Kai clenched his teeth as he glanced back at where the bear was standing back up. He couldn't see it clearly through the cloud of dust surrounding it, but it certainly didn't look too injured.
Sydney's still too weak to take this thing on, and I don't think Brewan and I can make up the difference. Aside from fighting it, though…
There was nowhere else to go. They could try to run away, but aside from the single water flask on Kai's hip, they didn't have any of their supplies on them. The bear was already back on its feet and heading toward them, so whether they could actually run from it in the first place was still up in the air.
"Brewan, use a dispersion spell. I'll try to lure it into one of the other buildings."
Kai ran out in front of the bear, waving the ruby sword in the air to attract its attention. The beast responded immediately, shaking its head as it lumbered out of the pile of rubble. Its footsteps looked a bit less steady than before, and Kai could faintly make out a line of blood running down from the top of its neck.
All of the black mist that'd been hovering over its shoulders was now gone, but the beast was still menacing. It opened its maw like it was about to roar, but paused before any sound came out.
Huh? Now that I think about it, this bear hasn't made hardly any noise since it attacked me. Is it just because of its magic, or-
Kai didn't have a chance to finish theorizing, as the beast decided to make up for its lack of volume with violence. It lunged toward the young man, but there was enough distance between the two of them for Kai to quickly backpedal out into the clearing in the center of the academy.
It continued chasing after Kai, but he continuously evaded it, luring it closer to the other two brick buildings.
Without its magic, this thing really isn't that bad to fight. I'm fast enough that as long as nothing goes wrong, it can't hit me. Heck, if it hadn't hit my right arm earlier, I might have tried to fight it with Halia's kiting technique. Or if I had enough mana to use the Moonlight Sword Technique again.
[I have a new idea. Even if there isn't a formation on the door of the stables building, we should still be able to kill this beast.]
Kai nodded and shifted his gaze over to the third building. It was only a few meters further away than the dormitory building, and with the bear already chasing after him, it wasn't too difficult to change his path.
Kai heard an annoyed huffing noise from behind him as he pivoted again, dodging yet another of the bear's attacks and facing toward the stables building.
"What's wrong, bear? Getting tired already?"
Kai did his best to hide his own breathlessness as he taunted the beast. It immediately leapt after him again, a bright fury glowing in its deep eyes. A small grin started to form on Kai's face as it picked up speed, heading right for the entrance of the stables.
When he was only a meter from crashing through the rotting wooden doors of the building, Kai pivoted again, jumping out of the bear's path.
It's too simple to lead a beast into a trap.
Kai waited for the sound of the massive bear crashing through the doors, but it didn't come. Confused, he started to turn around, but a massive weight slammed into him, sending him crashing into the side of the building.
"Wh- what the hell?"
Kai feebly climbed back to his feet, the entire right side of his body burning with pain. His right arm hung limply, the already injured appendage having absorbed most of the impact.
In front of the doors, the bear turned toward Kai, its eyes shining with a mocking intelligence. Behind it there were streaks of grass torn from the ground, starting multiple meters back.
Shit. I forgot what Brewan said before. The beasts here start getting a lot smarter after the first tier. A bear of comparable strength back home would've fallen for a trap like this, but the ones here are smarter.
Still, a small smile couldn't help but grow on Kai's face as he stumbled away from the giant bear.
I'm lucky I learned this right now, while I have people to back me up.
"Fireball!"
Brewan stepped out from behind some brush in the clearing, a blazing light hovering over the grimoire clutched in his grip. The ball of flame rocketed toward the bear before exploding against its snout with a force incomparable to a week ago.
Nothing about Brewan's fireball now could be evaluated with the same 'awfully weak' Halia had given it when he used it on the first boar the duo had encountered. The force of the blast rocked the bear on its feet, nearly making it stumble into the doors of the stables.
Before the bear could regain its balance, Sydney stepped in to make his attack. The knight trainee had clearly been told their plan by Brewan. Using the dispersion spell cast by Brewan earlier, he was able to stay close to the fight without being noticed.
Even with a heavy limp, he was able to close the distance before the bear could react. All of the power of a strength-focused level 23 knight slammed into the bear. It hit even harder than his previous counterattack in the classroom building.