The Demon Bear quickly regained its bearings and charged at Yang, enraged by her [TAUNT]. Yang, still unarmed after having discarded her weapon, quickly equipped a shield in her left hand, bracing for the bear’s attack while she looked for her War Pick. By the time she saw it, the beast was on top of her, bringing its claws down on her.

Yang raised the shield and, knowing she couldn’t evade the attack completely, stepped forward to avoid the claws. The Demon Bear’s paw landed on her shield with a heavy thud that nearly knocked Yang to her knees, but most of the damage was mitigated.

The bear reared back for another attack, but before Yang could brace for the impact she saw Alexx appear above the beast’s head, aiming a punch at the back of the bear’s skull.

The punch connected with a loud but dull thud as the bear was once again knocked down onto its front paws and its HP dropped to 59%.

“How did that taste, huh!” Yang shouted, bashing the bear’s head with her shield as she reapplied her [TAUNT]. However, when the Demon Bear raised its head, it barely looked at her for a minute before turning to attack Alexx.

Yang’s eyes widened. “It’s OT!” She shouted, hoping to warn Alexx before he got blindsided by the mighty beast.

Unfortunately, Alexx was only a little faster than she was, and by the time he realized what had happened, the Demon Bear was already on him. Instincts kicking in, he raised his arms to block.

A terrible snap was heard as Alexx was sent flying from the blow. Before he flew too far, a player from Bate’s team dropped their bow to catch him and was knocked back from the force.

Yang didn’t know if he was still alive, but she knew that humans didn’t have joints in their forearms.

The Demon Bear, still focusing on Alexx, was about to continue its assault, but was distracted as a flurry of arrows struck it in the face, piercing through the beast’s thick skin. The bear roared in pain and began swinging its head back and forth, before settling on a single player standing amid the tree branches.

Yang’s face paled as she realized that Yin had just stolen the Demon Bear’s aggro.

She dashed for her War Pick, desperate to reestablish the aggro before the Demon Bear had a chance to hurt her sister. The weapon was only a dozen feet away, but it felt like miles as the bear’s greater speed gave it more time to attack.

Yang took a few steps.

The bear was already tearing down the tree Yin was standing in.

Yang’s fingers closed around the handle of the War Pick.

Yin had leapt to another tree, but the bear began attacking the tree before she landed.

Yang charged at the Demon Bear.

Yin lost her footing.

Yang was five feet away.

The Demon Bear was swinging its claws at Yin’s falling form.

Yang opened her mouth to scream.

Another figure appeared, reaching Yin just before the bear could attack.

The figure, Zed, planted his foot on Yin’s stomach and kicked off her, launching Yang’s sister away from the battle and propelling himself towards the Demon Bear.

The blade of his spear intercepted the Demon Bear’s arm, and Zed held on tight as his body was now being pulled through the air. The bear shook him off just as Yang got within striking range, aiming a powerful strike at the bear’s hind leg, hoping to break it. The blunt side of the War Pick connected with a dull thump, landing solidly against the tough muscle but the damage was unable to break the dense bones beneath. The attack may have done less than she had hoped, but as long as the beast was still [ENRAGED] it was enough for her to regain the aggro.

Yang’s eyes flickered upward.

[HP] {35%}

‘Just a little more.’

Alexx, Zed, and Yang, whether through stats, Skills, or equipment were some of if not the heaviest hitters in the village, able to deal triple digits worth of damage in single strikes. Their attacks had torn chunks out of the Demon Bear’s HP, landing a few more hits would be simple.

It was then that Yang realized something was wrong.

‘...Where’s the Enraged icon?!’

Yang knew by heart how long the debuff lasted and was certain that there were still twenty seconds on its duration, yet the icon was missing from the [SIXTH SENSE] display. This wasn’t a simple OT anymore.

The Demon Bear was resisting their attempts to control it.

Zed moved in to attack and the bear charged to meet him, turning aside at the last second while deflecting his spear. Once it passed Zed, the bear turned to face Yang and Zed again, rearing back to its full height with a mighty roar.

“Taunt isn’t working,” Yang shouted. “We need to flank it!”

“Got it!”

Yang moved left and Zed went right, but the bear wasn’t having it. Going after Yang, the Demon Bear used a heavy-handed swipe to knock Yang back toward Zed before turning to face them both.

They tried again, but once again Yang was knocked back. Zed tried to attack, but the beast was able to deflect the attack with a backhanded blow. With his weapon pushed upward, Zed tried to retaliate with a downward strike, but he was off balance and the bear was closing in quickly on its forward paws.

Low to the ground, the bear was too close for Zed’s spear to be of use. It snapped its jaws for his arms and Zed scrambled backward. Even with [SPRINT] making him faster than the bear, he was unable to find his footing as he desperately avoided each attack.

Yang tried to attack the bear’s back, but the moment it saw her try to circle around it quickly turned to face her, a backhanded strike catching her in the side of her head.

~~~~~

When the Demon Bear struck Yang, Zed watched as her limp body, heavy with her wooden armor, was flipped by the force of the impact before hitting the ground hard.

Zed’s mind blanked for a moment. When he saw how powerful the Demon Bear was he had expected casualties, maybe even a few deaths, but he hadn’t expected Yang to be taken out so easily.

‘No,’ he thought after using [ANALYSE]. ‘She’s not dead yet.’

According to the Skill, Yang had simply been knocked [UNCONSCIOUS] from the force of the attack. However, that still meant that she was currently out cold with an apex predator standing over her, one that was currently raising a paw to finish her off.

“Oh hell no!” Zed shouted as he dashed forward, landing a quick but shallow cut across the bear’s cheek. “Can someone get her out of here?!”

“On it,” Soze said, practically appearing out of thin air as he dropped [SNEAK]. Soze quickly hauled Yang’s heavy body over his shoulders. The Demon Bear started roaring, with [GOAT WHISPERER] Zed could sense the anger and indignation from seeing wounded prey escaping, but he managed to keep the beast at bay with his spear. “Can you finish this?”

“Just who the hell do you think I am?” Zed asked without breaking eye contact with the Demon Bear. “A single injured bear is nothing.”

Soze ran as fast as he could. The bear tried to pursue and Zed stabbed at it with his spear. The blade buried itself in the beast’s flesh, but then it changed course to focus on him. Zed struggled to keep his footing as the bear’s body pushed against his spear, shoving him back as it tried to get closer.

Zed leapt back and retracted his spear, quickly spinning the blade to thwack the bear across the face with the weighted end. The attack wasn’t enhanced with any Skills and did next to no damage, but it distracted the beast enough for him to reach its flank uninterrupted.

He had been using [SPRINT] almost continuously in order to keep up with the bear and only had a third of his SP remaining. His damage-boosting Skills wouldn’t be enough to finish it off, so his only option was to bet everything on his slight speed advantage.

With a mad grin, Zed slashed at the Demon Bear’s middle leg before leaping over its back. As the beast turned toward his previous location, he landed on the opposite side, bringing down his spear and leaving a bloody gash on the opposite leg.

[SP]: 120/375

[HP] {29%}

The bear tried to hit him with a backhanded strike, but Zed kicked off the attacking limb, landing unharmed a dozen feet away. It charged and Zed leapt over it, just barely avoiding its claws. He landed three slashes along the shoulder, causing three [MINOR BLEEDING] debuffs.

[SP]: 102/375

[HP] {21%}

The Demon Bear reared back, limping slightly with its hulking mass was being supported by its injured legs as it turned to face him. It slashed at Zed and he ducked under the blows. Zed tried to cut the bear across the chest, but he misjudged how thick the fur and hide were and didn't even draw blood. He dodged back as the bear’s body came crashing down, just barely avoiding its claws as they left deep grooves on his bracers.

[SP]: 84/375

[HP] {20%}

Zed stumbled back as the bear closed in, lashing out and catching the beast near the neck with the haphazard swing. The bear tried to raise its body up again, but one of its injured legs finally gave out, sending it sprawling to the ground and giving Zed a massive opening.

Regaining his footing, Zed jumped to the Demon Bear’s back before slashing at the beast’s neck. The bear roared out in pain, but the tough muscles and hide prevented anything fatal.

[SP]: 66/375

[HP] {14%}

The Demon Bear lurched underneath him, throwing Zed to the ground as it once again reared up to its full height, ignoring the pain from its injured legs. Zed rolled to his feet and readied his spear, but paused as he realized the bear wasn’t attacking. It simply stood there, staring down at him while breathing heavily.

Deactivating [SPRINT] to conserve the rest of his SP, Zed’s grin dropped and his excitement turned to confusion. He carefully assessed the battlefield while maintaining eye contact with the Demon Bear.

Dozens of arrows stuck out from the bear’s body, and dozens more were scattered across the ground. Blood painted the beast’s body, its once majestic pelt matted and torn. The [BLEEDING] debuffs were wearing off, but [BLOOD LOSS] had naturally followed it. Bates and his team still surrounded the area, as confused as Zed and with bows at the ready.

The ferocity and pride the Demon Bear gave off throughout the fight was gone. All that was left was resignation.

The Demon Bear had clearly lived for a long time to reach level 40, and it knew that it was on the brink of death, that Zed was more than capable of killing it.

‘It’s given up.’ His spear tip dropped slightly as he realized this.

…

“You bitch,” Zed spat, shoving his spear into his inventory and walking away.

…

“WHAT?!”