Chapter 10: The Endless Bears
Seris was staring into the darkness between the trees. Her cold eyes were slowly scanning the area.
This was the first time since Lian had met her that the girl actually looked cautious.
And an unpleasant feeling formed inside Lian’s chest. If even Seris was reacting like this, it meant the situation was really bad.
"We are surrounded." Those words were still hanging in the air.
Lian quickly stood up from his spot and looked around. At first he saw nothing. But a few seconds later, a branch broke in the darkness.
Then another one.
And another one.
A heavy roar came from deep in the forest.
Then a second roar and a third. The sound of heavy footsteps began to get closer.
The ground under their feet was shaking. Lian’s face slowly became serious.
"These sounds..." And then he saw them.
In the darkness of the forest, a pair of red eyes. Then a second pair, a third pair, a fourth pair. The eyes appeared one after another.
Until almost the entire forest around them was filled.
Aria’s face went pale. Alisa held her breath without meaning to. Even Ryan’s face turned white from fear.
From between the trees, the first monster came out.
Corrupted Mammoth Bear.
Then the second one.
Third.
Fourth.
And then their number became so many that Lian stopped counting. Dozens of bears had surrounded the entire open space. And each of them was at least level 7. Among them, level 8 and 9 could also be seen.
"Is this number normal?" Seris frowned. And yes, it was a real frown. She asked.
"No, unless there is a very large group of them. And even then, this number is too many. But I can guess why so many of them are coming this way." Lian thought for a moment and then answered.
These bear monsters probably lived somewhere nearby. But until today, because of that Fallen Wolf, they did not dare to come close to this area to hunt.
No matter how many they are, they are still normal rank monsters. The hierarchy among monsters is very important. They would not dare to provoke a Fallen monster.
But now that they had probably realized the thing they were afraid of was dead, they wanted to use the chance and take over this entire area.
The situation was much worse than he had imagined. No matter how powerful the two of them were, facing this many was practically impossible.
Lian looked around. An open space with trees in every direction. No high ground, no rocks, no narrow paths. Practically the worst possible battlefield.
They had no environmental advantage. Besides... his gaze fell on the three wounded people. All three could barely stand. Helping them was impossible. Their presence was an extra burden.
This fight would only be between him and Seris and those monsters.
"This will be a hard fight." Lian looked at Seris.
The girl just nodded. Then she raised her sword. At that moment, all the bears roared.
And the attack began.
BOOM!
The ground shook. Dozens of huge bodies jumped forward at the same time. Like a wave of flesh and bone that wanted to crush everything.
Lian immediately opened his panel. He still had three minutes left of Wolf Speed.
[Stat Points: 42]
Without any hesitation, he made his decision. He put thirty points into Strength, five points into Speed, and the rest into Resistance.
[Strength: 48 --> 78]
[Speed: 20 --> 25]
[Resistance: 25 --> 32]
At that moment, a wave of heat exploded inside his body. His muscles tightened. His bones made sounds. A wild power flowed through his being.
But it was not over yet. His gaze fell on his new skill.
[Iron Hide]
[Rank: Common (+)]
[When activated, Resistance increases by 100%.]
[Duration: 5 Minutes]
[Cooldown: 30 Minutes]
"Activate." He clicked on the activation option. This skill could help a lot in this situation.
[Iron Hide Activated]
A strange feeling spread through his whole body. It was as if his skin had become thicker. As if an invisible layer of steel had been placed under his flesh.
With this skill, he now had resistance equal to 64 points. Fighting these bears should be easier and with less trouble.
At that moment, the first bear reached him. Its huge claw came down.
BOOM!
The hit struck Lian directly on the shoulder. But unlike expected, he only stepped back a few steps.
It hurt, but no bones broke.
"It works." His eyes shone. His resistance was working better than he thought. If he had not activated this skill and increased his resistance, that attack could have crushed his shoulder.
Then he slammed his fist into the bear’s stomach. The sound of cracking bones echoed. The bear let out a painful roar, but it was still alive.
Another monster attacked from the right. Lian dodged with the help of Wolf Speed. The world around him seemed slower. And that difference was everything.
He was beating the bears one by one with his fists. Blood was pouring from the monsters’ bodies. They were falling to the ground one after another.
Though the bears also managed to hit him and cause significant wounds.
The forest had become a battlefield.
On the other side, Seris looked more like a monster than a human. Every time her sword moved, blood spread in the air.
One bear, two bears, three bears, four bears. The monsters were falling one after another.
But for every monster that died, two more took its place.
Time passed. Blood gathered on the ground. Corpses were scattered everywhere.
System notifications kept appearing in front of Lian’s eyes.
[You Have Killed A Corrupted Mammoth Bear]
[You Have Killed A Corrupted Mammoth Bear]
[You Have Killed A Corrupted Mammoth Bear]
[Your level has increased]
But despite all these notifications, the number of enemies did not go down. Slowly, Lian’s breaths became heavy.
His arms hurt. His fists were bloody. Most of the blood belonged to the monsters, but his own blood could also be seen among it.
Iron Hide had saved his life many times.
But even that had limits. On the other side, even Seris was breathing hard. Her sword was still deadly, but she no longer had her initial speed.
A bear managed to drag its claw across her shoulder, blood flowed on the girl’s light armor.
She was wounded. The girl who had been slaughtering monsters like they were insects was slowly showing weakness.
Finally, more time passed. The number of corpses increased. Until a short silence appeared in the middle of the battle.
Lian looked around, breathing heavily. Corpses were everywhere. Seven bears had been killed by him. Eleven bears had been killed by Seris.
Nineteen monsters were dead. But Lian’s color had drained. Seris could no longer continue.
More than twenty bears still remained. More than twenty! As if there was no end to them. And at that moment, another notification appeared that made the situation even worse.
[Iron Hide Deactivated]
[Cooldown: 30 minutes ]
Lian’s eyes widened. He felt the world suddenly become heavy. The sense of safety he had gotten used to was gone. His chest rose and fell. Breathing had become hard.
Wolf Speed had run out a long time ago. Now with this one gone too, he had lost a significant part of his power.
On the other side, Seris knelt down. She pushed her sword into the ground to keep her balance. This was the first time Lian had seen her in such a state.
Tired, exhausted, and near her limit. Blood was flowing from the corner of the girl’s mouth.
But her eyes were still locked on the enemies. Lian spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground.
"Damn it... where did these come from?" He then mumbled under his breath.
There was no answer.
But as if the bears had heard him, all the remaining monsters raised their heads.
And they roared at the same time. Their roar shook the forest. The ground trembled.
Aria and Alisa’s faces went pale. Ryan looked at the wave of monsters with despair. Until now, it had been unbelievable to them that these two had managed to fight this many monsters.
But now they had also fallen.
And then all the remaining monsters attacked at the same time. Dozens of huge bodies charged toward the group through the blood and corpses.
Death was approaching like a powerful wave.
Lian raised his bloody fists. Seris raised her sword one last time. And the wave of mammoth bears rushed toward them with crazy speed.
