Chapter 2: Winged Panther and the Hunter

The creature gracefully bolted from branch to branch stealthily, as if observing and gauging their capabilities from above the tree, partially hidden in the shadows. With its purely black fur, it would have gone unnoticed if not for the unwavering bright golden eyes that became a dead giveaway of its presence. These eyes stared at them directly, focused, and obviously desirous of their flesh.

But one particular feature made Valier feel a sudden chill from the very depths of this spine. As the panther moved from one branch to another, it would partially reveal its body, and what he saw made him almost tuck his tail in between his legs and run in fear. It was not a normal animal. This panther had wings!

Gulping the lump in his throat he never knew he had, he forced himself to hold his ground despite feeling his legs jelly. "No… T-That's not a panther… That's a Beast Panther!"

Galleon heard his audibly shaken voice, and gaped in shock and disbelief that he became extremely pale meeting the gaze of the creature. He was unsure if it was his imagination, but the Beast seemed to be staring just at him. Inwardly, he wanted to sprint as fast as his legs could take him, but he knew that was a bad idea.

"A-Are you sure… you aren't kidding right?" Galleon mumbled under his breath, unwilling to believe the absurdity of the current situation. He was well aware of the existence of Beasts in Shrouded Forest, but encountering one was as rare as finding a fallen star. Not to mention this close to the hunter camp. What bad luck!

"It has wings…" Valier mumbled with a pale face.

"That's it, we're dead." Galleon felt hopeless. He highly doubted his cheap daggers could even graze the fur of such a strong animal, let alone kill it. Adding to that was the ability of the creature to fly. There was no escape. But despite his thoughts, he did not drop on the ground in submission.

Valier felt relieved of Galleon's strong spirit, and solely targeted his attention towards the stalker high above. His arms, which were beginning to feel sore from all the effort, did not relax. He did not strike the winged panther first, since there was still a small chance of it losing interest in them. Furthermore, if he fired, it would only hasten their deaths.

As he carefully monitored the creature, he noticed something that ignited a bit of hope inside him. It was not obvious before due to the creature's body mostly blending with the darkness, but after a minute, Valier saw the creature was smaller than an adult panther, and the wings did not seem to be very developed as there were featherless patches.

"Did you notice?" He asked Galleon without breaking eye contact with the Beast.

"Yeah… it's not an adult yet." Galleon had also kept a close tab on the creature.

"So that's why it can't properly fly yet… it can mostly jump higher than a regular panther."

Galleon saw hope. "So we can do it if we work together."

Valier quickly shunned him down with cold hard facts. "No. A Beast is still a Beast. And you're still a noob in combat. You're just gonna get in the way. The best you can do is run and get assistance from the camp. Do you understand?"

Those words stabbed Galleon deeply, but he understood Valier had no time for sugarcoating words. Everything he let out were facts anyway. Unlike Valier, he had less time spent in training combat as he was not a hunter but a gatherer, so his fighting skills were still below average. The only good skill he has was running and quick reflexes.

"I promise I will, Val. Be careful." Galleon understood and slowly stepped back, carefully inching closer towards the back of the pine tree. After a couple of silent seconds, his figure disappeared behind it, pissing off the winged panther as one of its prey vanished from sight.

Hiss!

Hearing the sound reverberating menacingly, Valier unhurriedly replaced his arrow with those having a gray cloth-ball on the tip. He did not just grab one, but placed three in between his fingers and stretched the three strings to their full potential. "Don't worry, I have some tricks myself. Just make sure to return in less than five minutes."

"Got it." Behind the pine tree, Galleon responded as he stretched his legs in preparation for the mad dash he would perform.

"Run."

Swoosh!

Without a moment of pause, Galleon spirited away from the tree, and into the woods. Seeing this, and the arrow heading towards itself, the winged panther unfolded its pair wings and leaped from the branch, gliding in Galleon's direction with its sharp claws exposed. It dodged Valier's first strike.

"Focus…!" Valier was not disheartened that he missed the first time, instead, he kept his eyes sharp while following the creature's movement as it traveled in the air. While doing so, he kept his aim, and composure, despite the winged panther being a few meters away from Galleon's back.

Swoosh!

His finger let go of the string, sending the arrow directly at the panther. In just a second, it was inches away, and the panther failed to change direction within that time frame.

Puff!

There was a muffled boom before the whole creature was engulfed by a cloud of yellow pollen powder while falling on the ground, painting the surroundings in a similar shade. Unfortunately, this only fazed the panther for a second before it flapped its wings, pushing the pollen out of the way.

When it was cleared, Galleon was nowhere to be found, and only Valier remained with a new set of arrows ready to be released. He did not provide the creature a chance to process, and shot without mercy.

The arrow hurled, but the panther was prepared this time and jumped to the side. Just as expected, the arrow missed and exploded in a puff of cloud. The creature quickly decided to retaliate by bolting towards Valier at great speed with its fangs out.

Swoosh!

Seeing this, Valier released another shot towards the speeding creature. At the same time, he step-sided to avoid the panther's deadly claws.

Pluck! Puff!

To his joy, he his arrow piercing the wing before everything around him was enveloped by the pollen cloud. But his feeling of elation was quickly replaced with horror, as something popped-out from the haze. It was a wing.

"Shi—!" Immediately, he brought the bow in front.

BAM!

The bow took the direct hit, but he was blasted by the strong force that came with the attack that his back slammed against the tall pine tree.

Bam!

"Arghh…" He winced in pain as he felt backbones stinging. But as he was not willing to be devoured, he did not waste time whimpering and stood up while glaring ferociously at the Beast.

Unlike Valier, the winged panther followed its instinct to stop the pain. It was forcibly shaking and scratching the arrow off of the right wing covered in yellow pollen. But as its efforts bore no satisfying result, the panther stopped its needless action and looked at Valier dead in the eye.

GROWL!

Despite standing only a meter tall, and considered a cub in normal panther standards, this creature possessed an incredibly loud growl that was undoubtedly heard from a kilometer away, coupled with its deadly fangs and claws, it increased the fear in Valier despite his outward tough act.

Just then, the winged panther charged, much faster than before!

It came as a surprise to Valier, but he was quick to react and hastily ran to the back of the tree.

The panther clawed nothing but the wooden bark, creating deep marks. Afterwards, the creature went after Valier. But when it arrived at the back of the tree, it saw nothing.

Growl!

Stab!

The sound caught its attention and made the panther look up, only to see Valier scaling the Loblolly pine's branchless bark using two arrows that he stabbed repeatedly on the wooden surface. He was skillful in climbing trees, so he managed to place a large gap between him and the panther quickly. But this gap proved nothing with wings.

Flap!

The panther left the ground by a strong gust of wind that sent it propelling upwards. When the panther was high enough, it stabbed its sharp claws on the wood, and catapulted forward once again. On its track, it left deep cuts of the wood, and ferocious sounds that sent shivers down Valier's spine.

But as he gritted his teeth anxiously, he finally reached the part of the tree with branches and positioned himself. He rapidly pulled the bowstring at the same time, sending three arrows all at once!

PUFF!

Three arrows were destroyed by the claw before they could injure the panther, creating a grand display of yellow clouds in broad daylight. It certainly looked pretty, but there was nothing delightful about it in Valier's mind, having realized his loss of vision.

"Fudge!" His first response was to get higher where the pollen cloud did not shroud. But before he could relocate to a higher place, a cold breeze brushed past him as the pollens were swatted away, revealing the terrifying feline's mouth with sharp teeth at arm's reach.

At this moment, Valier felt everything was moving slowly as a single thought resonated inside his mind.

'Survive!'

In a fleeting moment, he held the bow's body with both hands and positioned it forward, meeting the panther's injurious fangs. The fangs clamped on the wooden frame, and cracks formed abruptly. But that was not his concern at the moment, as the whole weight of the creature pushed him off the edge.