The three horned Bone Bear was only a few feet away from where Kan was lying. Seeing that its dinner was so close, the bear opened its mouth to chomp down Kan. But before it could get any closer something unexpected happened.

The bear suddenly felt pain from its back. It was hurt and now bleeding. His bone armor wasn’t able to help him at all, instead it was shattered. Every piece of bone armor on the bear was thick and powerful but one plate of bone had a hole in it and was cracked.

It had been stabbed but what had stabbed it. The bear was confused, it didn’t see anyone else around the area. It was going to eat the little boy, but he was unsuccessful and even had a piece of his armor broken. It was furious.

The bear used it’s skill again and roared. Everything around it shook and soon it was able to see the faint outline of a figure. It was the figure of the man who had disappeared earlier. Not hesitating the bear turned around and clawed at the man. It’s attack had missed and the man was now standing on top of a branch.

“Is that the best you got. How weak.”

Enraged, the bear ran towards the tree intending to bring it down along with the man. Although it didn’t know what Cole had said, it could tell from the gestures that it was being insulted. Seeing the bear charge towards the tree he was standing on, Cole jumped to another tree. The bear followed and continue breaking down each tree Cole stood on.

……

‘Good, my plan work.’

Cole’s risky plan had just worked and the bear’s attention was now all on him. He knew that Bone Bears were prideful creatures, so he had used that against the bear. Even if a Bone Bear was to be hungry, pride was more important to them. Being injured by a small fry is basically an insult to the Bone Bears.

The best plan Cole could think of was to use Kan as a bait. It was risky because, if he wasn’t fast enough Kan would have been eaten, but it worked out. The moment Kan was defenseless and the bear had thought that it secured it’s meal, it would let down it’s guard. Cole used his invisibility skill and hid on a branch, and waited for the moment the bear’s guard was down. In a split second, Cole used his skill [Blink] and stabbed it with his dagger.

All of his other daggers wouldn’t have worked because the bear’s armor was too sturdy, but that didn’t matter for this dagger. The dagger in Cole’s hand was pitch black with three skull patterns on it. In contrast to the pitch black dagger, the skulls were completely white. Each skull was a different shape from each other, and after the bear was stabbed, one of the skulls transformed into a bear’s skull.

Cole continued to jump from tree to tree away from where Kan was at. He was waiting for the perfect opportunity for the bear to lose concentration or get tired. In the moment the bear loses its concentration, Cole was going to strike again. Cole was going to continue this hit and run plan until the bear either retreated or was weak enough to the point where he could kill it.

Cole’s plan was going smoothly and the both of them were quite a ways from Kan, but suddenly the situation changed. Cole turned back to look at the bear, but for some reason he could see a smirk on the bear’s face. In the next moment, the bear stopped chasing after Cole and began running back towards Kan.

Cole’s plan had failed. It would have been fine if Cole had planned this for any other Bone Bear, but this one was particularly smart. It had realized that Cole was trying to lure it away from where Kan was at, so it had created a plan of its own. It was going to wait until they were far enough from Kan and then decide to run back towards Kan. This would cause Cole to panic.

Cole had realized the bear’s plan to late. The bear was already far away from where he was at and it was getting closer to Kan. Without any hesitation, Cole continuously used [Blink] 3 times. In a single day he could only use [Blink] 5 times, so he had used all of it up trying to save Kan. Even after using his skill, he still couldn’t catch up.

Cole had lost hope in catching up to the bear, but once again the bear did something unexpected. It turned around and tried to claw at Cole once again. Cole swiftly ducked down and cut his dagger up and sliced off the claws on the bear’s right hand.

The bear had thought that his surprise attack would have worked but instead he got his claws cut off. It had decided to turn around and deal with Cole because Cole had injured it earlier. Earlier when it had been stabbed, it had thought that it was just a fluke and that it wouldn’t get injured again. It had underestimated the power of Cole’s dagger because of its pride.

Cole smiled after cutting off the bear’s claws. The bear’s surprise attack was a blessing in disguise for him. The bear had stopped running and now it’s attention was on him. But this time he wasn’t going to run, he was going to kill the three horned Bone Bear right here and right now.

Another skull on Cole’s dagger changed its shape. This time 2 of the 3 skulls were now in the shape of bear skulls. The surprise attack of the bear had made Cole even stronger than before. If he wasn’t confident in killing the bear before, now he was. Cole’s dagger was special because every time he injured his opponent, his dagger would become stronger. Each skull that changes into the shape of his opponent’s skull, would make his weapon 10% stronger. Currently his weapon was 20% more effective against Bone Bears.

Cole charged towards the bear and slice at its snout. The bear was now wary of his dagger and dodged it. Cole continued to slice at the bear but the bear was swift and knew to avoid the pitch black dagger now.

The bear was trying to distance itself from Cole but Cole wouldn’t let that happen. The moment the bear backed up, Cole threw daggers at its eyes and snout. Even if the Bone Bear was known to have strong armor, it’s eyes and snout weren’t covered in it.

The bear was starting to get restless. If the battle continued like this, then it would eventually lose. It had a feeling that Cole was still hiding his full strength. Another dagger flew towards its eyes while it was thinking to itself. Just like the previous daggers the bear brought up its left paw to deflect it, but this time it wasn’t deflected. The bear felt pain coming from its paw and realized to late that it was the pitch black dagger.

While it was paying attention to the dagger sticking out of its paw, the bear had failed to realize that Cole was already right in front of him. Cole jumped up and held the handle of the dagger and pulled it up, slicing half of the bear’s paw off.

“Uraaaaggghhh!”

The bear roared in pain, but still continued to attack Cole. Cole was in the air and it was the perfect chance for the bear. Cole knew that he was in a vulnerable position but he was ready to deal with any of the bear’s attack. He had already immobilized one paw and the other had no claws. The only way for the bear to attack was with it’s mouth, so Cole was prepared to deal with it.

The bear did something no one would have expected. Not even the people who made the records for Bone Bears, would have known about this attack. The three horned Bone Bear had shot out two of its horns.

One horn pierced Cole’s shoulder while the other had pierced his stomach. Worst of all was that Cole had been pinned against a tree and couldn’t move. Blood was oozing out of his wounds and from the impact, he had spit out a mouthful of blood.

Cole could only watch as the bear began running away. It was running away but it was running towards the direction of Kan. It was still planning to take Kan home as a prize. Anger flared up in Cole’s eyes.

“DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE!!!!!”

In an instant, his brown hair turned white as snow and his brown eyes turned as red as blood. He forcefully pulled the 2 horns out of his body and threw it at the Bone Bear. Simultaneously he kicked off the tree and as he did, the tree shattered into pieces. Cole was accelerating at a speed that was so fast that he was just a blur.

The bear felt intense killing intent coming from behind him, but didn’t stop running towards Kan. Kan was his only hope of escaping this situation. The 2 horns made impact and cracked the armor but didn’t pierce through. The bear hadn’t expected the 2 projectiles to do so much damage to his armor, but it was also beneficial to him. The 2 horns helped propel him closer towards Kan. But in that moment the bear heard Cole scream something.

“[Roar]!!!”

The bear felt his entire body vibrating. His surroundings was vibrating just as much as he was. The Bone Bear was very familiar with this feeling, it was his skill [Roar]. The bear knew what his skilled did, but had never felt it for himself, since he wasn’t affected while using it. It was a struggle for the bear to move. Kan was only a few feet away but if felt like he was miles away.

After the bear had been affected by his own skill, Cole was now right behind him. Cole was still accelerating through the air, so he brought his dagger down and slashed at the bear’s back. The dagger stabbed into the neck and followed the spine all the way out. Cole landed at a nearby tree and looked at the bear.

It was still not dead. Even with all the wounds that had been afflicted on it, it was too tenacious. Cole grew even angrier as he saw that the bear now had its right paw laid on Kan’s chest. Just a little strength in its arm and Kan’s chest would be crushed.

The bear stared back at Cole. It’s breathing was rough and ragged but it had won the battle. Even with all his injuries, as long as he got away from here then it just needed time to recover. And when it recovered, it would come back and hunt down Cole. Right now the bear needed Cole to retreat and allow it to get away.

The bear was using Kan to threaten Cole. Although no one spoke, Cole knew the intentions of the bear. It was taking Kan hostage, so it could get away. If he got any close then the bear wouldn’t hesitate to kill Kan. The bear could clearly see how much Cole cared for Kan, so it knew Cole wouldn’t recklessly charge at it.

The one factor none of them thought of, was Kan himself. In the stare down between Cole and the bear, Kan opened his eyes.