Becoming an aspirant Grimm slayer part 4

The roars were becoming progressively louder, the sounds of trees rustling and being felled was approaching and the footsteps came closer and closer to the clearing, as my next opponent aproached, I couldn't help but to start trying to guess which type of Grimm it was.

But one thing was certain, this one is much larger than the ones I've been fighting so far by a large margin. I could feel the ground shaking as it came closer to my location.

My mind had already been hardened after fighting grimm for so many hours, I would not allow myself to feel any fear like I did at my first meeting with them, It didn't matter that this one is bigger than the rest, I already consider them my prey.

So as the grimm reached the edge of the clearing, the trees that stood there were suddenly knocked aside and had a good chunk of them broken to give space for the beast to pass, revealing from beyond them: red, glowing eyes that stared at me with malice and hatred.

From there emerged a creature covered in black fur and adorning a skull mask with red markings like the beowolf's, but where it was different was in the shape of the mask, the huge amount of bone-white spiked along its back, its enormous size that surpasses a beowolf's more than threefold and its quadrupede style of walk.

The creature then stepped into the clearing and lifted its front legs, standing on his hind legs and appearing even larger than before. In this position it let out a loud roar towards the tiny human in front of it, shaking the treetops and spooking all animals in the vicinity.

The grimm that stood in front of me was an Ursa, a bear like grimm which is both stronger and more resilient than the beowolf. The one that has arrived was specifically a Ursa major, they are the bigger and stronger cousins of the Ursa minors which are its more common form, they would be akin to the Alpha beowolf among their kind.

An Ursa would be a natural step up after fighting with beowolfs since aside from their greater strength and resilience compared to the former, they also do not posses any special characteristic and use the same forms of attack as them such as claws and teeth. That makes them much simpler to fight, but do not confuse 'simple' with 'easy', they're formidable foes especially when in groups.

But what makes a Ursa major dangerous apart from its size and strength is their superior intellect compared to their kin, much like an Alpha, Ursa majors have on lived much longer than the average and because of it have acquired a lot of experience and increased their intellect, that alone makes them much more dangerous than Ursa minors.

Another thing to take note of is that seeing an Ursa in this kind of situation is extremely rare as it doesn't fit its common behavior, they are much more territorial than beowolfs and normally don't wander outside of it unless they feel a lot of negativity and he's sure that he isn't currently inside its territory since if that was the case then there wouldn't be such a high concentration of beowolfs nearby.

Another thing that he could point out is the fact that Ursa majors are rarely alone and are usually the leader of a group, but he just assumed that his sensei culled their numbers before they arrive like he did before in order to make it a more winnable fight.

So aside from being momentarily surprised, I just suppress my initial excitement of finally being able to face something different and completely concentrate on the opponent that's ahead of me, this is not an opponent I can take lightly afterall.

But in the corner of my mind I still find it very amusing that this Grimm in specific will be the one that'll have to face in order to prove my worth, since I could remember that this was the same type of grimm that Jaune from the show had to face alone for the first time and won, with outside help of course.

'I guess that somethings simply don't change. It must be poetic justice that I'll have to face the same challenge he did, the only difference being that he had a weapon on him, a partner willing to save his skin and although untrained, his body would still be better than mine just by the fact that he's older, while on the other hand I have my semblance discovered, longer combat training, half of my aura reserves left and a underdeveloped and very tired body.'

That line of thought had also brought me another important question that I'd have to find a answer for: 'How am I even supposed to damage it?'.

If someone were to ask me: 'What is your current highest shortcoming in battle?' My answer would without a doubt be raw strength. This is something that became apparent over the course of the last battles as I realized that just having superb skill is useless if your attacks cannot damage your opponent due to being too weak and even if I try to enhance it with aura, there is a limit to how much you can do it since infusing too much aura in a limb can cause many issues to the ones that do it.

And Ursas are by default much more resilient than the opponents I felled before, having thicker hide and tougher armor covering it, this is specially true if you consider that the one in front of me is a major which takes this characteristic to a whole new level and its size surpassing even the one shown in the series, showing it to be older and smarter.

At this moment I was regretting not having brought crocea mors with me, even if I had to explain it to my parents afterwards and build a Web of excuses and lies to cover it up it would stills be preferable to being in my current situation. Or I could at least had bought another sword before coming just in case, even if inferior to my family's sword it would be enough to easily solve this situation. But in my hubris I thought I would be just fine even with only my fists.

But I just blocked those negative emotions along with the rest and concentrated on my enemy. I shall use this mistake as a reminder to always be prepared for any situation in the future and as a way to caution myself of the dangers of becoming too self-confident with my skills.

So as the Grimm finished its roar, It then got back down and started to carefully analyse me with its menacing red eyes unlike the younger and more aggressive ones I've faced before. But it didn't do it for long, maybe because of how young I am or the absence of any weapons on me, but the Ursa seemed to not classify me as worth the time and just decided to end things quickly.

The Ursa major didn't waste any time and went into the offensive, charging at my location in a furious momentum. I on the other hand just calmly stood my ground and waited for the opponent to make the first move.

Which came in the form of a simple and straightforward paw strike, if I were just a ordinary civilian kid then this attack would probably have looked much more threatening, but after enduring attacks from beowolfs from all sides already, this attack was so easy to dodge that I didn't even have to use flash-step in order to accomplish it.

So without any regard to its previous failure, the Grimm continued his assault sending claws and teeth my way. As I continued playing passive and dodging its attacks, I've came to realize that compared to a beowolf the Ursa major in front of me was significantly slower with its attacks, which came as a relief since now I know that there's at least one thing going for me.

So I just continued to observe it and analyse its attack patterns like I did with the first beowolf that I fought, memorizing its moves and trying to understand its behavior. And one key difference that I found between the fighting style of the two types of Grimm I fought is that, while beowolfs favor pouncing on their prey making use of their speed and agility, this Ursa prefers to try to overpower and immobilize its prey using its sized and strength.

But it turned out that I wasn't the only one that was learning something during this combat, as my enemy, seeing that direct confrontation would take it nowhere as I continued to dodge all of its attacks it also started to change its combat aproach,

It started to try newer and more unconventional forms of attack in order to try to hit me, such as tackles making use of its body spikes in an attempt to take me by surprise among others. This of course, wasn't enough to hit me even if it was able to give me a small surprise as his attacks were still slow and predictable.

But in the midst of this constant back and forth with my enemy constantly trying new ways to attack and me constantly avoiding all of them without too much issue, a sudden breakthroughs on my enemies part started to slowly bring the scale that so far equal into its favor.

As the Ursa realized that going for close quarters waste completely hopeless, it then changed into mixing a bit of ranged combat as well. It would every now and then use a tree or a rock as a projectile by swiping at it and sending it flying towards me, this made me have to be on my guard even when I managed to build some distance between us.

But then it did something that I truly didn't expect as it suddenly stood up once again, remaining completely straight which I thought was just another attempt at intimidation like the first one, but then it got down at a incredible speed and slammed both his front paws on the ground with all its incredible strength. This move created a strong Shockwave that hit me and took me out of balance.

That's when I realized that I wasn't the only one that could do seismic attacks and I had underestimated this grimm's intelligence. This particular Ursa major must have lived a long time and its intelligence rose accordingly until it became what I'm seeing just now.

So making use of this opportunity, the Grimm charged at me ferociously, intent on making up for all the times it has missed, this attack was impossible for me to dodge normally as I was without my foothold and my guard was wide open for it to take advantage.

So for the first time on this fight I was forced to use flash-step in order to hurriedly dodge a incoming claw strike that was being aimed at my torso.

*Swish*

The claws weren't able to make good contact with their mark as I turned into a blur and retreated a few steps back. But despite this narrow dodge, I was still not completely unharmed from this attack.

I looked down into the side of my torso, where I could see my white and gold aura flickering in the spot where the Ursa's claw managed to to scrape me. The damage was minor and it only left a few white streaks in my skin and a even more damaged shirt behind, but I still reprimanded myself for getting into such a close call.

Since I already had a large sample of its combat behavior to analyse and my enemy had already claimed first blood on our fight, I decided that I had enough of just playing passive on this fight and it was about time that I also went on the offensive.

So this time I didn't wait for my opponent to come to me and instead I ran towards it by myself and started my assault. The Ursa didn't stand still and tried to send numerous claw swipes towards me, but with a better understanding of its moves I was able to dodge them and bypass its guard.

But then I ran into the problem that I already knew of since the begining, I could easily find opportunities to attack with how slow my target was, but the problem was that my attacks were mostly ineffective against it and were all blocked by its thick hide.

I went over all the techniques that I've learned so far and most failed to do anything more than mildly inconvenience it. The only techniques that I had that could hope to do some damage against it are 'Dragon's claw' which is capable of piercing its hide due to being specialized for dealing with armored targets but the holes I'd leave were too shallow to really injure it and 'Stampede' after having accumulated a lot of momentum but the problem is that I couldn't get it without being interrupted in the process, making me lose all my progress.

At this moment, I came to the realization that despite all my training, all those years of hard work that I dedicated to becoming stronger and all the skill and finesse I've acquired so far, there's a limit to how much it can hold up when faced with pure strength.

After coming to that realization, I briefly started to feel some frustration, then it turned into hopelessness as I saw no way to end this impasse. But this feeling never got to turn into acceptance as I started feeling determination instead. I felt that if I didn't surpass this hurdle, then I wouldn't be able to admit that it all wasn't for nothing, that all my training and hard work is indeed bearing fruit.

So I adjusted my breathing, purged my mind of all superfluous thoughts that could distract me and focused only on the opponent that was in front of me while remaining completely unharmed. After some calm thinking, I've figured out some ways to tip the scale slightly on my favor, though it doesn't solve the main problem it would still make things easier for me.

First off, I decided to lure the grimm out of this clearing we're standing on that's full of open ground and decided to instead go into the forest where the trees will hinder the mobility of the bigger and less agile grimm. Then I took note that thanks to the Ursa's anatomy, it is incapable of hitting something directly on its back so I would get a clean shot of hitting it without putting myself at risk.

A plan to achieve it was quickly formed on my head and I started making preparations almost immediatly.

First I retreated into the deeper forest with the beast following behind me in order to get myself some terrain advantage. Then turning back towards my opponent, I took a deep breath preparing myself for what I was about to do and started running towards it as it done the same towards me.

On the way, I made sure to send a few air pressure punches in order to distract my opponent and raise some dust in order to give me the opportunity to put what I have planned into action. As we were about to crash into each other, I used the speed to slide along the ground and pass between its legs to reach its back, the Ursa on the other hand was left just staring around dumbly as the dust I've raised had concealed my action and made it lose track of me.

Seeing that it had worked, I then leapt into the creature's back while holding onto its spikes for stability, the Ursa major noticing this started trying to shake me off but my grip held on and I swiftly made my way between the spikes until I reached the front end.

There I quickly performed 'Dragon's claw' and struck with all my strength the top of the Ursa's head, my fingers piercing its masks but the holes being too shallow to finish it off, instead I used this to firmly secure myself on top of the creature so I won't fall.

The Grimm roared in agony and started trying to shake me off with even more vigor with it standing on its rear legs and using its front paws to try and swat me away but I was able to avoid it while maintaining my grip on the beast's head. Every time it tried to swipe me with its claws or ram me into a tree or rock I would change my position in order to avoid it.

So, I used of this opportunity to start attacking unceasingly in hopes of doing some damage, this time I started using 'stampede' since now my enemy couldn't interrupt me and as a rain of punches started to pour on top of its head. So as the momentum increased, the beast started to be more affected with each blow and it was letting out even more pained roars as my blows were finally doing some damage.

So as I kept 'stampede' going, I started to feel that I was reaching my limit for how long I could keep up and decided to just try and finish it off. So dislodging my hand from its head I winded up for a strong attack and struck it with both my arms with my maximum output, sending the beast to the ground.

But I wasn't done yet and infused my right leg with aura until it went over the safe levels before stomping on the beast's head with all my might, as the attack landed I could feel my tendons snapping and my bones creaking from the blowback but my aura quickly started repairing the damage under the influence of my semblance.

Over-saturating a limb with Aura can be a very dangerous move as the body part failing to contain all the aura will also suffer significant damage in return, so this technique can be a double edged sword if not used well, therefore I don't use it unless things are getting desperate.

The Ursa meanwhile was in a much worse state as various cracks appeared throughout its armor and many of its teeth broke, but that's not where the real damage was as the Shockwave created by 'aura stomp' also created vibrations that damage the beast on the inside, therefore ignoring its external defense.

The beast once again lets out a guttural roar of agony and after getting up, it decides to use another method to throw me off by instead rolling on the ground to try and squish me, the movements are a bit awkward thanks to its spikes being in the way but in the end it manages it.

So without any other option, I jump from its back and manage to avoid becoming a pancake, the fight now somewhat returning to how it was before.

But it wouldn't remain like that for long as the enraged Ursa closed in for a strike with its claw, I already expecting the attack dodged backwards to avoid it but was taken by surprise as the grimm instead used the same tactic that I used on it before and its swipe caused a cloud of dust to be raised right in front of me which got into my eye and momentarily distracted me.

And before I knew it, the Ursa had already opened both its arms and pounced towards me, this time successfully catching me in a death hug. Meanwhile I was completely restrained and unable to move because of this and could only struggle on his hold.

The hold on me was becoming gradually tighter as the grimm did its best to crush me, only barely stopped by my rapidly diminishing aura. I could feel my bones creaking and could only barely hold back myself from screaming from the pain.

At this time I was starting to remember that I've once read that being caught in an Ursa's death hug is one of the slowest and most painful ways to die to a grimm. Afterall, they tend to be very quick and efficient with their kills.

I know that grimm doesn't have feelings and take no joy or satisfaction in the act of killing, doing so purely due to being their nature. But right now I couldn't help but imagine that this move was something deliberate in the grimm's part, so it can watch the human that gave it so much trouble perish in agony.

But in this situation, I choose to endure the pain and rationally think of a way to get out of this situation, as getting panicked would not help me out in the least.

Then it suddenly pops into my mind a rejected idea that I had when I was trying to come up with a way to more easily use aura sonar while in battle, so I start gathering up my remaining aura, that at this point had finally reached the red and started spreading it evenly throughout all my body.

As I do that, my body starts to glow white as my aura starts flickering due to both the constant damage it's receiving as well as the sheer amount that it's being gathered. If it works, this is easily going to be the most aura used in a single move than I've ever done before, so I have to make sure that it doesn't just go wild.

So, after I gathered up enough, I then release it all like if I was doing an Aura detonation but using my whole body.

'Force!'

So this move created a repealing force originating from my body that pushed everything away and it was enough to brake the hold my enemy had on me and force it back despite its large size. But on the other hand I didn't even need to at my Scroll to know how much aura I had left, aura exhaustion is a symptom that I grew quite familiar while training so my current aura must be less than 10%.

So now I was once again at this same bloody impasse! But now I was almost out of aura and both my arms were numb from the previous death hug. Despite trying to keep myself calm in this situation, I couldn't help but feel despair and frustration at this circumstances.

'Dammit! This isn't enough, I have tried everything I had but in the end it was all useless. I need...strength, I need to acquire overwhelming strength in order to deal with this.'

As those emotions became stronger and stronger, my aura started to react and move on its own in response to my moment of high stress and it started to concentrate on my extremities. This movement was happening without the need of my control and resembled that of a very familiar phenomenon.

"Semblance..." I couldn't help but say out loud.

So as the aura responded to my semblance, it started gathering on my arms and legs and those limbs started to feel warm, like if I was dripping them on hot water, but I wasn't feeling any pain or discomfort from it.

Then, I started to see white flames flickering on those limbs, growing more intense and consuming aura even quicker alongside a feeling of strength flowed through me.

'Is this a new semblance? No, I can still feel some familiarity from it so I should still be aura amp. But how can a semblance that was originally just for support achieve so much power?'

I decide to just stop thinking about it and just use it to my advantage since it appeared at such a perfect time.