Outside the Capital, the group was inside a carriage that was heading on its way to the village the Mega Bear had taken over. Lea held in her hand an Arcane tome, Sal wore the special weighted bracelets and attempted to lift them as if they were dumbbells on her wrist.

Alex was just looking at Celia who wore a hood that hid her face with unnatural darkness. “So uhh...why the magic hood, Celia?”

“i do not want your foe to run away.” Celia replied ominously. Taking the extra time to raise up her hands and flex her fingers as though trying to scare her companions. “for i am the mighty destroyer of realms, OOoooooOooo~”

“I see...also while I was suffering from eating a raw carrot. I wanted to ask something that I took notice while we were in the library.”

“What could that be, Alex?” Lea closed the tome for a moment.

“What Alan said...he said TWO powerful magic-users. I’m a hunter so I’m definitely the essence one.”

“I hate to admit it, but I know I’m the weak magic one…” Sal continued lifting the weighted bracelets as all three looked at Celia.

“Are you a mage, Celia?” Alex asked as he hid his confusion with curiosity. “Celia’s a Devil and a Hunter hybrid...right, P?”

She is.

“Just wanted to be sure…”

Celia was quiet for a moment before she replied. “you already know the answer don't you, Fryma?” Her eye shifted slowly to Alex in a knowing fashion, but not in a threatening one. They almost seemed sad.

Alex can’t see her look at him through the magic hood, but he can definitely feel it. “Not anymore when Alan brought up of a second strong magic-user…” With uncertainty in mind, he slowly nodded no. “I thought you were a Hunter like me, but what Alan said...I’m having doubts…Hunters are not good at magic. That’s what my parents told me when I tried to do magic with Lea here.”

“i am somewhat unique in that aspect. however, i prefer to stick to using the abilities of my essence.” Celia replies calmly, petting horse Alex’s head. “i do hope you can respect this decision, Fryma.”

Alex felt a bit flustered from the petting. “I-i see...by the way...what rank are you? I want to take a guess you’ve been here longer than the three of us since Ria seems to know you well.”

“Before you continue asking more question Alex, I want to try out a spell I’ve found in this book.” Lea reopened the tome to find the spell. “This spell will double your body’s defenses. It’s like Sal’s Strength spell but for defense and I can apply it to someone other than myself.”

“Maybe once we’re at the village because I’m worried if Sal punches me, I worry she’ll break down the carriage from her strength alone.”

“You’re really gonna make me a menace inside the vehicle?”

“I’m not the one who punched the coachman and almost got us killed… So, Celia...your rank?”

Celia paused for a moment, as though contemplating what she might say; before finally speaking. “i am...s-rank.” The small girl declared resolutely. “however my abilities are more suited towards defense than combat.”

All three collectively looked at Celia. “S-RANK!?” The three said together at once.

“s-rank yes.” Celia repeated. “please be in awe of my superior ranking. i am already better than the three of you combined even if i am more suited in defense.”

“She’s an S-rank...now that I think about it, it makes sense why now…”

“Then—How old are you exactly?” With the rank in mind, he’s also doubting that she’s a kid at all.

Celia contemplated again, pausing to decide whether to answer his question or not. “it appears we are near the village.” Celia points out to the window of the carriage to see a village up on the horizon, after what used to cover the sides of the road were but trees. The road they were in was connected to the road leading to the village as the village was no longer in sight as the carriage turned.

“Wait—” Sal realized something. “If you’re S-rank...you’re not a kid then...is that why you’re asking, Sharky?”

“It’s definitely why he’s asking.” Lea bookmarked the page as she flipped through the tome to find another spell to learn.

As the carriage was halfway through the village, the coachman stopped his horse as he opened the door for them. “This is as far as I can take you four. Remember the waiting fee.”

“Yeah. One silver for every hour that passes.” Alex said as he got out of the carriage and Sal and Lea came out after him. “We’ll be sure to finish this mission as fast as possible...let’s go guys.”

“Alex, wait!” Lea pulled out her staff and waved it at Alex. “Defense!” Alex was enveloped in an outline of glowing blue light that disappeared immediately. “There we go. Sal...punch Alex.”

“Wait, wha—”

“Gladly!” She dropped the weighted bracelets on the ground, cracking her knuckles and immediately swung her fist at Alex’s face as hard as she can.

“Ow!” Sal yelped in pain as punching Alex’s face actually felt like punching a brick wall. “The hell? Did you even feel that?”

Alex flinched from the punch but was surprised when the fist felt nothing at all. Like she just placed her hand on his cheek than actually punching it. “N-Not at all. How long does this buff last?” He looked at Lea as Lea looked at the tome.

“It says here...that the buff lasts as long as the caster can provide with their mana. The spell also has levels reaching to a maximum of ten.”

“Hey Lea, check that book of yours if there’s a version of Strength there. That’s gonna be very useful since that means I’m not gonna use a spell that makes me collapse after using it.”

“Isn’t that because your mana pool is so low that you’re better off as a normal human?”

“Fuck off, Sharky.”

“I was actually looking for that!” Lea raised her finger up at them and used it to flick pages from the tome.”

“Why do you need to look for it. Just wave your staff around and say ‘Strength’ That’s what I did.”

“It’s not that simple, Sal. Sure casting the spell and chanting it appears simple, but there are also factors when doing it. Do you really just say the name of the spell and it’ll happen?”

“Well...I did also think of getting really buff when I do that spell.”

“Exactly. Self-applied spells are easier to perform because it’s a spell that is linked with your thoughts. How I thought of Defense is that I imagined giving Alex a shield made out of my mana that condensed and covered his body to the skin. And with that thought in mind, I chanted the spell and It’s done.”

“That sounds way too simple, Lea.” Alex chimed in as Celia got out of the carriage and rode on Alex’s back like it was second nature for her.

Lea rubbed the side of her head with her staff and chuckled. “Eheh...okay, maybe I oversimplified it for Sal. It’s really much more complicated than that...but the thinking of what the spell would do when applying it to yourself is true, however.”

“onward.” Celia tapped Alex’s sides and pointed straight at the road. “to the village we go.”

The road to the village was eerily quiet for the time of day. Alex’s small group did not pass so much as a single carriage or even individuals heading out for their daily chores. For this time of day that was an extremely odd sight. Though it made sense considering their reason for coming here.

“It’s so strange to go to a village’s main road in broad daylight with no one passing by us…” Alex commented. “Even back at Huis, we said bye to some of the guards who chased us from that whole boar thing we did.”

“It’s scary to imagine that a village can be emptied out like that…” Lea grimaced. “I’m worried if we haven’t dealt with that boar sooner, Huis would’ve been…”

“Lighten up, you two! If that boar did try to go to our town, Sharky’s shitty uncle and Mister A can beat its ass and its mom! You guys saw it, remember?”

Alex forced a smile at Sal. “...Yeah. Yeah, you’re right about that.”

Celia’s eyes slowly canvassed the empty dirt paths as they grew closer to their destination. “halt, my noble steed.” She said as she lightly dug her heels into his sides, causing Alex to grimace slightly.

“You don’t have to—agh!” He knelt down, rubbing his sides as she leapt from his back.

Jumping off the small girl rushed over to the grass on the side of the road and knelt to brush her fingers against the stained grass. They came back covered in red. Taking a closer look Celia saw bits of shredded metal and broken swords scattered in the tall grass. Looking back at the rest of their party she spoke. “we should move more quickly.”

And so they did. At first, they only sped up their walking speed, but as they saw what lay ahead the group's pace quickened. They finally came upon a semblance of what was once life. Carriages with gashes from large claws that must have torn through the wood as easily as a hot knife through butter. Remnants of human bodies ravaged beyond recognition lining the roadsides.

When they finally arrived at the town itself the sight was grueling. The wall that had once surrounded the village was in shambles. The gate was torn off of its hinges and dented inwards from the striking power of a large animal. The bloodied armor of guards rested empty on the crushed ramparts and what had once been homes were collapsed to the ground.

The sight was horrendous, mushy red paste dripped from between crushed stone and wood. The bodies not eaten were mauled and crushed; quite literally torn to shreds. The smell that wafted through the air a mixture of blood and rot.

Alex felt his skin turn pale. The horrendous graphics of videogames do not compare to the sight he witnessed. The air changed drastically when they made it to the gate. The grassy fresh air turned rancid from the stench of flesh which made him cover his mouth and nose.

“...Fuck” Sal herself felt as sick as Alex but managed to not deter from the sight and stench. “Now I see why you guys were worried if the boar did reach our town…”

Lea put her hands over her mouth, as she looked around at the destruction. “But this is...the request said it was only attacking people who went on the roads outside the walls.”

“it appears that some men from the village attempted to handle it themselves. provoking an unstable beast is dangerous.” Celia responded in her usual monotone as she knelt down next to one of the collapsed homes. “be careful. this appears to be quite rec—”

Her words were suddenly cut off at the sound of a man's yell and the roar of a beast followed by a loud crash from across the village. Something came flying towards the group and before the others could move Celia rushed over and raised her hands. “barrier.”

Translucent energy solidified into a massive barrier around the group as a screaming body crashed hard against it. As it struck the barrier with a meaty crunch the screaming stopped and the lightly armored militia man's corpse fell to the ground with a wet plop.

“Good Gods!—” Alex backed off from the sudden impact of a man who recently died in front of them.

“Eep!—” Lea’s an abrupt squeak in fear as she saw what crashed onto them. “H-he… He died instantly…”

Sal looked at the corpse and then at the barrier surrounding them, it was see-through but not as much, but she can see the corpse clear as day. “I could’ve caught him…” Sal looked at Celia. “I could’ve shielded my body for you guys and used myself to break his fall.” Her voice had regret and disappointment seeping through a veil of frustration as she walked to her.

Alex raised his arm in front of Celia and looked down at Sal. “Sal, It was too fast for us to notice—”

“you could have also been crushed.” Celia replied bluntly, lowering her hands and in turn the barrier as another roar echoed through the air. The sound of something large rushing towards them evident as a large brown-furred creature became visible in the distance, crashing through the rubble with ease and kicking up ash and dirt in its wake. “focus on the battle. you may blame me later.”

“As shitty as for me to say this, Sal. But this is something that we shouldn’t be concerned about during missions. We’re here to kill monsters so that something like this shouldn’t happen.” Alex looked over to see that massive bear appear at them. “Lea...did you find the Strength spell, yet?”

Lea bit down her lip and immediately opened the tome. “I bookmarked it, I’m ready to cast it to both of you guys. But I have to say this, I haven’t properly learned the spell so you guys have to stay close to me to not lose the buff.”

“How close?” Alex summoned an orange spear with small thrusters on the sides and bottom, gripping it tightly as fire bursts out of the thrusters and Alex firmly held the spear to not let go.

“Five meters.” Lea extended all her fingers in her left hand to him.

“please conserve your mana to only to them. i will assist with my barriers.” Celia gently swiped her arm, a barrier was made and was moved aside to scrape the body in front of them to clear the way.

“Mh.” Lea nodded and waved her staff at the two. “Strength...and...Defense.” Alex and Sal were enveloped in an outline of red and blue light.

“Get the door!” Alex ordered Sal as he dug his foot on the ground which sunk an inch deep into the soil. He steadied himself as he charged the spear with more power as his hand started shaking from struggling to hold the spear due to its unstable fire.

“On it!” Sal hurried to the broken gate, quickly grabbing on the edge of the door. “N-nghah!” Sal groaned as she promptly yanked one of the gates from its barely held together hinges.

“Throw it!” By his command, Sal hurled the large door at the massive bear as Alex threw his spear at the same time with the door, out-speeding it as the Mega Bear dug its paw from the soil to grab a clump of dirt and swiped the spear aside, softening its impact while deflecting the spear which did not explode until it fell into the ground.

“It softened my spear and deflected it so it wouldn’t explode!—” He was stunned, but expected for his attack to fail. “But—” Alex crouched down as he created a pair of greaves made of fire. He looked at the door which was making its way to the bear. “Boost!”

“Alex, wai—” Lea was cut off by a powerful explosive burst.

He dashed with a powerful pulse of fire under his feet, making his way to the door. “This is what the door is for!” He let another pulse of fire only at one side of his leg as he did a quick, rapid spin. Once near the door he raised his heel up as high as he could to the sky and let out another pulse of fire to drop his armored heel at the gate in order to use the force of his buffed strength to smash the Mega Bear’s face with it.

The gate shattered into splinters and what remained were chunks of metal. The bear snarled and backed off from the impact, teeth gnashing as bloody spittle flew from its maw.

“I’m not done yet!” Alex lifted his arms back as he summoned a warhammer made of fire. “Enchantment: Boost!” He chanted out as the warhammer developed a thruster at both sides as he swung down the hammer. Halfway through swinging, the thrusters let out a burst of fire which doubled his swinging speed and power to smash its head down into the ground.

What normally would detach the head from the neck with such power, only dropped the Mega Bear’s head and upper body down into the ground; forming a crater from the combined weight of the massive bear and the hammer’s force.

Alex quickly retreated by strafing back to the group using his boosters, unsummoning the warhammer and beginning to pant due to fatigue. “Huff...huff… That’s weird...I don’t remember using that much power.”

“That’s what I was gonna say, Alex. I told you that the range for my spell is five meters. You getting too close to the bear who’s further than five meters broke the tether of my mana supplying your buffs.” Lea informed him with a shake of her head before she tapped on Alex’s shoulder for a moment. “Reapplying the link so your buffs are fueled with my mana instead.”

“So that’s how it works...I thought I only had a few moments of the buff left so I attacked as fast as I could to get back to you before the buff was gone.”

“It would be inconvenient if that happened, so I made sure the spell uses your mana if you ever get separated from me.” Lea assured him as she looked at Sal. “That means you specifically stay close to me. If you get separated, you’ll pass out from supplying two buffs with your really awful mana.”

“Well, shit. Guess I can’t be as agile unless I’ll pass out immediately.”

During their moment of chatter the bear had recovered and, with a slap from one of it’s large paws, sent a scattering of crushed stone and wood flying towards them like bullets from one of the collapsed buildings.

Celia was quick to shift the position of her barriers to cover the four of them. The large pieces of rubble not even seeming to scrape the translucent shields of energy. “it would have been preferable to discuss such details before entering combat.”

The bear let out a much angrier roar than before as its prey fought back with much more vigor than it would have liked and it came at a sprint towards Alex, moving much more quickly than its size seemed to permit.

Alex’s eyes widened when the bear started sprinting on all fours to them. “It recovered so fast!” He walked forward, stopping at a safe distance where he’s still tethered to Lea as he got into a stance, summoning a warhammer with the same enchantment and element as he gripped firmly and took a calm breath.

“Gotta stay close to Lea, wait for the perfect chance to counter…” He said to himself as he lowered his hammer and got into a stance, preparing to swing his hammer up.

The bear kept sprinting until it lifted its arms up into the air, doing a small little leap and let gravity and its monstrous strength to drop its arms down on Alex. But halfway swing, Alex smacked off its paws by performing a leaping swing with his hammer, which was boosted mid-swing and enhanced with his strength buff.

Alex was in mid-air from the power of his swing and proceeded to pull his arm on his back by the side and perform a side-swing to the head, using his enhanced power and enchantment to make the bear stagger to the side.

With a bellow the beast started to fall, giving Alex a moment of exhilaration as his strike seemed to damage it greatly. But as it fell it rose its left paw in order to strike Alex’s side as it fell to the ground. “Ahck!—”

Celia’s barrier shifted within a moment to block the brunt of the strike, but the force of the blow still sent Alex barrelling towards the ground. “Boost!” He shouted, sending out a gout of flames to weaken his clash with the ground. Landing feet first with such force it made even his enhanced legs wobble.

“Huhhuh…” Alex shuddered from the recovery as he looked at Celia. “T-thanks…” Alex turned to look at Sal and did a quick nod to her. “You’re up, Sal.” Alex grabbed his thighs as he rubbed the leg that landed first on the ground and then the other

“On it.” She agreed as she walked ahead of Alex and looked at the bear. Sal placed her hand on her chin. “How do I deal with the bear but also not get too far from Lea…?” She thought to herself and then immediately snapped her finger. “Aha! I got an idea...anyone got any rope?”

“here.” Celia pulled out a bundle of rope from her bag and tossed it to Sal.

“Thanks!” Suddenly, Sal pulled Lea and made her back rest against Sal’s as she started to tightly wrap the rope around them. “Tadah!”

“...” Both Lea and Alex processed what Sal did, with Lea reacting earlier. “S-sal...don’t tell me—”

“Yep. I’m carrying you so that I can move as much and as far as I want without having to worry about passing out from getting too far from Lea.”

“But what about me?! I need the buff too!” Alex retorted

“I need it more! Lea, cancel Alex’s buff because we’re rushing at the bear!” Sal walked to the gate and yanked out the last remaining gate as Lea reluctantly waved her staff at Alex but stopped when Alex grabbed the staff.

“I-if you’re going to bring Lea with you, I’ll just follow!” He stuttered as his legs were shaking as he bit his lower lip.

Sal smiled at Alex as she rested the gate on her shoulder.

“Watch it!” Lea shifted her shoulder to not feel the weight of the door.

With plenty of time to recover the bear once again rose up, shaking its head from the blow it had taken and bore down on the group. Much closer this time the strike came much faster as it lunged forward with a sweeping attack from its right paw that dug gouges in the earth and kicked up dust at the three Hunters.

Sal took a deep breath, grabbing onto the gate. “HAH!” Sal swung the gate as hard as she could, blowing away the deep smog of dust with the swinging force of the gate. She swung again and halfway swinging, lets go of the gate, and sends it flying to the bear. “C’mon Sharky!”

Sal sprinted ahead with Alex following after her. “On it!” He summoned two short swords made of light. “Enchantment: Sharpness!” The blades of light flashed a bit and both sparkled. He clashed his blades together as they sparked out as the ethereal blades made grinding noises similar to metal.

The gate struck the bear’s face again, the gate bouncing off as Sal caught the gate and slammed the gate down so hard it broke into many splinters and chunks of bolts and metal. The bear’s head looked down on the ground from the impact and was momentarily dazed from being concussed what appeared to be 5 times in the face.

“AHHHH!” Lea was legitimately terrified as she’s tied behind by Sal. “Alex, Celia! Someone get me off of this psychopath!”

“Just hold onto the rope and brace yourself!” Sal smiled as she clutched her right fist. “HA!—” She uppercutted the bear so hard that the bear’s head craned back and forcing it to stand on its hind legs.

“Holy shit, Sal.” Alex said in surprise before leaping ahead of her as he raised and crossed his blades together “X—” He slashed the open front of the bear as it left a deep, X-shaped slash mark. “Cutter!” He quickly changed the hold of his blades into a reverse grip and quickly impaled both shortswords at the sides of the X-shaped cut.

“he named an attack.” Celia heard him shout out the name of his ability from where she stood.

“Stay still, Sharky!” Sal suddenly hopped and pressed on Alex’s shoulder, using it as a springboard as she’s face-to-face with the staggered bear. “I can name abilities too!” She winded her fist back and proceeded to smash her fist on the bear’s snout. “Sal Punch!”

Her Sal Punch knocked back the bear by a surprising 4 meters away from them as it tumbled back from the force.

“P-please let me go already! This feels like the carriage thing all over again but Sal’s both the driver and the horse!”

Alex and Sal stood together as they looked at the tumbling bear as it raised its arms up and slammed the ground so hard that ground quaked from the strength of its fist alone. It slammed again, and again; it alternated its slamming, using the swinging of its arms to recover and stand upright. It was on its two hind legs.

“RROOHHH!” It let out a piercing roar as the Bear bulked in size.

“It’s doing the same thing the boar did!” Alex summoned another pair of sharpness-enchanted blades.

The bear stomped on the ground as it erected a stalactite of hard rock that was as tall as it was in front of it, It stomped again as the stalactite suddenly moved to the two at a blindingly fast speed.

“Move it!” Sal stepped ahead of Alex and bashed her shield at the charging rock with all her might as she broke the spire of rock and her shield in the process. “Damnit! That was my only shield! Gimme one, Sharky!”

“Do you want fire or light?”

“Light!” Alex created and tossed Sal a round shield made of light as the bear created another stalactite.

“I can’t see but I can feel what Sal’s blocking. It’s magic!—The bear knows magic!”

“I’m sorry—what!?” Sal exclaimed and smashed another stalactite into rubble. “When can these giant animals learn magic?!” The light shield shattered as she looked at Alex. “Another! Enchant the next shield to be tougher, damnit!”

“Fucking, here!” He summoned another shield. “Enchantment: Durability!” He tossed her the enchanted shield

“Long explanation, short. They always have once the megafauna becomes an adult!”

The bear clapped its paws together to make the ground quake and crack. The crack trailed its way to the group as the crack turned into a deep, deep fissure that immediately split itself so wide that the three barely had time to react from falling.

“A-ah—” Alex responded as he felt the world slow down before his fall.

“Fuck—” Sal cursed as she attempted to unsheathe her blade to try and use it as a pick to stab the ground and hold on.

Suddenly, “yoink.” Chains. Chains immediately wrapped Alex and Sal as the chains bundled the three together and was subsequently pulled and dropped in front of Celia. “chains of heaven. you three should learn to stop talking in the middle of a battle.” the chains that wrapped them were unwrapped and vanished into nothing.

“T-thanks, Celia…” Lea nervously smiled as she’s the only one looking at her due to Sal tying her up on her back

“RRROOOHH!” The bear let out another bloodcurdling roar that shook the very earth. It got bulkier, larger, heavier as its legs sunk into the ground. All of a sudden, the entire area around itself was blasted into a thick, dusty smog of blue smoke and brown dirt.

“Now what…?” Alex unsummoned his blades to rub his ears from its screaming.

“It...it exploded?”

“It what?” Lea pulled out Sal’s sword that was sheathed side of Sal’s hip and proceeded to use all her strength to cut the rope. “I’m free!”

“It let out a blast of blue and brown smoke.” Alex said as he prepared himself by summoned a sword and a shield made of fire and light respectively.

I am detecting a powerful, concentrated source of Mana, raw power coming from inside the smoke. Large traces of the mega bear was replaced with the brand new source of power.

“That ain’t good...that sounds alot like—”

The smoke cleared up a bit as the bear was completely gone. In the center of the crater stood a brown-haired man with short, messy, spiky brown hair. He sported a large, brown, furry cape with the hood of a bear’s head. His chest revealed a toned set of abs that had an X-shaped slash mark and lines between the slash mark which looked like stabbing scars.

He stood up to 7 feet tall and had a pair of bear gloves with a sharp set of claws and a pair of furry, brown pants that came with the foot paws of a bear.

“the mega bear evolved.” Celia commented as she started at the standing, tall figure that looked up to the sky while remaining stagnant. Then, the figure looked down and stared at the four.

“I’m going to kill you humans!” he balled his clawed glove as what remained of the dust was blown away from a sudden force of power that reached the group, making Alex and Sal wobble their legs from intimidation and Lea on her knees.

“It evolved into an ursine variant of a selkie.”