Night Tiger
Near the flower slept a Night tiger. Night tigers were pitch black in color, and hunted mostly during the night. They ranged anywhere from first stage Qi Gathering to 9th stage Qi Gathering, depending on their age. The tiger in front of Alex was at the first stage of the Qi Gathering Realm.
Although beasts didn't cultivate the way humans did, they emanated a natural aura that made it easy to judge what level their strength was at, and with the system's help, Alex could see the levels of his opponents.
Alex stood as still as possible, fearing that any sound would alert the beast. He stood there for several minutes, neither moving forward nor retreating. The beast, unaware of his presence, slept soundly.
"Although I'm much stronger than when I fought the Dark Panther, there's still no way I can beat this beast," thought Alex. A conflicted look appeared on his face as he debated about what to do.
"I can't beat the Night tiger, but on the other hand, that Qi Essence Sunflower is extremely important to me." Alex stared at the tiger for quite some time before clenching his fists tightly.
"I need this flower. If I end up in danger, I'll just teleport away" thought Alex as he started to slowly sneak towards the flower.
After sneaking forward slowly for several minutes, Alex started to approach the flower from the side opposite the wolf.
"I'm almost there. Just a few more yards."
Each second was agonizingly stressful as Alex slowly approached the flower. Just as he was about to reach out and store away the flower, the Night tiger quickly opened its eyes.
"ROAR!"
An extremely loud and furious roar echoed throughout the entire cavern. The Night tiger had felt Alex's presence right as he was about to take the flower, and as such had woken up in a furious rage.
"Shit!" yelled Alex as he hastily retreated and dashed towards the cave exit with all his speed, abandoning all thought of obtaining the flower.
Alex came to a sudden halt as he was ten yards from the cavern exit. The Night tiger had obviously sensed his intention to retreat and had run to the only exit to block his path.
Alex stared at the Night tiger in front of him as he thought about what to do.
"Should I crush the talisman now?" He pulled out the talisman and held it in his hand for a moment before storing it once again.
"No, I can only use this as a last resort. Once I crush it, my adventure is over and I have to go home. I'll see if I can fight my way out of here, maybe the tiger won't want to leave the cave if I reach the exit."
Alex hastily took out his katana and steadied it on the side of his body. Breathing in deeply, Alex took the most defensive stance he knew and prepared for the tiger's attack.
Noticing that Alex was daring to challenge it, the tiger howled in rage once again before dashing rapidly toward him.
Alex barely had time to react before the tiger was right in front of him, its massive paw swinging powerfully toward him. Based on his fight with the Dark Panther, Alex knew that he couldn't block this attack head-on without taking serious damage.
Right as the giant paw was about to smash into his body, Alex twisted his shoulders to the side and brought up his katana. The paw made a glancing strike against Alex's sword as it barely missed gravely injuring him.
As the tiger lunged past him, Alex raised his other hand and punched out with all his strength. The tiger was knocked back slightly, but other than that had taken no damage. Alex felt his hand trembling slightly in pain from the punch.
"How tough" Alex cursed as he rapidly dashed backward, narrowly avoiding the follow-up strike from the tiger.
After narrowly dodging the strike, Alex used the slight opening and dashed forward, and swung his sword down with all his might.
"Peng!"
A metallic sound rang out as the tiger paw blocked Alex's sword with ease. Alex was sent flying backward, eventually crashing into the cavern wall. He sluggishly stood up and wiped the blood off his lips. He quickly looked up and saw the Night tiger rapidly approaching him, trying to deliver the finishing blow.
"Boom!"
A loud boom echoed through the cavern as the tiger's paw slammed against the cavern wall.
Alex had just narrowly dodged the tiger's powerful attack at the last possible moment. After dodging the tiger's paw attack, Alex lunged forward and slashed his sword toward the tiger with all his might.
"Roar!"
The tiger roared in anger as a slightly deep cut was opened up on its side. It had never regarded the human in front of it as a threat, and in its carelessness had been wounded.
"Shit!" Alex exclaimed as he hastily backed up, narrowly dodging the tiger paw swipe.
"That was the best opportunity I'm going to get, and all I could do was slightly injure the tiger," thought Alex as he hastily swung his sword out again, blocking the follow-up attack from the tiger.
"Gah!" Alex screamed out in pain as he was flung back dozens of yards, tumbling head over heels multiple times.
He eventually came to a stop and rose to his feet as fast as he could, his legs shaking and blood covering his entire body. All his bones felt like they had almost shattered, but he knew that the wolf wouldn't give him time to recover. Panting in pain, Alex stared at the rapidly approaching tiger.
"That was my strongest attack, and all I managed to do was wound it. I won't be able to kill it at this rate." Alex stared at the tiger as he considered his options before his eyes widened in shock and fear.
"What's happening?" said Alex
He suddenly felt like all the energy in his body was rapidly leaving. A huge wave of weariness started washing over him as Alex felt the energy surge slowly start to leave his body.
Alex was worried about his sudden predicament when all of a sudden he looked up to see a massive paw swiping toward his head.
"Gah!"
Alex cried out in pain as he was sent flying backward by the attack. Although he had managed to block the attack at the last possible moment, his hasty defense was not enough to prevent any damage.
Alex tumbled over a few times before coming to a stop. After struggling for a few seconds, Alex stood up as fast as he could. He looked up to see the tiger once again dashing towards him, looking to end the fight.
"What can I do? I feel as if I only have enough energy for one more attack before I collapse. Either I crush the talisman or I attack, but my last full-power attack wasn't powerful enough to kill it"
Alex's mind was racing as he desperately thought of something to turn the tide of this battle. His eyes suddenly brightened as he thought of something.
Watching the tiger approach, Alex feigned weakness, acting as if he could barely stand up. Seeing its prey on its last legs, the tiger prepared to put all its power into its final blow.
"Boom!" The large cavern shook as the tiger's paw violently slammed into the ground, upheaving the earth and creating a small crater. The toger had not expected its prey to be able to move quickly, and as such had attacked with all its might to deliver a finishing blow.
The Night tiger looked to its side but saw nothing. It suddenly looked upwards, at which point it saw the human above it, lunging downwards with a weapon in hand.
After dodging to the side at the last possible moment, Alex used 'Force Fodge' and jumped high into the air above the tiger. Putting his katana above his head, he took a slashing stance and used 'Sword Slash' towards the beast.
His arm muscles strained with all their might as Alex was just barely able to control the trajectory of the katana. He swung the katana will every last shred of energy he had. If this attack failed, he didn't know if he would have enough energy to take out his spatial talisman and crush it.
"Roar"
The tiger howled in anger as it raised its paw to block the attack, but having put all its power into its previous attack, it was just a moment too slow to recover in time.
"Slice!"
Alex violently crashed into the ground and tumbled over a few times. With his last remaining strength, Alex slightly lifted his head to look behind him.
Alex stared at the beast for a second before darkness washed over him.
To Be Continued...