Chapter 12 - Madness

"How did it get so close without us noticing it?" Arthur asked as he prepared himself. Nyx automatically covered Arthur with its body.

Just like last time, Arthur grew in size and a wide toothy grin that showed all of his sharp teeth appeared on his face.

"It must have a skill that can conceal its presence. And its concealment lost its effect the moment it got near us." Lucia also prepared her fighting stance, she raised her left hand and balled it into a fist while her right hand was lowered and resembled like a knife.

"I see, it must have judged that we're already its prey."

"Yes, master."

"Do you like bear soup for dinner tonight, Lucia?" Arthur joked to ease the tension they were feeling. If Arthur was alone he wouldn't dare to fight a First Tier creature unless it was absolutely necessary.

But since Lucia was with him, he felt it was doable. He didn't include Kent and his other summons because as of now, they were simply too weak.

"I'll have a taste, master." Lucia chuckled.

Arthur smiled as he kicked the ground and dashed towards the First Tier beast!

ROAAR!

It roared upon seeing the human who foolishly went inside its striking zone, the bear swings its left paw with speed that didn't matched its size!

Even though the First Tier beast did its attack casually; this single attack was more than enough to put Arthur six feet below the ground.

However, Arthur didn't stop and positions his katana for a counterattack. Why? Because he wasn't alone.

The First Tier Agile Bear sneered at the stupid human who thought that he could withstand its attack.

Just as the attack was about to hit Arthur, Lucia appeared and punched the incoming paw with all her strength.

Crack!

It was like throwing an egg to a rock.

Lucia's arm broke but she achieved her purpose. The First Tier Agile Bear's paw flung to the opposite side because of Lucia's intervention. Nonetheless, the cost of it was Lucia's arm bending to an unnatural angle.

"You'll pay for this... wait... what if master won't like my hand anymore?" Lucia mumbled and her cold face broke because of this thought.

"No. No. No, that won't do. [Blood Plunder]!" Lucia activated her skill.

The First Tier Agile Bear who was the target of the skill, started to cry with tears of blood. A heartbeat later blood also started to come out from its ears, nose and mouth.

The blood flowed like a constant river and went towards Lucia. Lucia's arm started to heal at an astonishing speed, the blood of the First Tier Agile Bear became the source for Lucia's insane regeneration.

Although it looked like the First Tier Agile Bear suffered great damage, in reality, Lucia's skill only took some of its blood and caused a minor debuff. The effects would be different if the target was the same rank as Lucia or lower.

The First Tier Agile Bear was about to swat Lucia when it felt an attack was coming that could threaten its life. It trusted its instincts and immediately raised its paws to its head.

Lucia took this chance to step back and maintain a good distance from the First Tier Agile Bear. She knew that she could have attack but she didn't because she have learned how tough the beast's defense was.

Now her only role is to be the bait and pave the way for her master.

Clang!

The katana that was about to pierce its right eye bounced back because of the beast's thick skin.

"Tsk." Arthur clicked his tongue in annoyance. If only that surprise attack worked; they would have an easy time killing it.

Arthur used the huge body of the First Tier Agile Bear as a stepping. He stomped his left foot; backs away and landed beside Lucia.

He didn't use his Space Manipulation because he didn't want to waste his mana on things that wouldn't cause significant damage and he wanted to lower the beast's guard first before surprising it with his skill.

ROOOAAAR!

The beast roared angrily at its two prey. A prey dares to attack its predator?! Unforgivable!

It looked at Arthur, it knew that the one who could threaten it was the male while the other one could only tickle it. Its gaze locked on Arthur and suddenly, it went on all fours! It was preparing to use its skill, [Bull Charge].

Arthur knew what the beast was thinking, it was so obvious because the killing intent it was releasing was clearly aimed at him.

In an instant, the First Tier Agile Bear disappeared. Based from its killing gaze earlier, Arthur instantly predicted what it was going to do.

'Brace!!' Arthur managed raise his katana in a defense position before...

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

Like a broken kite, Arthur flew towards a nearby tree and crashed on to it. The tree trunk now had a cobweb like crack and at the center of it was Arthur's broken body.

The only reason why he didn't turn in to meat paste was because he managed to 'soften' the blow a little with that 'block' and Nyx was also covering him.

Arthur's arms that were used for blocking the blow bent to an unnatural angle and bones could be seen poking outside of it. That part of Arthur also didn't have Nyx's cover anymore because of the critical blow that the First Tier Agile Bear gave him.

Arthur's katana didn't survive either and it shattered in to pieces because of the devastating blow.

His body also have several broken bones and some of it were piercing his insides. If Arthur's family saw his condition right now; they will absolutely go beyond mad.

"Cough..." Arthur coughed up a mouthful of blood and the light in his eyes dimmed before his body lifelessly fell to the side.

"Wh-what?" Lucia couldn't process what happened. But upon seeing Arthur's state, she felt something inside her snap. She didn't know what it was and she didn't care. All she wanted right now was destroy the very thing that have caused it.

The First Tier Agile Bear was now standing to where Arthur previously was and it sneered when it saw the human's condition after taking its attack.

Truly fragile beings, one hit from it and the human was already out for the count. They were that fragile yet they dared to bare their fangs at it.

The beast gave Arthur one last glance before turning its head to Lucia. It was sure that Arthur could not survive that blow and will eat him later after it finishes dealing with this woman in front of it.

Lucia didn't know that the First Tier Agile Bear was already looking at her direction because her focus was entirely on Arthur.

Regret started to overwhelm her entire being.

If only they knew that the First Tier Agile Bear was a speed type. If only she could react. If only she was faster. If only she anticipated the attack. If only she was stronger. If only... if only this beast didn't exist.

Lucia painfully removed her gaze from Arthur and glared hatefully at it. There was great fury in her eyes while looking at the very thing that caused all of... this.

"I'll kill you!... I'LL FUCKING KILL—!" Lucia was about to say something when she coughed up blood.

Drip. Drip.

The First Tier Agile Bear's claws pierced Lucia from one side to the other. It removed its claws from Lucia's guts and blood dripped from it. Lucia now have several holes on her body which continued leaking blood.

"I'll... kill... " Lucia still tried to say something but what came out were only soft murmurs. The light in her eyes slowly started to dim and her feet staggered.

Grab!

The beast held Lucia's unresisting body with its claws, it opened its mouth and roared at her. It seemed to say 'Who's going to kill who?'. Before tossing Lucia's body to the side and walks towards Arthur's body.

It wanted to save Lucia for dessert after it have eaten its main course.

That's right, this beast wanted to eat Arthur first. Why? Because it felt humiliated! This puny little human of the Unranked Tier, although briefly, managed to threaten its life?! Unforgivable! That's why it needed to eat this human first in order to wash away the humiliation it felt.

It was not at all worried that some other creature may come and snatch its prey. It's because this part of the forest is its territory. Nothing would dare to come knocking at its door unless it had a death wish. Yes, just like these two who dared to challenge it.

When the First Tier Agile bear was only a few steps away from Arthur, it stopped on its feet and felt an immeasurable killing intent which made all the hair on its body stand up.

The First Tier Agile Bear quickly turned around and flinched when it saw a human(?). It doubted its eyes because it was sure that the human(?) was already killed by it! So how come? How come the human(?) was standing infront of it!?

Well, far from being killed; the human(?) was alive and kicking. The fatal attack that the human(?) received from the beast's claws already closed as if it wasn't there in the first place.

The hair of the human(?)'s hair was no longer short; the silver hair reached below her waist, veins emerged from the side of her eyes and a 5cm horn protruded on the center of her forehead. Sparks of pinkish lightning could be seen dancing around it.

She looked at the First Tier Agile bear with a big toothy evil grin on her face.

However, those were not the reasons why the First Tier beast felt fear.

No.

The reason was... her eyes.

Staring at her eyes, the First Tier beast shivered because of what it saw. It never once saw something as intense like this in its life, well, not until now.

Lucia's dark purple eyes visibly glowed and in it was...

Overwhelming madness.