The Eternal Assassin

Only the passive benefit of Comprehend allowed Asher to react in time to save his life, and with a startled curse he slipped into the astral realm while the panther's claws of pure ice were still a hair's breadth away from his neck. Rather than take his head off with a single slash, the awakened beast flew straight through him, remaining utterly silent throughout its entire attack. Asher turned just in time to watch the beast land and spin about, its eyes flickering every which way to determine where the intruder went. The attack had come so close to landing that he felt the throbbing of pins and needles across the skin of his throat.

Did that thing just give me frostbite without even touching me?!

Deciding to trust in his Eternal Regeneration to get him through this, Asher ran directly at the awakened panther, slipping back to the real world at the last second as he drove his flaming dagger into the side of the panther's neck.

Or at least, as he tried to.

The moment he reappeared for his attack, the panther's eyes widened and an explosion of freezing cold air erupted from the awakened beast, halting his attack and sending him flying backwards. Slamming into the hard cave wall, Asher gasped painfully as the wind was knocked out of him and he crumpled to the ground.

Get up!

He screamed at his injured body to move as the frozen panther rushed towards him, but his limbs refused to listen to his commands. Seeing the panther leap, its maw of icicle-like fangs bared and aimed for his throat once more, Asher reflexively activated Distortion.

But rather than use the skill to dodge, he instead used it on the space directly between him and the soaring panther, stretching it out a few feet longer than it was before. The panther clearly didn't notice the shimmering air marking the lengthened space, as rather than land directly on top of him, the beast landed a few feet shy. Eyes widening in shock, the panther's momentum forced it to careen forward as its claws landed on solid stone rather than weak flesh, and its body slammed hard into the cave wall directly above Asher's crumpled form.

Using every ounce of his willpower, Asher forced his body to listen to his commands as he shoved the flaming dagger upwards. Unfortunately, despite being in the perfect position to take out the beast's jugular, Asher's frost-covered arm refused to raise more than a foot off the ground, and he had to settle for shoving the enchanted weapon deep into the panther's hind leg.

Letting out a hiss that sounded like the howling of a raging winter storm the panther awkwardly leapt backwards, putting some distance between Asher and itself. Despite his rough condition, Asher grinned as he watched the panther stumble, barely landing its jump as its wounded leg proved unable to support its full weight. Rather than blood, a dark, slushy liquid was pouring out of the fresh wound.

"Hah! Take that you frozen… feline…" Asher taunted weakly as he shakily forced himself back to his feet. Only now did he realize the full extent of the damage the panther's defensive explosion of frost had caused.

Asher's entire front was covered in a thin layer of ice that was currently cracking and flaking off of him every time he moved. Under the ice, he could tell that his exposed skin was a rather disturbing mixture of black and blue, indicating he'd experienced severe frostbite across practically half his body. He'd witnessed a few bodies come into the funeral home over the years belonging to people that had died from exposure during the winter, and none of them looked anywhere near as bad as he did after tanking the full force of the panther's attack. As he currently was, it was taking all his strength to just keep his shaking fingers wrapped around the hilt of his daggers.

[Complete Resilience – lvl 3]

Well that's definitely not good.

Even after suffering an injury and witnessing his strange skills, the panther proved to either be more confident in its own lair, or just thought he was too heavily wounded to be much of a threat. Rather than flee, the panther hissed once more and began slowly stalking toward him, favoring its bad leg and not rushing in now that it had experienced Asher's ability to bend space.

Despite his current condition and his likely death slinking toward him with blood in its eyes, Asher couldn't help but feel himself grinning. This was what he'd been hunting for ever since his battle with the demon in the wizard's tower. Fighting a life or death battle against an intelligent opponent capable of adjusting its strategy and willing to do whatever it took to survive.

For a moment, he forgot all about his deal with Trellis and the reason he was out here in the first place. He forgot about everything he left behind on Earth and all the unknowns he'd have to face moving forward. He even forgot about the dull pain throbbing through the front half of his body as his Eternal Regeneration worked overtime to try and repair the horrific damage he had already sustained. Right now, the only thing that mattered was killing his opponent before it could kill him.

As if somehow sensing the resolve igniting within him, the panther suddenly darted forward, rushing low at him as fast as its injured leg would allow. Asher quickly distorted space to his side and went to dodge to the right, only to discover the panther had somehow frozen his feet to the ground when he wasn't looking. Slipping instead into the astral realm just in time to avoid a slash to his chest, he freed his feet from their thick, icy restraints and stabbed forward, aiming this time for the panther's eye.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

The awakened beast didn't sit still and wait for his attack, however. The moment he vanished from its sight, the beast leapt back, bringing its head low to the ground and opening its mouth. A low, rolling mist tumbled out of the panther's widened jaws and spread across the cave ground, forming a slick layer of ice everywhere it touched. In moments, the entire section of the cave they were standing in had been transformed into a giant, glistening mirror of ice.

A small part of Asher noted that he didn't have a reflection while standing within the astral realm, but he didn't really have time to think about that.

The moment his muscles gave out and he returned to the real world he gasped as his feet shot out from under him and his already damaged body slammed onto the slippery ice, causing something in his shoulder to crack loudly as it snapped. Asher wanted nothing more than to shut his eyes and hiss in pain, but he knew it would be the last thing he ever did.

Keeping his watering eyes on the panther, he watched as the awakened beast ran at him once more, not slowed down in the slightest by the frozen ground as it went for the kill. Realizing he wouldn't have time to get back up, Asher grit his teeth and opened his Personal Rift, yanking out the item that would hopefully save his life and bracing it against the thick chunk of ice the panther had so kindly conjured up moments ago in an attempt to bind his feet to the floor.

The panther's eyes widened as the nearly four-foot-long heavy boar tusk suddenly materialized out of thin air directly between it and its prey. Already mid-lunge, the awakened beast could do nothing as it slammed directly into the razor sharp tusk, its momentum forcing the ivory tusk to penetrate deep into its frozen chest.

Asher grinned at the shock in the panther's eyes as more of the dark slush began flowing around the tusk and out of this fresh wound, far more than what he'd seen come from its hind leg. As the panther struggled to free itself, he sent a silent thank you to Elaina for giving him back one of the tusks after she'd paid him.

According to the monster-parts merchant, it was tradition for those who hunted monsters to keep a trophy from the very first monster they ever killed. And while she'd been shocked to hear that the heavy boars had been his first ever monsters slain, she'd all but forced him to take one of the tusks back before she let him run off in search of Samantha.

That unique tradition appeared to have just saved his life.

Letting out another powerful, wind-like roar, the panther stumbled backwards, finally freeing itself from the heavy boar tusk with a wet plop. Immediately, the amount of dark slush coming from the wound tripled, the very life essence of the panther pouring out of its body with every beat of its frozen heart. Giving Asher's prone form one last look, the panther turned and slowly limped away, doing its best to flee the human that invaded its cave while it was still capable of moving.

Returning the heavy boar tusk to his rift, Asher tried to get to his feet, only for his weakened limbs to collapse out from under him. Even if he wasn't currently lying on a frozen surface more slippery than any ice skating rink, he didn't think he had the strength left to force himself up.

Gritting his teeth, Asher willed his frozen hands to hold onto his daggers as he reached out in front of himself and drove them into the ice, using whatever dregs of strength were left in his frostbitten arms to pull himself barely a few inches after the fleeing panther. Samantha was relying on him to bring back that creature's hide, and he'd be damned if he was going to give up now. Freeing his daggers, he stretched out and pulled himself forward again. And again.

After the fourth time, he realized he could use Distortion to cover more space, and he quickly managed to pull himself to the edge of the impromptu ice rink, the awakened panther nowhere to be seen. Lying on the cold stone floor once more, he finally tried to get up, before immediately falling back down as his frostbitten legs failed to support his weight.

Cursing, Asher dumped even more shards into his flaming dagger, forcing the fire to burn slightly hotter before placing the small fire between his frozen limbs. The fire was now close enough that he'd be functionally cooking his own flesh if it weren't for the dagger's protective enchantment. Closing his eyes, he willed his Eternal Regeneration to work as fast as it could, ignoring the various notifications popping up and praying that he wouldn't be too late.

Sitting in the dark recesses of the cave, Asher wasn't sure how much time passed before he was finally able to force himself to his feet. Following the light from his dagger, he staggered his way to the cave entrance, surprised to find that the raging bonfire he'd left there when he first entered had long since gone out. What was more concerning however, was the fact that the sun was just starting to set.

"No, no, no!" Asher cried out, his foot colliding with something as he stumbled aimlessly toward the cave entrance. Glancing down, he flinched back as he found himself face to face with the awakened beast one last time.

Based on the crisscrossing lines of dark slush staining the front of the cave, it appeared as though the gravely wounded panther had in fact attempted to flee the cave, only to be stopped by the wall of flame he'd left behind. Unable to cross the fire and unwilling to return to face the human that had gravely wounded it, the panther had been forced to remain in the cave entrance where it had eventually bled out.

A faint, brief burst of glee erupted within Asher's chest as he took in his conquered foe, but not even the thought of having bested the powerful beast could cheer him up after seeing the setting sun.

"Not too late… Still have time," Asher muttered weakly, placing the entire awakened beast's corpse within his rift. The icy body of the panther was still freezing to the touch, and Asher stared blankly at the fresh bits of frostbite decorating the hand he'd used to store the body.

Knowing his regeneration would fix it, Asher shook his head and stepped over the remains of his bonfire, stumbling his way into the forest as he began making his way back toward the village. Focusing on the mark he left on Brian, he didn't even bother consulting the map he now had ingrained in his head. Unless the kid had decided to move in the last couple of hours, the mark would lead Asher exactly where he needed to go.

Despite his desire to rush back to the village at top speed, Asher's body just wasn't in any state to carry out his wishes. He'd healed up enough to walk, if one could call his stumbling gait 'walking,' but he was far from in any shape for running. His body was still covered head to toe in frostbite that felt like it reached down to his very bones, and the damaged flesh seemed to be slow to heal. Asher knew he'd be fine in a couple more hours, a day at most if his regrown eye was anything to go off of. But he didn't have that kind of time.

In the end, all he could do was keep stumbling toward the village, utilizing his Distortion skill to shave off as much time as possible and making every shambling step he took the equivalent of ten or more.

He could only hope that he made it in time.