I have Nine Lives

Chapter 32: Teaching the new generation

Felix and Lindo decided to tag-team versus Catro, after all, the man was a captain and they weren't sure if they are at a lieutenant level yet.

Catro smiled seeing them teaming up, this was the right way to fight considering the battle power difference between the three of them.

Catro didn't take any stance as he just stood there and observed them, the first thing he usually did in a fight would be preparing a counterattack, this was his fighting style, he wasn't an aggressive fighter, as most cats were adopting this type of fighting style due to their relatively weaker bodies.

Lindo was the aggressive type so he immediately went to attack while he waited for Felix to support him with his stealth abilities, this way Catro would have to watch out for any surprise attacks making Lindo have an advantage over him.

While Lindo could dodge Catro's attacks if he didn't hide his killing intent he immediately took a few counter-attacks to the body after he started to hide his killing intent, Catro shook his head as he instructed:

"It seems that you are truly half-baked, you really can't dodge the attacks if I hide my killing intent? Can't you use your eyes properly at all?"

Catro was taunting Lindo and it worked pretty well as Catro easily dodged his attacks which became a little sloppier, the moment he became a little sloppier Catro immediately attacked his body again in the same spots, trying to wear down at his opponent that while young, already started to have a body stronger than him due to the racial advantage.

However, Catro's fighting experience against those with stronger bodies than him was plenty and he could easily find the weak points of those bodies and exploit them, he even had some Hex abilities that he cultivated to help with that.

Catro's fingers and fists were glowing with red color when he was attacking the same spot on Lindo's body, his attacks were meant to break his internals and make his organs rupture and bleed, however, he kept the killing capability of this technique to the minimum considering it was just a spar, so his internal organs were just getting bruised and his combat capability lowered because of that.

Catro was slowly wilting at his combat power while he kept his guard up against any attacks from Felix, he taught him for a while so he knew about his combat capabilities quite clearly, any sudden attacks from him could be deadly but he was having a fatal flaw which was his lack of knowledge and mastery on masking and sensing killing intent, or ki shortly said.

He could feel killing intent gathering behind him as he made a motion with his hand to grab something only to latch on the air!

He chuckled, Felix was smart and knew how to play around those who mastered the ability to detect killing intent, after all, he survived a fight with someone who did that and realized mid-fight how to counter the ability, but his capabilities makes him able to dodge but not fight head-on or use his specialty as an assassin, thus he can only be passive in a fight with such an expert or hope that Lindo would be able to restrain him long enough for him to land a decisive blow.

Catro immediately dodged an attack that came from Lindo and blocked some aerial claw attacks from Felix, it seemed the duo was getting better at fighting together, Catro smiled, they would need to do so when it came time for them to be sent off, he reminisced a bit about his journey as well but then shook his head quickly, it wasn't time to remember such stuff in the middle of a fight, no matter how easily he could win it if he went all out.

Felix tried to do a slash towards his legs to cut his mobility but Catro easily dodged and kicked him in the stomach making him skid a few meters before he got up from the ground, his stomach was now bruised, it was easy for Catro to increase his speed to the point that Felix couldn't dodge as he wasn't using his full power.

Lindo growled seeing Felix being thrown to the side as his muscles bulged and he increased both of his defense and attacking capability at the same time with this newly employed technique. He was sending hex energy to his muscles to increase their activity and power them up for a certain duration, this wasn't an innate technique, it was something that everyone could use but not all races could find useful due to obvious reasons.

Catro nodded this was a good way to fight against an opponent with the same capabilities but it wouldn't work on him, the increased muscle mass would slow him down and Catro was already faster than him, however, he needed to increase the intensity of his technique to bruise his organs now.

But he could still pierce through his defenses, Lindo was almost ready to vomit a mouthful of blood as he felt his organs sloshing around in his body, Felix suddenly appeared behind Catro only for his tail to be caught and he was thrown around again like a spinning wheel.

Lindo didn't know what to do in this situation where he was extremely overwhelmed by someone, he never fought a captain leveled opponent so he was stumped in this situation.

Felix fought a lieutenant level enemy before which was the tiger Sumba, however, he was considerably weaker compared to Catro and he wasn't even using his full power yet!

Felix frowned as he felt his tail hurt a bit by the way he was thrown, he hissed as he became invisible again, how could he defeat an opponent that could read his attacks and was way stronger than him? He didn't think it was really possible with the way he currently was.

He needed to improve concerning or two for him to be able to do something at all.

Felix frowned as he thought hard about what to do here.. he needed to at least learn how to detect or mask his killing intent.

He decided to watch from the side for a little bit and seeing that Lindo couldn't hold on anymore made Felix act, he immediately went towards Catro's stomach and decided to slash him there only for the air to be taken out of his lungs as a knee has found his way into his gut.

Catro shook his head, if Lindo was half-baked, Felix didn't even get to be cooked yet!

Felix struggled to get up, the knee attack didn't injure him much but it took the air out of his lungs, he had to take a few deep breaths before he could breathe properly again, his stealth was canceled as well.

Lindo was having a hard time to defend himself, his guard was broken his organs were bruised, his muscles started to return to their previous form due to all of the damage he had taken, they had both lost this spar, they couldn't fight a captain head-on and win even if he didn't give out his all.

Catro sighed and then decided to tell them what they should improve on:

"Lindo you are on the right path, you should master hiding your killing intent first and then focus on your racial skills, I cannot teach you much because we are from different tribes and we use different attacking patterns and skills so you should go to Landers or your captain if you need more help."

"As for you Felix... you could be rather good in fights even against lieutenant level opponents that didn't grasp killing intent detection and hiding, actually if they only grasp detection you would still have a high chance of winning the fight due to the way you adapted your fighting style, however, if they learned both all you can do is run away, and there is also the fact your body cannot contain hex energy, if they somehow realize that and they will start to disturb the surrounding Hex energy your stealth would also be broken and there's a high chance for you to die, I'm not sure what kind of ability you were blessed with but you would have to rely on that to survive."

He didn't talk more about his ability as Lindo was still here and the shaman didn't say to make the knowledge public so he continued with what he should improve:

"You should spar with Lindo a lot from now on, you are both around the same level in combat ability and you should temper each other quite nicely, Lindo you should do your best to teach him how to sense killing intent, and fighting him an assassin should make you learn how to hide and maybe grasp the ability to hide your killing intent as well, anyways this should be good enough for now, I hope to see you two improve by the next time we meet each other again!"

Catro waved his hand at the both of them as he left towards the tent, it was time for the camp to almost be dismantled.

Lindo and Felix sat near each other as they breathed in and out, Felix didn't have many injuries but Lindo had his inner organs bruised quite a few times so he took out some medicine from his bag and ingested it to heal himself.

Lindo sighed as he looked at Felix and said:

"Damn that guy is so strong, he easily finished us both, and he wasn't even trying!"

Felix nodded:

"Well, that's a captain level person for you."

Lindo shrugged at Felix's short reply:

"Well his strength is nothing to scoff at even as a cat tribesman, I can say he is quite special in his own way, anyways let's spar later after we heal up, we should also wait for the others to come, I think there are like 3 more people that should appear, so we would be a squad of 5 in total."

Felix nodded, the shaman didn't say how many people there would be but it seemed Lindo was informed of such things.

After they both waited and rested for a while another person joined their party, it was a middle-aged lion that stood at 1,79 meters in height, he had a small blonde beard on his face and his hair was showing signs of balding.

He wore the normal army armor and he had a small sword sheathed at his belt, he approached Felix and Lindo who were getting ready to spar, and said:

"Lieutenant Zuzu is here, why don't I get some salutes from you two? I don't see your Lieutenant badges anywhere!"

Zuzu flashed his badge towards them, it seemed the man had a superiority complex.

Felix and Lindo nodded at each other as they seemingly coordinated and trained hundreds of times in this sudden attack, Zuzu almost fell to his butt in fright as he held his badge high up while saying:

"Do not attack your superior!"

Felix and Lindo shook their heads in unison, it seemed they got a useless supposed team leader.

Zuzu got up from the ground and patted his armor while saying:

"Aren't you two a bit too violent?"

Lindo looked at him in the eyes and said:

"I remember you, you are the son of an elderly captain, did your father bribe the shaman to give you an easy job?"

The man started to blush and decided to not talk with the two of them anymore, he sat down on the ground and started meditating as he waited for the other two teammates to come.

It seemed there weren't any other tribes allocated to this job as the other two were from the lion tribe as well.

Felix nodded at Lindo, he decided to follow him as the captain, and Zuzu was too embarrassed to say anything else, while the other two that came didn't say anything and followed along.

They had to first get to the mountainous area where the Tiger tribe was located before they could relocate them and the journey towards the place was quite long and arduous, so Lindo patted his chest a few times before he instructed:

"We must first get enough food and water that remained from the camp and then go, even though we could go hunt and try to find some clear source of water we still need to be prepared, after all, we all have our special bags with us right?"

He patted his own bag as the others did the same, Felix also had his bag tied to his back, after they got their supplies they were ready to leave.

Lindo stood at the front as Felix stood on his shoulders and the others followed behind in a triangle formation. They were ready to start and do their job!