VS Lion, Part 5

"Haah… Haah…"

Breathing unsteadily with a fixed line of sight, Serval wiped her forehead off of a liquid, be it rainwater or sweat. Right in front of her was Lion bearing her claws, who stood there waiting, opening and closing her hands. While it was unknown how much time had passed since the beginning of the battle, neither of them had been hurt throughout. Serval had managed to avoid every single attack sent her way by Lion without losing focus. However, Serval was unable to perform a proper attack herself. Lion would never drop her guard, assaulting unrelentingly. Serval had to play perfect defense.

"Khh…"

The difference in power was overwhelming. Whether it was battle experience, technique, or mercilessness, she keenly felt how surpassed she was. But nevertheless, there was a way for her to prevail over Lion. And that was—

"Myaaaaaa!"

Running circles around Lion at full speed. Trying to follow her with her eyes, Lion put so much strength into her claws that you could feel the power in her muscles.

"GUOAHHH!"

Large claws approached Serval. However, the latter had leaped at the trunk of a nearby tree.

"Heave ho!"

She avoided Lion's blow by kicking off of the trunk of the tree with her powerful legs towards another tree. This is what's called a triangle jump*. She swiftly scaled the tree, and jumped from branch to branch to confuse Lion.

"Grrrrrrrrr"

Lion growled as her frustration grew, as she was unable to follow Serval leaping between the surrounding trees.

Tree climbing. While it's something that the nimble serval excels at, it's Lion's weakness. Originally, as the lion became more specialized in strength, its weight increased, diminishing its ability to climb trees to a mere shrub. With them having difficulty with swiftly scaling trees and moving between them, servals took to dominating the treetops. Though, now that they have become Friends taking on some Human characteristics, even Friends based on animals that don't climb could climb a somewhat tall tree with proper usage of their limbs and brains, like Common Raccoon or Wolf who climbed over the barricade. With Lion being under the influence of Instinctive Frenzy, she's blowing off her head, being just like a violent beast.

"Grah…!?"

Being at the mercy of Serval's nimble movement, Lion lost sight of the fellow feline's figure. Taking advantage of the opening, Serval jumped onto a tree behind Lion, and leapt downwards for an attack just like at the start of the battle.

"Umyaaaah!"

Not repeating her mistake, this time she aimed for the back of Lion's torso. Serval tightly clenched her fist as she nailed it where Lion had thin protection.

"Gah!"

Letting out a gasp as if struggling for air, Lion staggered. At last, Serval's attack had struck Lion.

"Alright…!"

Wanting to be sure of her victory, Serval took refuge on top of a tree before Lion could regain her composure. While Lion was turning her head with an angered roar, Serval had already concealed herself on the branch she got on.

(I'm right here!)

She swiftly circled around and did it again. She drove another Serval Punch into Lion's back.

"Grah…!"

Seeing Lion's state in the corner of her eye, Serval once again concealed herself on a tree.

(She's doing it…!)

Serval, who had been moving in the treetops, and serval, who had been observing the events from the sidelines, had a slimmer of hope. This hit-n-run tactic allowed to steadily deal damage to Lion. They could win against the king of animals.

(Serval-chan… you're awesome…!)

Although there are more honest strategies out there, if she can keep up her small offense like this, she could rid Lion's fighting spirit, and if they could siphon the Sandstar Raw out of her while she's unable to fight…

(Just one more…!)

Overlooking Lion from above, Serval continued to move along branches. The former, having been staggered from the second attack, had her arms and head hung low. It's unmistakable, she might actually be losing her will to fight. Serval considered that the time to strike was at that moment. Circling around the immobile Lion, she took on the stance to attack.

However…

(—!)

Kaban, who had been observing Lion's state on the ground, noticed it earlier than Serval. A chill ran down her spine as soon as she saw a glimpse of Lion's expression, which Serval was unable to see.

Wrath. A fierce look of anger as she bared her fangs more and her eyes shone brighter than ever. She directed her eyes filled with killing intent upward and roared, spreading her arms wide. Sandstar Raw overflowed from her whole body.

"ROAAAAAAAAAAARRR!"

She vigorously twisted her body doing that. Her arms lit up almost like they were burning, and she swung them with terrifying force.

At that moment, Kaban and Serval realized how naive they were.

When an event that goes beyond what you can handle happens, every sound slips by your ears, making you feel like you were surrounded by silence. The Sandstar Raw being spread was akin to a mini tornado, while the slash of Lion's claws gave off the feeling of a small torrent.

She could easily chop down the many surrounding trees in one strike.

"—"

As the unbelievable reality was unfolding right in front of Kaban's eyes, the thunderous sound of trees getting toppled made her cover her ears and swept away any and all droned out sounds. Of course, within the chopped up trees was the one which Serval had scaled.

"Myaaaaa!"

Serval shrieked as she was falling to the ground. Thankfully, the feline girl could twist her body and safely land. With the uncountable amount of trees cut down, she was no longer able to run away by climbing.

"Woah…!"

Serval, who was trying her hardest to avoid the falling trees, disappeared within them.

"Ser—"

Kaban, who instinctively yelled out, immediately covered her mouth and crouched lower. She had no idea what level the abilities that Friends have is. Having witnessed Serval making great jumps while carrying the bus made her consider how unfathomably strong Friends were. However, she shuddered to think how dreadful they would be when their limits are being surpassed during a Wild Release. While still covering her mouth, Kaban peeked out of a gap in the bushes looking for Serval.

Maybe, just maybe, she wasn't crushed underneath all of the fallen trees.

Being driven by anxiety, she became speechless at the unfolding scene.

Hello, this is PoGu. Back at it again with another translation. This time, with an actual TL note to make.

Triangle jump - This is a technique that originates from "Karate Master" (AKA "Karate Baka Ichidai"). Dubbed as "the greates secret technique in karate", it's essentially just a wallkick usually with the intent of kicking your opponent while in mid-air.

Anyway, since FF doesn't like any kind of link anywhere, I'll instead leave directions on how to find the original work.

First method is to search for "「けもの」の本能" and find the link that leads you to a Japanese site called "kakuyomu".

Alternatively, you can go to the kakuyomu site and add "/works/1177354054882921926" to the domain.