Eritance - Chapter 46
This guy really was too resilient. I didn’t think it was fair. How does a beast exist that is able to kill Commander Aegis and three other recruits? It wasn’t actually three, because I was still technically alive, but there was no way that I could beat this elder spine bear, not in the condition I was in. Even with it bleeding so much, and a hole in its chest leaving its heart exposed, it would still be too much for me.
The elder spine bear struggled to stand up and slowly began to move towards me. I was thinking that if I could just get behind the elder spine bear, I would be able to run back down the tunnel and lose it in the ruins. Or, I might be able to link up with some of the other recruits and it could be killed that way.
Now that I had a plan, it was time to execute it. The explosion caused by Commander Aegis caused it to slow down a lot. This was because its body was focused on trying to recover, but the damage was extremely great.
I quickly tried to dodge past it, but I had to roll backwards when a giant paw came swiping towards me. It had slowed down but it was still fast, and now it was more aggressive than ever. I spun around, and the elder spine bear was coming at me again. I quickly jumped backwards and turned into another roll. I tried to angle my roll so that I would be able to move a bit out of its path.
The room we were inside was a large circular room with a pit at the end. This was the bone graveyard for dragons that I had fallen into earlier. The only problem was that there was only one exit. I couldn’t straight up run around the elder spine bear, but I began to think that it might be possible to get past it if I dodged its charges and angled my rolls.
This tactic was working. After several charges and rolls I was now perpendicular to the tunnel, I was almost ready to make a break for it and escape the elder spine bear. This took several minutes, but I noticed the elder spine bear’s bleeding had stopped. Its heart was still exposed, but it was recovering.
This guy really had a crazy amount of stamina. His recovery speed was boosted greatly because of it. This was bad for me though, the more he recovered, the less of a chance I had to get away.
I decided that it was now or never, and I’d have to take a gamble and make a run for it. I ran towards the exit, but the elder spine bear jumped at me. The bear was getting faster and faster. The bear positioned itself at the mouth of the tunnel and waited. It seemed that it knew what I was trying to do.
My escape route was now sealed. The elder spine bear had all the time in the world, but I didn’t. The longer this fight lasted, the more time it would be able to recover. If it could recover, I had no way of surviving.
I would have to engage it outright. I rushed forward and tried to stab it, but its paw swipe kept me at bay. I was beginning to get desperate at this point. I charged again but it swiped at me again. This time I had my sword knocked out of my hand and I lost my footing. This caused me to fall. I was in a bad position. I immediately tried to crawl backwards, but the spine bear came at me.
As I was moving backwards my hand touched something. It was the mini crossbow that the other recruit had. It still had a bolt in it. I quickly grabbed it and shot just as the elder spine bear reared its torso upwards to come crashing down on me.
The bolt I fired went straight into the exposed heart of the elder spine bear. This caused it to roar in pain and fall backwards. It was rolling in pain, but even this would not be enough to kill it. It was time for me to take one more desperate gamble, it was all or nothing. I would have to try to utilize one of the techniques I had learned about in my relic control class. The theory was there for me, but the execution wasn’t something I could efficiently do yet. This would also be the first time I had used it in a practical setting. However, I was out of options.
I got back to my feet and jumped onto the elder spine bear. A focus punch would not be enough to end it here. I would have to condense the energy inside and shoot it out. I had only just learned this technique and the range was very limited. However, being so close I would be able to shoot it far enough.
On the other hand, it used all of my energy up, I would have no strength to stand or defend myself. I would be killed for sure. However, there was no other choice at this point.
It was hard to hang on as the elder spine bear rolled in pain, but it was recovering, even then, from the bolt in its heart. I crawled over to the cavity in its chest and focused all the energy I had left into my hand. My body was screaming in pain as I did this, but I pressed onwards.
Every ounce of strength I had was in this attack. I blasted the focused energy forward into its heart. This attack blew its heart apart. The strength faded from my body and I fell off the bear.
I thought that I had won, however the elder spine bear stood up again, it gave a mighty roar. It reared up to attack me and then my world turned to black.
