Spirit Taming

Chapter 424: Fight Or Flight

The winter puma finally managed to get back in Clark's sight line. But that was a greater worry than anything. This time it was closer. "It's starting to catch up, we need to pick up the pace!" Clark's warning was enough to replenish the mentality that they all had to move faster.

The winter puma had not given up at all. As far as it was concerned, the temptation of the winter witch's unique ice energy was too much. It wanted the energy and the strength that would come with it to continue to reign over its territory. Especially if it could take a large leap in getting stronger. That could mean more territory.

What stood even taller for Clark to worry about was the fact that he could sense that the group was getting slower. It wasn't that they were getting too tired too fast, but the fact that the trail had become harder to travel. The terrain was the same ice and snow carved trail that many merchants took, unfortunately, for almost a day, the trail had been ignored.

The bandits had stopped the most recent carriages that would have carved through the sitting ice and snow of the trail. Therefore, the trail was much more similar to the terrain that the winter puma could travel more easily, and less so for them. That had been the massively underlooked fact as the group had run.

"Clark, can you scratch it with your spear!?" Maria gave a harsh yell as she heard the feline growling from behind them. The winter puma was like many other predators. It was using the tools it had to cause the prey it wanted to hunt chaos. If it could scare them in to separating, then the winter puma would more easily hunt down the preferred target.

"My spear might get blocked by ice!" Clark wasn't going to make promises. But Maria was making her own plan.

"What about lightning!?"

"Not yet, I haven't battled yet or enough to let it charge up. It's not a choice to release it either!" Clark saw what Maria was looking for but had no way for the black lightning spear to activate its skill. To cause the lightning attack from stored energy that it had within it. There had been no fueling battles yet.

They were stuck with just a regular lightning spear as one of the strongest weapons they had.

"What if I heat it up? Ice hates melting, right! Isa and I can mess with it and Maria can leave poison on it." Ralph caught up right next to Clark. He had drifted toward Grace unknowingly to keep her protected. No one had said a word though, there were other concerning things right that moment that took priority over Ralph's positioning.

"Poison would get burned away before the ice protection did!" Isa heard this while they ran and countered. The conversation was rough since they were still moving but it was what they had done while training with Professor Wright. It made sense that they would be able to communicate while moving. Every single tamer group should learn that.

It could mean defeating a powerful beast or dying a painful death.

"I can make the poison thicker. Lit is able to do that now!" Maria made sure she could do so. She could sense that Lit was able to do these sorts of things.

"I can too. We can mix the poison from my partner too. It can be a compound poison." Jerold had been invisible to be able to surprise things. But when he came near Clark, Clark could sense him. He also felt the small vial of poison being shoved in to his hand.

"You have planned ahead for these things. Good idea!" The sudden praise was because Jerold had been keeping his beast's poison for other times. Having a vial like this was a great idea for when they might not be able to have the armored chameleon put poison on something right away.

"Clark, spear!" It seemed that the entire group had accepted that they could no longer use running as their means of survival. When it came down to their instincts, they had to choose fight or flight. One was going to let them survive and the other was clearly not.

Without hesitation, Clark pulled the black lighting spear from his spatial ring and held it by his side. Ralph and Isa moved around it and the two began their work.

Isa had melded with the flame sprite to be able to make a flash of fire to blind enemies, her winter witch remained moving in the front of the group without stopping. She knew what the group was working on and that she was the target of the winter puma.

Isa conjured up a fire ball that she channeled her flame sprite's energy through. Ralph could easily add in the fire energies that his molten boar provided him with. The two quickly caused the black lighting spear to change from the black coloration to a slowly reddening heated color. It was also becoming hotter in Clarks' hands proving the additional challenge for him.

"Crim, you can resist the heat better, can you do something?" Clark's mental question ended with Crim manipulating the slime armor form immediately. It was a perk of Crim being a slime at the core.

Crim's slime moved down and wrapped Clark's hands in an off layer of protection. It wasn't perfect but enough to resist the burning of his hands. Just enough for the moment.

Meanwhile, Maria had allowed Lit's condensed poison to mix in the vial that Jerold had provided. The numbing poison that could make someone feel paralyzed and the armored chameleon poison that could actually paralyze mixed in a unique way. Clark could see them mixing while he ran waiting for Maria to pour the poison on to the blade of the heated spear.

' condensed dual poison- uncommon

This is a hand mixed poison of moderate quality. It has been specifically made by mixing two beast's poisons at a condensed thicker viscosity to resist heat. This poison both numbs and paralyzed.

Due to the condensed nature, this poison will have a greater effect the longer it touches an open wound on a target. The poison will gradually affect the target as it dissolves within their body and becomes active. This poison has a short shelf life of three days due to the hurried nature and poor mixture…'

Clark didn't bother to read more about it. All he cares about was for the poison to fall in the black lighting spears blade. The moment that it did, Reese and Brad took a stance besides Clark as his defenders. Grace also prepared herself with Ella behind him to attack as the winter puma charged forward.

Seeing the prey suddenly stop could have been the sign for the winter puma to hesitate. Unfortunately for it, the winter puma was already been angered by its fleeing prey. It was a hunter, weak prey escaping would anger it. But that anger arrogance was what had left it to miss the fact that even weak prey could fight for their life.

Knowing that everyone fell on this attack, Clark put his full weight behind the black lighting spear. He felt Isa and the winter witch brace his back keeping the target of the attack from the winter puma right in line with the spear that was now propped up in front of them.

Professor Wright had watched every aspect of the plan. She hadn't expected the entire group to cooperate so efficiently and effectively. Let alone the fact that the plan was extremely solid. It was the same level of attack she would expect from experienced tamers used to traveling as they gained strength. She didn't even feel she had to intervene.

That was why she didn't. Instead, she watched the winter puma leap at the group with thick ice across its jaw to bite at them. But with the sudden feeling of threat, the winter puma tries to arc its body and avoid the heat of the black lighting spear. Its instincts screamed that the prey had suddenly become dangerous.

Yet this was fine. The arc of the winter puma did change the place the spear hit, but with the backed effort of Isa and the winter witch, Clark could forced the spear forward even more.

A sharp cut melted through the frosty fur that had stopped Devi from being able to bite the winter puma and left a large gash on its ribs. The pain caused the winter puma to fall to its side instead of landing on the group. Survival when it came to the first attack but the winter puma did not hesitate to stand back up and lock its eyes on the prey whom had just harmed it.

The moment that the angered growls had stopped as another signal. A sign that the winter puma was no longer looking at just prey. Its eyes showed a seething and cold murderous rage. Something that only a beast ready to kill at any cost would show. This was the true wilderness. The cold and the dark were just embellishments In the current life threatening situation the group found itself sitting.