Selene no longer held back her power, using her class to its full potential. Sending multiple elemental spells, hurling towards the beast.
Moon didn't have time to see what Selene was doing; all he could see was the beast before him and its incoming claws.
He tried to mitigate the damage by crossing his arms before his body and, most importantly, his head.
BAM!
Pain erupted across his chest as the claws tore through his bear fur covering and lightweight armour like paper, raking deep furrows across his torso.
At the same time, the arctic bear defended against the attacks that Selene sent towards him by dodging and using his limbs as natural shields.
The force of the blow sent Moon flying backwards, his body crashing into the snow several meters away.
Blood sprayed across the white landscape, crimson red against pristine white.
Gasp!
A wet choke tore from Moon's throat, blood escaping his mouth in a stream that seemed endless. The metallic taste flooded his senses.
His chest was torn open, ribs visible through the shredded flesh. At that moment, Selene realised that Moon was doomed.
The light in Moon's eyes began dimming, his vision tunnelling as shock threatened to pull him under its rug. But he refused to give up. He had two resurrections remaining. This death wouldn't be his last. Still, he couldn't let this one go to waste.
"A...ttack him," Moon struggled to speak through blood-filled lungs. With the last of his fading strength, he launched himself forward, grabbing onto the arctic bear's fur and clutching it desperately. If he were dying, he'd take the beast down with him. He'd give Selene the opening she needed.
Selene's eyes widened in shock at the scene—Moon, clearly dying, throwing himself at the creature that had just eviscerated him. But she understood immediately what he was doing.
She formed her most powerful attacks, channelling more mana than she'd used before. Fire gathered at her fingertips, compressed and volatile. She sent them flying toward the arctic bear that Moon was clutching.
The bear tried desperately to fling Moon off its body, twisting and thrashing, but Moon had positioned himself where the creature's flexibility was limited. His grip was weak, but it held just long enough.
BOOM!
BOOM!
The two fireballs landed on both the Moon and the bear, engulfing them in flames and explosive force.
"Argh!!" Moon screamed as the fire consumed what was left of his dying body.
ROAR!!!
The bear's bellow was equally agonised, its already wounded body taking the full brunt of Selene's desperate attack.
Moon felt his grip fail.
His body fell away from the bear, hitting the snow with no strength left to break his fall.
His vision went dark.
[You have died.]
[You have lost 30 lives]
The world blinked out.
Then snapped back into existence.
To Selene, Moon's body turned into particles before reappearing once again, with no injuries.
Moon gasped, his body whole again, the wounds gone.
He was lying in the snow, where he had died. Luckily, the bear engulfed in flames was only a few meters away from where he'd died, the resurrection placing him at a safe distance from immediate danger.
His chest heaved as he gulped down freezing air, the phantom pain of his death still echoing through his nervous system even though the injuries had vanished.
Ahead of him, the arctic bear was still alive, but barely. It staggered, its fur scorched and smoking, Selene's attacks having done catastrophic damage to its already weakened state.
Selene stood twenty meters away, her hands already gathering more mana, preparing to finish it.
The bear took one stumbling step toward her.
Then another.
Its eyes burned with hatred, refusing to die, refusing to let its killers escape.
But Moon forced himself to stand. His legs trembled, his entire body felt wrong, disconnected, but he pushed through it. He gathered mana with shaking hands and sent another ball of water hurling toward the beast.
Selene's fireball launched at the same moment.
The two attacks collided with the bear simultaneously—water and fire meeting in a violent reaction.
Steam exploded outward, the temperature differential creating a shockwave that made the massive creature stumble backwards, its already burned and wounded body unable to maintain balance.
The bear's legs buckled slightly, giving them the opening they needed.
"Again!" Selene shouted, not questioning how Moon was alive, focused entirely on finishing the fight.
They threw spell after spell at the staggering beast. The barrage was relentless, neither of them giving the creature a chance to recover or mount another charge.
The bear roared one final time, a sound filled with pain and defiance, before its legs gave out completely. It collapsed into the snow, its massive body hitting the ground with a heavy thud that seemed to shake the mountain itself.
Then it went still.
[You have killed level 9 Arctic Bear.]
[You have gained 35 lives.]
[You have reached level 5!]
The notification flashed across Moon's vision.
He'd lost thirty from the death, but gained more than that back from the kill.
Once he saw the notifications, Moon stopped channelling mana. His legs gave out, and he sat down heavily in the snow, breathing heavily, each breath painful despite his body being whole again.
He was drained mentally. To feel the sensation of being burned alive on top of being mauled wasn't something you could just shake off.
It had taken all of his mental energy just to stand back up and keep fighting.
Selene walked toward him slowly, her expression a mixture of shock, concern, and something else.
Confusion, perhaps awe.
In a quiet voice, she whispered, "Moon...How... how are you still alive?"
Moon looked up at her, still catching his breath. He could see it in her eyes—she'd watched him die.
Watched his chest torn open, watched him fall, watched the light leave his eyes. And she'd seen the resurrection, seen him appear whole and breathing where moments before there had been only a corpse.
Nobody in their group had thirty lives. They'd been together since the beginning, had hunted the same beasts in the training grounds and the eastern woodlands. She knew approximately how many lives everyone should have.
The fact that Moon had come back meant he'd had more than thirty.
"I'm alright," Moon said finally, his voice hoarse.
Selene knelt down in the snow beside him, her eyes searching his face. "Moon, you died. I saw you die. That bear took thirty lives with that hit."