Chương 68: Jaguar (1)

Rowan sighed as he watched Cynthia playing with the mana construct he'd created. Somehow, despite having been walking for ages, the girl still had more than enough energy to run and play. Cynthia dodged out of the way of the charging mana-bird and punched at it. But Rowan was ready. Furrowing his brow in concentration, he manipulated the construct, splitting it in two. The bird separated just as the little girl's fist neared, allowing it to dodge as it became two smaller birds.

[Mana Manipulation lvl 20 → Mana Manipulation lvl 21] As Cynthia pulled her fist back, staring at the two birds in confusion, Rowan fused the constructs back together, sending them towards the child. She squealed in alarm and tried to dodge, but the bird simply moved too quickly, crashing into his side. Of course, the mana construct wasn't solid, so it didn't actually harm Cynthia.

The girl crossed her arms and glared at him for a few minutes before looking away, but Rowan wasn't really paying attention; [Mana Manipulation] had finally leveled up. He smiled at the notification. It had certainly been far harder to go from level 20 to 21 than it had been to get from level 19 to 20, but he'd done it. Still smiling, he looked over at the other notification he'd received just earlier.

[Chain Manipulation lvl 13 → Chain Manipulation lvl 14] He hadn't received the notification when he first made his backpack of chains, but after holding it for long enough, it seemed that it'd been enough to push his skill up a level. It probably helped that, since he was now taking a break from being the vanguard, he'd added even more weight to his makeshift pack. The group had been on high alert ever since the thunderous jaguar had attacked, but there hadn't been any real problems.

There'd been a few more attacks, but none of the perpetrators were as powerful as the jaguar had been and were swiftly dealt with without Rowan even needing to step in. Soon, though, he would be sent away from the main group to guard from any more threats. From what he'd seen of the rotations thus far, he would be guarding the group's rear rather than serving as the vanguard this time. Then, from up ahead, he heard Lucas shouting.

Despite his enhanced hearing, he couldn't quite make out what the man was saying, but from the tone of his voice, something important or possibly deadly was going on. Immediately, Rowan broke into a sprint, rushing towards where he heard Lucas shouting. Around him, Jeremy and Emma, who had been helping him carry the gear, broke into a run as well. He slowed down as he neared Cynthia, though, coming to a stop next to her. She squeaked in surprise as she noticed him, but recovered and asked, "What's happening?"

"I don't know," Rowan replied. But he was focused on something else: Lucas's yells had already stopped. He didn't know for sure what had happened, but he feared the worst. Turning around, he saw Henry behind him. Then, he looked back at Cynthia.

"Go to your dad, okay? I need to go see what's happening. Then, he took off, using his new movement technique and tearing through the air. But it still wasn't quite enough. Cursing his dexterity, he pushed himself harder. He was faster than the twins, but not by much. If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. Still pushing his body to its limit, Rowan just hoped that whatever was happening wasn't too bad.

At least he didn't have to worry about Cynthia, since Henry was behind him. If he were alone, he might've had to pick her up and take her with him so that she wasn't left behind. After another thirty seconds of running, Lucas came into view. Yet, to his surprise, the man was entirely unharmed, just staring ahead. Following his gaze, Rowan froze. He was standing on the border between the dense forest and a more open area, with just a few trees placed about.

And, with the newfound visibility granted by the lack of massive trunks to block his view, Rowan could see everything. Just a hundred feet out from them was the body of a giant boar, the size of a large van. Across its side were countless small wounds that looked as if something had been eating into its flesh. Then, looking away from the creature's dead eyes, he looked at the earth around it, only to find bodies. Dozens of them. And the corpses were of bloodspawn.

Brutes, hounds, regular humanoids, and even a few of the armored variants, all lying together in death. Glancing back up at the beast's head, he looked at its tusks. The once white ivory spears, each ten feet long, were now splattered with dried blood from the bloodspawn that were still impaled upon their tips, the tusks piercing straight through their chests. Perhaps it was the same creature that had destroyed the settlement? Henry had said that it had been a boar, after all.

Still, now wasn't the time to think about things like that. Rowan took all of this in in a split-second, his eyes darting around wildly. But just a second later, his gaze focused on the only thing that truly mattered to him: the massive beast lounging and feasting upon the boar's dead body. [Thunderous Jaguar - Level 16]"Oh… fu—" Despite Cynthia not being there, he instinctively cut himself off.

The creature continued taking bite after bite out of the massive corpse beneath it, but its eyes flicked towards them for a moment as it ate. It knew they were there. But the moment she disappeared into the woods, the twins stepped out just a few meters from where they'd entered. Immediately, they froze, staring at the massive jaguar and the gory scene that surrounded it. A second later, Henry and Eren appeared as well. Without Cynthia. As they too stared at the massive beast, Rowan moved up to them.

"Where's Cynthia? You got her, right? Don't tell me she's still back there. Henry blinked.

"It's alright. Cynthia's waiting a bit deeper into the trees. But…what are we going to do about that?" He gestured at the massive cat. Already, the jaguar had stopped eating the boar, instead yawning and stretching as it stood up, staring at them all the while.

"I—" Rowan stopped. What were they going to do? Could they run? He wasn't sure; the last jaguar had already been terrifyingly fast, and this one was seven levels higher. If they split up, some of them would probably get away, but the cat would surely catch one or two of them. And while he thought he could hold his own against the jaguar, he wasn't sure the rest of the group could. Then, he stopped. What if he could do more than just hold his own against the creature? What if he could win?

For a while now, he'd seen everything above level 10 as some terrifying, powerful creature. And there was no denying that they were powerful. But he was level 13. He was one of them. He'd feared them so much back in the caves, not because he feared that they would kill him—well, he feared that everything would kill him—but because a single nick from them could spread and put him out of commission for days. And down there, his only source of food and water had been through killing more and more bloodspawn.

A single injury could make him incapable of hunting them for long enough that he might run out of rations. But, thinking back, he'd only truly lost a single battle against a bloodspawn, and that had been when he was three levels lower than he was now. That time, the presence in his chains had bailed him out. Now, though, he was not only at a higher level, but his control and abilities with both of his skills had vastly increased. He had more room now, too, which meant he could move around as much as he wanted.

The overly cautious habits of his old life had carried over to his new one, but it was time to let them go; he wasn't powerless anymore. Against bloodspawn after bloodspawn, he'd won. Against the poison in the wounds he received during those fights, he'd won. Against the broodmother, he'd won. He'd already decided that his sole goals were to grow stronger and complete the layer quest. And how could he do that if he was going to run away from any fight that seemed like a challenge? Rowan smiled viciously.

The him from just a few months ago would've fled from the fight, doing everything to escape. To survive. But he wasn't the same man any longer. He didn't need to scrape along at the bottom of society to survive. No, he was going to fight.