We both suddenly tense up as I sensed the feeling of being watched and Phoenix reacted similarly to my feeling.

“Jupiter, I don’t sense anything within our immediate surroundings but stay on guard.”

“Yeah, I don’t think whatever is watching is too strong since I’m not feeling afraid, I just don’t like this feeling though.”

We start slowly scouting around the area, staying alert at all the sounds coming through the woods but aside from a few bird cries, I don’t see or hear anything else which left me unnerved. The light peeking through the large trees were enough to see around but as we moved forward the area around started feeling more and more eerie which left me to start sweating as my paranoia was thinking of all the creepy beasties that could and will haunt my ass.

I compel a boar horn to float near me as I focus on my surroundings while feeding it my energy to keep it ready for whatever surprise comes my way and a small repulsion field activated as I made sure to remember to keep it on this time which could have totally avoided me much pain from the stupid boar.

While slowly moving forward I hear a low growl coming from my five o’clock which made seized me for a second before I quickly turned my head with the horn ready to pierce whatever it was that made the sound.

I see nothing in front of me and Phoenix was also watching but she mentioned she didn’t see anything behind me even when the growl was made. The whole situation was devolving as fear starting creeping in and I started getting nervous at whatever unseen being was stalking us. I start looking around with my head darting from side to side before it landed on one of the tree branches about 40 feet away from me where I caught a shadow leap away.

“Did you see that?” I ask Phoenix.

“Yeah… it was too quick for me to get a good look though.”

“Fuck. Alright, whatever it is, it’s nimble as all hell. Stay alert while keeping an eye in my blind spots.”

I started creeping low to the ground trying to find cover between the large trees or bushes as I moved towards the shadow. It wasn’t my best skill but I still managed to creep forward but the feeling of approaching danger was getting stronger as I headed closer in the direction of where I came from.

Suddenly, a black shadow pounces towards one of the branches to my left and I finally catch sight of what the hell was stalking us. It was a black panther looking thing with green spots of skin all over that looked like little clouds, two black horns facing towards its tail growing out the sides of its jaw with sharp green eyes and massive claws on its paws. I noticed two tails as well both with a spiked claw on their ends. The creature itself was just staring at me while showing me it’s amazingly threatening teeth which practically reminded me of saber tooth tigers.

‘Well, it sure knows how to fucking intimidate.’ My mind sarcastically jokes as I start wondering how absurdly my brain even works.

“Phoenix, think we can take it on?” I ask with a thought directed at her.

“Probably…? It seems to be surprisingly fast so make sure you strengthen the repulsion field if it leaves our sight.”

It was a good idea but I was still nervous as to what to do. I didn’t feel like it was hunting me rather, I got the odd feeling it was just curious as to what I was.

‘Maybe it saw me defeat the boar and decided I’m not worth fighting?’ I couldn’t help but try to rationalize an excuse to make the thing seem less “killer panther” like. We continued our little stare off for what felt like ages to me before it suddenly disappeared as if it was nothing but an illusion. I couldn’t even tell which direction it jumped in.

I strengthened the repulsion field as best as I could, as my mana wasn’t strong enough to create a very strong effect aside from the surrounding grass and plants within a small radius of me bending outwards.

“Jupiter, I think we should head back for now. That thing was way too fast for us to handle.”

I couldn’t help but agree without hesitation. It disappeared but the dreadful feeling of being watched had disappeared with the sly beast which slightly relived me but I kept tense while hurrying back towards the cabin.

Surprisingly, the boar was still where I made the campfire as other beasts were probably too far away to come near it so I dragged the skinned boar hide with some more meat. I had expected it to be devoured by now but I guess the outer perimeter isn’t as dangerous as I once thought.

Back at the cabin, evening was upon us. Nothing was out of place nor was there any trail markings of anything having been around which relived me further since the panther hadn’t followed after us since we left. We had probably entered its territory so it came to see what it was. Good thing it wasn’t hungry.

“Well that wasn’t fun.” I said.

“Yeah. Let’s head in another direction next time we go out. Probably the safer choice.” I agreed to her brilliant plans of avoiding the giant death machine right away.

The whole ordeal left me tired and hungry so I made another fire to start grilling the boar meat we took back.

To my shock, the first thing that happened after I started feasting on the meat was the horrible feeling I felt earlier. Getting anxious again, I start looking around and low and behold the goddamn panther shows up. I really wasn’t expecting the thing to sneakily follow me back which kind of pissed me off considering I left it alone after our stare down. It should of gotten the hint that I didn’t want to start a fight.

“Fuck!” I yell out as it slowly crept closer into view as it jumped from the branch before landing and just staring at me from about 50 feet away. I slowly put down the food so I can grab the horn needles from my pouch lying next to me but I noticed its gaze was followed the meat before returning to stare at me which left me a little dazed for a moment.

“Phoenix, you think it wants my meat?” I asked Phoenix considering the death machines reaction.

“Maybe, could be the smell of cooked boar was what brought it to us the first time?” She answered a little unsure but told me to play it out to see.

I didn’t have much of an option as I really didn’t want to fight the panther that was quicker than Phoenix’s eyesight which is god slime level. I slowly grab one of the thicker chunks of cooked boar from one of the skewers while the Panther kept eyeing me and the meat. I threw it as least threateningly as I could while death machine over there stared which didn’t fucking help as its stare was goddamn piercing.

The meat flew over about three quarters of the way before the panther suddenly burst the missing distance and caught it. It chewed it relatively quick and swallowed before gazing back at me again.

“Well shit. Does it expect a whole goddamn free meal?” I was getting a little annoyed at death machine now as I had hardly started eating and I was already giving away meat.

“Would you rather fight it off?” Phoenix asked.

“Good point.” I didn’t hold my own words too high as I immediately gave face to death machine and decided to just throw one of the boar thighs onto a skewer and place it by the fire.

A little nervously, though I wouldn’t let it show on my face since screw death machine over there, I said “ You’re going to wait a few minutes if you want some meat cause the skewers are mine, I’ll cook the thigh for you though.”

Half expecting to have to jump into combat and half hoping it just left, I watched for the panthers reaction while staying as alert as possible with a back full of cold sweat. The panther just slightly tilted its head for a moment before sitting down on its butt and just staring at the boar thigh getting cooked.

“Huh, guess its smarter than it looks.”

“Beasts that can absorb mana are usually a lot more intelligent, some even capable of speech.” Phoenix replied to fill me in on the news.

“Should of saw that coming from the whole fantasy like magic world.” I chuckle before picking up some seasoning and throwing it over the thigh meat while making sure the Panther didn’t think I was poisoning. It didn’t react but its eyes slightly narrowed which got me worrying again so I figured I’d explain.

“Seasoning buddy makes it taste better! Look, I have it too.” I showed it my skewers which I added some to as well before taking a few bites. It loosened its death glare, making me sigh in relief. I continued eating afterwards, while turning the meat that was cooking making sure the panther wasn’t going to suddenly turn all violent on me for whatever panther reason.

Seeing it was ready, I poked the thigh piece with a foxhorn skewer before letting it cool in the fresh air for a few seconds while staring back at the panther. Taking the initiative to maybe get it to fuck off after the thigh, I said “ Hey, it’s done cooking. I can’t throw it that far so come eat it here.” The boar thigh was heavy as hell and I wasn’t going to spend more efforts on death machine over here since I held the food so fuck him or her.

I dangle it for a bit while waiting. The panther seemed to get the drift that I wasn’t going to just be throwing over so it slowly stood back on all fours while very slowly walking forward towards me.

I wasn’t completely scared as I was ready to turn on my repulsion field any moment and I managed to get my pouch of needles near me while I was eating so I could probably defend myself somewhat from its attacks. Eventually the panther reached about 10 feet away from me while still vigilantly staring at me dangling the meat. I didn’t want it too close either, so I threw the meat releasing it from the skewer and as it flew over, death machine caught it and started nibbling on it while laying on its stomach right away.

Looking at the panther close up, I realized it was probably the size of two full grown tigers which just raised the thought of “death machine” into its permanent title in my head. Phoenix kept quiet the whole time but I could tell she was curiously studying the thing from the odd wiggles I felt from my forehead and brain. Even though death machine was still a giant, well… death machine, it kind of looked cute just nibbling away on the meat with its giant face showing satisfaction. I eventually lowered my guard and continued my meal while occasionally glancing at it destroying meat and bone.

Not to my surprise, after having finished my meal I saw it staring at the remaining thigh while looking at me again.

“Sigh”

And that was how my second night in the East beast forest went, with me being a glorified cook for a lazy fucking panther.