Terror! Endless Terror! Terror so intense that it rendered him immobile, and no matter what Zane tried, that's the only emotion he could feel. At first, he was puzzled at the source, but after a while, he sensed a creature 20 meters to his left. He could barely see the tiger-like creature from the corner of his eyes. Still, in his mind, he could perceive an amalgamation of white and blue energy similar to the one inside his body, except with even greater intensity.
"Move, Zane, move, or you'll die." He repeated these words in his mind, trying to find the courage to take action, but the creature's intent to kill him was so potent that he was scared. The piercing gaze of a hunter at the top of the pyramid was too much for a regular person. This was no longer a simple matter of willpower, but a fundamental fact of biology.
Fifteen meters — the creature was fast enough to reach its prey in an instant, but it seemed to enjoy mentally torturing the target. Despair overcame Zane's mind. As a logical person, he should have at least thought of running away, but his motor functions have failed. The fear went beyond the normal; his extraordinary senses had become a curse.
"Mama, Alisha, Dad, and even Cindy — I'm sorry," Zane thought. Visions of his life flashed in his eyes. His life was destined for greatness. Many people have told him this, and he strongly believes it. With his high IQ and hard work, the world should have been his oyster — he should have changed and molded it for the better, leaving an eternal legacy that the entire race would remember until the end of human civilization. Sadly, the train that was his life was derailed and never returned to the right track.
Zane could feel that the mass of white energy had now reached 10 meters away from him. From the corner of his eyes, he could see a white tiger with a symbol or sign on its forehead. However, none of that matters. Zane had resigned himself to his fate. Death was inevitable; his life was full of regrets. The only good thing was that his mother would receive a handsome repayment from the DT company, which should set her and Alisha up for life.
"Stand up, Kwame, Son of Anansi!" A powerful voice rang deep into Zane's voice. He couldn't recognize the deep, low voice, but somehow he felt it was very familiar, like a family member or loved one who had always been by his side. Suddenly, the flame of light rekindled in his mind.
"No, I can't die yet," Zane roared internally. A small amount of power rushed into his body, and without hesitation, he used all of his willpower to bite his tongue as hard as he could, almost drawing blood. The intense pain jolted him away from the fear, and with a swift motion, Zane dropped on the floor to pick up the gun, rolled to the ground to turn his body toward the creature, and emptied the clip.
The predator never expected the prey to fight back, so all 15 bullets hit him. However, to Zane's shock and horror, most of the bullets only left a white mark on the creature's skin and did not penetrate it. Zane might as well have been holding a BB gun, since the effects were almost the same. Never in his wildest dreams would he have thought that technology would fail him at the most crucial moment.
With his attack thwarted, the next scene should have been his gruesome death. Fortunately, fate had favored him, and one of the bullets hit one of the tiger's weak spots: its left eye. A mighty and domineering roar of pain echoed throughout the forest. The beast, who stood 5ft 11 — the same height as Zane — thrashed around for a few seconds; its giant paws created craters on the ground, and the sound of its tail moving rapidly mirrored the sound of whipping. Blood dripped everywhere, and after seeing it, the beast was even more enraged.
The terrifying roar woke Zane up from the shock of seeing his gun not being effective. For a moment, he thought of reaching out for an automatic weapon to do the job, but he soon remembered he was a mage. Without hesitation, he engraved the mana shield spell model and recited the incantation. Five seconds later, Zane had the shield up.
Around the same time, the tiger finally calmed down. The enraged king of the forest would not accept its prey to humiliate it in such a manner. Zane reacted swiftly and tried to cast the magic bullet spell, but would the enraged tiger give him so much time? With a roar, the creature opened its mouth and released a wind slash.
The creature had cast a spell. The single thought disturbed Zane's focus, failing the spell model engraving. Then, the thought that he would be severed in two at the waist instantly overwhelmed Zane's mind; he didn't want to lose all his limbs, as that would severely hinder his magical journey. "Hopefully, the tower can regenerate limbs or something."
Crack!
The attack left a massive crack on his semi-transparent shield to the point that the defensive spell became easily visible. Zane's face paled as 20% of his mana was instantly drained. "At least, there is good news," he thought. His magic shield was not for show; it held on. He has survived.
Unfortunately for him, the tiger couldn't care about his physical situation or elation. The creature opened its mouth, ready for a second attack. However, unlike the first, this one was not cast immediately. Instead, the white tiger took a bit over 3 seconds before releasing the wind slash.
Zane immediately realized this and started his second spell. "Hold, hold, hold," he thought repeatedly. The shield only needed to block the second spell, and he'll survive this ordeal. Although not a gambler, he had no choice but to risk his life in the current situation. In this intense pressure situation, this was the only means of survival.
Three seconds passed, and the second wind slash pulverized the magic shield. Their clash released a potent gale that almost blew Zane away, but his mind did not waver for a moment. With intense focus, his spell finished two seconds later, and he condensed a second shield. The tiger — who had jumped on him — crashed on the mana shield. Its paws, capable of smashing a human head like a watermelon, clashed against the semi-transparent wall. Surprisingly, it did not leave a single scratch.
However, Zane lost another 10% of his mana in an instant. And after only casting two spells, he realized he had less than 15% remaining. But now was not the time to be worrying about these things. While still protected, he swiftly opened his bag and retrieved an MP5. Holding the submachine gun with his right hand, the apprentice mage did not hesitate to fire.
The tiger displayed some intelligence, as it immediately and perfectly conveyed the saying: Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. Although it didn't know what the black object was, it realized it was the same kind of weapon that had blinded him. The tiger moved laterally to evade.
Such effort was somewhat successful — especially since Zane did not hold the gun properly and the recoil made his aim terrible. However, with the speed and sheer number of bullets, a few hit their targets, but like the previous 9MM, they only left scratches on the beast's fur. Luckily, this was not Zane's killing move. While his right was acting as Rambo, his left arm was engraving spell models, and his lips recited incantations; he had practiced such moves especially for such a situation.
Less than five seconds later, the magic circle was completed. The injured beast felt danger and tried to do something. However, while the gun was far from accurate, it did a perfect job at keeping him at bay. "I hope this works," Zane thought. This may be his last chance since he has no more mana to cast another spell. If magic could not break through this beast's defense, then his life will come to an end on this day and at this hour.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The magic bullets did not have the firing rate of the submachine gun, but its penetrating power was in a class of its own — at least, that's true when facing this magical beast. The white tiger tried to distance itself from this dangerous situation, but with both the gun and the magic bullets coming from all sides, the beast had no escape. The magic bullets — who could ignore the beast's physical defense and inflict magic damage — pierced through its skin like a knife cutting through butter.
Of the 32 bullets fired from the spell, 19 of them hit and pierced his body; two of them hit vital spots and created severe internal bleeding; there was no saving him, and the tiger knew this. With its last breath, it stared at its killer as if to remember it. Zane stared back, showing no more fear. He had conquered this beast, cutting off the dominion it had on his mind. In the battle of predator and prey, he was the final winner.
Thud!
Zane fell to the ground, but only after the beast had fallen. An immense fatigue rushed to every muscle in his body; he could even sense his life energy dimming a bit. However, compared to the first time he had experienced utter mana emptiness, the pain was not as intense. All his muscles were screaming in pain, and he felt tired, but it was not the kind of tiredness after running a marathon without training; it was more like an intense gym session without hydrating. "Maybe in the future, I can even stay standing after being drained," Zane thought.
Now that the danger was dealt with, he had the mental capacity to think about other things not related to his survival; in other words, he could breathe now. Of course, he did not allow his thoughts to wander for too long. The current priority was to regain his mana in case another emergency popped up.
As Zane was about to meditate, an unknown power rushed from his left hand and traveled throughout his body. It first recuperated all of Zane's mana before increasing the pool by a decent margin. According to Zane's calculation, he would have only reached this level of mana in another two weeks.
The unknown power did not stop there. Once it was done, it rushed into Zane's brain, instantly alleviating all the mental fatigue. And by the time it finished, he felt the range of his senses had increased from 30 meters to 40 meters.
Without hesitation, Zane immediately checked his new title: Battle Mage I