A Villain's POV
Chapter 43: Killing the bear part 2

Chapter 43: Killing the bear part 2

The bear raised its paw, ready to strike Raze and end it. There was no way Raze could react in that time; his death was fixed at that moment. But then, a piece of rock came flying and slammed into the head of the bear, exploding into dust.

This attack had not done any damage, but it enraged the bear. It turned to look for who had attacked it and saw Joel standing there.

With a loud, thunderous roar, the bear gave immediate chase. Joel turned around and started running like his life depended on it.

As he ran, he suddenly tripped on a root and fell to the ground. The bear stood over him, ready to flay his flesh.

"You shouldn’t forget about me!" Raze’s voice came out of nowhere as he dropped from above, his sword ready to stab. It dug into the back of the bear.

The bear let out a roar of pain and started thrashing around, throwing Raze off it with the sword still embedded in its back.

Raze knew that this was his opportunity. If he wasted a single second now, he might not get the chance again.

"Joel, toss me your sword," Raze yelled. Joel, who was still in shock, snapped himself out of it and took out his sword. He tossed it to Raze.

Raze caught the sword and charged for the thrashing bear. He went in straight up, and when one of the claws headed his way, he rolled, dodging the paw. Then he kicked off the ground, and with an abrupt, stretched slash, he went for the neck.

His sword dug into the neck and drew an insane amount of blood, but he was not done yet. He landed and charged again.

But this time, the bear suddenly stomped its feet into the ground, and a shockwave was sent out through the ground. It caused Raze to fall.

Raze understood what the beast had just done. It was the reason it was called an Earth Bear—because it had an affinity for earth, and the stronger they got, the better they could utilize and manipulate it.

Most of them began using their abilities after they got to peak rank one, as that was when their understanding of their ability had begun to take shape.

The beast turned and ran deeper into the forest, wanting to get away from Raze. But Raze was not going to have that—he couldn’t let that beast go, or he would die.

He gave chase, running behind the bear. He was limping as he ran, but he didn’t allow that to stop him. He pointed his hands at the bear and started firing the spatial blades. He shot as many as he could, and a few hit the beast.

Regardless of the hits that were landing, the beast refused to stop, and Raze refused to stop chasing. Raze figured he would lose the beast if he continued at this pace, so he decided to risk it and started using Void Step repeatedly.

He pushed his concentration to the max, trying to control the repeated bursts of speed. Using that method, he started catching up, and soon he was within range. From there, he launched an attack at the back limb of the bear.

He went in with a diving slash to make sure that his blade touched the limb. As he expected, the blade cut through the back limb cleanly, causing the beast to bleed and fall, rolling and coming to a stop.

"I’ll be damned if I don’t kill you today. You tried to kill me, attacked me out of nowhere, and then tried to run—it doesn’t work like that," Raze said and charged in.

The bear tried to stand up, but its back limb that had been slashed said otherwise, and it fell back to the ground.

Raze reached the beast with his sword above its head. He slashed down to end it, but the beast was still able to move and block with its claws.

"I will not allow you to stop me!" Raze yelled and used all his strength, taking it from his legs to his core to his upper body. He pushed away the claw with all his strength, making sure he pushed it back enough that it would not stop him again.

He came down with a diagonal slash, fierce and fast. The blade went for the head—no blocking, no dodging. The beast saw that it was the end, but it didn’t want to allow Raze to kill it.

The beast channeled all its body’s mana, gathering it and hardening its already thick skin. Beasts were able to do things like this due to their affinity, but a rank-one beast should not be able to. However, desperation allowed this beast to do it.

The blade hit and only cut a few centimeters deep due to the hardening. Raze refused to allow that. He started pushing the sword with all his strength.

"Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" He roared at the top of his lungs as he pushed the blade deeper. The blade started cutting in slowly but steadily. The bear tried to use its arms to push Raze away, but every time it tried, Raze cut deeper, causing more pain.

Raze kept pressing his sword down. He finally made it past the hardened skin, and now he was digging into the flesh. Pushing harder, blood began pouring out in large quantities.

The beast roared in pain, trying to get away from Raze and not die. But Raze kept pushing until finally, the sword made it to the center of the throat and then to the spinal column. He put in more strength and cut through the joints.

After a while, the head of the beast came off and rolled on the ground to Raze’s feet. Raze drew a cold, deep breath after killing the beast. He thought it would be much harder—it was a good thing that he had added his star points.

[You have gained 500 EXP, 250 SP]

[You have passed the mission. Reward: your life.]

[Level up]