Not a coward!

The girl in the green dress glanced at Eric and felt a little surprised because he wasn't shivering like the other two. She then called out to them in a hushed voice, "You guys, come near us."

"Y-yes." Jake and Liam nodded and hurriedly moved closer to them. Although Eric was comparatively calmer, it didn't mean he couldn't feel the danger. So, without delay, he also moved closer to the green clothed girl.

Leon glanced at them and narrowed his eyes and muttered, "Trash! What's there to fear when I--"

Whoosh!

Just then, a three-meter-tall black panther jumped out of the bushes and landed ten feet away from them, its orb like eyes staring down at them.

Leon immediately shut his mouth and instinctively took a step back. When he realized what he did, his face burned with shame and anger.

Although, being non-warriors, Eric and others couldn't identify the beast's tier, just from its presence alone, they could tell it was a lot stronger than the tier-1 beasts they encountered along the way.

Suddenly…

"How dare you, beast?" Leon shouted as a three feet long sword appeared in his hand. He then stomped his feet on the ground and lunged at the panther.

Eric had to admit even though this crimson haired guy was an arrogant jerk, he was quite strong. In a split second, he had appeared in front of the beast and slashed his sword at its head.

The other guy with the sword on his back and the green clothed girl weren't happy to see this, however. Wearing a grave expression, the girl hurriedly shouted, "Leon… watch out! It's a tier-2 dark panther."

Just as his sword was about to strike panther's head, who didn't even bother to defend, Leon heard the girl's warning and immediately, his expression turned ugly.

He wanted to retreat, unfortunately… it was too late. Although he was quite fast, the panther was faster.

Swish!

Bang!

When his sword was an inch away from slashing at its head, a huge claw slammed into his chest, sending him barreling backwards and crashing into a tree almost thirty meters away, his fate unknown.

Upon witnessing this scene, Jake's fear grew while Liam looked blankly at Leon lying in a pool of his blood.

'How could this be…? Isn't he at least a grade-5 novice warrior from the Skybreak martial academy? Isn't he here to hunt tier-2 beast? How could he not withstand even a single attack?' Liam couldn't believe it.

"Hey, Liam! Snap out of it!" Eric shouted at him, waking him up from his despairing state.

"Stay alert! Don't be distracted!" Eric said. "You too Jake. We can't afford it."

"Y-yes." The duo nodded. Admiration rose in Jake's heart when he saw Eric act so calmly, even now. As for Liam, he was already used to it because he never saw him lose his cool due to fear.

"That idiot!" The green clothed girl cursed in anger. If it wasn't for the beast in front of her, she would've beaten Leon until he became unconscious.

She then touched the small pouch hanging on her slim waist and a long whip appeared in her hand. The man beside her had also withdrawn his sword from his back, ready to attack.

They exchanged glances and lunged at the beast from both sides.

Swish! Swish!

As the whip and sword slashed at it at breakneck speed, the panther narrowed its eyes slightly, and then…

Whoosh!

It jumped back, easily dodging their joint attack.

"This…?" This left the duo stupefied. They then revealed expressions of extreme terror.

"I-it's an intelligent beast. How is that possible? Isn't it only a tier-2 beast?" The young man asked incredulously.

He found it hard to believe because the beasts below tier-4 were not intelligent, making them easy to defeat for human warriors.

Because they only fought based on their instinct, even slightly weaker human warriors than them could kill defeat and kill them using their battle skills and tactics.

However, when beasts gain human-like intelligence, things weren't so easy anymore. To defeat a single intelligent beast, at least two human warriors of the same realm were needed and to kill it safely, there should be at least three.

They had some possibility of killing an ordinary tier-2 beast with their trump cards. That was the reason they dared to come here to hunt tier-2 beasts down, despite being only grade-5 novice warriors.

However, the first tier-2 beast they encountered turned out to be an intelligent beast. How could they not be terrified?

They exchanged glances before turning around and fleeing in different directions.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Within a few seconds, they had disappeared into the forest, leaving the black panther and Eric's trio staring blankly in their directions.

"They… fled?" Jake muttered soullessly.

Eric and Liam also had stupefied expressions on their faces. Although they knew the situation was dangerous after Leon was taken out, they never expected it to come to this.

'Right, they even left Leon—' Eric thought, but when he glanced at where Leon was, he found the place empty.

'How cruel!' He thought, gritting his teeth in anger and helplessness.

"E-Eric, what should we do now?" Liam asked in a shaky voice.

Eric glanced at him and saw his face was completely pale, and he was shivering uncontrollably. Jake was also in the same condition.

"Should we also flee?" Liam asked in a low voice, afraid that the black panther, who was still in a daze because of the duo's escape, would hear him.

Unfortunately for him, just as he asked this, the beast shifted its gaze to them.

Swoosh!

Immediately, the trio felt an invisible but heavy pressure pressing down on them.

Step! Step! Step!

Then, ever so slowly, the panther started walking toward them. With each step, they felt the pressure on them increase and their legs started to tremble.

Step!

Thud!

When it took the fourth step toward them, Jake lost all the strength in his legs and fell to his knees. A moment later, he fainted.

The panther stopped for a moment before taking another step toward them. There was a playful and amused look flashing in its black, orb-like eyes.

'It's toying with us,' Eric understood. However, he was utterly helpless to do anything about it.

Step!

Thud!

When it took another step, Liam also couldn't endure and fell to his knees before falling unconscious.

The panther looked satisfied when it saw this. Then he focused its gaze on Eric.

Crunch!

Eric felt the pressure on him increase several folds. His joints started making crunching noise and his knees started bending.

'No!' He growled inwardly and used all his willpower to stand straight.

Growl!

The panther growled in dissatisfaction and looked at Eric challengingly. It was as if it was saying: 'How long can you endure?'

It then raised its paw to take another step.

Eric gritted his teeth so tightly that blood was seeping out of his gums. He knew his bones would snap if the pressure increased even a little more.

'Fuck! What am I doing? Can't I just give in? Maybe it will lose interest in us and spare our lives?' He thought and wanted to give up. After all, it was not as if he would survive if he endured it till the end.

When these thoughts appeared in his mind, his knees started bending again.

However,

"NOO! I won't give up. I'm not a coward." He shouted out and forced himself to stand up straight. However, this exhausted all of his willpower and strength.

The panther's paw hadn't even landed on the ground when everything started to become blurry in front of him.

Just before he fell unconscious, he heard a chuckle. "Hehe, you really have some backbone kid."

'This voice…'

---

A/N: I hope you liked the chapter. If you did or didn't, comment to let me know. I would appreciate that. Oh yes, please don't forget to vote your Stones and GTs. The story needs your support. Have a good day or night!