The Heart is a Void: Ashes to Ashes

Chapter 84: Leap of faith

The hunting party surrounded the pit, assailing the limping white panther with swords and spears whenever it tried stubbornly to leap out. Modrea and Grisier combined to halt the panther with a series of [Earth Shield] and [Breath of Ice] in its way whenever it got a foothold on the edge of the pit, and Dionarcy followed it around with a large shield to hold back its assaults. Following Starfighter's lead, Crucis assailed the female panther's nose, throat and wounded leg as soon as it rose to the side of the pit, forcing it back down.

While the female panther would typically be able to power its way out of the pit, it looked to have sustained injuries from a recent fight. Further, the sleep-inducing herbs were still laid in the pit, and this exacerbated the panther's impairment.

By chipping away at the panther's HP, the group got it down to 10% HP in 5 minutes. DicingDevil urged the group not to rush, and carefully made sure that the panther remained in the pit.

However, as Akshel saw the panther's low HP, he struck at it with a loose [Lunge] towards the throat, hoping to end things quickly.

The sword harmlessly brushed the panther's muscular shoulder, and the panther growled lightly while shoving the sword to the side and lunging at Akshel. While Grisier attempted [Breath of Ice] to keep the panther in place, Modrea's [Earth Shield] was still in cooldown. As Akshel flinched away, the panther clawed just above his kneecaps and he fell harshly backwards. His barely-conscious body dangled over the edge of the pit, and the panther began to climb on it to get out of the pit.

Dionarcy quickly shuffled over with his shield, but the panther leapt at him as he was walking, and he fell to the ground heavily while trying to lug his heavy armour and shield. The attack while he was moving had caught him off-balance.

The panther made as if to escape Northwards, but was interrupted by a menacing, low-pitched roar from that direction.

"There's another panther, to the North," Grisier said nervously.

"Yes. Maybe it had fought this female earlier," DicingDevil replied. "This one looks scared."

"Let's finish this and get out of here," Starfighter said. "Modrea, forget the shield, use whirlpool."

The panther seemed shaken by the roar from the North, and it uncertainly turned Westwards as if trying to find another escape route.

However, as it tentatively stepped Westwards, it stumbled when the ground beneath its front paws melted away into a small, liquid-like whirlpool, under the effect of Modrea's [Lesser Whirlpool-Earth]. Starfighter leapt onto the panther's back and stabbed firmly with his sword through the back of the panther's neck. The panther let out a gargling cry. As Crucis bent his knees and struck towards the panther's wounded leg, it began to keel to the ground.

However, the panther still had an advantage from close range. It shook its upper body heavily and flung Starfighter off, then growled towards Crucis. Starfighter landed skidding across the ground, but scuffled back to his feet.

As the panther attempted to stand again, DicingDevil and Crucis attacked it with a [Mordhau], which sent it back to the ground. However, it stubbornly began to rise, and lunged towards the low-level Danemy. However, Danemy saw this attack coming, and backed away with both arms held out to the side, grabbing a hold of two sturdy tree branches behind him. As the panther attempted unsteadily to pursue this easier target, Danemy let his feet float off the ground, supported by the tree behind him. He lifted himself to rest on the branches, and used his feet to perch a few feet up the tree's trunk.

While the panther attempted to rise on its injured leg, DicingDevil struck it again with a firm [Mordhau]. This blunt blow caused the panther to shudder and kneel down. Danemy used this opportunity, and leapt from the tree towards the panther's lowered head, punching it bluntly while wearing [Brass Knuckles], then grappling across the head as he struggled his way onto the creature's back. The punch caused the panther's head to lurch downwards. He stabbed fiercely into the panther's neck and jerked its face harshly into the ground. Grisier cast a [Breath of Ice] to reduce its resistance.

Although the panther rallied its claws and teeth to fight off Danemy, scraping harsh cuts, Danemy carried on frantically beating at the head and neck to force the panther flat against the ground. It was bleeding from several wounds which had burst across its face. Crucis scrambled down and struck fiercely at the creature's legs to prevent it from clawing Danemy away.

Soon, Starfighter came in with a harsh [Overhead slash] to the panther's neck, as Danemy leapt away on cue. The panther's corpse spread weakly across the ground as it died.

Crucis scanned his inventory quickly, and saw that he had picked up a few expensive items from the dead panther. He figured that he would have time to look through them in detail once the group was further from panther territory.

The rest of the group dusted themselves off, and tried to recover from the effects of the herbs. Danemy had bloody gashes across his face, but bandaged them quickly with pieces of cloth. The rest of the group patted him on the back, and he was grinning but slightly exhausted.

As the party began to retreat in the direction of the village, with Franciscus in tow, they heard another loud roar from the North. It was closer this time.

A bloody-faced [Injured Albatross Panther] was limping its way towards them. This one had very dark orange stripes, which seemed almost oil-black as it limped in the shadowy trees. Evening was approaching. The panther's white fur contrasted eerily with its stripes, and gave off a softly glowing halo around the creature.

Crucis noticed that its head was hanging down slightly, and it didn't seem to be in the mood for a fight. It had seemingly lost a recent fight with the female panther who had just been killed, and was currently not in any rush to pursue the group. As it crept closer, Crucis could make out deep scratches and bites across the panther's body, from this preceding fight.

"This one looks weak, should we attack it?" Grisier asked.

"It's level 75, be careful," DicingDevil said. "It's limping, but still navigating the terrain easily. If it's not in a pit or trap, then it could still easily take out some of our team."

"It's a bit of a stalemate. If they attack us in this condition then it's a risk for them, but if we attack then it's likely to take a few of our team with it, and might cause severe damage to the rest," Starfighter added. "We might as well just leave."

The panther glared at them from a distance, and growled slightly.

Starfighter drew his sword and kept it extended, in order to intimidate the panther into keeping its distance. Crucis and DicingDevil followed suit. On seeing the armed enemy, the panther shifted its focus to the fallen female panther. It approached cautiously, and extended its forepaws slightly while shifting its balance onto its hind legs. It was preparing to raise on its hind legs and fight if necessary.

The party began edging slowly back towards the direction of the village.

Crucis saw this panther's preparatory stance, and used [Warding], holding his sword's hilt near his hips and tilting it forwards and upwards to prepare a [Lunge]. The panther looked up at him, as if curious. Crucis turned to the side and used a quick demonstration [Slash] through the air. Due to his high Agility, his sword flashed almost invisibly through the air.

The panther responded to this by pouncing rapidly onto the female's corpse and scratching at the corpse's face with its sharp claws. This tore the corpse's face off, and blood began to pour wildly around it. The group was taken aback by the power of the panther's claws, as well as its agile movement in spite of the injuries.

"It's copying you," Akshel whispered to Crucis.

"Yeah, it seems to be showing off its Agility stat," Crucis responded.

Crucis pointed his sword downwards, and drew out a paw looted from the corpse. The panther gazed at it, then turned to face towards the South-East. It used its paw to drag the dead panther's torn-off face until it was facing that direction. It then turned calmly back to the corpse, and began to eat it.

"I think it's suggesting that we should go to somewhere East of the village, maybe there's something we could do with the loot from the other panther," Crucis said.

"I think there's a small settlement in the direction it was facing," DicingDevil said, "at least according to this map I bought from the village. It might be worth a look."

"Yes, let's go ahead," Starfighter added.

"Why is the panther eating its own kind?" Modrea asked.

"I think these panthers are used to mountains and hills, they tend to wander around at higher altitudes solo. It's why they're called 'albatross.' Since they're forced to come down here for prey, and are man-eaters, they're probably starving."

"Ah, that makes sense. So we completed the quest, but this panther will still haunt the village? That's a satisfying resolution," Danemy quipped.

He turned towards the panther, and tilted his head slightly backwards, while letting his body lean forwards. The panther seemed to understand this, and held its own neck out straight ahead, while pressing down on the corpse's neck which seemed to spring right back up.

"That's a clever panther. It's something I noticed during the fight, I was trying to force that female's head down, but it seemed to keep bobbing back upwards unnaturally. This new panther doesn't seem to behave like that," Danemy said.

"They had fought earlier, so this panther might be familiar with that," Crucis replied. "It is clever, though, I hope that it can manage to live well off dead villagers."

Akshel and Starfighter laughed quietly.

Crucis shoved lightly against a rugged tree nearby, and noticed that the contact tilted him slightly to the side. He reasoned that his Constitution stat must be enough by now for him to maintain balance easily in such a situation, but not enough to keep him entirely steady after collision with the tree bark.

The panther followed his lead, standing steadily and using its paws to lightly shove the female panther's left shoulder down, but was surprised when the corpse swung dramatically around with its paw up as if lunging at him. Swaying slightly as it tried to readjust its own paws on the ground and regain balance, the panther swatted away the corpse's paw nervously and growled slightly, but stood firm over the faceless corpse. Blood splattered over the ground where the corpse had moved.

"That also looked unnatural," Crucis said. "This corpse acts as though it has springs in it. Maybe it's why this panther had trouble in the fight earlier. It's highly agile, but when it struck the pantheress then it was deflected while the pantheress would just spring into its own attack. It even seems to launch into an attack when dead. That's quite strange."

"It is. It's like a wind-up doll," Danemy replied. "It just performs its attacks, even when it's dead and mostly skinned. It's rigged up in that way. So when I trapped it at close range, it wasn't sure what to do, since its usual attacks weren't useful. The other panther seems to function more normally."

"Maybe the dead one was on panther 'roids," Crucis laughed.

He jumped slightly, and the panther responded by tearing deeply into the corpse. The corpse seemed to shake slightly, as if trying to return into the shape of a panther. But as the panther pawed away the skin from the corpse, the party saw that it was unmistakeably human skin. The corpse also seemed to continually attempt to lunge forwards as it was torn into, as if it was still trying to simulate an attacking panther.

"It's like a simulacrum," Grisier said.

"Yes, it looks like some kind of fake panther. Once the outer coating is stripped away, it just looks like a human corpse," Starfighter said.

"So first there was a Man-Bird, now there's a Woman-Panther?" DicingDevil shrugged.

The panther dragged the corpse along with it as it retreated Northwards. Starfighter ran in carefully to inspect the remains of the panther corpse on the ground, and picked up some of the skin to show to the rest of the party.

"This is clearly human skin," he said, as he showed it around.

"Yes, that's quite obvious. It even has some strands of long hair, which looks bleached. Probably a female," DicingDevil said.

"It's a good thing we trapped this thing in the pit," Danemy said, "If we tried to fight it on even ground, then we would have been surprised when it ignored our attacks and struck through. A few of us might have gone down."

"You did alright, though," DicingDevil said calmly.

"Yes, but it was almost dead then. If I had tried it earlier, it would have been a kamikaze routine."

"True enough."

The party slowly made their way back towards the village, dragging a barely-conscious Franciscus behind them.