In an F rank dungeon.
Under the bright light that shone across the plain,
Lucas was fighting at the front with Morgana proving him support while Agnus was lazily yawning at the side.
Only the three of them were hunting in the dungeon.
Aaron was busy with some work while Esper had taken leave for some matter, so now it was only these three left to carry on the dungeon activities.
After finishing the minor F ranked monster, Lucas was about to look for another one when he heard Morgana shout "Lucas hold on a second."
Morgana asked Lucas to stay still as she scanned the trees across the side. She was feeling uneasy as if someone starting them.
She was scanning around the area for any danger before moving ahead.
"Sis Morgan what did you find? "Lucas asked gripping his sword tightly preparing himself for any possible dangers.
Lucas looked around but he failed to notice anything wrong around the trees. But as he focused on his surroundings, he could hear the faint growling sound of some beasts who might be approaching them stealthily, hiding somewhere.
Morgana finally noticed some faint movement and chanted some words, casting a spell on the branch of a certain tree nearby us.
As a ray of light shot towards the branch, a small shadow appeared as it leapt from the branch to avoid the incoming attack. Lucas could see it now.
It was a dark panther that had minor concealing ability and it leapt straight towards Agnus.
Angus wasn't afraid in the least as the panther rank was lower than him and he was more than ready to take it on, taking a defensive stance holding a shield he fends off, as the Panther launches a series of the onslaught on him which he defended by pushing the shield towards it
Snap.
Within less than a second, the panther jumped back and nearly escaped from its body being hit by Agnus's shield as he charged towards it fearlessly.
Dark panthers generally had good concealment skills and wouldn't attack in the day or would find a suitable face having dark areas to attack. An encounter like this was rather unusual.
Angus holding his shield in one hand, used his sword to give a few blows with the other. The dark panther which was in the F rank was by no means an ordinary kitten.
Though its attacks were ineffective against Agnus's, with its superior agility it managed to dodge every single one of his sword attacks.
'It's agility is higher to compared to peak 2-Star realm. In no way it can dodge Agnus attack if not's for his superior speed cause Agnus is slowed down by his equipment." Lucas spoke as he observed the fight.
After contemplating for some time, Lucas leapt ahead to join the fight and signalled Morgana to interfere if the situation goes out of hand.
The dark Panther didn't spare a glance to Lucas. Judging from its experience it didn't think Lucas was its enemy and felt his strength doesn't lose any danger to it. At most, it was can delay, its time in hunting its prey.
The shadow panther can be said to be partly right. Lucas didn't interfere in his fight with Agnus and stood near them monitoring their blows.
Even though Lucas has gone through a fair share of fights and even manage to defeat ones stronger than him, he didn't charge ahead carelessly. On top of that, he was fighting this type of monster for the first time. So he shouldn't let down his guard.
Lucas circled from the distance, waiting for an opportunity to strike. Taking his sword stance he waited for the signal while Agnus engaged with it one on one.
After going back and forth, Agnus finally found an opening and aimed for the panther's neck.
Still, it was fast enough to dodge it but it didn't come out unscathed and a small cut was a form over his shoulders. The cut looked small but it was deep.
As the blood trickled down the cut, knowing it is in danger it growled giving a loud shout as if to call someone.
Morgana panicked seeing the panther calling for help as no one knows how strong the monster it's calling was.
So without wanting to give it, any chance to call for help. Morgana aimed the spell towards it.
As she was about to cast a spell, A figure flashed before them and the dark Panther disappeared before them.
After the bombardment was over. We heard a loud howl fierce howl of anguish coming beside the site of bombardment.
A dark Panther with red eyes was looking at us with its piercing gaze. The pressure it was emitting was that of E rank as it stood before its F rank partner glaring at us with a piercing gaze.
Our expression turned solemn seeing it cause we dont know if there is a whole pack of them or these are the only ones.
Since we don't have much info about the numbers, we can only get rid of the ones in front of us.
The panther disappeared from its spot and appeared before Agnus and assaulted him as if taking revenge on him for hurting his partner.
Angus reacted in time to dodge its paw that he swung towards him but the panther exploited the opening, using this as a chance of counterattack. While Agnus was retreating a few steps back, it used his tail as a whip to cast a surprise attack on Agnus's legs.
Zapttt~
The tail hit one of Agnus's legs like a whip.
Angus was at disadvantage after being hit by its tail. The pain was clearly shown on his face and his speed reduced as his feet moved slower as he tried to readjust his stance. The place was swollen where he was hit by the tail of the panther.
While watching at the side. Lucas concluded that he can't keep on watching anymore as a spectator and drawing a deep breath, he concentrated his mana and launched five ice spikes at the panther.
The panther suddenly sensed the danger, feeling the cold air coming towards it, dodged the ice spikes aimed at it by hopping to and fro and avoiding all the spikes.
Lucas didn't give it time to take their breath and activated flash steps combined with his boots, his agility increased to 3-Star and he rushed towards the panther.
Although he charged ahead, he was extremely cautious after seeing it using his body parts as a weapon in his fight with Agnus.
Lucas didn't want to miss the opening, he created using the skill, cause if he misses and makes another attempt, he doesn't know if the Panther would counter-attack using his concealment skills.
The Panther instead of retreating, leapt towards Lucas in the blink of an eye as if aiming for a finishing strike.
Angus who was on the side noticed its momentary pause in the mid-air. Agnus took the chance and bet everything on it. He jumped toward the Panther throwing his shield which was slowing it down and aimed at its back pointing his swords on it.
" Growllllll."The Panther groaned in pain.
As its paw met with Lucas's sword strike a small shockwave was emitted but Lucas wasn't pushed back on his steps.
Agnus seized the opportunity and dug its sword on the back of the panther.
Having dug his sword deeper inside the Panther's body, Agnus felt satisfied for taking his revenge after being hit by the panther's tail. Still, he let go of his grip on the sword and retreated a few steps back.
The Panther on the other hand started violently jerking his body as its laid its body on the ground. It was in a frenzied state as he wriggled in pain and looke at Agnus in bloodshot eyes.
Even though it was on his last run, it didn't want to go down without putting a fight and ran towards Agnus wanting to pounce on it still its speed was much slower compared to previously.
Angus was clearly in a vulnerable state still he prepared himself raising his hand to meet the Panther but Lucas took the shield Agnus had thrown before and used shadow steps to emerge behind Agnus.
Angus was too focused on dealing with the incoming attack to notice Lucas's presence and clenched his sword tightly to swing on the beast.
As the Panther leapt, Lucas stood in front of Agnus and put all his strength on the shield and collided with the panther. The panther was clearly in its last leg as Lucas didn't take a step back during the clash and pushed forward on it and slammed the shield on it and kicked him making it fly in the air.
The panther flew back slamming against the tree with a loud bang.
The other panther watching its partner die lost its mind and ran toward them. Though it was saved by its partner still it was not able to avoid Morgana's attack fully and its front legs were seriously injured by Morgana's spell.
Just as Lucas and Agnus were about to take a deep breath after killing it and winning the tense fight, they sensed the other Panther running toward them.
Both Lucas's and Agnus's nerves tensed seeing it.
Lucas handed over the shield to its rightful owner and took out the sword to fight it but before it could do anything, a projectile passed through the panther's body creating a bloody hole in its body frightening both Lucas and Agnus.
They looked in the direction of the fired projectile to see Morgana giving them a wink and giggled seeing Lucas and Agnus's stunned expression.
Gulped~
We swallowed our saliva seeing her quick spell finishing the panther in one shot.
'Hail to the Morgana..'Both of them thought at the same time inwardly.
