Chapter 3: I’m Not Fighting Fair When It’s Three On One (Patreon)

The first indication that they’d entered another pride’s territory was when Dominic saw the deep indentations of claw marks and scented the territorial marking that the pride had left on a stand of trees. The sun was poised just above the horizon already, their sleep through the heat of the day and then the walk to this new area having taken almost the whole day.

His lionesses were tense, aware that they were unwelcome in their current environs. They hesitated for a moment, then moved over to the spot marked with the other pride’s claws and scent, covering it with their own. Dominic didn’t stop them, but he didn’t join them either: he wasn’t sure whether doing it would enrage the other females. 

Dominic was also unsure whether this was a good time to approach the new pride or not: they would be more active now, which might mean they would be more willing to fight. On the other hand, perhaps they wouldn’t be grouchy about being woken up prematurely and more amenable to negotiation. Though that did require the lionesses to be intelligent enough to be able to negotiate. Or would a show of force work best? Of course, that assumed they found the pride in the next few hours. 

While they walked, Dominic mused over different approaches, Leo chiming in every so often to contribute his thoughts.  

‘Do you want to lead this one?’ Dominic offered at one point. After all, Leo had wanted to switch places while they absorbed the skeet carcasses, but perhaps he’d like to battle the male again. 

‘No,’ the lion replied after a moment. ‘I fought the last male. You can do this one.’

So that was decided. Dominic continued musing through different scenarios, trying to prepare himself for the battle. He doubted that the other male would be a higher level than him, but as their previous dominance battle, that didn’t mean he would necessarily win: the other male might be bigger than him. 

‘Not male, males,’ suddenly interjected Leo. 

‘What?’ Dominic asked warily. ‘How do you know?’ 

‘I’ve just smelt the scents of three different males,’ Leo explained. Dominic frowned mentally. How had Leo done that without Dominic noticing? ‘Because I’m paying attention,’ the lion told him pointedly. 

Wondering if that was true, Dominic inhaled sharply, scrunching up his face. As he sorted through the scents, he was embarrassed to realise that Leo was right – he’d been so deep in his debate of what to do when he came across the male that he didn’t register that there were three. 

‘Can we do this?’ Dominic suddenly questioned. Sure, he’d taken on multiple enemies at the same time, on multiple occasions. He’d faced three lions at the same time too. But it didn’t feel the same when he was facing multiple adult male lions. Not to mention that they had intact teeth and he didn’t. 

Dominic ran his tongue once more over his broken canines, mourning the fact that apparently even bringing his health up to full hadn’t fixed them. Though, I think they’re better than they were? he questioned himself – the canine which had lost its tip seemed a bit pointier than it had been before, and the one which had broken halfway didn’t seem quite as jagged as before. It wasn’t painful anymore either. 

‘Yes we can,’ Leo told him confidently, answering his previous question. ‘However, if it appears that the pride is too much to take on, we will return to your original plan and head directly for the Place of Power. Hunting kesh would be annoying, but better than losing all our females to another male.’ 

He had a good point, Dominic decided, feeling more mentally prepared for the battle. 

It was fortunate that he did because only a few minutes later, they rounded a set of bushes to find the pride crouched just in front of them, eyeing a herd of zebras. 

It was hard to say who was the most surprised: them, or the other pride. Probably them, Dominic murmured to himself. After all, Dominic’s pride at least knew that they were looking for the lions; the other pride had no idea. 

Dominic took advantage of the moment of stillness to evaluate the other leonine group. 

There were significantly more lionesses in this one than in his. He counted at least fifteen heads now turned towards him rather than watching the zebras. From the rippling movement in the grass, he suspected there were also cubs of varying ages. 

‘Who you’re going to want to adopt, aren’t you?’ grumbled Leo in the back of his mind. Dominic ignored him at that time, though absently agreed that there would be no intentional cub-killing on his watch. Fortunately, it seemed like Leo was merely complaining about it, not trying to argue. 

The good things he saw were that, although more numerous, he was pretty sure that the lionesses were lower levels. Although he knew from experience that they didn’t necessarily choose to get bigger at every level, none of the lionesses were much bigger than Jenkins. That was important to note as she was the smallest of their group being both a sub-adult and having focussed on other enhancements on level-up. 

Combined with the fact that he didn’t see any strong sense of intelligence in the eyes he met, nor did he see any particularly long teeth being bared at them, he suspected that they were below even the half-step threshold. Which, honestly, wouldn’t be that surprising: the only reason his lionesses were all above it was because they’d made a concentrated effort to massacre whole groups of creatures. Lionesses hunting only for food would be unlikely to have accrued enough Prey Points yet to get to level 6.

Even more heartening was his quick assessment of the three males. They were lying off to the side of their pride, though they’d quickly got to their feet as Dominic and his lions came into view. 

They were big, sure, but not excessively so. He was pretty sure that only one was even possibly level 6 – it seemed like these lions had had a pretty easy time of the System so far. If they’d fought more nomad lions or other threats to their pride, they would have reached higher levels. 

But that was good for Dominic and Leo.

Suddenly feeling more confident, Dominic stepped forwards further even as the new lions got to their feet and started snarling at his pride, baring their teeth and pinning their ears back angrily. 

Behind him, he heard his own lionesses shifting position, snarls and angry growls rumbling out from their own chests. 

Deciding to try something, Dominic breathed in deeply, then roared. At the same time, he tried to send out the mental idea of ‘submit and you shall not be harmed’. 

The loud sound rippled through the air, and he actually saw a couple of the smaller lionesses flinch. Youngsters, perhaps? The others didn’t flinch, but their snarls and growls did die down for a moment. 

As for the three males, they seemed more enraged than anything else. Instead of backing away, they actually started running towards Dominic. 

In the moments before they arrived, Dominic had two things to do. Delegating one to Leo, he took care of the other himself. While Leo quickly sent messages to their lionesses to do their best to keep the other lionesses at bay, but avoid as much injury to either themselves or to the other lions as possible, Dominic sent out his own kind of communication.

[You have issued a challenge: Winner Takes All - 3:1 battle.
Note, no outside intervention is permitted during the challenge. Note also that for reasons of fairness, all participants will be returned to full health at the start of the challenge.

Waiting for opponents to accept or decline.]

Unlike the female hyena, these three lions didn’t take more than a fraction of a second to accept. Since he doubted they could read, he had to guess that it was a question of instinct. 

And then the three of them were on Dominic. At least, they intended to be. 

‘That’s not how you’re supposed to fight a dominance battle!’ protested Leo as Dominic soared over the heads of the three lions which had tried to pounce on him all at once. 

‘I’m not fighting ‘fair’ when it’s three on one,’ Dominic snapped back. ‘Be grateful I’m not using my tail mace to clobber them in the faces.’ As it was, the first injuries had already been experienced: the lions had clearly been using Pounce as one male’s face had been cut up quite badly from an attack meant for Dominic. 

Landing, Dominic turned and immediately lunged for the closest lion. Using Rapid Attack combined with Sharp Nip, he bloodied the lion’s hindquarters before it had a chance to turn. Though his teeth weren’t at their best, he still caused a fair bit of damage.

Then Dominic had to dodge again as a lunging bite came for his flank, the other two lions already reacting to the change in the battle. 

Using Quick Strike to dart out of reach to one side, Dominic leapt over them quickly again, this time landing directly on the lion on the opposite side of the fight. His scythe-like claws cut deeply into his opponent’s flank, blood pouring out of the wounds. 

Definitely not more than level 5, Dominic decided – they seemed to have pretty much no defensive armour to speak of. That one attack had ripped away half the lion’s health bar. 

Of course, there were still two other lions to be concerned about. Dominic soon took his first wound of the fight as the so far uninjured lion reacted quicker than he’d expected, digging its teeth into his back leg and tearing. 

The difference between them was stark, though. This was probably the lion’s most powerful attack – without the benefit of Pounce – yet Dominic’s health bar only dropped by a small chunk. 

Using his supernatural flexibility to his advantage, Dominic twisted around and sank his own teeth into the lion’s mane-covered throat. Digging in deeply, he activated both Crushing Bite and Sharp Nip for a brief second.

Then, with his strength, he tugged forcefully at the wound. It took more effort than usual, and he was worried that his surviving canines would crack too, but the lion’s flesh tore under his onslaught. A wave of blood poured out of the gaping injury and coated Dominic’s muzzle and front legs. 

The teeth buried in his own hindquarters released their hold, the lion unable to maintain the grip. At the same time, though, Dominic grunted in pain as claws and teeth raked at his belly from the lion below him, and another set of teeth ripped at the soft area between his hindlegs and his ribcage. 

I need to keep moving, he reminded himself. That was where his main advantages lay. 

Briefly shaking his head to worsen the wound, he released the lion’s throat, then whirled around to Swipe at the other lion’s own flank. When it released him to jump away, he shifted so he was away from the claws and teeth of the lion beneath him. 

Once more using Powerful Swipe combined with Rapid attack, his scything blows paid back the same damage the lion had been trying to do to him, only multiple times stronger.

[You have killed African Lion (Basic Beast level 5)]

[You have earned 10 PP]

[1/3 challengers of Winner Takes All defeated. Kill or force a retreat from the others to win the challenge.]

Dominic only paid the most cursory attention to the message which flashed up, but was absently pleased that he’d earned as much as ten Prey Points considering it was being shared among eight lions. If I can kill all of these lions, I might even be able to level up, he found himself thinking.

He paid for his lack of attention a moment later as the two remaining lions succeeded in a pincer movement, one attacking his shoulder from one side, the other attacking his flank again. They must have both used Pounce as two large chunks of health disappeared from his bar. 

Noting that his health and stamina were both below half, Dominic decided to gamble. It wasn’t by any means a desperate situation, but he needed to level the Ability a bit anyway. 

Invoking Second Wind, he saw both bars fill to almost full. Revitalised, literally, Dominic shook himself so that the lions’ teeth were dislodged from his flesh. That took a bit more health from him, but it was worth it. 

Dashing forwards, he turned on a dime and then leapt back at the lion which was still pouring blood from its throat. Bowling it over with his superior size and weight, he once more invoked Crushing Bite and Sharp Nip, going straight for the same place he had hit before. 

This time, though, he didn’t linger. Instead, it was a quick in and rip out, blood spurting out from the artery he’d severed. He winced as he felt more than heard another crack and as he pulled away, he saw a bit of white left in the wound. Fairly confident that that lion was out of the fight, Dominic leapt away before the third could attack, feeling his teeth with his tongue – he’d lost part of the jagged canine, unfortunately. 

No attack came. Instead, he turned to see the final lion running as fast as his paws could carry him. Unfortunately for the lion, Dominic was a lot faster than him. And by running away, he’d opened himself up to a Pounce-enhanced strike to the back of his neck. Even with his canines in the state they were, he could still cause more than enough damage to an already-injured opponent. 

[You have killed African Lion (Basic Beast level 5)]

[You have earned 10 PP]

[2/3 challengers of Winner Takes All defeated. Kill or force a retreat from the others to win the challenge.]

[You have killed African Lion (Basic Beast level 6)]

[You have earned 10 PP]

[3/3 challengers of Winner Takes All defeated.]

[Congratulations! You have won the challenge: Winner Takes All. Would you like to see your rewards?]

Dominic would definitely like to see his rewards, but he reluctantly told it ‘later’. He was very aware that the fight wasn’t actually fully over yet.

*****

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Chapter 4: The Invitation