"...and thus, on the 26th day of March in the year of our great Gods 583, The Great Empire of Eshthinese recognized the provinces of Orishe and Grorjin as separate and self-governing states and acknowledge the authority of the government instituted by their people."

  The Treaty of Dirtstwind, which officially ended the 15-year unification war between the Eshthinese and the Orishe-Grorjin Alliance

Huh?" Lish suddenly squeaked.

"Huh, what?" I asked, it's been a couple of minutes since we've revealed ourselves from that spirit. Lish with his magic or whatever seems to be communicating with it. Waiting for them to finish is both boring and worrying. 

Lish suddenly faced me while whispering, " It just told us to leave... "

"Then we should!" I said, quite loudly I presume since I've never seen Lish so stressed, well there was one time when her master gave her the task to summon a Minor Fire Elemental. Her face was so cluttered with ash and sulfur from various failed summoning rituals.

"Calm down! I'm still talking to it!" Lish loudly whispered, then she proceed to face the spirit with a mix of fear and determination. I'm wondering what are they talking about, probably Lish trying to get some clarification about-

All of a sudden, I can feel my [Danger Sense] activating, something dangerous is approaching, and it's approaching fast. It seems like I'm not the only one who felt it because the spirit also reacted to it, only Lish looked at me dumbfounded as I stood up and ready myself.

"LISH!" I shouted, fortunately, it removed Lish from her stupor and stood behind me, and behind us, the spirit floats menacingly.

Aside from [Danger Sense] which increases my defense slightly when danger approaches and [Defensive Stance] which avoids knockback, it's only my buckler standing against the danger approaching.

A few feet from us, something burst out of the bushes. A fucking Forest Bear.

Adult Forest Bear

Lvl: 3 | Rank: C

It leaped from the bushes towards me, It was so fast that I know that I have no time dodging and I readied my buckler even though there was no chance to block it.

I closed my eyes and braced myself to be blown apart.

After a second, a loud thud made me open my eyes, and a huge shield of wood is floating between me and the bear. I was momentarily shocked because I know that Lish did not cast this spell. After all, her affinity is Fire, which leaves the sole creature with the affinity for this kind of magic...

The humongous bear didn't let me steal a glance at the spirit, a reverberating roar escaped the maw of the beast, untamed and heart-lurching, it stuns every single living thing within a few dozen meters. With the Wooden Shield shielding us from the roar, it minimized its effect of it.

[Feral Roar], known as a staple skill of wild monsters, It's mostly used to interrupt its opponents because if not resisted, it will cause a temporary drop on all stats and have a certain chance to stun opponents, fortunately, with the shield and everyone here possessing enough INT, that was enough to resist the stun effect, but not the drop on stats.

[ -2 INT, -2 WIS, -2 AGI ]

With its ferocious might and unabated savagery, it repeatedly strikes the floating Wooden Shield. As a C-Rank monster, only a 5-star Gold Adventurer party can defeat it in battle. Even with the help of a spirit, I doubt we can leave this hell hole with our limbs intact.

With just a few swipes, the bear managed to reduce the shield into a splintering mess, while it was doing that, I took the liberty of distancing myself and told Lish to start her incantation for offensive spells.

"...[Fire Spear]!" Lish unleased the spell [Fire Spear] that found its destination towards the bear's torso, it made significant damage, but it was more effective in giving the ire of the bear to Lish.

I know that getting hit would mean either I will be turned into a pulp or I will lose a part of my body, even with that fact, I charged at the bear with my Martial Technique [Rush] that increase my speed momentarily and had a chance to knockback the opponent, I readied my buckler for the imminent impact.

It only took a few seconds after the impact of the [Fire Spear] for the [Rush] to be completed, usually when used, it was supposed to at least stun the enemy for quite a bit or even knock them back, the only thing that my skill has accomplished is to further increase the annoyance level of the bear and bring it to the limit of its patience.

"YOU IDIOT LOOK OUT!!" I heard Lish shout as the bear raised its paws, its nails glowing a certain red hue, it’s using a fucking skill!

I tried to move but...

[You are in the presence of an existence that are leagues stronger than you.]

[ You are momentarily stunned! ]

"...shit"

"YOU IDIOT LOOK OUT!!" I shouted as I see Klyde froze on the spot as the bear slowly raise its paws. 

I was mid-chant for an overcharged [Fire Spear] when Klyde used his Martial Technique [Rush], quite a foolish move but if I’m going to be put into his situation, there's no other choice than to take the aggression of the beast to yourself rather than the Mage of the party.

The bear raised its paws so slowly that even an amateur will be able to dodge it from a mile away, but as I momentarily looked into its stance and face...

"It's toying with us..."I mindlessly muttered as I try to bring back my focus on spellcasting. Most Forest Bears use ambush as their main strategy for hunting, they are rarely the ones who initiate a fight with an opponent, more so attacking humans that it’s usually wary of. The only reason I can think of why it attacked us is probably because of that floating ball of light behind us.

Not only humans, but even beasts covet the energy-rich core of a spirit. Various experiments that have been made public by the Elders of Shir show that when a beast consumes magic cores, especially those from spirits can give them massive boons for their evolution, giving the beast a certain chance to evolve into a Magical Creature.

The bear finally dropped its paws onto Klyde, fortunately, he parried the attack at the cost of his buckler turning into pieces.

' Klyde, hold on... just five more seconds... ' I mentally plead as I continue to pour all of my available mana into my spell. I can feel my hands shake as the spell's pressure intensifies and the lightheadedness as I squeeze myself of mana.

Klyde managed to evade, with a cost. In just a split second, the bear managed to hit his left shoulder, even if it was just a graze a huge wound has sprouted up dangerous enough that it renders his arm unusable for the foreseeable future.

The grass near me starts to sizzle due to the sheer heat of the spell, if I was not the caster of this spell I would probably be running due to the heat of my surroundings. I tried to aim at the bear's chest; it would be great if I could hit the head, but I don't want to try my luck.

A whistling sound can be heard followed by an explosion akin to a dynamite, and a crushing thump on where the bear's body landed. From the looks of it, it seems that I hit it-

The world starts to swirl and I can feel that I'm losing my balance.

Blood starts dripping in small amounts on my nose, I slowly crouched and took a sit on the ground.

Mana exhaustion is a bitch, coupled with Mana reflux from the overcharged spell, it feels like being pricked by thousands of needles while being submerged on a lake in winter, having a fever, and being drunk, at the same time, then double it all up.

"Lish! Are you okay?!" said Klyde, as he limp his way toward me.

"Heh, I should be the one asking that." I snarkily said.

I thought the battle is finished, but the reality of the strength of a C-rank beast slapped me on the back of my head.

The bear, full of scratches and sporting a sizzling wound on its chest, jumped out of the bushes where it was thrown off by my spell, a red-tinged aura surrounding it

It’s now in an Enranged state, faster and stronger than before, it burns through its remaining life force to wreak havoc for the last time.

With no one stopping it, it rushed toward the unaware Klyde.