Chapter 21: Chapter 21: The Hunt

“So kid,” Barroo asked Zycor, “Have you ever been to the northern forest?” 

“Only once, back when mom and I first arrived here. I was really young though,” Zycor replied. 

Barroo continued, “Well, It’s a very beautiful forest if I do say so myself. Quite a bit of money to be made there as well with all the rare and strong monsters that live there.” 

Clyde joined the conversation and said, “You got that right, lots of dangerous beasts in that forest. But you gotta be careful, sometimes they come out to harass the masses.” Clyde put his arm around Zycor and pointed at Aislin, “Like that one right there! Scary stuff, I’m telling you!”

“Well, if I’m a beast, what does that make a pissant like you?” Aislin snapped back. 

Clyde, agitated, insulted Aislin, “That doesn’t mean much coming from an oversized ogre.”

“You wanna go, you bastard!?” Aislin yelled. 

“Alright,” Clyde started, “Bring it on!” 

This bickering and arguing continued for the entire fifteen minute walk to the forest. “Alright you two,” Barroo started, “Time to quit the married couple role play and focus up. We don’t know how far the pack has come.” 

Aislin and Clyde, in unison, said, “You call us a married couple one more time and I’ll kick your ass!” 

The whole party of adventurers chuckled, before they focused up and headed deeper into the forest. After they walked eight more minutes, Clyde, Barroo, and Aislin, who led the party, stopped abruptly. They looked at each other briefly, then readied themselves. Clyde stated authoritatively, “Alright men, arm yourselves and prepare to engage the enemy.” 

All of the Adventurers followed Clyde and Aislins example and readied themselves for combat. Clyde called Zycor over to give him his orders. “Alright, Zycor, I want you to listen to me carefully. Under no circumstance are you to be on the front lines while fighting these creatures. You are to only provide cover fire with your magic.” 

Zycor, in protest, responded, “But I want to use my weapons and see what I can do.” 

“I know that’s what you want, And honestly, against pretty much any other mana beast I would say go ahead. However, These beasts in particular are strong enough to take down anyone who is not at least a rank four or higher. In other words, your support will be extraordinarily important for keeping the others from being overrun,” Clyde explained. 

Reluctantly, Zycor responded, “Ok, I understand.”

As everyone quieted down and began to listen, they noticed that an eerie silence fell upon the forest. All the bird’s chirping ceased, even the wind seemed to stop. The silence was almost deafening. Moments later, the ground began to shake. It was soft, almost unnoticeable at first, but quickly grew into a thundering quake that was impossible to ignore. 

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With a loud roar, four mana bears broke through the trees. Aislin immediately launched a fire spell in front of her, incinerating the trees in front of them. With an open area now available, the fight began. Clyde shouted, “Here we go! Split into two groups and each group takes on one bear! Barroo with me, and Aislin, hold the last one off until we can come and assist. Zycor, provide some covering spells!” 

All the adventurers let out war cries that matched the roars of the bears. The two groups’ tanks entered the fight first and mitigated their two bear’s charge, being knocked back in the process. Clyde and Barroo dodged their bear’s initial swipe and went for its hind legs. Meanwhile, Aislin was able to grab the last bear's front paws when it tried to slam them down, grimacing, but able to lock it in a temporary stalemate.

As the adventurers attacked, the bears began to charge up mana and condense it within themselves. Upon doing this, their next attack would become especially powerful, though their movements would be slowed while full of that much power. The two groups fighting them suffered many injuries, though said injuries did little to stop them from fighting. The bears that were fighting the two groups stood up on their hind legs, absorbing mana, and attempted to crash down with great force. Before they could gather their momentum, four lightning bolts struck both beasts, knocking them off what little balance they had standing upright. As they crashed down, the adventurers shouted as they went in to finish off the beasts. In order for his magic to do any registrable damage, Zycor had to use up a good amount of his mana. Luckily, it was enough to stun the bears long enough for both groups of fifteen adventurers to deliver multiple fatal blows, ending their fight.

With all of the adventurers finally able to rest, many collapsed, far too fatigued to continue fighting at a high enough level to deal with another bear. Turning his attention to the remaining mana bears, Zycor was filled with awe. Barroo and Clyde were fighting as if they were inside each other's minds. Barroo would parry while Clyde delivered a counter attack. When the bear attacked Clyde, Barroo would abuse the opening created and deliver another blow. They were able to gradually whittle the bear down, something that took all of Zycor’s and the adventurers’ strength to do. As the bear retreated a few steps back, Barroo and Clyde readied themselves. When a mana creature is backed into a corner, they have a trump card they use. The trump card allows the creature to condense mana it absorbs from its surroundings into one final shot of pure mana. However, it renders the beast incapable of moving, using all of its strength in the shot. This meant all Clyde and Barroo had to do was dodge the attack and they would win. They readied themselves to dodge while the bear began to absorb mana. All of the sudden Zycor, who had no idea what was about to happen, charged the bear, thinking it would be easy to finish off. As Zycor charged the bear, he extended the blade of his right gauntlet. As he got closer, he saw the bear's mouth begin to shine a vibrant blue.

Aislin noticed what was going on and shouted, “ZYCOR, NO!” 

She threw a powerful punch at the side of her bear's face, driving the bear's face into the ground. Aislin used her fire magic to propel herself towards Zycor. As she grabbed him, she brought him close and turned her back towards the bear. When the bear fired the attack, Barroo and Clyde managed to dodge while Aislin and Zycor were sent flying. Aislin shielded Zycor and held him close as they bounced off the ground before they began to roll, only to stop suddenly when she impacted a tree. As Zycor managed to get up, he re-orientated himself with his surroundings.

He looked over at Barroo and Clyde first, who finished off the defenseless mana bear. He then looked down at his hands as his vision began to focus behind them at an unconscious, bloodied and bruised Aislin. Zycor fell to his knees as he shook Aislin trying to wake her up. He whimpered, “H-hey, Aislin? A-are you ok? Come on, say something… please.” 

He noticed there was a massive wound on her back. Zycor began to quietly cry as his head dropped. Barroo and Clyde ran over to check on them. Sadly, however, life is rarely kind enough to allow such a thing. Barroo and Clyde stopped dead in their tracks and looked over at the mana bear Aislin had fought. The bear finally re-orientated itself and was pissed. It charged Barroo and Clyde, catching them off guard and knocking them back. The injured adventurers, whom they were thrown towards, caught them. “Well, I suppose this is no time to be taking a break,” one of the adventurers said as they stumbled to their feet. 

Clyde started to stand up and commented, “Don’t be ridiculous! None of you are in any condition to fight any mana beast, let alone a bear!” 

Another Adventurer stated, “I would rather die fighting alongside my brothers than on the ground like a coward.” 

Barroo, proudly acknowledging the comment, exclaimed, “Well said! I wouldn’t have it any other way!”

As Zycor remained knelt beside Aislin on the verge of another mental break, a thought crept into his mind. This thought screamed louder than anything else that was going through his head, “I should have taken Mister X’s offer for power. Maybe then, Aislin and everyone else wouldn’t have been hurt.”

As his mind and heart began to fall, someone grabbed his wrist, jolting him back to reality. Aislin had regained a small amount of consciousness, and quietly asked, “Are you alright, kid?”

A wave of relief washed over Zycor when Aislin spoke. However, after the relief began to dissipate only an intense feeling remained. It was the feeling that had driven him to become stronger, the last thing he felt before he lost touch with his emotions. He felt an unyielding rage. He was furious that this lowly anything would try and take his family again. When he turned to face the bear, he saw the bear in a charge towards the tired and injured. His anger instantly dissipated, and was replaced with fear. Fear he would lose it all again, and there was nothing he could do but watch. From that fear a desire was brought forth from his subconscious, the desire to protect what was dear to him. Zycor reached his hand out and screamed, “NO!” 

A sudden distortion began to envelop the bear, forcing it to the ground, the impact made stronger due to its own momentum. The air all around was filled with an intense pressure and weight, most of it focused on the bear. As it tried to stand the pressure only grew in intensity as a crater began to form around the bear's feet while trying to fight against it. Clyde snapped out of the state of confusion and screamed at Barroo, “Now’s our chance! Quickly, while it can’t move!” Clyde and Barroo charged the beast as the pressure dissipated. Zycor’s arm fell to his side as he fell unconscious. With one swift strike from the duo, they cleaved both of the bear’s front legs off. They quickly stopped and pivoted to face the bear’s head, readied their swords, and plunged both of them into the skull of the mana bear, killing it.

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