262 Chapter 262: Bearing a Bear Hug (1/2)
With a single swing of its paw, the Hellfire Bear swatted me away. I had only just barely managed to parry its claws by crossing both of my swords, but I was unable to resist the immense force behind the blow.
”Kuh!”
I was sent crashing through several trees, hurtling over several dozen meters before I finally flipped myself over and halted my momentum by crunching my feet against an unfortunate tree trunk that splintered from the impact.
Lilith's Hellfire Bear was already charging toward me mercilessly, bellowing ravenously as flames combusted around its titanic form. Despite me swinging Gan Jiang and blasting him with a torrent of ice, the frost vaporized instantly upon coming contact with the superheated flames.
Then the Hellfire Bear barreled into the tree that I had used to stop my crash, immolating the unfortunate plant and setting the surrounding woodlands ablaze.
I had already managed to move away, cartwheeling through the air to land a few meters away. Realizing that I wasn't going to be able to take on the damned bear with two swords, I had no choice but to call for reinforcements of my own.
”Ursa Major!”
A gigantic bear materialized in front of me. As Lilith's Hellfire Bear slowly turned around to face me, Ursa Major tackled the immense Soul Beast and the two bears went down. Ursa Major wrestled with the Hellfire Bear, the two massive Soul Beasts rolling around in the forest, leveling trees and leaving small fires in their wake.
This was the reason why I had Lilith copy Laura Porter from Battle Frenzy and why I didn't bother changing her Soul Beast from Inferno Bear to another animal. There were readers who were furious about this and accused me of ripping off Battle Frenzy, but honestly ever since I read about that particular character and her Soul Beast, I always imagined Ursa Major versus Inferno Bear. Since I couldn't exactly just write a fanfiction and copy Inferno Bear, I had to come up with a ”different” version that was still clearly a reference to the Inferno Bear.
I mean, come on, wouldn't you guys want to see which bear was stronger? Lilith's Hellfire Bear or my Ursa Major? It was a bear versus bear battle! Even if you guys didn't want to read about it, I still wanted to write a scene of monster bears wrestling with each other, thanks to my love of kaiju movies (just look at my penname – Tanaka Tomoyuki is the creator of Godzilla!).
”Stop breaking the fourth wall!” Lilith shouted. ”And get back to fighting!”
”As you wish, Miss Lilith.”
I darted toward her immediately, swinging my swords and unleashing another stream of ice that froze a path through the forest. Lilith blocked my attack with her flaming sword, melting the frost before it could reach her, and then countered with her torrent of flames that I dodged by spinning my body to one side. Even as I evaded, I didn't pause in my approach and continued to close in on her. With my other sword, I tossed another storm of razor-sharp flower petals at her, which she incinerated with another burst of flames.
If I was some Mary Sue protagonist in a winning streak and just couldn't lose, I would use Shadow Steps to evade Lilith's Inferno…I mean Hellfire Bear and attacked the summoner herself, thus ending the battle once and for all. It was widely known that the Soul Beast would disappear if you defeated the summoner.
Hence the summoner was always such a high-priority target. The sooner you take her out, the better.
The same went for me, of course. In any case, even though I was aware of the tactic, it was easier said than done. Earlier, before I summoned Ursa Major, if I had attempted to charge and attack Lilith, her Hellfire Bear would just swoop in and pulverize me to the ground. At the very least, it would draw my attention away from its summoner, forcing me to evade its attacks and engage it. A six-meter tall monster was not something you could simply ignore.
Right now, with Ursa Major distracting the Hellfire Bear, I was free to attack Lilith and take out the summoner herself. However, the tactic was a double-edged sword. By directly engaging Lilith, I was also directly exposing myself to danger and putting myself at risk. The same solution that I employed against Lilith could also be applied to me. If Lilith took me out, Ursa Major would disappear along with my consciousness.
Lilith was also aware of that, and she sprang forward to take me out. From her grim expression, it was obvious that she was hoping for a swift and decisive victory when her Hellfire Bear was summoned to the battlefield, but I had thwarted that scheme by bringing my own Ursa Major into play. With no other recourse, Lilith had to defeat me directly.
Well, she was superior in terms of swordsmanship. So I couldn't let my guard down.
Away from us, the two bears continued to wrestle. Ursa Major shoved the Hellfire Bear back and raked his claws across the flaming bear's chest, but the monstrous Soul Beast retaliated with an eruption of flames that scorched through the Constellation spirit's armored fur. Despite the magical resistance and protection the fur afforded, Ursa Major still suffered severe burns.
Undaunted, he continued to tackle and clawed at the Hellfire Bear, who slashed back. Blood sprayed across the clearing, almost drowning the grass in red fluid. Both monsters continued to slug it out, trading heavy blows that caused tremors. Quakes rippled throughout the forest, shaking birds and bugs loose as the two Soul Beasts continued to pummel each other senseless.
Bellowing, the Hellfire Bear unleashed another inferno that bathed and immolated poor Ursa Major. Stumbling back and fuming, the Constellation spirit began to teeter backward. However, he gritted his teeth and stubbornly regained his footing, refusing to fall to his rival.
The Hellfire Bear coldly delivered another slash, almost spearing Ursa Major in the chest. Flames rippled out of its paw and struck the suffering Constellation spirit, almost erasing him from existence, but he held on defiantly. Even though he was my creation, a figment of my imagination given form by infusing my mana into him, he still maintained some semblance of consciousness…of pride and desire. As Lilith explained earlier, these Soul Beasts were often reflections or shadows of our consciousness incorporating our own personalities and values into their own spiritual makeup.
However, such emotions still weren't enough. Ursa Major was slowly but surely succumbing to the Hellfire Bear's overwhelming flames.
Even so, I appreciated his refusal to go down without a fight. So I spared a single glance at him after deflecting Lilith's sword to the side with Mo Ye and cleaving through her fire spell with Gan Jiang.
”Ursa Major! Alioth!”
Black flames exploded out from Ursa Major's form and washed over the stunned Hellfire Bear, washing over it. The immense Soul Beast staggered back, grievously wounded by the flames, but it swatted the injured Ursa Major back, breaking through the black inferno and countering it with crimson flames of its own. Its mane seemed to rage even more furiously than ever, as if affronted by the unnatural fire that Ursa Major had sparked.