Unexpected betrayal

Plop!

Finally, the last of the shadow birds died.

Kayla looked towards the remaining enemies and smiled. Of the several dozen monsters that had chased her at the beginning, now only a couple of wolves and a dozen skeletons remained.

But achieving all this was not without consequences. Currently, her body is riddled with wounds.

Her once flawless face was now littered with cuts and scrapes caused by the birds. Her wounds oozed blood, which bothered her a little, but Kayla did her best to ignore the annoying sensation.

Not to mention all the cuts on his back and the bite on his abdomen or on his left arm, with which he was not holding the sword, torn by a wolf bite. She had been between a rock and a hard place and she had decided to sacrifice her arm to move forward.

All of this caused Kayla enormous pain even without her Foresight, so it wasn't hard to imagine everything Kayla had to endure to get to this point in the fight.

But despite that, she smiled like a girl. The beads of sweat that ran down her bloody face, the faint taste of iron in her mouth, the pain of moving her body beyond her limits… all of that was shown by Kayla that she was alive

That even she, who had lost the will to live, could also enjoy life or well, enjoy the fight.

That's why Kayla couldn't help but have an excited smile on her face.

The shadowy subordinates, who had been watching Kayla hoping to find an opening, trembled when they saw her smile. Although they did not possess much intelligence, they still maintained their basic instincts.

Their instincts told them to escape from the predator in front of them, but unfortunately, they were just puppets following orders and they had been given the mission to kill the predator in front of them…

Not caring about the shadow subordinates' hesitation and desperation, Kayla advanced with her shining sword. She finally understood the messages that appeared every time he killed a shadow monster.

She noticed that his sword glowed a little brighter every time he killed a shadow subordinate. Although he didn't know the exact reason why this didn't happen with normal monsters, he could guess that it was because shadow subordinates were related to dark elements.

And leaving that aside, something interesting happened when his sword shone bright enough to illuminate the area.

The brighter the light shines...

Kayla swung her sword at one of the wolves who had been paralyzed by fear, forming a perfect arc in the air.

The moment the sword grazed the wolf, her body began to dissolve rapidly. And without any mishap, the sword pierced the wolf.

The shadow is smaller!

Kayla smiled as she ducked, dodging a wolf that jumped at her. And without missing the opportunity, he pierced the wolf's stomach while it was in the air, killing it instantly.

Kayla hurriedly ran towards the remaining wolf. He had to kill him quickly... before the loud footsteps he had been hearing got any closer.

And as she guessed, just as Kayla decapitated the remaining wolf, several figures emerged from the forest, destroying several trees in the process.

Three three-meter-tall black bears glared at Kayla fiercely. Her body, unlike the rest of the shadows' subordinates, expelled black smoke, as if to show their terrifying presence.

Kayla's eyes twitched a little. With so many battles that she had experienced in this world and the previous one, she had acquired a kind of sixth sense that warned her when someone was dangerous.

And that sixth sense was currently giving him a slight headache...

This is going to be difficult… Kayla looked at the bear in the center, whose body was blacker than the other two. In fact, that was the main cause of her headache.

Something inside her told her that this bear was dangerous.

Meanwhile, the trio of bears were watching her carefully. The bears on the sides only looked at her superficially, waiting to see her strength. However, the bear in the middle was different.

There was a hint of intelligence in her eyes and it was obvious that she began to look at Kayla cautiously after noticing that only a few skeletons remained of all the monsters that had chased her.

And most of all, she looked at Kayla's sword with fear. The energy within the sword caused an instinctive fear within him.

And without wanting to die, the bear made a decision instantly...

"Rwr!" The two bears on the sides roared and moved forward, planning to tear apart the little human in front of them.

Kayla, with her only functional arm, tightened her grip on her sword and pointed it at the bears.

"You better get ready, because I assure you that the one who is going to lose is not going to be me-!" Kayla screamed, trying to intimidate the bears, but her words got stuck in her throat at what she saw.

"Auww!!"

Two piercing screams echoed through the forest. The two bears that had charged at Kaila were now lying on the ground due to a sudden attack behind them.

The bear in the middle, much smarter than its companions, had its claws stuck where the hearts of the fallen bears should be.

Both bears looked fearfully at the darker bear, who had acted as their leader from the moment they had been created. They expected an attack from all sides but never from their leader...

The leader, however, looked blankly at the companions who had accompanied him in his short life as an undead and absorbed his powers.

The bodies of both bears began to disperse into shadows that were absorbed by the leading bear. A series of changes began to occur to him. Its fur became darker and its body grew in size, while its claws and teeth became sharper.

"That?!" Kayla looked at the betrayal in utter disbelief. She didn't know that even animals could betray each other!

But despite her surprise, she did not remain idle. Her instinct told her that whatever the bear was doing would only be bad news for her.

She ran without hesitation, prepared to cut him in half with her sword. But the skeletons, which she had been ignoring from the beginning stood in her way.

"Damn!" Kayla swung her sword hard, shattering the skeleton in front of her with a single blow.

But despite that, he still wasted a bit of time killing them.

So she could only watch with some terror as the leading bear became bigger and bigger...

Just as he finally killed the last skeleton, the bodies of the two bears turned into smoke that dispersed into the air…

And now, a five-meter-long bear with sharp claws and fangs was staring at her with murderous intent. Some runes that had appeared along with his transformation began to glow an intense purple color.

Although Kayla hated to admit it, the aura the bear exuded at this moment had made her shiver.

Although the aura was nowhere near that of the goblin general she had faced, there was an additional air of death that gave Kayla chills.

Although the shaking only lasted a few moments. His face, which until now had been calm, began to show signs of nervousness.

However, a warm current came out of her sword, calming her.

Kayla looked at the sword in a daze. That warm current had not only calmed her, but she also felt that her body had become stronger. Although she couldn't be sure, she felt as if all of her stats increased by twenty points...

Although that was not even enough for his strength to even slightly match that of the bear, any difference in strength at this moment would decide his life or death.

Although her sword, which had been illuminating the surroundings, was now a little dull.

"I guess that power boost she gave me wasn't free…" Kayla looked at her sword and then at the bear, which had been stretching her body as if she was getting used to her new body.

The bear, sensing Kayla's gaze, growled and turned towards her, glaring at her fiercely. Kayla's pitiful figure was reflected in her pupils. But despite that, her strong will to fight along with her sword aura made the bear unable to take her lightly.

Kayla gulped, although she would fight with the intention of winning, she knew what her situation was. A disabled arm, multiple wounds that were still bleeding, and his mind worn out from fighting so much...

But despite all that, along with her nerves about death, she was excited to see how she would get through this tough battle. With all those conflicting feelings in her heart, Kayla lunged forward.

Kayla's speed was much greater than before thanks to the improvements in her sword, so she arrived before the bear in an instant.

He tried to cut the bear's neck with his sword, but the bear had no intention of standing still and letting himself be killed. He intercepted her sword with his own claw, which had overwhelming force behind it, almost causing her to drop her sword.

"Is strong...!" Kayla felt the tug on her hand. The bear was much stronger than I expected!

She tried to back away, but the bear wouldn't give her that chance. The bear charged forward at her, crashing her huge body into it!

Kayla's tiny body was sent flying!

But surprisingly, she landed safely on the ground. Instead, the bear had a giant gash on her neck!

"It's good that I have foresight…" Kayla thanked her as her legs hurt.

She had been able to see the bear's charge in advance and thanks to that she was able to jump using the bear's head as support before it collided with her, using her momentum to jump a safe distance! All this while she made a cut on her neck!

"Rawww!"

The bear roared towards the heavens, furious. He charged at Kayla again. But Kayla had learned her lesson. Instead of trying to crash into him, he waited until the last minute to dodge to the side and launch some slashes towards his limbs.s.

That tactic worked quite well for her. But even though his battle path synergy was active, he still had to take several hits. There was even a time when the bear almost bit her!

But looking at the bear covered in wounds, Kayla felt it was all worth it. There was no part of the bear's body without wounds!

"Hahaha, I guess you weren't much different from the skeletons in the end" Kayla smiled, trusting herself again...

The bear looked at her with hatred, wondering how someone so weak could cause him so much trouble. Finally, at the limit of how little patience she had, she decided to end the fight once and for all.

Suddenly, the bear stood up on two legs. The runes, which were glowing with a purple hue, shone even brighter. And along with its glow, a purple aura began to surround the bear's paw...

Kayla watched all this with her mouth open and immediately rushed towards the bear, prepared to kill it once and for all. Or else, she felt like she would end up dead!

She would finish off that damn bear once and for all!

As if sensing his emotions, his sword began to glow brightly, like a flame burning brightly in its final moment!

But the bear didn't stay still either. Before Kayla could get closer, the purple aura had covered the bear's claw, doubling its size!

Not to mention, a bit of purple aura covered his body, strengthening him!

Thanks to foresight, Kayla could see that the bear had doubled her speed.

But Kayla was not intimidated by that and she bravely advanced, planning to cut off his leg and decapitate him by taking advantage of her imbalance!

However, the plan, her path to victory, that she had created together with her synergy suddenly disappeared, scaring her.

Kayla's eyes twitched, but before she could think about anything, a sharp headache hit her, and without warning, a new path appeared before her eyes.

Although Kayla didn't understand what had happened, her head was a mess and she simply followed the path that her synergy, which until now had not failed her, laid out for her.

Using all her strength, Kayla jumped as high as she could. He jumped so high that he could even see directly into its night-black eyes.

Kayla swung her sword hard in a perfect arc in the air, planning to blow the bear's head into the air!

But the bear, although surprised by the sudden change in the fighting strategy of the weak human, who had only been fleeing and causing minor injuries, responded easily.

He raised his claw that was covered in that purple aura in an attempt to collide with Kayla's sword, but before he could even fully raise it…

"Frozen chains!"

Suddenly, several chains made of ice appeared along with a feminine scream and wrapped around the bear's body, restricting her movement!

The bear, nervous, used all his strength in an attempt to break the chains. Although "Luckily" for him, the ice chains were not very strong and broke in less than two seconds. Although for that moment...

[You have killed a level 56 bear-type shadow subordinate!]

[As the enemy you just killed is someone else's summon, the experience gained has been reduced]

[Experience has been reduced by using an external factor to defeat enemies]

[+15,000 experience!]

[+7,000 experience for killing higher level enemy!]

...The bear's head was flying through the air.