Midnight Panther

The Midnight Panther lay on the ground limply. It had several scrapes, bumps, and gashes on its head and forehead as well as on its front legs. The Roaring Boar had managed to give it a proper beating during the few steps it took to reach the tentacle's range.

Nick couldn't just leave it like that. He couldn't do anything if it got a brainbleed, but he could tend to the wounds on the surface. He went inside and retrieved a bowl of warm water, a bundle of towels, and some rubbing alcohol.

However, the Midnight Panther wasn't completely unconscious. It started moving when Nick got close. It managed to raise its head and growl at him. If Nick so much as tried to put his hand close to the panther's head, he would lose it.

Nick frowned. That made helping the panther a lot more difficult.

"Hey, I don't mean you any ill. I just want to help you, alright?" He said in a gentle tone. In response, the panther hissed threateningly at him. It shifted its body slightly in preparation for an attempt to get up.

"Alright, alright, I'll back off. But don't get up. You don't want your injuries to worsen." Nick wasn't sure if the panther understood him, but it stopped moving when he backed away a couple of steps. It was still glaring at him with blood dripping from its face, though. As soon as he shifted his feet forward, its lips rose in a growling hiss.

Nick sighed.

The panther needed to rest, so continuing to provoke it into moving and staying on alert wasn't good for it. But those injuries weren't something a nap could cure. There was a lot of dirt in them. Even if the panther survived the concussion and cerebral haemorrhage, its wounds would get infected. An infection that close to its brain and eyes would be fatal, maybe not instantly, but the Midnight Panther didn't look like it would survive.

Nick feared the worst.

It was a majestic creature, even if it was a wild animal and a monster king. It had also tried to stop the boar from charging at him. It hadn't succeeded, but that only made it all the more admirable. The Midnight Panther had gone up against an enemy it knew it couldn't defeat all because—

'That's it!' A lightbulb appeared above Nick's head as he got an idea. He rushed inside and grabbed a miracle given physical form.

He returned to the panther with a sausage in his hand. Held it up in one hand while showing off his harmless and empty other hand.

"H-here?" He said cautiously as he approached. Even when the panther continued hissing, he still got closer. It seemed like the panther was too weak to resist or try and get up. Nick knew he had to help it while he could.

However, it was probably still energetic enough to maim his hand if he put it too close to its mouth. He just hoped that the panther would choose the more delicious option instead of his hand. He could feel his heart beat like a drum. He gulped and gently pushed the tip of the sausage toward the panther's mouth.

Even when its nostrils flared and it caught a whiff of the sausage, it continued to hiss threateningly. It did not want Nick to get close.

It opened its mouth and snapped its jaws shut. Nick closed his eyes in fear. After a couple of seconds, he realized that he didn't feel pain. He felt something tug on the sausage åinched between his fingers, though. The next second, the sausage was gone.

The panther hadn't stopped growling or hissing for a second.

Nick opened his eyes and heaved a sigh of relief. The panther had gone for the sausage instead of his hand.

Slowly, while the panther was still chewing the sausage, Nick reached for the soaked towel beside him. He first had to clean the wounds with some water. He dabbed the top of the panther's head as gently as he possibly could.

The panther flinched and pulled back its head as much as it could. It glared and hissed at Nick.

"Come on, I need to treat your injuries, pal," he said gently with as kind a smile as he could muster. The panther didn't care about the kindness in Nick's smile. It only cared about the sting it felt when Nick tried to touch its throbbing wounds.

Nick sighed.

He was going to run out of sausage at this rate. He reached back and pulled out another one from his back pocket and held it in front of the panther. With skeptical eyes, it slowly reached for it. It liked sausage, after all, and it was hungry. It couldn't help itself.

It still hissed, though, warning Nick not to try anything funny. Of course, Nick had to try something funny. When the panther went for the sausage, Nick pulled it back, forcing the panther to put its head even further forward and in a better position for cleaning.

When Nick could reach comfortably again, he let the panther bite the sausage, but he didn't let go. He dabbed the panther's head with one hand and fed it with the other. The panther didn't like it, but sausage was important.

It knew that it needed food to recover quickly from its injuries. It was also slowly starting to lower its wariness as it got used to the water flowing over its injuries and easing some of the throbbing.

But as soon as it reached the end of the sausage, it pulled back its head.

Nick sighed and pulled out another one. There was still a lot of dirt trapped in the wounds that he wanted to get out. He also had to prevent infection with the rubbing alcohol, which was going to sting even more.

This wasn't going to be easy.

"Don't be such a wuss," he gently admonished the panther when it once again retreated from his touch.

It could dive into a fight with the Roaring Boar and let itself get kicked in the head, but it couldn't handle being touched with a wet cloth?

Suddenly, the Midnight Panther didn't seem as impressive anymore.