Gaming Sword Magician

Chapter 174: The Power of formation (b)

The Three-Clawed Cursive Panther was merely strolling nearby this part of the Evergreen Maze forest leisurely but an attractive odor immediately attracted its attention and it rushed towards the source of the blood scent.

The blood of Stinger Wasps might be an attractive scent to other magical beasts but it was actually a repulsive odor for a normal human being.

The stench was so strong that it made Whittaker's nose crinkle up in despair and he felt lightheaded and nauseous. However, he needed to be at the center of the blood and corpses of the magical beasts he killed. After all, the Three-Clawed Cursive panther was very fast and it could easily escape from him after enjoying the feast to its heart content.

He had gained a lot of knowledge from the records of Monster Tower and by surfing the mana net for clips on Monster tower. He had found some good videos of different groups hunting secret bosses, one of which was about the panther who's in front of him. 

The secret boss of the tenth floor might only have the strength of an E-rank beast but the same couldn't be said for its speed. It was faster than most D-rank beast. Its speed could even be compared to some C-rank beasts. If it escaped after feeling threatened then who knows how long it will take to catch and kill it.

Hence, Whittaker planned to trap it first before killing it. 

The three-clawed cursive Panther halted in its tracks when it was about thirty meters away from him. It cautiously gazed at the delicious corpses of various kinds of stinger wasps and a young black-haired boy. As the Secret boss of th tenth floor, this magical beast possessed intelligence and its instincts were also amplified. It could sense that there's something fishy with the situation ahead as it saw a single young boy and dozens of corpses of magical beasts.

"Grrr!" It growled at the young boy while considering whether to charge straight in or turn around to run away; however, it couldn't make up its mind. It didn't charge ahead because it felt that something was really suspicious with this situation. Similarly, it didn't turn around to go away because of the alluring scent that aggravated its appetite.

'It's really a cautious beast! Seems like I will have to make a fool out of myself to bait It into the trap!' Whittaker thought with an amused expression on his face. He was looking at the Secret Boss that had stopped just 28 meters in front of the formation.

He decided to hurl out some weak frost bolt at its direction to enrage it.

[Frost Bolt!]...[Frost Bolt!]...[Frost Bolt!] 

Whittaker shouted and the Frost Spellbook hovering beside him lit up in icy glows again and again.

WHOOSH! Several Frost Bolts shot towards the pitch-black Panther threatening to smash into its body but it easily shattered them all with multiple swings of its clawed tail.

Clank! Clank! Clank! The remains of the shattered frost bolts crashed on its body but the steel-like furs covering its body defensively were so strong that not even a single dent was made!

As befitting of the title of a Secret Boss, it easily destroyed the attacks of an E-ranked mage in a single move without getting injured.

It was just as expected. Normally, an entire group of E-ranked awakened will be required to trap and kill the panther but Whittaker was all alone and currently, his best bet was to attract the beast into the formation to trap it and then kill it.

'If I fail to do so then it will take days or weeks to get out of this forest-like maze! Furthermore, a contestant and even Rulers can't log-out of the monster tower unless they reach safe-zones. My precious days will be wasted in this place!' Whittaker thought.

Each floor of the Monster tower had two zones. The green zone is also called the safe zone. It's a zone where the killing of contestants was forbidden and was heavily guarded by guards. In the safe zone, magical beasts can't enter and contestants won't dare to kill other contestants. Plus, only after reaching a safe zone can a contestant log out. Moreover, each race had a different safe zone.

Then there was the danger zone. It's the area of the tower where contestants can be killed by magical beasts or contestants. Plus, there's no way to log out in the red-zone except death. However, death came with a heavy penalty that Whittaker wasn't willing to bear.

Hence he immediately put his mind to full use and reacted based on his understanding of magical beasts and began to act weak, defenseless, and scared to attract the panther towards the formation.

He acted surprised and took three steps back with a horrified expression on his face. It was as if he was scared of the big black monster that was more powerful than he initially thought. Right then, he also turned to stare at the panther in the eyes. His clear black eyes sparkled with innocence and screamed powerlessness. 

For the beast, the fragile young boy that was several times shorter than itself seemed to be overtaken by fear!

"Grr!" With a roar, the beast instantly concluded that the young boy wasn't a danger but the main course of Its meal.

Fooled by Whittaker's legendary skill Puppy eyes and top-notch acting, It decided to just kill the boy and eat him and the other magical beast right after.

Whittaker saw that after hesitating for a moment, It had once again started heading towards his direction. His lips thinned into an unnoticeable smirk as his plan had worked and he internally thought,

'The prey has taken the bait! Now I just gotta activate the formation at the correct time and flay it alive!'

The panther's limbs burned in a dark aura as it activated its skill "Dark Step" to rush at Whittaker. Its figure turned blurry in mere seconds but It wasn't able to escape his piercing gaze. By using Devansha vision, Whittaker's eyes managed to follow up with its movement. 

'10 meters!'

'4 meters!'

As the fellow slowly approached him, Whittaker generously counted the distance it was away from the death.

'0 meters!'