บท 22: Forging Bonds
Felix's mind went into the haywire mode as he saw the tiger's jaws getting closer and closer to his head, time seemed to slow around him as his life started to flash in front of his eyes.
His emotions and instincts told him that he should dodge but the tiger was already too close to him, there was also the rationality that he developed over time that told him it will be ok as he had extra lives and since he was still invisible, even if he died the others wouldn't know about his ability.
Suddenly the memories of his other deaths started to run through his brain, reliving them wasn't a pleasant experience at all and he vowed to himself that he wouldn't want to go there for another time!
As time slowed down Felix looked at the jaws of the tiger tribesman that were getting closer and closer to his head, he would just need to chomp down and his head would be crushed in his mouth, however, nanoseconds before the tiger tribesman could close his mouth Felix grabbed onto his rags and lowered his head instinctively barely dodging the attack.
His claw went directly into his chest area giving him a scar and opening a wound that started to spurt blood, then he dropped from his body dodging a punch that almost crippled him, and ran a few meters away from him.
Seeing how the tiger was wounded and how he attacked the air the others realized that Felix was here, Korro's ears were twitching as she got a hold of his location, and then she opened her mouth to launch a sonic wave attack at the tiger!
Since he was injured his movement speed took a plummet so the tiger could only barely dodge the sound wave which he was able to dodge earlier quite easily.
Then Ricko ran forward as he tried to punch him in the injured area only to be almost skewered by the tigers' claws, Ricko frowned as he backed away, the tiger was too strong for them!
Felix calmed himself as he could feel the energy from the flamingo tribesman running haywire in his system, it seemed due to the fight or flight response his body created before the Hex energy from the flamingo's body started to strengthen him while he was conscious in an attempt to protect him from the danger in front of him.
The flamingo youth tried to use one of his dances to slash the tiger away but even while injured the scarred tiger strength wasn't something to be made fun of, the flamingo youth was someone that the tiger tribesman could eat easily in a 1v1 situation so he could barely escape from his clutches with the help of others, attacking one by one wasn't going to work.
Attacking in a group would be better but no one could hold his attention for more than a few seconds as they couldn't endure a melee fight against him for more than a few seconds.
Felix sighed as he thought about Sandors, he might have been very useful here but he walked in the opposite direction from here!
Felix wanted to escape here but considering that the others were also quite exhausted there was a chance the tiger tribesman would be able to kill one of them while they were retreating and this wouldn't end up well for everyone on the team, after all, their respective captains let them train in this environment because they thought they could survive it.
Felix sighed as he started to breathe in, the Hex energy in the air converged on his body as he strengthened his stealth, he wasn't sure how the tiger saw through his stealth but now he thought that after he reinforced it he shouldn't be able to find him.
The tiger tribesman chuckled under his breath as he waited for Felix to attack, he knew that there was a cat tribesman among them as they were the most adept at stealth so he waited for his attack while fending or dodging the other weakling's attacks, he could feel that the cat tribesman offensive power was quite good as it pierced through his skin and drew blood giving him a small injury that inconvenienced his movement speed.
Felix started to dash towards the tiger however his instincts immediately told him something wasn't right so he stopped a few meters away and watched how the tiger tribesman attacked the spot he would be in if he continued.
Felix frowned and the tiger tribesman did the same, Felix couldn't understand how the tiger tribesman was able to see through his stealth and the tiger tribesman was now doubting his senses.
The tiger tribesman dodged another sonic wave as he looked at Korro and said:
"Aren't you quite annoying you bat bitch, let me deal with your first!"
The tiger tribesman quickly jumped towards Korro at a speed that only left an after-image where he stood previously, Korro changed to her original form as she flew into the air and sent out more sonic waves while avoiding Ricko and the flamingo youth.
The tiger tribesman now stood between Ricko and the flamingo youth, suddenly his claws attacked the flamingo youth's left arm tearing it away forcefully leaving the flamingo youth disarmed.
He jumped away while he started to crunch on the arm that he took, his savage expression and bloodshot eyes while he ate reminded Felix of himself and Sandors, were carnivores always like this while feeding? Why didn't Landers look the same, after all, he saw him eat meat that one time in the restaurant and he looked to be pretty proper.
Felix shook his head, it wasn't time to think about such things, he needed to save his teammates here!
Felix decided to attack him while he was enjoying the flamingo youth's arm as he was pretty defenseless himself when he ate the bodies of his enemies.
Suddenly the tiger tribesman bloodshot eyes enlarged as he swiped his free hand towards Felix's direction, Felix stopped again, how was he able to find him without his sight, he also made almost no sound combined with the fact that he could feel that the tiger wasn't using any Hex abilities made Felix really puzzled on how he was able to feel his presence.
The tiger tribesman wasn't dumb enough to tell him about his only advantage, he was scared of Felix's attack power so he wouldn't throw out his only defensive measure.
Landers and the other captains were watching everything from above, they already finished their training and they decided to observe the training of their protegees.
Both Varra and Penzo had narrowed eyes as they looked at the tiger tribesman below them and said:
"How come this type of opponent is here... he is a battle veteran that we captured quite a while ago, who threw him here?"
Landers put his hand up as he pointed at himself, Varra and Penzo immediately shut up seeing that their leader was the one who put him in here, even if they bitched about it, it wouldn't help them with anything besides making Landers look at them in a bad light.
Landers nodded his head seeing how obedient they were and decided to explain himself:
"You see that tiger there? He has mastered the ability to sense killing intent, you might not see all the scars around his body due to his rags but his preeminent scars on his forehead were given by me! Do you understand? He lived in a fight with me even though I gave him those scars, his ability to sense killing intent is extremely refined."
Penzo voiced his doubts slowly to not offend Landers:
"But captain Landers, how could our disciples be able to fight someone of such strong ability? They are still newbies and they should fight with people of the same ability gradually so they can improve, no offense to your teaching style, sir."
Landers smiled as he responded to Penzo:
"No offense taken Penzo, even though what you have said is true, one's talent would only appear fully in deadly situations, I threw that tiger in this forest for two reasons, one to see if your protegees are worth to go to the battlefield, and secondly to see if my protegee can fulfill all of my standards."
Even though Felix was still invisible Landers looked directly into his direction and gave out a smile.
Felix was overthinking trying to find out how the tiger was able to find out his location, could he read his mind? It was most unlikely, the tiger was a physical tribe that focused on melee fights, they wouldn't awaken such a Hex ability normally.
Then what was it?
Could he read his intent? Could he know where he tried to attack by reading his feelings?
Was such a thing possible? Felix was an innate fighter and all the things he learned up till now was with live fights, he wasn't taught anything by a master or a thing like this, this was how most of the people in the Tarot continent grew stronger, they trained by themselves and learned the basics through live fights, the one with better instinct would go forward and if the upper echelons of the continent liked their talent, only then they would be taught some techniques.
Felix was close to realizing why the tiger was able to dodge his attacks but realizing it wouldn't help him at all, how would he be able to attack him without focusing on him? This wasn't truly possible for the current Felix.
Felix frowned since he couldn't get near him to attack he decided to use his only long-range attack.
He pointed his paws at the Tiger who just finished the flamingo youth's arm and started to breathe as his new claws launched themselves at high speed towards the tiger.
The tiger tribesman felt the attack coming from a mile away and easily dodged it, it seemed ranged attacks were as ineffective as short-range ones.
Felix frowned but suddenly the bushes behind him moved as Sandors moved in lazily, his mouth and face were painted red as he yawned, it seemed he ate quite a lot while the others fought with their lives on the line.
Sandors face turned into a big bright smile as he looked at the tiger tribesman and questioned:
"I wonder how another predator tastes?"
The tiger frowned as he saw Sandors, his instincts told him that he was a strong opponent that was near his strength!
He might be able to best him in a 1v1 but currently, he was injured coupled with the fact that he was practically surrounded by others, even though injured and exhausted meant that there was a very high chance for him to lose his life here!
Felix's eyes started shining as he saw the current situation, now that he had someone who could take his attention there was a 90% chance of them winning the fight.
Landers who was above in the trees shook his head as he saw Sandors:
"It seems I won't be able to push him until the end today, quite sad, It seems he will have to learn during the war."
The other captains just kept their mouths shut not interfering in Landers's business even though it implicated their protegees, and one of them even lost his arm!
The flamboyant woman kept herself in check as she looked at her protegee, her hands were clenched tight as she stood there on one leg.
Landers ignored the flamingo woman and kept his eyes on the fight, he wanted to see what will Sandors do in this situation, he was a wildcard in his senses.
Sandors moved his head left and right as he cracked his fingers, he ran forward to meet the tiger in a head-on fight only to see the tiger trying to run away into the depths of the forest!
Korro seeing him trying to escape immediately shot a sound wave barring his way from escaping.
Sandors smiled at Korro as his body slammed the tiger to the ground, but the tiger immediately counterattacked by slashing his chest leaving a long narrow scar on his chest that immediately started to bleed, however, Sandors big muscles twitched as his scar stopped bleeding.
The tiger gulped as he narrowly got away from Sandors, however, he was boxed in and he also had to stretch his senses to keep Felix in check.
Was his end drawing near?
The tiger tribesman gritted his teeth as he shouted:
"I won't back away here or else my name wouldn't be Sumba the third, lets see what you got you damn cowardly rejects!"
It seemed Sumba was ready to lay his life on the line at this point, Sandors smiled as he cracked his knuckles and approached him while saying:
"Guys don't attack if he doesn't escape, I would like to enjoy this fight!"
Korro and Ricko wanted to argue, the flamingo youth was especially angered considering the loss of his left arm which practically crippled him and sent him out of the team as he would be a liability on the battlefield from now on.
However, Sandors just gave them a chilly smile and told them:
"Do I have to repeat myself?"
Seeing his smile everyone decided to back off, Felix included.
Felix would only attack if Sumba would try to run away.
Seeing that the others finally gave him a breathing room Sumba chuckled as he looked at Sandors, he thought that the crocodile tribesman was a fool for ditching his teammate's help, even though he knew that he was strong, from the body slam and his movements he knew that he was a normal fighter who didn't learn any fighting techniques, while his bodily strength was extremely high combined with his though skin and aura made him a formidable enemy.
But right now Sumba found himself with a chance of winning around 85%.
Sumba breathed in as he took a fighting stance, both of his foot stood planted into the ground as one arm stood in front of him while the other was put behind his back, Felix didn't know why Sumba took the stance but Sandors gave out an interested look as he rushed towards Sumba.
The fight between two strong people just started!
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