Too late to change her mind, Ves took a stance, bracing herself, trying to look as threatening as possible. The bear didn’t care as it didn’t stop and charged straight into her. Ves only managed to pull her arms in front of her at the last second before the monster headbutted her and sent her flying into a nearby tree. On impact, she heard something crack, she really hoped it was the tree.

  ‘Why did you just stand there!’ Nell screamed into her head.

  “I thought it would stop if I held my ground….” Ves choked out as she spat up some blood. Her whole body was shaking, but she was still alive and somehow in one piece. After seeing what the bear did to trees in its way, it was honestly a better start than she had hoped.

  The bear itself even looked a bit stunned. While she may not look it, due to the changes in her body making her bones and muscles denser, she actually had gained a lot of weight.

  This time, the bear eyed her up with a bit more caution. Now it was Ves’s turn. Unfortunately for her, due to a lack of any experience fighting, she could only rely on her own monstrous strength. A strength that was starting to no longer feel that monstrous compared to the actual monster before her. Still, she had to try, so she charged this time, poised to strike with her claw.

  Using her comparatively small size, she ducked under and around the bear’s side and sliced cleanly along its flank. Hastily dodging back out of the way as a giant paw tried to take a swipe at her. As Ves scrambled back to her feet, she got a good look at the damage she had done. A deep red gash was cut into the bear’s side, dripping blood.

  It was then she realized the problem. On a human, an attack like that would have been a mortal wound. On this monster, though? It was hardly better than a scratch. Likely hurt a lot, but not something life-threatening. It would be like a house cat clawing someone. As if to prove the point, the bear simply looked pissed but totally unhindered in any way.

  “Shit…” Ves mumbled to herself. Could she do this? Did she stand a chance? If Ves was being honest with herself, she was doubtful. She debated trying to escape up a tree, but more than likely, a beast of this size would catch her before she got high enough. If not, just knock over the tree with her in it. Still, she could buy time for Ryuko to run, and at the moment that’s all that mattered.

  As the fight continued, Ves only managed to land attacks that did superficial damage at best. It didn’t feel like her claw was striking a beast of flesh and blood but rather an indomitable mountain. While even a glancing blow from the bear carved deep slices into Ves, tearing into muscle. Nell could quickly seal the wounds to keep them from bleeding out, but fixing the muscle underneath took time. At this point, her left arm was hard to even move with how damaged everything was beneath the hastily mended skin.

  Trying to keep distance, Ves backed up only to trip over a fallen log she failed to notice in time. Not wasting this chance, the bear bolted towards her as she tried desperately to scramble to her feet. Just as the bear reached her, an arrow hammered into its shoulder, sending the beast stumbling. Ves had no idea how an arrow could pack that much punch. The source of the shot became evident as a voice called out nearby. “Ves!”

  It was Ryuko, the idiot didn’t run away. As Ves turned to yell at the woman, Ves could see her staring at the bear in shock, mumbling to herself. Quickly scrambling to her feet, Ves ran to the woman’s side. “Ryuko! Wants wrong, why didn’t you run!”

  “Dragon’s breath, how did that shot only stagger it?”

  “Ryuko! What’s wrong, and what the hell was that attack? Can you do it again?”

  “I imbued my arrow with raw mana, its a cultivator skill.”

  “That’s incredible!”

  “Ves, on a normal bear, that attack would have left the corpse an unrecognizable bloody mess! And that thing took it in stride.” Ves didn’t quite agree with that, as the bear itself looked shocked as it pawed at the arrow.

  “Can you do it again?”

  “Maybe one more time, and that’s only if you can buy me time. External mana control is difficult for me, so it takes time and concentration to prepare the attack.”

  Having torn the arrow free, the bear now stared down the pair. Its eye’s locked on Ryuko as the larger threat. Ves needed to distract it and fast. Sprinting back towards the beast, Ves swiped again, only to get bashed to the side as a paw crashed into her. She could feel her ribs snapping, one even pierced a lung. Ignoring her weakened state, the bear charged Ryuko, forcing the woman to abandon her attack and evade the monster’s assault. While Ves could recover from nearly any injury, she was genuinely worried that even one clean hit would lead Ryuko to an early grave.

  So, she did the only thing she could. Ves gritted through the pain and charged the bear from behind before scampering onto its back, plunging her claw into its side. The hide and thick shoulder muscles alone took all her strength to pierce before she hit a wall of bone.

  The bear roared and thrashed about, desperate to dislodge Ves from its back. Unfortunately for the bear, it couldn’t reach Ves on its back. Grabbing a tuft of fur with her left hand, Ves straddled the beast, holding on for dear life as she pulled out her claw only to slam it again into the bear’s side. Again, unable to hit anything vital. It felt like she was striking a boulder. Still, all she needed to do was distract the bear long enough for Ryuko to prepare another attack.

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  Ves could see Ryuko's brows furrowed as she readied herself. Around the arrow, Ves could see a shimmer in the air like looking around the flames of a campfire. It was honestly incredible to watch, something Ves would have loved to do had she not been desperately clinging to the bucking monster.

  “Ryuko! How long!” Ves called out as the bear ran up to a tree, trying to bash Ves into the trunk.

  “Almost there!” Ryuko called back as she began to draw her arrow back and take aim. As the bear bashed her against the tree one more time, Ves cried out in pain as she could feel her spine fracture. The pain was enough to cause her to lose her grip and tumble to the ground. She tried to get back up, only for the bear to loom overhead as one of its paws pinned Ves’s left arm to the ground. Unable to do anything else, Ves swiped at the beast core in the hope it was some sort of weak spot. As her claw slammed into the orb, she didn’t even leave a scratch. She was pretty sure she fractured a few fingers as well.

  It had been a clean hit, but it did nothing, less than nothing, as one of the beast's massive paws slammed into her chest. The sheer force of the impact shattered her ribs and expelled all the air from her lungs. She couldn’t even breathe as the weight of the bear forced her lungs to stay compressed.

  The bear lowered its face, filled with razor-sharp teeth and frankly rancid breath, ready to tear open Ves’s throat. When a thunderous sound echoed past as an arrow slammed straight into the bear’s face, right through the eye, nearly burying the whole arrow into the bear's skull as its head snapped back. Ves could hear Ryuko crying out as the bear’s body fell limp, landing on top of her.

  That had to have killed it, they were saved. Ves took a sigh of relief, or tried to as she felt stabbing pain from her pierced lungs. She could tell Nell was entirely focused on keeping them alive as she could even disturbingly feel some of her bones being slid back into place. She was starting to grow lightheaded from the lack of air by the time Ryuko reached her side and, with effort, pulled her free from the remains of the horned bear. Leaning above her, Ves could see the blurred image of Ryuko crying out, all the while Ves struggled to stay conscious.

  ‘Ves, I can’t fix our lungs with the larger bones still in the way. We need to pull them out now!’

  With the last of her willpower and strength, Ves raised her claw before piercing inside. The jolt of pain brought her back to her senses as she could hear Ryuko screaming. Ves just grit her teeth as she began to fish around for the larger fragments of bone before pulling them out and tossing them to the side.

  ‘There, that’s enough.’

  Within a moment, the wound, albeit hastily, was sealed. With one lung somewhat working again, Ves took in a large, painful breath. “Fuck me, that hurts,” she wheezed.

  “Ves, are you ok! What can I do to help!” Ryuko cried out as Ves could see the woman in tears, tearing at her own clothes for makeshift bandages.

  “Nothing a good meal and a few nights' sleep won’t fix,” Ves tried to joke as she coughed up black blood. “That was one incredible shot. I can see why your brother said you are the best archer in the clan”.

  “Ves, please stop talking. We need to get these wounds treated.” Ryuko chastised her as she started to wrap the bandages around Ves’s wounds, only to find them already sealed.

  “Ryuko, we will live. Just let us rest a bit.”

  ‘Need more than a little rest. This will take days to recover from! Still, if Ryuko doesn’t mind us leaning on her, I think I can get us well enough to move in an hour.’

  “Nell says give us an hour, then we can move, may need you to lend us a shoulder though.”

  “You’re really going to be ok?” Ryuko asked, tears in her eyes as they dripped down on Ves’s face. Just as Ves was about to answer, a low rumble drew the attention of both women as the monster began to rise.

  Ves could see the bear was stumbling a few times before eventually getting back on its feet. From the beast, they could hear heavy breathing before its one remaining bloodshot eye snapped open, locking on to them. As the bear began to stagger in their direction, Ryuko began to panic as she grabbed Ves by the shoulders and tried to drag her away. Ves, for her part, tried to get to her feet but failed. She was just too heavily injured, and it was already taking all Nell had to keep them alive.

  “Ryuko Run!” Ves cried out as she tried to shove the woman away. How in the void was the thing still alive? It had a literal arrow embedded in its brain. Despite Ves’s best efforts, Ryuko ignored her and continued to try to pull Ves to safety.

  As Ves prepared for the worst, a blur of gray darted past them as something sent the bear tumbling away. As Ves turned to look, she saw the bear pinned to the ground, thrashing about as a great wolf held it down with one paw, before reaching down with its massive maw and grasping onto the core in the bear’s chest. With a tug, the wolf tore the orb free as blood gushed and sinew snapped with large chunks of flesh dangling from the gem.

  Old Gray had saved them.

  ‘And here you are again.’

  “Old Gray” Ves gulped as she locked eyes with the majestic beast. Behind her, Ves could hear Ryuko stumble to the ground, likely having seen the prominent core in the wolf's chest. Far larger and more lustrous than the bear’s.

  ‘It is a surprise to see you still alive, impressive that you managed to take down this beast. Perhaps you will show promise yet.’

  “Thank you for saving us,” Ves painfully got out.

  ‘It was not my intention.’

  “Then why are you here?”

  ‘This nascent soul was my target.’

  “You’re after the bear?” she asked.

  ‘Given time, it could become a threat to my pack. I came to ensure it does not get the chance.’

  The wolf then walked up to Ves before placing the orb at her feet. ‘Take this, this beast was your kill, not mine.’

  “But we didn’t kill it… How did it survive an arrow through the eye anyway?” Ves asked as Ryuko continued to sit behind her, too terrified to speak.

  ‘The only true way to kill an ascended beast or monster, as you call us, is to remove the soul core. Anything else and we will eventually recover.’

  “Did you really just tell us your weakness?” Ves asked before immediately regretting it as the great wolf, who was even larger than the bear, lowered its maw within inches of Ves’s face, teeth bared.

  ‘You may try, but you would fail. I have roamed these forests for countless ages. Before the descent of the usurper gods, I was one of the beings your primitive ancestors worshipped. So yes, little spawn of the void, you may try, but you would die.’ Without another word, the wolf backed away and disappeared into the forest.