Chapter 106: Easily Defeated

“Naitrod, I’m killing you!” Under constant pursuit, with the Battle Bear closing in rapidly, a chilling fear swept over everyone. Alice finally lost control and exploded in anger. Though her face was covered by a veil, one could imagine its twisted expression.
“Cough, cough… I really didn’t mean to. Who knew you’d be here?” Rod muttered softly, with a hint of guilt. In such a vast empire and magical forest, who would have thought they’d encounter this hateful woman here?
“Enough nonsense! If you have the strength to talk, use it to run instead!” Kiro, watching the two still bickering, grew furious and snapped at them.
“Hmph!” Glancing disdainfully at the damned bastard beside her, Alice turned and ran desperately. Yet her lack of stamina made every step extremely exhausting.
Mages already had poor physical strength, so the difficulty of such a long run was evident. Even warriors like Anderson were already out of breath, let alone a mage like her.
“I can’t go on… You guys… run first. Don’t worry about me!” After running for a while longer and realizing the Battle Bear was now less than ten meters away, Alice despaired. Continuing to run was no solution. She really couldn’t go on anymore. If she tried to escape forcefully, it was obvious that Anderson and Kiro would carry her away, but that would only lead to total destruction. It was better to give up on escaping now that she still had a little strength left and stay to buy them some time!
Though she knew how insignificant she was against the Battle Bear, she could still cast two spells. With her status as a great mage, those two spells should be enough to buy the group a hundred meters of distance from the Bear. That would be a death without regret, giving them a chance. Perhaps the Bear was chasing them just to satisfy its hunger—then she could stop its relentless pursuit.
“Idiot, stop talking and run!” Unexpectedly, it was Rod who spoke up first in protest, not Anderson or Kiro, but that annoying Rod.
Drawing strength from somewhere, he picked up Alice and rushed forward, ignoring her struggles and cries.

“Damn it, let go of me! Don’t you know we’ll all die if this continues?”
“Let go, you bastard…”
“Shut up! If you keep screaming, we’ll all die!” A tight grip prevented Alice from saying anything further. He lifted her waist and slung her over his shoulder, then kept running at full speed.
“No, this won’t work. Prepare to fight back—we can’t escape!” Kiro shouted as he sensed that the Earth Bear was only a few meters away.
Indeed, at such a distance, if that guy wanted to, a single slap could hit anyone. With such a powerful attack, one of them would surely be injured, and the consequences would be severe. The force of that attack was beyond what the few people running there could withstand.
“Ice Spear!” With a sharp cry, a crystal-clear ice spear appeared and shot toward the Earth Bear, moving swiftly like an arrow released from a bow.
Right after Rod growled, Alice stopped resisting and fell silent—not truly silent, but using that brief moment to channel a large amount of magical energy to create one of the powerful spells available to a Grand Mage: the most devastating Ice Spear.
The ice spear was about a meter long and as thick as an adult’s arm. It sliced through the air with a whooshing sound, covering just a few meters in the blink of an eye before hitting the battle bear.
Unexpectingly, these humans still had the nerve to fight back. At such a short distance, the bear wasn’t agile enough to dodge quickly or build a protective wall of earth magic, so it took the hit head-on.
If it were any other magical beast, such a powerful attack would have left it seriously injured, if not dead. But thanks to its abnormal strength and thick skin, the Earth Bear only had its outer layer pierced by the Ice Spear. It couldn’t penetrate more than three centimeters before being blocked completely.
“Ugh…” The bear roared in pain. It had initially treated this like a game, playing around with these weak humans, but now things were different. The mighty bear had been injured by these tiny humans. Fortunately, its skin was thick; otherwise, it might have lost its life. At the thought of this, its anger surged, and it let out another roar. This time, it was serious, launching a fierce attack on the humans with the determination to kill them.
“Ice Slash!”
“Boundless Fire Shadow!”

With two loud roars, the few who had taken advantage of the Earth Bear’s pause to gain distance and were now ready for battle launched their attacks first. Anderson and Kiro spared no effort in using their powerful techniques. A great sword transformed into something intangible, carrying a chilling killing intent that seemed to drop the surrounding temperature by several degrees in an instant. A long sword emitted a bright red glow, like a red flame, as it descended at an angle, forming a comprehensive attack system made of sword shadows that rushed toward the battle bear.

“Shadow Sword!” Seeing the two take action, Rod naturally didn’t fall behind. He set down Alice on his shoulder, let out a fierce roar, and the Dark Dragon emerged, following behind Anderson and Kiro to join the attack.

Ahowl… The tiny humans dared to fight back! This enraged the Earth Bear, a high-level magical beast. After its roar, fierce winds swept around it, raising clouds of yellow sand. In just a short moment, a tangible barrier was formed, which grew denser and quickly turned into a soil fortress that enveloped the Earth Bear.

Ding ding ding… A series of crisp sounds came along with scattered sparks. The full-force attacks of the few failed to have any effect against this soil wall. Seeing the faint traces left by their attacks, they cursed inwardly—such attacks were like a knife cutting through stone, utterly ineffective. This defense was truly abnormal; no wonder it was considered one of the strongest defensive magical beasts.

“Flash!” In the next moment, the ground trembled. Sensing this, Kiro’s expression changed drastically as he shouted loudly.

Boom boom boom… The ground shook, showing cracks, and one could even feel its oppressive force.

“Boom…” The moment the few jumped out of that area, a loud explosion erupted from the ground. Where they had stood before now showed rows of intricate soil thorns—sharp and deadly. A rock on the ground was instantly shattered into pieces scattered everywhere.

“Level 4 Earth magic, Thorn Wall!” Kiro muttered in relief.

This time, it seemed the Earth Bear was serious. Determined to kill them, it used Level 5 defensive magic, Earth Barrier, and Level 4 offensive magic, Thorn Wall, right from the start. It even gave up on its most powerful close combat skills.

Ahowl… Another roar was heard, followed by the gradual disappearance of the thorns. Then, the soil fortress also faded away, and everything returned to normal, as if nothing had happened!

After a roar, he took a sudden step forward and charged full speed at the group of people across from him.
“Dodge quickly! Don’t confront it head-on!” Confronting the Earth Bear? That’s the act of a fool—or someone who’s truly given up on life. Even a Martial Emperor wouldn’t dare to engage in such a head-on fight; there’s no advantage at all. That’s why Kiro shouted right away.
“O my great Ice Goddess, ruler of the vast ice plains, grant me your power! Borrow me your pure divine sword to destroy the evil before me! ——Ice Sword!” Alice behind him began chanting their mage’s spell. One after another, hand seals formed and transformed rapidly, each note sounding heavy. The air around them grew cold, and white frost gradually appeared. As the last note faded, the hand seals were completed. She pointed at the sky with one finger and then at the charging Earth Bear, letting out a sharp cry.
In an instant, countless pure, crystal-clear ice swords appeared out of thin air and swept toward the Earth Bear.
“Ugh…” With a frustrated roar, it could only stop in its tracks, a hint of caution flashing in its eyes. A yellow earth barrier quickly formed in front of it. The next moment, the ice swords collided with the earth barrier, producing a dull sound. Countless ice swords kept coming, destroying parts of the barrier with each impact, but the earth barrier wasn’t faring any better—its color faded with every attack.
Finally, after the last collision, the remaining ice swords rushed toward the fighting bear.
At the same time, Rod and the others watching from the side took the opportunity to attack the bear again.
With a heavy stamp on the ground, the earth trembled, and dust rose as it reached out to smash the ice swords.
Seeing this, a smile appeared on Alice’s lips. The Ice Sword was a fourth-level advanced water magic with immense offensive power. This guy was indeed a magical beast—lacking any strategy, otherwise it wouldn’t have chosen such a futile approach.
“How… How is this possible! No good!”
Yet, everything defied everyone’s expectations. The seemingly sharp ice swords turned to powder and disappeared the moment they touched the Earth Bear’s palm, and the sky returned to calm.
After shattering the ice swords, the Earth Bear didn’t pause and immediately charged at Rod and the others.

Bang… The first target was Kiro, who was at the forefront. With a single palm strike, Kiro was sent flying, blood spraying from his body. Next was Anderson, who wasn’t quick enough to react and was also flung over ten meters away. Then there was Rod—although he tried to avoid the direct attack and only got scratched, that single strike was still powerful enough to knock him away, its force far more terrifying than expected. They were no match at all; even if they risked their lives, it was impossible. In front of this guy, they had no chance to fight back and could only suffer. At that moment, Rod realized this deeply. The Earth Bear charged again, targeting Kiro. In an instant, Kiro and Anderson were sent flying once more, and now it was Rod’s turn. Suddenly, an idea popped into Rod’s mind. Taking a deep breath, he shouted with determination, “Get away quickly! Stop wasting your time here. You’re no match for this guy—don’t die needlessly! Go!” Since it was he who brought this guy here, he would end it himself, Rod thought to himself.