The 10 students split apart back into their smaller groups as they traversed the forest. It seemed the deeper they went, the denser the foliage and trees were. Identify showed the trees varied in type but were nothing unusual from a normal everyday tree. The forest appeared normal, as far as forests go. Thick canopies blocked most of the light from passing down to the forest floor, making for an ominous adventure.

The instructor stayed back, telling the students their next target was nearby. The only warning they had received was “use extreme caution.” The grumpy beefy man was definitely a hands-off instructor; not coddling his students. Kai wasn’t sure if he would truly let students die. It wasn’t a risk he was willing to take, so he would proceed with caution as he was still coming into his new class and magic.

Kai toed carefully across the ground, attempting to avoid making as much noise as possible. His fellow students, were less inclined to be stealthy, snapping sticks and stepping on fallen crunchy leaves on their trek through the forest. They had entered a tiny clearing, trees and bushes encircled the area.

Hector stayed ten feet behind Kai, following him step for step. Kai could feel it, the tense agonizing moment before a fight. He glanced at every shadow expecting something to pop out, but nothing did. The sounds of battle in the far distance had quieted down over time as the groups moved further apart. There was an eerie quiet now, not even small animals were making noise any longer. It was the sound of death, a stillness of life. A deathly silence only possible when all the nearby creatures and animals were afraid or dead.

On the ground unmoving, lay a familiar-looking animal, a great deer. Its lifeless black eyes stared into the void. The body had been torn to shreds, looking like it had been mutilated for fun.

“There!” called out one of the students, pointing to the trees.

Following the fingers path, Kai could see a large black cat shrouded in shadows, only parts of its body visible, and its bright golden yellow eyes. It stood on all fours, atop a thick tree branch. Its posture could only result in one thing, an ambush.

[Grove Panther – Forging Level 35]

Shit. This thing is 100 levels over me and in the second realm. We are fucked.

In one instant, the panther was on the branch, the next he was on the ground running towards the students. Panic ensued, as some students began started shooting magic at the beast, while a few others began running away. The panther tanked the weak magic, barreling right through the spells without so much as flinching.

Despite being the farthest away from the panther, Kai cast [Gravity Pillar] without a second thought, creating an invisible pressure along the panther’s path to the other students. Undeterred by the unknown, the panther sped right into the pillar of gravity.

Holding his breath, Kai watched as the panther ran into the small pillar of gravity and out of it as if it hadn’t existed. As if in response to his failure in stopping the beast, a scream rang out from a student. The panther stood on top of that same fallen student. Its long claws dug into their chest, making strips of their flesh through the robes. Blood began spilling out of his mouth, with every scream and breath taken, more blood would fly out.

It wasn’t until a small fireball launched across the small clearing, that the panther deftly dodged, moving away as it ran off into the thick foliage.

“It’s too fast!” yelled one of the students.

They were too outmatched and uncoordinated. Even if they worked together, it would be a difficult task. And Kai had no hope of rallying the panicked students to fight.

The male student lay unmoving on the ground, blood leaked from his mouth and chest, his silence speaking loudly to the state of his condition. Only the shallow rise of his chest gave thought that he was still alive, though barely.

“Zackery!” Screamed the freckled girl. She pressed her hands against the injured man’s chest wounds, trying to stifle the bleeding. “Fred, heal him,” she pleaded with the robed healer.

The other robed male student in the small group, stood frozen with wide eyes of panic. His jaw chattered with terror, as he stared into the distance, focusing on nothing in particular.

“Freddy!”

Coming to his senses, Freddy blinked a few times before turning his head to the freckled girl.

With wet eyes, she said, “Freddy, please heal him. He’s lost a lot of blood; he’s not breathing anymore.”

Kneeling next to the still young man, the healer Freddy placed his hand gently against the man’s chest. A bright white light glowed from his palm. Sweat immediately began to pool on Fred’s face, his eyes solely on his patient as he concentrated on healing the man.

Distracted with the healing, another scream rang out. A student was being dragged into the thicket, the panther’s mouth grabbing onto their leg, as it pulled him quickly out of sight.

“No. No. Stop. Help!” were the only sounds they came from the taken man before eerie silence took over once again.

The instructor remained in the same spot; his arms crossed over his chest. Not a speck of emotion could be seen. Despite the previous screams, his facial expression had not flinched or changed once.

What the hell is going on? This isn’t right.

Inhaling and exhaling, Kai yanked his sword out. The beast had already incapacitated two people. Squinting he looked all over, but there was no sign of the panther. It had vanished into thin air beyond the bush.

There was no control or order in the group, everyone was doing their own thing. There was complete and utter panic. Hector’s face was scrunched up in nervousness. Only Kai appeared calm, but he had also been the farthest from where the panther had been.

“Help us!” screamed the freckled girl, tears of fear falling down her face.

“My father will hear about this!” roared Jason, spinning around in circles to find the evasive beast.

“You think your father will want a weakling of an heir to inherit his legacy? To lead his house?” The instructor laughed heartily, finding the prospect amusing.

“Are you willing to risk my father’s wrath if I die!”

The panther stalked out of the bushes; fresh blood splattered around his mouth. Its tongue came out, licking around the edges of the mouth, savoring the taste. The group looked on in terror at the approaching monster.

“Your father came to this academy once; he understands the risks you must take to succeed. Kill it or die.”

“Fuck. Air Slash!” yelled Jason.Kai couldn’t believe the idiot was yelling his abilities aloud, telegraphing them for his opponents to see and hear. Even if the beast didn’t understand what he said, yelling it would only attract attention to himself.

Two small crescent spectral blades of air appeared. The panther merely crouched low, allowing the air blades to pass overhead. Its eyes were trained on Jason now. With one last look, it dashed into the thickets again, vanishing from sight.

“Does anyone have anything to stop or slow it down?” Hector called out.

Kai heard a rustle in the bushes behind him. Swiveling his head, he saw the panther had launched a sneak attack at the exposed mage’s back. “Hector! Watch out!” pushing Hector to the side, Kai took the position in front of him, sword at the ready.

Standing his ground, Kai was ready to play the game of chicken with the shadow panther. It didn’t back down as it dashed swiftly towards him, its four powerful muscular legs working in tandem to push it forward faster than Kai thought possible for a creature of its level.

[Domain]. Kai felt his body and sword increase in weight.

The panther seemed unbothered as it entered his domain, only barely slowing down.

“Air Slash!” yelled the dreaded familiar voice.

A whistle pierced through the air behind Kai until a stinging feeling washed over his arm. The blade of air passed right underneath his arm, nicking it on its way past. The attack landed on the panther’s shoulders, flinching the beast temporarily.

Grunting in pain, Kai leaped towards the panther, sword high in the air. Bringing it down he used [Heavy Blow] feeling the weight of his sword increase even further than under the domain spell. Doubling in speed, the blade flashed down striking the ground as he missed his speedy target.

Evading the blade, the panther dashed past Hector and Kai, towards Jason’s group. Kai quickly turned domain off as it ran out of range.

One of Jason’s goons let out a high-pitched yell, swinging his battle axe down in one epic blow only to miss. Dust and debris scattered about obscuring vision.

The healer was still kneeling over the fallen man.

“We need to pin it,” Kai called out, keeping his eyes on a swivel as he searched for the missing panther once again.

“I can do it!” called out someone decked out in typical mage robes. She held a very ornate staff in her hand.

Then why haven’t you done it already? Kai seethed a little internally. The difference in the panther’s body strength and Kai’s gravity magic was too great to be of any real use here. He needed the other students to step up. But between the panic and lack of coordination, the fight was a lot more difficult than it had to be.

“Good, then it’s up to you,” Kai said, prompting the student. He hadn’t planned on trying to lead the others, but at this rate, they would all die unless the instructor intervened. He had screwed up. He hadn’t expected the instructor to have them fight something a whole realm above the group or else he would have prepared more.

Feeling a disturbance behind him, Kai swiveled his body. Alarmed, the panther was already in mid-jump soaring right at him. The panther crashed into him, its full weight bringing his body down onto the forest floor and causing his sword to fly from his grip.

Kai pushed at its face as he tried to keep it from biting his own off. Its front claws shredded into his leather chest piece, tearing the cheap material apart, as it pushed at his chest, making it difficult to breathe. Sharp point pierced his legs, the panther’s back claws, doing their work of tearing his flesh off through his unarmored pant trousers.

“Do something!” Kai yelled at the top of his lungs.

Vines filled with thorns, sprouted from the ground, and began wrapping around the panther. Snarling, the panther tried to push off Kai, but the vines wrapping around them prevented it from moving away from its spot over Kai’s body.

Effective pinned over his body, Kai let go of its face with his right hand and began wailing into the distracted panther’s side with his fist. He felt the vines tightening, as they pressed the panther further against Kai’s body. The claws kept digging in deeper as the beast tried to push away and off of Kai. The pain was becoming more intense with every passing second.

I meant to trap the beast but not on top of me!

More attacks began focusing on the immobile panther, fire, and air dominating the area. Kai’s body flushed with heat, small fire blasts burning into the side of the beast. The magic began taking effect, the panther seemed hurt, as small cuts and minor burns coated its short black fur, but not enough to make it panic. With a hiss of annoyance, the panther’s attention was taken off Kai, despite them still being connected.

Searching to his left and right, Kai saw his sword just out of reach. Shit, either the panther or my group is going to kill me if this keeps up. He had felt someone’s magic hit him, but he had hardly noticed with everything else going on.

The panther’s claws had shredded through Kai’s leather chest piece. Now the tips of its claws had begun piercing into Kai’s chest just like it had done to the student before. With a yell of primal fury, he began punching the panther’s side once again, this time his attacks were enhanced by the power and weight of his gravity ability heavy blow. The first punch caused an immediate reaction, as the panther howled in pain. Without stopping Kai, kept punching and yelling, triggering the panther to continue clawing his body in retaliation. Latching onto his shoulder with its fangs, Kai screamed in pain as his vision began to darken, his health declining rapidly.