"…" Kai twitched his eyebrows. Even though he knew that these two were joking, it was still a bit weird coming from those who wanted to blow the bear up from the inside.

"Can you two stop?" Sofia couldn't help but shout.

Kai thought finally a sensible person came, but what he got next was a little unexpected.

"You should freeze it first, to enhance its flavor. What is it called again? Icing?"

"…" Kai facepalmed.

"No, no. There is indeed a cooking method for that, but mostly it's for fast food restaurants. And this is a bear! Are you sure you want to eat frozen meat?!" Michelle complained and somehow was a bit serious with her comment.

"Hey, girls. How about helping me here?" Kai rolled his eyes before noticing a few incoming attacks from the girls.

Despite joking around like that, they were still trying to attack the bear.

Kai could only sigh.

They kept at it, trying to wear down the bear until at one point, Kai suddenly slashed the bear's claw and created a deep wound on its paw.

"!!!" The group picked this sign in an instant and observed the bear with their own eyes.

Kai smiled and kicked the bear on the stomach to throw the balance off. "Time to shine!"

"Roger!" The three shouted.

Michelle went around the bear and struck at the left chest. "Shadow Slash!"

Sofia also did the same but on the back. Kai noticed that she had been hitting the same spot this whole time, and what came next surprised him.

"Freeze." Sofia froze the spot and suddenly gripped it until it crushed the ice. But because it had been weakened from the few previous freezing magic, the moment she tried to pull it, the bear's hard skin immediately pulled out, revealing a bloodied red meat. The metal magic seemed to have strengthened the bear to a ridiculous degree to the point they couldn't understand how big the gap is.

With this, Tasha had two spots to target.

"This is truly surprising," Kai exclaimed.

"As I said earlier, you can treat this bear as a normal A rank magical beast when the magic runs out! In fact, if it's another group, they might get heavily injured or die if they are not careful." Michelle shrugged.

"Anyway, let's push it a bit more until the "Arrow" arrives."

"Understood."

Meanwhile, Ayaka suddenly disappeared from the battlefield and went to Tasha, handing her a magic bomb that she imbued into a small branch.

"Do you think it can hold my magic?" Tasha asked.

"Not really, so if possible, try to only stab the bear with this branch." Ayaka shook her head.

"Alright." Tasha nodded.

Ayaka then returned to the battle while shouting, "Fifty seconds."

The three nodded as Michelle summoned a shadow using the bear's shadow. It grabbed the bear's hands and locked him up.

Sofia placed her hand on the ground and froze the ground until it spread and froze the feet as well.

With this, they should be able to stop the bear's movement for a moment.

Tasha seemed to have positioned herself and released the "arrow" from within the wood around.

Kai noticed the arrow and saw the bear sweeping his right hand to stop the incoming branch. He leaped toward the hand and slashed his sword, only to find the other hand managed to move after breaking free from the shadow.

He instead waved his hand to the other hand and spun to send a kick toward the main hand.

The branch now had no more thing that could stop it from piercing the bear's wound.

*Zap!*

It pierced a few centimeters inside the bear with only its tip visible from the outside.

30 seconds…

The bear found that it was only a branch and thought nothing of it. He then waved his hand to strike Kai again, but the shadow bear already grabbed his hand again, allowing Kai to retreat.

Sofia clapped her hand and summoned a magic circle.

"Ice Cannon."

This magic circle suddenly shot a laser-like ice hitting the bear's body. The ice immediately spread all around its body and froze the bear along with the shadow.

But to everyone's surprise, the bear shook the ice as cracks started appearing on the ice, and it took him only a few seconds to escape from the ice. Still…

20 seconds…

With twenty seconds remaining before the branch exploded, Michelle suddenly emerged from within the shadow's bear as if she had been hiding inside the shadow this whole time. She then struck the bear from behind and sent her Shadow Slash all over his body.

*Roar!*

Kai listened to the scream and decided to make his move, waving his sword toward one of the hands. He specifically targeted the right hand because the supposed explode branch was on the left side. He just wanted to maximize the damage.

Out of magic power, the bear slightly moved slower than before, and Kai finally took his arm before kicking the bear on the head.

10 seconds…

Michelle snapped her fingers and created numerous black tentacles that started circling around the bear's body.

Those tentacles came out of the shadow bear's body as if a piece of its meat was turned into a tentacle by Michelle. Nonetheless, it managed to stop the weakened bear because they could clearly see how the bear struggled to escape from the restraint.

Sofia appeared from the left side of the bear while Kai matched her movement and came from the right side, punching the bear's waist at the same time.

*Roar!*

5 seconds…

"Run now!" Kai ordered while retreating a few step backs, confirming that the two girls had successfully escaped.

Sofia's movement was precise as she already turned around and ran before Kai even said it while Michelle was retreating first after her last attack.

Because he wanted to be safe, he used his Sound Blast to launch him away from the bear, creating a huge distance between him and the bear.

The bear obviously didn't like this and tried to break free and start charging at him, albeit the moment it gained his freedom… Or you could say that the shadow was releasing him, the branch suddenly exploded, engulfing the bear from the outside and the inside.

The flame burned the fur until nothing was left while the organs were scorched by it before it splattered around because of the explosion.

"Ugh, it is gross," Kai exclaimed while using his shield to block the shock wave coming from the explosion.

The same as the two girls that used their own respective magic to block the shock wave. Meanwhile, Tasha and Ayaka appeared as soon as it stopped, checking on Kai and the two girls.

"How is it?" Ayaka asked. Her expression was a bit pale.

"I think you don't need to ask, right?" Kai let out a long sigh. This might be the worst thing they had ever seen while smelling this burned scent. The black charred flesh of meat completely made one want to throw up.

"Yeah. I don't think this one is this gross, my mistake." Ayaka nodded. "Even killing bugs are not this gross."

"I have the same opinion, but I do know that this method is very effective. And if possible, I want to do it again. Maybe we can try to blow a protector up from the inside." Kai shrugged while trying to cope up with the smell.

"I don't think it will work because the protector won't let a branch like that stuck inside his body." Michelle regrouped with him.

"Yeah. But I believe I have gotten a new way to make a combination attack with Ayaka." Tasha raised her hand while smiling.

"And that is?" Ayaka was slightly surprised to hear Tasha's intention.

"Your explosion is one of the strongest weapons we have right now, and I think I can use my delayed magic circle to break the magic circle, destabilizing it."

Ayaka slightly raised her eyebrows and realized what she wanted. "Because of that, the moment the arrow hits, my magic circle will explode, causing huge damage to that beast?"

"Exactly. As you know, my Lightning Piercer has evolved to another level due to the delayed magic. It's penetrating power is so powerful, but that's it. It won't have enough damage like your explosion cause. Hence, how about we make a customized arrow that I can bring with me?"

"And you want me to cast the arrow with my Magic Bomb and set it for a long time?"

"Yeah. You can set it for thirty days when we are on a mission, and if I don't need it, you can simply turn it down." Tasha nodded.

"That's a good idea. Maybe we can try it out with branches during this mission. If it's a good concept, we can start producing such an arrow. Well, with current technology, I can compress the arrow into a small fish bite ball, so you can carry many around." Ayaka nodded.

"Sure. I will be relying on you." Tasha grinned and shook Ayaka's hand. These two seemed to want to create something they shouldn't have…

Kai only looked at them in silence because he knew that this one would truly improve Tasha's offensive power. Albeit, he had a slight concern about this. "It will be a bit taxing for Ayaka, no?"

"Indeed. I think ten Magic Bomb is the best I can do before it starts affecting my battle." Ayaka nodded and looked down, a bit ashamed.

"It's fine. Ten is enough because this arrow will be a game-changer. And the arrows don't need to be small. It's not like I mind carrying a quiver with ten arrows on my back. Besides, I am thankful enough."

"Alright. That's a deal then." Ayaka nodded.

"Then, rest up a bit, and we shall go to the underground nest." Seeing they had reached a conclusion, Kai said while retracting his Sound Insulation magic.