20. Big Panther

Mark let loose with the spear and it smashed into the lone panther in much the same way as the first spear. This time Mark had hit it in the ribcage and he seemed to miss any of the ribs because the spear went right through the body of the panther, leaving a rather obvious hole in the middle of it.

Blood really started gushing out this time and Mark could tell that he managed to hit a lung. 

The panther did not scream again.

Instead, the beast frantically grabbed at the spikes as it pulled itself up which resulted in it getting impaled and tangled on the defenses of the gate before it collapsed in a bloody mess without ever managing to get over the top of the entrance.

"Someone help me get it down, I want those materials."

While the guards were still in shock from the events that quickly led to such a ferocious beast dying right after Mark appeared, he had more practical ideas on the matter. He was already thinking how the tail would look cool if he got it preserved by the leatherworker in town and maybe had it glossed up a bit.

'That thing would be great for an ornamental sword or even a spear, I bet the caravans would pay a lot for it.'

Mark was not usually one to think of money, since he had a relative abundance of it. He mostly liked the idea of someone paying a bunch of money because they enjoy his work. While he is obsessed with the forge and hardly thinks of anything else, he is also obsessed with making the best possible crafts by applying all of his skills. Thus, he does get a bit of enjoyment when people find his products to be special or when they show great appreciation for his workmanship.

As Mark and the guards worked to get the chimeric mountain panther down from the gate, a shadow flashed right up to the gate and started swiping at them. The only person in range of the sharp claws that were like mini-daggers, as a large paw swiped left and another swiped right, was Mark. The warg fur that he had recently crafted into arm guards came in handy as he was launched off the top of the gate. The impact was like taking a hammer to the forearms.

"Argh, what the fuck!"

Mark was taken by surprise but managed to land on his feet. His arms felt numb though. He took a second to crouch down and check the damage as the guards ran up to him. 

'Good thing I put these together with metal bands or I might have had both my arms broken.'

There was no blood, the durable leather of the warg fur held up to the sharp claws of the panther. He could also tell that his arms were just numb from the impact and they did not get broken.

He stood up as the guards made it to the spot he was flung to. Partially, they wanted to check on Mark but they were also worried about the even larger chimeric mountain panther that was now trying to pull the dead one off the top of the gate. It looked like it was older and much more powerful, as well as quite pissed that they had killed a panther that it knew. Or maybe it was the leader of some sort of panther pack?

They knew the Panthers of the mountain to be solitary creatures that would only live near each other but not with each other. They could not tell if these things were male or female until they started cutting them open either so it was a bit of a mystery why there was a bigger one taking care of a smaller one.

Mark didn't care about the why, as he stood up he walked over to the pile of spears they had made before trying to take the first panther off the gate. His own spear was standing straight up, stuck tip first in the rock. He shook his arms as he grabbed a regular spear and unceremoniously threw it directly at the large panther's face.

It flew so fast that even Mark could not see it, but the large panther seemed to sense it as it swiped the spear to the side. It collided with bedrock and exploded from the force. The spearhead also shattered and peppered the large panther with shrapnel since the iron was not strong enough to pierce the bedrock. 

The small fragments did not penetrate the fur of the large panther, but they did manage to further anger the giant beast.

It growled as it identified Mark as the one that threw the spear at it, and then it promptly used the dead body of its ally to spring itself over the wall with ease.

Before anyone could move, Mark yelled at the guards.

"DO NOT RUN!"

They froze at his words but he followed up before they could panic.

"Back away slowly as you face the panther. I know the Wargs will attack people and other animals just because they run from them. Do not show that level of weakness. Back off so I can face this thing."

As he was talking, Mark grabbed his spear which was sticking out of the rock right next to himself.

He readied his weapon as he maintained eye contact with the panther and approached it steadily.

He could see now that this beast was about 3m tall up to its shoulder even as it was crouched slightly as it cautiously approached him. The dead one, on the gate, looked like it might approach 2m so the one he was facing was quite a bit larger.

Just the paws of this beast were the size of Mark's head. While he should have felt fear from this thing, he just felt excited. It had been a while since he actually had to face a beast like this since they seemed to get wounded before fighting him lately. But this one was fully functional and ready to rip his head off at a moment's notice.

Mark had no thoughts as he devoted every bit of brainpower to observing this beast. He knew the Panthers were very fast and had a ridiculous reflex. Additionally, they were so agile that they could maneuver while in the air.

As the distance between the beast and the teen closed, it was the panther that made the first move. It used its spring-like back legs to launch itself forward while it swiped with both paws. The movement was almost too fast for Mark to make his own move.

The left and right were blocked off and there was no way he could jump over the giant beast so he dove right under it. As he did so he used his spear to cut open a large gash from the chest to the belly before the panther managed to twist in the air and swipe at Marks's undefended back.

Mark could not follow the beast with his eyes but he could tell what it was doing and he knew he had a small window to react. Since he could not twist his body around fast enough, he moved the spear behind his back and grabbed the shaft with his other hand so he had something to prevent getting smashed right in the spine.

The sturdy bone of the beast that made his spear held up as the panther smashed into it with its sharp claws and Mark was flung across the bedrock as the panther landed and licked its chest. There was quite a bit of blood coming from the gash that Mark managed to make and it was obvious that the panther did not anticipate the spear being so sharp. 

Mark rolled over the bedrock and lost his grip on his spear but managed to pick it up in the roll as he got back on his feet and faced the pather at the same time. The panther had not immediately followed up in its attack as Mark had anticipated. Instead, it looked rather weary of the spear in his hands.

The village guards were still just watching with bated breath. This fight was unlike anything they had ever seen in their lives in the village and they wanted to support Mark but they were afraid that any noise would be a distraction and anything they tried to do to help would just end in their deaths. So they just followed Mark's instructions and kept backing away slowly.

Mark was not going to back down just because he had been thrown around like a sack of hay. He had drawn first blood and he felt rather confident, and his demeanor was completely different from the panther that was now taking up a more defensive approach to the fight. Mark charged in headfirst with his spear held high like he was going to strike directly at the beast which caused it to hesitate.

The panther swiped with its right paw as it tried to back away as it was keeping its body close to the ground, but Mark side-stepped to the left (his left, panther's right) and thrust his spear at its right shoulder. The sudden adjustment of his position managed to take the panther by surprise but it still managed to react faster than Mark could stab at it. The reach of the spear still allowed Mark to make a cut in the fur as the panther jumped to the side with its powerful legs, but the beast also managed to swing its tail right at Mark as he was still pulling his arm back from overreaching to strike the panther.

He managed to move his left arm out of the way as the tail bit into the leather covering his body. The result was the panther hissing at Mark as the tail recoiled and anyone that was paying attention to the tail could see that the fangs in the mouth were broken.

It seemed to cause the beast quite a bit of pain, which Mark utilized to make another big move. He actually threw his spear as fast as he could at the panther that was still reeling in pain but was keeping its body low to the ground again as it hissed at Mark. Due to the way it jumped away from Mark, it was now angled slightly adjacent to the way Mark was facing which gave him a good profile to hit with his spear.

Mark had taken account of where he was standing before he threw the spear, and as the spear flew through the air at a speed that made it impossible for even the panther to see at such a close distance, Mark could be seen rolling to his left where the pile of guard spear was still sitting.

The panther reflexively swiped at the spear, even if it could not see it, which resulted in its left paw getting mangled and the spear penetrating into the beast's rear right leg. To further exacerbate the panther's situation, the spear also penetrated deeply into the bedrock which effectively pinned the panther in place. It turned to grab the spear shaft with its teeth since the thing was too long to simply slip through the hole in its leg but as it turned, it received a basic spear right in the neck. 

The guard spear managed to slip into the soft flesh between the spine and the trachea which severed a couple of major arteries that supplied blood to the beast's brain.

The panther immediately swiped the wooden spear shaft with its right paw which resulted in all of the blood that was being held back by that shaft spraying over the bedrock as the beast collapsed.

Mark knew he had won, but he did not relax. Instead, he grabbed another spear before he ran up to the beast, and stabbed the spear through its stomach at an angle to get under the ribcage to destroy the heart.

He then retreated to watch the blood ooze out of its wounds until he felt safe enough to grab his spear.

He then looked over at the guards who were just staring at him or the beast in shock.