XXXIII

  The path ahead of Kaz was slowly returning to its natural form, blending into its surroundings as grass retook its place on the path. It was obvious that nobody crossed this way, which Kaz took with some enthusiasm. This meant there were possibly more monsters in this area who might even be stronger and pose a challenge to him. From what he gathered from the map, this path would loop back down and rejoin the main path, which meant that he wouldn’t have to double back and walk the distance again.

  Everything was deathly quiet in this area, which filled him with unease. Shouldn’t a place isolated from the main path be filled with life? There were no disturbances of people walking and potentially hunting, so this should’ve been a safe zone for the animals and monsters.

  As he walked, his breathing filled his ears, he heard every leaf crunch under his feet, the slight raspiness of the dirt whenever he walked over an exposed bit. Kaz gripped his glaive, keeping himself in an offensive stance, ready to spring into action should anything jump out at him.

  He twitched when he heard a small growling sound coming from his left, to which he immediately shifted towards the noise, pointing the tip of his glaive at the source of the sound. What he saw almost made him faint on the spot, the blood draining from his face, the tip of his glaive falling downwards into the dirt.

  Two brown eyes glinted back at him, with steam drifting up into the chilly air from its short snout. It simply stood there, growling lowly at Kaz, causing the air between them to vibrate. The pure mass of fur and muscle, rippling with each movement. It stood up on his hind legs, roaring, and fell back down to its four paws, slowly approaching Kaz.

  This was a bear.

  The bear that was coming at him was easily five times the size of Kaz, with its arm the size of Kaz’s whole body. He took a deep breath, trying to steady himself, failing in the process as his whole body was shaking with fear and also adrenaline. He cast his [ Mana Burst ], the cast taking four seconds instead of its usual three seconds it took previously, his mana still fluctuating. This only angered him, especially in a moment like this where he needed every second before he was pounded into a Gnome paste.

  Kaz’s silver forked mana construct flew towards the charging bear, hitting it straight in the snout area, which was only ten yards away, as it covered most of the distance while he was casting. The ground shuddered with each pounding step of the bear, causing Kaz to have some difficulty setting himself into a stance with his glaive.

  With a roar, the bear reached Kaz, slightly balancing up on its hind legs, swiping its massive paw at Kaz. Kaz felt his familiar pulse of instinct from his [ Evasive Step ] and followed his instincts, stepping backwards while holding the glaive close to his chest. The bear’s claws raked through the air, but one singular claw managed to clip his glaive, causing Kaz to be flung across the space, flying around fifteen yards away.

  Momentarily stunned after he stopped rolling across the ground, Kaz wondered how much physical strength this beast had, as with a simple swing of its arm caused him to ragdoll across a sizeable distance. The bear shifted towards him, its intelligent eyes analyzing him. It snorted and casually walked over to Kaz. He sprung to his feet, and immediately cast [ Mana Burst ], still not opting for the double speed variant. He noticed that the bear, while strong, was not as quick as the Ironbark Boars that he came up against.

  A flash of silver flew across the space and hit the bear again, and to his dismay, the bear did not even flinch when the mana construct landed on it. In a few seconds, it reached Kaz again, and this time, swiped at him again with its right clawed paw, but then it switched up its attack, following up with a second swing with its opposite paw.

  Kaz flattened himself to the ground and rolled out the way. Fear spiked through him, as this bear seemed to do more than just generic attacks that he was used to. With his mana constructs not doing much damage, he needed to rely on his glaive for now. While he was already getting comfortable with fighting with a glaive, he knew he couldn’t make a mistake, as one direct hit from the bear would put an end to his journey that he just began. He wondered if he could possibly try running circles around the bear, which could work as he seemed quicker and more agile than the bear.

  With new determination, Kaz gripped his glaive, and closed the distance to the bear, running past it, dipping his glaive, hoping to cut through the bear as he ran by. He managed to run by the bear, dragging his blade against it, who was stunned in confusion at this new reckless attack by the small Gnome. It straightened up on its hind legs, trying to increase its mobility, and lashed out at Kaz.

  There were two things that Kaz realized at that moment, one was bad, and one was good. The bad thing was that his glaive didn’t seem to pierce the bear’s thick hide when he applied half of his strength into it. The good thing was that he managed to avoid the attack of the bear, who was having slight difficulty keeping up with his speed.

  Kaz kept his distance from the bear, circling it as he noticed other monsters did when they analyzed him. He pondered on what he should do. If he half-heartedly swiped his glaive at the bear, he would do no damage and only tire himself out. If he tried to put his full strength into his attack with the glaive, it would probably leave him exposed to the bear, resulting in his quick death.

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  The bear lunged at Kaz, causing him to retreat a few steps back, instinctively stabbing his glaive into the shoulder area. His glaive cut into the thick hide of the bear, causing the bear to snarl in pain. Kaz quickly retracted his glaive, fearful that it will get stuck in the bear, causing him to be weaponless. Well, he wouldn’t be weaponless, as he still had his dagger, but he would rather run for his life than try to use that weapon against this monster.

  Thick bright red blood flowed down the bear’s shoulder, giving Kaz hope. What if he just stabbed the bear a bunch of times and let the bleeding damage build up? He knew that the Battlemage Glaive had a bonus to bleeding damage, which meant that it actually did some damage. The bear definitely had a lot of Health Points, but he was left with no other options.

  With a new strategy laid out before him, he decided to test it. His reach with the glaive was similar to the reach of the bear with its claws, so he waited for it to lunge again. Circling the bear, he kept his distance to the bear but still remained relatively close in order to bait it into an attack. Moments later, the bear roared in impatience and lashed out again at Kaz, swiping three times at him, alternating its arms in a wild frenzy, causing a rush of wind to sweep by him as he dodged thanks to his [ Evasive Step ].

  After the third swipe, Kaz stepped in towards the bear, using the strength from his legs into a deep stab into the bear’s chest, finding thick hide and tough muscle. With a clean slice, his glaive came out, drawing more blood from the bear. The bear recoiled slightly from the attack, no doubt feeling the burning pain from the stab. It retreated a few steps back, dropping back down to all fours. It tensed up, its breathing sharper, the brown eyes becoming slightly tinged in red with fury.

  With a new burst of speed he hasn’t seen before, the bear was upon him in a blink of eye. He instinctively cast his [ Mana Shield ] as he was pushed back, claws raking against his defensive mana. The bear was stunned by this, wondering how the Gnome before him managed to get hit by his attacks but didn’t take any physical damage that it could see.

  Kaz took this moment, breathing hard, trying to regain his breath, and summoned his [ Archive ] and quickly opened his [ Status ]. He was down to 52 Health Points. He lost a total of 51 Health Points so far, and he only took one attack realistically, as the first one where he was flung along the ground barely nicked him. He dug into his bag and positioned one of his health potions for easy access if he needed it. His Mana Points were still at 78, which seemed enough to him at the moment.

  A blur appeared in the corner of his vision, and his [ Evasive Step ] sprang into action, making him sidestep the wild lunge from the bear. Kaz took the opportunity and slashed his glaive, up from his left shoulder down to the right with his full might, carving deep into the bears exposed side. With a pained roar, the bear swung its paw out from the side, which Kaz reflexively blocked with the shaft of his glaive.

  He was flung to the side as he was earlier, but due to him flying through the air and the wind occupying his ears, he failed to hear the wood crack in the shaft of his glaive. He rolled across the ground, coughing up the dust that entered his open mouth. He was out of breath, his adrenaline starting to wane, and his glaive was starting to feel heavy.

  The bear glared at him, starting to foam from the mouth, half of its right side covered in blood from the various wounds that Kaz created with his glaive. It limped slightly, facing Kaz, tensing up, snarling in the pain. Kaz cast his [ Mana Burst ] with slight difficulty and watched as his silver mana Ability flew through the air and slammed straight into the top of its nape. The bear grunted when the Skill Ability collided with it, the total damage stacking up.

  It charged at Kaz again, half limping, releasing a strained roar, glowing red like the Elite Stonerock Goblin. Kaz’s focus spiked, knowing that if he made one slight misstep while the bear was in this new form through some Ability, he would lose the fight.

  Gripping his glaive tight, he activated his [ Mana Shield ] as well, just in case he somehow managed to get hit and survive, he would be able to drink his potion. The glaive didn’t feel right in his hands, feeling unstable, but he didn’t pay it no attention. As the bear neared him, he dove to this side, swinging his glaive, holding the very bottom of it, letting the momentum carry the weight of the glaive.

  The bear’s claws swiped at him, two of the claws managed to connect with Kaz’s forearm, which he put in front of his face to protect himself. Two things happened at the same time. He was flung for the third time that battle, but this time it was only a few yards.

  The second thing was a loud snapping sound, and when he landed, he was only holding a third of the shaft of his glaive, the rest of the weapon impaled to the left side of the bear’s neck area. With the shock at his weapon breaking, he felt his heart sink. It was over for him.

  The bear made a gurgling sound, as it turned towards Kaz, collapsing twice in the process, as it was losing strength as well. With its mouth foaming white and red, it limped over to Kaz, who was struggling to get back on his feet, his energy totally spent. The bear was gaining speed, its eyes glazed over in red, the red glow dimming to a black shadow, blood spraying out of its wounds.

  Kaz closed his eyes, trying to focus on his mana. He felt something click, his eyes flying open, a brilliant silver, with static lightning illuminating the iris of his eyes. He opted for the double speed variant, and his mana flowed freely, as if something unclogged in him.

  A single bolt of static mana shot out, striking the bear straight in the head, stunning it. Its body kept on moving due to the momentum. Kaz cried out as the bear fell over on top of him, dead before hitting Kaz. He felt the overwhelming bulk flattening him, cutting off his breathing. As he was about to suffocate, the bear started to disappear into the air, and he felt a heavy thud in his chest and light clang off to the side.

  Looking up, he saw a large, bright brown crystal sat upon his chest, easily the biggest crystal he every got, doubling or even tripling the other crystals so far. With a wince, he looked to his left, and saw the other two third of his glaive, the wooden shaft splintered. With a sigh, so many emotions ran through him. He pulled out a health potion and drank it, immediately feeling the warmth pass through him. Kaz passed out shortly afterwards.