165 Welcome to the jungle! (1/2)

Part 1

The monster leaped towards the girl who was completely frozen without knowing what to do and barely managed to dodge its attack in time.

Ellie aimed at her own feet and created a platform of blue diamonds to push her out of the way of the jaguar. The feline beast noticed that its prey had escaped and turned around to try it one more time.

The two kept repeating this dance for a few more times which made it look like they were playing a game of tag with Ellie constantly leaping out of the large feline's trajectory every time it leaped towards her.

”DETRA!!! WHAT DO I DO!!??” Ellie shouted.

”Invite him for dinner so he can taste my new soup recipe. WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU SHOULD DO, YOU MORON?? KILL THE BLOODY ANIMAL SO WE CAN MOVE ON!!!” Detra shouted back.

”Kill it!!!?? But- But-”

”Roaaaaarrr!!!!”

The jaguar leaped towards Ellie one more time, but instead of trying to jump out of the way, she raised a wall of diamonds to keep her safe from the beast.

The monster tried to scratch the wall with its claws but it seemed like the diamonds were stronger. Ellie realized that she got some room to breathe started to calm down a little.

”These won't hold on for long by the way...” Detra commented.

”What...?” Ellie responded.

Suddenly, the jaguar's golden horn began to glow even stronger. After that, all the red spikes on its back began to glow as well, and before anyone noticed, an even bigger red jaguar made of energy appeared with the original beast inside of it.

The group just stared at it with their eyes and mouths wide open.

”This monster can create an energy avatar of himself, and the avatar is three times stronger than the original beast,” Detra commented.

”WHAT!!??” X 3

The giant avatar raised its claws again and smashed Ellie's diamond wall into pieces like it was made of glass. The impact sent Ellie flying and she got knocked back against a tree.

”Huuff!”

”Ellie!!” Lilith and Marcus yelled at the same time. The two were about to rush to save her but Detra stood in front of them with her arms open.

”Stop!! She needed to do it herself!!”

”Are you crazy!!?? That thing is going to kill her!!!” Lilith screamed.

”Not if she fights back!!”

Ellie raised her head and spotted the beast about to stomp her. The girl created a small diamond platform beneath her and leaped out of the way just as she was about to get squashed.

The beast locked its eyes on her as it landed and already prepared itself to leap again, but Ellie acted faster and raised the diamonds beneath the giant red cat to punch the beast's stomach, the area where the actual jaguar was hiding in.

Detra observed the whole situation with her arms crossed and being generally pleased with her performance.

”What are you waiting for?? Kill it now!!” Detra shouted.

”Ah! R- Right!!” Ellie realized she had an opening and rushed to the side of the animal to finish the job. But as she approached it, the animal started to howl at the girl, which made her shake a little in fear.

The beast then leaped one more time as Ellie was distracted with its fangs in display and ready to swallow her.

”Aaaahhh!!!” the girl became frozen with fear and covered her face with both arms while closing her eyes.

Just as she was about to be devoured, Lilith and Marcus jumped in to impale the monster with their blades, successfully saving her at the last second.

The creature fell on the ground after being slain while Ellie fell on her knees with tears on her eyes, terrified over being almost killed.

”Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God...” Ellie kept whispering while shaking non-stop trying to hold herself.

Lilith rushed to her side and hugged her to confirm if she was ok, ”Ellie!! Ellie, did he hurt you anywhere? Are you injured?”

”I'm... I'm...” Ellie was so shocked she could barely finish her sentence.

”Mmm... This might be harder than I thought...” Detra mumbled.

Marcus glared at her and grabbed the woman by the collar.

”Have you lost your mind?? That thing could have killed her!!!”

Detra just rolled her eyes, ”Really? And here I thought he just wanted to give her a hug...”

”You think this is funny?? What if Ellie got hurt??”

”We have healing crystals with us, stop being a drama queen...” Detra moved his hands away from her and glared back at him, ”If she can't even beat a random monster by herself then she will never be able to win against Mia! You are the ones who are treating this as a joke!!”

She then walked towards the still traumatized Ellie who was kneeling on the ground with Lilith by her side.

”The whole point of us coming here is to toughen her up!! Stop acting like this minor incident is a big deal and let's keep moving!”

”Minor incident!!??” Lilith yelled, ”East, for crying out loud, she's nine years old!!! Is this really what your amazing plan was all along?? To just drop her in the middle of a fight against a monster and hope she survives??”

”That's exactly what my plan was, yeah” Detra admitted.

”What!!??”