The Countess Lives Twice in the Apocalypse-Chapter 34: Thirty-three

The leopard chuffed, getting Jannah’s and Alejandro’s attention.

[Ding!]

The system snatched her attention from the leopard when the notification sound echoed in her head.

[Map feature unlocked.]

Her eyes widened when a map of the north appeared before her. The four towns were shown individually before the map zoomed out and showed their location.

They are almost near Rye, probably another hour walk and they would arrive in their destination.

The knights are highlighted as blue dots in the map while she is highlighted as green dot.

She could tell who is who by the small box with names beside the map. She stared at the list of names and wondered if she did not have to ask the names of the others, would they be suspicious of her?

Further up on the map, she could see a yellow exclamation point on a specific area which is near the town.

Guess I know where the hyenas brought the cubs. She felt relieved, the system have decided to make her mission easier by providing an outline of the area.

She looked away from the map and looked at Alejandro who was staring at the leopard.

"I think I know where they are." Jannah spoke up, stepping around the leopard and walking ahead, tightening her hold on her bow.

"Look out for another animal trail though." She called over her shoulder, not wanting for Alejandro to feel useless just because she received a feature to make the mission easier.

"Yes, Countess." Thankfully, the knight did not sound dejected.

The journey towards the area where the exclamation point has been hovering were rough. The forest is large and wide, but because of the map, they did not get lost nor lost sight of the others.

The moonlight have provided them enough vision in the dark.

However, once they reached the bottom of the mountain, they had a hard time to climb it. The terrain is not easy to navigate through because of the uneven ground and randomly deposited rocks.

Contrary to their struggles, the leopard knows where to step and knows how to balance herself.

Jannah envied the animal slightly because she had a hard time climbing the rocky surface of the mountain, but her determination to finish the mission before dawn was enough for her to push through.

Once they reached the top of the mountain, Jannah immediately looked down to see if the den of the pack can be seen from their spot.

Before she could see anything, the whines and cries of the leopard cubs echoed in the air, reaching the ears of the people and the mother leopard.

"Stay!" She quickly turned her head to the mother leopard who was about to pounce and hissed the word towards her.

[The skill, Command, is activated.]

The leopard’s ears perked up, twitching slightly before it folded forward. She lowered herself and showed that she understood Jannah’s word, but the way her tail whisked left and right is a clear sign that she is not happy to stay put.

[The skill, Command, worked on the snow leopard.]

The leopard’s reaction to the Countess’s command made the knights exchange a look.

It seems like they have been doing it ever since the Countess’s save them from the horde back in Kentucky.

Jannah eyed the leopard for a moment, searching any sign of the animal disobeying her. When she saw none, she looked down to the mountains again, inspecting their surroundings for the hyenas.

It was dark so it was hard for her to look for the den, but when the clouds parted and the moon peaked through the gaps, it shine directly to the hyenas’ den.

The hell? Jannah could not stop herself from looking up to the moon, a bewildered expression on her face.

Given a chance to see the hyenas in their home, she raised her bow in the air and grabbed a shaft from the quiver on her hip.

She lead the nock to the string, pulling it with enough strength as the fletching brushed against her cheek.

She could see the hyenas circling the cubs into a corner, from her point of view, they have not attacked the cubs yet.

Although, she can’t say for sure how long it will take before they decide to pounce on the babies.

She inhaled, slow and steady breaths escaping from her lips. Then, she let go of the arrow, letting her fingers go limp.

It disappeared from her sight, the arrow went silent and fast— faster than the ones she fired back at the watchtower.

She could hear the arrow release faint sound of whistling before it found its target. Startled, the point of the arrow sank deep into the muscle, finding its mark, stopping the hyena’s heart.

Unbeknownst to her, the arrow she shot to the hyena’s heart went through the other side of the mammal, making the shaft sink halfway through its body with bullet point peaking from the skin.

She shot the hyena on its side. She was doubting that it wouldn’t work, but seeing that the hyena fell to its side, she did not waste another second to shoot another arrow to the other hyena beside the one she killed.

The remaining hyenas seem to notice the danger lurking from the shadows because they suddenly left the cubs and scattered. The prints of their skins made it easier for them to camouflage in their surroundings.

"Dang it." Jannah cursed herself for being slow, she would have get rid of the hyenas if she were faster and more swift with her shooting.

She lowered her bow when she could not see any hyenas around, she let out a huff, grabbing another shaft from the quiver and lead the nock of the arrow to the string.

"Go on." She nodded her head to the den where the cubs are wailing, her eyes bore with the slitted ones of the leopard.

"Go on." She urged the leopard once more, "I’ll stay here and keep an eye out to make sure you’ll retrieve your cubs safely. I’ll shoot anything I see that will move towards your direction."

The snow leopard stood on her hind legs and approached her.

The knights immediately touched the handle of their swords once they saw the leopard open her mouth, but to their surprise, the leopard rubbed her head against the Countess’s leg and licked her hand.

"I know." Jannah smiled at the mammal, "As much as I appreciate your action, your tongue is hurting me."

The leopard stopped her licking and pulled her tongue back, tucking it inside her mouth.

"Good girl." She praised the leopard before she turned her head to the den, nodding towards that direction, "Go and get your cubs. It’s the reason why we’re out here in the first place."

Slowly, the leopard made her way down the rocky terrain of the mountain. Skillfully and gracefully leaping down from rock to rock, an amazing display of their swift movement in their habitat.

She exhaled, watching the mother leopard approach the den and let out a sound towards her cubs.

Jannah let the small smile creep into her lips as she watched the cubs pounce around their mother, rubbing their heads to her legs and standing in their hind legs to bring their faces to her face.

Nature is the best. Jannah hummed to herself, acting as if she was not cursing the system out for giving her a side mission after making her go through a painful experience.

[The side mission (A leopard’s cubs) is complete!]

The sound of the system caught her attention, but she did not fully focused on it and kept her guard up as she watch the leopards go up the mountain.

She can’t have them getting ambushed by the hyenas just because of the system.

[Rewards for the side mission (A leopard’s cubs) sent to Player Jannah’s mail box!]

She merely shot a glance on the system to skim through the text before she went back to watching the cubs follow their mother. She pulled the arrow to the string and raised her bow in the air, aiming past the leopards.

She don’t know why, but she can feel something lurking behind the mother’s back.

She did not hesitate to let go of the arrow, letting it fly past the leopard and squinted her eyes to see through the dark clearly.

At first, she did not know why she shot arrow and just followed her gut feeling.

Then, her gut feeling proved her right when a hyena leaped in the air, its mouth wide open as it tried to latch on one of the cubs, only to have her arrow pierced through its head, flying past the hyena’s skull and hitting another hyena behind it.

The pained howl of the hyena who received the arrow to its leg echoed in the air.

"Holy.."

"How did the Countess know about those hyenas? I didn’t even see them walking towards the leopard!"

"I’m more worried about the arrow went through that hyena’s head!"

Now that they mentioned it, Jannah also wondered how she managed to make that arrow go through the hyena’s head so cleanly.

She looked down in her hands, staring at her palms with incredulous look.

Did the system do something to me?