Chapter 100 :

Episode 22 : The Everlasting Winter (2)

Furs as white as the snow of what it was stepping on and pieces of icicles engraving on its forehead to show its authority over this snowy mountain.

Along with claws that got freezed by the cold, were sharp as a knife. Befitting of the name given to it, the ‘Winter’ bear stood before me.

Irradiating its terrorizing aura around me with each of its steps getting nearer to me. It halted itself upon arriving a few steps ahead of me, staying there with its ice-cold eyes piercing mine with its glance.

I gulped down my saliva when I thought about how I would deal with this apex predator, holding onto my two swords as tight as ever.

"Shouldn't it be sleeping in its cave?" I muttered before moving forward slowly but surely.

I predicted the bear wouldn't be letting anyone here to escape its grasp, meaning that I must kill it right here, right now.

For a moment, I took a deep breath before exhaling it all out, relaxing my body and preparing my mind for what to come in the next couple of minutes.

[You have activated the Skill, ‘Discharge’ Lv. 2.]

Disappearing from my original spot, I dashed toward the bear as I braced myself for its attack.

[Imitation of ‘Clone’ Lv. 2 has activated.]

Three versions of me emerging around my side as I rushed in, observing the bear's claws getting ready to strike me.

[Imitation of ‘Extraordinary Multitasking’ Lv. 3 has activated.]

With each of my clones, I controlled them with the best of my effort, letting them follow my plans thoroughly.

Going in fast, I leapt over the bear's claws slashing at me as I landed on its arm. Then I went ahead and penetrated my sword into its arm, sliding my sword upon climbing up to its shoulder which opened up a line of wounds on its arm.

Yet, the bear wasn't fazed at all by the harm I had done to it, suddenly standing upright with its feet which prompted me to have trouble staying on its large arm.

[Imitation of ‘Silk Threads’ Lv. 3 has activated.]

Thankfully for me, I used the strings to attach itself to the bear's shoulder, pulling it to get myself back on its body.

Instead of allowing me to do as I pleased, the bear spun itself in a circle continuously, making me go on a merry go round in this cold weather.

"Darn.."

While I was enduring a long and wondrous ride, one of my clones had finally wrapped a roll of threads around the bear, igniting the strings with ‘Divine Flame’ as fire proceeded to roam along it brutally.

"I should thank my luck for encountering Louis.. or else my clone wouldn't be able to use my skills." I murmured as I persisted on not letting go of the thread, clutching them firmly as if my life depends on it.

The Hidden Skill, ‘Clone‘. If Alaine were to use her clones, she wouldn't manage to use her skills or hidden skills that easily through her clones.

Because focus is an important factor for controlling the clones, meaning one needs to get used to having two or more of oneself to get a clone to activate skills, even much harder for them to use Hidden Skills by themselves.

Since I was fortunate enough to come across Louis, I was able to use his Hidden Skill and because of that, I could freely act on my own while my other clones move with their own thoughts.

Anyways, I muttered. "Let's get a move on."

Even though I was getting spun around by the bear nonstop, along with the circle rotation that could make me feel nauseous, I still was focused on my plans.

Soon, my second clone was placing his hands underneath the snow to begin the next step to my plan. Ready to start, the clone commenced on breaking down the ground with my skill, ‘Earth Crumble’.

"Great." I spoke as I sensed the vibration from the ground

With that, the bear and I were falling below the collapsing ground, getting ourselves hit by numbers of rocks and stones as we descended.

As soon as the bear paused its circle rotation, I was freed from the tiring merry go round, stepping onto its shoulder before leaping off it using ‘Vortex Wave’ to boost my ascend.

That was when I caught a glimpse of the bear's eyes staring at me fiercely, taking an attempt to grab me with its injured arm.

"As if I would let you."

Inflicting more damage to the bear with ‘Vortex Wave’, I flung myself up above the big hole that my second clone created.

But as I was in the middle of the air, I looked down where the bear was, letting Lucifer transform himself into a bow and pulling the bowstring as arrows materialized in thin air.

[Imitation of ‘Scattering Leaves’ Lv. 1 has activated.]

"This is going to be destructive.." I murmured as I imagined the scene that would about to happen later.

Upon knowing my third clone was ready for his next move, I let go of the bowstring, shooting down six arrows in different areas of the hole while the leaves kept the bear preoccupied.

With my last move as I was beginning to fall, I extended my hand up to its highest point before calling upon the thunderous cloud of the sky.

[Imitation of ‘Thunderstorm’ Lv. 3 has activated.]

[Imitation of ‘Thunderbolts’ Lv. 3 has activated.]

Seizing the lightning bolt in my hand, I readied myself before vigorously striking down the bolt toward the bear who was standing in the center of the hole.

As if waiting for it, six lightning struck down onto the six arrows that I shot earlier, connecting themselves toward the thunderbolt in the middle.

[Imitation of ‘Electric Arc’ Lv. 3 has activated.]

Gathering power from each of the six lightning, the thunderbolt in the center increased in power as it zonked the ‘Winter’ bear with its unbelievable belligerent.

With a tough time figuring out if the bear was truly taking damage, I landed to the surface thanks to ‘Silk Threads’, hovering my glance over to the third clone that was falling from the sky.

Shielding himself with ‘Snowflake Barricade’ as the clone fell toward the giant hole, he stretched out both of his hands at the bear before blasting a phenomenal burst of eruption.

With the combination of Behemoth's skills, ‘Detonation’ and ‘Beam Blast’, bringing forth the combinated skill, ‘Flare of Fulmination’ toward the bear.

‘Master.. You went overboard.’ Lucifer whispered in my head while I protected myself with triple layers of ‘Snowflake Barricade’ from the blast.

The skill, ‘Flare of Fulmination’ released a vehement burst of explosion at the hole as it entirely covered up the pit in a matter of seconds.

The wind around us proceeded to blow aggressively with the snow, thanks to the blast of smoke created by the explosion, the area changed to an unimaginable sight, causing everyone around to get blown away and being stunned by what they had witnessed.

With me being in the front of the explosion, I had to endure the outburst of it which was why I was endlessly building up layers upon layers of ‘Snowflake Barricade’ as it began to get destroyed by the explosion.

"Half of my mana is depleting from just renewing a ton of shields." I groaned, having to get pushed by the wind as the explosion carried on.

———

For a long period of time after the explosion, the area soon turned for the better without smoke and appal wind blowing everyone away.

Because of the explosion, the polar bears in this area were nowhere to be seen. For the reason that they got blown away to another different place or so.

"Did it die?" I asked myself while my clones disappeared.

Afterwards, I was walking toward the hole to take a peek at the ‘Winter’ bear's state, but I was still cautious of what to come.

"Tch."

..Even before I could take a glimpse at the bottom of the hole, a giant figure had popped out of the pit in front of me, causing me to be bewildered by the suddenness.

As I backed away from the hole, I gazed up to search where it went, directing my eyes to it until they went wide.

"No goddamn way.." Upon finding out what it was, I became enraged by how this creature was still alive.

"To survive that.. It's own weakness." I gripped my bow, being astonished over something like this.

The ‘Winter’ Bear that was up in the sky, dropped down back to the ground to where I was.

A question blew by my head while I aimed my arrows to the bear. "Why does it keep wanting me?"

"..Huh?"

Caught a bit off guard when the bear suddenly charged in on me at a lightning-fast speed, it was a grave mistake that caused me to pause my attack for a few seconds.

[Hidden Skill, ‘Simulation’ Lv. 2 has offset the pain!]

The ‘Winter’ Bear headbutted into me in full force, not wanting to stop its movements after knocking into me. It carried on running, forcing me to get further away from my guild.

"Damn..! What the hell is it doing?" I clenched my bow as it turned into a dagger while slashing the bear to make it halt.

[Imitation of ‘Flurry Strike’ Lv. 2 has activated.]

After that, I unleashed a great amount of slashes at the bear, yet it remained stubborn by resisting the damages I did to it.

[Imitation of ‘Poison Ivy’ Lv. 2 has activated.]

"Damnit!" I cursed a bit as I was starting to get somewhat furious.

Not only did it endure the poisonous fog, it had to take a bite of me with its sharp teeth, grabbing me with its mouth as I felt the teeth digging into my stomach.

[Hidden Skill, ‘Simulation’ Lv. 2 has offset the pain!]

[Hidden Skill, ‘Simulation’ Lv. 2 has offset the pain!]

As far as I know, I could only see my group getting difficult to spot after I was forcibly being dragged away by the ‘Winter’ bear.

I wasn't certain if they knew of my disappearance but I hoped they wouldn't come to get me, especially since coming to me would result in an escape option for Stage #12.

I uttered, stabbing my dagger into the icicle on the bear's forehead. "I can deal with this on my own."

[Stage #12 had forcibly ended.]

As a message appeared out of nowhere in front of my sight, I read it instantly while I was pulling my dagger out of the ‘Winter’ Bear's forehead.

‘Come to think of it, there are no more polar bears to fight. Right, that's why the Stage ended earlier than expected.’

‘More importantly, where is this ‘Winter’ bear taking me?’

I had an idea on what the bear was planning to do to me. For the fact that it should have been resting right now, it must have thought of me as its meal for its hibernation.

So the possibility of it taking me to its cave becomes likely and the possibility of it eating me before it sleeps is also extremely plausible.

‘Damnit! If this bear can survive that explosion, how will I be able to beat it? I need to get myself out of its clutches quickly before I get munched on.’ I thought while struggling to move a bit from the bear's teeth digging into my gut.

[Hidden Skill, ‘Simulation’ Lv. 2 has offset the pain!]