The beast looked horrifying. I never imagined something like this could linger outside of the Lunar Mountains.

It was a bear-like beast, much like the one I had fought before, but this one had many varying differences.

It was at least two times in size. Its eye’s glowed red in the dark of the night, and its fur was pitch black. Its most daunting feature, though, was the two large onyx horns protruding from its skull. It looked like something from the depths of hell.

The beast brandished its fangs at Ryan and Foxx.

Ryan already had his bow out with an arrow loaded. “Stay back!” He yelled once more as he and Foxx both kept moving backward.

But the beast kept creeping toward them.

“Dammit! I said stay back!” Ryan road as he released his arrow.

The arrow whistled through the air hitting the center of the horned bear's forehead. The arrow pierced the bear, yes, but the beast didn’t even flinch.

It let out an ear-shattering roar and swung its claw paw at the two.

I enhanced my body with dark attribute mana and Shadow Stepped to them the fastest I could, conjuring a wall of ice just in time.

The bear's paw collided with my ice wall, shattering it, and sending sparkling shards of ice flying out in the distance.

“Where’s Garrick!” I yelled, as I conjured another wall of ice to protect us from the beast's next paw swing.

As the beast was about to swing, though, four large balls of fire shot toward the beast, intercepting its attack.

“It’s Garrick!” Ryan yelled.

“What the hell is going on?” Garrick asked, as he continued to fire fireballs at the beast.

“Me and Lord Foxx were just talking and then,” He glanced back at the giant beast in horror, “...and then this thing came out of nowhere.”

Garrick grunted, “My lord, get behind me.”

Foxx shook his head and stood in the back, “You can kill this thing, right?”

Garrick glared at me, “If the help you bought was worth it, we should be able to.”

The bear let out a loud roar at the pain of Garrick’s attacks. The areas where the fireballs managed to hit, scorched the bear's fur, forming spots of burnt skin all around its chest.

Ryan continued to shoot his arrows, Garrick his fireballs, and I fired multiple shards of ice. But our attacks were fruitless. The beast didn't even stumble as it rampaged around our camp area.

Trees collapsed on the hard dirt, kicking up large clouds of dust. The flames from the earlier fire had spread and were currently expanding.

“Nothings fucking working!” Ryan yelled, as he loaded his last arrow into his bow. I could hear his voice shake with fear for his life.

Looking at his arrow a quick idea ran through my mind. “Fire your arrow!” I yelled.

He looked over and shook his head, then fired.

I used my magic to cover and sharpen his arrow in a layer of ice and enhanced its speed with wind. The arrow cracked through the air, hitting the beast just left of its heart. Ryan’s aim was off.

I looked over at him once more. He was on the ground, looking up at the beast, shaking in complete and utter fear. “I-I’m going t-to die.” He said.

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Dammit.

“Get up, Ryan!” Garrick roared.

But Ryan didn't respond, as he continued shaking.

The beast, on the other hand, roared. This time much louder.

I felt earth attribute mana build up around the beast and I knew what was coming. And when its roar went silent…

“Jump!” I yelled.

…All hell broke loose.

Giant spikes of earth, ones much larger than the last bear’s, erupted from the ground.

I looked around me. Foxx’s arm had been taken off, blood running from his down his side. Garrick had already run to him, pulling out an earthen shard out of his own shoulder as he did so.

I whipped my head to where Ryan was, and my eyes widened. And Earthern spike was pieced straight through his body and he hung from its top. His head was cocked back, and his cold, lifeless eyes stared at me.

A maelstrom of many inexplicable emotions hit me like a freight train. It had been so long since I had seen someone die. I had always known that death was normal and that It could happen at any moment. I myself had even put my own life at risk multiple times in the past years, but the sight of it now, put weight on the fact that this world was no different from my old one. Death was ever fleeting.

The roars of the beast echoed through the forest.

I knew that any basic attacks wouldn’t work. Garrick and I had already sent a barrage of spells at the thing and it didn't even budge. I had only one option left, something I was told only to use as a last resort because of the backlash it had caused during my training.

Building up my mana and condensing it into my core, I could feel the warmness of Rye’s soul spread through me, and along with it, major fatigue I was sure to feel later.

Ignoring it, I began to utilize the first stage of a familiar soul; soul enhancement.

The beast notice my aura and turned its attention to me. Its red eyes bore down at me, but I stayed calm, looking directly back at it.

I took in a large breath, and then, let it all out. My rage, though, stayed with me.

“Equinox.”

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Garrick’s P.O.V

Ripping off a piece of cloth from my shirt I patched my wound quickly.

Lord Foxx grunted in pain as he clutched his arm, “Garrick, quickly, get my severed arm. I have a supplement to stop our bleeding in my spatial ring.”

Despite the situation, the lord was surprisingly calm and spoke with clear thought. Doing as he said I, quickly looked around until I found his detached arm and took off the ring.

When I handed it to him, he took out a bottle of pills and hurriedly tossed me one, “Hurry up and take it, Walker needs help.”

“But what about you?”

He choked down a pill himself, “I’ll be fine. This is an order, go help Walker.”

By the way he was speaking, it seemed his voice was withering, but even with that, the command in his voice was obvious.

I swallowed the pill and then carried Lord Foxx behind one of the many trees to keep him away from the coming battle.

I felt my bleeding stop not even a couple of seconds after taking the pill, but the pain was still there.

Ignoring my pain I caught sight of the dwarf, he was looking at something. Turning to where he was looking my stomach dropped.

Ryan. Ryan was dead.

Regret overwhelmed me, and just the gore of the sight made me want to puke.

“Why…?” I mumbled, “Why?”

I felt tears form in my eyes as I dropped to my knees. I couldn’t fight like this. Everything felt weak.

Despite the situation, despite the giant of a beast that was threatening my life right now, all I could do was slam my fist against the hard dirt ground in front of me.

As my head was down, I could feel mana building up. It was over. The beast was too strong.

I clenched my teeth and looked up because I had promised myself I would look my final opponent in the eyes before I passed. But the sight shocked me.

The power that was building up wasn't the beast, as I had thought, but the dwarfs.

Under that cloak, I felt a power I had never felt before, and instead of the usual dark veil that covered his face, I saw two glowing magenta eyes, eyes filled with rage.

Very space seemed to warp around him as I felt mana surge from his body as he channeled some sort of spell.

“Anti-Nexus.” He said, as he upped his palm.

I saw darkness, wind, earth, water, light, and even pure mana all converge and condense in his hand.

The beast let out a roar and tried to channel mana, but nothing happened, instead, the beast kept roaring, almost like it was frustrated.

Finally, he released the spell. The converging element shot at an untraceable speed, hitting the bear directly in the head.

The area first went dark, then an instant later, so bright I could see the light with my eyes closed. A loud explosion rang in my ears and felt myself go unconscious.

***

Opening my eyes, the view of dawn welcomed me. I quickly got up remembering the previous events.

Looking around I was left in disbelief. Half of the bear's body was gone. Dried crimson covered the once green plants and trees and I almost mistook it for some sort of sick dream.

I looked around for the dwarf, finding him laying on the ground, unconscious.

His cloak was still intact and out of respect for him saving my life, I didn't dare remove it, despite my curiosity. I picked him up and carried him to where I had laid Lord Foxx last night.

The Lord was still there, unconscious as well.

Finally, I went to Ryan's corpse. I took his body from the earth spike and made a burial ground for him. Praying and looking up at the rising sky, my emotions felt numb.

“Why, brother?”