Eric ran as fast as he could towards the source of the screams ahead of him, as the fastest member of beta team he was the only one capable of catching up to the furthest creature before it did any more damage to the camp, sending a wave of mana to his legs he used to radically increase their power and dashed ahead leaving deep footprints on the ground, those people had already suffered enough he had to help them.

Unfortunately the creature seemed to be moving at about the same speed as he was and leaving a devastating path of destruction in its wake, making a sharp corner where the monster had apparently changed directions he saw a young woman struggling bellow a pile of rubble, blood had formed a pool around her as her left leg was pinned by the huge pile and a metal pipe had pierced her side.

When he approached running her face turned into one of absolute terror and she struggled harder “Calm down, I am here to help” still struggling and crying she asked “What… what are you?” getting to her position he put a hand on her shoulder and looked at her wound “What’s your name?” “Jas… Jasmine” he smiled though she didn’t see it behind his helmet “Well jasmine, my name is Eric I am with the US army now, this is probably gonna hurt but I want you to bear with it please” She nodded, as fast as he could he put his hands below the rubble and lifted it off her leg, he didn’t even need to enhance his power as the TALOS 3 hydraulic system already boosted his enough.

Using his hands he pinched the metal pipe and broke it off behind the girl then injected her with a very small dose of troll serum and told her “don’t pull the pipe out and ran back the way I came, there are no monsters there” with no more time to waste he left the girl there and dashed after the creature again, he knew he had lost precious seconds with that good deed but he just couldn’t let her lie there dying.

As he ran he saw many others suffering or hiding but none of them risked death so he managed to ignore it and move ahead, the loud screech of the creature to his right made him increase the power in his legs, gunshots also sounded together with screams of pain and terror convincing him he was getting closer.

His weapon was a powerful automatic rifle loaded with piercing bullets that he lifted to his shoulders when he approached the creature’s location in a hurry, the huge unholly mixture of an owl and a bear had just teared apart a small grey tent and used it’s huge, talon like claws to rip its previous occupants to pieces as a few brave men tried to shot it in the head.

Owlbear – level 19

Eric knew a bear’s skull was extremely tough but he didn’t know if that applied to one with an own’s head, still it was better to be safe than sorry so, dashing towards the creature, he unloaded a full clip from his rifle aiming at its heart and, as it lifted its head to screech hatefully, he his legs and slammed into its side with everything he had… the creature didn’t even budge.

Critical Strike -67% health

“Oh fuck” Turning it’s huge eyes towards him the creature showed surprise at his pitiful attack for a single second before getting up on its hind legs and bashing him away with its paw, thankfully he managed to block the blow with his gun but he was still sent tumbling back, when he finally managed to stop his body he heard Loki’s voice 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” he answered trying to recover his breath, lifting his weapon he saw it was bent nearly to the point of breaking, The Owlbear tilted its head unnaturally while looking his way as if to say “Hu? You’re not dead yet?” making him grit his teeth in anger, a movement at the creature’s feet made him realize there was still someone alive there “Stop! Stay quiet I will grab its attention!” throwing the now useless riffle at the bears face he pulled out his long sword and roared in challenge at the creature, the owlbear did not like it at all.

Falling back on four feet the monster charged him at a speed he hardly believed possible, he had just enough time to lift his sword before the creature bit down on it with its brutal short beak, its momentum lifted him off his feet and drove him back nearly 25 meters before the bear thrashed it’s head trying to shake him off, unwilling to give up his sword he held on for dear life, finally his enemy slammed his back on the ground with all its strength.

-16% HEALTH

His armor was able to lesser the back-breaking hit into a merely painful one, he also managed to plant both his feet on its head, twisting the blade sideways he pulled puled the sword out of the creature’s beak and fell down, the owlbear did not waste any time making a swipe at his chest with its front claws, he once again managed to block the blow, this time with his own arm, the sharp talons glowed red as they pierced through his armor and into his forearm scrapping his bone before he was sent flying once again getting tangled in the barracks.

-9% HEALTH

Starting to feel like a dog’s chewing toy he picked himself up and noted that, at least he had managed to pull the beast away from the civilians letting them escape, he also blessed his luck as the owlbear had actually lost him among the fabric of the tents giving him precious time to recover, his left arm was hurting a lot and he couldn’t put any strength on his grip, using his helmet’s interface he ordered his armor to apply some troll serum at his wound and waited as quiet as he could.

It took the creature nearly a minute to catch his scent over the cloaking power of the TALOS 3 allowing his arm to be nearly fully recovered, when the owlbear looked his way he dashed out of cover and away from the creature still trying to think of a way to kill it, his riffle was gone and he doubted the few grenades he held could pierce the creature’s hide, he ran in a zig zag pattern between the barracks using and on his legs to neutralize the bear’s speed advantage.

When the Monster got too close it tried to swipe at his back once again but he was prepared, rolling away he twisted his body and tried to pierce the creature’s armpit with a well aimed stab, the blow was perfectly timed but the beast’s fur and hide were just too tough stopping his blow before it had done any lasting damage

Normal strike -1% health

Without losing any time Eric pulled his sword back and started running in the opposite way, both he and the Owlbear turned into blurs as they ran back the way they had came, all of his powers allowed him to generate just enough to barely stay out of the monster’s range but it wasted mana like crazy, desperate and with his mana running out he activated with the Troll spirit he had captured earlier

Young Troll’s spirit has been consumed +6 STR, +5 END, +1 SPD, +50 mana, gained skill

TROLL’S REGENERATION

Active once a day to regenerate completely at the cost of body mass or attributes

Congratulations, has increased a level

At beginner level 2 it has a chance to absorb up to 12% of the slain creature’s attributes and the single, highest level, ability or skill

The huge increase in and gave him renewed courage but it was still uncertain if, even now, he could pierce the bastard’s hide so he used the extra mana to try something else.

He had a very good control of his skill as it had accompanied him all his life, even before the and, over the many fights he had after the arrived, he managed to learn something called a which would use mana to increase the power of a weapon’s blow, he decided to try and mix the two, pulling his mana from his heart towards both of his arms with he used the mana channels to circle the power there for a second before trying to imitate the effect.

At first it didn’t work but, after he poured another 30 mana, it felt like something snapped on his skin his arms felt like they were on fire as he created a new channel out of his hands and into the blade, slowly a barely perceptible white sheen of power crawled over his sword until it enveloped it completely.

Congratulations, you have learned the skill

WEAPON ENHANCEMENT

Releasing mana from your hands you enhance the attack of a weapon in accord with how much mana you pour on it

Pouring all his mana into the three enhancement skills he had he prayed to god for it to work then waited until the owlbear was nearly upon him once more to turn around and stop in place, spreading his legs he pulled his left leg back then bent the right one and pointed his sword ahead firming his stance as best he could, the movement caught the monster by surprise and it didn’t have enough time to dodge charging right at his sword’s point.

Its own momentum drove the sword into its chest to the hilt, buffed up as he was Eric was still not fully able to stop the creature sliding back about 8 meters and leaving deep furrows in the dirty ground, in a last attempt to kill him the owlbear bit down on his collarbone breaking it and piercing his armor once again, his still wounded arm couldn’t take the strain and broke as well making him scream in pain.

-42% HEALTH

Congratulations, you have slain Owlbear level 19 + 392XP

Congratulations, your has increased a level

At beginner level 10 your consumes less mana

Using his hands he pried open the monster’s beak them fell down on his back panting, he broke out in a cold sweat at the thought of what would have happened if he failed to kill the creature… Eric had always been training to fight those monsters but this was the first time he truly felt the danger of dying, he did not enjoy the feeling, activating his he watched as his bones snapped back into place and his wounds closed, no use keeping the skill for latter when it would expire in less than an hour.

You’ve used

as you have enough body mass you will not lose any attributes but feel incredibly hungry

it took him nearly five minutes to manage to get up again and, when he finally did, he noticed his stamina was nearly in the red, taking his distance from the dead body he contacted the team leader “Beta 2 this is Siegfried, my target has been eliminated” a few seconds passed before he received a whispered answer “Understood Siegfried good work, try to see if the creature has dropped any loot” looking at the huge dead creature he sighed and walked back.

Wishing to pull the sword out he put both hands on its handle and noticed they were still shaking from fear, then he remembered the happy face of Lily and the desperate faces of the other civilians he saved, “It’s okay, I can do this, they’re just monsters” when his hands finally became steady he pulled at the sword, the sheer muscle density of the monster made it hard to pull the sword out of its body but he managed to do it slowly, he then pushed the body slightly aside to see a small necklace of feathers with a single huge talon in the middle laying on the ground.

Necklace of the Beast CLASSB-

EFFECT:Increase and by 1

Seeing no downside to it he immediately wore the necklace then searched around the ground some more without finding anything, finally a few human heads started to look at his location from far away curious to see if the monster had been slain “Beta team this is Beta 2, all targets have been eliminated, you’re to help stop the fire from spreading then reunite back at the church”

“Understood beta 2” he said over the cons and heard similar answers from every member of beta team, cleaning his sword with a fallen piece of cloth he sheathed it back and, seeing no fire on the immediate vicinity, he looked around confused, finally he shouted towards the civilians “Hey can any of you tell me which way is the church?”