The lynx had held onto its speed advantage since the fight began, dodging the bear's strikes with ease, moving lightly between attacks, hitting and pulling back without ever being touched. Its fangs and claws had landed on several spots across the bear's body, but the effect had been limited. The bear stayed on its feet, never went down, showed no sign of tiring. Its thick hide absorbed most of the hits without any real penetration.
As time passed, something strange started happening to the bear's body; its coarse fur grew even coarser, its layers thickening as though hardening, its color gradually shifting to a deep, dark brown. It became clear its body was adapting to the accumulating damage, as though its defenses grew stronger the longer the fight dragged on.
In one exchange, the lynx darted in from the right at high speed, aiming a flashing strike at the bear's front shoulder. The blow landed on target, but didn't cut deep enough into the hide, and instead of the bear pulling back, it turned with force and shoved the lynx with its massive body in a single blow. The lynx lost its balance for a moment, and in that instant, the blow rebounded off its front joint, leaving a clear gash across its leg.
The lynx paused for a moment, the first time it had been hit since the fight began.
As the fight continued, the lynx's injuries began piling up. Strikes that it had dodged easily at the start began landing every so often. One of its back paws took a deep gash, and its left side showed a clear bruise from a direct hit by the bear. Its speed was still there, but not quite what it used to be. The momentum of the fight began tilting gradually in the bear's favor.
On the other side, Shen Zuo was crawling slowly behind the trees, trying to reach a good observation point without drawing attention. His focus wasn't on the fight itself, but on the direction of the lynx's movements.
He noticed that every time the lynx took a hit, it pulled back a few steps... always toward the same direction. It looked as though it had a predetermined fallback point, or a spot it knew well.
Shen Zuo caught onto this pattern quickly, without hesitation. He began moving away from the direct line of sight, circling around at a wide angle from the battlefield, heading toward that spot the lynx kept retreating to, moving lightly under the cover of the trees. He knew getting too close might put him at risk, but he kept a safe enough distance to observe without interfering.
His eyes kept tracking the fight from a distance, waiting for the right moment of weakness, or an opening that might let him seize something for himself.
Changes began showing clearly on the lynx.
In a sudden instant, it was no longer just that quick predator; its body began taking on an even more extreme offensive form. The claws on its hind legs grew longer, curving sharply, like digging tools tearing up the ground beneath it with every step, the soil crumbling and flying out behind it, leaving clear furrows in its wake.
As for its fangs, they swelled slightly, protruding from its mouth even while its jaw stayed closed. The muscles in its shoulders and thighs filled out further, as if swelling with every passing second, the pressure and rage inside it building further.
The bear noticed the change and paused for a second before resuming the attack, as if reassessing the new situation. But the lynx didn't wait; its next move was like an explosion. It tore into the ground with its claws and let out a muffled roar as it lunged forward, launching its first attack in this new form.
As for Shen Zuo, he watched from his spot, somewhat stunned by this transformation. He'd never seen a beast evolve like this in the middle of a fight itself; it was a rare moment.
The transformed lynx surged forward, its speed reaching a point where even the air behind it tore with a faint sound. It no longer just maneuvered; it attacked like something chasing a raw instinct burning in its chest. It leapt toward the bear's shoulder, its hind claws driving into the ground to launch itself upward, then stabbed its front claws into the bear's neck.
The bear staggered back half a step, but its thick fur absorbed the strike. It let out a roar that startled the birds overhead and swung its massive paw, trying to tear the lynx off its body. The blow caught the lynx's side, sending it flying two meters through the air before it slammed into a massive tree trunk, its bark peeling away from the force of the impact.
But the lynx didn't go down. It spun around quickly on the ground, panting, its eyes locked with sharp focus. Blood streamed from its shoulder, but it didn't retreat. Its muscles were still tense, its body still in attack mode.
The bear didn't wait, advancing with heavy steps, the ground shaking beneath it, then charged like a mass of steel-plated flesh straight at the lynx, raising both front legs to bring them down in a single crushing blow.
But the lynx vanished from in front of it at the last second.
With practiced skill, the lynx appeared behind the bear and lunged straight for the back of its neck, the one spot not fully covered by its hardened fur.
Its claws dug deep into the neck muscles, and the lynx's teeth clamped onto the skin near the base of the skull.
The bear thrashed its body violently, but the lynx held on with everything it had. Blood began pouring out like a small fountain from the wound in its neck.
Then, in an instant, the bear's body collapsed to the ground, the earth shaking beneath its weight. One final roar, followed by silence.
As for the lynx, it pulled back a meter, limping slightly, staring at the motionless corpse.
From a distance, Shen Zuo had gotten close enough by now to see every detail.
Two Phantoms emerged from the bear's body and shot straight toward the lynx, which was no longer capable of resisting. Its body absorbed them, and as they entered, it gradually began shrinking back to its original form. Its body size shrank, its claws returned to their normal length, but exhaustion was clearly visible: heavy breathing, half-closed eyes, and with that, it sat down and began weakly, slowly gnawing at the bear's flesh.
Shen Zuo's smile widened as he crept closer, his steps silent, his axe raised. And right as he prepared to strike, the lynx suddenly vanished from in front of him and reappeared behind him, slashing at Shen Zuo's back with its claws.
But the lynx found nothing but solid surface; Shen Zuo's back and neck had already turned to solid stone.
Shen Zuo's counter was quick, swinging his axe in a sudden curved arc, trying to cut the lynx from the side, but it pulled back at just the right moment, barely dodging the strike. Their eyes met, and the spark of tension between them flared back to life.
The fight began escalating, the pressure mounting. The lynx, despite looking weaker than before, having burned through its energy in that strange transformed state, still retained an unbelievable speed and a high capacity for evasion. It dodged Shen Zuo's strikes with ease, even countering some of them with fast, sharp claws.
Shen Zuo, for his part, kept retreating step by step, but he wasn't entirely helpless. Every time he sensed a strike from the lynx was about to land, he'd quickly direct his energy toward the point of impact, causing stone scales to erupt and shield him from direct harm. The technique wasn't perfect; every activation drained part of his already limited energy, but he relied on it to keep holding on.
The lynx, with every leap, attacked from a different angle, while Shen Zuo alternated between dodging and blocking, and both of them knew a decisive moment was closing in.
The lynx attacked in a burst of fury, sinking its fangs into Shen Zuo's stone-covered shoulder and biting down with full force. The sound of pressure crushing against the stone was terrifying, a clear crack starting to spread out from the bite point, as though the lynx were grinding down a rock that had no way to escape.
Shen Zuo wasn't in a good position; the axe in his right hand was held awkwardly, having been raised hastily in a moment of defense, and the narrow angle didn't allow for a quick counterstrike. But his other hand, his left, was ready.
The instant the lynx clamped onto his body, Shen Zuo shifted his focus, turning his left hand entirely to stone with sharp edges, then drove that hand forward in a curved arc toward the lynx's belly, plunging it into its chest with everything he had left. The sound of tearing flesh and grinding stone cut through th
e noise, and the lynx let out a strange roar, half rage, half agony.