Rohan held his ground, not moving from his position despite the pain he felt shudder through his body, transferred to him through the impact of his spear with the Leopard's paw.
'Even though this beast clearly outmatches me, there's one thing that's been made clear to me.'
Despite how terrified he was, the small respite offered by Leopard's patience allowed him a moment to think. Adrenaline coursed through his veins, pushed all throughout his body thanks to his heart's thumping glory.
His adrenaline allowed him to think straight enough, to put aside his fear; to realise one aspect of this fight that evaded him until now.
'It clearly specialises in speed, which is to be expected from a feline type beast. But its strength seems to be lacking; an F rank beast focused on strength would have shattered my shoddy wooden spear's shaft on the first hit, yet I only feel some numbness when I make contact with the leopard's paw.'
Rohan was very vigilant.
'I can use this to my advantage. If I can dodge wherever I can, and block any hits come my way, I can survive the five minutes minimum to pass this trial!'
The leopard continued striding a short distance from him without making a sound, blending in with the already silent rainforest surrounding them.
Man and beast stared at each other, both with a fierce gaze. Both sides wanted nothing more than their continued survival.
The leopard waited less time to launch another attack on Rohan, learning quickly that he wasn't going to take the initiative to launch one himself, nor let his guard down long enough for it to launch a surprise attack.
For an F rank beast, the intelligence it displayed in that small encounter was terrifying.
The moment the leopard came within striking distance, Rohan stepped on a nearby tree and suddenly changed his direction. He thrust his spear out at the incoming paw, swatting it away with the full strength his amateur awakened body could muster behind it.
A violent airburst rippled outward, sending dust billowing into the air as his spear intercepted the rapid swing of the leopard's paw.
The strike was aimed for his neck, aiming to finish him in one fell swoop from a claw to the jugular.
The leopard let out ragged breaths, eyes nearly bloodshot, growling as it backed away from yet another failed attempt.
'These association guys have to be crazy, they really pitted us up against starving beasts!?'
The implication left Rohan appalled.
Facing a beast under normal circumstances alone was already rough, especially for a complete rookie like him — but facing one which was starving, barely clasping onto sanity?
Which psychopath came up with this trial?
Even before the age of the Origin Realm came and the Earth was filled with nothing more than ordinary animals, it was already a well regarded warning not to mess with a starving predator unless absolutely necessary.
A fight against one of them is as close to a real life and death struggle as it can be. An ordinary predator would back off if they found their prey harder to deal with than expected, but a starving predator is desperate, to the point of insanity.
They would fight until their last breath, uncaring of the difficulty of a fight, simply because it was their last chance at surviving. They either died a miserable death of starvation, or died fighting for one last chance to fill their stomach. There was no in between or third option.
Rohan could already see the Leopard entering deeper desperation as the time ticked on; the bloodshot eyes told him that much.
Unaware how much time has passed — doubts were beginning to form in his mind of whether he'd even be able to last five minutes if things kept up the way they were.
The leopard lurched itself once more. Forget waiting for a better moment to strike when he was distracted or otherwise, the leopard was becoming more desperate by the second and was unwilling to test itself like that.
The moment the beast's body lurched forward, his muscles tensed and he pushed off the damp ground with everything he had. The awakening had strengthened his body, yes, but only barely enough for him to keep up with the pace of this battle.
If his reactions dulled even a little, whether from fatigue or a distraction, then the claws aiming for his throat would eventually become the last thing he ever saw.
Its paw tore through the air at a terrifying speed.
Rohan twisted his body and narrowly avoided the claws that would have ripped open his neck. At the same time, he swung his spear low and hard into the leopard's side.
Thwack!
The blow wasn't deep enough to pierce much more than skin, but the metal tip still scraped a shallow line through its dark hide.
A thin streak of blood appeared in the open air.
The leopard skidded to the side and let out an enraged snarl, yellowish-red eyes burning with even greater ferocity.
There was little joy to be felt from drawing blood, only increased pressure. 'That barely did anything!'
He was clearly outmatched — the fact he was able to draw blood was impressive enough.
Still, a wound was a wound. It made the beast much more vigilant and hesitant to initiate another attack on him in rapid succession.
The leopard circled him again, this time lower to the ground, more cautious than before. Rohan's chest rose and fell heavily, sweat dripping from his chin. His whole body ached, both from the impacts of the leopard colliding with his spear, and from the strenuous effort he was forced to use in battle.
Both arms were already starting to go numb from repeatedly clashing with his spear against the beast's claws and jaw.
Yet, his gaze never left the beast's for one second.
Again the leopard lunged, coiling up like a spring.
Not heading straight for Rohan this time, instead opting to rebound itself off a nearby tree to redirect itself to his side.
"Shit!"
Rohan brought his spear over in a hurry.
Bang!
The leopard landed right on top of him, his spear being the only thing separating the two of them, which Rohan clung onto for dear life.
Its full weight crashed down on his chest, and his vision blurred from his head hitting the floor hard.
One of the beast's forepaws pinned his shoulder while the other pressed his spear shaft against his chest, claws gradually biting deeper as it force its weight down on him.
It's hot, rotten breath washed all over his face. Those needle-like teeth were just inches from his throat; from ending his life.
"No…"
He shoved upward with everything he had, but the leopard was just too heavy — like trying to lift a small car off himself.
His heart nearly stopped.
He could see it now.
'This is the end…'
There was no fancy reversal coming, nor any hidden strength suddenly awakening out of nowhere. Nothing.
BUZZZZZZZ!
A deafening buzzer suddenly tore through the arena, startling both Rohan and the leopard on top of him.
A figure came flying through the now open gate of chamber three, Rohan only able to make out a human silhouette kicking the leopard off him through the blurriness, before his consciousness slipped away.
"Trial concluded, participant death deemed imminent, trial no longer able to continue." A voice announced, not that Rohan could hear it.