Spreading the senses of his Spirit in a straight line for roughly two hundred metres, Alnea observed the Dark Earth Bear, right at the edge of his senses, lying flat on its back, doing some unusual, and strange movements. From its actions, and the face its was making, it looked like it was scratching its back with the sharp, gritty stones on the ground. Something only Oren Beasts with skin as thick as Dark Earth Bears could do.
“Are you sure that our first target should be a Dark Earth Bear?” Alnea asked, in a low, and muffled voice. In the quiet of the canyon though, it was loud enough for the two girls squatting right behind him to hear.
“Are you sure that it is at the advanced phase?”
“…It should be, unless it has encountered some Fortune Springs.”
“No unless, Alnea. We need to be absolutely sure that it is only at the advanced phase. If it is at the peak phase, then even I will have a hard time handling a Dark Earth Bear.”
“…It is around two and a half metres in size, with the only hint of brown being on its chest, a small circle barely a tenth of a metre wide. So, yes, it is at the advanced phase. As for how far it is in the advanced phase… I will need to see how it uses its Innate Ability to come to an accurate guess.”
“There is no need for that. As long as it is in the advanced phase, we can try fighting it. It does not matter even if we fail. We are fighting it to gauge our weaknesses after all. And to find your paths.”
“…So, how are we going to fight it?”
“…The defences of the bear are going to be too thick to pierce through with bare hands. It would best if—
“I will be the Warrior,” Cecilia said, looking towards the bear with excitement flashing in her eyes, before turning towards Yuri. “I have some High Grade Martial Styles that I wish to try. Besides, my only offensive Arcana is ‘Blades of Darkness’, which will probably not be too effective against the bear. As for my other Arcanas… they will not help me too much in this situation either.”
“…Indeed, you are not suited to be the Arcanist in this fight. But this should be able to show you the importance of a streamlining your Arcanas, and focusing yourself, right?”
“…I will work on it,” Cecilia said, with a bit of shame, and determination mixed in her voice.
“It is decided then,” Yuri said, nodding at Cecilia in satisfaction, before continuing from where she had been cut off. “Cecilia will fight the bear head on, creating chances for me to attack it with my Arcanas, while Alnea will stay back, and try to supress the bear from a distance. Is that plan alright with everyone?”
“How should I supress it? ‘Nightmare Arrow’? ‘Gravity Field’? ‘Gravity Shift’? Or ‘Nightmare Calls’?”
“…One of the duties of an Arcanist is to gauge the situation, and use appropriate Arcanas, so I will leave the decision to you.”
“…And the distance from which I should suppress the bear—
“Will also be left to you.”
“…This is not going to be fun,” Alnea grumbled, but went along with the plan anyways. Yuri was right, after all. They were a team. Though Yuri was their leader, they had to make their own decisions. And they had to bear the consequences for their decisions. This was the only way for them to learn. And so, nodding to show his acknowledgement to the plan, he turned back towards the bear, and said, “I am ready.”
In the time that Alnea had stop paying attention to the bear, it had stopped scratching its back, and pushed itself back onto its legs. Though it had just reached the advanced phase of its Adolescent Stage, and was still lacking in intelligence when compared to Wanderers, the bear had its own advantage. Its instincts.
“On the count of three…”
And it was not just the bear. Oren Beasts, in general, had much sharper instincts than Wanderers. Though there were some exceptions to the rule, but the Dark Earth Bear was not part of that exception. And so, the moment that they had decided that they were going to attack it, was also the moment that the beast sensed the danger it was going to face. Baring its teeth in snarl, it kept darting its head in all directions, as if trying to pierce through the darkness.
“One…”
Fortunately for them, the bear’s eyesight was weak, and it did not know how to use its Spirit. After all, Oren Beasts had to reach its Adult Stage first before it could even think of learning how to use its Spirit. Rather, learning how to use their Spirits was one of the conditions for Oren Beasts to become Beast Lords. And the bear was clearly far from reaching such a stage.
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“Two…”
Reaching towards his Roots, Alnea tugged onto the golden black thread connecting his Spirit to the Origin Sea, channelling Oren directly into his Aspect Wells. He may not be fighting as a Warrior, but that did not mean that he could not use his Aspects. In fact, it was common knowledge for both, Arcanists, and Scholars, to keep their Aspects ready in case anything happened.
Of course, Alnea was not urging his Aspects for emergencies. He had enough trust in Cecilia, and Yuri to leave his life in their hands. However, trust never worked unilaterally. Just as how he trusted the girls, they trusted him too. And so, even if he would be using just his Arcanas to suppress the bear, he had to be both, quick, and efficient with his moves. Something, which only his Aspects could help him do. Not all of them. Just the three which helped him augment his physique, and speed.
“Three!”
With golden, and silverish blue light surging out of his body, that soon gathered around his legs, Alnea rushed towards the bear in distance, instantly drawing its attention. The beast, in turn, roared in anger, and charged towards him, only to stop after a few steps, and look at its enemies in confusion.
It counted three enemies in total, each glowing in different shade; one in a mix of silver, and golden, one in bluish white, and one in green, mixed with red, and black light. And all three of them were strong enough to make it feel a sense of danger from just their presence. But…
Why was it that only one of them was charging towards it? And why were the other two spreading out? Were they planning to attack it from a distance? Or were they planning to make it fall in their trap? Too bad for them, the bear knew better. It was smart enough to stop in tracks, and keep up its vigilance.
However, it could not ignore the enemy that was rushing towards it either. So, it did the thing that it was best at. Beating its chest with its paws, the bear howled in the air, before slamming its paws on the ground. In the next moment, all the small rocks, and pebbles that were lying around on the ground trembled, and quaked, before rising into the air, and rushing towards all its enemies at once.
Seeing the barrage of the rocks, and stones, Alnea was not scared about himself. Neither was he worried about Cecilia, or Yuri. Such a scattered attack was not enough to hurt them. Especially after all the fights they had been through, they had enough experience, and ways to deal with the barrage. But, as the Arcanist responsible for suppressing the enemy, it was his job interfere with its attacks, and weaken it for his teammates. So, the moment that the bear began beating its chest, Alnea started casting his Arcana.
“In the threads, weaving through the worlds…”
Shaping roughly three tenths of the Oren that he had channelled form the Origin Sea—
“Stitching the forces of the world…”
—into small, oddly vibrating bubbles—
“I summon the essence of the Origin…”
—he summoned the Mystery of Gravity, and infused it into the bubbles, before sending them all out towards the barrage of the rocks. And the moment that the rocks came close to the bubbles, he blasted all of them, releasing the Mystery infused in them to create—
“To lay…”
—a ‘Gravity Field’.
With the pull of the ground on the rocks suddenly doubling in strength, the rocks began going on a downward path, heading straight for the ground. The rocks still flew for a good distance, but that was to be expected. Just the fact that he was able to deflect the Innate Ability of an advanced phase Oren Beast with an Initial Stage Arcana was already enough for him to be proud of himself.
Unfortunately, his control over the Mysteries of Gravity was not enough for him to disperse the ‘Gravity Field’ as he wished. The field exerted its prowess indiscriminately, pulling down all who entered its range. Even Alnea himself was no exception. And though he and Yuri could have circled around the ‘Gravity Field’, Cecilia had no choice but to rush through the increased field of gravity. Going around the field would have taken just too much time, and would have disrupted her tempo. And they could not let her face all the dangers on her own.
Still, while casting his Arcana, Alnea had released a few extra bubbles just in case that the bear decided to charge at them when they were in the ‘Gravity Field’. Contrary to his expectations though, after casting its Innate Ability, the bear remained still at its place, choosing to observe its enemies, rendering the extra bubbles to be useless. And so, as he passed by the bubbles, he collected them back into his Spirit World. At the same time, he also started began his second Arcana.
“In the threads, weaving through the worlds…”
Condensing another three tenths of the Oren he had gathered from the Origin Sea into thirty six rings—
“Stitching the forces of the world…”
—he made them intersect with each other at different angles—
“I summon the essence of the Origin…”
—and infused them with the Mystery of Gravity. And as he had expected, under the influence of the Mystery, the rings soon began to rotate at weird, and impossible angles. His Arcana was ready. And so was Cecilia.
“To come, and shift Gravity.”
While he, along with Yuri, stopped at around twenty metres away from the beast, Cecilia, glowing in a mix of green, red, and black lights, kept rushing towards the bear. The closer she got to the bear, the brighter she became, obvious pouring more Oren into her Aspects, preparing to use her High Grade Martial Styles. But the bear would not let her use her Martial Styles so easily.
Seeing that two of its enemies had stopped, while only the third enemy was rushing towards it, the bear finally began moving as well. Besides, it was not just standing idle while its enemies were rushing towards it. The distance that its enemies had to cover had given it enough time to activate its second Innate Ability, gathering the darkness around it into its paws. And when its enemy stepped within its reach, it roared, and slapped its paws towards it enemy, sending out a large paw, roughly half its size, composed completely of darkness, shooting towards its enemy.
And yet, its enemy ignored the attack, as if it did not even exist in the first place. It was not that Cecilia could not see the attack. Or that she could not dodge it. Rather, she was aware of the bear’s attack, before it had even released it. If she so wished it, she could have easily avoided the mass of darkness rushing towards her. But there was no need for her to do so. Because she believed in her Heart—she believed in Alnea.