A crackle, sharp and erratic, like live wires snapping through the air. A sizzling, popping sound, faint but distinct, coming from below.
I didn’t know if it was Zivra... but at this point, anything suspicious was worth checking.
Without hesitation, I blinked downward, materializing on a thick tree branch overlooking the forest floor.
My eyes scanned the direction of the sound, following what my ears had already locked onto.
A beast.
And it was crackling.
It looked like a leopard. Sleek and powerful, its body moved with the kind of grace that didn’t make sound—not even a crunch of leaves beneath its paws. Muscles coiled beneath a flawless coat of snow-white fur, broken only by black rosettes that looked less like natural patterns and more like burn scars, as though lightning itself had marked the beast.
SIZZLE.
Arcs of pale-blue lightning crackled across its body, thin streaks dancing along its spine like veins of energy. Sparks flicked from its whiskers, coiled around its tail, and snapped off its paws every ti it shifted. The air around it buzzed faintly, charged and tense, like the mont before a thunderclap.
Oh.
Now this was interesting.
I narrowed my eyes and activated [Analyze], and the system fed what I needed.
Na: Lightning Leopard
Level: 40
Type: Beast (Elental Variant)
Affinity: Lightning
Level 40. Elental Variant. That explained the crackling energy and the air that slled faintly of ozone. Definitely not your average forest predator.
But what really caught my attention wasn’t the beast.
It was the figure it was stalking.
Just a few ters ahead, half-hidden by brush and roots, stood Zivra.
Trembling.
Clutching a small blade in both hands, her body crouched low, feet frozen in place.
The Lightning Leopard was already in range.
And from the way it moved—low, patient, deliberate—it had chosen her as prey.
Of course.
I finally find her, and she’s about to get mauled by nature’s version of a live wire.
I let out a breath, calming myself, and said with an even tone: With [Analyze] still active, I focused on her.
Her status appeared in my vision, sharp and clean.
Na: Zivra
Title: Chief’s Daughter
Class: None | Level: 15
Innate Skill:Mindbreaker
Level 15?
Huh.
Maybe I’d been overestimating her.
Compared to the others—Zarah, Gobbo, Zonk—on paper, she wasn’t exactly impressive. Stat-wise, she was barely past beginner level.
If it ca down to a straight-up fight, she shouldn’t have stood a chance.
But that’s the problem.
It never was a straight-up fight.
That skill—Mindbreaker—was what changed the equation.
I didn’t know the full extent of it yet, but I’d seen enough to understand one thing: as long as she could use it, level didn’t matter. It wasn’t strength or speed—it was sothing subtler, more insidious. Sothing that attacked the mind, not the body.
That was what made her dangerous.
That was why the three of them would’ve fallen.
Hell, even this leopard might be in trouble if she managed to trigger the skill in ti.
But judging from the way she flinched as the beast crept forward, I wasn’t sure she could.
The leopard growled low in its throat, electricity snapping around its paws as it inched closer, slow and deliberate.
"It seems the forest has provided with a al just monts after I fulfilled my natural obligation. That must be a sign—I did well." It said and I frowned.
Natural obligation?
What was that supposed to an?
Below, Zivra stood her ground—or tried to. She was trembling slightly, her grip on the blade tight enough to whiten her knuckles, but her voice ca out smoother than I expected. Controlled.
"I’m just passing through," she said. "Let go, and nothing will happen."
The leopard wasn’t impressed. Not in the slightest.
It stepped forward, more confident now, lightning dancing between its paws and sparking violently around its whiskers and tail.
"Foolish goblin," it purred with a grin that exposed sharp fangs, "are you threatening right now?"
The air around it pulsed as electricity flared with its growing amusent—or appetite.
Zivra took a shaky step backward, nearly stumbling over an exposed root.
Her chest rose and fell rapidly, but she raised her blade again, her eyes not leaving the beast.
"Don’t co any closer, beast," she warned, her voice rising an octave. "I... I can’t control my powers."
"Powers?"
The leopard laughed—sharp, amused, and condescending. Like he’d just heard the most ridiculous thing co out of a dying animal’s mouth.
Then he snarled, his voice rising with disdain,
"You think whatever powers you possess will save you from becoming my al?!"
Electricity snapped louder around him, no longer just humming—it scread. Arcs of lightning surged across his body, trailing off his limbs in wild bursts as he crouched low, muscles tensing.
"Let’s find out, shall we?"
And then he pounced.
A blur of white and blue lightning exploded forward.
I was ready to react. My fingers twitched, already reaching for [Swap], prepared to blink Zivra out of the way just before impact—
But then sothing terrifying happened.
Zivra looked up.
Her eyes locked on him.
And then—without sound, without gesture, without warning—sothing unseen erupted from her.
There was no light, no explosion, no flare of power. Just a sudden, unbearable pressure.
The leopard froze mid-run.
Its limbs trembled, its muscles quivered, but it didn’t move.
I paused, trying to understand what I was witnessing.
It was like soone had hit pause on the white leopard.
Then the trembling started. Subtle at first, then it escalated violently.
The leopard’s body shuddered uncontrollably, every limb convulsing, its chest heaving in short, panicked jerks, then it let out a low, strangled gasp. A sound that didn’t belong to a predator, but to sothing breaking.
And then, blood burst from its eyes first, thin streams rolling down its pale fur.
Then its ears. Its nostrils. And finally, its mouth.
A wet, red spray as its jaw slackened.
Its glowing eyes rolled back.
And in what felt like slow motion, the beast dropped and crashed into the earth with a heavy, lifeless thud.
Dead.
Just like that.
A level 40 elental beast, turned into a twitching corpse.
Killed by a trembling level 15 goblin.
My mouth hung open. I didn’t even realize it until the wind hit the back of my throat.
I quickly shut it, pressing my hand over my lips like that would help process what I’d just seen.
Thank the gods I had stopped Zarah.
Thank the gods I got to them before they reached her.
Because if they had?
The dead leopard right now on the ground would’ve been them.
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