Dexter darted after Quinn, quickly taking the lead. His firefly drones flickered through the thick canopy, their small glowing forms weaving between branches. He mapped out the terrain in real-time, each movement and sound transmitted directly to him.

  Emily moved silently behind, her invisibility cloak barely perceptible, a faint shimmer in the air when she moved too quickly. Her bow poised in her hands, eyes scanning every flicker of movement in the dense jungle narrowing in on their quarry.

  As they reached the clearing, Dexter raised a hand, signaling for a stop. The jungle was eerily silent, the usual chorus of life muted. One of Dexter’s drones hovered at the edge of the underbrush, its camera fixed on a glowing shape crouched low to the ground, almost hidden within the shadows.

  “There,” Dexter whispered, pointing toward the creature.

  It was massive, its sleek black fur glistening with an eerie blue-green sheen that shifted as it moved. Six tentacles, coiled like serpents, twitched and reached out, searching for anything in their path. Its eyes were locked onto something deeper in the clearing, glowing with a predatory fire.

  The jaguar’s body was tense, poised to spring at any moment. But it didn’t move, its focus unbroken. Dexter’s eyes narrowed as the creature studied the area around it, its gaze sweeping dangerously close to them.

  Emily knelt, her bow still taut in her grip, her voice barely a whisper. “It hasn’t seen us yet.”

  For a long moment, everything seemed suspended in time. The jaguar’s muscles twitched as it waited. The trio remained motionless, each breath held, each second stretching longer than the last. It was only a matter of time before the beast became aware of them.

  Quinn held up his hand, signaling Dexter to maneuver the drones, to create a distraction. Dexter didn’t need further instruction. His fingers flew over his bracers, summoning a specialized drone. The device shot into the air with a mechanical whir, its propellers emitting a shrill, high-pitched hum that cut through the thick air.

  The jaguar’s head snapped upward, its glowing eyes narrowing as the sound of the drone drew its attention. The predator’s massive paws moved without a sound, gliding over the jungle floor, the underbrush barely rustling as it closed in on its target.

  Just as the team steeled themselves for the inevitable clash, a low growl reverberated from behind them. The hair on the back of Quinn’s neck stood on end as he froze mid-motion, his Mana Blade halfway lifted.

  “Wait,” Quinn’s voice was tight, his focus snapping to the source of the sound. “Don’t move.”

  Emily’s voice came as barely a whisper. “There’s another one. I see it. It’s flanking us.”

  Dexter’s heart hammered in his chest as he switched between drone feeds, his stomach tightening with dread. “I’m picking up more movement.... There’s a third one, closing fast.”

  The odds were stacking against them, and there was no easy escape. The hunt was on.

  Before anyone could react, the ground trembled beneath their feet, a deep rumble that heralded the third jaguar’s explosive emergence from the shadows. A blur of black and shimmering green streaks, the beast moved with terrifying velocity, its raw muscle propelling it forward with primal ferocity. It launched itself at Quinn, its claws outstretched.

  Quinn barely had time to summon his Mana Shield. The barrier erupted into existence just in time, flaring brightly as the jaguar’s claws met the glowing surface with a shrill, jagged screech. The impact sent the creature tumbling over Quinn’s head in a blur of motion.

  The creature landed hard, crashing into something unseen in mid-air. It came to an abrupt halt, its body flipping sideways, as if it had hit an invisible wall.

  Emily’s cloaked form shimmered briefly as she stood tall, her arm raised. The jaguar’s snarls faltered, its frantic movements stalling as it tried to comprehend the invisible force that had stopped its landing. With a flick of her wrist, she lowered her hood, revealing herself to the stunned beast. Her cloak still pulsed with a faint, ethereal light. She shot Quinn and Dexter a playful smile. “I love this cloak,” she said, her tone light, a stark contrast to the violence of the attack.

  Dexter’s grin faltered as the danger of their situation crashed back into his mind. “They’re hunting as a pack!” he shouted, snapping them all back to reality. Without missing a beat, he rolled away, narrowly dodging the second jaguar’s vicious lunge. The air hummed with the sharp sound of its claws slashing through the space where his face had been only seconds before. A tree trunk beside him splintered, deep gouges left in its wake, the sound of the attack still ringing in Dexter’s ears.

  Quinn pivoted on his heels, his blade flashing in the dim light as he met the first jaguar’s charge head-on. His strike was precise, aimed directly for its flank, but the jaguar dodged with disturbing ease, moving like a predator with the intelligence to outthink its prey. It circled him, studying him with a calculating gaze.

  Emily vanished in a brief shimmer, and before the third jaguar could fully process her movement, she loosed an arrow. The mana-infused projectile struck its target with pinpoint accuracy, but the creature barely flinched. Its glowing eyes locked onto her position, yet there was nothing to see, only an eerie shimmer it didn’t comprehend. A low, threatening growl rumbled from its throat, its gaze intensifying with predatory rage.

  “Well, that wasn’t the right arrow,” Emily muttered to herself, pulling the string back again.

  The jaguar lunged at the shimmer, its claws slashing through empty air, only to be met by Emily’s bow swung upwards with a quick, powerful motion. The impact sent the jaguar flipping through the air, tumbling end over end before crashing headfirst into the ground with a sickening thud. Dazed, the jaguar stumbled to its feet, shaking its head as if trying to process the disorienting force of the blow, its senses still scrambling to make sense of what had just happened.

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  “They’re too coordinated!” Quinn shouted as the first and second jaguar charged at him in perfect sync. He summoned his mana shield and expanded it to twice the width as he sung his Mana Blade. There was a sharp clash of claws against steel ringing out, but the second beast found a gap. With a brutal swipe, its claws raked across his shoulder, the pain burning hot as they both collided with his mana shield. His feet slid on the uneven ground, trying to maintain his balance as he threw both beasts over his head, stumbling backwards.

  Quinn winced, clutching his bleeding shoulder, but his focus didn’t waver. The wound was already starting to close, the pull of his biomancy knitting the flesh back together. He couldn’t afford to lose time.

  From his periphery, he saw Dexter already running full sprint at the first jaguar. With a flick of his wrist, his bracers hummed with power, summoning a shimmering, circular metal shield. He bolted forward, catching the first jaguar off guard and smashing into it with full force. The creature was sent flying into a nearby tree with a deafening crack. Dexter slid to a stop, his chest heaving with adrenaline, and grinned, raising the shield in a mock salute. “I can do this all day.”

  Quinn shot him a sidelong glance, barely sparing a second to respond as he repositioned himself. “Did you just quote Captain America?”

  Dexter, grinning from ear to ear, flashed a confident look back at Quinn, the perfect replica of Captain America’s shield gleaming on his arm. “Avengers Assemble!” he shouted, the words ringing out through the jungle, his voice carrying the same bravado as the shield he wielded.

  “Figures,” Quinn muttered, shaking his head as he refocused on the second jaguar. He turned, eyes locked on the predator. “We need to split them up!”

  Dexter didn’t hesitate. Taking advantage of the opening he’d created, he leaped back, putting some distance between himself and the creature. “Leave it to me,” he said, his voice laced with determination. A grin crept back onto his face as he prepared to launch his next move.

  He tapped into the swarm of drones at his command, their whirring propellers slicing through the air. Each drone emitted a high-pitched frequency that pierced the jungle’s silence like a razor-sharp whistle. The jaguars recoiled, their ears twitching as the sonic barrage drilled into their sensitive hearing. The creatures howled, their movements jerky and uncoordinated, instinctively retreating from the source of the pain.

  Emily jumped into action. With a swift, fluid motion, she released two arrows in quick succession. The first arrow struck the ground, unleashing a burst of wind that hit the third jaguar square in the chest. The force of the gust sent the creature reeling, stumbling back on its haunches, its balance thrown off. The second more powerful arrow crackled with electricity, as it shot straight at the creature’s chest. The creature screeched in pain, its glowing eyes flashing with fury as it recoiled, momentarily retreating from the strike.

  “Nice shot!” Dexter called, spinning his staff with a smooth flick of his wrist, preparing to strike again. The first jaguar charged, its speed breathtaking, but Dexter sidestepped at the last second. The jaguar collided with his manabot shield, bouncing off with a grunt of frustration. Dexter swung his staff upwards, catching the jaguar’s skull mid-air with a brutal strike. The crack of impact rang out as the beast was sent sprawling. Its body collided with a boulder, and it landed on its feet, dazed but not broken. A guttural howl erupted from its throat, echoing through the clearing, its eyes now wild with rage.

  Quinn saw his opening and seized it. He closed the gap with the second jaguar, his Mana Blade glowing fiercely in his hand as he swung it in a wide arc. The blade cut across the creature’s side, and the jaguar hissed in pain, its glowing eyes flashing with a murderous rage. Tentacles lashed out, wrapping around the blade with a brutal, desperate grip. But the jaguar quickly learned its mistake—the sharp edge of Quinn’s blade sliced through the tentacles in a flurry of glowing sparks. The jaguar howled, the sound a mix of fury and agony, its roar shaking the jungle. In an instant, it retaliated, claws slashing through the air with blinding speed, narrowly missing Quinn as he darted back just in time.

  Emily moved like a shadow between the trees, a predator in her own right. She notched another arrow and released it at the third jaguar. The jaguar didn’t flinch, but the arrow exploded upon impact, creating a burst of force that sent it staggering back. Emily’s cloak flared behind her, blending with the shadows as she fired again, her voice strained with frustration. “They’re not going down easy! We need a way to trap them!”

  Dexter’s mind snapped into focus, the gears of his brain turning as an idea sparked to life. “Got it!” he shouted, hands flying over his bracers as a specialized drone materialized in front of him. His fingers moved with practiced precision, activating his technomancy. “Emily, hold them off for a second.”

  Quinn pivoted, his Mana Blade slicing through the air in a deadly arc, the weapon’s glow flaring brighter with each pass. “Emily, use a barrage of arrows to keep all 3 of them on the defensive, ” he yelled, his voice calm, the chaos around him barely registering. “I’ve got an idea too.”

  With a sharp intake of breath, Emily drew back her bow and unleashed a rapid barrage of wind arrows, each one smashing into the ground in front of the jaguars, sending gusts of wind that staggered them back, momentarily throwing off their attack.

  Dexter, his usual grin replaced by cold focus, tightened his grip on his staff. “Alright, big guy,” he muttered under his breath, the staff crackling with mana. “Let’s dance.” He charged forward to engage the first jaguar, ready to turn the tide.”

  As Dexter clashed with his jaguar, Emily fired more energy bolts at the other two jaguars. The closest one, distracted by the strikes, turned back, allowing Quinn a brief moment to focus. He closed his eyes for just a second, grounding himself. The pulse of his Biomancy flowed through him like a steady drumbeat, linking him to the earth beneath his feet. His palms pressed into the soil, feeling the pulse of life beneath the jungle floor, and the earth responded to his will.

  With a surge of energy, thick, sinewy vines burst from the ground, coiling around the second jaguar’s legs, trapping it momentarily. Quinn’s breath quickened as the vines tightened, holding the creature in place.

  “That’s it!” Dexter shouted, his voice rising with the momentum of the moment. He spun his staff above his head, the motion building speed, before slamming it into the earth. The ground trembled beneath their feet as a concussive shockwave erupted, sending tremors through the clearing. Dexter’s drones hummed in synchrony, releasing a high-pitched frequency that pierced the air. The jaguars staggered, their glowing eyes flickering as the disorienting hum rattled their senses, confusing them momentarily.

  Emily, from the shadows, conjured a frost-tipped ice arrow. The frost shimmered around it. She released the shot with a steady breath, and the arrow flew true. It struck the third jaguar’s flank, and with a burst of freezing power, the ice spread across its body. The creature’s hind legs froze instantly, locking it in place. It roared in frustration, thrashing against the ice as it struggled to move, but it was rooted to the ground.

  With two of the jaguars immobilized and the second still pacing warily, the trio paused to regroup. The adrenaline coursing through their veins kept them sharp, their senses heightened. They knew the fight wasn’t over yet, but they also knew they had gained the upper hand. For now.