keep track of both panthers' movements, but he was experienced enough to react quickly at the moment's notice.
"Crash"
Alex successfully avoided the attacks from the female panther by jumping and rolling to the side, but before he could stand up and defend himself against the male panther, chains made out of shadows manifested around him and captured and immobilized him.
Alex used his sword to immediately break the chain bind, and even though he was successful at it, he was a little late in doing it as before he could even stand up, the panther's wide-open jaw was inches away from crushing his face.
'I have no choice.' Alex thought as he instantly used the Tenacity skill to save his life.
Alex knew that the panther attack wouldn't kill him, but it would be enough to completely immobilize him, and then it would be just a matter of seconds before the two panthers ripped him apart.
"Crushhh"
"Growlll"!!!!!
The panther growled in confusion as he saw Alex's face protected by a thin golden barrier, making it impossible for him close his jaw and crush his target.
'You are dead,' Alex thought as he used the (Blade Intent) and (Life Siphoning Blade Aura) and immediately thrust his sword upward, directly targeting the panther's brain.
The panther was in a state of confusion by his failed attack, but Alex was not and took full advantage of the small window of opportunity and made an all-out attack and went straight for the kill.
The panther sensed danger to his life and tried to back off, but the distance between the sword and his neck was too short for him to evade it in time, and just like Alex wanted the sword pierced right from under his neck and came out from the face slicing everything in the path.
[-72K_HP] (Critical Hit)
[Shadow Panther (Grimras) will lose 500 Hp every second until the bleeding stops.]
[+3500 HP gained]
'The Bastard saved his brain from getting sliced.' Alex thought, seeing the disfigured panther with a wide blade sticking out of his face.
The panther had his neck pierced wide open with everything inside it, and one side of his face was ripped apart by the wide blade, completely destroying his left eye and heavily damaging the right side of his skull, but his brain was safe, making him live.
If Any living creature's vital organ was destroyed, its death was certain, so killing a creature instantly was possible, but practically doing it on the same level of strength was very difficult.
Alex wanted to slice right through the panther's brain and end his life in a single strike, but the panther moved back just enough to save his brain, making him save his life.
"ROARRRRRR"
"You should have chosen the painless and quick route to death," Alex said as he pulled back his sword toward himself with all his might slicing the panther's jaw and neck clean.
"ROOOAAAAARRRRRR"
[-8000_Hp]
[+400_Hp Gained]
The panther roared as the left side of his skull and neck heavily bleed, making him feel agonizing pain, but Alex didn't mind the loud screaming and stepped back to finish the job.
Alex was about to swing the sword with an overhead slash, but before he could move his sword, his body was sent flying through the air as the female panther tackled him at incredible speed.
"BOOOOMM"
Alex crashed into a tree, making a big impact, and even though he received no damage, the experience of flying through the air and smashing into a hard tree was not very nice as his whole body felt like it was run over by a truck.
'I thought I would become invincible to attack under the third Rank?' Alex thought as he took a few deep breaths to calm his mind.
Alex was thinking about a reasonable answer when a spear of shadows blasted him right in the face, and even though the barrier protected him, the impact from the second Rank attack knocked him back to the ground.
'It looks like I can't receive damage, but I will experience the impact of the attack and the pain that come with it.' Alex thought as he stood up and stepped to the side, avoiding a shadow spear aimed at his head.
"The pain is annoying, but it is not a problem," Alex said as he sprinted toward the female panther who stood like guard beside her injured lover.
'The Miasma field will be completed in 21 seconds, but I must kill Grimras before my mana runs dry.' Alex thought as he bent his body down to avoid another magic spear.
Alex reached the attacking range and swung his sword, and his attack was met with by the female panther, who was covered in shadow armor, stopping his blade in its path and forcing Alex to take a few steps back.
Alex didn't back down as he charged back, swinging his giant sword with full power as he kept an eye on the Grimras and his current HP, who was getting drenched in his blood.
'15 more seconds, ' Alex thought as he got pushed back every time his sword clashed with the female panther.
Alex exchanged blows with the female panther, and in fifteen seconds, he successfully drew blood, but the amount of hp she lost was a drop in her massive hp pool.
'Finally, the miasma filed is completed.' Alex thought as he watched in satisfaction as the ten meter land in a circle around him, covered in pure darkness started releasing fumes of darkness into the air.
'Now I need to find a way to kill that bastard before my mana runs dry.' Alex thought as he watched his rapidly draining mana.
MP: 18350/37550
The female panther was attacking Alex, making it impossible for him to reach Grimras, whose bleeding had slowed down significantly, and he still had more than 50K hp left.
'Let's increase the mana output of the miasma filed by three times and see the result.' Alex thought, seeing the female panther losing only 20 hp while standing in the miasma field.
The miasma field consumed 100 mana every second after getting activated, but the mana consumption could be raised to increase the potency of the miasma, and Alex raised it to 300 per second to check the result.
"ROARRRRR'
After feeling no threat from the dark miasma, the female panther manifested a shadow spear above her, directly launching it at Alex, and followed right behind with rage-filled eyes.
Alex easily parried the spear and thrust his sword straight like a spear with all his strength while seeing the darkness fumes released by the field getting faster and thicker with every passing second.
"CLASHH"
Alex kept getting pushed back as the female panther kept attacking him head-on while targeting different areas of his body with shadow spears, but ten or so seconds later, the miasma around her became visibly thicker and started to do more damage than she liked.
[-200_Hp]
[-300_Hp]
---
---
[-1000_Hp]
---
---
[-1000_Hp]
"ROOAAARRRRRRR"
'This is what I like to see.' Alex thought as he watched the female panther's skin sizzle from every place as the darkness miasma burned her skin like potent acid.
The female panther was losing close to two thousand health every second while experiencing the pain of her skin getting erased, but Alex did not fare too well, as his mana was going down at an extreme speed.
The female panther quickly stepped back, exiting the ten-meter radius of the miasma field, and went on the full defense as she watched Alex with eyes filled with fear.
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