The bear—caught off guard and hurt—let out a pained howl.
It had only joined its partner's hunt with the casual intent of toying with prey, never imagining that something as insignificant as this "ant" could actually wound it. Monsters couldn't speak, but if it could, it would probably be cursing Duncan out right about now.
Duncan didn't give it time to breathe.
Their difference in size was too extreme—every strike window was precious. The white spear flashed like a snake shooting from grass. In the space of a single breath, before the bear could even finish turning, several new wounds opened across its body—deep enough that the entire spearhead could sink in.
Enraged, the bear turned fully and swung its huge palm hard enough to make the air roar, forcing Duncan back. The horn on its head flared with green light—and wind blades began firing like they cost nothing, ripping toward the human who'd pulled away.
The invisible edges screamed through the dark, slicing cleanly through surrounding trees.
But in the darkness, the glow was also a warning flare.
Ranged attacks lived and died on power and casting speed. The wind blades hit like murder, but the "tell" was too long—especially at night, when that green light was basically the bear announcing I'm about to use my big move. With distance established, Duncan immediately disengaged in a zigzag sprint.
For an ordinary monster, wounds like this would be enough to die twice over.
For a giant that could stand nearly four to five meters tall?
It wasn't "itching," exactly…but it was far less than Duncan needed.
The bear's fury only intensified.
It dropped to all fours and launched into a full charge toward Duncan—faster now, somehow, than before it was injured.
Duncan glanced back, measured the gap, and ran harder—one eye on the bear, one on the horn, ready for the next wind blade.
Time was life, and the saying had never been more literal. If these monsters stalled him long enough to close the ring, the consequences weren't something he even wanted to imagine.
A roar sounded from ahead.
Bell had engaged another bear.
A bear that could match Duncan's speed—meaning that even if Bell, as a Level 1, ran as hard as he could, it was only a matter of time before the monster's shadow swallowed him.
Oddly, the more urgent the moment became, the colder Duncan's mind got.
The roars weren't just communication between the monsters—they were signals. Beacons. Anchors he could use to judge distance and timing.
He did the math in his head while running and corrected his line, pushing toward Bell's position.
From first clash to full retreat, less than a minute passed.
For Duncan's legs, it was almost nothing.
He broke into the clearing between trunks and saw Bell—small, fast, using the terrain like a weapon—darting and pivoting between trees. The bear's sheer size, combined with the messy forest, kept it from simply slapping him into paste…though it clearly wanted to.
On the other hand, Bell couldn't meaningfully hurt it either.
A dagger was as close-range as it got outside of gauntlets, and against a monster not only taller but also higher-leveled, it was an overwhelmingly bad matchup. Even staying outside the bear's direct reach, Bell was already struggling.
Every time the bear swung, it wasn't just the paw.
It dragged a cascade of collateral—trees snapping, stones and dirt blasting outward—like a small-area AOE. Only the beast's poor agility, trapped inside its own mass, left Bell any room to live.
"Bell! Close your eyes!" Duncan shouted as he arrived, driving in from the side.
The rear bear was still over ten seconds behind. If they could drop this one, they could punch through and run.
"Flash!"
Duncan's shout snapped the bear's attention toward him.
Bell shut his eyes in the same instant—
—and the sun fell into the Great Tree Sea.
Blinding light detonated across the forest. What had been pitch-black a heartbeat ago became a world of glare.
The bear, caught staring into the burst, went down the same road as its partner—screaming in agony.
But this time, it would be fatal.
As he cast, Duncan had already crouched and loaded his legs.
The moment the bear brought both paws up to cover its eyes, Duncan ignored his body screaming—mana pushing right to the brink again—and launched.
One stomp.
He was at its neck.
The spear became a blade, and he cut as hard as he could across the throat.
Blood erupted.
Not enough.
Before the bear could even cry out fully, Duncan twisted midair—stepping on the air itself, using Sky-Step as a foothold—then stomped again, driving his body into a second slash from the opposite direction.
Like a brutal ring-cut.
The bear's massive head dropped.
The huge body didn't even have time to fall properly before it crumbled into black ash.
"Move!" Duncan snapped.
No time to grab the magic stone. No time to scavenge drops.
He ran—and while running, tore a basic stamina potion from a side pocket and drank it in one pull.
It was worth several times what a healing draught cost.
One bottle meant a week of overtime grinding just to pay the debt back.
Duncan had never been so grateful that he'd joined Zeus's Familia.
At least the prep had been thorough—and he hadn't had to pay out of pocket. The only real limitation was that this remote place simply didn't have access to better supplies or higher-grade potions.
The potion burned down his throat, yanking him back from the edge of collapse. His mind sharpened. His legs found another gear.
The biggest obstacle in front of them was gone.
If they could break out of this area, they'd live.
Up in the canopy, he finally noticed the sky had turned pale.
The thick treetops had blocked the morning light—that was why his plan worked. Another few minutes, and the flash would have been diluted into uselessness.
As if the spell had completed its duty, the word "Flash" vanished from the skill slot, replaced again by his old familiar magic: Finger Snap.
"Bell," Duncan said, voice tight, "don't conserve stamina. Use your potion and sprint straight out of this zone."
He pulled out a healing draught, thumbed the stopper loose while moving.
Bell didn't have mana needs, so he didn't get stamina potions—but the healing draughts were split between them, and the bottles they'd hoarded for nearly a month finally got opened tonight.
The liquid tasted like crushed grass and bitterness.
Duncan grimaced.
Bell's small face twisted too—apparently potionsmiths either didn't care about flavor, or simply couldn't do better.
The complaint lasted about two seconds in Duncan's head before it was thrown away.
Because the pursuit didn't stop.
If anything, it intensified.
The bear behind them roared in rage—broadcasting information to its pack. Duncan couldn't understand the "words," but he didn't need to. The one thing he knew for sure was that letting them converge was death.
Fortunately, from the sound alone, the others were still far enough away that they couldn't reach immediately.
Then—
Like a battlefield flag planted in the ground, the hairs on Duncan's entire body stood up.
He didn't know if it was the Lucky One skill triggering, or pure survival instinct—but he didn't hesitate.
He grabbed Bell, stomped hard on a treetop—
—and then used Sky-Step again, kicking into open air, climbing higher.
The scene below turned into a nightmare.
A wind blade—silent until impact—scythed through the spot where they'd been.
The forest there flattened like a harvested field.
Trees exploded into splinters, trunks cut into chunks, branches raining down like trash tossed into a pit.
Almost at the same moment—
roars erupted from every direction.
Close.
Too close.
Hanging in midair, both of them went pale.
At some point, without realizing it—
They had already been surrounded.
....
My Patreon : patreon/RuneA
If you want to read the novel in advance, you can subscribe for early access. I also have many more novels in my collection that you might be interested in
I upload ten novels a day, with 3 to 4 chapters per title depending on the length. If you're following a particular series, please wait your turn a little
If there's a particular novel you're enjoying on Patron, please give it a 'like' so I know to focus on it