After killing most of the Zurds remaining in their burrows over the next two days, Rey was only able to increase his Dagger Throwing level, gaining the Recall ability, which allows him to return a thrown weapon to his hand once every twenty seconds. The guy knew that he didn’t kill everyone, but the remaining few dozen didn’t come out even at night, he didn’t want to go down into narrow passages where it would be inconvenient for him to fight, so he just continued moving north.

Right now, the guy was moving cautiously through the thorny thickets, but even if the armor saved him from scratches, the noise he made made it impossible for him to hunt properly. But Ray was not afraid to become someone's prey , because fifty meters in front of him was his faithful ally - that same Zurd pet. It was foolish to compare the noise that the guy made, carefully making his way through the thickets and the loud moans emitted by the animal, into the skin of which sharp spikes mercilessly dug. The guy did not even think of forcing him to be silent, because now this poor fellow has taken on the proud role of a scout, with which, until now, he has coped just wonderfully.

In such a simple way, after an hour, they finally left the zone of dense vegetation, but Rei did not allow the Zurd to approach him. He literally bled, attracting all predatory living creatures within a radius of a kilometer. And now, having lost sight of him for a few seconds, the guy was forced to stop, because the groans of his pet stopped.

Instantly ducking to the ground, Rei slowly began to walk around the place where he had last heard the zurda.

In less than half a minute, he could already see the reason why his pet was no longer whining. And she turned out to be a panther, which was about one and a half times larger than an earthly horse. Maybe even a little more.

The animal pressed the head of the zurd to the ground with one paw, and the second, as if stroking, slowly tore its back with its claws. Ray did not care about the fate of the Zurd, because now he involuntarily stared at the beast. The tight tie of muscles showed through even through the thick blue-black fur, which meant that the cat tried very hard not to kill the Zurd, because one careless movement could turn his head into minced meat. The panther also had a forked bone tip at the tip of its tail, which resembled a spear, although Rei had no doubt that this tail was much more dangerous than any spear.

Carefully observing what was happening, the guy took out a long bow and one of the arrows poisoned with a strong poison from the Inventory. As he carefully placed it on the bow, Rey noticed the panther's ears twitch and it turned its glowing blue eyes towards him.

The boy's heart skipped a beat as he was sure he didn't make a sound. Giving him an appraising look, the cat snorted and continued to play with the zurd. Ray couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. He did not care at all about the contemptuous attitude of the panther, because she had a right to it. The guy's only hope was poison, and if it didn't work, he would have to run, most likely flying away from here. Almost seventy meters separated them, but Rei was sure they meant nothing to this predator.

During the entire journey, he experienced the same pressure only in front of a huge spider, but if the guy did not even think to fight against that monster, then the panther standing in front of him was different. She suppressed not only by force, but also by the imperious aura of the king of these places, who did not need to be afraid of anyone in the area.

Stretching the bow to its limit, Rey made the bowstring crackle a little before releasing an arrow shrouded in a green glow. She flew seventy meters in an instant, hitting the right hind leg of the beast.

"So weak?"

When fired at a tree, an arrow launched with such force and from such a distance could enter it to the very plumage. As for the panther, the arrow was able to penetrate into its skin just enough to hide half the arrowhead.

Rey didn't wait any longer, the bow vanished from his hands at the same moment as the silence of the forest was torn by a roar like thunder. With a last glance at the panther that turned towards him, the guy ran, regretting that he had not made a container with pure snake venom, because the solution with a concentration of one to six did not seem to excite this beast too much.

Diving head first between several trees growing nearby, the guy turned into a snow kite. Of all the bodies he had, it was in this one that he had the least replacement.

At the same moment as he slipped out of the armor, Rey heard the strongest blow and the crack of wood. The guy already understood what had just happened, so he continued to rush at full speed towards the most dense cluster of trees. He clearly heard the cat rushing after him, now and then making the trees tremble, which she touched with her huge body. Ray ran away for only five seconds, but realized that he was losing in speed, so frantically he began to look for a way to survive.

Transforming into a tildas was not an option, since he had no doubt that the panther could jump several meters high, and he needed time to take off.

At that moment, out of the corner of his eye, he saw his salvation and, rounding another tree, heard how it shuddered from the next blow of an angry cat. Diving into a fallen tree trunk clogged with snow, the inside of which had rotted away, creating an empty space inside, Rey immediately turned into a Sun Eater and twisted into a small ball, not daring to make a sound.

The guy clearly saw how the huge body of the panther, radiating an enormous amount of heat, passed next to the trunk.

"Lucky..."

He really was lucky that the cat crashed into the last tree, otherwise she would not have been able to miss the moment when he crawled into the trunk of the tree. Ray watched from the corner of his eye as the panther moved ten meters away from the tree and fell to the ground, howling plaintively.

“It’s still worth raising the concentration of the poison. It was too close."

The guy did not immediately leave his shelter, only when he was finally convinced that the panther was not moving, he carefully climbed out from the back of it, not wanting to miss such a strong soul.

But, to his surprise, the cat was not yet dead. She immediately turned her head towards the snake that had just appeared, uttering a dull roar, but not being able to move the body, through which the poison quickly spread due to the chase. Pulling out his bow, Rey placed another poisoned arrow on it and activated the Power Shot that had rolled back to that point. The arrow broke off and flew towards the beast, but a moment before it hit, with a flash of green light, it deviated and disappeared far into the forest.

"You have to try first."

Hiding the bow, Rey opened the Status and made sure that the zurd they had previously subordinated had died. Taking out a set of armor from the Inventory, he quickly put it on. The guy wasn't sure if the atanit armor could block this panther's attack, but it was better than nothing. He would have remained in the form of a nimble snake, but the skills, and therefore Submission, could only be used in the form of a person and a forest.

Coming to the cat at a distance of three meters, Ray looked into her eyes blazing with a blue flame of rage. Even though the beast was now on its last legs, it never ceased to inspire awe.

The panther's breath became weaker and weaker, after a moment's hesitation, Rey broke one of the souls of the Zurds and a stream of energy escaped from his chest and headed towards the cat.

The fact that now he can do this, the guy found out only yesterday, when he was able to attract the soul of a dead Zurd from a distance of twenty meters. A small experiment confirmed his hunch that the opposite is also possible - he can pull out his own souls and move them outside the body, the same is true for energy.

And now, having got into the body of the panther, the energy returned a little sparkle to her eyes, prolonging the life of the cat. At the same time, Rei used Subjugation on her and watched as the blue fire in her eyes turned green. When the process was completed, the guy checked the Status, making sure that the panther now belongs to him.

After that, he broke a dozen souls of Zurds and gradually began to direct their energy to the body of his new pet, which, feeling a surge of strength, began to growl contentedly. In the end, after only sixty souls, the panther finally rose to its feet. And to look at her head, Ray had to raise his own. At that moment, the panther, bending its front paws, touched the guy's chest with his forehead, involuntarily pushing him away.

Rei liked the gesture very much, so he, in turn, also stroked the beast on the head, causing it to drop its ears in satisfaction. The wool was very soft and pleasant to the touch, so after spending a few minutes on the first acquaintance with his new friend, the guy finally let him go. Now, only in the very back of his mind, he noted the fact that a few minutes ago, in the deepest fear, he fled from this predator.

As Ray learned in the process, it was a male, but this fact did not bother him much. Returning a little back and taking the gilfar armor that he left behind in the process of escaping, the guy continued to move north, now and then stroking the panther's hard, like steel, side.