they ran towards the screams, Eric’s power and superior equipment showed itself clearly as he quickly left the rest of them in the dust, Aaron’s TALOS 3 armor more than made up for his lower allowing him to keep up with Beta 6 and 8, the two fastest Einherjar on the team, as they ran Aaron had just enough time to ready his shotgun and load 6 rounds on it before he was there.

The camp had been turned into a war zone, apparently the owlbears had broken through the barricade and made directly towards the barracks, their speed allowing them to get through the safety zone stablished before enough fighters could block them, fire had started to spread through the fragile fabric of the barracks threatening to burn down the entire camp, men and women with guns were constantly shooting at the creatures from hiding places trying to confuse them with bullets from different directions with little success as the Owlbear’s thick, fur covered hide allowed them to simply ignore the projectiles, pulling the arm of one of the hiding gunman Aaron asked “How many are there?”

“There are five of the damn things! Luckily only one elite showed up but we can’t stop them!” arriving at his side Beta 2 looked over the situation and ordered “Beta 6 and beta 10 you’re with me, Beta 12 to 14 you guys take the one to the right, Siegfried you’re the fastest one get the one furthest away, Loki you deal with the two in the front, the rest of you help with the fire!”

Without time for further discussion Aaron ran ahead looking for his two targets, the creatures were hidden from view by the tents but their locations were easy enough to find from the screams, following a trial of destruction he entered one of the corridors of neatly lined barracks, pans, clothes and other household items were spread around the ground and he saw many civilians hiding from the beasts, cowards, better that they get up and help with the fire since the owlbears could probably smell their fear anyway.

He finally saw the first creature, it was crouched down upon the corpse of a woman tearing a big piece of flash of her belly with its strong short beak, nearly twice the size of a Kodiak bear it’s front legs were slightly longer than the hind ones and had feathers lining their outer side, its front paws also had longer claws, almost like talons, it had a face that was a mixture between an owl and a bear but, strangely enough, it seemed to fit the creature well.

Owlbear – level 20

HEALTH96%

STR45END35

SPD19DEX6

INT2WIS2

Well fuck that’s intimidating, wary of taking even a single hit Aaron materialized four strings and pulled his throwing knives out of their places quickly sending two of them towards the creature’s eyes however the thing was simply too fast, abandoning its current meal it dodged to the side before charging towards him, his eyes widened and he threw himself to the side just as the creature tried to bite him, it missed the bite but still managed to hit him with a glancing blow from its arm, 45 points of sent him flying through the air and he actually bounced twice of the ground before finally managing to stop himself.

– 21% HEALTH!

His armor absorbed most of the blow but it still knocked the air out of him, fortunately the creature was so fast it had trouble stopping itself on such poor ground giving him time to recover and get into a kneeling position, completely giving up on the blades he lifted his shotgun and discharged it into its neck as it dashed towards him again.

critical strike, -76 % health

Every single one of his shotgun shells held a solid, arrow shaped slug of depleted uranium meant to destroy even the toughest of creatures and he shot six of them right into its neck and down its throat, even them it didn’t stop the creature, in desperation he materialized a dozen strings and wrapped them around himself, with his having reached intermediate their speed was actually far faster than his own allowing him to safely pull himself out of the creature’s path.

Turning around as fast as he could he hurriedly recharged his gun but the owlbear didn’t attack him immediately, instead it slowly turned around and stumbled, it’s chest was bleeding and it seemed to struggle to breath, he had probably hit the creature’s lungs, releasing a sigh of relief he fully reloaded and watched as the monster fell down, not willing to take any chances he discharged another six shots on its head from a safe distance.

Congratulations, you’ve slain Owlbear level 20 + 630 XP

Slowly he approached the dead owlbear and put a foot on its shoulder, its head moved “FUCK!” he actually used his strings to pull himself more than 10 meters away from the body before noticing a jet of flame coming out of the bullet holes in its skull, the bullets had actually ignited inside the creature.

Searching around the body he finally saw a small glow bellow it’s massive body, manifesting he used it to roll the thing over revealing a pack with 50 feathers, and two crystalized eyes, pocking the eyes with his feet he saw that they were perfectly clean before picking it all up and putting them into his backpack.

“Loki, you all right there?” called Beta 2 over the con “Yep, not a problem” deciding it was better safe than sorry he actually pulled out four of special slugs, each one hand carved by him with an before deciding it was better to warn the others over the common channel “This is Loki, be advised that the creatures are tougher and faster than we believed do not approach them, I repeat do not approach them”

“Damn… Shit… Too late man” came Eric’s out of breath answer “God those things are tough!” smiling at the thought that he was not the only one having a hard time he loaded two more rounds, this time double slugs with blunt points, and started looking for his second target but the screams at his location had actually stopped indicating that those who hadn’t escaped were already dead.

Without the noise to guide him Aaron had no way to know which way to go so he manifested a small and jumped on top of it, using his control he rose nearly seven meters above the tents before seeing the signs of the second creature, the fire was already getting under control as hundreds of survivors worked together to smother the flames, keeping his strings wrapped around himself he created a second ahead of him and jumped at it.

Although he could have simply moved his already manifested shield with his control it was actually more cost effective to create new ones at each step, keeping an eye on his status to avoid wasting all his mana he saw his health had already recovered two percent, his working for all it’s worth, he briefly considered using more troll serum to rise the ability’s level but decided the risk of permanently losing more mana was just not worth it, finally he got close enough to inspect the second, smaller bear.

Owlbear (Elite) – level 18

HEALTH99%

STR47END31

SPD25DEX6

INT3WIS4

Engaging the stealth option on his armor he slowly lowered himself closer to the creature and aimed at its broad side, his mana drained quickly as he took the time to aim at where the creature’s hearth and lungs should be and shot three, the first bullet hit and, with a loud noise, activated his rune for a devastating effect.

Critical strike, -82% health

Normal strike, -11% health

Congratulations, your has increased a level!

At beginner level 6 it now makes you 16% more effective at multitasking

Congratulations, your has increased a level!

At beginner level 3 it now increases the power of any bullets fired by 13%

He had managed to hit the side of the creature, his rune enhanced bullet leaving a huge hole but the elite was so fast he barely saw it dodge out of the way after the first shot making the second one barely hit its leg and the third miss completely, before he could point his gun at the creature’s way once again it gave a screech so loud his head nearly exploded inside his helmed, losing his balance he started to fall from his telekinetic shield and even his camouflage was somehow disturbed.

Regaining his mind he immediately used the strings wrapped around his body to move himself in a downright impossible way for a human dodging in the air like a marionet, only a blur of movement indicated that he made the right choice as the owlbear attacked the place where he had just been.

Touching down on the ground he quickly turned around and tried to shot the last three bullets but, before he could, a spear of searing hot fire flew his way making him uselessly waste his last runed slug, thanking God for his control over the strings he once again used them to increase his speed and range of motion barely getting out of the spells’ way, it exploded on the ground, the shockwave sending him flying and finally snapping his strings giving a huge mental backlash.

-26% HEALTH

Congratulations, you’ve created a new skill, would you like to name it?

YESNO

Congratulations, by displaying incredible fine control in a combat situation your has recovered by 1 point

“Oh for fuck’s sake where the hell did an Owlbear learn to throw fucking fire lances” Seeing the owlbear preparing to charge again he manifested at its side and tried to punch its open wound with an invisible blow.

Normal strike, -4% health

“Goddamnit just fucking die already!” he couldn’t believe the creature was still alive with only 2% health left, thankfully the blow gave him just enough time to fall down and turn around, the monster was standing far away from where the was with a second fire lance forming in front of the its beak, taking aim he shot the last two double slugs then used the to block the creature’s spell, the lance exploded in contact with his power destroying it in a massive wave of fire but, despite the painful backlash, he smiled.

-41% HEALTH

Congratulations, you’ve slain Owlbear(elite) level 18 + 1114 XP

Congratulations, by going through heavy physical strain in a combat situation your has recovered 1 point

Letting himself fall on his back he stayed there breathing hard for a minute, his head hurt like a bitch and his stamina was blinking red angrily but he was still smiling, he just felt so… alive at this moment, finally he opened a private channel “Beta 2 this is Loki, I have dealt with the elite and a second monster just don’t ask me to do anything else”

“Understood Loki, good work” pushing himself in a sitting position he saw that the fire from the exploding spells had already started to spread, looking at his mana still well above the 150 mark he materialized the biggest he could and controlled it with a movement of his hand to pick up as much dirty as it could before pouring it over the fire, doing it several more times he finally smothered it completely.

Materializing a string he used it to get up then laughed out loud and stretched, “Damn that was fun!” still in quite a good mood he walked towards the creature’s body, time to check the loot.