Naath and Brutus had to stop once more when the magical beasts started to get into the peak stages of the third level of bone hardening. Naath could fight up to two small stages ahead of himself already and if just this this was known to the rest of the world it would cause great waves of shock. Not to mention that this was against magical beasts. Magical beasts were in general stronger than humans, so if a human fought a magical beast at the same cultivation the beast would almost always win. If Naath were fighting against other human cultivators he could probably even fight across a minor realm.
This meant that they no longer had to worry about being attacked on the ground floor and being caught off guard. They had been fighting for so long both of their instincts had been sharpened to extremes. Even while Naath was asleep all of his senses were razor-sharp and constantly on guard. Their combat ability had also risen dramatically. Fighting constantly almost every day for months honed combat instincts just as sharp as everything else. At this point, Naath and Brutus didn't even have to think to take the best course of action in a fight.
They simply observed and their bodies would react almost automatically in the best ways possible for the situation. Naath and Brutus right now were sitting under a large pine tree with a small fire going roasting a wild boar they hunted on a spit. All of the nearby magical beasts knew they were no match for Naath and Brutus after the last few months, the magical beasts had come to know the two of them. They had essentially set up a camp area, they seemed relaxed like this was any other leisurely day.
Naath had just taken some meat off of the spit and let Brutus dig into the rest when they heard an angry roar nearby. They immediately stopped what they were doing and turned towards the direction of the roar ready for combat. Suddenly a large brown bear charged out towards the two of them.
The rune in Naath’s soul sea said “hoho, a rock bear? Brat this one is going to throw you for a loop alright, these bears are strong and have incredible defence. All of the beasts you've fought before are like beggars in front of this guy. See this is why you need to work on having your soul sense always active.”
Naath rolled his eyes, in the past month the rune had been nagging him to always have his soul sense active even when sleeping. Naath didn't see the point as he was fully able to hear a beast long before it approached. Naath jumped to the left Brutus to the right and the bear missed them both. They then charged back in simultaneously to deal blows to the bear neither of them holding back. This was one of the strategies the two of them had developed after fighting together so often. However due to fighting beasts like this constantly they now always went for the kill.
However, the bear’s defences were more solid than Naath or Brutus had expected, despite them not holding back the bear shook it off. After that, it twisted its upper body with its arms out and hit both Naath and Brutus sending them flying backward into nearby trees. The two of them quickly recovered and got up attacking again this time going for the throat. The bear stepped back and dodged and then slammed its upper body back down on the two of them. Naath and Brutus were both hit and pushed into the ground. The bear reared back up to hit them like that again but they both had already moved away.
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This time Naath and Brutus made eye contact and silently agreed on something. Naath went in first and sent a full-force kick as hard as he could onto the bear's leg. As the bear went to dodge and swing back Brutus came from behind and sank his teeth into the bears flesh. The bear let out an angry roar and it released its aura Naath and Brutus flinched slightly when they felt it. This was an early stage fourth level bone hardening bear.
The rune spoke again saying, “see brat this is why soul sense is important, you can feel out an opponent's level beforehand. Unless of course, they are a full major realm ahead of you.”
Naath ignored the rune completely and while the bear was distracted with Brutus charged at it forming his hands into the shape of claws. Naath hit it with this and his finger sank into the bear's hide all the way up to the knuckles on his palms. The bear let out a furious roar and blew both Naath and Brutus away.
Naath swore under his breath “damn it if only I had an actual martial skill!”
The rune in Naath’s soul sea spoke again “brat why don't you make one based on your true void arts? Can you really call it a complete art without having any martial skills based on it?” Naath made a mental note to work on that later.
However, right now his full attention was on the bear in front of him and Brutus. The bear charged once more and this time Naath and Brutus were tired from the battle and being hit multiple times so they were too slow to dodge. This time both of them went flying again with cracking sounds coming from their bodies. They were both breathing hard now but the bear didn't give them a chance to rest. It hit both of them again sending them flying once more. After that, it seemed to target Brutus and smacked him to the side into a large tree.
Brutus hit the tree and was instantly knocked out, Naath seeing Brutus hit unconscious lost his temper.
“Brutus! That’s it I don’t care what your cultivation is you stupid fucking bear your dead!!!”
With that his true void arts ran automatically flaring with his emotion of intense anger and without Naath realising his ability to consume was activated as well. He hit the bear again and this time he ate away at its flesh leaving a bloody gaping wound on its side. Due to being in a frenzy he didn’t stop there and continued with a relentless barrage of blows. Each fist taking more flesh off of the bear and causing its blood to pour out more intensely.
In a matter of only a few seconds, the bear had lost a large puddle of blood that was spreading across the ground. Naath quickly ran out of energy because even though the true void arts could consume all energy, they couldn't absorb enough to keep themselves sustained at this level. He felt a wave of exhaustion and his sense of reason came back to him. He retreated quickly and grabbed Brutus, watching the bear carefully, ready to dodge and run. However Naath only saw the bear slowly stumble and then fall over, its breathing became erratic and eventually stopped, it was dead.
Naath carried Brutus up into a nearby tree to recover and hide, as soon as Naath made sure Brutus was safe and could recover he himself passed out. His injuries were incredibly severe especially because he went berserk temporarily and his entire body was on the verge of collapse. Back at the elders’ building they were all watching this battle moving around in their seats excitedly as they watched. They became incredibly tense watching and when it was finally over and they saw Naath and Brutus were safe they let out a breath of relief.
However, elder Gui at his lake scoffed saying, “little idiot has a soul sea but doesn't have his soul sense active at all times. If he dies it's his own fault for being a moron, sigh shouldn't that master in his soul sea be properly teaching him? Whatever the show is just starting to get kind of good.”