Run The Gauntlent

This was worse than Mia expected. Like most definitely a lot worse in comparison to what she had expected. so much so that she'd rate it as "incomparable". There were worse things in this forest than Mia had realized. For example, the, what seemed to be a badger, that she had just duked it out with. The worst part? She hadn't even managed to kill it! The monster had definitely been on the losing side of the battle, but it managed to fend her off! Long enough for it to get away anyway.

Backtracking a little bit though, shortly after Mia opened up an impromptu mind link with Willa, warning him that she couldn't stop this, she almost immediately ran out of mana again! So she was already going into this with low reserves, and she had the worry that Willa might not even make it plaguing her mind. Let alone how she'd even manage to find him after all this was over. Though, such worries were quickly expunged when she'd finally made it all the way to the battlefield. Quicker then she probably would've normally made it due to trying to keep pace with Willa.

It was a very different sight from what she'd seen so far. Instead of a simple defense line blocking the monsters off and letting them fight amongst themselves, the humans were taking a much more... Active role, to put it lightly, in the battle this time. Magical explosions crashed against the field every other moment, soldiers left their usual posts and cleared through dozens of monsters, or well, they didn't leave their posts, just that there were more forces on the field than there were previously.

Regardless, extra projectiles rained down constantly, men and women cleared through swaths of monsters before switching out with another to take their place. But ignoring the human front, there was also a much wider variety of monsters present in the fray today. The usual ones were still present, chimera beasts, big or small variations of creatures you'd see from Mia's world, but then there were more exotic monsters like something that looked like a Griffin, or more visually correct Chimeras, scaled lizards that looked like they belonged in a museum, you name it. 

And what did they bring on you ask? A veritable bloodbath. The moment Mia had broken into the crowd, it was straight into the frenzy for her. Ripping through every hint of opposition, while also EXPLICITLY making sure to avoid any human conflict, right up until she came across that aforementioned badger. It was kind of mesmerizing, a beautiful coat of sleek grey and piercing eyes that didn't really belong on an animal. But with claws more then sharp enough to rip something to pieces. And it had quickly attempted to make use of them.

Something that Mia had noticed about the pull was that it didn't quite restrict all of your movement once you actually reached the source of it, but more so stopped you from trying to actively run away from the situation. Which meant she could still make full use of her mobility when need be despite the fact that she was still technically under the thrall of the pull. Which she DEFINITELY needed in this fight.

It had been the first time since she'd come to this world that she actually experienced a fair, one on one fight between herself and another. Gotta say! Not a fan! Would you just piss off or die already?! Mia mentally grumbled as she "parried" a strike from the badgers claws with her own, slapping the paw away before lunging in for a killing bite. Though before her jaws could snap shut around it's face, the monster ripped it's claws from the earth that MIa had lodged them into and leaped backward, clear over the head of a monster. For a moment she thought that it had backed off, though the moment her head swiveled away she felt the wind slap against her head. 

She ducked immediately after that little preemptive warning, narrowly avoiding the claws that were set to slap against her head secondarily. Immediately shooting back up to her full height, whipping around to see the monster latching onto the ground, quickly halting it's momentum. Alright, thought we could've come to an understanding and left well enough alone! Clearly, I thought wrong. You're just det-WOAH! 

With another leap, the badger struck at Mia. Claws flashing through where her muzzle had been moments ago. From her position Mia glared up at her assailant before retaliating with a swipe of her own. Though her enemy had intercepted with yet another set of it's own claws, offsetting her attack in a similar fashion to how she had done so moments ago. Both of it's front paws are out of the way, now! 

Mia lunged forward yet again and attempted to take a chunk of her opponents throat out, though just before contact it dipped to the side and narrowly avoided the chomp while also delivering a bite of their own. Which Mia also narrowly dodged, whipping her head just around the assault. With her free paw, Mia swung upwards towards the badgers throat, and with nothing to intercept sh-Aw god damnit! 

Pushing off of the ground with it's hind legs, the monster shot itself into the air, glaring down at Mia from the sky above. Even as it's legs waved in the air Mia could feel it's malevolence rising, similarly to how it was raising one of it's front legs up above it's head. What, is that supposed to be some kind of threatening sign? I'm afraid you'll have to do a little more then that to get me ups-WHAT THE FUCK!?

From out of the badgers claws came a pure bright blue glow, before expanding into a much more threatening presence. A gash in the sky, something that Mia could only find herself describing as "a sword beam" came rocketing down towards her. Three sets of slashes rapidly descending on her current location.

Mia's eyes rapidly flicked up and around, before coming to a split second decision. She immediately sprinted to her left, which was unfortunately closer to a human, but ultimately this was probably the best option. She could either sit there and attempt to... Block the attack, which she might be able to do with Mana-Life Boost. But she wasn't sure since she hadn't tested it yet, run forward, which was... Much closer to the current blast zone that was where all the magic was being fired right now. Or run right towards a group of humans as compared to the singular one she was heading towards right now. Backwards was unfortunately, not an option, as that led away from the fight. Which she couldn't do.

*BOOM*

With a thunderous crash the attack slammed into the grounds Mia had had been standing in moments ago. When she glanced back, at least twenty monsters had been split by the attack. And the ground was, THOROUGHLY, rended. Rapidly, her eyes once more flicked around, searching for her opponent who was decidedly quite worthy. She was telling herself that this sucked but... I might be lying just a little bit. She mentally smirked as she laid eyes on her assailant once again, who was currently rapidly dashing toward her from under the cover of far larger beasts. Alright, if you won't leave me the hell alone at least make it entertaining for me!

With a powerful push from her hind legs, Mia sent herself rocketing towards her enemy at an equal pace. Quickly closing the distance between her and the monster. One instant till impact, brace!

CLANG!

Mia and the monster clashed for a short moment, like one of those duels between swordsmen you'd see in some kind of anime. Though neither of them fell in the exchange, instead quickly turning back around to face each other. My claws are shaking... What kind of stats does this thing have? No, don't be intimidated, if it's stronger you then you'd be hurting a little bit more then you are right now, commit to it! 

With a flurry of attacks Mia and the badger went blow for blow, dodging, clashing with, and nicking each other in a prolonged conflict unheeding of the raging battle around them. For every strike that would land, another was returned in kind, for every attack parried, another was dodged. For at least ten seconds, this pure unbridled bliss of combat continued. But then the difference between the two began to show.

Mia was faster, without room for argument, she was quicker then her opponent. Even if only by a little. Their power was similar, but Mia certainly took the hits better. Even if every gash she put in her enemy was returned in a similar manner, Mia stumbled less, carried on unaffected by the wound. Her constitution stat, so comparatively high to the other stats she had within her possession enabling her endurance to shine through. Slowly, her enemy began to crumble under the weight of her strikes.

Each swipe of her claws that was parried sent the badgers own limbs wavering just a little more, every new cut leaking out just a little bit more blood. Eventually, the monster couldn't even begin to strike back. Twenty seconds into the clash it had been relegated entirely to defense. Blocking, Parrying, and Dodging. Within another five seconds it had begun to back away, battered at from every angle by an entranced Mia. Her wandering mind finally silenced in favor of absolute focus on the battle at hand. Thirty seconds after the clash had begun, she saw the monsters front leg wobble just a little longer than usual. She struck within short order.

She got a good look at it's eyes widening in shock with her face so close to it's own, but no, the throat wasn't her aim this time. Even though it may have been able to finally deliver a good hit to Mia's torso, it decided that the attack wasn't worth it's life and instead once more leaped backwards, though it had misunderstood which part of itself Mia was after, and that had costed it dearly. 

Gripping firmly onto the badgers side, Mia easily pulled a chunk of it's flesh loose, eliciting a cry from the poor monster. Though, shockingly, it had managed to keep itself oriented during its jump. Landing on the back of a large monster and digging it's claws into it for proper footing. It didn't take too kindly to that, but without being able to immediately reach onto it's back that left it with only one option to get the badger off, which was to drop to the ground. Animals may not be sentient but they weren't exactly stupid either, right now it's death wasn't quite assured, but if it dropped into the waiting jaws of all the small monsters beneath it that were currently nibbling on it's fortified ankles it probably would be. Thus the badgers footing stayed as such.

Mia followed suit shortly after, finding a perch on a monster of similar stature. She'd be damned if she let her assailant get away NOW after putting in that much work against it. Leaping off from her precarious position Mia flew through the air towards the badger, landing where it had been standing moments ago. The monster having darted off to the side and into the crowd below. Oh ho ho no you don't! 

She of course, gave chase, leaping down from the monster and leaving it to its own devices. Weaving through small and large monsters alike in the pursuit of her quarry. It was bleeding, and heavily slowed down. All while not having the ability to leave the vicinity. Plus, a skill that she'd made, to be frank, less use then she could've up until now, was quite helpful for this whole situation. Natural Born Hunter effectively made the rest of the crowd transparent, marking the badger clearly through the riffraff. 

She was gaining, and gaining, almost there! But, right before she was on top of the monster, she felt her hairs rise. Where... Where am I right now? Mia glanced around in short order, before realizing she'd chased the badger right into the magical blast zone. Aw nuts. 

An explosion of magical energy crashed inbetween herself and the badger, flames licking against her form! Aw crap! Now's a great time to test out that whole mana boost skill! Hit it! Immediately, Mia felt a surge of energy replacing the mana she felt dissipate from her body in equal measure, reinforcing her even as the blast knocked Mia off of her feet and up into the air. Rocketing away from the badger she could see the mark fade in the distance towards the human line. Well, they're dead.

While she went in the exact opposite direction. Which just so happened to be back toward that singular human she'd initially chosen to move closer to. Funny how that works out, huh? She mused to herself as her body crashed into the dirt, thumping against it in a dull impact that didn't particularly hurt that much. Shortly after, she disabled the conversion skill as she began to feel the screaming pain that came with a lack of mana once again.

You know what, maybe I can use this. He looks pretty worn out, fairly desperate and everything. Seems like they got cut off from whoever they were working with because they look damn exhausted and they're certainly quite far away from any assistance. Alright, I can definitely work with this. Mia righted herself, before immediately wincing when her paw touched back down on the ground. Her eyes flicked down to look at it, bloody nicks across it from all the times she'd been scratched and dents in her claws from when she'd made an awkward attempt at a parry. But, she'd have to deal with it. The pain will fade, eventually.

Immediately after she had that thought, some very intelligent beast attempted to kill her by... Screaming and leaping at her in what looked like something effectively in slow motion. Its insides were splattered across the floor a split second later. See? Already fading. She grumbled to herself as she shook the blood off of her claws. The dull throbbing still just as present even after the kill. 

Level up!

+8 strength, +8 dexterity, +9 constitution, +8 wisdom, +8 capacity, +8 intelligence, +4 charisma, +5 manipulation.

Have I... Not leveled up yet? The warning about it being harder to level your class up really isn't a lie if it took all of that for a single level... Actually that was closer to like, five minutes, what the hell am I talking about? I've been spoiled rotten by my absurd leveling pace, yeesh! Alright, enough goofing off, go help that guy or something!

Mia once more took off into the crowd, ducking and diving through it all in a similar fashion to all the times she'd done it prior. Quickly whistling towards her human target. She ran a few different scenarios through her mind, though she only had so long to decide on one of them. Ultimately, she went for the one she figured was sure to work. 

Which no, was not a mind link, Mia literally didn't have the mana to make it work, she was running on LESS then fumes. So the next best option, was to simply convey that she wasn't aggressive. Or well, at least not towards the human. Streaking forward in a blur of black, Mia sliced the leg off of a bird like monster, kind of similar to a flamingo. Should've had thicker legs, idiot. 

It fell quickly after the attack, leaving the man who it was about to attack quite confused, as one second it was reared back to peck and the next it was on the ground writhing in pain. Not giving it a second thought, he spun around to block an attack from a monster he heard approaching from behind. Then saw nothing there, correction, saw nothing in front of him. It was a dead horned serpent bleeding out on the ground with it's head severed. 

His eyes shot left to right in confusion as he searched for whatever did this, though quickly gave up on the search as a third monster attacked him. This time it didn't mysteriously die, though it went down quickly and easily within two slashes. Then he turned around, and saw a swath of monsters either down a few limbs or just outright dead.

Alright! Time to make my best, possible, impression! Operation two legs, a go! 

Quickly shooting into the mans point of view, Mia leapt up onto her hind legs and waved her front paws in the air. Coming up like a jump scare you'd see in Five Nights at Freddies. Which, did actually spook the soldier for a bit funnily enough, though they quickly recomposed themselves and leaned back in ready to swing, before hesitating for a moment. Mia bounced around on her legs for an equally long moment, before dropping back down and cleaving another monster that had been unfortunate enough to walk within three feet of her.

"What the hell...?" The man mumbled out, even as he took another swing at a monster that got just a little bit too close for comfort. Their brain was mostly on auto pilot right now, and hell, if there was a monster that fast he wouldn't even bother trying to kill it. If it wanted him dead, he'd be dead, no questions. They'd take the help they could get for the moment, and ask questions later.