Chapter 5: Terror Of The Mountains

This is gonna be quite the story.

About forty deer were running up the mountain where the mountain beast is upon spotting me. I wasn't hunting them but the temptation of hunting them down became too much when they broke out of hiding and ran. I sprinted after them, catching up to them in eight seconds and running among them, looking for the biggest one.

I ran past one before stopping and slicing its head off before continuing to hunt. Now the other predators have something to eat.

Soon we were up the mountain and in pretty deep. I finally spotted my prey. I must admit I'm impressed the deer were able to keep up their pace on the mountain terrain. Unfortunately for them, so can I. It's possible that escaping me on the mountain terrain was their plan since now they are just mindlessly running and panicking. Oh well. Your plan failed.

I jumped up on the mountain wall and spun around before launching myself off and aiming my claws at my chosen deer. Another deer to my surprise ran in my way. My claws snagged it and went through the unfortunate young buck. The result of it was my claws scratching my intended target on the face. His left eye and cheek were scratched horribly but he only let out a bellow and kept on running, bounding out of sight.

I hit the ground and rolled for a bit. My arm should have been dislocated but it wasn't. Damn am I flexible! I got up and my arm fixed itself as I did so. I looked at the young buck who was now three pieces lying on the ground. It wasn't my target and that pissed me off. But a meal is a meal. I ate the young buck when I smelled that chemical smell. As quickly as I smelled it, it was gone. I left the scraps and began tracking down my original target. Call it what you want but I wanted that deer dead. My target was my target. You're my objective. Don't think you can get away.

It was quite easy to track him down. He was already bleeding and his smell was extra delicious and easy to follow. I licked my lips in anticipation as I sniffed at a blood drop on a rock and a blade of grass and let out a giggle. Crows and vultures were flying above even again, having realized I was on to something.

It wasn't long before I found my query. The buck looked up as I jumped up on a boulder in front of it. I wasn't trying to hide. I licked my lips and winked at the buck. The buck backed away before its hind leg found no solid ground. Behind him was a solid drop off the mountain. No escape.

I leaped down in front of him and started circling him the best I could, my tail lashing out behind me.

Our eyes met and for a couple of seconds and we stayed still. Then the buck bolted back the way it came from. I leaped forward and grabbed his right hind hoof. I then twirled up on my two feet, carrying the buck with me. I then slammed him down. I heard the sound of his bones breaking. With a snarl I lunged forward, claws ready to tear out his neck, when the chemical smell came back, strong and nearby. I paused. It smelled somewhat different than the one I smelled at the cave. I also smelled the blood of something large.

I spun around and let out a snarl before stiffening. In front of me was a large white cat with a white mane and black torn eyes. There were no eyes really, just black torn holes shaped like a multi-legged star. Black spikes ran down its back and it seemed furless except for its mane.

For a reason I suddenly found myself relaxing. The chemical smell was coming from this cat. It felt relaxing like this cat was my ally. The cat seemed confused too before it growled and took a step forward. It was starving. How? This clearly is the Terror Of The Mountains. I could smell the blood on it. Yet it was starving? Where did all the food go then? You ate it, didn't you? Then it is your own fault!

I hissed and put my hand on the buck I was about to kill.

"My Prey! My Target!"

Wait! Shouldn't we try and so-

With a snarl, the cat launches itself at me, faster than any deer. I met the cat with a punch with my claws facing outwards. I stabbed it in the chest and I lifted it up.

Oh. It's female.

I of course underestimate her strength and my own as well and the next second my right arm fell to my side, sliding out of the hole it made in the cat's chest. The next instant I was slashed across the face with the cat's claws and was bit on my neck with her big jaws and sharp teeth. I felt tension build up in my neck as I was lifted off the ground. The cat was huge, okay. Bigger than the walking meat bag. Huge things don't tend to be fast in attacking.

Thinking fast I scratched the cat's face only for it to shrug it off. Growling I cut off her two hind legs with my tail. Well one of them since they were too thick and tough for me to cut them both off with one swing.

The cat let out a growl and let me go. I let out a chuckle and bit her left ear off. I earned a slash across my face as a reward which earned the cat a slash to her belly, disemboweling her slightly. She roared and lunged at me but I side-stepped and slammed my tail down on her head.

The cat hit the ground so hard that the crater had to have been seven feet deep. The deer had managed to crawl away during all this and just barely avoided the impact. The wind from the blow still caused him to groan in pain.

I jumped back on a Boulder and hissed, my tail swaying behind me as I watched the cat get up and shake herself off. She is stronger than me and faster with strikes but not in agility and pure strength. What I should really say is that I'm stronger in terms of the tail and arm strength but not in weight and overall strength. Also, how the hell did that cat grow back her lost leg!? Well, it wasn't entirely healed but it was enough that the cat could move normally again.

The cat was now eyeing me carefully. It now realized I was as deadly as she. Two top predators facing each other. Terror Of The Forest and Terror Of The Mountain. It was not going to be easy for either of us and I really don't want to risk death but I won't back down. This is my prey. My target. My Objective.

I launched myself at the cat the same time she launched herself at me. I flattened myself and maneuvered so I would go underneath her belly. She saw this and did a backflip in the air and slammed me down with her tail. Her tail wasn't as powerful as mine but damn that hurt!

Also, how the bloody hell did a cat that size do a backflip mid-air mid-pounce!?

I got up and darted to my right and jumped up behind the cat while she was still in the air. She forced herself into a roll and turned around only to be bitten on the snout and slashed across her face. I jumped back and got smacked in the face by the cat's tail. I yanked it by going on two legs only to be tackled to the ground where I kicked the cat off me in the air and grabbed her damaged leg. The moment I did so the leg detached. Startled but determined I grabbed the cat's tail and swung her over my head. It won't do as much damage but it was something at least. Of course, the cat expected this and cuffed me on the head as she went past. I was slammed into the ground while the cat crouched into a roll and sprang up. She charged at me and bit my hip as I struggled to get up. With a hiss I sliced open her neck with my tail, nearly decapitating her. I broke free and in a frenzy tore her body to shreds. We parted, the cat panting heavily while I tried my best to plan my next move. We sprang at each other again but this time I was slashed heavily on my lower abdomen. I rolled away and sprang up. I was most definitely not healing like the cat was. This wound would cost me as much as her new and stunted back leg.

We attacked and I was slashed on my neck, causing a deep gash. I got two blows in, tearing open the cat's healed neck again and biting her on the head. I felt my teeth connect with each other and sprung back, my mouth full of flesh and bone. That mane of hers made it hard to decapitate her so that plan was out for now.

We sprang at each other, me going above the cat. She halted and somehow managed to do a front flip, her paw uppercutting me before my claws met her. I was sent flying back and through a boulder which broke and hit the ground where I twirled up on all fours while skidding and went back into a fighting stance.

It was this time that rocks and such decide to fall from the sky and powerful gusts of wind blew at us from nowhere. The ground below us split in half with a deep jagged crack running between us. Below us, I heard the sound of an avalanche.

Our fight is gonna break the mountain!

I hissed before letting out a giggle. Who cares? This is a fight of dominance that will only end in death. Either I kill the cat or she kills me. If any of us survive this we will hunt each other down and fight again. And if this cat survives and finds my cave and sees Selicia…

That will not happen!

We sprang at each other again. I received a blow to my left arm but I slid underneath the cat and dodged her tail and used my tail and wrapped around her right hind leg and slammed her down on the ground. I jumped up and dodged another swipe as the cat fell down on her side. I cut her right leg with my claws and jumped back again, narrowly avoiding another swipe. I jumped back again and darted to the left and darted to the right again when the cat lunged forward and clawed where I was before. With a snarl, she turned around and lunged forward. I did the same and we met. We clashed, reared up, and placed our hands, or paws in her case, on each other's shoulders. It was the purest and straightforward move of the entire fight so far. A clash.

I kinda expected it when the ground below us broke open and another avalanche started. We sprang apart and then at each other over the tumbling and falling rocks. A black spike shot out of the cat's shoulder and stabbed me through the leg and kept going down while my tail smacked down on the cat. With a snap, the cat's spine broke. We sprang apart, the cat managing to move despite her broken spine and then at each other again. This time I was faster and stabbed the cat through her jaw and through her skull before finding a rather sturdy rock in the avalanche below us and stood up on two feet and tossed the cat right off the mountain. With a roar, the cat fell with the rocks. I jumped to a safer spot and watched, or more of waited for the cat to return. It never showed up. Despite that, I had the feeling that she was still alive and that our fight was far from over.

I noticed that miraculously the buck was still there, and perhaps even more so he was still alive. With a quick dart of my right hand, I impaled him through the head with my claws and picked him up. I'm going back to my cave.

….

I was hungry. After the brawl, me and the cat kept our distance. Both of us weren't ready. I won by the fact that there was a cliff there and she lost because she underestimated me. Both of us had healed but still not ready.

But where is food!?

I ate almost all of my scraps. It has been two months since the duel and the deer herd was well gone. Between me and the cat, the herd had no break and soon they were gone. Either they ran far away or died. With them gone so went the carnivores. If by fate I went south of my cave while the Terror Of The Mountain went north. South was more woods and north were more mountains.

Now here I was, laying down by another cave. This one seemed to be a small mineshaft. I explored it but nothing caught my interest. Not even any bats were there. Well, there were. Four. I caught them and ate them. In my mind four though was barely a number. There were supposed to be a lot of bats! Not just four! Ugh!

More and more south we go.

Don't remind me about it.

Ugh! I was getting more and more annoyed and more and more anxious. Annoyed at the circumstances and the fact that I'm becoming more and more jazzy and willing to eat anything. Anxious that Selicia is in the cave alone and I'm getting further and further away from her!

So Bloody Annoying!

I guess though it is time to get a move on. I started walking and sniffing, trying to find any prey. I soon found myself on an old path. It felt familiar. I started walking on it for a while before I found myself in a big manor. I stopped and stared at it. No one was there and no one has been here for a while but this building felt awfully familiar.

After sniffing for food I turned and started walking away. There was no food here and I had no time to waste. I need food.

I left the path and finally caught the scent of a big deer. I sped towards it and killed it before it got the chance to react. Time to go back to the cave!