Rise of the Lions (4)

"Thank the gods for this path that was created all those years ago, it would be a royal pain in the ass to descend from the plateau without it," exclaimed Erwik

"Haha, isn't everything a "royal" pain in the ass for you, your majesty?" asked Trynid in a playful manner

"sigh, sometimes I wonder why I put up with your annoying banter, who knows, that head full of hair as dark as the night might look even better atop a pike," said Erwik shooting a grin at Trynid

"Aha, you can't be serious, you love my jokes don't you Erwik?"

"I mean, there is no way our just and righteous king would unjustly execute me right?"

All that Trynid was met with was a small chuckle as Erwik kept walking down the path.

"R-right, your majesty?" said Trynid with a slight falter in his words

The retinue of one king, his favorite 5th cousin, 10 Royal Knights(minimum of 3rd tier aura knights), and a troop of 20 2nd tier aura knights, along with 10 porters, continued their descent as Trynid kept trying to make jokes that were not landing.

...

It had been a few hours since the king and co. had left the immediate territory of Likon City.

At the moment they were walking through a small forest that separated the plateau and the bay in which the new port town would be built.

(Picture of Tarkel's Plateau --->)

It would only be half an hour or so before the group ventured into the territory of the various cave lion prides.

After forty more minutes of walking accompanied by Trynid's horrible jokes, they had finally made it to the first pride who they would hunt.

This particular pride of cave lions was notorious for attacking any surveyors or explorers sent down from the city, out of over 50 people sent, only 6 have come back, 3 still having all limbs attached.

So, going off of the past track record, it came as no surprise when the hunting party was surrounded by 3 male cave lions accompanied by 12 lionesses.

One of the main reasons why cave lion prides are so dangerous was due to the fact that, unlike most normal plains lions, there wasn't a need to banish the other male lions from the pride, instead, it was a battle as to who would lead the pride, the losers just becoming another member of the pride instead of banishment. (This is completely made up for the story, I have no idea how real cave lion prides worked in real life.)

One of the advantages of being the "Alpha" cave lion as they are called, is the privilege of getting the first bite on the food that was hunted, after the cubs eat that is. Unlike modern lions who eat all they want and leave the scraps for the rest, evolution has led the cave lions of Saxonia to develop in the direction of protecting and nurturing their young, in doing so they almost guarantee the continuation of the pride.

Due to this special characteristic, cave lion prides if left alone for a long period of time, can easily grow to the size of a couple of dozen adults, there is record of a super pride who once inhabited the area south of the plateau that numbered in the hundreds, with some of the males controlling "branch prides".

Branch prides are offshoots of the main pride that the younger brothers of the leader of the pride are usually tasked with leading into new areas and taking over.

The steady creation of branch prides was how that now extinct pride was able to grow to such numbers.

Not only can they decimate enemies due to numbers and ferocity, but cave lions also have the size to back up their power.

The average male cave lion can reach upwards of 140cm tall and 235cm long, with the females reaching about 125cm tall and 220cm long, anything past that and they become above average or even giant in size.

Now armed with this knowledge, it was understandable why the party had reacted in an almost scared manner when they noticed the large pride that was circling them.

The fact that there were most likely another 8-10 adult cave lions lying in wait somewhere to act as backup, further drove the knights and porters into fear.

King Erwik II, Trynid, and the 10 3rd tier Royal Knights were the only ones who were still standing there not trembling.

Although the cave lions were powerful, they were still mortal.

"All of you lot who are scared better man up or I will make sure that a cave lion doing you in is the least of your worries, now, I need four of you knights to each target one of the males, do not stray from your squad, that is, unless you have a death wish!" yelled Erwik as he gave orders

"Royal Knights, everyone except Samek, form teams of three and target the remaining cave lions, once you have slew one, move on to another, if possible, render immediate aid to any squad that is still engaged with one of these beasts!"

"What about us?" asked Trynid referring to Erwik, Samek, and himself

"Trynid, I want you and Samek to work together and quickly take out as many cave lions as you can, don't worry about helping the others, they can handle themselves, I want you to work quickly, we do not know if the rest of the pride will come to join the party so let's make this quick," replied Erwik

Trynid and Samek both exchanged a quick nod before they dashed into the fray.

As the duo dashed away to find a target, It was long before King Erwik II was met by another king of sorts.

Standing in front of Erwik was a cave lion that stood at 160cm tall and 255cm in length, a good 20cm larger in both height and length as compared to normal cave lions.

This mighty beast that stood maybe 3 meters away from Erwik was undoubtedly the alpha of the pride.

And just his luck that Erwik would be immediately confronted by such a powerful beast.

Although the match-up of Erwik and the alpha cave lion seemed like a fair battle on paper due to him being a peak 5th tier aura knight and the alpha having an average strength comparable to a 5th tier, that wasn't the only thing that had to be taken into account.

Sure, the cave lion's amount of mana is roughly around that of a 5th-tier aura knight, hence, Erwik a peak 5th tier should be able to kill the alpha with a little amount of struggle, but what most people don't take into account, is the monstrous strength that the alpha boasts, along with its natural beast instincts.

...

Erwik and the alpha cave lion had been circling around each other sizing one another up for the past couple of minutes.

Unbeknownst to the current humans of Saxonia, according to Tristan's universal guide on all beasts, the cave lions that the party is currently fighting are 2nd tier beasts.

Although there are natural-born cave lions, a regular tier 1 lion, plains, forest, hills, etc, with enough fighting and battle experience, along with unconscious mana accumulation, can evolve into a cave lion, hence the title of tier 2.

Once a lion evolves into a cave lion, or in the case of natural-born cave lions, they gain a little more intelligence compared to a 1st tier lion.

All second-tier creatures gain intelligence comparable to a 5-year-old human child, along with the beginnings of consciousness, something which on earth, only humans get to enjoy.

Once a beast reaches the threshold for evolution again, it will officially evolve into a magic beast.

2nd tier beasts, while able to sort of tap into the accumulated mana within their bodies, can only enhance their physical body to a certain point, in fact, the alpha cave lion that Erwik is currently having a staring contest with, if he survives the battle and lives for another year or two, can most likely evolve into the 3rd tier.

Once a beast reaches the 3rd tier, that is when they gain the ability to wield mana outside of their body, most beasts that are of the 3rd tier usually have an element in front of their name, there are even some cases where a beast, when either born or through evolution, can gain a mutation that is similar to Bloodline powers in humans.

While not all mutations can cause a beast to have different coloring, the gains and sometimes losses that happen through a mutation vary in severity.

For the truly unlucky specimens, they can gain a mutation, but instead of getting a new power or something to help them survive longer and become more powerful, they can gain a deformity.

Most beasts who are deformed, however, very rarely live long.

Back to the battle of the two kings.

After another minute of scrutinizing each other, the alpha cave lion was the first to pounce, figuratively and literally.

The alpha jumped towards Erwik using all of its strength contained in that one jump, with one leap the alpha covered a good 2 and a half meters of distance.

Seeing the incoming predator, Erwik quickly sidestepped and lept a meter away from the landing spot of the alpha.

Once the lion landed, Erwik, without hesitation, dashed towards the furious beast, Erwik sent out a powerful aura-reinforced thrust towards the left shoulder of the lion with his trusty bronze spear.

that's right, the humans of the island and as far as Erwik knows, the world, are still within the height of the bronze age.

Going into the fight, he knew it was going to be a challenge to take down the mighty beast with a flimsy bronze spear, but using his aura, Erwik planned to close the gap in power with his expert-level use of aura.

Not expecting the human in front of him to attack so suddenly, the alpha was caught off guard but was able to quickly evade, but he was fast enough, the spear edge, although superficial, was still able to cut deep enough into the lion that he became annoyed.

What? you were expecting some miracle attack to land, bah! this is a "realistic" fight smh.

Now enraged, the intellectually underdeveloped alpha started running towards Erwik in a mad charge in an attempt to do some damage to the human who dared to cut him.

Erwik, sensing the impending danger, sent aura into his legs and lept 2 meters into the air and 4 meters forward to dodge the crazed lion and to gain some wiggle room to work with.

Funnily enough, the alpha cave lion ended up ramming into a tree that was right behind Erwik, thus causing an unintentional head injury and effectively disorienting the lion for a quick minute.

Hey, I never said that he couldn't get lucky, now did I?

Once the beast reoriented himself, the lion once again charged toward Erwik who had assumed a stance with his shield out in front and spear forward.

...

Erwik had now been duking it out with the mad lion for a good hour now, both sides were battered up, but the lion had a few more wounds and cuts as compared to Erwik who more so had blunt injuries due to getting knocked around within the thick forest they currently fought in.

Both sides were exhausted, but unwilling to lose and subsequently die, the two enemies went back and forth at each other for another hour.

Erwik would land a powerful blow or a muscle-tearing thrust with his spear into the lion, and in return, the lion would either swipe towards his chest or neck or he would ram Erwik to the ground or into a natural boundary.

"Fuck! this damn beast won't stay down!" yelled Erwik as the lion rose from the ground after getting stabbed for the twenty-something time

"My king!"

It would seem King Erwik II's saving grace had come in the form of his two beat-up vassals, Samek and Trynid.

"Why are you two over here?"

"You should be helping the other knights!" said Erwik with a stern tone

"My king, we have almost taken out the remaining lions, what's left of the pride is being dealt with by the remaining knights," replied Samek while catching his breath

"How many have we lost?" asked Erwik

"We lost two Royal Knights, along with 7 of the other knights who came with us," reported Trynid

"Shit, we need to deal with this stubborn bastard quickly so we can go help and ensure no more casualties."

After the quick exchange, the three men, one peak 5th-tier aura knight, and two 4th-tier aura knights were about to face the now battered alpha cave lion.

"RAHH!" roared the trio as they ran into battle in hopes of finally slaying the beast in front of them.