BXBX NOVEL Chapter 93: Second Round
The tiger had no choice in the matter. The Underworld had grabbed it and its leg and done whatever they wanted to it.
It was dying. The Underworld had only delayed the inevitable and bestowed upon the tiger the gift of pain and an opportunity for revenge that it wasn\'t worthy of. It had already lost. It had already died.
So what if it had already lost? So what if it wasn\'t worthy of another attempt?
At this point, the tiger couldn\'t care less. It was going to die either way. It might as well die at the hands of a worthy opponent. Not prey. Not game. Not weak ants.
Equals.
It wouldn\'t go down without a fight, though.
Black smoke started leaking out of the tiger\'s leg. The smoke clung to the tiger\'s fur and crawled up its leg, shoulder, neck, and onto the rest of its body. Its fur darkened in color, and its eyes started glowing with a mad, painful sheen.
It looked like a phantom from the world of the dead come to exact its vengeance on the world of the living.
The hair on the back of Zach\'s neck stood up, and his heart, which had slowed down when he saw Yanael stand her ground repeatedly, started galloping again.
He looked at Yanael. She looked at him. She nodded. Zach returned the nod.
Without wasting a single second, Zach picked up Dukiel and Julius and ran for his life.
He wasn\'t fleeing and leaving Yanael behind. He was heading to the only advantageous terrain nearby, the Locale.
The Sentinel and Mannequin followed along and helped Zach support Dukiel and Julius while they came to and got ready to actually do something with the time Yanael had given and was giving them.
Zach, Dukiel, Julius, and the Mannequin slid down the sloping tunnel into the Locale. When they hit level ground, they continued running. Eventually, Zach stopped and shared his plan with Dukiel and Julius.
Meanwhile, Yanael was busy doing her best avoiding and fending off the tiger\'s frantic and empowered attacks. The tiger was going all out.
Even if Yanael could take the hits and redirect the impact, she didn\'t want to. Underworld energy covered the tiger like a cloud of poison. Its claws were also dripping with the stuff.
Yanael didn\'t want to risk getting another scratch, much less getting torn apart by the tiger. She hopped around and made full use of her agility to keep as much distance as she could from the tiger.
But her only advantage was how quickly she could change directions.
The tiger was faster and stronger than her, but it also weighed more. Its momentum made it impossible to turn and chase after Yanael through the forest without slipping and sliding with every twist.
However, the tiger was too powerful to care about the paltry trees standing in its way and just bulldozed through the forest.
Long gone was the grace and pride of the king of the forest. It was nothing more than a mad beast. But it was powerful, so Yanael couldn\'t afford to take it easy.
It was also gaining on her, no matter how sharp her turns or how quickly she flapped her wings to increase her speed. The tiger\'s powerful muscles rippled and sent plumes of black smoke into the air as it pushed against the ground with each leap and shot forward.
She hoped Zach was ready.
When she looked at him before, she could tell that he was frightened and anxious about the tiger. But he wasn\'t in despair. He wasn\'t giving up.
Hopefully, that meant he had a way of dealing with the tiger. And she could guess what he had planned, considering he entered the tunnel leading to the Locale.
Yanael wanted to give Zach more time to prepare, but she couldn\'t stall any longer without risking the tiger catching her before it was too late.
She suddenly turned right around with the tiger only a few large steps right behind her. She dashed between its legs and headed toward the tunnel she popped open.
The tiger, driven only by its desire to hunt and kill, followed Yanael with its mouth and snapped its jaws shut behind her, stealing the ends of a few strands of hair. But in doing so, it tried to stick its head between its legs.
Its momentum carried it forward and threw it over on its back due to the sudden break and weird head movement.
The tiger\'s wipeout gave Yanael several precious long moments that let her enter the tunnel and run down to regroup with Zach before the tiger could catch up.
The tiger felt an instinctive hatred and disgust for the tunnel and the Locale.
If it had been in a state where it could think like a hunter, it wouldn\'t have entered. This was the only exit that didn\'t lead to the Underworld.
It just had to wait. Sooner or later, its prey would return and jump straight into its maw.
But the current tiger was barely following its instincts. It was impossible for it to think.
It dove straight into the tunnel and practically flew down the slope, the occasional step making the ground shake like a giant was roaming the surface.
"Now!"
Zach counted the steps and felt how far away they were. Too soon, and they would miss. Too late, and, well, it would be too late.
On Zach\'s order, the Sentinel fired at the barrier floating in the air in front of it. Yanael hugged the wall the last bit to avoid the laser before joining up with Zach and the others behind the Sentinel. Zach felt her presence, even if he couldn\'t see her due to the blinding light.
He gulped nervously.
The laser had already passed through the barrier. If the tiger didn\'t come soon, it would hit nothing but the ground.
It had been some time since the tiger\'s last tremor. It should be here.
It had to be.
Zach\'s mind began racing.
How long could the Sentinel keep firing? How long did it take between shots? Had the tiger noticed what was going on?
Had they failed?
Zach ignored the blinding red light and forced himself to watch the end of the tunnel.
The laser was about to make contact with the ground. It was a horse length away. An instant would be enough to cover that distance for the laser.
An instant was also all the time it took for the tiger to land–to slam into the floor.
Its front paws hit the intersection with enough force to crack the floor and send a shockwave through the tunnel. Both air and the floor shook and sent Zach and the others flying.