Chapter 69: Black Panther
Asher stood with composed stillness, his gaze sweeping over the devastation he had unleashed. His eyes moved swiftly, examining each fallen assassin ensnared within the radius of his attack. None had survived. Without another glance, he began to turn, he couldn’t afford to remain here any longer. He needed to move.
But, the moment his head shifted, a massive claw tore through his vision with terrifying speed. Before thought could intervene, Asher’s body responded instinctively, Instinctive Adaptation ignited once more. His spine arched fluidly, bending backward until his body aligned parallel to the earth beneath him.
The wind screamed as the claw cleaved through the space where his head had just been, the deafening rush slamming against Asher’s eardrums. He didn’t hesitate. Even before the echo had faded, Astra surged to his feet, and his figure blurred, vanishing from the spot as he widened the distance between himself and whatever had just tried to take his head.
His head snapped forward, eyes locking onto the very spot he had occupied mere seconds ago. His Omni Perception hadn’t sensed a thing. If he hadn’t turned at that exact moment, hadn’t reacted purely on instinct, his skull would have been split open and his brain torn from his body.
It was a sleek, obsidian panther, tall, menacing, and unnaturally still. Its tail swayed with an eerie calm, curling through the air in slow, deliberate motions. Darkness clung to its form like a second skin, as though the very shadows of the forest bent to cradle it. Its jet-black eyes locked onto Asher’s glowing purple gaze, an abyss staring into another abyss.
’Veil-ranked,’ Asher noted silently. He had spent the last five months battling creatures of that rank. But not all monsters within the same rank were created equal, some stood leagues above their kin. And this one... this panther radiated a quiet supremacy that placed it far beyond a standard Veil rank beast.
Asher’s mind raced. ’It bypassed my Omni Perception...’ That could only mean one thing, it possessed some form of stealth, or an ability that masked its presence entirely. Coupled with its overwhelming speed and raw physical power, it was a predator built for assassination.
Though his gaze remained locked on the panther, his awareness extended outward, sweeping the surroundings. He didn’t believe for a second that the assassins were finished, not simply because a few had fallen.
He had been spotted effortlessly, twice, mere seconds after concealing himself. That wasn’t coincidence. Asher had already drawn a grim conclusion, he’d been marked. By what, he couldn’t say, but something clung to him, revealing his position to his pursuers like a beacon in the dark.