Hex Tiger
The group did not have to wait long. Out of one of the bushes, a large figure emerged. When it emerged, everyone let out a sigh of relief but they did not let down their guards. Before Nathan could even ask, Rae answered him.
"This beast is a Hex Tiger. We are letting out a sigh of relief because it is not a magical creature although that does not make it any less dangerous than it truly is.
Hex Tigers have very tough fur and skin as well as being fairly strong. You could say that their only two 'weaknesses' are their speed and lack of magical powers. But if we try to outrun it, we would fail. So our only chance here is to..."
Before she finished, an arrow flew from her bow and toward the tiger who had just barely managed to dodge it. Rae loaded another arrow and fired once more but this arrow also missed.
This was a powerful beast that had goo reaction speed. Unless one caught it off guard or attacked it from multiple angles, it was hard to truly harm it with conventional means.
Rae was not trying to kill it though but rather scare it off. Although she was not afraid of dealing with a single Hex Tiger, they are known for being one of the few tiger species to travel in packs.
What Rae did not know was that the rest of the pack was harassing the other members of the hunting party. This one was only attacking them due to a large amount of blood it smelled from their prey.
After missing 4 arrows and the creature not running away, she knew that it was here for a fight. Although she did not wish for a fight, Rae would not run away from one either.
"This tiger is here because it wishes to be our lunch. Let us thank it by giving it a quick and merciful death. Nathan, get into the tree. The rest of you, cover him. We will commence our attack afterward."
Nathan followed the order immediately. Not because he was afraid of the tiger but instead that he saw how long the branches were. He figured he could take an opportunity to launch an attack on the creature.
With Nathan out of the way, the group could safely battle now. The twins switched their short swords for the spears. The three spear wielders slowly walked toward the tiger with the shields raised and spears ready to stab at it.
This was the standard movement for anyone trained in military spear usage and the trio was using it as a textbook example. Rae stood in the back with her bow drawn and ready to fire arrows at the tiger the second she got an opportunity to.
The tiger looked at the enemies approaching it wearily. It did not expect them to find it before it had the chance to launch a surprise attack and its pride did not allow it to run away. Thus, it was stuck between a rock and a hard place.
The others did not give it a chance to think over its options though. As soon as they were in range, the twins both stabbed toward the tiger with their spears. It jumped to the side but as soon as it did, Alex's spear and one of Rae's arrows struck it.
The arrow was barely able to pierce through the fur and skin and only left a small wound. The spear on the other hand left a deeper wound but the tiger used its claws to break the spear.
Even though it got two injuries, the tiger was able to take out one of its enemies' weapons which essentially crippled one of their fighters against it. Now, Alex would have to use his short sword and get within its range if he wanted to cut it down.
But none of the members of the squad were willing to get too close to the creature unless they truly needed to. So the battle lasted for over 30 minutes with no clear winner in sight.
After 30 minutes, the tiger had 6 arrows sticking out of it and 3 broken spears, but it did not seem like it lost any of its vigor. And when it noticed that none of the djinns had spears and only short swords, it took that as an invitation to go on the offensive.
The tiger swept its claws and knocked Kate and Alex off their feet while Marco was only able to remain standing since he received the attack after it had hit two other people.
Rae took that as an opportunity to fire an arrow but this one missed as the tiger took a large jump backward and to the left but it did give the pair who fell time to stand back up and resume their positions.
The battle continued like that. The squad was no longer able to damage the tiger and was slowly accumulating wounds. Although none of them gained any life-threatening injuries, their chances of winning the battle were decreasing in each clash with the tiger.
Nathan watched from above as the group struggled. But he was not just planning to watch them die. Instead, he was searching for an opening. When the tiger made a lunge for Kate, he saw it.
With his dagger drawn, Nathan jumped down from the branches above holding the dagger in a reverse grip and ready to stab into the tiger. He knew that this was his only shot of beating the creature without resorting to his Esper abilities.
The others did not see Nathan at first. In fact, they did not see him at all. Instead, they saw a blur falling down from the tree branches above until it was right above the tiger.
With one smooth motion, Nathan stabbed his dagger directly into the creature's neck. With the stab, the beast immediately let out a loud growl of pain and tried to throw off Nathan's body. It was successful but could barely throw him a few meters.
The injury that Nathan inflicted was a fatal wound in its spine. The throw that it did was using the last of its strength. Before Nathan even touched the ground, the Hex Tiger had already died.
One of the mightiest beasts in the area was killed by a 4-year-old child with a dagger.