Fighting a bear...

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As it turns out, fighting bears is on my agenda now.

I'm smacked into a tree, the snow falling off the branches and landing on my face. I roll and stand up, barely dodging a large paw hitting my chest. I swing my sword at the paw, channeling my mana before taking a backstep.

Another scratch appears on the arm as the bear growls, swinging the other paw in my direction. Since I lack explicit attacking power at the moment, every battle is a battle of attrition.

I swing once again since I was out of its range, only to find that my blade is smacked out of my hands and to the side. It sticks into a nearby tree, far from my reach.

I would usually be able to make a quick spark of external flames as a distraction... but there's too much water mana in the surroundings.

I step back and immediately dart, intending to loop the bear around the tree.

Introducing to you all... snow bears!!! The current one I'm fighting seems to be around D-, stronger than me. Snow bears are a common type of beast in west Istantetzia, typically possessing the mana type of water and specifying into ice.

Basically just a stronger bear that has really good resistances to physical attacks. Year round, the eastern half of Istantetzia that it inhabits remains frigid with seemingly no cause.

Anyways, back to getting thrashed. I loop around a few narrow trees before banking right and attempting to circle around the creature. I barely roll beneath a horizontal swipe and reach my sword, prying it out of the tree before thrusting it towards the head of the bear.

The tip of the blade pierces its jaw, but diverges in its path and misses its skull. I attempt to withdraw the blade from the wound in time, only to be met with another paw strike to the chest. Damn, I'm getting messed up right now.

The front of my shirt is now ripping open, three strips of flesh in the shape of a claw scratch now exposed and torn. I slash the blade upwards, across the lip and left eye of the bear, causing it to step back and retreat upon its hind legs.

That's definitely bad. I sidestep and roll away, only to be caught in the attack anyways. Both of the bears claws slam down upon me, completely knocking the wind out of my chest and likely breaking some ribs.

I try to lift myself up and stab only for the bear to repeat it's slam, breaking even more of my now paper-thin body. I really need to stop getting pinned under people.

I end up coughing up blood whilst drawing in as much mana as I can in a desperate attempt to do... something. I send the mana outwards through my body with all my strength, resulting in a medium sized explosion.

Sadly, I am not exempt from the effects of this as my body is sent hurtling down the cliffside and towards the ground. Hey, at least I'm still holding my sword.

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Thomas Ishviel POV...

It's tail rockets towards me like a whip, and in response I raise my sword to a guard. I feel the tremendous force impact into me, sending me back several paces as my feet dig into the ground.

Injured and malnourished or not, an adult dragon is still an adult dragon. I send mana to my legs, compressing my heels before jumping forward and curling up into a ball.

At the speed I'm going, it's direct impact in half a second, so I move. I unfurl and hold the sword above my head, swinging it as I rocket towards the dragon. The dragon lifts its paw up and blocks the slash, although staggering slightly as my momentum is slowed mid-air.

I attempt to capitalize on the opportunity by drawing a rune with my left hand, thrusting out my arm to cast it. Erupting from my arm, a beam of fire shoots out and towards the chest of the dragon. The flame is orange and majestic, as if carrying an unknown royalty.

The dragons chest heaves, the gular pouch beneath its mouth expanding and lighting up before releasing a blast of greater size. These flames are blue, as if foreign and arcane yet reminiscent in form of traditional flames.

The blasts collide in the air, imploding temporarily before filling the room with a blast of fire. It sends me all the way into the far back cave wall, my feet hitting the wall as I crouch down and jump forward yet again.

This... this is what I needed to get the blood pumping! Speaking of pumping blood, I've just coughed some of mine out!

The dragon looks behind itself before looking back at me. I arrive in front of it once again, to which the creature decides to directly shoot a blast of fire in my face.

Before my vision is encompassed in flames, I see something comparatively small dart out from behind the dragon and presumably out of the cave. I raise my arms, using my bare flesh as a vambrace to protect myself from the flame.

The dragon stops spewing fire, assuming me to be incinerated, only to be surprised when it spots that I'm still there. I don't give it the chance to begin breathing fire again, stabbing my blade through the upper and lower mandible before pinning my blade to the floor.

A scream of pain sounds in my mind, likely from the dragon... then a cry. It... it reminds me of how Sandra used to cry when she believed Arthur would pass.

My smile drops as I look down at my hands. I... I am a deplorable man. I don't know what to do from here. I can't really let the dragon go, lest it seek out revenge, but I don't think I have the heart to kill it anymore.

"Detestable human... you who sought to hurt me and my offspring..." The dragons voice is wrought with pain, as if it's on the verge of insanity. "You shall suffer... as I have suffered..."

I look up to the dragon only to realize late that it's plan is one of mutual destruction. What I saw darting out of the cave must've been the last of its young fleeing so she could give up her life.

It's body slowly starts to crack, a blue light shining out from underneath the skin. An immense amount of mana floods the room all at once, causing a mana boom and an extremely potent explosion.

An azure flame pushes me into the wall with extreme force, incinerating my clothes and scorching me quite bad. It doesn't seem to let up yet... or at all.

All I can say is... I kinda deserved it.

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