Chapter 10: 10 – Dread Bear

The group of five continued walking on a dirt path which soon faded away into nothing. Lia explained what they would be hunting today along the way.

“We will be going for beasts today, instead of Voidborne. The one we are hunting is called a Dread Bear. They are massive bears with brown fur, extreme strength and durability, but low speed. We need their fur for the coming winter, and they reproduce relatively fast so we need to cull their numbers anyway.”

Lia went silent as they moved deeper into the forest, fallen leaves crunching beneath their feet. The chirping of the birds soon went silent, and they came to a massive clearing, at least a few miles wide, with small hills scattered about.  The tall grass was brown and swayed gently in the wind.

“Nalen, go check this area.”

The man shot forward, somehow not making a sound as he moved through the grass. In a few minutes he returned, having checked the whole area.

“There are two Dread Bears here. One is all the way in the south corner, and the other is towards the east.”

Lia turned to Ruith and Vaeri.

“The bears are usually around the level of a white core warrior, so if you get struck you’ll be killed instantly. Be careful, remember your roles.”

The two new members nodded, ready.

“Alright, let’s go for the one towards the south first.”

It took them twenty minutes to get near, as they did not rush in. The three veterans of the group dropped their backpacks on the ground when they were close.

“Leave your packs here, you don’t want them to impede your movement.” Nalen directed the two.

A moment later, they finally saw the beast. It was sleeping under a large tree, looking just like a small hill of fur. As soon as the group got closer it moved.

A deep rumble shook the surroundings, coming from the depths of the bear’s chest. It shifted, massive legs stomping onto the ground and pushing up. The creature rose to its full height, at least fifteen feet tall even without standing on its hind legs.

Its head slowly turned towards them, fury lighting up within its light brown eyes upon noticing them. It rose onto its hind legs, towering above even the trees.

A deep growl resounded through the area once again, this time much louder. Ruith’s eardrums shook, leaving a ringing noise.

The Dread Bear fell back down to the ground.

BOOM!

The ground shook beneath the group’s feet.

“Prepare! Here it comes!”

The mighty beast charged, accelerating quickly.

‘What the hell did they mean slow!?’ 

Lia was steadfast in the path of the bear, lowering herself down a bit and pointing her spear towards it.

Nalen and Vaeri stood just a bit behind the woman, waiting to strike once the beast was distracted. Ruith and Linne retreated back, but stayed close to the trees so the boy’s ability would be easier to use.

WHOOSH!

BOOM!

The Dread Bear had stopped in its tracks, a huge paw swiping at Lia. She leaned towards the blow and pointed her spear at the paw, but the bear did not care about it. What could a sharp little stick do against its might?

The tip of the spear sunk into flesh, but stopped after a few inches. Lia stood there, her boots sunk into the ground. The power of that strike had been insane, but worked against the Dread Bear.

‘Simple boost to her strength and body toughness? What the hell…’

Ruith couldn’t help but be surprised, that thing must have weighed as much as an entire house and she stopped a blow from it with ease. However, he had no more time to think, the rest of the group leaping into action.

ROAR!!

The bear let out a pained sound, but was even more enraged now.

Nalen sped to the left side of the creature, while Vaeri stayed closer to Lia.

The quiet girl next to Ruith drew her bowstring taught, and he could feel the sheer power about to be unleashed from it.

‘Alright, time for me to be helpful.’

He was not confident in restraining the bear like he had done to Vaeri, but he could at least make it pause for a moment.

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Vaeri’s sword bit into the tough hide, but she knew it had not even gotten past the fat layer. She would need to go deeper.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Three heavy strikes descended unto Lia, who was doing her best to keep the beast's attention away from the others. She stopped the first one easily, but each time she did so it took a lot out of her. 

The huge thing suddenly lunged forward, aiming to grab the woman and crush her to death, but Vaeri would not let that happen. She was near Nalen on the left side. 

Her silver sword flashed, shooting towards the side of the Dread Bear. And it pierced straight in, digging in until the hilt was pressed against the bear’s fur. Vaeri did not stop there, twisting and yanking the sword all around before pulling it out.

It roared once again, stumbling to the side before having a chance to crush Lia. But now, it had found a new target. The girl had been the first one to really injure it.

The speed and power of the blow aimed at Vaeri was more than enough to smash her into a meat paste. She jumped backwards, but the paw was simply too fast.

And then the strike was blown away like one would to dust.

Linne had finally released an arrow. It lodged itself directly into the side of the bear’s paw, perfectly placed. The momentum of the arrow pulled the huge beast off to the side.

BOOM!

It crashed to the ground hard, unable to resist that kind of power.

“Holy shit, Linne. That was insane!” Ruith exclaimed to the girl, looking at her. She was now pale in the face and breathing heavy. But she was too focused, Ruith’s words not being registered.

The boy quickly turned back to the battle.

The bear tried to struggle to its feet, a task made harder by its injured leg. However, Ruith wouldn’t let it go anywhere. All of his mana plus the mana of three trees vanished.

The ground around the Dread Bear burst open, dirt flying everywhere. Ten roots the size of his upper arm wrapped themselves around the bear. They came up from one side, and dug back into the ground on the other side, pulling tight into the bear’s skin. The full power of Constrain was unleashed.

The monstrous beast thrashed, or at least it tried to. It had no momentum to break out of these roots, trying to use pure strength. But only one of its legs was planted on the ground making it all the more difficult.

Ruith dropped to the ground, exhausted. He absorbed more mana while watching, he would be of no more help to this battle.

The other four instantly capitalized on what Ruith had done. Linne let loose a barrage of weaker arrows, all aimed at the head of the bear. It roared in pain and anger, injuring itself by pushing its muscles to their absolute max. The roots of Constrain groaned.

Nalen was stabbing his daggers wherever he could, even though they did practically nothing to the Dread Bear, or so it seemed.

Vaeri and Lia stabbed their weapons deep into the bear, reaching past the fat layer. The bear was roaring, except now it seemed to be filled with a new emotion, sadness. Ruith almost felt bad for the thing.

RIIIP!

Constrain was finally torn apart by the pure might of the bear. It stumbled onto its legs, wobbling while being assaulted. It let loose a flurry of swings, but they were far slower than before.

Nalen chuckled. “Poison is finally working!”

The Dread Bear fought valiantly for a few more minutes, but in the end it crashed back to the ground.

Lia approached the head, intending to finally end its suffering. However, the bear opened its massive maw when she drew near, intending to bite her entire upper body off. But it was too slow, she easily stepped back.

Vaeri reached the bear's head while it was distracted, and plunged her sword in. The massive creature seized, before going still.

All five of the group gathered around, and Lia spoke.

“Great job everyone! To be honest Ruith, I thought you would be useless, but it seems you made the kill a lot easier.” The woman laughed lightly.

“Alright, let’s get some of the fur off of this thing. We won’t be able to carry a whole lot, but it should be enough for our group.”

They proceeded to skin a large portion of the carcass, ending up with more than they could take. Luckily, they had an empty backpack and several thick bags.

“Alright. We still have much more hunting to do today. We will head back to the village in two days.”

The group of five set off for the other bear that was nearby. Everyone had restored their mana and was as energetic as when they started.

***

Ruith looked out across the trees to the east. Massive storm clouds stretched across the horizon, darker than any the boy had seen before. But he had no more time to think about it, as the roar of another Dread Bear echoed around.

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