Chapter 259 Rubus Tiger
The black stripes above its eyes gave it an ominous, almost human-like expression, while its powerful muzzle showcased sharp white teeth.
The face of this apex predator was a threatening, filled with raw, untamed power. The beast lunged at Lyrian with its maw gaped, its large fangs ready to tear the boy's face apart.
"Woah!" Lyrian exclaimed, jumping away off of his back foot. "I didn't even notice you, yet you were that close..."
The tiger stood from its pounce stance, its hulking shoulders raising up from the bushes. It was large, nearly double the size of a normal tiger. It also had a red gem on its forehead, symbolizing that it wasn't just a basic animal.
With a guttural growl, it slowly stepped forward. Lyrian slowly stepped back, feeling the predator's gaze feel as though it punctured through his body.
"You completely see me as a prey right now..." Lyrian said, observing the beast. "Scan."
┏━━━Scan━━━┓
Name: None
Species: Rubus Tiger
Age: 37
Overall Power (OP): 6
Health: 66/66
Stamina: 65/65
Strength: 70
Agility: 62
Defense: 58
Rank: Pure Beast: Layer 1
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'Pure... that is the beast rank equivalent to Genesis if I remember correctly from Ms. Nria.' Lyrian thought to himself, taking a look at the beast's stats.
'Our strength and speed nearly doubled during the duration of the Entrance exam. Still, I should be able to take this bastard out without a problem. All my stats are higher than it's.'
His OP was 8, while the Rubus Tigers' was 6. Still, a mistake could cost him his life.
The beast didn't give him much more time to think, lunging at him with a paw swipe from the side. Lyrian dashed backward, easily evading the blow.
This fight wasn't like with the entrance exam. The stakes were much higher. This was life or death.
Lyrian unsheathed his obsidian blade, dashing back some more as the tiger launched a few more swipes.
"And..." Lyrian said, focusing his eyes on the beast's paws as it ran towards him.
Finally, it lunged forward once again, attacking with its razor-sharp claws made of thick keratin.
"Now!" Lyrian exclaimed, swiftly sidestepping the attack before thrusting his blade up through the tiger's arm. The arm was sliced clean off by the blade's sharp edge, leaving the tiger squealing in pain.
It backed up, falling onto its stump of an arm as it let out a bloodcurdling roar.
"Huh? A predator letting out a death cry? I haven't seen that happen before." Lyrian said as he looked at the birds flying off of the tree tops out of the corner of his vision.
"Wait... that's not a death cry--" He cut himself off, feeling an incoming burst of killing energy from behind him.
Without hesitation, he Enhanced his legs and jumped into the air in a split second--just barely dodging another Rubus Tiger's paw swipe by the breadth of a hair.
"It was a call for help." Lyrian surmised, landing a few feet away.
The new tiger quickly began to chase after him as he backed up the same way he did with the first one.
"A duo of tigers. They are meant to be solo-hunting animals, but I guess it was foolish of me to assume that it would be like that everywhere. Who knows how they evolved in different ecosystems, thousands of miles apart from each other."
As the tiger neared once more, Lyrian suddenly shouted, "Shadow Puppet!" As his shadow burst out of his chest. It flew forward and crashed into the incoming tiger, bursting into smoke before suddenly being absorbed inside of the Rubus Tiger's body.
Lyrian smirked as the tiger froze on the spot. He stood up from the ground, having regained control of his real body.
"Too strong..." He said, proudly wearing the Shadow Jade Pendant around his neck. "This item is far too strong." He smirked.
"From what I understand, the being controlled by my shadow will follow my own body's movement. Later on, however, I can even control the controlled being's movement from thought alone." He grinned, as the thought was amusing.
"For now though..." He slowly raised his hand, as the tiger did the same with its front paw.
With force, he swiped his hand across his face. His nails were inches away from his face, but the tiger's sure wasn't. It sliced its face wide open with three distinct gashes, quickly covering its expression with blood.
At that moment, Lyrian undid the skill, forcing his shadow back into his body as he leaped forward at the tiger. With it now blinded by its own blood, Lyrian was able to swiftly decapitate it.
He didn't stop there, running over to the other struggling tiger before putting it out of its misery as well by stabbing his blade directly into the glabella of the beast.
He pushed his leg against its snout as he pulled the blade out. It sliced like a knife going through butter. Lyrian cleaned the blood off of it with a swift slash in the air before sheathing it.
He gazed at the two bodies now lifeless on the floor. "Hmm... maybe I should been cleaner." He said walking over to the decapitated head of one of the tigers.
He flipped it over to see the face. "And I probably should have conserved the hide as well." He took his blade out again.
"No... thinking on it, the hide will probably matter far less than the actual valuable item of the beast. For efficiency sake, I might just have to aim for these..." He said, carving the red gem out of the beast's forehead.
"Scan."
┏━━━Item Scan━━━┓
Name: Magia Ruby
Description: A diamond-shaped ruby enchained with mana found in the skull of a Rubus Tiger. This item is fairly valuable and is used to create magic elixirs, along with other trinkets.
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"Valuable huh? That's what I like to hear." Lyrian smirked. He stored the ruby and then cut off a piece of the tiger's hide. "Scan this now."
┏━━━Item Scan━━━┓
Name: Rubus Tiger Fur
Description: Poorly cut hide of a Rubus Tiger. This item is not very valuable, only used for low-tier armor. The low-grade cut also decreases its value.
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