Zoe had finally acted shotting at the wildly attacking bear. One shot one landed on the creature's back and the other landed on its legs. It did nothing. But it had caused the creature to pause in its wild attack releasing a mild roar of irritation.
This small breather Mikael appreciated.
[Augment: 30%Strength] He felt new energy rise in him, the rising heat within his muscles bring a pleasant comfort.
His close study of the bears physique already told him his current strength would not be enough to cause significant damage, so it was time for him to go past his limits.
His steel claymore appeared instantly in his arms and Mikael begun his own barrage. But he was more clinical in his attacks. He wanted to wear the bear down. As creatures as large as it was expanded large amounts of its stamina during any physical actions.
One cut became ten, ten became twenty and the number only increased the more his blade swung. All slices were aimed at targeting the major veins group, this quickly resulted in the bears white coat to turn a sickly red. Mikael did this while expertly dodging the bears attacks expertly.
A wide attack that would have ripped his head off and Mikael dodged below it, his blade digging into the bear's unprotected side. Another attack, this one a slamming charge, the bear exhibiting a burst of sudden speed, but Mikael reacted instantly. Just before the bodies could collide, he dodged into the air, flipping gracefully and landing behind the bear. He then immediately once more attack the bears unprotected legs, digging deep into its leg's tendons.
"Roar!!"
Death bear roared in anger; at the unwillingness of the constant attack the human had done on it. Despite its pitiful state, it was not in a dangerous state as it looked. The human was simply just to slippery.
The human moved again and Death bear tried to attack only for it to be dodged completely by the bug. Its danger perception suddenly rose and before it eyes, the bug suddenly had a bust of speed and appeared Infront of it. Before Death bear could react the bug had already swung it weapon.
"Roarrrrr!"
A sudden burst of pain came from its stomach! The first attack from the human to cause it significant damage.
The pesky bug like flowing water dodged its attack again, appearing behind it and Death bear once again experienced a shock of pain from its leg. A chilling pain that made it know its leg had been completely damaged. But through its anger, through its pain Death bear had finally found an opportunity.
[Skill Activated: Beast Roar!!!]
Mikael had realized to late. The attack on the bears attack was supposed to completely cut of the beast's leg. That had been his intention. But before his blade could cut through, Mikael had hit the bone and the blade of his sword stuck!
His immediate reaction was too quickly retreat but before he could, the sudden yell from the beast stopped him. No, it was more like his body instantly went hay wire, refusing his command to move backwards, it was a one second delay, but it was enough for the beast to act.
[Skill Activated: Gale Claw] A burst of concentrated energy appeared within the beast claws. With it came the sound of roaring winds. The beast swung at Mikael and green slashes ripped towards him from the released attack.
"Boom." The attack slammed into Mikael, blasting him away.
"Roar!" Death bear released a happy yell at the downed enemy.
At the last possible instance, Hardening had covered Mikaels body. But it did little in stopping the attack. His back slammed into something, maybe a three and it was only then that the attack stopped pushing him backwards.
It felt like he had been ripped in half, he was more surprised that he was not. A quick self-diagnosing told him his stomach was ripped and his ribcage damaged.
The pain was a cold wake up call. But it did little to hinder his mind, which worked overtime. With mechanical efficiency he saw that his health had lowered to 110 a fact that surprised him. He then controlled his muscles, forcing them to tighten around his injure areas and prevent his organs from spilling, a spike of hormonal activity to increase his own natural healing ability and finally he constricted the blood flow around the injure parts to reduce his own blood loss. This action finally made his health stop dropping and now resting at 90. He could have tried to regenerate his injured body but that would consume too much energy, which he did not have to spare. Mikael then took out the medical supplies from his storage and used it on his damaged torso.
[
Item: Medical spray
Grade: White
Specification: An alchemical mix containing a mixture of healing herbs. When sprayed on an injury will result in muscles growth. Will not restore lost blood, organs, or limbs.
Effects: Restores 2 units of HP for a period of 20 seconds
]
Mikael actions had happened the moment he touched the ground, and his rising from had attracted the gaze of Death bear once more.
Death bear tried to stand up once again, but the injury on its leg made it stagger as it stumbled back down. It grunted in anger and the hate within its eyes rose further.
It then raised one of its paws again, and the same green energy burst from its claws, accumulating and aiming at his direction, to finish of the bug. It reached the peak when he saw the bear was about to attack. Ready to kill the pest that had been disturbing it.
'Bang bang bang bang.
Bullets countless of them suddenly appeared, curving in the air, their trajectory changing and swerving and landing on death bear. The bullets came endlessly, and there was no pause at how much their number. These greatly surprised Mikael.
An object suddenly flew from the surrounding darkness, and the death bear noticed its approach, and swept its huge claw towards it to slap away the small disturbance. At the last second before the claw was able to hit, the object curved in trajectory and slammed directly into the death bears face. It then exploded releasing blue flames and a toxic gas point blank. The grenade had visible effect, causing the bear to violently shake it head and rubbed its nose and eyes.
"BANG"
The sound came louder than ever. And a bullet faster than the ones before rushed from Zoe's hiding spot. It was a single bullet but the danger it brought with it was unmistakable. Enough that Death Bear ignored its irritation and changed the direction of its attack. The green energy in its paw was ready to meet the coming attack and death bear swung its furry arm forward.
It happened then, something magical. Before the two attacks could touch, the bullet curved around the coming arm, missing it directly and blasted right through Death bear's shoulder! The round then exploded further, causing even more damage within the arm and causing the a fatal attack on the bear. The arm was now useless being held by loosely hanging flesh and damaged bone.
'Splurt' Death bears suddenly vomited blood as it wildly trashed its head. The skill it had prepared died completely unable to be launched. In fact, death bear had received its own skill backlash due to Zoe's interference, causing further damage within it.
The distraction earned Mikael a couple of seconds. The grenades were even more dependable than he had imagined them to be. Mikael was still impressed by Zoe's ability to curve her bullets but now was not the time form his amazement. He had his own problems to deal with.
The sudden injury the beast had inflicted upon him was like a cold ice bath thrown at him, immediately violently reaping away the arrogant thought that he could not be injured. That had been a fact in his original world, and now in the tower it was nothing more than a dream.
Mikael suddenly thought of the fight, the moment replaying within his mind constantly. He saw every attack, every dodge, every possible scenario replaying in his mind. And he realized how his earlier slashes had done little to no damage at all. He also came to the realization that the bears' constitution was strange. That attack he had made on its leg was supposed to completely chop off its leg had not. What had gone wrong. The only factor Mikael had not put into his calculations was Death bears intelligence value. One of the only possible irregularities in their whole fight. He could recall in the limited numbers of fantasy novels he had read how magical energy was able to reinforce the body. Was that what death bear had done, a form of Mana reinforcement?
He then thought of his martial arts, the water stream. A martial art he had made specifically to be able to beat any opponent, especially those stronger than him. It angered him even more.
He had the sudden thought of how mediocre his martial art was. Not because of itself, but simply because it was Mikael own fault. After he had reached the peak of what he believed was martial potential and there was no one left that could beat him, Mikael had stopped developing the water stream completely. What was the point of doing so while he was already the strongest. Absolutely none.
'What a foolish though!!'The anger within him rose once again.
He then thought of his weapon mastery. And it was even more mediocre than his martial art. In this front he had not even made his own original technique. No, he had only learnt what he needed and that was that.
And all this was because Mikael had become too comfortable in his strength. He had allowed himself to become mediocre because he was comparing himself to trash and thought he was better. His anger rose even further.
The pain was a good thing, it made him feel alive, it made him feel killable. It made him feel ambitious!!
He shot from the ground, his blood rushing even more, his chest beating wildly and his muscle tensing. In the same moment he returned the claymore to his storage. The current him felt unworthy to even wield a weapon.
[Augment: Removal]
His body returned to its base state, but this only further increased his excitement. This weakness, this feeling of death this was exactly what he needed.
"Let's dance!" Hardening rushed through his body, thicker and more solid. It was heavily concentrated around his arm, legs, and chest. The hardening elongated on his nails, forming sharp weapons ready to harvest lives.
He shot forward, directly once more jumping into the beast direct range. In the seconds that he had been thinking, Zoe had been distracting the creature with curved bullet attacks as well as the grenades explosion. The final bullet that had almost ripped off the bear's arm was what confused him, where exactly had she gotten such a high caliber gun. He recalled she had twin pistols, but he put his curiosity to rest quickly.
Zoe changed her position constantly, luckily for her the effect of her curved bullets made it harder for her to be spotted. While the earlier attack had injured the bear, it also cost her a large amount of her mana reserves and unfortunately, the current her could not manage that drain. At best, she could perform three more shots.
"ROARR!!"
The creature growing annoyed released its loudest roar he had heard so far, but there was something different in this yell. The same feeling that had caused him to pause washed over him again.
[
Skill effect Beast Roar:
1. Fear effect: putting the target into a state of panic. Lasts longer the weaker the affected will power.
2. Disorienting effect: causes the target to feel nauseous and dizzy.
3. Shock effect: causes the target to be unable to move.
]
After death bear used its skill again, the effect now became apparent to Mikael. But he quickly shook of the restriction again.
The next thing that happened even more instantly after the roar. Mikael suddenly felt a presence had just passed through him, scanning him and revealing him. It was like the feeling of being exposed.
[Skill effect Hunt: Traces all the living beings within the user's domain]
Death bear suddenly then gathered the green energy in its uninjured claws, the one that Zoe had disturbed earlier. And it fully manifested its skill this time to completion. It slashed in a direction in the darkness, green energy slicing as it went. Cutting the very wind and the trees that stood in its way.
'Boom.' The attack slammed into the ground, blasting everything away.
'Growl.' Death bear let out a satisfied huff. At least it had gotten rid of one of the bugs disturbing it. It then turned ready to manage the other bug only to see a fist coming directly at it.
Mikael did not know whether Zoe had managed to dodge that shot or not. And there was no way for him to confirm so. But he could do nothing else but watch as the attack blasted where he believed she was, destroying everything.
'Was she even alive.' This thought made his anger rise. And he was unaware how to feel about the sudden loss. But it was a cold feeling in his bones. He did not know what to do with this sudden anger, but he knew where to take it out on!
Mikael right leg slammed downwards, but what was strange was the fact that no damage was done to the ground. But his body bulged suddenly a noticeable increase in his size.
[Water stream technique: Crushing stream Impact]!!
His arm coiled rushed forward and impacted the beast head, disorienting it. The next attack was on its ribcage, and the next to its liver and finally a vicious stab on the injured arm Zoe had blown off. All these blows were executed in quick succession and with no pause.
Mikael had already realized that surface attacks were ineffective against the bear. The technique he had used was a constant stream of attacks meant to crush internal organs and bones. It was further amplified by targeting important joints, areas with major organs and the skull. The force required to perform the attack Mikael had acquired earlier when his leg slammed downwards. A redirection of useless force to deadly compressed force.
He was unaware if the beast had healing capabilities but, if possible, he wanted it to lose both the injured arm and leg. This would both impair its movement and its attack.
Death bear ignored the pain and attacked despite its injury, and its huge log-like arm rushed forward, wanting to crush this insect into mush. The arm was fast, and it arrived crushing down on his head.
Mikael stance once again changed, this time his feet planted firmly on the ground and spaced, his form more relaxed his muscles releasing their tension and his body going lax.
[Water stream technique: Flowing Deflection]!!
The hit landed, and Mikaels let his body follow the momentum of the force, he reacts instantly redirecting the forces within him. His upper body tenses turning with the force and his arm rushes forward, like a released whip. Faster than death bear had expected. Aimed directly at death bears left eyes socket and completely reaping out a chunk of its flesh as well as the eye itself.
"Roarrr!!!"
The technique was meant to use the opponents force and redirect it back at them with twice the speed and damage. While simple in application, it required having a strong enough body that could manage transmission of that force. The only downside of this was it required getting hit and the opponent being physically stronger which in a fight was quite unfortunate.
Mikael felt his arms vibrate and his muscles tremble, but he would not let such an opportunity go. His body tensed once more, and he rushed forward using the beast's new blindness to his advantage. He pushed his leg muscles, tensing them and disappeared just as the beast went into temporary blindness.
[Water stream technique: Micro Tremor step]
Death bear was instantly blinded, and its rage further increased, the blood form it' s injury made it pristine white fur soaked and further a savage sight to see. It only took a moment for the blood to cloak his vision for a brief period and the insect that had injured it vanished, completely nowhere in its frontal vision.
Death bear could not even use its sense of smell, the Sulphur grenades having completely interfered with that, but it's hearing still worked, and it tried to turn on its injured side to look at the creature behind it.
[Water stream technique: Viper fang]
Mikaels appeared behind the beast using his highspeed footwork. Micro tremor step was meant to take advantage of the momentary lapse when someone would blink to move quickly behind them, requiring fast agile foot work. Viper fang was meant to work in tandem with Micro tremor step, targeting dense nerve regions or channel for pressure points and attacking them with quick jabs or fist attacks. It was a technique meant to paralyze and immobilize the target by striking these regions.
His arm stabbed forward quickly and efficiently. Death bear had no opportunity to counterattack, it's body going lax, suddenly loosing feeling throughout itself. It could do nothing but growl unwillingly.
The amazing thing about this attack was that it did not require much strength to do so, just enough knowledge about biology and quick attacks.
[Augment: Harden+ 50%Strength]
Mikael felt his muscles swell in size, and this gave him a bulker figure. He felt the blood in him rush faster than ever while a drunken like adrenalin flowed within him. His body was heating up, almost steaming as he expanded a large amount of his body's energy, a process that was quite complex which he made extremely simple.
His arm had been fully covered with hardening crystal making it as solid as possible and removing any sort of feeling from it.
Mikael once more changed his stance to another, his legs spaced, and his body lowered. He wanted to exert every fiber of his body strength to this attack.
His body lurched forward, his hardened arm stubbing with sharp hardened claws at the fingertips.
"Squelch."
His arm pierced though the white stained fur, through the skin through the ribcage and he violently grabbed the still beating heart within the bear. He pulled back with one great motion, directly reaping out the heart from its socket and holding it within his arm.
The beating blood-stained organ convulsed periodically within his arm, spurting out blood.
Death bears body started twitching violently, its muscles tensed, it's one good eye turning a deep shade of blood red. The new hole in its chest only bled further, staining its white coat a further shade of red.
Mikael saw how it struggled until it managed to stand through the paralysis upon its body. It tried to step forward, to move to attack him once more further aggravating its injury. Its dying body bleeding even more. It only took a couple more steps and slammed back down.
Mikael could see the creature was still alive, but barely. The blood loss was too extreme. And the injury and loss of such a major organ only made it worse.
His sword appeared once more, its edge ready to cut and kill. While Mikael might have been unsatisfied with his level of expertise, a basic downward slash was still satisfactory. He aimed for the creature's skull. His intent to kill the beast with this final slash.
"Die!" He found himself speaking, maybe a form of fare well for the creature that had given him a rude awakening, but it did not matter.
The sword drew a silver arc, rushing down with massive killing intent, wishing to taste blood and to harvest lives.
'Shew'
The blade pierced through, and Mikael heard the disgusting sound that came along with it. The cerebrospinal fluid stained the blade, and Mikael fell black leaving the sword there.
[Augment: Removal}
His body hurt all over. The pain he had been suppressing rushing through his entire being. His chest hurt, his leg hurt, and his head was doing numbers, but he could not rest just yet.
He slowly started walking towards the place where he believed Zoe's body now rested. To confirm if she might have been alive. But he felt he already knew the answer. What else could he do but offer her a proper burial? Their interaction might have been minimal, but Mikael would always wonder what had made her the way she was.
At the corner of his eyes, he suddenly saw something that shocked him, death bears body was gone!
Mikael suddenly saw a dense black fog like appear behind him instantly and a great danger rushed through him. His instinct went wild, and his blood went cold. As the cold malicious intent of death sent shivers down his back.
Then the full body of death bear appeared in that darkness, its mouth opened with a savage glee and its body bringing forth the smell of blood and death.
Mikael was completely shocked. What an abnormal creature this was! How could it still move with the injuries that it had, how could it arrive so quickly behind him? And how did it directly interfere with his instincts?
Green energy accumulated in death bears still good paw, ready to kill the insect that had put it into this fatal state. This was the last of its energy, and if it was going to die, it would die with the enemy accompanying it after!
Mikael had no other option than to try and quickly jump away, but it would be futile. The attack had come quickly, right after his body had gone completely lax and unprepared.
'Is this how I'm going to die.' He thought. But oddly, he felt that everything would somehow work out. It was just a feeling.
"BANGGGG!"
Once more something unexpected happened. Happening instantly at the same time. This time his eyes managed to catch the moment.
A figure he had thought was dead.
It was Zoe!
But she was different, her hair had changed color completely, becoming a shade he could not clearly see within the darkness and even stranger was her right arm. The upper part of her arm had morphed into a long gun barrel. The weapon itself looked like it was bulged, becoming somewhat deformed as veins run through its body.
Mikael felt a great danger from this arm. And he knew it would be able to kill him.
The bullet that fired from the barrel of this weapon ripped the very air the moment it was released. It was like a coming calamity, and it was aimed directly at him and death bear. The attack was fast, and it was only because his mind was in a hyper state that he was able to see it.
This was another attack he had no hopes of dodging, but Mikael was not worried. His instinct told him so.
The bullet rushed forward traveling instantly and just before it arrived at Mikaels body, it curved, completely missing him, but the air it generated as it moved ruffled his hair.
"Burst!!"
The bullet impacted death bears upper body, annihilating it and turning it into mush. From the shoulders upwards there was nothing, everything erased from existence.
"I'm not dead yet shit head." Zoe spoke her voice coming from the bullet that had impacted the ground.
...
A/N: Thank you for reading