Ben moved to the camp cautiously. He did not want anymore trouble. He was not tired. But he was not in his peak condition either. Ben took an energy drink, which was full of dense nutrients and electrolytes, which was designed to absorbed easily. One of the problems with lack of experience in combat is the mental exhaustion that a battle causes. This was what Ben was experiencing. The battle with the qon prosimians and the blesk coraxes taught him this. He did not know if there was any techniques to prevent this.
As he was moving towards the camp, he lost his way. Once, he understood that Ben went on high alert. This was because he was near the territory of the trava lupis. That did not bore well for him. These animals were terrestrial animals and had the power to sense through plant life near them as well as their basic senses. He had to cautious here.
But life does not go the way one wants. Luckily Ben was alert and sensed the arrival of large tree trunk which struck the ground and penetrated all the way into it. After dodging, he looked at the origin point of the tree. A majestic lupis was standing there. Its fur was white in color with a tinge of green. A green aura was emitting from it. Its eyes were narrowed and was looking at Ben menacingly. There was a wine that was running through its body, with a few leaves here and there. The end of its tail was fully green.
Its appearance was stunning. But Ben did not have the heart to appreciate it. This was because the aura emitting from it was that of a peak knight. It was at the cusp of filling its meridians with aura and evolving into a noble class lupis. And of all the lupis in the forest, he had entered the territory of this one. But Ben was also thankful that he did not enter the territory of a lord class lupis. Then there would be no come back at all.
Ben needed to think here. He was not as much exhausted as he previously was. But he was not at his peak. On top of that the beast was stronger than him. He would need to distract it and get out of here. He started to move with this strategy in mind. The lupis as if understanding what Ben was thinking unleashed its power. And the roots from underground came up and formed a barrier behind him. His escape route was closed. The root wall was not that high. But the moment he tried to jump, the lupis will attack him and his defenses will not work well in air. Now he had no choice but to fight. He started the 'Jamdagni Bhavana', to make his mental state optimal. He suppressed his fear and eyed the wolf. He was determined to get out of here alive.
He did not activate his 'rage state', keeping in mind Mahaansh's warning to conserve his energy. The lupis had an idea about Ben's power level. It was not a threat to it. At the same time it also felt an unease, as if there was something more to this bi-pedal creature than meeting the eye. It was also acting cautiously. But that did not mean that it was just eyed Ben.
It unleashed its power. Large roots, as thick as 2 meters and with sharp edges, rose from the ground and attacked Ben. He dodged it. He took all his belongings and stored it in the device and placed it in relatively safe space. Then he moved. He did not know any sensory techniques. But he just strained all his senses and moved towards the lupis. It tried to attack from the ground, from behind Ben, from above. But Ben dodged all the fatal strikes.
That did not mean that he was unscathed. There were multiple wounds, large and small, on his body. But most of them were flesh wounds and they were healing, relatively fast.
The trava lupis, seeing that the roots are not affecting him, changed the strategy. The vine on its body burst out and divided into hundreds of vines and attacked Ben. But Ben was closer to the lupis. While some vines did penetrate his lower left leg, Ben used his claw to strike the lupis.
He struck it on its face and left a gash on it. The pain and the suddenness of the attack cause it to stagger back. This gave Ben the chance to attack once more aiming for its abdomen this time. The lupis had gained some bearing and it dodged the attack, before it was fatal. Still, a relatively large wound appeared on its abdomen and it began to bleed.
The lupis was stunned. It did not understand how Ben was able to doge his roots and vines. But it was not ready to give up. It did not want anyone to know its place. So it attacked again. This time it was a combination of both vines and roots, aiming to obliterate Ben.
The first attack was dodged by Ben due to luck. But in the subsequent exchange of blows, Ben easily dodged the attacks. One reason was that, he had almost found the attacking patterns of the lupis and he was moving away a bit early to prevent himself from being struck.
In this life and death battle, he integrated the 3 moves from 'Agastya Parvam' more seamlessly, by combining it with the basic fighting moves he learned from the school. He unleashed the movement principles from the 'Sharabha Chalanam' and dodged the attacks, by leveraging his own momentum and to propel using the various attacks made by the beast. His movements became chaotic. He jumped from attack to attack, dodging some and mitigating the damage from others using 'Airavata Stanam'.
Once he got close, Ben struck with viscousness, with the clear intent to kill. He looked for the most vulnerable points of the animal and tried to strike there. Its neck, face, head and abdomen all were attacked by Ben.
The lupis defended itself using the roots, vines and its claws. The man and the beast fought with their lives on the line. The trava lupis though Ben was weak and attacked with a bit of arrogance. Ben however was aware of his weakness and tried to overcome it.
Ben jumped and dodged the attacks, suddenly stopping and quickly turning directions. The trava lupis was able to land some attacks here and there, but nothing major. Ben, due to the versatility of the trava lupis, could not land any attacks that dealt significant damage. This stalemate continued for a few minutes. Both sides were dealing each other, superficial wounds and that's it.
Ben had a simple strategy in his mind. He was making the lupis get used to his patterns, speed and power. He was waiting for an opportunity.
When he felt that the stalemate has reached and the lupis was used to his attack, he started his plan. Immediately he used the 'Vasishta Vachanam' and entered the rage state.
His overall aura changed and was laced with a reddish tinge. The shamanic script in his had bloomed and glowed. The silhouette of an aether lupis could bed seen behind him, majestic and regal.
Now the trava lupis understood the reason for its unease. It was standing before the emperor of its race, the apex predator. It did not trap Ben. It was trapped here with him.