Leo : The Lion King

Chapter 233 233: Leo vs Ten lions (3)

[3rd POV]

The three lions slid to a pause, but Leo was already moving towards them like a storm. His superior acceleration and the ability to go from still to action were where he had the edge.

It's been nearly a year since he clashed with the Four Musketeers.

Leo had only gotten stronger.

But the real problem they had, besides Leo being physically superior, was his style. A lion without a tail moved like no other lion. Coupled with him being a lion with a human brain, experience meant little if you were not smart like Scarface.

Leo's body moved like it was built for the sole purpose of fighting, contrary to those who moved like a predator.

If you think carefully, Leo's hunt, especially in his early days of buffalo hunting, was him basically fighting and winning against buffalo in a one on one fight. It was not really hunting anymore when his prey fought back, was it?

So it could be said he fought more than he hunted, so he was the best at it.

The lions on the ground or those that just recovered and tried to get back into the fight stopped and watched for a moment as Leo took on three lions alone.

His strange and gigantic frame was strong in a way a normal lion was not, yet he was not weak where a lion should be.

The three slid apart instinctively, trying to flank him the way lions were meant to. One moved left, one moved right, and one stayed in front. It was sloppy because these were not really strategies but pure instinct.

Eeny meeny miny moe, two on one side is better than one on both.

So Leo chose the left most lion.

The lion roared as Leo came at him, the sound more to gather courage than to intimidate. He lunged with jaws wide, aiming for the side of Leo's neck where blood already ran down.

Leo lowered his head and met him.

The impact sounded like two boulders smashing together. A deep thud which was quickly drowned out by flexed muscles and bones smashing onto one another.

Expectedly, the lighter lion who was also weaker and had less time to gain momentum lost the clash.

And the loss was spectacular. The lion flew up into the air, his instinctive leaping motion made it easy for the lift off.

Leo's forelimbs came up and caught him mid air, claws digging into hide as though he were grabbing a sack of meat. Then he twisted, planting his hind legs and slamming the lion into the ground with a force that made sand jump.

The breath left the lion instantly.

Leo's jaws snapped down on the exposed throat. He bit down on a handful of mane and loose skin but his huge maw also caught flesh.

The lion roared a pitiful roar since he was bitten at the throat.

Leo's paw came down on his face, pinning it down on the ground while his jaw pulled to tear off flesh. It was not a complete tearing off chunk but Leo tore his neck like one would a cloth.

The two lions came from the right.

Leo stopped biting, leaving the first victim grovelling on the ground.

He turned around with a full swing. You could hear a whipping sound from the speed.

Perhaps it was luck, or maybe just pure skill but the swing landed on the side of a lion's skull. The resulting sound was wetter than expected. The head snapped sideways, and the body followed, rolling across the sand as though it was struck by a charging buffalo.

The third lion came in fast and Leo greeted him by standing on his hindlegs and resisting the momentum. It was like catching a car running at you full speed.

Leo was much taller than the lion and somehow, this proved to be a disadvantage as the lion automatically attacked at the neck while Leo was left only to strike the thick skull.

The two lions exchanged violent thrashing and tearing that looked nothing human.

Leo could overpower him but chose to do another alternative. He let the lion slam into him again and again, making it seem like he was losing the clash.

The lion became more violent and more ferocious, pushing himself into Leo with reckless might. It was then that Leo suddenly moved back.

The lion not feeling resistance anymore fell forward, his bite slipped off the thick mane and the moment he was under Leo, time almost seemed to stop for him.

Leo opened his jaw wide, and slammed down on the lion's skull. His smashing made his teeth like daggers and they dug into the skull before even biting.

And then Leo bit down hard, catching the entire skull like a vice grip.

Then proceeded to thrash around. It was like catching a rope by the end and swinging around in the most painful ways.

The skull was a top of the skull was a thick bone, even thicker than the back so Leo couldn't kill instantly.

The first lion finally got up from the brutalisation and proceeded to charge once more.

Leo's ears perked, noticing the approach. He quickly released his bite, leaving the lion half dead and he did a spin to dodge the lion's charge.

The place was filled with smoke, making it hard to see. Leo spun behind the charging lion and bit down at the tail which was straight in aggression.

Leo did not bite it with the front teeth but with the back teeth, biting it sideways so that his back teeth could be used.

The carnassial teeth were used for chewing meat while the front teeth tore flesh. It was similar to the molars on a human jaw.

Leo was biting the tail sideways. He didn't just bite down hard, he chewed the tail a few times until it was loose enough that he could rip the entire thing off from the lion.

The lion roared in pain, quickly turning around. His instinctive turn only helped in his loss of tail.

Leo spat the tail on the ground and lunged at the enemy.

The lion ran, without a tail.

But how could he? He was not like Leo that had time to adapt. The lion stumbled as it tried to flee. The trail of blood he left behind only added an unnecessary certainty to his death.

Behind him, Leo was only jogging. Try as he might, the lion was running like he was running in a dream.

And behind him was a looming danger in the form of Leo.

He was living a nightmare.

Leo pressed down on the lion when he fell for the nth time. Then he finished him off by biting at the back of skull, puncturing the brain.

He rose after delivering the death blow. He looked around, the two remaining lions were as good as dead. The lion that took his full swing no longer had courage. The lion he bit on the skull was laying on the ground, barely moving and groaning.

Leo's chest heaved up and down and he scanned the surroundings.

"You want my throne!!!!" Leo bellowed in the aftermath, "Come take it!!"

...

Sumu, who was mostly uninjured except for a broken rib, looked around at the dirty battlefield. Three of them were already dead, others would die soon and only a few could back up.

The lion whose underbelly he tore open, for example, was immediately swarmed by vultures that tried to pull out his intestines. The birds were very eager to eat the lions.

And from the side, Sumu could see the hyenas reaching the battlefield and scanning everyone to see whom they could swarm on and bully.

In that moment of odd clarity, Scarface's words echoed in his mind.

Loss was inevitable.

Leo's head turned towards him.

Their eyes met.

And in that instant, Sumu understood something of Scarface's words,

This was not a beast, this was not even a lion.

It was a monster wearing the skin of one.

Sumu doesn't want to fight anymore. So when he pushed himself up and stared, he calmly analysed the situation.

Leo was strong, but he was still bleeding. And he did not chase after the three lions that ran, meaning he had a limit.

"I don't like your eyes," Leo said and began running towards Sumu.

Sumu did not move but stood in his spot. He waited, and Leo eventually came to a stop before he reached him.

Sumu watched everything.

He followed Leo's eyes and saw that three recovering lions at the side. Had he committed the charge and attack him, Leo would be surrounded and these lions could attack from the back.

A cold sweat washed Sumu when he noticed how aware Leo was.

He didn't even know it until he began studying Leo's action and pattern. This was a lion that never raged like a lion even when it was against ten.

Leo then turned to the right. There were two lions at the left and only one at the right so Leo turned to that.

Then he charged at the lion and Sumu simply watched as Leo killed him too.

And the way he did was by crushing at the skull with his wider jaw. Leo rolled around, almost like a crocodile doing a death roll so that the opponent not only suffered the wound but also broke his neck.

No, there was another reason why he acted so wild.

Smoke rose where the murder took place.

Four dead.

And when Leo rose again, Sumu noticed the sand covered Leo's wounds. Sand was the colour of their fur. Leo's body which looked weak and bleeding, prompting him to think that he had limits in the first place were gone.

Like he was hiding his injury to not offer even the tiniest hope to the remaining lions.

Leo released a shattering roar that could make dead bones tremble.

Then he lunged out again for another victim. Sumu watched as the others ran. He tried predicting whom Leo would go after next.

He left all the lions that ran towards another and focused on the one that ran away the most. The isolated one.

When lions would've charged at the closest enemy, Leo was hunting in a way he strategised everything.

Knowing that, Sumu ran towards the predicted target and Leo immediately stalled.

He was right.

"Let's leave!!" Sumu screamed out.

Four dead, three would die.

But there was still three of them.

When Leo heard the order and when the others obeyed, Leo's eyes met his again. It was as if he learned something, just like him.

Leo burst into action once more, this time he was bold in his movement and did not care for caution.

The only abled lions ran together and they were chased away by Leo.

They had crossed the river for nothing.

Instead of glory, they ran in shame, leaving their dignity behind.

...

...

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