Chapter 30

Waves of echoed growls sounded all around Lwanda, he looked around frantically, panicking. This was his worst-case scenario and it was happening. Lwanda gnash his teeth, rage and dissatisfaction weighed on his heart, it was already extremely difficult dealing with the jaguar, its mysterious regeneration made it almost impossible to kill and now its cloaking technique was activated, rendering it almost impossible to beat.

Lwanda’s heart was troubled, his chances of coming out of this victorious were quickly diminishing, washing away like clasping water. With every passing second a feeling of hopelessness was quickly setting in, he hated feeling that way but what could he do? What could he do in the face of this unfair move the jaguar just pulled?

“Unfair?”

Lwanda mumbled under his breath, he knew it, he realized it the second the words came to mind. Was it truly unfair? Was anything ever unfair? Everything/everyone is just trying to survive, no one is willing to be it, no one is willing to be on the receiving end of misfortune, so they fight not to be. Nothing was unfair, the jaguar wanted to eat him and he wanted to kill the jaguar, neither side understood the other but that didn’t change the fact that it was still happening. This was the reality and anything goes.

“All is fair in love and war”

Lwanda sighed at this realization. It was indeed a dog-eat-dog kind of world, everyone was fighting for themselves, so he should too no matter how unfair the circumstances were.

Lwanda closed his eyes, the jaguar hadn’t attacked yet, so he needed to use this time to figure something out, figure anything out. Ever since his rebirth Lwanda had felt different, more connected, he didn’t fully understand it but then again, he really didn’t need to understand it, he just needed to use it. If he couldn’t see the jaguar, could it be possible to feel it?

“This is ridiculous, but I’ll give it a try anyway”

He felt unsure, uneasy. What he was trying to accomplish were traits akin to main character in fantasy novels, but was that really him? Was he capable of such last-minute hacks? He was but a normal guy forced out of his home and his loved ones by a force he didn’t understand, was it possible to be like them. Numerous thoughts flooded Lwanda’s mind. He felt and thought about different things, the possible outcome of all this, some were ghastly and some were delightful, all kinds of thoughts flooded his mind and Lwanda indulged in it all before pushing it all aside and focusing on the task at hand. The future wasn’t set in stone and he was going to try his best to control his own.

Lwanda tapped into that mysterious feeling deep within himself, the feeling he got from every cell, his every organ, every sense of his being. He tried to tap into it. The comfortable feeling in his body still lingered and the intensity only rose as he tried to connect to it.

Lwanda felt at home, he felt one with not just himself but everything around him, the deeper he dove into the feeling the more he felt, every cell in his body, the ground beneath his feet, the vines around him, the trees just opposite him. Although the range wasn’t wide, he still felt it. Within that active range he felt one with everything around him, he even felt the jaguar lurking in the shadows.

Lwanda turned to gaze at the jaguar, the creature was slowly making his way to him; crouching, readying its sneak attack. Lwanda stared at it and a deep grin showed on his face. Although he couldn’t quit see it, he felt it. Albeit he only felt a moving blur it was enough for him; this was better than he expected.

“Guess I am like those main characters”

Lwanda teased as his grin widened. He lifted his staff and pointed it at the jaguar.

“Burst carnage”

Lwanda attacked without holding back, this was another technique he had created. Bursts of lightning shot out of the staff like bullets, different and numerous bursts all released simultaneously covering the air before him.

Like a torrent the surging lightning bolt rushed for the jaguar. The lurking creature was caught off guard, it didn’t expect Lwanda to be able to locate it, it was obvious it thought Lwanda’s gaze earlier was just random, and that cost it dearly.

Wave after wave of surging bolts struck the beast, the numerous bolts hit it from every angle leaving it no room to advance, every inch of its body was under a barrage, it moaned in pain, growling fiercely at Lwanda before it. With no way to charge and a look of hate in its eyes, the jaguar had no other option but to jump back.

**Whoosh**

The jaguar retreated 20 meters away from Lwanda, the move was so fast all he saw was a gust of wind and a blur.

“Still so fast”

Lwanda exclaimed, the felt the intense bloodlust from the creature 20m away, resentment was seething out of its body, yet it couldn’t move closer.

Lwanda stared once in its direction and once again launched his attack.

**Bang*bang**

Loud impact sounds battered Lwanda’s ears as the surging burst of bolts hit the jaguar and everything around it; the trees were charred, the tree trunks creviced and the jaguar moved around in a clumsy manner under the barrage of attack.

Lwanda didn’t let up, he sent wave after wave of attacks at the jaguar. He understood the jaguar’s speed and instantaneous movements were beyond his, so he could only deal AOE attacks to corner it. He faced off against the jaguar for 30 minutes. Both sides were frustrated, the jaguar wanted to get close to Lwanda to tear him apart, but the attacks from Lwanda were unrelenting plus he had the vines protecting him. Lwanda on the other hand wanted to finish off the jaguar, but it had an unbelievable vitality and stamina plus so long as he didn’t finish it off in one go the jaguar could always make use of its mysterious healing technique. It was a lose-lose battle, no side could come out on top, but neither was willing to give in.

The gruesome fight lasted for 3 days, Lwanda was soaked in sweat from head to toe, maintaining his control over the crystal for that long was really exhausting for him, constantly sending his will to it wasn’t as easy as he originally thought it would be. The jaguar on the other hand looked extremely clumsy, parts of its far were charred, blood dripped from the corner of its mouth and a loud unsettling sound came from every breath in drew in, it had obviously sustained some internal injuries.

Both parties looked miserable, yet determination flashed in both their eyes. They kept attacking until they just couldn’t do it anymore. Lwanda fell to his knees, trying hard to stay conscious, the jaguar on the other hand cast a bloodthirsty glare at Lwanda before making its retreat to the forest.

Lwanda stared at it with complicated feelings, he understood although some things had changed for him, he was still down on the food chain, he gnash his teeth at his weakness. He wanted to survive, he needed to survive and after this battle he knew he had to do more in order to survive.

“Phew”

Lwanda sighed deeply before picking himself up and dusting himself off. He cast his gaze to the north, it was time to continue his journey before the jaguar returned.

“But first...”

He glanced at the vines and smiled.