Just as Erynd nocked an arrow and gave the signal to move in, a massive roar shook the forest. Glancing up in surprise, he found the buck decapitated on the forest floor. Standing over the dead deer was a massive bear. In its mouth was the head of the buck, leaking blood over the forest floor.

  Winston had thought the buck was huge, nearly the size of a small car—but the bear made it look tiny, standing at nearly twice as large.

  It bent over to feast on its prey, but froze at the last moment. Raising its head, it sniffed the air and took a defensive stance.

  [Cave Bear - Initiate 9]

  Initiate 9 was powerful, but it was still below what the Nightrender had been. Winston relaxed, but only a bit. Erynd gave the signal, and the party moved in. Erynd loosed his arrow at the same time that the others attacked. Just before the arrow was launched from Erynd’s bow, Winston’s eyes widened.

  The arrowhead was interwoven with pulsing, crimson lines. Winston recognized it. When the System Shop had first arrived, Erynd had immediately bought a bundle of the arrows. Winston had nearly forgotten about them since Erynd hadn’t used a single one.

  The arrow cleaved through the air, leaving an arcing trail of crimson light. At the last moment, the bear jerked its head, and the arrow punched into its shoulder. It roared as its fur ignited. The flames did little damage, but were more than enough to cause it to panic.

  Before the bear had a chance to notice, the other five members of the party attacked, weapons flashing. Strike after strike hit the cave bear, slowly whittling it down. While the others constantly attacked, Norra only came in every few seconds to land a massive blow with her hammer. Whenever the bear was about to strike, an arrow from Erynd punched into it.

  Using this strategy, the party slowly brought down the beast. With a roar, it leapt back, narrowly avoiding another strike from Norra. It looked around wildly, trying to decide which target to attack.

  Then, it froze, curling into a ball. Its brown fur faded to gray and hardened. Some of the hairs grew upwards, extending their sharp points outward. A second later, the cave bear’s fur was a hard shell of spiky stone.

  “Damnit!” A warrior cried as his blade bounced off the bear. “We need you, Norra!”

  Answering the man’s call, she charged forward, bringing her warhammer down onto the hard carapace of the bear. There was a resounding bang as the weapon hit. Erynd dashed forward with Winston to get a better look at the damage. There, in the center of its shell, was a tiny hairline crack.

  Norra grunted, bringing her hammer down again.

  “Everyone, grab something that you can use as a bludgeoning weapon!” Erynd cried, exchanging his bow for a nearby stone.

  Soon, they were all taking turns striking the crack on the bear’s shell. Every time a spike fell from the bear, Winston darted forward and collected it before retreating again. They were making good progress, but the majority of the damage came from Norra and her warhammer. The rest were only there to get the spikes out of the way so that she had a clear shot at the shell.

  Then the shell began to shudder, gleaming blue light shooting from the cracks.

  “Everyone, get back!” Erynd shouted, scooping up Winston and diving away from the bear. A moment later, the protective shell shattered, spraying shrapnel in every direction.

  Where the bear had once been was something else. Still a bear, but different. Half of its fur was replaced with stone plates, and its claws had doubled in size. All around it was a faint earthen aura.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  [Ursiterra- Acolyte 1]

  The cave bear—now an ursiterra—stood on two legs and roared. Six-inch spikes of stone shot from the armor on its shoulders. As the beast loomed over them, the rest of the party looked to Erynd for guidance.

  Erynd stood frozen, staring up at the beast. Winston watched as his mouth moved, but no sound came out.

  “Goddamnit, Erynd,” A warrior shouted, “What do we do?”

  His face a visage of shock and confusion, Erynd tried to speak again, but nothing came out but a croak.

  The bear stopped roaring and prepared to strike at the party. Erynd just stood there, unable to issue any orders.

  With a hiss of annoyance, Winston darted at the bear. The creature loomed over a spear-wielding Caltheran, paw poised to strike. Before the expedition, Winston had done some experimentation with [Channel Food Energy]. When he’d first appeared in the tower, he had tried it out. But since then, he hadn’t used it even once.

  With his free time in the tent, Winston had tested it. Manipulating the golden energy into different forms. He could make it both gaseous and solid. He’d even managed to refine the edge to the point that it could draw blood.

  Coming within a few meters of the ursiterra, he cast [Charm].

  [Charm lvl 1 → Charm lvl 2]

  It didn’t have as much effect as he would have liked, but it caused the bear to freeze for a moment, turning to face him instead. Just as it turned to look at Winston, he launched a shard of condensed food energy.

  The bear swung its paw, shattering the energy. But Winston had predicted this; he launched another. And another. The ursiterra blocked the first few, but the rest shot into its face. Most of them bounced off its fur, but one struck its eye, scratching it badly. Not even enough to draw blood, but it was enough to stun it.

  Winston felt himself straining in concentration, forcing his skill to form stronger projectiles more quickly. With a growl, he formed more, launching them at the beast.

  [Channel Food Energy lvl 1 → Channel Food Energy lvl 2]

  The bear cried in pain as another projectile hit its eye, stumbling back. And in that moment, Erynd snapped out of the stupor. A crimson arrow struck its neck, lodging itself in the fur. As the flame burned the beast's neck, the rest of the group attacked. Norra flew in from behind, slamming her hammer into the bear’s head.

  It fell to its knees, dazed. The spearman darted forward, his spear glowing green. As he stabbed, three other translucent spears appeared around it, stabbing in unison. The two rogues dashed forward as well, stabbing their daggers and shortswords into the bear’s already burning neck.

  Together, they whittled down its defenses until it finally collapsed.

  [You have killed Ursiterra - Acolyte 1]

  “The protective shell it had used earlier must’ve cost a huge amount of energy,” Norra said, gasping for breath. “That would explain why the bear hadn’t used any abilities after its advancement.”

  Winston felt a huge influx of energy into him. Far more than when he had used [Consume] on anything, even the beast parts.

  Marching forward, one of the scouts spoke, “What the fuck was that?” He walked closer to Erynd. “We were relying on you for orders. We could’ve died! Your goddamn pet had to save us. The only reason Roderic even gave you command was that you’d known him before that!”

  Erynd just stood limply, staring into the distance. The scout shook his head in disgust, shoving Erynd in the chest before turning away. Erynd stumbled back, but still didn’t make any sign that he even knew what was happening.

  The scout turned to the spearman. “Come on. Let’s go.”

  Watching them go, Norra spoke to the remaining scout, who was standing awkwardly at the edge of the clearing. “Let’s go. We need to make sure those two don’t get themselves killed.” The scout nodded tentatively and followed after her. Before she left the clearing, she knelt by Winston. “Hey, you take care of Erynd, alright? After something like this happens, he’ll want some time alone. So just make sure he gets back to camp alive. If he doesn’t want to move, just drag him after us. I’ll leave a trail for you.” She smiled and scratched his chin before turning and walking away with the scout.