Chapter 444: Cat's that can fly?

Joshua leapt out of the way of another feather that slammed directly into where he used to be standing and could do nothing but glare up at the giant bird for a brief moment before turning his attention back to the pair of bobcats in front of him that had regained their bearings. They were surprised by Joshua strength, but they didn't flee which meant they still had the pride and confidence to think they stood a chance against Joshua's group. It was most likely the level difference that was giving the bobcats this feeling, but they would soon find out they were gravely mistaken.

The bobcats did have one distinct advantage in the upcoming clash and that was the fact that they didn't have a vulture that seemed to consider itself and avenger with a dark brooding past that was constantly attacking them throughout the fight. The vulture went out of its way to avoid attacking the bobcats with its surprisingly precise feather attacks. Instead it was focused completely on raining death from above on Joshua and his group. Katsumi already had a few barriers placed with her talismans to prevent the bombardment from hitting any of their current stationary members, but they couldn't exactly retaliate with the damn thing hanging up near the clouds. Well almost everyone in their group couldn't.

Joshua heard a loud gunshot go off from behind him and less than a second later he heard a loud shriek of pain come from the vulture in the sky above. He couldn't turn around to see what happened since both of the bobcats seemed to be focused on him at the moment. He didn't want to give them any openings when he didn't know what exactly their special abilities were at the moment. It was clear that the bobcats were much stronger than the coyotes from that first clash. Joshua was able to rather easily knock aside any of the coyotes' strikes, but he had to brace himself when it came to the bobcats.

Joshua didn't really need to turn around and look since he was fairly sure that Aito was the reason that the vulture had currently stopped raining feathers down on them as he could sense that it flew further up once more into the clouds to avoid getting attacked again. The pair of bobcats started stalking around Joshua's group as Titus let out a loud roar gaining the attention of both of the creatures. At first they had been focused on Joshua, but it was no surprise to him that Lilly's beast companions had caught their attention once they appeared changing the entire flow of the fight.

The two cats didn't have the powerful roars of lions, but the loud hissing sound that they made was more than threatening enough as their large fangs were shown. Each bobcat was five stories tall which made them as big as Cinder with much bulkier frames. They were both level eighty-five with three stars next to their names which already made them much more threatening than the coyotes.

Before the cats could get on the move once again vines shot up out of the ground in an attempt to restrict the large creatures, but the cats reacted quickly. Their claws seem to grow as they leaped and spun in the air cutting all of the vines that were trying to tangle them up. They were then forced to dodge a large blast of water that came from Tank, but their agile movements made it easy for them to avoid Tank's slower attacks. Tank realized this right away and switched up to creating a large amount of bubble traps that floated around the area in an attempt to slow down the movements of the cats. Cinder followed up creating icy fog along the ground that allowed her to glide across the ice that was forming at a fast pace to keep up with the annoying cats.

Just when it looked like Lilly's beast companions were about to trap the pair of bobcats they suddenly shifted in their approach to the fight. The ice along the ground made it hard for the cats to get a good grip and keep up their speed, while the vines and bubbles kept them from being able to go on the attack. The pair of cats hissed once more before they both leaped into the air. At first it looked as if they were pouncing towards Titus since he was the biggest target, but Titus was more than ready with his vine armor starting to spread around him.

Just before the cats were going to slam into Titus they leaped once more getting even higher up into the air surprising everyone. What surprised them was the fact that the cats seemed to be leaping off of the air its self as they glided through the sky and twisted their bodies before kicking off the air once more as the clawed against Titus's back and tearing through his vine armor. Titus let out an annoyed roar before he swung his fist behind him, but the cats had already leapt away as they once more climbed into the air.

Joshua noticed that the fur around the bobcats' bodies was puffed out and fluttering in the air as if it was all stuck straight out. With his aura sense Joshua could feel the aura gathering around the fur of the cats. This aura seemed to be what was making them float. The aura seemed to be mixed with some sort of element and Joshua realized that the feeling was the element of wind. He had wondered how the massive creatures were able to fly through the air so easily and now he had a good idea of how that was happening. They were coating their fur with the element of wind whether it was with mana or aura. This allowed them to fly even at their size.

These bobcats were using the same principal to make their large frames glide through the air. They didn't have the wings to fly around at ridiculous speeds or anything like that, but their fur lightened their bodies significantly and they were able created air pressure from their kicks so that they could stay up in the air for longer periods of time. This made them even harder to lock down as they just leaped around the bubbles that Tank had set up as they went on the attack time and time again.

Cinder started creating threads of icy webs that connected to the vines that Titus had set up to make it harder for the cats to leap around wherever they wanted, but the moment that she did several feathers came shooting down from the sky as they cut through her webs and Titus's vines. It was clear that the vulture was helping the bobcats out, but it only came down for brief moments before flying out of Aito's range once more. The bobcats just used this to their advantage as they were free to leap all around Lilly's beast companions and try to tear them apart.

For the most part the cats avoided attacking Tank since they couldn't break through his shell. They had tried once, but had only left a small scratch that healed within seconds. They could spend all day scratching at his shell and end up getting nowhere, so they turned their focus of attack to Titus and Cinder. Although they were fast while dashing around in the air Cinder was easily able to keep up with their speed by gliding across the ice against the ground. If they ever went after her she would use that to her advantage while letting out a strong ice fog that the cats seemed afraid to get surrounded by. Joshua had a feeling that the ice fog would harm their abilities to leap in the air to much since it would affect the aura that clung to their fur.

With two targets being too hard for the giant overgrown cats to go after they were forced to either focus on Joshua's group or Titus. The giant barrier around the group seemed to hinder the cats from trying to head in their direction so they kept trying to focus on Titus. Of course Titus wasn't going to just stand there and be a push over as the two cats danced around him. Titus was too big and bulky to try to compete with the two smaller cat's agility so instead he went with another tactic as vines seemed to thicken up around Titus in preparation for a large attack in response to the bobcats' continuous assault.

Joshua was planning to go in and help out Titus but another barrage of feathers came slamming down into the ground in front of Joshua and the rest of the close ranged fighters of the group forcing them to dodge all of the attacks. Aito fired off another shot at the giant vulture, but it just climbed higher into the air while shooting down more feathers. When the vulture shot down its feathers from too far up they wouldn't be accurate, but even so they caused a lot of destruction in the area that was hard to ignore. At least it wasn't able to pinpoint its targets as easily from far away thanks to Aito keeping it at a distance.

Titus crossed his massive arms across his chest as the vines he was controlling started to thicken around his body. In his current position he wasn't going to be able to dodge any attacks, but that didn't seem to be his plan in the first place as one of the bobcats leapt up in the air dodging one of Cinders ice spears as it raced towards Titus and leaped around him. It was clear that the cat was planning to go for the back of Titus's neck since the area had less vines covering it, but Titus was using that as a bait.

As the large bobcat's claws lengthened in preparation to slash across Titus's neck it got just close enough for Titus to enact his plans. Immediately spores shot out from his body as the vines around him started growing rapidly. In an instant several vines shot out covered in thorns in all directions around Titus as they struck through the air or dug through the ground. Tank and Cinder were far enough away from Titus that none of the vines were able to reach them, but that could not be said for the unlucky bobcat that had charged in. Several of the vines pierced through the bobcat's body sending blood everywhere as the large cat shrieked in pain. It acted quickly and cut off all the vines that had hit it, but by that point the damage was done as the large cat was forced to back off.

The cat tried to create some distance between it and its opponents, but Cinder wasn't going to give it any chance to rest on the ground as she chased after it forcing it back into the air. The first true blow of the battle was struck and Joshua was starting to get an idea of how to take these flying enemies down.