In the past, the reason Cai Jingyi had managed to establish her place among the lower leaders and the reason she was able to participate in important meetings, even express ideas, and give her opinion; was because she had a brilliant mind. 

She was a woman capable of coming up with great ideas and this was more than demonstrated at this moment!

ROAR!

The dark runes on the bear's chest lit up again and the sound wave flew towards Cai Jingyi and Shangguan Bing Xue at astonishing speeds. In fact, were it not for the clear movement of the air it would be impossible to notice it with the naked eye.

Cai Jingyi's face turned pale as a sheet and all traces of blood disappeared from her face. She no longer had Stamina to run, she barely had enough energy to stand but even that was costing her a lot.

She had only managed to cut a fingernail off the rune bear at the cost of losing her combat ability! Worse yet, it hadn't even been done by herself and the major work was done by the twenty plus grenades!

Fortunately, she already knew that the rune bear would attack her and had prepared for it.

Swoosh!

A wall of ice more than five meters thick appeared before her seemingly out of nowhere.

When the sound wave hit the ice wall, it surprisingly did not explode just like the ice spears. It simply shuddered loudly and Shangguan Bing Xue's face became even more pale, but the wall did not collapse.

"What kind of attacks are those..." Shangguan Bing Xue gritted her teeth and quickly grabbed Cai Jingyi by the waist before jumping back.

Bang!

The ice wall exploded into thousands of pieces, revealing the terrifying face of the rune bear behind it. The enraged beast let out another rage-filled roar and stomped hard on the ground beneath its feet before its body turned into a cannonball that shot forward.

Shangguan Bing Xue also knew that the rune bear would not give up until it finished off the lives of everyone here; especially Cai Jingyi, who had injured it after tricking it before.

Ice Spikes!

Ice Spears!

Ice Swords!

Ice Arrows!

Ice Vines!

...

Shangguan Bing Xue continuously backed off as she cast magic spell after magic spell towards the rune bear. Although her ice creations could not pierce through the monster's defenses completely and there were barely any ice marks on its white fur, the freezing frost energy had managed to slightly decrease its Agility and disturb its movements.

It was only thanks to this that she and Cai Jingyi had managed to survive so far.

Chen He and Zhong De gritted their teeth until their gums bled, but neither of them could do anything but watch. In fact, it wasn't just the two of them. Everyone present could only watch and pray.

Because the gunmen's aim was not perfect, none of them dared to shoot since Shangguan Bing Xue was engaging in direct combat with the terrifying beast and she or Cai Jingyi might end up being harmed by their own allies.

The survivors also did not dare to flee into the forest. More than thirty had lost their lives and from a distance, they could feel the bloodthirsty gaze of many mutated creatures from the shadows. It was clear to all of them that if they tried to flee they would be torn into pieces and eaten by the wild animals.

Staying would at least give them a small chance of survival... Though hopes were not particularly high and it all depended on the beautiful silver-haired woman whose slender body flickered across the battlefield like a shadow as the rune bear chased and roared relentlessly.

Although Shangugan Bing Xue's Agility was high, it was still inferior to the rune bear. But thanks to her ice creations, she had managed to resist a little. 

Unfortunately, she soon began to run out of Mana. Because the ice creations she was using to slightly restrain the bear with runes were MUCH stronger than the ones she normally used since the normal ones wouldn't be of any effectiveness.

Swoosh!

The rune bear finally took advantage of an opportunity when Shangguan Bing Xue stepped on the ground badly due to Cai Jingyi's extra weight and lost her balance, which slowed down her already inferior speed. 

The beast raised a claw high as its gaze brimming with malicious intent focused on the two women of pathetic size in comparison. All its anger seemed to be contained in this strike as the air around it seemed to be cut into pieces as the tearing sound echoed everywhere!

Shangguan Bing Xue knew that it was impossible for her to dodge this attack unless her Agility was two or three times her current one, which was simply insane in her eyes. Therefore, she gritted her teeth and activated the skill she obtained when she successfully evolved to First Order and acquired her unique class Charming Ice.

[Charming Eye!]

Shangguan Bing Xue's blue eyes brightened intensely and the little remaining Mana was forcibly moved by her Magic, activating the skill and sending all her power into her eyes.

A strange aura invisible to the naked eye came from her gaze and when her eyes met the fluorescent golden eyes of the beast, the rune bear's movements stalled.

It was only two seconds, but Shangguan Bing Xue took advantage of that time to rush back, creating over three hundred meters of distance between her and the beast even with her Stamina considerably consumed.

If she had more attack power she could have tried to counterattack and might even have gained the victory. After all, two seconds was too long in a battle to the death between existences capable of moving at such fast speeds.

However, Shangguan Bing Xue did not currently possess such an ability... The difference in power was simply as great as when she faced the First Order Anti-Magic Zombie back then.

The most she could do was to activate the attack skill of the Blazing Ring. Crimson flames enveloped the beast and began to slowly consume it. However, two seconds later, the rune bear seemed to awaken from its daze when a roar filled with fury that shook the entire forest drove out the surrounding flames after a loud burst of mana.

With some burns on its white fur, the beast seemed to turn into a cannonball again and in a moment the distance of thirty hundred meters was completely erased.

Seeing the beast's claw descending, the world seemed to slow down for Shangguan Bing Xue as death weighed down on her. But it did not help her and a bitter smile unconsciously appeared on her face.

Her pretty eyes did not glitter with fear or worry. Nor did there seem to be sorrow for not having achieved something in her eyes... However, an incredibly bitter and unwilling sparkle shone in them.

She was not willing.

Unfortunately, she had no more energy to run at full speed and all her Mana had been consumed when she activated Charming Eye.

Just then, an explosion of lightning echoed throughout the forest and the beast's movements stopped as its golden eyes for the first time flashed with a small tinge of dread.

The beast quickly halted its attack and instead lashed backward with its right paw from the top down.

BOOOM!!!