The Eternal Assassin

Sprinting through the forest, it took all of Asher's concentration to keep his breakfast down as the world bent and bled around him. He'd gotten better at using Distortion for movement over the past few days, but he'd never tried using it like this before. There was a big difference between using his skill to shift a few feet and narrowly avoid an enemy's attack versus using it to cover miles of rough terrain at breakneck speeds. Using his skill this way required him to continuously distort tunnel after tunnel of altered space, adjusting his path constantly to avoid running into trees and dodge startled animals. If it weren't for Comprehend speeding up his reactions, he was sure what he was attempting wouldn't even be possible.

Feeling that strange sensation of his body running out of energy once again, Asher took another brief break, leaning against the trunk of a large tree as he pulled out Samantha's map and checked his progress. He'd had to make frequent stops to make sure he was still heading in the right direction, but if he was reading the map correctly, he'd nearly made it back to the campsite where he'd encountered the awakened panther.

I've covered over 30 miles of forest in barely four hours despite all the breaks… Distortion is absolutely insane. But now that I'm actually here, the real question is…

"How do I even find the awakened panther again?" He muttered, looking around at the empty forest. In the moment, he'd done all he could to keep a bit of hope alive in Samantha, but truth be told he hadn't thought this far ahead. He only had a single idea, and it was a bit of a gamble.

Bringing up his interface, he dismissed the notifications that his Distortion and Comprehend skills had increased thanks to his mad dash through the forest, instead focusing on his Knowledge element. Thanks to the shards he'd gotten from Elaina for the heavy boar tusks, he now had enough to unlock his third skill for the element.

Please be something I can use to find the panther, he silently prayed, spending the 20,000 shards.

Shards: 6,243

Incorporate (active) - Lvl 1 - Instantly absorb the information contained within an appropriate vessel.

"Damn it!" He scowled, reading over his newest skill as his heart sank. While the ability to read an entire book in seconds was certainly appealing, it was not at all what he needed at the moment.

Okay, I need a back up plan… I could use Distortion to keep running around the area. Maybe I'll get lucky and accidentally run straight into the panther?

Remembering how the panther had reacted when he'd shown it Astral Dip, he discarded that idea immediately. The panther was clearly intelligent for an animal. Even if he got lucky enough to run into it while searching the area, he was certain it would flee the moment it saw him do something as crazy as bend space around himself.

I need to somehow find the panther without alarming it with my strange skills, and then take it down without giving it the chance to run off… Asher groaned, sliding down the rough bark of the tree to the ground and putting his head in his hands. He hadn't realized just how much he'd been banking on unlocking some useful skill for his Knowledge element. With that plan a bust, he just didn't see a way of pulling this miracle off.

As he sat there, despondent, he recalled the sensation of Samantha clinging to him, sobbing as he finally learned what she'd been struggling with ever since her parents died. He remembered her attempts at putting on a brave face, assuring him that she had a plan and that everything would be okay. Even in her darkest moment she'd been worried about his own reaction, wanting to make sure he wasn't worried about the news that she and Brian were having their family home ripped out from under them.

Gritting his teeth, Asher pushed himself to his feet. He had no right to give up just because whatever mysterious god in charge of magical powers in this world didn't give him the tool he needed. Surely there was something he was overlooking.

Come on, think, Asher, think. Remember your encounter with the animal.

Taking a deep breath, Asher let his mind wander back to that first night he'd spent in this new world after escaping the wizard tower. He remembered the chill in the air that seemed to follow the panther as it moved. The blood in his veins seeming to freeze just from his close proximity to the frozen creature. He remembered the sudden feeling of helplessness as he realized there was an apex predator hunting him in the dark of night, the cat's eyes gleaming in the fire as it prepared to end his life. The light sheen of liquid evident on the surface of the cat's body as the firelight reflected off it, its crystalline form starting to melt ever so slightly as it neared the warmth of the flames.

Asher's eyes shot open as he gasped, realizing immediately the key to finding the animal. Scouring the map, he looked for any caves within a couple of miles of their original campsite. He didn't know how far the awakened panther traveled when it hunted, but he had a hunch he'd just discovered the panther's glaring weakness.

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I'm pretty sure panthers are normally nocturnal creatures, and seeing as I encountered the awakened beast in the dead of night, this one probably is as well. On top of that, the panther's body seemed to be made entirely of ice. If it was already beginning to melt just standing on the edge of the campfire, the constant heat from the sun's rays during the day would probably be too much for it to take. So rather than sleeping somewhere in the forest or up in the trees…

Finally finding what he was looking for, Asher grinned, his hope rekindling as he stared at the crude looking cave drawn on Samantha's map. It was the only reasonably sized cave within ten miles of their original campsite. It had to be where the panther slept during the day.

As he was putting the map away and preparing to adjust his course, he had a sudden idea. Map in hand, he activated his new Incorporate skill, and his eyes widened as the map he'd been using to navigate the past few hours was suddenly ingrained in his memory as if he'd written the thing and spent his entire life studying it.

Okay, useful for more than just speed reading, I suppose.

No longer needing to keep stopping and checking the map, Asher took off toward the location of the cave, using Distortion in short bursts once more to practically fly through the forest. He thought he even saw a stunned looking bear or two as he shot past, but the world was blurring around him far too much for him to make out any actual details.

Covering the remaining miles in what felt like no time at all, Asher quickly found himself standing outside the cave entrance. It was wide enough to let a car pass through without issue, and Asher took a moment to simply stare at the gaping hole descending down into the ground. He could feel the unnatural chill in the air leaving the cave from where he stood, and his heart began racing as his theory was all but confirmed.

Okay, best case scenario, the awakened panther is deep in slumber, and I can kill it with a single strike before it wakes up. Worst case scenario, I guess the panther isn't even in this cave at all, and it's just a surprisingly cold cave.

Or it's waiting for me and kills me the moment I set foot inside the cave.

Shivering at the memory of those shining, intelligent eyes watching him from the edge of the campfire, Asher pulled out both his mithral dagger and his iron dagger containing a flame enchantment. He'd never actually used the enchanted dagger yet, but he had a hunch a flaming weapon would work rather well on an animal made entirely of ice.

Remembering what Samantha had mentioned about her bow, Asher could sense the held dagger's hunger for shards. He somehow intuitively understood how to feed it shards to activate the enchantment whenever he wanted to set the weapon ablaze.

Just as he was about to enter the cave, he remembered the other thing he'd been worried about. The awakened panther had already shown him it was a cautious predator, leaving without a fight the moment he surprised it with his Astral Dip skill. There was every chance that if he failed to kill the animal in a single strike the panther would flee its own cave in order to survive. While he might be able to hunt it down again, he had to get the pelt back to Trellis today or this entire hunt would be pointless.

Not wanting to waste any time, Asher hesitated at the cave entrance before sighing and heading back into the forest. Without knowing what skills the panther possessed, he wasn't willing to bet Samantha's house on his ability to kill the animal in a single strike.

It took him over an hour and a lot of swearing, but eventually he'd cut down enough thin trees and gathered enough kindling to cover the entire cave entrance. His mithral dagger had made the task doable, but still far from easy. Promising himself he'd shove an actual hatchet in his Personal Rift after he got back to the village, Asher pulled out one of his primitive matches and got to work starting a fire.

Again, the intensity of the tiny match surprised him, and he watched as the kindling he'd painstakingly collected quickly took hold. It seemed as though the forest hadn't had any rain in a while because within minutes the entire entrance to the cave had been closed off by a roaring wall of flames.

Satisfied with his work, Asher slipped into the astral realm and walked through the blazing fire, grinning at the fact that he couldn't feel a thing. Once he was on the other side and officially inside the cave, he ended the skill, immediately losing his smile as he felt the frigid air slam into his front.

Any fear that the panther wasn't living within this cave was immediately dashed as he slowly made his way deeper inside. The temperature within the cave plummeted with every step he took, and he could clearly make out what looked like claw marks scratching the stone floor here and there. Within seconds his breath became visible, and after only a few dozen feet his body began shivering.

Asher was only wearing some loose fitting cotton clothes Samantha had lent him that used to belong to her dad, but the cold was so intense he might as well have been wearing nothing at all. Trying to keep his teeth from chattering, Asher rounded the first bend in the cave and immediately realized he was an idiot.

There's no light in here!

Staring into the darkness of the cave, Asher clenched his chattering teeth as he tightened his grip on his daggers. There goes the element of surprise.

Not willing to blindly stumble into the awakened panther, Asher fed a few shards into his enchanted weapon, blinking in surprise at the flames that immediately burst out of the iron dagger. Somehow, despite the fact that the fire was burning almost directly against his hand holding the dagger, he didn't feel any pain in the slightest. In fact, while it was far from enough to completely offset the effects of the freezing temperature within the cave, the small amount of warmth the flaming dagger provided was a godsend.

Holding the dagger close to his chest, he continued heading deeper into the cave, the light from the dagger's flickering flame leading him ever closer to his prey.

Thankfully, the lowering temperature finally seemed to level off at what Asher could only imagine was something like negative forty degrees, and he couldn't help but grin as he approached another bend in the cave.

Without Complete Resilience, I might have succumbed to frostbite before I even got within ten feet of the panther. Wouldn't that have been embarrassing.

Chuckling quietly to himself, Asher rounded the next bend in the cave and froze as he found himself staring face to face with the awakened panther, the beast's eyes gleaming in the light of his dagger as it lunged for his throat.