Other than its size, it has an extra set of legs and five tails, but before I can back away its eyes open. It stretches and yawns before turning to look directly at me. Considering one of its eyes is almost as big as I am, trying to talk to it is probably the smart move.

"Um, hello! Sorry to have disturbed your nap!"

Panther says "Oh, what a polite little creature! How amusing!"

"I don't suppose you could tell me where I am? I am a little lost!"

Panther says "Lost in the shadow plane? Well, you are currently in the great shade forest, but I doubt that helps you. A mortal like you probably knows nothing of the shadow plane."

"That is, unfortunately, completely true."

Panther says "Too bad for you, it is too late to learn now. It has been a long time since I enjoyed the taste of a mortal."

"Hold on now, let's not do anything hasty. We are both cats, surely we can talk this out."

Panther says "You have nothing I want or need, so a trade isn't possible. Since you are a fellow cat, simply stand still and I will make your death painless."

"Yeah, not going to happen!"

The panther takes a lazy swipe at me with a paw the size of a pickup truck. After stepping back I let it pass me by, but as I do I can't help but stare at the claws that are revealed. Each claw is as big as I am and they look sharp enough to cut through just about anything.

Instead of worrying about getting hit I am already thinking about what Mitch could make out of them. Then again all the other shadow beasts I killed only left behind a crystal. Before the paw moves too far away I take a swing at the back of it with the naginata.

Panther says "Ow! That actually hurt!"

Instead of answering I jump over the panther's arm and slash again at his chest. I am happy to see that the naginata leaves a long, deep gash in its chest. Now committed I start moving at top speed, slashing away at the panther's massive body.

Panther says "Ow! Wait! Stop! Let's talk!"

"Too late now! I gave you a chance to talk!"

After my rejection the panther starts seriously trying to kill me, but it is way too slow. I've cut its body almost a hundred times before it manages to get to its feet. As soon as its body is out of range I start attacking its legs, hitting the same spots any time I can.

The first wound I gave it on the back of its paw is still there, meaning it isn't regenerating. That is good for me since with how massive the panther is all I am really doing is scratching it. This is really going to end up being death by ten thousand cuts from the looks of it.

While the panther does bleed, the flow of blood is slower than normal. It will take a seriously long time for blood loss to have any effect on it. When I realize hitting the legs isn't going much I spread my wings and fly up to attack the main body.

Panther says "You are no cat! Not with those wings! You are a bird and I eat birds!"

"Oh yeah? Well, eat this! Holy Shock!"

The lightning hits his chest and travels the entire length of his body making the panther roar in pain for the first time. Meanwhile I keep attacking him with the naginata, even activating Bless Weapon to add extra damage. Even with all that, the panther still doesn't seem concerned with the level of damage it is taking.

After me hitting it in the neck several more times the panther finally has had enough. It turns its huge head and tries to bite me, but I have been waiting for this. Instead of dodging away I fly into the panther's mouth and land on its tongue.

When the panther tries to bite down I simply crouch down while holding the naginata above me. As the panther's mouth closes the naginata goes straight through the roof of its mouth. Before the panther can open its mouth I throw all my weight against the naginata.

The result is a five foot long gash in the roof of the panther's mouth. Being inside its mouth, when it roars again in pain, I end up completely deafened. I ignore the pain and after reversing the naginata I stab it into the panther's tongue and start sawing away at it.

My attack on its tongue is interrupted by the panther making coughing sounds. Having had cats in my previous life I know what is coming so I dart out of the mouth. While the panther is puking blood and chunks of its tongue I focus on attacking a single spot on its neck.

Once the panther is done hacking it lets out a low pitched roar that I can feel through the vibrations. Unlike its previous roars this one carries a message that I can understand. It is a summoning roar, it is calling for help, which means I am hurting it finally.

Shortly I notice several panthers entering the clearing, ones the size of bulls like the first ones I killed. When the first one gets close enough that I am getting ready to dodge, the big panther suddenly eats it. As soon as it does I notice some of the wounds I have inflicted closing up.

Instantly understanding that it uses the food to heal I dart down and slay the two panthers he is about to eat. Doing so puts me uncomfortably close to his jaws, but I can't afford to let him heal. A quick look around shows that over a hundred smaller panthers have entered the clearing so far.

As I move a little distance away from the big guy I let loose with Lion's Rage. This brings all the panthers rushing at me, the big one also gets closer, he probably wants to heal. Unfortunately, for him, once all the panthers are close enough I activate Holy Light.

Holy Light turns all the smaller panthers into ashes and leaves a couple of large burn spots on the big guy. It also turns the trees that were in range to ash and even destroys the purple grass that was covering the clearing. Even with all that I can see more panthers entering the clearing, but if I chase them around I will waste too much time.

'Summon Bones!'

When Bones appears he has a sad expression on his face, probably because he was defeated. I am happy to see that his armor and weapons are perfectly intact, replacing them is impossible. Bones is just staring at me waiting to be yelled at, he hasn't looked around at all.

"Bones, kill the smaller panthers! All of them!"

Bones yells "Yes, master!"

Bones finally looks around and even from a distance I can see the surprise on his face. Not wasting any more attention on the small fries I return to attacking the big guy. Luckily, since he only ate one panther, his wounds have not healed much and most of them are still bleeding.

As I am attacking the big guy's neck I do my best to keep an eye on the rest of the clearing. Bones is killing the smaller panthers without too much trouble, the problem is they are much faster than him. Several times I have to stop attacking the big guy to kill the smaller panthers he is about to eat.