The creatures were wrong in a way that made his eyes want to slide off them. Their bodies and eight legs were thick with solid black fur, long and powerful, built for sudden bursts of speed. Rising from each body was a long, scaled neck, ending in a narrow head banded with bright orange stripes that ran the full length of the throat. The colors caught the light when they moved.
The hexapuma held them back through sheer violence. It lunged forward to rake at any that edged too close, claws extended, and twisted hard to strike if another tried to slip in from the side. Deep, rumbling growls rolled out of its chest, rising into sharp snarls when one darted too near, the sound raw and warning, a predator staking ground it refused to give up.
The spider wolf things never rushed. Their heads bobbed and wove on their long necks, slow and deliberate, eyes fixed on the cat. Wherever the hexapuma faced, the creature on the opposite side crept closer, clawed legs silent, neck coiling and uncoiling as it searched for an opening.
- Harry: Does anyone know what those are? Are they venomous?
Jo and Cedric both shook their heads.
- Stan: Hold on.
Stan made a quick gesture and pointed to the creatures then to the cat while mumbling under his breath.
- Stan: The ugly ones are Venomstalkers, and yeah, they got poison. Olly says they’re fast, like to ambush and attack anything.
- Jo: What spell was that?
Stan grinned like a proud father.
- Stan: That was Inspect.
- Cedric: What level are they?
Out by the tree, the cat let out a harsh, broken snarl of triumph as its claws connected with the head of one of the Venomstalkers. The creature tumbled across the ground and lay still for a heartbeat before dragging itself upright again. Deep claw furrows ran from its head down one side of its neck, black scales open and dark fluid running down the orange stripes of its throat.
- Stan: I can't tell with the cat, its level is too high. The stalkers are a mix of level four and five.
- Harry: What? How is that fair? All of you are still level zero and I’m only level two.
- Cedric: Encounters can be two or three levels higher than the current dungeon level and we skipped almost all of the third level.
- Harry: Damn… should we go back and work our way here?
- Cedric: It may take days.
The cat screamed, a sharp, tearing sound that cut through the clearing. One of the Venomstalkers hung from its paw, fangs buried deep. The hexapuma tore it loose with a brutal swipe of its free foreleg, sending the creature skidding away, and spun in the same motion, snapping and slashing to drive back the others pressing in.
- Harry: What about that cat?
- Cedric: Either we are not meant to engage it, or it is the boss of this level.
- Harry: Great. Hold here, if you have to, run back down the tunnel.
- Jo: Be careful, Harry.
- Cedric: Sir Harold, you should drop out of the party.
- Jo: He’s right.
- Harry: Why would I do that?
Harry watched the hexapuma struggle to keep pace as the Venomstalkers continued their slow circle. Its movements had lost a step, weight shifting unevenly as it favored the bitten leg. The paw was already swelling, the fur stretched tight and darkened.
Harry checked the straps of his shield, leather creaking under his fingers, and shifted his grip on the spear. The cat was fighting a losing battle. If they were going to act, it had to be soon.
- Cedric: Experience will be split.
- Harry: What’s wrong with that?
- Jo: It’ll slow you down.
- Harry: Eh, you guys need to level up too.
- Cedric: It’s your decision.
- Harry: If I have to run I’ll try to lead them away and circle back.
He slipped out of the tunnel mouth and eased to the right, boots sliding over the low slope of the hill the passage opened onto. Loose gravel shifted under his weight, but the sun was rising behind him, leaving him in the shadow of the hill, and the sound was absorbed by his Shadow Manipulation.
With the spear held forward, Harry dropped into a low crouch and began to creep ahead. The Venomstalkers were locked on the hexapuma, their attention fully consumed. He was sure the cat glanced his way, eyes flicking toward his movement, but it gave no reaction and turned back to its circling enemies.
At roughly thirty feet out, he focused inward and reached for his Blood Sense. Strong life threads stretched from the creatures, taut and active, just beyond his reach. He would need to get closer. Even without Stan’s warning of their level, he could feel the difference in them, denser, more resistant, he knew they were likely to resist if he tried Mesmerize.
He drew in a breath and burned two vitae into strength and two into speed, pushing both by sixty percent for a full minute. Power flooded his limbs in a sharp surge, followed immediately by a stinging jolt that made his vision tighten. He let his breath out slow, steadying himself, and broke into a charge.
The Venomstalkers were caught completely off guard. Harry came in from the rear quarter of the largest one, driving his spear in behind the ribs. The point punched deep and slid up into the center of its chest.
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All eight legs locked at once in a violent spasm, the sudden contraction launching the creature off the ground. It would have torn the spear from his hands, but Harry had already released it and was pulling another from his inventory.
The body slammed back into the dirt with a heavy, wet thud and didn’t move.
The remaining four snapped around to face him.
That turn left their backs open. The hexapuma leapt in at once, crashing into the nearest Venomstalker and dragging it down as the two rolled away in a tangle of fur and limbs, leaving Harry squared off against the remaining three.
They fanned out as they advanced, spreading to either side. Their long necks swayed in constant motion, heads darting forward and snapping back, testing distance, probing for an opening.
With his senses sharpened, Harry tracked every shift in their bodies in slow motion. He waited for the right moment, judged the angle, and thrust as one head lunged in. The spear point struck the neck just below the jaw, biting hard, but the scales turned it aside and sent the tip skidding away.
The deflection threw him off balance. His foot slipped and his weight carried him a step too far. The Venomstalker to his left lunged at once, jaws spread wide, aiming for his exposed arm.
Harry went with the stumble instead of fighting it, letting his body drop and roll across the ground. He came up low in a crouch, spear snapping back into line.
The Venomstalker in the center took the opening. It sprang upward, legs tucked tight then spreading, body arcing high as it came down toward him.
Harry shifted his grip, drove the butt of the spear into the ground, and angled the shaft straight up.
The creature crashed down onto it. Its own weight and momentum drove the spear deep into its body. For a brief instant it hung there, impaled halfway down the shaft, legs thrashing uselessly as a shrill, piercing hiss tore from its throat. The weight tipped sideways and the body crashed over, hitting the ground hard and going still.
The remaining two rushed him together. Harry dove aside as one struck, the thick length of its neck clipping his leg as the head snapped over him, the impact jarring even as he hit the ground.
He was scrambling up when the other’s head swept in low. He swung his shield by instinct and felt the solid impact jolt up his arm as it connected, knocking the strike aside. The force sent him rolling onto his side, and he looked up to see the last Venomstalker bearing down on him, closing fast. It was the one the cat had swiped, blood running down its head and neck.
As its head lifted and began to plunge, a crackling bolt of lightning wrapped around it. An arrow slammed into its flank with a wet thud.
The creature reeled, spun, and fixed its gaze on the tunnel mouth. Jo stood there with her bow rising again, Cedric and Stan planted in front of her with shields up and spears braced.
Another arrow was leaving her string as the Venomstalker bolted toward them.
Harry’s focus snapped back to the one still on him. He rolled clear, came up onto his feet, and drew a sword in the same motion. He raised his shield, settled into a low crouch, and set the blade ready, eyes locked on the weaving neck, waiting for the next darting strike.
It never came.
With a piercing snarl, the hexapuma launched itself from behind, slamming into the Venomstalker and crushing it beneath the full weight of its body.
Harry flicked a glance back to where the cat had been fighting the first one. There was nothing left but a shredded carcass torn apart and scattered across the ground in a smear of blood and guts.
He turned toward the others just in time to see Stan and Cedric knocked aside. The Venomstalker drove straight through them, shouldering past shields and spears, and surged toward Jo. She loosed one last shot at point-blank range. The arrow struck home and lightning rolled over the creature in a blinding flash as its momentum carried it into her. The impact took them both down, bodies slamming together as they crashed to the ground.
Harry stumbled as his enhanced abilities faded and he spent two more vitae on strength and speed. The surge hit hard and sharp, the pain washing through him. As he ran, he swapped the sword for another spear, keeping it low and extended, ready to ram it home.
He skidded to a halt.
The Venomstalker wasn’t moving. It lay sprawled across Jo’s body, its weight pinning her down. All he could see were her arms and legs, braced and straining as she fought to shove the dead body off her chest.
- Harry: Jo, are you alright?
Cedric and Stan were both on their feet rushing to help her.
- Jo: Get. This. Off. Of. Me.
- Cedric: We got it, Harry.
Harry spun back around. The hexapuma was tearing into the last Venomstalker, jaws locked, its good leg braced as it shook the body hard enough to snap it side to side.
He eased backward, putting space between himself and the cat while keeping it in sight.
Behind him, Stan and Cedric grabbed hold and heaved, rolling the dead Venomstalker off Jo in a rough, scraping drag.
- Harry: Is everyone alright?
- Jo: Nothing’s broken. I think.
- Cedric: Good shot, Jomila.
- Jo: Call me Jojo dammit.
- Cedric: As you wish.
Stan moved up beside Harry, eyes fixed on the cat as it tore the Venomstalker apart.
- Stan: What now?
- Cedric: I suggest we move back to the cave. If we have to fight her, we do not want to do it in the open.
They backed away a step at a time. Jo limped as she moved, weight kept off her left leg, each step careful and tight.
They regrouped at the cave mouth and stopped, all eyes on the hexapuma.
The cat finished worrying the last Venomstalker and returned to the tree. It raked the trunk with one claw and yowled, loud and ragged. One front paw hung useless and swollen. Above, the cubs stayed frozen on the high branch, pressed close together, tails wrapped tight.
The hexapuma tried to climb. It reared up, middle legs digging in as it hauled itself up the trunk. Twelve feet, maybe more, before the injured front paw gave out and it slid back down in a scrape of claws on bark. It circled the tree in a tight loop, breathing hard, glanced toward the cave, took a few uncertain steps in their direction, and stopped.
It went back to the tree and sat heavily at the base. The sound it made this time was lower, rougher, stripped of threat. A rhythmic yowling that climbed at the end and broke into short huffing grunts.
***
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