The Demon Bear showed no signs of noticing him, but Loran knew it would eventually. It will take at least 5 minutes for his MP to be half-filled, and almost 15 minutes to restore to be back at a point that he felt comfortable with, both of which were just too long when a fight could be decided in a matter of seconds.

‘Okay, focus Loran,’ he thought while doing his best to ignore the growing sense of panic. ‘Time to run damage control. What do I have to work with.’

Most of his inventory was filled with rations, water, and dead animals, all of which ranged from useless to actively detrimental, so no help there. He did still have his Bone Pick in case he ran out of MP, but he now knew that was useless too with how high the Demon Bear’s armor was.

All he really had to use was his nearly empty MP and five glowing spikes.

‘....Or five glowing distractions.’

Loran felt his nerves begin to fade as a plan formed in his mind. Waiting until the bear was facing away from him, Loran had the spikes fly high above the tree line.

‘There are no flying predators in the valley, so no reason for this thing to look up any time soon.’

With the blue spells blending in with the blue sky, Loran began positioning them closer to the trees while surrounding the Demon Bear. With the five spells surrounding the beast, Loran went back to waiting.

It took a minute for Loran to set up his defenses…

…and only a minute more for the Demon Bear to start sniffing in his direction.

‘Let’s hope this works.’

Before the bear could get any closer, one of the Mana Spikes flew down from the sky and began circling the beast. It immediately lost interest in whatever it was smelling, distracted by the strange thing buzzing around it. The bear lazily tried to swat the spike out of the air, only for it to weave and twirl out of the way.

Now that he had the [GOAT WHISPERER] Skill, Loran could tell that the bear was curious about his spell, but that curiosity was quickly turning into frustration. Perhaps a wolf might have seen the light dancing around and want to play with it, but the Demon Bear in front of Loran was proud, an apex predator, one of the beasts that ruled these woods.

The bear was being insulted by this thing that did not fight but did not run, like it was being mocked. It perceived the spell as a living thing that didn’t know fear, and the Demon Bear planned to correct this error.

It took a lot of concentration to keep the spell from touching the bear, so much so that Loran had to let the other spikes hover freely to focus, but his plan was working.

As the Demon Bear started swinging and biting faster and faster, Loran was having trouble keeping up. This wasn’t a limit of his skill, but of his stats. Just like when he felt the limit on how much mana he could control, it was as if a solid wall was preventing him from pushing the spell further.

Loran was at his limit, just barely keeping the spell from getting hit. Eventually, to try and give himself some breathing room, he let the bear strike the spell along the side.

Loran’s jaw dropped as the spell shattered from the blow. Acting quickly, he reasserted direct control over as much of the spell’s mana as he could, salvaging a little more than half of it.

‘Should I go on the attack already?’ Loran wondered as his MP bar continued to tick up. ‘I’ve got maybe four minutes left…’ He wouldn’t be able to restore his MP completely, but the remaining duration on the other Mana Spikes would end soon.

Using the salvaged mana, Loran continued distracting the Demon Bear. The task was a bit easier now, and Loran noted that the orb of mana was apparently more durable than the spike had been, as the spell was able to take an occasional hit from the bear without shattering again.

‘Okay, now should be good.’ With about a minute left before the Mana Spikes faded away, he went on the attack.

Keeping the bear distracted with the orb, Loran directed one of the spikes toward the Demon Bear’s back.

The single spike approached with all the stealth Loran could muster, but in the end it didn’t matter.

The bear managed to clamp its jaws around the orb and, unable to escape the crushing force, was shattered once again. As the spell dissolved into mist turned its head suddenly, too suddenly for Loran to keep the spike in its blind spot.

With the element of surprise lost, Loran had the spell fly for the bear’s head at full speed.

As proud as the Demon Bear was, it instinctively knew to protect its head and tried to evade the attack, but the spike had gotten too close. The spell left a gash in the beast’s cheek as it passed before Loran spun it around and buried it in the beast’s chest, leaving an inch-wide hole that quickly began gushing blood.

The Demon Bear let out a pained roar so powerful that Loran nearly felt it through the air, but there was no time to be distracted. He quickly reached out for the remaining Mana Spikes and flung them toward the bear while it was still stunned.

The three spikes flew down from the sky as quickly as Moss Wolves at a full sprint. Even as the Demon Bear noticed the attacks, there was little it could do in its current state. It tried to dodge the first attack aimed at its neck, but Loran was able to correct its trajectory and struck the bear in the side. The bear tried to run, but was unable to move quickly enough as the two remaining spells struck it in the back.

After being dealt four massive wounds, the Demon Bear collapsed, not dead, but simply in shock from the greatest injuries it had ever received in such a short span of time.

With the bear not moving, Loran used [ANALYSE].

{HP}: 1219.8/1840

And at the bottom of the display.

[SEVERE BLEEDING]

Remaining Duration: 7 Seconds

Lose 5 HP per Second

[FATAL BLEEDING]

Remaining Duration: 8 Seconds

Lose 1% of Maximum HP per Second

‘A third of its HP.’ Loran grinned. ‘I would have preferred half, but that’s also a lot of Bleeding debuffs, so I’ll take it.’

He knew that the others would be yelling at him for feeling unsatisfied after having ripped away over 30% of a boss’s HP like he owned it, but it didn’t change the fact that he only pulled it off with a sneak attack that nearly exhausted him to set up. Even though he was still hidden he hadn’t regained all of his MP yet, so trying that again would only exhaust him further.

‘No more extended spells. Time for a more direct approach.’

Creating another Mana Spike, Loran launched it into the air before having the spell dive for the bear. Seeing the attack, the bear quickly pulled itself to its feet before trying to run.

‘Can’t let it escape!’ Loran could keep up with the bear while using [SPRINT] but his spells couldn’t. If it got up to full speed, Loran’s only options would be to let it run or reveal his position, neither of which he was willing to accept.

Fortunately, between the bear’s injuries and its huge bulk, it only managed to get about ten feet away before the Mana Spike reached it. Loran twirled the spike in front of the bear’s face, making it run back the other way before striking it in the leg.

Loran prepared the next spell but nearly lost focus as the Demon Bear turned its head to face him. Panicking, Loran launched the unfinished spell before activating [SNEAK] and [SPRINT] running off to the side.

‘Focus on the spell, focus on the spell, pleasefocusonthespell!’

Loran’s prayers were answered as the bear’s eyes tracked the spell, roaring as it approached. The spell struck the bear in the chest, but the incomplete spell was too unstable and shattered after creating a small wound.

Fortunately, the bear started moving towards his previous location. It lost track of him, but it knew he was here now.

‘Even with Sneak it can track my scent,’ he thought. ‘And casting is too noticeable. Maybe if I’m fast enough…’

With the Demon Bear heading in the wrong direction, Loran created and launched another large Mana Bolt, sending it above the trees just as the bear turned in his direction. Keeping his eyes on the bear, Loran continued running as his spell closed in.

Once again the bear tried to swat it aside, but the bolt wasn’t nearly as fragile as the spike spell and flew back toward the bear's face. Loran was hoping to distract it some more, but the Demon Bear turned its head and snapped its jaws around the spell.

The Mana Bolt was easily crushed, and Loran winced as a sharp pain ran through his head. He tried to salvage the situation by destabilizing the mana, creating a small explosion in the bear’s face. The Demon Bear didn’t even flinch, and when the mist cleared its face had only minor scratches.

The bear continued forward, head turning back and forth as it had learned his general location from the last spell.

‘Only another twenty seconds.’ Not only was he using [SPRINT] uninterrupted, [SNEAK] was an even bigger drain on his SP, but giving up either of them meant having to confront the Demon Bear directly. ‘Still, I’d rather have to face it with enough SP to dodge. May as well start this on my terms.’

Deactivating his Skills, Loran formed a Magic Shield and used a little mana to extend it. It wouldn’t last as long as the Mana Spikes did, but at the very least it wouldn’t take up as much of his concentration.

The Demon Bear paused as it finally got a clear look at its attacker, eyes shifting between him and the shield floating in front of him.

‘Okay, I’m down to half MP, a little more than half SP, this bastard is about half dead, and a single hit will probably be enough to snap me in half.’ He sighed. ‘I guess I can work with that.’