‘I know exactly what we should call her,’ he grumbled to Leo as he quickly took a glance at the new situation. ‘Leroy. I don’t care that it’s not a goddess name or even a female one – she deserves it for this stunt!’

The hyenas were already turning to gang up on Leroy, two of them distracting the hippo while the other three turned to attack the lioness. Sekmet might have coped with holding off three hyenas before, but this was a different situation. 

Not only was Leroy a level lower than Sekhmet had been and smaller, but the hyenas were at least two levels higher than they’d been then. She wouldn’t last long unless he intervened. 

Picking his target well, Dominic leapt forwards, flying through the air to strike a hyena right in the neck with Sharp Nip and Crushing Bite activated. Though the predators must have guessed that Leroy wasn’t on her own, the attack took Dominic’s target unawares. 

Probably thanks mainly to the bonuses of Pounce when attacking undetected and when hitting a vulnerable spot, the hyena’s health bar drained down to a sliver. A small symbol appeared above it, something looking like a drop. Since it was in red, it looked like a drop of blood. The bleeding effect, I guess.

Turning, Dominic struck at another hyena with Powerful Swipe increasing his already-enhanced claws. Deep gouges were opened in the side of the hyena he’d targeted and blood started pouring out of the wounds.

[You have killed Spotted Hyena (Half-Step Evolved level 7)]

[You have earned 57 PP]

The hyena with the bleeding effect had succumbed to its wounds. While Dominic was happy with gaining some points, that wasn’t exactly the aim of this whole exercise. He hadn’t wanted to enter this situation, but maybe they could still accomplish their goals. They would just have to be very careful. 

Growling at Leroy – maybe it was a bit harsh to give her that name – they backed up quickly to join the other two lionesses. I’ll call her Jenkins, instead, Dominic decided as the action had a momentary lull as the creatures eyed each other uneasily. If she proves to have better sense than she’s just demonstrated, then I’ll change it in the future. No, he wasn’t sore at all about being forced into a fight like this.

The two remaining hyenas, one already significantly injured, were clearly wondering whether attacking the group of four lions was worth it. At the same time, they were obviously uneasy about exposing their backs and joining the other two of their group on the hippo. 

Though the other two were attacking the hippo, they weren’t making much headway in terms of its health bar – it had lost perhaps a quarter at most, and the majority of that was from before the lions had appeared on the scene.

Not that Dominic could fault them for that – the aquatic herbivore was an imposing sight. As thickly muscled as the rhino, it didn’t have the rhino’s horn. Instead, it had massive teeth and its bite pressure was only beaten by a few crocodilians. 

And, if the rhino, wildebeest, and buffalo had been willing to put up a fight, this hippo had them all beat. Small eyes flashed dangerously and roars continually rumbled through the air as it made its defiance known. 

The standoff continued. Dominic wondered whether the hyenas would even try to attack them if they ran away. He considered it even odds – they might take the opportunity to go and help the others attack the hippo, or they might see it as a sign of weakness and attack the lions anyway. 

Not that Dominic was all that inclined to run away, not now that they’d already reduced the number of hyenas by one. 

He connected with each of the lions in turn, starting with Jenkins, a growl emphasising how much he wanted her to stick to the plan. As for the plan itself, he sent an image of the lionesses leaping together onto the injured hyena, with Dominic keeping the uninjured one away. Then, he sent another picture – the injured hyena lying dead on the ground and the lionesses leaping on the second. 

The lionesses seemed to take his direction well enough, though perhaps with a little confusion that he would be giving it in the first place – hopefully they would follow it. 

Coordinated by their body language, the lionesses dashed forwards first. To Dominic’s relief, they indeed all aimed for the injured hyena. 

The other hyena, naturally, turned to attack the closest lioness. Dominic ran forwards and bulled straight into it. He was trying to cause as little damage as possible, but knocking the wind out of the predator shouldn’t syphon too many of the prey points to him, he hoped. 

While knocked to the ground, the hyena didn’t take too long to regain its feet. Certainly not long enough for the lionesses with their lower attack capabilities to whittle down the other hyena’s health bar. 

Keeping an eye on the side battle between the two hyenas and the hippo, Dominic started playing with his target. As long as the carnivore’s attention was on him, it wasn’t on the lionesses. So, instead of counterattacking, he just danced out of the way of the hyena’s increasingly frustrated strikes. 

After fruitlessly trying to attack him, the scavenger seemed to give up in disgust, turning back to the battle with the lionesses.

Dominic couldn’t have that – he leapt at the hyena again, keeping his claws and teeth away but knocking it over for a second time. 

The hyena growled menacingly as it regained its feet, standing its ground and snarling at him. The lion snarled back, showing his own – larger – teeth. Their face-off was broken a moment later when Dominic was briefly distracted by a message flashing up. 

[A member of your party has killed Spotted Hyena (Half-Step Evolved level 7)]

[You have earned 11 PP]

Pain flashed through Dominic: the hyena had taken advantage of his wavering attention to leap forwards and bite at his shoulder. The hyena’s teeth sank in deeply, its own crushing bite coming into play. 

Fortunately, the smaller predator soon had other things to worry about. Dominic didn’t actually do anything to remove the hyena’s teeth from his flesh – the beast did that itself when it suddenly found itself beset from all angles by the three fierce lionesses. 

Dominic jumped out of the fray, his leg painful but serviceable, letting the lionesses get on with it. He kept one eye on the lionesses themselves, and the other on the continuing fight with the hippo. 

The lionesses were doing well, but they were already bearing marks of their fight. Hathor had blood streaming down from a wound on her flank; Jenkins was limping from a nasty wound to her front left leg. The unnamed mother was in the best condition, but she looked tired already – perhaps she’d avoided injury with stamina-consuming dodges. 

They were whittling down the hyena’s health bar when the situation suddenly changed. The two hyenas distracting the hippo decided abruptly to give up on that task, instead coming to help their doomed comrade. 

Worse, the hippo itself was clearly not willing to just let them run away; it followed after them, bellowing. If it only sought revenge on the hyenas, that would be helpful, but the lion suspected that it wouldn’t make any difference between one type of predator and another. 

Dominic quickly sent a mental warning to the three lionesses about the incoming threats. He had just enough time to focus on a series of images encouraging the lionesses to work together to take down each hyena first. Then, he was up. 

The hyenas ran past, wary eyes on the lion, but when he didn’t move to attack them, they headed straight for the fray with the lionesses. The hippo was a different story.

Its mad eyes focussed on him and it bellowed a challenge. 

[A challenge has been issued: Duel to the Death.
Note, no outside intervention is permitted during the challenge. Note also that for reasons of fairness, both participants will be returned to full health at the start of the challenge.

Accept or Decline?]

Time seemed to slow for a moment, or perhaps his perception of it sped up like it did when he was using his magic. 

This is new, Dominic thought to himself. Is this what happened to the other chimera? How it got its bat wings? But then why is it only happening now? Surely the battle with the other lion should have counted as a challenge? Or is it only because I’ve now got the ‘chimera’ label?

‘Less thinking of the whys and wherefores, and more thinking about whether we’re going to accept it or not!’ Leo snapped at him. 

‘It would be very dangerous,’ Dominic replied, a little abashed. ‘I’m not sure the possible benefits are worth it.’

‘I’m glad you’re showing some sense,’ the lion rejoindered, a little waspishly. ‘Not only is it risky, but it would leave the females unprotected. And that, ultimately, is our aim right now. Since we can choose to accept or decline this time, I strongly suggest that we do.’

Leo was right. They were out on this trip to gain Prey Points for the lionesses. This already was a situation that they’d almost been forced into; no need to make it more dangerous. 

With a little twinge of regret – part of him was curious to see whether the rewards might have been better than expected, much as the chimera’s had been – he chose to decline the challenge. 

The hippo seemed further enraged, if that was even possible. Dominic dodged its incoming blow, then leapt again as it turned with unexpected swiftness to bite at him with its open jaws. 

He took a moment to glance over at the lionesses. They were struggling a bit, even numbers not actually even when against higher-level hyenas, especially ones who were a half-tier higher than them. 

In fact…. His eyes widened and he almost failed to dodge the next attempt of the hippo to bulldoze into him as he was distracted by what he saw. 

Getting his head into the game, he used Quick Strike to leap away from the enraged water-horse, its teeth grazing his tail and jaws almost snapping shut on the tuft at the end. 

‘Did you see what I saw?’ he demanded of his co-pilot. 

‘That two of the hyenas were even bigger than they should have been?’ Leo asked grimly. ‘Yes. It must be an ability.’

‘Something like rage,’ Dominic agreed darkly. That was not good for the lionesses – he knew how difficult those kinds of abilities could be to deal with from past experience, particularly when low level. ‘We need to help them.’

‘Aren’t you forgetting the enraged herbivore we have almost literally on our tail?’ Leo demanded, his mental presence one of a caged lion, frustration and fear bubbling together and spilling over to Dominic. 

‘On our tail…’ Dominic repeated thoughtfully, even as he once more evaded serious injury by a hair’s breadth. ‘Maybe I have a use for the flesh equivalent of a bulldozer,’ he told his companion, then refused to expand any further: his mental capacities were needed for more important things .

Connecting to the lionesses, he blared out a strong sense of warning and ‘get out the way’. Somehow, he managed to hit all of them at once – perhaps because he was projecting his emotions rather than sending images. He didn’t care. 

All that mattered was that the lionesses suddenly leapt away from the hyenas and ran for their lives, only stopping to see what was going on a good few body-lengths away. 

The hyenas they’d been fighting were taken aback for a moment, the absence of their opponents making them pause for one vital second. 

Before that moment was over, Dominic had leapt over their heads. They prepared to give chase, but before they could, they were hit by the natural equivalent of a SUV. 

Interestingly, the hippo was so fixated on Dominic – perhaps because he’d denied the challenge – that it didn’t even stop to finish off the trampled hyenas. But that worked out: the lionesses quickly realised that the advantage had swung to them and leapt back in to finish off the wounded predators.

[A member of your party has killed Spotted Hyena (Half-Step Evolved level 7)]

[You have earned 5 PP]

[A member of your party has killed Spotted Hyena (Half-Step Evolved level 7)]

[You have earned 5 PP]

[A member of your party has killed Spotted Hyena (Half-Step Evolved level 7)]

[You have earned 5 PP]

The notifications flashed up before his eyes, relieving him. 

Now to decide what to do with this particularly determined foe.