Chapter 46: Chapter 46: One Lion

Luke, Kata and Giga were in various states of disrepair on the glassy stone floor. Weakly, Luke reached up to snap his fingers and used his own [Minor Health Potion] to close up some of the claw marks from where the lion had used his chest as a springboard.

One of the other two lions, who had been bounding single-mindedly after Nikola, swirled around when the sound of their comrade smacking into the earth bounced off the tower walls. Its eyes focused in on Katalyn, who was slowly peeling herself from the floor, and it suddenly abandoned its pursuit in favour of prowling toward her.

"It seems as if only the one can be damaged at a time," Nikola shouted toward the four of them. "I will continue to draw this one's attention as you focus on that one."

"I think only one focuses on the one with the Lion's Mark at a time," Luke replied, "and only that one can be damaged." He pulled himself to his feet and gathered up his massive weapon. "Let me know if you need any help over there."

At this point, Nikola's legs were stiffening beneath her. Running at full tilt from a predator six times her size was taking its toll, but given that the first of the lions' dying act had been enough to topple her party members like bowling pins, she wasn't about to call one of them away.

"Just focus on defeating that one as quickly as you can," she puffed, leaping toward the wall and bouncing off of it. She used her [Crunch] ability to draw her closer to her pursuer and then a [Crunching Cleave] to pull her back over to the rest of the group, truly testing the limits of her Cleave skill's range.

But it procc'd as it was supposed to, sending her on quite the journey from one tower wall to almost fully the other. Was this a product of her having more Dexterity? Or did its range draw from her level instead? Perhaps the people who had written her had never intended for her to 'level up' as she had and had tied her ability's progress to her level.

If that were the case, oh how her power could improve; what was this, level 4 of 20? How many more levels would she get if she vanquished both of these maned beasts? The EXP would begin spreading equally between her and her party members when she and Luke hit Level 7 (and then Katalyn), if she remembered Gold's and Phoenix's levels correctly.

But how much experience would she get if she slayed a Level 7 party member? Did partying with someone remove one's ability to earn EXP from their death? She had so many questions that her cleaver could answer for her.

Speaking of her cleaver - it dug into the lion's rear end, where its back left leg met its butt, and it roared out a testament to its pain and swung around to search for who had dared to attack its very own ass.

Nikola used one of the bats still soaring through the air to [Crunching Cleave] away, and the lion who had been following her picked up speed, beating its personal best. Its paws thudded against the floor, the sounds matching up with the thuds from the other side of the door.

"They're here-- the other parties," Luke yelled, just in case the others had missed the door being yanked on in the flurry of ice, fire and arrows flying past them.

Nikola's lion sped after her as she zigged and zagged between bats. She was just barely faster than it now, even in the air, and she had definitely lost her 'room to play' - was her foe faster now that its comrade had fallen? When they killed the first lion, had this one absorbed some of its power? Now that she was looking for it, she did see that its musculature was tighter, its chest wider. Or was the entire lion just bigger?

"We need to kill the lions before they figure out how they get in. Unleash all of your skills on that that one and I will attempt to keep this one busy until your 'cooldowns' have elapsed," the Butcher suggested in one breath, working to get the words out between [Crunching Cleaves].

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Katalyn was well below half health. She winked her right eye and her final [Minor Health Potion] surged through her, bringing her back up above the halfway point, but not by much. Blood continued to soak the bandages wrapped around her hand, her health bar beeping slowly downward.

Phoenix hadn't taken a hit yet, but Gold was only just above half health as well. Luke's health bar was 82 percent full.

She couldn't see how many potions they still had, but from the looks in their eyes, she would guess the answer was 'next to none'. The mage's darted back and forth, seeking a way out for if the lion charged.

"Got it," Luke replied, and all at once he and her allies behind him began to descend upon the three-eyed beast all at once, overwhelming it.

Luke [Sword Dashed] into it and then unleashed another damaging attack she had never seen before, backing up and surging into the beast again so hard it actually stumbled backward.

While it was finding its footing, Kata belted it with a [Fireball] and Phoenix shot a [Volley of Arrows] down from the sky, followed by two bolts in quick succession that pierced the spot between its eyes and its snout.

The maned beast roared and defended itself with a spray of quills, which Giga raised his shield to absorb most of, though a trifling few squeaked by and embedded themselves in his and Luke's armour.

Unsatisfied with its wail's damage to the humans before it, the lion sucked in yet another breath and this time breathed out a [Roar of Blue Flames], an icy hotness bursting from its mouth.

Phoenix grabbed Katalyn by the back of the robes just in time to yank her away from its blast radius, and Luke managed to deftly hop away, but Gold was weighed down by his shield and couldn't get away in time. A combination of spine-tingling cold and searing hot engulfed him and as if that wasn't enough, the lion's meaty paw broke through the haze of frost-laced flame and smacked the Warrior in the shoulder.

"Gold!" Screamed Phoenix as his comrade went careening into the tower wall, a metallic crunch echoing through the circular space as he ran over to defend his friend. He put himself between Gold and the predator's next attack, which was a swipe of its great claws that dug into Phoenix's armour but didn't puncture it.

A fire in his eyes, Gold dropped his shield with a great clang and did his own [Sword Dash] into the lion's center mass, roaring past the Archer and straight into the pillar of fluff that was the lion.

The beast's rib cage audibly crunched beneath the force and it fell down with a deep, resounding thud.

Just in time for the other set of doors to swing open.

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