When an ice pillar in the distance cracked, Oss and Gwyneth turned and ran. They scrambled up the slope back towards the cave. Bunty appreciated their quick reaction. He had the same idea and was glad that they didn’t need obvious directions. The more time Bunty spent with them, the more he knew that they belonged together. Fighting the creatures in an enclosed space would help maintain their distance from the beast. It would give them a chance at victory and survival.

However, Bunty hesitated when it came to following his friends to the cave. His ink stores were alarmingly low, and he refused to be a liability. So, he stayed behind, reclaiming the spent ink. The nets were within reach, so he absorbed them into the fountain pen first. A short jog got him to the closest pendulum and the accompanying Slimeskin ropes. They returned to the inkwell, too, leaving the summoned metal spikes to clatter to the frozen ground. The clang echoed off the frozen pillars around them. The growls and chuffing from across the pass intensified.

“What the hell are you doing, Bunty?” Gwyneth yelled from the cavemouth above him. “They’re coming!”

Bunty didn’t have the advantage that came with elevation or enhanced eyesight. However, he could hear the leopards’ over-sized paws on the ground as they raced towards him. His inkwell was sixty-per-cent full. There was still one pendulum and more rope to reclaim, though. Bunty wanted every available advantage when the leopards caught up to them, so he charged towards the final trap.

“Get back here!” Oss called, but he ignored it. Bunty believed the Slimeskin’s tentacle would give him the necessary mobility for a swift retreat. His heart thumped louder with every step, and his friend’s screams got more desperate. Bunty didn’t slow since he was doing it for them. Once in the caves, his Slimeskin would be invaluable for ensnaring pursuers. Trapped leopards would be safer to take down. Then the trio could claim Cores and win Gaia’s favour with ease.

By the time Bunty reached the final pendulum, the leopards were in sight. The closest three were as big as the one they had put down, while the final one behind them stood almost twice as large. He had never heard of feline beasts travelling in groups. Bunty guessed the big one was a parent while the rest were children. If that were the case, they were in a lot of trouble. Mother animals rarely forgave Climbers that killed their offspring.

“Run, Bunty!” Gwyneth screamed from above. “What are you even doing?”

Bunty’s loud heartbeat threatened to drown out all other sounds, but he focused on his breathing and maintained his cool. Regardless of how it looked to his friends, Bunty was in control of the situation. He had confidence in his abilities when it came to running and climbing. He firmly believed that he’d have an advantage over the leopards while in an enclosed space and hoped to make the most of it. However, he needed the inkwell as close to full as possible.

When Bunty finished absorbing the final pendulum, the biggest leopard paused approximately twenty feet from Bunty. It chuffed, looking between Bunty and its dead friend. A soft meow escaped it, followed by a slow chuff. Its large saucer-sized eyes carried a softness and intelligence that Bunty had never seen in a beast before. Then the creature snarled, bearing its teeth at him.

Bunty didn’t hesitate. He extended a tentacle from the fountain pen tucked in his gauntlet and lashed it to a nearby boulder. The creature reacted to the sudden movement by charging at him. Bunty commanded his spirit to suck the tentacle back into the inkwell, and it pulled him out of the leopard’s path.

“Stick,” he whispered while flying through the air. When he made contact with the frozen boulder, he had little trouble clinging to it. Once in an elevated position, he took half a moment to get a good look at his opponent. Scars covered the giant leopard’s back. Bunty guessed it didn’t just have an aged Core but was an older beast too. The marks consisted of brands, unlike anything he had seen before. Bunty believed the creature had been around much longer than humankind’s time in the tower.

Behind it were three more leopards of varying sizes. None of them was bigger than the first. However, their eyes carried intelligence, unlike the first. Bunty hypothesised that they had faced the wild member of the family. It used to follow its instincts while the rest used their brains or followed their leader’s instructions.

“Why are you just sitting there, Bunty?” Gwyneth screamed behind him. “Get over here!”

Bunty summoned a second ink gauntlet, extended a Slimeskin tentacle, and transferred it to his left hand. “Frost Blade,” he whispered, manifesting the pen-nib-shaped blade. One of the leopards had started climbing the boulder, so he slashed the rock with the weapon before lashing himself away. Much to Bunty’s disappointment, the beast leapt away from the falling stone. It gave him some breathing room to track the pursuer’s while escaping, though. Bunty didn’t just want to run from them. Killing the big leopard was a sure-fire way of opening a gate to the next interval. So, he intended to draw the beasts out of their element into the kill box.

Once the leopards had their eyes on Bunty, and he was sure they wouldn’t lose him, he lashed himself to the cavemouth and retreated towards it. The temptation to look over his shoulder reared his head, but he resisted. It would only slow him down. However, Bunty’s tempered hearing gave him a rough estimate of the distance between the leopards and him. They’d be on him in a heartbeat if he faltered, but he knew they wouldn’t get him as long as he kept moving.

When Bunty entered the cave, he was sure Gwyneth was going to slap him. Instead, she stood in the cave’s entrance and directed the lamp to float in front of her. Liquid metal swirled around the spirit before forming long, foot-long spikes. As the lamp started spinning, they moved with it. Gwyneth whispered under her breath, and electricity consumed the metal. On hearing the crackling sounds, Bunty knew staying away from them was his best bet.

The spikes shot out in every direction away from Gwyneth. Three of them ended up planted in the rocks around the cavemouth while the rest flew off outside. Bunty didn’t see where they had gone from where he sat panting, but the lack of growls or yowls suggested none of them had hit. Her spirit was in dire need of a teleportation granting upgrade.

“Don’t you dare ever do that again!” Gwyneth’s words came out as a growl.

“I’m sorry,” Bunty replied as she helped him up. He didn’t feel bad for what he had done but more because of how worried Gwyneth looked. “My ink takes too long to regenerate. Facing these monsters without my full reserves would’ve put us at too big a disadvantage.”

“Well, we’d be worse if you got injured or killed,” Gwyneth said. A zap followed by a yowl stiffened her back.

“It might be for the best if we delve deeper,” Oss spoke up, looking between the cavemouth and the darkness behind them. “I don’t know how deep the network goes. My senses aren’t picking up any bones, though, so it might be safe.”

Another yowl sounded much closer than before. Neither Bunty nor Gwyneth disagreed with Oss and followed him. They had felt secure the night before since the connecting tunnels sat across a bridge barely wide enough for two of them to walk side by side. The party were confident their senses would detect anyone trying to sneak up on them across it. As a result, they had defended only one way in. Now, they had no choice to run across it before the leopards were on them.

Before stepping onto the bridge, Bunty peeked over his shoulder. The giant leopard now stood just outside the cave. It bared its teeth, looking between him and the spikes warily. When the beast got close, lightning arced off the metal, striking it. The leopard growled but didn’t retreat.

“It won’t hold them for long,” Gwyneth said, keeping her eyes on the way ahead. They had left the second deer tied up behind them. It continued to cry out, sounding more terrified by the second. The trio had no choice but to leave it behind. It would’ve been a liability on the bridge, and they hoped the snack would slow the leopards down.

“I’m counting on it,” Bunty replied as they jogged at a brisk pace. “Gaia is bound to gift us a gate if we take that big cat down.”

“You’re probably right, but I haven’t recovered enough to face that thing,” Oss told them. He brought up their rear. He reshaped his bone club into a blade-tipped staff.

“Well, it’s a good thing you have a trapper with you. We have enough tools between us to create something formidable. It’s why I risked my bacon for the ink.” Neither Gwyneth nor Oss responded to his comment. Bunty tried his best to maintain a positive tone, but it was apparent that his companions were neither happy nor confident. “Don’t worry, alright?” They could no longer see the exit, and things had gotten uncomfortably silent. “I did what I did to lure the leopards out of their natural habitat in here. The small space should even the playing field. If we play our cards right, it might give us an advantage too.”

“Let’s set up at the end of the bridge then,” Gwyneth said after some thought. The lamp’s light brightened but failed to illuminate the walls except for the ones behind and ahead. The ceiling and floor were not in sight either.

“I’d rather not,” Bunty told her. “I don’t want to risk losing the corpse. It’s bound to have a powerful Core in there. Let’s aim for somewhere a bit deeper.”

The bridge connected to a cavern with a low ceiling. It would limit the leopards’ vertical movement, but they’d still have enough room to flank them. So, the party headed in deeper. Bunty desired a bottleneck so only one leopard could come at them at once. At the same time, he wanted to ensure that the path wouldn’t be too small to discourage the leopards from following.

“We need to be quick about this, Bunty,” Gwyneth said, panting. “When I last checked, they were halfway across the bridge. Their careful gait is faster than ours too.”

“Gwyneth’s right.” Unlike Gwyneth and Bunty, his breathing was slow and controlled. Despite his still recovering injuries, Oss’s stamina exceeded theirs. “They’ll catch up to us soon, and you’ll be too tired to face them—”

Oss stopped mid-sentence as the tunnel opened up into a large passageway heading downwards. The path was steep, and intelligent construction traces suggested it had been part of a larger structure long ago.

“This is perfect,” Bunty said, grinning from ear to ear and dispelled the Frost Blade. He created two black Slimeskin nets straight away and spread them across the floor halfway down the slope. “Sticky,” he whispered and watched as their texture changed under the lamplight.

Gwyneth added to the trap by growing two metal spikes out of the lamp and electrifying them. They attached it to the walls on either side of the nets using handfuls of Slimeskin before heading towards the passage’s bottom end.

After some thought, Bunty decided against summoning another Frost Blade. He created a Spiderleg-tipped spear instead. He still had some ink leftover but held onto it for emergencies. Entangling enemies in sticky Slimeskin tentacles did wonders. Bunty was looking for ways to make the trap more deadly when his ears picked up a soft growl. The beasts were close. He was sure of it.

“Are you sure about this, Bunty?” Oss asked, glancing at the two exits at the bottom of the slope. “This won’t be easy.”

“Well, we lost both our deer, and our supplies are back up there with the sledge. Facing the beasts is our only choice. We’ll either die of starvation in the caverns or to the leopards.”

“That’s reassuring,” Gwyneth mumbled, but Bunty ignored her.

“We can do this!” Bunty exclaimed, raising his voice. “Let’s kill this thing and create a door to the next floor!”

Their eyes betrayed their fear. Bunty wasn’t sure where his confidence was coming from, but he embraced it. He couldn’t recall the last he’d felt so sure of something. Perhaps it was a confidence that came with power. The party was facing the most powerful beast any of them had encountered before—or so Bunty assumed for Oss, but the scene felt familiar. Bunty hadn’t had the opportunity to prepare for a fight since before he met Gwyneth. Even though they only had a handful of minutes to prepare, Bunty felt good about their chances. Due to his hurry to reach the twelfth floor, some time had passed since Bunty got to face a foe on his terms.

The leopards took their time approaching the party. Bunty saw it as a sign of intelligence. They were wary of their new environment, but Bunty had angered them enough not to give up their pursuit. Even when the giant leopard appeared above the slope, it didn’t attack. It padded into the long passageway and waited for its smaller family members to filter in.

Oss uncomfortably fidgeted behind Bunty. “I failed,” he said, counting the leopards. “I was sure that there was only one. We could’ve made better decisions with the correct information.”

“Now’s not the time for that, mate,” Bunty said, clapping his back. He felt better about himself, knowing that Oss had limitations and had insecurities too. At the same time, he hoped Oss’s change in demeanour wouldn’t hamper his combat potential by too much. “We’ve had a few days to figure out your senses’ limitations. It was foolish of us to put all the responsibility on your shoulders. Right now, we’re at an advantage. Let’s make the most of it.”

The smallest leopard charged at them first. When its paws struggled to find traction on the gravelly ground, the beast leapt onto the walls and ran along it. Bunty spotted a long hook extend from its tail and scrape against the stone. The same sound came from the beast’s feet. He guessed it came from living on icy terrain. The beasts likely relied on traversing glaciers and cliffs to get the jump on their prey.

Gwyneth unleashed her attack as soon as the beast leapt off the ceiling. Much to the party’s delight, the attack spell arced through the air to strike the beast’s hooks. It explained why the spikes at the cavemouth had deterred them for so long. Gwyneth hadn’t used her attack spell since her recent upgrade. The Core appeared to have increased its concussive force. The leopard was knocked backwards but fell short of the traps. It was for the best. Bunty hoped to save it for the biggest member of the family.

When Bunty and Oss dashed towards the fallen beast with their weapons raised, their intended target jumped into action. The smaller ones followed, but they couldn’t move next to the giant or overtake it. The creature skidded and slid down the gravel and occasionally used its tail to hook the walls and ceiling. Oss slowed his approach, but Bunty didn’t. He didn’t care about the fallen leopard. The scent of burnt fur and flesh filled the air, and its chest was unmoving. However, his actions were sufficient to speed up the charging monster, and he needed it to run into the traps blind.

When it looked like the beast was about to jump, Bunty lashed the ceiling and pulled himself upwards. Once at the apex of the jump, he threw the spear with all his might. It made the creature slow and dig its hooks into the ground. As Bunty had hoped, the gravel and the incline made it impossible for the creature to stop. It ended up sliding into the black-ink nets. The spikes planted in the ground activated, too, using the leopard’s body as a conductor. Electricity arced from them and struck the monster.

Its loud yowl shook the tunnel, causing dust and stone to rain from the ceiling and slowing the other felines that followed it. The Slimeskin nets wrapped around the beast, slowing the beast, but it didn’t stop. Bunty landed atop it, summoned the Frost Blade, and thrust his weapon into the creature’s side. It cried once again as frost spread from where Bunty had pierced the flesh. The leopard thrashed but the sticky net and accompanying Spiderlegs restricted its movement.

Finally, it was Oss that stopped the beast. Bunty was worried the leopard would crush the man, but he planted his feet into the ground and held his staff forward like a spear. Green and red aura every bit of bone on him. When Oss made contact with the leopard, he didn’t budge an inch. Instead, he pierced its skull with the blade.

When the gravel above them parted to make room for a rising stone door, Bunty knew the creature was dead. Unfortunately, it stood behind the smaller leopards. They cried out all at once and charged towards them.

“Oh shit!” Bunty exclaimed as they bowled into the giant fallen cat. The Slimeskin holding it in place ripped, and the beast started its descent once again. The smaller leopards leapt away onto the ceiling and walls.

When he looked back at his companions, Bunty was glad to see that Oss had managed to free himself and retreated to Gwyneth. He picked her up and leapt just before the leopard struck them. He passed over the beast, landing between it and the cats. Bunty realised they’d have to retrieve the Core later and face the other cats first, so he lashed the ceiling. Much to his surprise, when he tried to flee, all the surrounding surfaces cracked and crumbled. All of a sudden, they weren’t just falling along the incline but vertically. The floor had given way. Bunty spotted Oss and Gwyneth above him scrambling to hold onto the stone, but they failed to find traction.

Bunty’s vision narrowed, and his heart threatened to explode out of his chest. It felt like his testicles were trying to retreat into his abdomen too. Bunty spotted a solid, immobile and spot behind him and lashed it. He pulled himself towards it, but then a falling rock struck his skull, darkening his vision and robbing him of consciousness.