Rayden hovered low in the air, then shot forward like lightning towards one of the giant bear leaders. With a saber poised in a horizontal slash, he targeted the giant bear's neck with impeccable timing.
However, the bear leader managed to block the attack. He reinforced his hands and claws with solid iron, then unleashed a powerful strike with his palm. The collision resulted in a high-intensity shockwave.
Seeing a mere human able to match his physical prowess, the giant bear leader was both surprised and incredulous. Moreover, he felt the weight behind Rayden's attack.
"What is this physical strength of yours? Who are you, human?!" the giant bear questioned, furrowing his brow and speaking with a booming voice.
Rayden paused for a moment, then shouted in astonishment, "Y-you can talk!" A few seconds after the clash, Rayden retreated several steps from the giant bear leader, seeking a safe and effective combat distance. "Witnessing a bear articulate words so fluently and naturally is quite strange and utterly unexpected," he added, genuinely impressed.
The giant bear smiled, "Your attack is both heavy and swift. It's rare to encounter a human capable of matching us in physical strength," he praised, his voice resonating deeply and warmly.
Rayden felt slightly flattered and responded with a neutral tone, "Thank you for the compliment, but I still consider both of you a significant threat if you intend to disrupt peace in my territory."
Rayden raised his saber overhead, sending dozens of large stones around him soaring into the sky. He manipulated the gravitational field around the stones, precisely altering their gravitational vectors to direct them upwards.
Rayden refrained from launching an immediate attack using the stones. Instead, he allowed them to ascend high into the atmosphere, leaving them suspended statically at that altitude.
The black giant bear leader was unsure of Rayden's intentions, but one thing was clear: he couldn't afford to let his guard down for a second.
"My wife, retreat as far as you can. I will need to get a bit serious in dealing with this peculiar human," the black giant bear leader said with urgency and deep seriousness, yet his voice carried warmth and tenderness.
The female black giant bear beside him nodded gently, then swiftly distanced herself from the battle, confident that victory would ultimately belong to her husband.
Sensing his wife's presence fading, the black giant bear leader summoned a considerable amount of arcane energy, enveloping his entire body with high-intensity blue-white lightning.
"Prepare yourself, human. I won't stop until you truly surrender!" the black giant bear leader warned, his voice cold and firm as the lightning around him raged uncontrollably.
"Ohh—how terrifying," Rayden remarked in a playful tone, further irritating the black giant bear leader.
Summoning a massive greatsword from the void with his iron-related magical abilities, the black giant bear leader channeled high-voltage, precisely focused electricity through the blade, enveloping it in a high-intensity blue-white lightning aura.
With a swift bend of his knees, the leader of the colossal black bears propelled himself like a bolt of lightning towards Rayden, harnessing the tempestuous electricity enveloping his entire form. Shockwaves and lightning trailed his path, leaving minor devastation in their wake.
In the blink of an eye, he was three meters before Rayden. With a lightning-fast vertical slash, he aimed to cleave his target in two with a single, rapid sword strike.
However, Rayden was no passive prey, allowing his adversary free rein. With the speed of thought, he infused his saber with a substantial surge of arcane energy. He then executed a parrying swing, simultaneously unleashing a technique.
"Gravitational Repulsion," Rayden intoned.
A high-intensity gravitational force, imbued with a potent repelling energy, enveloped his saber.
As his saber made contact with the enemy's greatsword, charged with high-intensity lightning, the massive sword was abruptly hurled skyward at incredible speed, propelled by the powerful repelling force. Even the high-intensity lightning that cloaked it dispersed instantly into the atmosphere.
"What?!" exclaimed the leader of the giant black bears, incredulous that the sword, held firmly in his grasp, could be wrenched free and flung so high into the air.
Seizing the opening in his foe's defense, Rayden swiftly swung his saber once more, executing a diagonal slash that carved a deep, cross-shaped wound across the front of the black bear leader's body.
"Argh—damn it," the black bear leader groaned in pain, retreating a few steps backward, struggling to balance himself.
Yet what could he do against a master of gravity like Rayden? In an instant, Rayden manipulated the local gravitational field surrounding the black bear leader, amplifying the gravitational force and causing him to collapse to the ground under the immense pressure. The bear leader's body mass drastically increased under the influence of the augmented gravity.
The mighty leader of the colossal black bear struggled under the oppressive force of Rayden's gravity manipulation, his body and breath growing increasingly labored. 'Damn, this is suffocating,' he grimaced, feeling the relentless pressure bearing down on him.
Gradually, his massive form was forced deeper into the earth, creating a sizable crater beneath him. His bones began to fracture under the strain, his internal organs suffering from the immense pressure, rendering them ineffective. The wounds adorning his body were torn open further, bleeding profusely.
At this moment, the black bear leader found himself in a dire predicament, his life hanging by a thread.
"Is this really the extent of your power?" Rayden inquired softly, his expression tinged with disappointment. "I haven't even needed to utilize the stones I've sent to the atmosphere. It seems I overestimated you," he continued, letting his disillusionment be known.
"Don't you dare harm my husband, you damned human!" A thunderous, more feminine voice suddenly roared from behind Rayden.
The female black bear, who had previously fled, returned, her intent to kill as intense as ever.
"Heavenly fire!" she cried out, unleashing a high-intensity blue flame in a linear path directly at Rayden.
Caught off guard by the unexpected assault, Rayden was forced to evade, hastily withdrawing his gravitational hold on the black bear leader.
"My husband!" The female bear rushed to her fallen mate, who lay weakened on the ground. She extended her claw towards him, chanting a healing spell, "Heal!"
A radiant blue light enveloped the black bear leader, swiftly mending all his injuries.
As the female bear sighed in relief, she was startled by a piercing whistling sound echoing from above. "What is that?!" she exclaimed, eyes widening in panic as she glimpsed the dozens of meteors hurtling towards them with frightening speed.
Quickly, she stood on her hind legs, cradling her husband with the intent to flee their initial location.
Observing this, Rayden promptly erected a towering, impenetrable barrier without a roof, crafted from a special wood as hard as diamond, impervious to thermal and other forms of energy, thanks to his superior molecular control.
He also conjured thorny, poisonous brambles along every inch of the barrier's inner and outer surfaces.
"Now, you have nowhere to run," Rayden murmured with a cold smile, his voice dripping with triumph.