After Jack and Damien hauled themselves up another steep hill, the mountain pass narrowed, only able to fit two or maybe three wagons side by side.
But as seconds stretched into minutes, and minutes into hours, the brothers knew the bear would strike at any moment.
After all, Damien couldn't conjure wind to boost their speeds. That would be like chugging a bottle of wine, then later demanding a sip from the empty bottle.
"Brother...I don't know if I can run anymore." Jack said between ragged breaths. Having not awakened his true mage magic yet, he had no mana to fuel his endurance or to strengthen his body.
Sighing, Damien skidded to a stop. Because carved into the arching white forest wall was another cave.
This will have to do for now.
After filtering his wind through the cave, he found nothing dangerous besides some hibernating blood bats. Magical beasts that craved draining blood. However, their species was not easily woken, and their appetite was for other Magical Beasts, not humans.
In the cave, the brothers said nothing, moved little, except for shivering, Damien regretting the removal of his coat and the loss of his bag. Above them, the blood bats clung to the stone like mini shadows, their wings wrapped around their bodies, eyes shut in deep slumber.
Next to them, Tasha sprawled on the floor, the rise and fall of her chest steadying.
Outside the cave, Damien's alarm system alerted him to large movements up to a mile in all directions.
He waited...and waited, then boom!
A large entity exploded through his wind. He knew immediately by the size, force, and direction that it had to be the cub.
"Jack, get behind me. And don't talk while I'm focusing... and don't complain if I get us killed." He joked, smiling slightly. Not really in the mood to bicker, Jack did as told.
I only have one shot at this.
Damien pointed upward and formed a horizontal wind barrier between them and the blood bats, just shy of the bats' heads. Even though they were drawn to magical beasts, blood bats would surely forsake their taste buds to gorge on humans after starving through hibernation. He couldn't have them waking.
After the wind barrier was secure, Damien focused, straining his hand muscles tighter and tighter as a wind katana manifested overhead, compressing to the size of a knife.
Last time I tried to pull off too much. Smaller, tighter, sharper.
Damien closed his eyes and winced. His arm convulsed as his veins pulsed with energy flowing to his fingertips and out, sharpening the katana.
The pain of pushing his mana to the limits seared with otherworldly heat, but he didn't stop, determined to live.
Then he opened his eyes. At the cave's entrance, basking in the sun's golden rays, was the bloody-faced Crystaline Kodiak bear.
It didn't move for a moment. Instead, its haunted, predatory gaze lowered to Damien. After a second or two, the beast smiled and entered the cave, prowling with a slow gait.
"C'mon Beasty."
"Don't antagonize it. Maybe it'll leave us alone." Jack said, pulling Tasha to a safer place, behind Damien.
However, the brat didn't believe his own words. Having devoured four humans just a moment ago, the beast wasn't hungry. No. This was about revenge.
Damien knew that all too well. He took something irreplaceable from the cub. Its mother. In another life, maybe he would have properly atoned for his sins, or even allowed the bear to kill him, for the sake of justice.
But his life couldn't possibly end yet. Not until he ripped the spines from the mythical cats' backs, plunged a sword between their eyes, and devoured them like they had his mother.
Finally in striking distance, the bear lunged with its jaws wide, and Damien met it head-on using his left arm as a shield. Sharp teeth buried themselves into his flesh, and he screamed in agony.
The bear's weight, easily a couple of thousand pounds, pushed him onto his back.
"Brother!" Jack yelled and hurled a rock that clanked off the bear's skull like paper. Unfazed, it continued shredding the boy's arm.
However, despite the grueling pain, Damien smirked.
"Die!"
He brought his right arm down, which had been pointed at the cave's roof.
The wind followed in a thunderous crack. The sound echoed off the walls, making Jack clutch his ears shut and writhe in pain.
Then it drove into the bear's backside.
For a moment, nothing happened, and the bear continued to savage Damien's arm.
Shit! I must have failed!
Damien's life flashed before his eyes as his gamble seemed unsuccessful.
However, in the next moment, the bear slammed into the ground as the entire force of the wind katana cleaved through it and cratered the stone floor.
Like a pin needle, the katana pierced the heart of the bear, killing it instantly.
Wrenching his arm free, Damien fell onto his back, looking at and flexing his right hand. In contrast, his mangled left arm was limp at his side, motor control nearly nonexistent.
That...makes me a saint wind elementalist! My master told me it took him ten years to reach this level, and yet I did it in a couple of months... he owes me a good weapon now.
"Brother, your arm!" Jack yelled too loudly while scrambling to his brother's side, and clutching his ringing ears.
"Yeah. Don't worry its just an arm." Damien said, hoping his words would calm the pain. "Why don't you fetch the Beast core and use that to awaken."
The seven blessed races had multiple ways to awaken their magic. The first and easiest was natural awakening through age. The second was by absorbing a Beast core.
Jack would naturally awaken in another year; however, if today were to serve as anything, it would be as a reminder that Damien needs his brother's help.
"Yeah, okay....How do you want me to do that? We have no weapon to cut open the flesh..."
"Oh. There's no rush. We can wait until my mana comes back."
Damien sighed, exhausted. He had expended the majority of his mana in that attack, having none left to carve open the corpse.
He clamped his hand shut, and the wind barrier disappeared. The blood bats were luckily still sleeping, unbothered by the battle that had just taken place.
However, as the stench of blood filled the cave, slithering into the comatose bats, one of them jostled.
Then another.
And another.
Damien realized his mistake immediately and frantically tried to restore the barrier.
But it was too late.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of blood bats shrieked awake.