"Keep shooting at it!" Countess Gladine shouted at the soldiers. "We need to hold it off until reinforcements arrive! It must be low on mana! We can do it!"
The soldiers surrounding the pit knocked arrows to bow strings. They kept shooting down at the monster. Robar chanted another incantation. Fire sparked into being in front of his staff. The ball of fire grew in size till it was half his height, hovering, swirling, and rippling in the air. After chanting some more of the incantation, the fireball shot down into the pit. Would that be more powerful than the arrows? Would that be able to hold back the expana bear?
Countess Gladine turned to her soldiers and pointed at the pit. "Get ready to be the archer's frontline!" she told them. "This monster will probably be able to climb out of the pit!"
The soldiers by her side bowed and ran to the hole.
All Ryan could see when he looked at the pit were arrows shooting down into it, and then bouncing up and into the air. It didn't appear like the arrows were doing anything to the monster. He couldn't see the fireballs bouncing up and out of the hole, but that could also mean that the fireballs just extinguished when they hit against the bear's scales and did nothing. There was no way of telling. He could only hope they did.
Countess Gladine even turned to the four soldiers she stationed on the four corners of the group of slaves. "I'll handle them." She grabbed one of those intricately carved wands from the belts of one of the soldiers. "You four need to be by the pit."
The four of them bowed, and ran to the hole, spears and shields ready.
"Actually, wait," she said. She held up her hand, beckoning them to stop. They did and turned to her. "Tell the others that I want them to attack the monster in a specific way."
They nodded.
"I want the infantry to charge at the monster's defenceless chest from the middle."
Why charge the chest from one angle? Wouldn't it be best to surround it from all angles?
"Bait it into trying to bite you, therefore opening its mouth. When that happens, activate your Aegis skill to protect yourselves. The archers should hold their fire until the monster's mouth is open. Then shoot at its defenceless flesh from the inside."
That could work. That would be if the archers were competent enough to shoot at such a small and fast moving target. They'd also need a bit of luck. Especially considering the tiny amount of time the monster's mouth would be open.
But what would be the alternative? His idea to attack it from all angles could work. The monster wouldn't be able to attack from all angles at once. But it would attack at one angle, and would therefore require the sacrifice of at least one or two soldiers. However, if the Aegis skill protected them against attacks, as Countess Gladine's explanation implied, then not even the soldiers the monster would attack would be killed.
But then there was the issue of the expana bear being level 100. Who knew if their Aegis skills, even whilst having their stats enhanced by Countess Gladine, would be enough to stop the expana bear's paws, let alone its claws? It's not like their arrows did anything to its scales. It would be a gamble. But not a worthy gamble in Ryan's eyes. It wasn't like he cared much for the lives of these soldiers. But Countess Gladine obviously felt differently.
If the archers were able to shoot into its mouth and instantly kill it before it could attack anyone, then none of the soldiers would die. Still a pretty reckless plan because the archers could just miss, and result in everyone dying. But it also showed that Countess Gladine was unwilling to gamble with the lives of her soldiers, and also sincerely trusted in their skills.
Despite the danger of her plans, the soldiers nodded, bowed, and ran over to the pit without hesitation. They seemed to trust her as well. Once they arrived there, they spoke to each of the soldiers there one by one.
The expana bear finally clawed its way up the pit so it was high enough for Ryan to see it. After staring at it for a while, he could see that it's mana dropped down to 3%. The decrease must've been the result of using the Skill it used to destroy the boulder. That should've given the soldiers the advantage considering it couldn't use anymore Skills.
But the soldier's arrows just bounced off its thick scales, not even making it flinch. When arrows would head for the eyes, it would just close its eyelids, and the arrows would bounce off the scales that covered them.
Even Robar's fireballs would just extinguish upon impact. He tried to experiment with shooting different elements at the expana bear, such as thunderbolts, but that did nothing. He tried to spray a sheet of ice at its feet, along the pit's walls. Ryan thought that would be able to slow it down, but it just effortlessly pulled its feet up and out of the ice, shattering it with the force of its legs. Nothing could stop its advance.
Its only weakness seemed to be its chest and stomach. But it would be difficult to target that with bows and arrows considering how the expana bear climbed up the pit on all-fours, and would probably do the same when it exited the pit. That would require a melee fighter to run under its body and stab up at its chest or stomach, both body parts that its scales didn't cover.
The eight melee frontline soldiers finally arrived by the pit. The archers backed away from it, letting the Warriors with spears and shields run ahead of them to the frontline.
The expana bear finally climbed out of the pit. The real danger of their situation seemed to have finally dawned on the soldiers. Robar's eyes bulged. Even the infantryman backed away from it with trembling legs, finally witnessing the sheer size of the beast up close.
"Unlock our chains already," one of the large human slaves who had a face full of scars said to Countess Gladine. "We'll defeat it with ease."
Why would they even suggest that? They were slaves. They may have been more experienced than himself on the other slaves, but a slave is a slave. If the soldiers couldn't defeat it, then why would they be able to help? Countess Gladine didn't respond to them. She didn't even glance at them. The soldiers near to the pit must've heard, because many groaned in response or shot back glares.
"All of your soldiers will die, your grace," the other veteran slave said. "I don't mean to belittle your intelligence, but your plan won't work. Is your elven pride really worth such a sacrifice?"
"It's not pride!" one of the soldiers shouted back at them. "It's reality!" Were they really so petty as to care about such a thing during a life or death situation? Why did they have such a big issue with humans?
"Are you like them, your grace?"
She sighed. She turned to the two slaves. "No, I will not be giving you an opportunity to kill me and flee, Cameron."
"Wise choice," The slave with a scarred face said with a chuckle. "Letting me free would be a big mistake. I was just thinking of what it'd be like to strangle you to death right here and now."
The soldiers at the pit shot back a scowl at the slave.
The other slave who seemed to be called Cameron jabbed him in the ribs. "You're not helping, Zack." he said.
The slave with a scarred face who seemed to be called Zack shrugged. "Who said I was trying to? I just wanted to torment her. Stress is cumulative and she's reaching her breaking point."
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
The expana bear shook the cave with a roar and galloped at the soldiers. The sight of such a large beast running at them so fast froze the soldiers in fear. Countess Gladine clicked her tongue."Don't let it intimidate you!" she shouted with a passionate but quivering voice "You're strong! Charge it!"
In response to her words, the soldiers seemed to have suppressed their fear. They tightened their grips on their bows, spears, and shields. The wizard spun his staff in his hand. All of them glaring at the approaching expana bear that galloped close enough to cover them all with its shadow.
The infantry ground their teeth with resolve. They chanted incantations under their breaths. A red glow covered their bodies. They then roared as they ran at the beast, sprinting at an inhuman speed, and rattling the rocks beneath their feet.
Countess Gladine stepped forward a few paces and pressed her palms together, as if in prayer. She chanted a few incantations. A golden glow surrounded her body. She pushed one palm away from the other, and forwards. It pointed towards her soldiers. A golden glow covered them as well, mixing with the red, enveloping, entering, and swirling around it.
After Countess Gladine hit them with whatever that prayer or skill was, the soldiers ran faster. Their feet slapped the floor harder. The archers drew their bow strings back further.
Finally, the infantry met the expana bear. It swung a claw covered paw at them, half the size of their bodies.
They kicked off the ground, crushing rocks under their feet. They jumped. They flew over the bear's swinging arm and then fell to the ground, charging at its chest. But it had two front arms. It slashed the other at them as well.
They all jumped again. But not all of them jumped as high as each other. And the expana bear seemed to have learned from the last time it swung at them. This time it angled its slash in a slightly more vertical angle. So even though all of the soldiers jumped, claws still sliced towards the ones who didn't jump high enough.
The claws sliced through their armour like butter. Blood splashed out of the two halves of the two soldiers who got caught by it. Their corpses dropped to the floor. Their shredded armour clattered against the ground. Their blood pooled on the floor, and intestines sloshed out of it.
The sight sickened Ryan. Whilst he did recently die, that didn't at all make him numb to the sight of it. In fact, the horror of the experience flashed through his mind. His body stung, remembering how it felt. He wanted to rub and scratch the scars on his body, but the cuffs around his wrists restricted the movement of his arms. Even though he didn't care much for the lives of these soldiers and was actually excited to see them die, he couldn't help but frown at the gore.
"Shame," Cameron said with a sigh and a shake of his head, seeming slightly saddened by their deaths. "If only they'd listen."
Zack snorted and smirked. "Imbeciles," he muttered.
The rest of the slaves gasped. Their eyes bulged with horror.
Countess Gladine grimaced at their deaths. She didn't appear disgusted by the gore, just saddened by witnessing a loss of life.
The soldiers scowled as they landed on the rocky floor, and kicked off the ground to charge at the monster's chest. After leaping over and past its claw-covered paws, all that was left for the bear to defend itself with was its fang-filled maw. So it opened its mouth wide, jerking its head towards the soldiers.
The infantry swiftly muttered incantations. A red glow enveloped their shields. The glow expanded into walls, each twice the width and height of the soldiers. Their run slowed to a jog. The slowing of their bodies didn't look like a gradual and controlled decrease in speed as if they did so deliberately. It was as if a heavy weight held down every limb and forced them down at the back.
Was this the Aegis skill Countess Gladine was talking about? It seemed to be a defensive skill, so Ryan assumed the cost of the increased defence was a decrease in speed. Which could prevent their deaths if the expana bear did try to bite down on them. They didn't need their speed, because it wasn't them that were doing the attacking. They were only there to bait the monster to open its mouth, revealing its defenceless and fleshy innards. They didn't even need the defence, because if the archers did their job, then the monster should instantly die.
Robar and the archers all stared down into the dark depths of its throat. The Mage chanted an incantation and pointed his staff at the monster's mouth. Sparks of electricity flashed in front of his staff. The sparks swirled around each other. They grew in size and intensity until they turned into flashing streaks of lightning. They increased in size and number until they got so close together that they turned into a sphere of rippling thunder. Robar finished chanting the incantation and flicked his staff at the monster.
The archers let go of a deep breath and simultaneously let go of the strings of their bows, letting their glowing arrows zoom away from them and blur towards the monster's mouth. The Mage's bolt of thunder zapped at it, faster than the arrows.
The expana bear's black and beady eyes widened slightly. It tilted its head backwards, and began to close its mouth. Half a dozen of the arrows hit against its scaly lips, and bounced off them. The rest slammed into its fangs. A few fangs fell to the ground and into its mouth, and a few others cracked from the impact. But otherwise the arrows bounced off the fangs, cracked them, or sunk into the cracks..
The wizard's lightning, however, zapped straight into the bear's mouth. But, the monster tilted its head backwards. Instead of the bolt of thunder zapping straight down the bear's maw, into its throat, and through its brain, the lightning instead shot up and into the roof of the bear's mouth.
It roared and shivered in agony. Blood splashed through its lips, both from the burnt and wounded inner mouth, but also from the fallen and battered teeth.
But the expana bear wasn't dead.
A few hasty infantrymen hefted their spears up and over their Aegis' and threw them inside its mouth. One stabbed into the bear's inner mouth, one plunged into its tongue, and one bounced off its scaly lip.
But they didn't kill it.
Countess Gladine's eyes bulged with shock and dread.
"Why did it have to be this way?" Cameron muttered. He frowned.
Ryan and the slaves smirked.
Zack burst into laughter. "What are they doing!?" He cackled as if watching a youtube video of a street fight. "Is it really so hard to shoot a fucking arrow or throw a damn spear?"
Ryan didn't think he could do any better, but these elf supremacists deserved every bit of that.
With pain and rage shivering and tensing the bear's body, it glared down at the infantry below it.
They pointed their Aegis' up at the monster's approaching head. It pulled its paws that the soldiers jumped over earlier back towards the soldiers. Its claws slashed towards their backs.
A few of the soldiers spun around to block the slashing of claws with their Aegis Skill. But whilst the archers knocked more arrows to bowstrings and the Mage muttered something under its breath, the bear spread its mouth wide open.
It snapped its maw down on the defenceless backs of the four soldiers that turned around. Its fangs slid across and cracked the Aegis' of the soldiers that didn't turn around, but they sank straight into the armour and flesh of the ones that did.
By the time the Archers loosed arrows and the Mage zapped another bolt of thunder at the monster, it closed its mouth, chewing on the armour and guts of the soldiers it killed.
The other five soldiers who didn't turn around, however, weren't much smarter. Because the monster's claws slashed at their backs. Three of them had their bodies sliced in half, splashing the floor with blood, intestines, and shredded steel.
However, two of them muttered something under their breaths. Their Aegis' vanished. Another glowing red wall replaced their Aegis'. Except this one was smaller. Their bodies glowed. Their bodies blurred as they zoomed away from the bear's swinging paws. Ryan blinked and they appeared under its defenceless chest.
Ryan wondered what this skill was, since it clearly wasn't an Aegis. It temporarily increased both their speed and defence. Their zooming stopped. Their small protective barriers vanished. The only downside of it must be that it only lasted a second.
They slid across the rocky ground, glaring up at the monster's smooth skin. The expana bear's hind legs were too short to reach under its body and slash at the soldiers there. Its front legs were too far away to do anything. Ryan frowned. They could actually kill it. He wanted some of the archers to die as well; they were the ones who called him an ape and branded his nape. But alas, it seemed to be over.
One of the soldiers glared at their empty hand because he was one of the soldier's that tried to throw a spear in the monster's mouth. Now he had nothing to kill the monster with. Idiot.
But the other soldier didn't. She clenched her spear tight. She aimed the point up at the bear's white and defenceless skin. She roared as she thrust it up a-
The monster flicked its tail underneath its body. It slammed into both of the soldiers. The spikes covering the tail's scales punctured their armour and sunk into skin, covering them with bloody holes. Their bloody bodies tumbled out from underneath the monster, rolled across the rocky ground, and laid in front of the monster.
They screamed in agony. The Archers and the Mage looked on in horror, zapped useless thunder and even more useless glowing arrows at the bear's scaly body. They backed away. The monster slammed its paws down onto the two soldiers, flattening their bodies and armour.
It glared at the Archers and the Mage. Their eyes bulged. They dropped their bows. Robar clung to his staff like a rope dangling off a cliff. They shook with fear. The monster roared. The Mage and the soldiers spun and ran.
The Expana Bear chased.