CHAPTER 25

CHAPTER 25

The beast drew nearer, and gradually, they could make out its form among the trees.

Its footsteps were heavy, so they could hear it approaching from afar.

Once the beast had come close enough to be within their sight, its features were revealed.

It stood at two meters tall, with a large and powerful stature. It had broad shoulders and powerful, clawed legs that firmly planted on the ground.

Covered in brown fur that shimmered slightly in the sunlight filtering through the branches, it had a long muzzle, yellow eyes, and small round ears atop its head.

It was an Ironclaw.

Ironclaws were magical beasts similar to bears.

Named for their claws that were hard and sharp as steel, they were called as such.

These naturally non-aggressive creatures hunted when hungry and slept when sated.

At this time of year, it wasn't uncommon to see them roaming the forest, especially in this section where it was common to find beasts of rank F and above hunting.

Seeing it, Reily and the group knew it would be challenging to battle such a creature due to its high defense, but it wasn't beyond their capabilities.

The beast was slow, and although it had enough strength to kill any one of them with just a few blows, they were confident they could take it down.

They had come here for the mission, but that didn't mean they would ignore such prey.

After all, Ironclaw meat was highly sought after, and its fur could be sold at a good price.

They could tell the beast had been drawn here by the scent similar to that of the Radiant Raspberry, and so it wouldn't let them go easily.

And indeed, that was the case.

The bear-like beast expected to find a tree bearing those raspberries, but instead, it found three humans.

It could sense the scent coming from them.

Thinking they had eaten the fruit, it grew enraged.

RAAAWR !!!

It roared angrily towards the three figures before it, preparing to attack them.

Reily's group immediately understood that the battle was about to begin, and they sprang into action.

Reily, with a swift movement, dashed towards the Ironclaw.

The bear, with a mighty roar, unleashed all its fury against the three adventurers, launching itself towards them with impressive force.

Clarisse, focusing, invoked the power of flames around her scepter, preparing to channel her mana to cast a powerful fireball towards the bear. Meanwhile, Jenna drew an arrow from her quiver, infusing it with her mana to increase its power and precision.

Reily approached the bear with feline agility, dodging its powerful steel claws, and with a lateral leap, avoided its frontal attack. With a quick and precise movement, he attempted to strike a blow against the bear's flank, aiming for a vulnerable spot.

While Reily launched his attack, Clarisse completed her spell and hurled the fireball towards the bear, creating a fiery explosion that temporarily engulfed the animal, causing burns to its fur and distracting it from its main target.

Meanwhile, Jenna, from the rear, took aim and loosed her mana-enhanced arrow towards an exposed spot on the bear's body, aiming to inflict significant damage and slow its advance.

The bear, wounded but not subdued, reacted with increasing rage, launching itself even more furiously against its adversaries. Reily, utilizing his agility, tried to keep his distance from the beast, dodging its blows and seeking every opportunity to deal damage with his sword.

Clarisse continued to cast fire spells, trying to burn the bear and weaken it further, while Jenna, with sniper-like precision, continued to strike with her mana-enhanced arrows, aiming to bring down the beast with each shot.

The battle went on for long and intense minutes, with the three fighting, alternating their attacks, continuously.

The prolonged battle began to take its toll as fatigue began to set in for all three of them.

Clarisse, after using several attacks, was running low on mana, while Jenna, though she still had mana to spare, was running out of arrows to use.

The battle was reaching its climax, and Reily could see that the Ironclaw was starting to falter.

He, too, was not faring well.

Though he had sustained no injuries from the battle, he was running low on stamina, and he knew he couldn't prolong the fight any longer.

He knew that a battle with an F-rank would not be easy, but he still had the confidence that he could kill one with his current strength.

The beast in front of him was problematic due to its high defense, which allowed it to take less damage than Reily hoped.

"It seems I'll have to use that ability after all," thought Reily, recalling the skill he had received from the system in one of the previous missions.

[Blood Manipulation]

It was a basic skill that all awakened vampires possessed, an ability that allowed them to have some control over the surrounding blood.

Reily had been reluctant to use this ability because the mana cost to use it was too high.

With his current mana reserves, he could sustain the ability for no more than 50 seconds, and depending on the situation, this time could vary.

During his hunts, Reily had experimented extensively with this ability. Initially, he wanted to use it to create weapons to use during battle, but he quickly realized he couldn't maintain them for long.

He had noticed that he could also have some control over the blood flowing within his opponents, but the control was quite limited.

The stronger his opponent was, the less control he had over their blood. In this case, he had almost no control over the bear's blood.

However, it was a different matter for the blood oozing from its wounds.

Reily spent half of his mana manipulating the blood on the bear's wounds to aggravate them further.

The pain from this caused the Ironclaw to scream in agony and lose concentration for a moment.

Reily seized this opportunity to finish off the bear.

With a well-coordinated final strike, Reily swung his sword, cutting deeply into the bear's flesh and inflicting a mortal wound to its neck. With a howl of pain, the bear collapsed to the ground, defeated.

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THE-PENGUIN: Hey guys, this week will be a bit havy for me due to many personal commitments.

I'll try to upload a few chapters "if I can," but don't expect daily updates.

Hopefully, I should get back to my usual schedule by the weekend.