"GROOOARRR," the [Darkness Bear King] rushed toward Leon, its claws sharper than before after killing the two [Branch Monkeys], maybe the more it killed, the more powerful it became?
"Can monsters gain experience?" Leon asked, it seemed like a plausible theory.
[Absolutely no idea,] and for the first time, EGO didn't know.
~SLASH~
Leon avoided the slash by stepping to his right.
But this time, instead of running away… he decided to attack back.
~SLAM~
Right as he avoided the first attack, he jumped and punched the bear's head.
The punch connected with a sickening thud, sending vibrations through Leon's arm, actually hurting him as well because of how sturdy its body was, but thankfully enough the bear staggered, its crimson eyes narrowing with fury, meaning that it could still feel the damage from his punches.
[Very good, it means we have a chance!] EGO smiled again, as long as it looked to be affected by Leon's hits, then it meant that at some point it would fall since its HP were going down.
"GROOOAARR!" It swung its massive paw again, but Leon ducked just in time, feeling the rush of air as the claws sliced through the space above him.
"Come on!" Leon shouted, adrenaline pumping through him. "Is that all you got?"
He charged forward, using the momentum from his dodge to duck below the bear, aiming for its legs, and delivering a swift kick, but it still didn't do any sort of big damage, resulting in the bear attacking again, and Leon being forced to use his arms to propel himself out of the way.
[Your movements are getting way better.] EGO complimented Leon after all these dodges, and even he knew that the small ball of fire was right.
"KING JAW!" after realizing that its claws were not going to hit the agile human, it finally decided to use another skill.
"Any idea how many skills it has?"
[No idea, we would need to have the "Skill Checker" perk for that,] EGO shrugged, [But for monsters at this level… I guess three or four should be the max.]
"Alright," Leon positioned himself as the bear lunged toward him, teeth bared.
Leon rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the snap of jaws that could crush bone, but the bear charged again, its claws raised high as to not allow the human to rest.
[It seems to actually have a brain, partner, don't let it adapt to your fighting style, be the only one who can adapt.]
Leon dashed to the side, but the bear was relentless, pivoting on its massive paws and swiping again.
Leon tried to dodge this strike too.
But…
"You've got to be kidding me…" he felt a rush of wind as the bear's claw barely grazed his side, ripping through fabric and skin, some blood pouring out from it.
He stumbled but quickly regained his balance though.
[It's vulnerable after attacking, GO!]
And so even though it hurt, Leon sprinted forward with a sudden burst of energy, and so aiming for the bear's exposed side, he delivered a sharp jab to its ribs.
~SLAM~
The bear grunted, and this time it actually was sent flying away from the attack as Leon had focused an incredible amount of aura on it, hitting a nearby tree and getting up after a few seconds of confusion.
[CLOSE!] EGO was getting excited since the more they hit it, the bigger their chances of victory became.
"-1! -1! -1!" but Leon was bleeding, and if he didn't end the fight soon, he would die from blood loss.
Yet, right as he was ready to dash again… something strange happened.
Because as the bear got up from the attack, its figure began to be surrounded by a dark aura, the same that had been all over this forest, reinforcing its body with some sort of [Darkness Armor], and sharpening its claws, which turned black as well.
[It's getting stronger, partner] EGO informed Leon, [It's probably at half its HP.]
"Yeah, no shit…" he could feel it in his bones as that thing was slowly getting closer, taking one step after the other, and as if the bear was trying to intimidate the human before it.
The darkness aura that surrounded its body was moving likes waves in the edges, making it seem like it enveloped in dark flames, but no, it was just aura.
"GROOOAORRR~" the bear focused on Leon as it crouched down, the aura around it becoming much more… concentrated around its legs and face, for some reason.
But when he saw that, Leon felt no fear, he felt no anger, he felt nothing of the sort.
All he felt… was that his hunger to devour that thing grew stronger, and with that, he felt a little more powerful.
Leon clenched his fists, the dark energy surrounding the bear amplifying his determination.
But right as he took his stance… the bear finally decided to use its "ULTIMATE" skill.
Ultimate skills are skills that every elite, boss and above monsters hold, and as you might have guessed, it is their strongest skill.
They usually only use when they are in a bad position or that they are very angry though, which meant that Leon's struggles and attacks had actually affected it.
[Holy.]
But this also meant that Leon needed to endure whatever was coming now, as the bear's entire figure was now enveloped in its darkened aura, leaving only its crimson eyes visible.
And then…
"DARKNESS RUSH!" it used it.
The bear lunged, a blur of darkness and fury, its claws extended like jagged knives.
Leon barely had time to react, he sidestepped, but the rush was relentless as the sheer force of the creature's body pushed him off balance, and he stumbled back.
"GROOAAARRR!" The bear's roar echoed, reverberating through the clearing, shaking the trees around them.
Leon regained his footing just in time to see the bear SMASHING two trees while it was in its [Darkness Rush], destroying everything in its way.
[Are we… good?] EGO questioned, that thing had completely missed.
But then, after bumping into a few more trees and destroying them… it turned around.
"Oh."
~FWISH~
Even faster than before, it rushed toward Leon, looking like some sort of spinning massive arrow as the edge of its body was sharp like a stick with dark aura, covering its entire figure.
"Hey, EGO," Leon, with his aura burning in his eyes, pointed at the bear as it rushed toward him, "Use Devour."
[On it =)] EGO laughed as he got ready.
~BOOM, SLAM~
Leon ran toward one of the nearby trees and used the momentum and speed to climb it halfway with his legs, thus avoiding the darkness rush and going back to the ground after pushing himself out of it, rolling on the ground.
~SLAM~
The bear crashed against a few more trees, and it looked as though this did damage it, no way in hell it wasn't going to get a concussion at this point.
But Leon didn't want to try his luck with that, and so he wanted to end the battle before.
"NOW!" he ordered EGO, and the small ball of fire rushed toward the bear while it was recovering from hitting all those sturdy dark trees.
And then…
~CRUNCH~
EGO bit it.
[DEVOUR!] the companion shouted as he began to suck in the dark aura from the bear's body with his mouth, making the small ball of fire actually change appearance as strands of dark aura began to appear in its flame body.
"GROOOARR~" after a few seconds, the bear shook off EGO, then rushed toward Leon again.
But now that it was weakened… Leon was ready to take it.