Great Bear II

"Daemon!" Zaphira shouted, "You're too close to it!" 

She was running ahead of Daemon, several meters in front as the massive beasts ran behind him only around a foot or two behind. It was ramming through trees and bushes, sending debris flying out. A massive behemoth was charging through everything and anything to get the running prey it was after; the prey was Daemon it its eyes. 

The Great Bear thought that Daemon had given up in fighting and was now on the run. Little did it know that Daemon was far from done. 

"I want it to think he has me!" Daemon said with a smirk, "It's more incentive to keep the chase!" 

"You're one crazy bastard!!" Zaphira said

"Send a message to the others!" Daemon said as he dodged bites from the bear, "Tell them to position themselves out of sight when they reach the clearing!" 

"I'll try!" Zaphira said as she added more effort to her sprint, "Damn, how does Invidia run so fast while carrying the bag of supplies?!" 

She was referring to the massive bag that Invidia had been carrying the whole time. She had not let go of the supplies since the assassins had attacked them back at the tavern. 

As she went further ahead to relay the message, Daemon was jumping over the swipes of the Great Bear that was letting out a vicious roar. The Black Dragon was able to catch the smell of fresh blood on the beast's breath, confirming that it had eaten the members of the first patrol. 

"Damn." Daemon said as he dodged more of its bites, "Your breath reeks, shit!" 

As he ran, the bear behind him, he noticed that the clearing he had told the others about was up ahead. 

"Here we go." Daemon said as the bear was roaring behind him, "Time for the true show." 

Now that they were a good distance away from the search party, which was confused at what happened, they were able to fight comfortably. Daemon did not want more bodies to the fight, which can prompt the Great Bear in a frenzy, indiscriminately attacking and unleashing its attacks. It would prove much more difficult to attempt to quell the beast. 

Daemon shot through the bush as the Bear barreled through, making his way to the center of the large clearing, where nobody was in sight; just as he wanted. 

He then stopped, planting his feet hard on the ground as he turned around and braced himself for the impact; the Great Bear was going for another tackle. 

"Damn!" Daemon grunted as the Beast hit him with its colossal shoulder, "Wait a minute...." 

Daemon noticed that there was a crackle of electricity; the Bear was discharging its lightning attack. He was hit by a massive explosion of lightning, which rocked his entire body as he reeled back. 

The Great Bear let out a roar as he swung its left paw at him, striking him dead on the chest, and crashed him down hard. A normal person would've been sent flying and instantly killed, but this wasn't a normal person that the Great Bear was attacking, this was Daemon. 

Daemon instantly got up and drew his greatsword, shrugging off the damage that he had taken, a bit of smoke coming off his armor as he glared at the beast. 

"Oh you're ready to go, huh?" He said, "Come on now! I'll cut your stupid paws off!" 

The Bear lunged at Daemon who pivoted and parried its claws almost instantly and then braced for another attack, taking the follow-up swipe right on his shoulder, his body rattling due to the impact. 

This was done intentionally, he wanted the Great Bear to continue its onslaught on Daemon, who was more than capable of taking the hits, and be distracted from the fact that the others were readying an attack. 

The Great Bear pushed Daemon a few feet back, noticing that he was doing little to no damage to the armored warrior. 

"That it?" Daemon said with a smirk, "You think you're my first Great Bear? Come on, buddy, show me what you got!" 

The Great Bear let out a roar as it reared its hand back.

In an instant, a figured blurred towards it with tremendous speed, a flurry of white lights appearing on the Bear's arm. 

Lydia jumped away as the beast swung its arm towards her; she had jumped toward it and tried to cut it. 

"It's hide is too thick!" She said as she landed next to Daemon, "I...." 

"Need more Fury on your attacks!" Daemon said as he took a step forward, "I'll take its hits, you try to create a cut for Invidia to pierce." 

"O-Okay!" Lydia said, "I won't let you down!!" 

The Great Bear then let out a roar as it lunged at Lydia, only for Daemon to get in front of it and swing its Greatsword at it, hitting its thick hide and causing it to slow down. The Great Bear then decided to ram its head towards Daemon, pushing him back as the warrior grunted. 

For some reason, the Great Bear took Daemon's resistance and resilience as a challenge. It wanted to overpower the warrior using brute force. But one thing was to note; Daemon was not using all of his might and fury on his attack, therefore, not drawing blood. If the warrior wanted to, he was capable of cutting the Bear's skin with one hit. 

This was a test for the young fighter behind him; Daemon wanted to see if Lydia was capable, all while trying to keep her and the rest of the party safe. 

By himself, a Great Bear was not a problem for him. But he wished to see if the Party was capable of dealing with such threats like these. Drahan was home to many dangers and a magical beast was just the beginning of it. 

"G-Go!" Daemon said as he was locked in the struggle, "Lydia, cut it!" 

Lydia lunged at the bear and swung her blade multiple times at its neck, attempting to cut through. She felt as if her blade was able to slightly cut through the thick hide of the beast, drawing some blood as she jumped back. 

She had taken Azael's advice to heart, doing hit-and-run attacks. It was the best way to provide some damage safely. 

"I did it!" She said with a smile, "I drew blood!" 

The Great Bear reared back, letting out a roar as swung at Daemon who blocked its claws with his greatsword, causing a shockwave. 

"Good!" Daemon said, "More, though!" 

"Right!" Lydia said as she readied her blade

As she assumed a stance, she was shrouded in an orange aura; her Fury.

Fury was the power source of many melee-based fighters, no matter what weapon they wielded. Any race is capable of being born with Fury and they harness the power of Fury to become the best version of themselves. Lydia, while being a Darkmoon Sect member, is capable of using Fury to aid her with her swordsmanship.

She was taught to wield the blade by Roland, The Great Paladin Knight of the Darkmoon Sect. Even Daemon knew that she would be good if she was taught by Roland, but he needed to be sure that she can handle herself in an actual fight. Experience was the deal-maker. 

As the Great Bear was distracted by attacking Daemon, Lydia lunged at it again, targeting the neck area where she had cut it, swinging her sword multiple times again, cut it up more. She stepped on the Bear's neck and launched herself back, avoiding the beast's paw as it tried to defend itself. 

She landed where she was, letting out an exhale as she noticed more blood on the Bear, "Daemon!" She said, "It's bleeding more!" 

"Good." Daemon said as he took more hits with no problem, "Now we wait for Invidia to.....oh shit!" 

It happened so quickly, that not even Daemon was ready for it. 

The Great Bear stood on its hind legs, opening its massive maw, and released a powerful blast of blue magic power straight at Daemon, who was engulfed in a massive explosion. The explosion was strong enough to shake the ground and cause Lydia to stumble, which surprised her greatly. 

"N-No!" Lydia shouted, "Daemon!!" 

The Great Bear then looked at Lydia as he didn't move an inch, giving her a blood lusted glare as blood trickled down its massive neck. It was intimidating her, standing still as a wall of smoke stood between the two of them while letting out a deep growl. 

"Don't move, Lydia!!" Lydia heard Invidia's voice 

"Piercing Shot!!!" 

There was a quick and bright green light that flashed to the Bear's left, where the cut on its neck was, and it was suddenly hit by a projectile, staggering it greatly. 

The Great Bear then let out a pained whimper as it fell back on its four legs; an arrow had pierced straight through the wound caused by Lydia. The young fighter saw the end of the arrow barely noticeable; it was deep inside it. 

"Go!" Zaphira shouted as she ran straight at it, "Lydia!" 

The Tiefling mage jumped up and opened her palms at it, gathering magic power as it glowed bright blue. 

"Azuroth's Blast!!!" 

Aiming at the Bear's face, Zaphira fired off a massive blast of magic power that hit it straight on, staggering it even more as it let out a pained growl. Its head was covered in smoke caused by the explosion of the attack. 

Zaphira landed on her feet as she drew her rapier, covering it with blue flames as she pointed it at the Great Bear. 

"Blue Fireball!" 

She fired off a massive ball of blue flames at the Great Bear, causing another explosion which further reeled it back. 

"Good!" Invidia said as she jumped out from a tree, "More!!" 

"Repeating Shot!" 

In a split second, she fired off multiple arrows imbued with her magic, aimed straight at the same spot where she hit it with her piercing shot. The arrows hit their mark, causing more damage to the Great Bear as it staggered in confusion. 

Invidia landed next to Zaphira as she nocked another arrow, trying to see if there was a proper opening to fire more. 

It let out a roar as it attempted to stand on its hind legs, its maw letting out a deep blue glow; it wanted to hit someone with its magic breath. 

Suddenly, the girls saw that Azael was in the air above the Great Bear, his right fist reared back. It was covered in a bright white light as he had a serious look on his face. 

"Divine Stance: Morticia's Palm!!" 

He swung his arm, striking the air with his open palm and sending a massive beam of light down at the Bear's head, pushing right down to the ground. 

Almost immediately, Lydia rushed at it it, throwing caution to the wind as she readied her blade. 

"Darkmoon Thrust!" 

She thrust her sword right at the Great Bear's head, using all of her Fury in the attack. She felt as the blade pierce through the beast's hide and even the bone of its skull. 

With a terrifying timing, the Great Bear went silent, its eyes immediately losing their light. 

Lydia had killed the beast; her sword plunged into the middle of its head. 

Zaphira smirked, "Hey!" She said with a chuckled, "Ya did it, girl!" 

Invidia nodded, "Magnificent." 

Azael, who had landed behind the bear, walked to the front to see Lydia slowly pulling out her blade.

"Hm..." He said, "Good. You managed to compose yourself in time. I'm proud of you." 

Lydia nodded quietly as she looked at the dead eyes of the massive beast. She didn't say a word, she almost felt bad. 

Azael then looked at the cloud of smoke, result of the bear's magic breath, "Is..." He said, "Is Daemon okay?" 

Daemon then walked out of the smoke, waving it off, seemingly unharmed, "Well shit!" He said, "You guys didn't need my help after all, haha!" 

Invidia narrowed her eyes, "You...." she said, "All those hits and you're fine? How?"

"Yea, how?" Zaphira said, "What the hell is that armor made of? It took a Great Bear's magic breath point-blank!!" 

Daemon smiled slightly, "Well..." He said, "It's what the kids call it these days...hm....wait....what did Morty say the other day? Oh yeah, I'm just different." 

"Coming from him, I'd believe it." Zaphira smirked, "He Is a little cuckoo." 

Lydia looked at Daemon, "Are you okay, Daemon?" She asked

Daemon nodded as he looked at the Bear's corpse, "Fine." He said, "Man, I wanted to behead it in a single swing...well, you're taking the credit, Lydia! Nice work!!" 

"I didn't...." She said softly, "It was all of us!" 

"Well, good work, all of ya." He said with a chuckle, "That was exhilarating! I've done this plenty of times by myself, but I gotta say, it's more fun with others with me!" 

Azael smiled, "Is that so?" 

He nodded, "Yea." He said, "Maybe forming a Party was a good idea after all." 

"Hmph." Invidia said before looking to the side, "Eyes up. Company." 

There was suddenly a bunch of footsteps heard as a crowd of men emerged from the shadows of the trees. Daemon noticed that they weren't wearing the uniform of Midpoint's guards; they were wearing a mix of leather and steel armor. 

Bandits. 

Azael stood in front of Lydia, almost defensively as the Bandits surrounded the group. 

"What now?" Zaphira said as she raised her rapier with an annoyed look on her face

Daemon looked around, "Hm..." He said, "What do these guys want?" 

"Ohohoho!" a booming voice said

From the massive group, a tall and muscular Abaddon-Tiefling emerged, holding a Greataxe against his broad shoulders. He was wearing nothing rather than fur pants, boots, and a shoulder-plate made out of leather and steel. 

From the other men's demeanor, that looked like a mix of humans and tieflings, Daemon deduced that this was the leader. 

He had a crazed look in his eyes as he looked at the group, "What do we have here?" He said with a smirk, "That's an awful lot of Great Bear meat..." 

"You wouldn't mind handing it over, would you?"