"Emily!"
Seth panicked, rushing to her side. She had been thrown quite a distance, and fear gripped him as he knelt beside her.
"Are you okay?" he asked, quickly helping her up.
"Okay might be a stretch… but I'm fine," she replied, pressing a hand against her chest where the beast had struck.
At first glance, she seemed relatively unharmed- aside from the bruises from her fall. But then Seth noticed it.
A thin trickle of blood slowly seeping from the corner of her mouth.
Struggling to his feet, Casper hesitated for a moment, a brief moment of uncertainty in his eye before he finally spoke, his breaths heavy.
"I need you guys to distract it for about five minutes," he said, his voice shaky.
He was already exhausted from using a sword art, and with his accumulating injuries, he was in rough shape.
The others exchanged quick nods of acknowledgment before turning their focus back to the owlbear.
Despite having the clear advantage in their clash, the beast made no immediate move to attack. Instead, it simply observed them from a distance, its eerie black eyes unreadable.
They knew better than to assume it would stay back for long.
Seizing the brief moment of respite, they hastily devised a plan for the next clash.
Emily and Jacob sprinted in opposite directions, positioning themselves on either side of the owlbear, leaving it caught in the middle.
The creature's attention immediately shifted to Jacob, who stood to its right, while Emily remained a few feet away on its left.
Then, without warning, a volley of arrows shot through the air, striking the beast in the head and shoulder.
Though the attacks failed to pierce deeply, they clearly irritated the owlbear. Letting out a low, guttural growl, it raised its strange limb- a bizarre fusion of talon and paw to shield its face.
'Now!'
The moment the owlbear shielded its vision, Emily sprang into action.
"[Blackthorn Basic Technique: Siege Ram!]"
This time, she didn't rely on her sword. Instead, she grabbed the wooden shield strapped to her back and hurled herself forward with all her strength.
With a thunderous crack, the shield shattered on impact.
Slamming into the creature was like colliding with solid steel. Pain exploded through Emily's body, her bones screaming in protest, as if they were on the verge of breaking.
But to her and everyone else's surprise, the force of her attack actually startled the beast.
And, more shockingly, it pushed the owlbear back a few feet.
As Emily struggled to recover, Jacob seized the opening and launched his own attack.
With rapid, precise thrusts, he targeted the beast's blind spot, striking relentlessly while the owlbear was preoccupied- its focus locked on deflecting an arrow Seth had aimed at its eyes.
For a brief moment, it seemed like they were overwhelming the creature with their relentless assault.
But then—
The owlbear released a deafening screech that shook the entire clearing.
The sheer force of the sound sent a wave of agony through Emily, Seth, and Casper, even from a distance, forcing them to clutch their ears in pain.
But for Jacob, who was closest to the beast, it was far worse.
Stunned and reeling from the piercing sound, Jacob barely had time to react. His senses dulled by the pain, he never saw the owlbear's massive claw until it was too late.
With a devastating swipe, the beast struck him square in the chest.
Like a ragdoll, he was sent flying, crashing violently into a nearby tree.
Unlike Emily, he had the protection of a steel chest plate, which spared him from being torn open by the creature's claws.
But the sheer force of the impact, both from the strike and the collision was overwhelming.
Jacob lay motionless on the ground, his condition unknown.
"NO!"
Emily's scream echoed through the clearing, her horror twisting into pure rage.
Gripping her broken sword, she launched herself at the owlbear, unleashing a flurry of desperate strikes.
Pain coursed through her limbs, her bones screaming in protest, but she ignored it pushing herself beyond her limits. She struck, dodged, and struck again, barely avoiding the beast's retaliatory swipes.
But then—
Her body gave out.
The moment her broken blade clashed head-on with the owlbear's massive paw, the impact sent a brutal shockwave through her arms.
Her strength failed her.
She collapsed onto all fours, her body utterly spent, refusing to obey her desperate will to move.
Above her, the owlbear loomed- its shadow swallowing her whole.
"Get away from her!"
Seth's voice rang out in desperation as he fired the last of his arrows, aiming to draw the beast's attention away from Emily.
But to his horror, the owlbear didn't even flinch.
The arrows struck its thick hide and bounced off harmlessly, as if they were nothing more than pebbles. The creature remained focused on Emily, its eerie, oversized head lowering toward her.
Yet Emily… she only smiled.
There was no fear in her eyes, no trace of hesitation- only a grim satisfaction. Blood stained her lips, but her expression remained steady.
"Hey, ugly," she rasped, her voice laced with defiance.
"It's been five minutes."
Sensing something amiss, the owlbear hesitated.
Its eerie head, which had been mere inches from devouring its prey, slowly turned toward a new presence.
There, standing alone, was a single figure- a boy bathed in a fierce orange and yellow glow.
Casper.
"[By the sun's glow and its ember sparked, bind the darkness and ignite the mark. Flames rise, by my will and command, burn bright in my hand. Ash to ash, let the embers dance with the wrath of fire which my soul enchants…]"
His voice rang through the clearing, steady and unwavering.
For five agonizing minutes, he had been gathering his essence, channeling every ounce of his power into a single spell.
And now, it had taken shape.
A long, fiery lance materialized in his grip, its flames crackling with untamed fury.
The golden blaze illuminated the dark clearing, pushing back the shadows—
And for the first time… the owlbear hesitated.
Seth, momentarily stunned by the sheer power of Casper's spell, felt a flicker of awe.
But there was no time to dwell on it.
Snapping back to reality, he rushed forward, grabbing Emily and dragging her away from the danger. She had been spared, if only because Casper had successfully drawn the beast's attention.
Now, the owlbear had locked onto him.
With a furious roar, the creature charged, its massive frame barreling toward Casper with murderous intent.
But he was ready.
As the final words of the incantation left his lips, his voice rang with absolute authority-
"[…Solaris: Flame Lance!]"
The Flame Lance shot forward, a streak of blazing light cutting through the darkness.
It struck true.
But the cost was high.
As Casper released the spell, a searing pain surged through his arms. Ghastly burns spread from his fingertips to his elbows, the spell exacting its price for his lack of mastery.
Yet the owlbear suffered far worse.
The lance embedded itself deep into its thick hide- into the very flesh they had failed to wound before.
Then—
Boom!
A fiery explosion erupted from the impact point, engulfing the monstrous beast in an inferno.
The clearing was filled with its agonized screech- an ear-piercing wail of pain and fury.
Seth, his breath caught in his throat, stared in disbelief at the burning pyre before them.
"Wh… what was that? That wasn't a basic spell," he muttered, dazed.
Emily, still weak, clutched at Seth's sleeve, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Did… did he do it?"
The fire began to die down, the flames flickering into embers. Smoke curled into the air, obscuring the creature from view.
Then, as the haze cleared—
Their blood ran cold.
The owlbear still stood.
No longer the pristine white terror it had once been, its once-feathered hide was now a grotesque patchwork of scorched flesh and smoldering wounds. Its chest, where the Flame Lance had struck, bore a deep, bloody stab wound, and the stench of burnt fur and flesh filled the air.
But it was still alive.
And it was furious.
Its pitch-black eyes, now filled with unbridled malice, locked onto Casper.
The young noble stiffened, his body wracked with pain. Steam still rose from his burned arms, the aftermath of channeling a spell beyond his control.
He had aimed for its head- he was supposed to end it in one strike, but he had lost control at the last second.
Now, he was going to pay the price.
With his life.