The puma was big.

Bigger than Noir big.

“Is it supposed to be that much bigger than the others?” Penelope asked with a bit of worry in her voice. “Because I thought it was supposed to be, like, dog sized.”

“That’s one big dog,” Ash commented.

“Okay, time to switch up the formation,” Trixie said with gritted teeth. “The small ones all gather at the big one’s feet so we don’t have to worry about ambushes from behind anymore. Penelope, you can stay back a bit and still use wind cutter, right?”

“Yeah,” the blond answered. She did just that, stepping back and to the side so she could easily cast the spell and knock five of the smaller mountain cats and one of the medium ones back.

“Tom, what have we got?” Trixie asked.

Tom braced his shield and grit his teeth against the puma’s claws. He waited two seconds, then stepped back and twisted to slice his sword at the large cat’s neck.

He hit the shoulder instead, annoying the creature and making it roar.

When he returned back to position he shouted back at the healer: “Fifteen small cats, five medium, and the boss. Wind cutter only completely knocked out the small cats; that medium one is hurt bad, but still can move.”

“Ash, aim for the medium cats. See if you can do some damage.”

Ash complied and hit two of the five unharmed medium cats. One he managed to get a critical hit in the eye, an instant kill. The second his arrow barely bounced off its back. “Damnit,” he cursed.

“You got one, that’s good,” Trixie said. “They’re about to counter.”

Her prediction was right. They didn’t take turns, exactly, but they were somewhat predictable. The medium cats all roared, which set the small cats in motion. When they charged forward Tom brought his shield down to form a barrier, and Trixie reinforced it with her magic.

After that the boss monster turned and swung it’s tail at them, wielding it like a mace. The heavy tufted end deflected off the barrier and actually thudded into the dirt to make a small depression.

“Noir, you’re up,” Trixie said. “Damage to the big one.”

Noir charged forward with a grin and swung his sword around in a way not all that different from the puma swinging its tail. He might have done more damage with a hammer or an axe, but the attacks were still making progress.

“Fall back!” Trixie warned when she saw the big cat about to roar again.

The sour look on Noir’s face worried her for a moment. He waited until the very last second before withdrawing.

Tom charged forward, set his shield again, and Trixie’s barrier just barely made it up before the roar.

“This is too much like taking turns,” Noir grumbled from beside her. “I don’t like it.”

“It’s keeping us from hitting each other and interfering with each other,” Trixie said as her barrier took a hit from a wave of small and medium cats. “Penny - wind cutter!”

Penelope did the spell against more of the smaller cats, this time knocking out six while they were closer to Tom. “Thanks for gathering them all so nicely,” she simpered to her teammate.

“Don’t thank me,” Tom grumbled, “just get them.”

“Right, right,” Penelope sing-songed as she threw a second wind cutter at the group.

The small cats were cut in half, with only five lower-level creatures remaining. The medium sized cats still had three roaming, and as soon as Trixie lowered the barrier Ash fired off two more shots. This time both hit targets and wounded mid-sized cats, but neither were killed.

Tom knocked on his shield to draw their attention towards him again and charged a bit more forward. The puma didn’t like that, rearing back and swiping at the smaller human that dared invade her space.

Paw met sword and sliced through the pad until it bled. She backed away, limping, and still showing all her teeth.

“Noir, again!” Trixie commanded. “Tom, you too! Try to work together!”

That was why they had to use this strategy: aside from Ash and Noir, they didn’t work together as a team very well. Tom and Noir would block Penelope’s magic without realizing it, no one watched to see if Trixie was in range, and Ash worked himself into a corner trying to cover everyone until he ran out of arrows.

Trixie was hoping to stop that from happening with a turn-based strategy. The advantage was that they each had clear roles and a chance to rest between attacks.

The disadvantage was that it took longer, wore on them mentally, and gave them all a different kind of anxiety.

Noir’s slashes timed well with Tom’s shielding. Tom would block a paw coming for Noir’s face, and Noir would bash the puma’s teeth before they scratched Tom’s arm.

The smaller cats were the issue now. “Penny, can you put a firebreak around them? Keep the small and medium cats from getting through?”

“Will-do,” Penelope said, “but I can’t use wind cutter while I’m controlling the fire magic, and I can’t let it go if we want to keep Noir and Tom from getting burned.”

“That’s okay. Just keep the small ones out so Tom and Noir can focus on the boss. Ash and I can work on the underlings.”

“We are? Or I am?” Ash snorted. He lined up another arrow and let it fire. It smacked off a medium cat’s butt, sending it snarling at a small cat behind it.

Ash cursed and knocked another arrow back. “If I don’t hit them right the arrows just skim off the sides.”

“Get the small ones first. They’re about to charge again, and the medium ones are distracted by the fire. I’ll gather them together and you can get them.”

“You won’t have a shield marker. Didn’t you say that made barrier magic harder?” Ash asked. “Plus you have to let my arrows pass through but not the cats. You said that was too much.”

“It probably is,” Trixie admitted, “but what else are we going to do? If we keep pulling Noir and Tom back then this fight is going to last long past sundown and I’m going to be in so much trouble! It’s like you’ve never heard of a curfew before or something.”

Ash blinked a few times, then shook his head and pulled another arrow from his quiver. He actually didn’t know much about curfews since their father didn’t believe in them, but Trixie always had been a little… different. “Whatever,” Ash said. “Tell me when to shoot.”

Trixie waited until the small cats charged forward, then put up her shield barrier. It prevented them from helping Noir and Tom, but it also kept the small mountain cats from swarming the rear while their heaviest damage dealers were occupied. “Okay, I’m going to bring it down to eye level. Watch that none of them can climb over it, okay? I can’t raise it higher that fast. Ready? Now.”

As soon as she said the word Ash let loose the arrow. The fletching smacked against his inner arm in a way it hadn’t since he was 12, and the arm guard saved his wrist from getting the same treatment. He swore briefly as he brought back a second and third arrow, mentally counting how many he had left.

Eight. Nine. Ten. He’d used eleven arrows in the fight before all of the small cats were gone. Trixie dropped the shield and panted, sweating, looking like a little blue swimmer rather than a healer.

“Noir, Ash!” she called out. “Fall back!”

Ash somewhat agreed with her; they needed to fall back so they could take a break, rest, and all of them had a chance to recover. He just wasn’t sure Trixie could hold the shield again. Even Penelope was looking a bit worse for wear. She released the spell on the fire so the two men could return back to the group, but the color in her face was a pasty white.

Trixie’s hands were on her knees and she was bent over breathing hard as she set the barrier to Tom’s shield - much closer this time than last time.

“If we finish the puma, the smaller cats will leave, right?” Noir asked. There were a few scratches on him, and Tom also looked a bit worse after tangling with the wagon-sized cat for so long.

“Roots,” Noir said, activating his skill. His wounds retreated and for the first time Trixie noticed that cuts opened up in the dirt.

It was just dirt. A few scrapes on the surface didn’t mean much.

“Roots,” Noir said again, and Trixie’s head shot up.

He was using it on Tom.

“I thought you said-“ Trixie started, then stopped herself. Tom’s cuts were disappearing from his body and reappearing on Noir.

One more time and the cuts were transferred down to the dirt again.

“It’s not healing,” Ash reinforced. “It’s just transferring.”

“It’s not the same as when I was a tree,” Noir grumbled. “I don’t get nutrients as well as I used to. If we kill the puma the small ones leave?”

“There’s only one unhurt,” Trixie said. “The other two might be bad enough off not to attack without provocation. So yes, chances are pretty good they’ll back off.”

The medium cats roared. There weren’t any smaller cats to charge. The uninjured one approached slowly with the two less injured cats flanking it. Before they could attack, Penelope threw a wind cutter at them.

One more went down completely. The other injured one managed to dodge the worst of the blow while the uninjured one completely dodged the swipe.

“I need you to finish it this time,” Trixie said, “can you do it?”

“I’ll use my new skill,” Noir boasted with a wide grin. “I just reached level 10, remember?”

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