Working in Stormwind: A Warcraft Isekai

”The panther’s outside!” Jess shouted.

The bare-chested man immediately climbed up to a window and looked out. Jess leaned out as well and craned his neck upward.

Through the rain pouring down in dense sheets, half a human body hung out of a window on the deck above, struggling with a much larger black shape!

They were roaring and shouting, but the wind, waves, and rain drowned out their voices. Inside the ship, the noise had blended into the endless creaking of wood. Only with their heads out of the window could Jess and the others make it out.

”It’s the man with the ponytail!” the bare-chested hunter yelled.

”You keep it from getting away! I’ll go up and deal with it!” Gred ran for the stairs before anyone could answer. The woman cursed and followed him. The bare-chested man shifted between windows, trying to get closer to the fight. He thrust his harpoon out, hoping to stab the panther from below.

Jess watched the vague black shape and prepared to recite Curse of Weakness. But just then, the panther struck the ponytailed man and sent him crashing back inside the upper cabin.

”Damn it!”

Jess pulled back from the window and ran toward the stairs, repeating the spell under his breath as he climbed, three steps at a time, to keep the words fresh in his mind.

He reached the upper deck just in time to hear Gred roar.

”You yellow-eyed bastard! Ah!”

The beast roared in the next cabin. The sound made Jess shudder deep inside.

He rushed into the passenger compartment and saw Gred smashing his shield into the panther’s shoulder. The pointed end of the shield struck with tremendous force. With Gred’s strength, that sort of blow to a human face could have shattered a skull.

But the panther merely howled and staggered. Then it hurled its body against the cabin wall. Gred jumped off its back and landed hard on the floor. If he hadn’t moved, he’d have been crushed.

”Over here!” The woman leveled her club at the animal.

The panther turned and sprang toward her with a snarl. She tried to jab it with the club, but one paw knocked the weapon aside. The other paw struck her waist with a string of rapid blows.

She cried out and collapsed sideways, then gritted her teeth and raised the club to keep its jaws away. The panther bit wildly at the wood, almost snapping it, before it suddenly noticed Jess rushing into the room.

Jess met the beast’s unnatural yellow eyes. They called it a panther, but it was as big as a powerful Siberian tiger, covered in heavy muscle. Yet it was much more agile than a tiger, twisting and jumping with the ease of a wildcat. Its owner must have spent a fortune feeding and training it.

Jess was about to cast Curse of Weakness when the panther released the woman, shifted sideways, and swatted a jar off a nearby crate with astonishing speed.

The jar flew straight at Jess’s head.

A hand grabbed his shoulder and hauled him aside just in time. The bare-chested man had arrived and saved him. Otherwise the jar might have smashed his skull.

The panther had clearly learned how to fight spellcasters. When it saw someone beginning an incantation, it attacked that person first.

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It fixed on Jess and prepared to spring. But Gred jumped onto its back again and raised the shield to deal a heavy blow to its spine.

The panther shook its whole body, throwing him to the floor. It turned to bite his neck, but Gred raised his shield. The beast caught the rim in its jaws, snapped its head to one side, and actually hurled the nearly 220-pound dwarf through the air—straight toward Jess and the bare-chested hunter!

Jess dodged nimbly. The other man reacted a fraction too late. Gred slammed into him and crushed him against the wall. Both fell with a bang.

Jess pulled himself off the slippery floor and looked back. Deep claw marks had scored Gred’s shield, and one edge had begun to split. The fall had clearly hurt the dwarf. He clutched his waist and groaned.

The bare-chested man held his head and muttered something. He hadn’t come out of the collision well either.

Such was the fate of anyone who fought from a distance: once the rest of the party went down, they had to face alone an enemy meant for the whole team. That was how it worked in games. Apparently it worked the same way in reality.

Except in reality there was no quick party wipe and another attempt. No hunter pretending to be dead or knight coming to intervene. They had to fight to the end.

The dark shape lowered its head and coughed violently, shook itself, then looked up at Jess. Its eyes glowed like two ghostly flames.

Then a duel it is.

Lightning flashed, filling the cabin with harsh white light. Jess saw the animal’s fur clearly now. Muscles twisted beneath its hide like bundles of steel bars. Its long, sharp fangs resembled those of an ancient saber-toothed tiger. Scar lay upon scar, making its black coat less than perfectly black.

And when it sprang, it shot forward like a cannonball.

Jess didn’t retreat in fear. He shouted the incantation, swung his staff forward, and pointed at the charging panther.

”A-li-ni-ji-dur-za-la, kana!”

The beast roared and didn’t slow at all. It came straight at him!

Had Curse of Weakness failed?

Jess threw himself sideways with all his strength. The panther’s shoulder still clipped his arm, spinning him around and throwing him into the wall. His head swam.

The panther was still dangerous. If Jess stayed down, it would tear him apart. He struggled to rise. But when he looked at the beast, he saw it had slammed headfirst into the opposite wall and seemed even more dazed than he was.

It wasn’t unconscious, yet it couldn’t get up at once. Its four paws scraped deep marks across the floor as it struggled helplessly for several moments.

Curse of Weakness had worked. The panther had simply been moving so fast that losing its strength hadn’t done much to reduce the force of its momentum.

Just when Jess thought the beast couldn’t get up again, it gave a low growl and lashed out with astonishing speed. Jess stepped backward at once, but the claws still brushed him and he fell sitting on the floor.

The panther tried to struggle upright and strike again. Its paw shot forward, but something pulled it back. It roared, and the blow cut through the air right in front of Jess’s face.

The panther twisted to look behind it. Gred had seized its tail. Roaring, the dwarf pulled backward.

The two were actually having a tug-of-war!

Curse of Weakness had affected the panther after all. Its feet slipped, and with a whine it was dragged bodily away by Gred.

The beast twisted to claw at the dwarf.

”The net! Use the net!” Jess shouted to the bare-chested man.

He pointed toward the ponytailed hunter lying unconscious and covered in blood by the window. The fishing net was still beside him.

The bare-chested man ran to snatch it up, then hurried back toward Gred and the struggling animal. He cast the net over them.

”Don’t you bloody catch me in there with it...!”

Gred shouted and sprang clear. The panther tried to follow, but the net closed over it. It growled and struggled wildly.

Gred and the bare-chested man pulled the net tight. Jess rushed over to help hold it. After a short fight, they had the animal bound fast.

The panther gave a weak growl. The sound faded into a helpless whimper, utterly at odds with its scarred body and ferocious face.

”This net won’t hold him forever,” Gred panted, speaking in short bursts. ”Remember the cage? He even broke its lock! He’s weak now, but later... who knows? I’ll get help from upstairs. You two watch him! Jess, are you all right?”

Jess shook his head. Gred nodded and ran out.

Only then did Jess remember that he’d been struck by the panther’s claws.

He hurriedly felt his waist, chest, and legs, where the attack had landed. There was no fresh blood, just someone else’s blood smeared across his clothes. He found no wounds and felt no pain.

Perhaps the weakened panther hadn’t struck very hard.

More likely, though, it was his cloak.

He pulled the cloth around and examined it. Two pale claw marks ran across the outside. The cloak had taken the hit for him!

Larson really hadn’t lied. The cloak was astonishingly tough. Material that came from a creature like a smoke-drake shouldn’t tear just because a panther swiped at it, even if the panther was unusually strong.