Chương 71: Jaguar (4)

With a breath, Rowan strode over to the thunderous jaguar, still lying beside the patch of churned dirt that its vibration attack had produced. It growled at him and tried to lift a leg, but he just stepped to the side and slashed at its paw, forcing it back. It really had no way of hurting him, not anymore. It was already weakened, and one of its front legs had been slashed by his mana blade earlier, while the other was still bound by his chains.

So, seeing no point in dragging it out for any longer, Rowan avoided one last futile attempt to attack him and stabbed his sword into the oversized feline's neck. The blade cut into it with ease, and a moment later, the beast stilled. [You have slain Thunderous Jaguar - Level 15] Then, he let out a breath. The beast had certainly been powerful, but somehow, Rowan still felt a bit disappointed; he'd expected it to put up more of a fight. After all, it had been level 15.

And though its speed had been its greatest advantage, it hadn't managed to land even a single real blow on him. He still didn't have enough information to know if it was all creatures on the surface who were weaker than the bloodspawn had been, but he was certain that this particular species of jaguar was. Although he supposed that their strange sound and vibration attack might make up for their weakness when fighting against other beasts.

It was powerful enough to shatter mana weaponry and tear up the earth with but a single strike. If such an attack were to hit his body, Rowan knew it wouldn't end well. His toughness would probably allow him to survive and keep fighting, but it would cripple him for the duration of the fight and, if his opponent were particularly powerful, for a long time afterward. Still, against both of the Thunderous Jaguars he'd faced, he had managed to avoid their special strikes.

And now that he knew about them, it would be much easier to avoid them. Rowan shook his head as he withdrew his sword and the chains that were wrapped around the massive cat's corpse. Despite spending so long fighting for his life, it was still surreal how he'd overpowered such a creature. It was massive, several times his size, yet the power the System granted meant that he was stronger than it. Then, shooting one last look at the body, he looked around.

Henry had told him to meet back up with the group at the ruined town they were headed towards, and he would. But he wanted to see something else first. Walking away from the jaguar, Rowan moved toward the other massive carcass in the area: that of the boar. The beast was surrounded by droves of fallen bloodspawn, their bodies splayed about, as, even in death, the boar's tusks pierced straight through more of their kind.

Its body was covered with dozens of rotting wounds, the poison from the bloodspawn's claws mostly gone. And, on its otherwise untouched back, was a section of missing flesh, the meat torn but not rotted like it was where the bloodspawn struck. It was where the oversized cat had been feasting. For the second time in a few minutes, Rowan shook his head. Eren had told him that high-level beasts were rare. And yet, he'd just found two.

He didn't know the boar's actual level, since it'd been dead before he'd arrived, but from the sheer number of bloodspawn that'd fallen to take it down, he knew it had to be powerful. Thinking back to what the woman had told him, he tried to recall details on more powerful beasts in the 'safe zones.' The areas were less dangerous, with the average level being lower. But that didn't mean there weren't strong beings.

Eren had said that while most of them came from other zones, there were a few that came from the safe zone itself. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. He really didn't know enough to be sure, but he thought there was a chance the jaguar was one of the creatures that were native to the area. The only reason for this was that he'd faced another, albeit weaker, Thunderous Jaguar in the area, so he thought there was a chance they had a population.

He wasn't certain about it, but it was fun to speculate. As for the boar, he had no idea if it was from a different area. He wasn't sure about its strength, either, since it'd been dead before he'd arrived. But given the plethora of corpses surrounding its body, it had been powerful. Striding up to the boar, Rowan leaped onto its back. Then, finding a spot away from where the bloodspawn and jaguar had been tearing into it, he sat down, sword in hand.

After taking a moment to wipe the blood off the blade, he cut into the creature's back, doing his best to avoid its spine. Clenching his jaw, he pushed harder, sawing through its flesh. The sword was sharp, but even combined with his strength, the boar's flesh was still hard to cut through. Shaking his head, he continued slicing through the beast's annoyingly durable body. And, a minute later, he extracted a large cube of its flesh. Rowan let out a satisfied sigh as he looked at it.

With how hard it had been to cut out, fighting an entire beast made of the stuff must've been a nightmare. Still, he was curious to see how he would fare against such a tough creature. Some of the bloodspawn he'd fought—namely, the armored ones—had been hard to injure as well, but he'd been able to take care of them with blunt force. Against something as large as the boar, he didn't think such methods would be anywhere near as effective.

Hopping down from the corpse, he considered the chunk of flesh which he was currently holding by the skin. He'd grabbed it for Henry, since he remembered the man mentioning hearing that meat from higher-level creatures tasted better, but had never gotten the opportunity to try it. Since an opportunity had presented itself, Rowan had seen no harm in grabbing some of the boar's flesh. After all, Henry had been nothing but kind to him since they'd met not too long ago.

And while he knew he had saved their lives once—twice, if he were to count the jaguar—he still felt like he owed them for taking him in and feeding him. Still, there was the problem of carrying the meat around. While he could continue to hold it by the skin, it was uncomfortable and forced him to constantly raise his arm. The obvious solution was mana. He just wasn't sure exactly how he intended to use it.

He could make a box of mana to contain it or even just use a single platform beneath the flesh, but he didn't want to waste too much mana right after using a bunch during the fight against the thunderous jaguar. Instead, he chose to make a hook to stab into it. While it would be somewhat annoying to pierce through the flesh, the meat's durability would ensure that it wouldn't rip and fall from the hook. Nodding to himself, he created the hook.

He didn't know what a meat hook looked like, so he just modeled it after one used for fishing. It was surprisingly easy, almost like making a normal blade, but curved. Then, once it was complete, he stabbed it into the edge of the flesh. Immediately, he met resistance. So, clenching his jaw, he pressed harder, slowly forcing the hook deeper until it finally pierced all the way through the thin section of meat he'd chosen to stab. Then, with a breath, he let go, holding the flesh in the air with [Mana Manipulation].

It took a bit of concentration, but with his constant practice and the skill's high level, it wasn't too hard. With that out of the way, he looked back at the massive corpse. After a few moments, his gaze settled on the tusks of the boar. He didn't have much storage and had no idea how much they might be worth, but he still thought it would be best to take some of the ivory. Who knew? Perhaps he could craft a weapon with it in the future.

Before he approached, Rowan wiped his sword on the sparse grass on the ground before sheathing it. He doubted what he was trying to cut could be too hard, but he didn't want to accidentally damage the blade. Then, channeling some mana, he formed a blade. It didn't have much mana in it, since he was trying to conserve it, but it was as sharp and tough as most of his other blades, just with a shorter lifespan. He made his way up to the boar's head and, grabbing the mana construct, began to saw at the tusk.

A mere moment later, he stopped and stepped away from the beast. He wanted some of the ivory, sure, but the moment he'd begun to cut it, he'd known there was no way for him to get through it with the mana blade; even with how tough its flesh had been, he'd underestimated the durability of the creature's natural weapons.

He was confident in his ability to cut through it with enough resources or time invested, but without knowing if it would ever actually prove to be useful, he wasn't willing to invest all of that effort. With a disappointed sigh, he walked away from the body. It was time to see if he could find that destroyed settlement he was supposed to be heading toward.