Brother Bear chap13

My steps along the hard ground echoed behind me. I felt like I was being watched, I knew I was. This was a monster-infested area, luckily weaker ones, but still monsters. The scent gland of the 'Red Scar Bear' repelled the weak goblins. But, that ran out some time ago, and now I was just waiting for something to attack me. I heard a crack in the woods just behind me. It was beginning to become evening. I thought I could make it to the next village, but I miscalculated.

As the light faded from the sky, I began to see the glow of a town above the tree line. I was relieved, as I ran toward the village and it came into view I was horrified. The town burned, and the houses were in flames doors smashed in and dead bodies everywhere.

"Oh no." I felt my face paling. "I gotta look for survivors." The teachings from school kicked in, recovery and first aid.

When I walked in, though, I had to put it on pause. A massive creature was just around the corner, and I walked into it. I bounced off, taking a few steps back. Its oily body wetting my clothes and its giant green body hunched over me. Then I heard it over the crackling of the fire, the crunching of bones, and the ripping of flesh. Now that I thought about it, most towns here had a barrier for monsters. So this must be a strong one to make it in.

I had no time now. Instead of backing up slowly, I gripped my mace and put my bag down near a barrel. I knew that cutting weapons wouldn't have use here. The trolls' healing factor was too great for my terrible swordsmanship. So I'll just bash its head in and run.

"Heavy blow, Double up." This would also be a good test of my new body. I used the keywords because I was still not proficient in countless skills. I whipped my arm up as I jumped and gripped the handle with both hands. Using as much mana as I felt I could handle now and swirling the mana in my body, I struck down. I felt the world shift to my strike just a moment, and I brought my weapon down.

There was a massive boom, and my body was flung back. The house next to me were torn from the foundation, and the ground was carved out. I lay on the ground, and my arms both hurt immensely like you just did the most intensive workout without warming up. Then I felt my mana doing its job, reconnecting the muscle strands and healing bones. "Well, that hurt." I groaned. I slowly began to sit up using the mace like a cane. "Oh, you're still in one piece good. Circe would kill me if I broke her present in my first real battle." I said, already forgetting about the bear earlier.

I was going to continue to get up, but a hand came from the dust and grabbed me. The massive hand the size of me lifted me. Then I was in front of its hideous face. Well, one of them, this was no ordinary troll. But a twin-headed mutant. If a troll was as strong as a few dozen men, the twin-headed variety was as strong as a few dozen knights. I learned some of them can even use aura, which is where you rotate mana in your body and use it to strengthen yourself. But I shouldn't get distracted, I am going to have to focus. I used my mana to strengthen myself and push with all my strength.

My joints creaked and muscles stained, but I managed to squeeze out, seeing as a lot of the troll's energy was going to regeneration. At that moment, I got lucky. "Well, this isn't good." I managed to squeak out before tolling out of the way of a carriage being swung into the building next to me. "Oh." I laughed. " This isn't good." But for some reason, a grin spread on my face, and my blood got pumping. When I think about it. "It's just one big guy." I can do this. I just need to be smart.

While the dust settled, I flexed to make sure everything was in working order. I am going to need to be in good form. I wish I had my pack, but I took it off earlier, I would have loved some stuff from it, but I can do that. I could now see the troll both heads were grown, and it was looking for me. So I let it find me, I threw up my mace into the sky. It flew into the air like a lightning bolt. The chain I had attached just now grew tight, and I used the sword art I learned and modified it. With a flick of my arm and a surge of mana, along with my Weapon Skill help. The mace swung down like an ancient disaster.

The troll was fast, though it couldn't dodge, so it grabbed a tree and ripped it out of the ground in a swinging motion. The two should have collided, but I was already moving. I ran towards this abomination and used one of the few spells I knew the incantation loudly being chanted. "Oh, dear Lord Magica. Grant this lowly mortal a fraction of attention. Your wrath and faith are to be mine to control for just a moment." Crackling lightning in the color of grey formed around me. "Lightning Palm." I struck out, and the shock stunned it for a moment, then the mace struck it on the previously regenerated head.

"Ok once more." A big breath and then another spell, my mana running out fast. It's a good thing I studied all those spells, so now I could use the cheapest and most effective. "Oh, flames of the mountain. And flesh of the earth. Grant the ground life and the sky death. Burn my target until the cycle begins again." I felt sleepy. My mana had to be almost gone entirely. "Lava sphere." An orb of lava appeared on the inbroken head and burned it all up. Its body wobbled and tumbled backward. My mace is still stuck in it, and I am falling to my knees. I walked over unsteadily, crawled under its arm, and fell asleep monsters shouldn't bother this corpse for some time.