Leon took a deep breath as he watched the bear. He replayed the plan he had in his mind before he started dual chanting.
' Mother Nature, show your wrath to my enemies, fill their path with thorny vines, bleed them dry and take their corpse as nourishment.'
" Mighty thunder, listen to my wrath and strike my enemies."
He made a mistake but the two magic still went off at the same time. Thorn Lock and Lightning Spark were both activated. Vines covered in thorns grew from under the bear, covering the ground between it and Leon. The vines seemed alive as they started to grab the bear's legs, stopping it from dodging the lighting spark that flew towards it.
A red 11 appeared above the bear's health bar, barely making any dent in it. The creature was quickly enraged, it turned around to try and run at whatever attacked it but with each step it took the vines cut into its legs, dealing 8 damage every time.
Leon didn't stay idle, he quickly activated Lightning Spark along with Ice Spike. As soon as the bolt of lightning hit the bear it seemed to turn stiff for a second as the ground under it became slippery with ice spikes. The bear felt like it was continuously pricked by mosquitoes that drained its blood. The hundreds of small cuts over its legs only made it more determined to kill Leon.
Its claws dug into the ice as it forcefully moved forward, a tenth of its HP had now been drained.
' Ice isn't working.'
He was planning to slow it down as much as he could to continuously fire Lightning Sparks at it but he had to change his strategy. He started to channel Magical Warp along with Ice Spike to change its element to fire. The effect was even more fierce than he had anticipated.
A sudden field of fire appeared in the middle of the vines, causing a massive chain reaction. The fire spread to the vines in an instant however since they were made of magic they resisted turning into ashes, stubbornly holding the bear down.
A third of its health had been drained by the inferno in a mere moment. The beast found the power to accelerate as it quickly shortened the distance with Leon who had just finished warping Thorn Lock's element into lightning.
Chains of lightning appeared from the ground to bind the monster. The sheer amount of electricity had paralyzed the bear, causing its giant body to jerk around however this was only for a brief moment. As the lightning met with the fire the two elements reacted to each other, creating a scary yet weirdly captivating sight.
It looked like a firestorm crackling with blue lightning, the bear was completely hidden behind this disaster. Even Leon felt scared of what he had created. He took a few steps backward, just in time to see the bear come out of that hell with a tenth of its HP left.
It was like a scene from a horror movie. Leon panicked at the sight of the bear covered in fire, he tried to activate Lightning Spark along with Ice Spike but he failed to activate both of the spells. He was smart enough to stop with the dual chanting. Instead, he used Earth Manipulation to slow down the Bear.
" Oh bountiful earth, heed my call and obey my command."
A 3 feet cube wall appeared directly in front of the beast, causing it to run face-first into it. This gave Leon some time, he looked at the monster's health that was gradually going down due to its fur that caught on fire and he decided that he had to fight now.
He gripped his makeshift mace before running toward the bear. He activated Earth Manipulation one last time to create another wall that would restrict the bear's movement then he swung his weapon.
A big 4 appeared above its head, barely tickling it. Leon didn't lose focus, he barely dodged the giant paw that came for his head as he delivered another attack. The bear simply endured the hit to bite Leon however luck was on Leon's side, due to his somewhat high dexterity the game counted this as a dodge so he received no damage.
Leon smiled as he continued his assault. The earth walls made it easier to dodge the beast's attacks but in the end, Leon wasn't an experienced fighter. The bear landed a second hit and this time it counted. Its claw dealt 14 damage to Leon, leaving him at only 56 HP.
The bear's health was now in the critical zone so Leon tried to focus more on the offensive but before the thing died it landed another attack that dealt 20 damage this time. Leon smashed the guard of the sword into its head, causing the giant beast to fall to the ground.
He sighed in relief as he looked at his health which was just above half. It was a simple monster that had nothing to do with the tale yet he had struggled more than he should have.
' The moment I couldn't dual chant I became nearly useless. I wonder if the system has any skill to make it easier.'
If he could manage to consistently cast two spells at the same time it wouldn't be as hard to complete tales by himself. He just saw how strong magic was when it was well coordinated, by constantly controlling the monster's movement it left the bear with no chance of winning.
He looked for the reward of completing the system's mission but he was surprised to see that a game window had also appeared in front of him.
[ You have taken a life with the broken sword handle that once belonged to a now-forgotten hero. The blood stirred the power within the artifact and it demand more.
Kill 100 more monsters with this weapon.]
Leon looked at the handle again, he quickly used Earth Manipulation to get rid of the extension which revealed a slightly less rusty hilt. The system only gave him 30 points for finishing the mission so the game's notification should be the hint that he was supposed to get.
He understood why the GA system had been so shameless with its rules now.
' Or rather, I was the one being shameless. It was just trying to help me and I kept finding loopholes. Sorry for that.'
He apologized in his mind with an awkward laugh. With that hint, it was clear that this artifact was related to the tale's name. He would have to find some way to get the last attacks with it but he was interested in the result. He stored it back in his inventor with a bit more care.
With that out of the way, he started to look at the system's shop for a skill that would help him with dual chanting. It didn't take long considering that the shop instantly filtered the options for him, leaving only one skill which was called Dual Mind.
It would simply let him control both sides of his brain at the same time, it was a bit unclear if it would help him with his chanting but it was probably his best chance.
He looked at the point cost and his eyes widened at the price. It was a total of 1,000 favor points, it would take him some time to accumulate that many.
He closed the window with a sigh. As long as he could stand still dual chanting wouldn't be a problem so he would make do with that until he got enough points. He looked at the time and he barely had 2 hours and a half left before school would start.
He decided to try and hunt some smaller monsters to feed the sword while he made his way toward the labyrinth. Quitting while he was in the middle of a labyrinth just sounded too confusing.
He made sure to avoid bigger monsters since both his health and mana were at half so he went past the few wolves he saw and instead he hunted some horned rabbits that were a lot scarier than they should have been. These little things had red eyes and their horn attacks were merciless.
After exhausting the rest of his mana he managed to hunt 9 of these rabbits before arriving in front of the dragon-shaped mountain. With only a few minutes left Leon exited the capsule to go to school.