Chương 69: Jaguar (2)

"Everyone!" Rowan shouted, trying to get the group's attention.

"I'm going to stay and fight it. Hopefully, none of us will die. But if I fail, you'll all be far enough away to escape." He spoke as if there was a chance that he would lose, but inside, he didn't even allow himself to consider such a thing. It would only hold him back, and he was confident anyway. Eren looked like she wanted to protest, but she just gritted her teeth and nodded.

The twins grabbed and poked at Lucas, who was still frozen, staring at the massive jaguar, until he snapped out of his stupor and turned to join the rest of the group. Once everyone was gathered, Henry said, "Meet us at the town; you remember how to get there, right?" Rowan nodded. Their destination wasn't far from where they were.

"Good luck, Rowan. And thank you." The rest of the group—even the twins and whatever prevented them from speaking most of the time—echoed the sentiment. Then, Eren smiled at him.

"You're crazy." She let out a little laugh, but there was no real emotion behind it, like she was pretending to be happy.

"Try not to die, okay?" Rowan nodded. And then, they were gone. Looking towards the massive beast that had gotten up and was now slowly walking toward him, he looked at his body's condition. The wound on his side was still there, but it wouldn't be anything more than a minor annoyance. His arm, which had been nearly destroyed by the presence in his chains what seemed like ages ago, was all but healed.

It still felt slightly off, which meant there was probably some little ligament or tendon in it that hadn't been properly healed, but it wouldn't impede him at all during the fight. In fact, it was so little that he hadn't even thought about the injury in the past couple of days. As for his mana, it was almost completely full. There was a small, almost unnoticeable amount missing because of his time spent playing with Cynthia, but even that was rapidly regenerating.

Turning his attention to his chains, Rowan realized that four of them were still occupied carrying the boxes on his back. He couldn't have that. With a sigh, he released the boxes as gently as he could, moving them with his chains until he set them on the floor. Then, with everything out of the way, he rolled his shoulders and faced the oversized cat, mana dagger in hand and chains extending. As per usual, he formed one of them into a flail. But he didn't stop there, creating a second ball of chains as well.

All the while, the jaguar continued to watch him with a mix of caution and curiosity. Taking full advantage of the time the creature was giving him, Rowan began to form several mana darts, only to stop, remembering something. Taking his dagger, he cut off his mana flow to it and threw it aside. From the same kind of mana, he created a handle with an oversized hand guard more than a foot across. Then, using the semi-stable mana, he formed it into a blade, fusing it to the handle he'd just created.

He still wasn't sure how it worked, but something about the mana's properties meant that hitting things with it caused it to destabilize more quickly, allowing it to explode within the beast's flesh. Deciding to do one final thing before he engaged the beast, Rowan poured more mana into the blade, elongating it until the dagger was less like a dagger and more akin to a shortsword. He hadn't drawn his sword yet, since he wanted to test out his new exploding blades on his opponent.

Once it was used up, though, he would switch to the weapon he'd been given. He took a deep breath and, cycling mana through his body, he prepared to face the jaguar. The cat continued to circle him, watching him with both caution and curiosity. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Seeing that the cat didn't seem interested in making the first move, Rowan did. He finished forming his mana darts and, a moment later, they shot forward.

Rowan pushed them with everything he had, not giving the beast even a moment to react. And yet, the jaguar dodged away, moving with speed belying its size. It was twice the size of the last cat he'd faced, meaning that it was about four times larger than a regular jaguar. And, just like its kin, it seemed that most of its points were put into dexterity. Gritting his teeth in annoyance as he watched the mana darts shoot past the beast, Rowan whipped one of his chain flails forward.

It flew towards the creature, moving before the cat had even landed after jumping away from the darts. Before the chains hit it, though, the jaguar touched the ground. Its paws brushed the forest floor for a mere moment before it pushed off, dodging once more. And, as the flail slammed into the earth, sending dirt spraying into the air, the cat was well out of the way. But despite the failed attack, Rowan smiled.

Partly because he thought he was genuinely going to enjoy the fight, but mostly because he'd already sent his other ball of chains toward the creature. He saw the moment it realized that another attack was coming, but there was nothing it could do. The jaguar still managed to touch down on the forest floor, but as it attempted to leap away, the flail struck. Unable to fully escape, the cat twisted, trying to mitigate the damage.

But the attack still hit, the ball of chains grazing its side before slamming into the dirt beneath it. The creature let out a roar of pain as it was blasted away by the force of the chains striking the ground. It flew back, but a cloud of dirt and dust blocked Rowan's view of the oversized beast. A few seconds later, the dust settled, allowing him to see his opponent. The cat was injured, blood leaking from where the chains had grazed its side.

Other than that, though, it seemed unharmed as it began darting around once more. Rowan frowned as he saw the torn flesh on his opponent's flank. His chains weren't even sharp, and it had just been a glancing blow. Sure, the speed would probably be enough to still tear the skin of most enemies, but the gouges on its side were far deeper than he expected. It seemed that, like its weaker brethren, the jaguar's toughness was seriously lacking. As he drew the flails back toward himself, the cat began to circle him.

A moment later, he copied it, circling as well. For a few seconds, they watched each other, waiting for their opponent to make a move. But as Rowan made his way past a seemingly random tree, he activated his [Mana Manipulation]. From within the trunk, two blurs of blue emerged, shooting straight toward the jaguar. It noticed the projectiles and tried to move out of the way, but it just wasn't fast enough. One of the darts passed over its head, but the other buried itself in one of its hind legs.

It didn't do much damage, but hopefully, it would impede the creature's movement. Using his skill, Rowan searched for more darts in the area, but there were none to be found. The two he'd just used had gotten stuck in the tree after the jaguar had dodged his initial barrage, but with how sparse the forest became in the area they were fighting in, it seemed that the other projectiles had flown past the tree and far out of his range. Still, he'd landed another blow on the creature, and that was what mattered.

The jaguar, seeming to realize that it would lose the fight if it allowed him to stay at a distance, let out a resounding roar before sprinting forward. Rowan's eyes widened as the beast shot toward him. He'd known the beast was fast, but this was something else entirely. He cursed and pushed off the ground, leaping straight up. He flew upward, soaring dozens of feet above the cat's head. It looked around in confusion for a moment before glancing up toward him.

Despite the fresh injury, it loaded all of its weight onto its legs, waiting to leap at him once he'd come down a bit. Seeing what the creature was doing, Rowan just smiled. Then, as gravity began to pull him downward, his opponent jumped, maw wide open. At the same time, he swung both of his flails, sending them toward where he thought the jaguar would be.

It was frustratingly difficult to make the chains move how he wanted while he was falling through the air, but with the help of constant adjustments from [Chain Manipulation], he made it work. [Chain Manipulation lvl 14 → Chain Manipulation lvl 15] As the oversized cat leaped up to meet him, his chains reached their target, slamming into the beast.

His aim had been slightly off, since he'd had to predict where it would be, but they still struck the creature's already injured hind leg, the two flails working in tandem to crush bone. The jaguar let out a roar of agony, not even trying to attack him anymore as its leg was shattered. Rowan gritted his teeth as he collided mid-air with the beast's body. Not trying to give the cat a chance to retaliate, he pushed off of it, flying backward.

It was awkward to push off of a moving creature in the middle of a leap, and as he launched off of it, he felt himself spinning through the air, unable to control where he landed. But even as he crashed into the dirt floor of the forest, he let out a little laugh. With one of its legs crippled, the jaguar had lost the one advantage it had over him. Now, all there was to do was finish the fight.