Looking at the dire situation unfolding, with awakeners re-spawning constantly as casualties mounted, Moon joined the assault alongside Kael and the others who’d come to assist the Base Lord.
Moon raised his staff and released an Explosive Flame with maximum compression.
BOOM!
Kael launched his own devastating fireball simultaneously from a different angle.
BOOM!
The twin explosions struck the Mountain Bear from two directions.
A grunt escaped the Mountain Bear’s mouth involuntarily as the powerful attacks bypassed his defence, injuring him slightly.
Upon taking damage, the Bear immediately recognized these two humans as powerful threats, different from the weaker attacks it had been casually deflecting or ignoring.
The first few explosive impacts landed directly on the bear’s body before it could react. The creature roared in pain and surprise that something had actually hurt it significantly.
The bear immediately raised barriers of compressed stone and hardened earth around itself, using its overwhelming earth affinity to defend against subsequent attacks. Moon’s and Kael’s following explosive flames detonated against these barriers instead of flesh, the magical stone absorbing most of the damage.
But the beast had been forced onto the defensive. That was progress.
Awakeners around the battlefield grew noticeably more excited as the creature started showing visible signs of injury. It was no longer the seemingly invincible force that had wounded their Base Lord and deflected their attacks with ease.
It could be hurt, It could bleed.
That psychological change was crucial. Hope returned to eyes that had been filled with despair moments earlier, granting them strength after weakness, hope after despair.
"Keep the pressure on! Don’t let the beast recover!" someone shouted.
Unlike the lower level awakeners, Moon knew that assessment was overly optimistic in its nature. Whilst they had indeed injured the bear slightly, the bear wasn’t exactly weakening, It had simply adapted its tactics after recognizing that some attacks now posed real threats to its safety.
Despite knowing the reality behind the bear’s actions, Moon didn’t and wouldn’t correct the rapidly growing misconception among the awakeners.
Morale mattered as much as firepower in battles like this.
Moon continued his assault, each Explosive Flame carefully aimed and maximally compressed. He was burning through mana at an unsustainable rate, but this was exactly the high-intensity combat environment he needed to push his skill proficiency higher.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Kael maintained his own relentless barrage from the opposite side, forcing the bear to divide its defensive attention between multiple threat vectors.
The Mountain Bear roared again, this time with clear frustration. It slammed all three arms into the ground simultaneously.
Moon’s eyes widened. That’s not a normal attack.
The entire western section of Ironpeak Base shook as if struck by an earthquake.
Everyone standing within fifty meters of the bear lost their footing entirely, thrown to the ground by the seismic shock wave. Buildings cracked. Walls developed fissures. Loose stone and debris rained down from damaged structures.
And from the fractured earth, dozens of massive stone pillars erupted simultaneously, each one targeting the awakeners the Bear deemed as troublesome.
Moon saw one heading directly toward him and barely managed to dodge, the pillar grazing his side as Silver Skin absorbed what would have been a crippling blow.
Others weren’t so fortunate. Five awakeners were impaled instantly, their bodies lifted off the ground and held aloft by stone spears.
The awakeners spawned moments after, their faces pale.
"What the hell was that... it was so quick." One awakener clutched his chest, still remembering the immense pain that had overtaken his body at the moment of death.
Once again, the Mountain Bear had proven itself dangerous enough to warrant extreme caution from all the awakeners in the western region of the base.
Feeling adrenaline pumping through his veins and his heartbeat rising, a grin formed on Moon’s face. "Good. Really good. That’s exactly what I want."
Rather than feeling overwhelmed or despairing at the display of overwhelming strength, Moon grew more excited.
This was the perfect training environment.
"The Lord is healed! Everyone get into formation, follow his lead!" one of the veterans inside the inner circle of awakeners protecting the Base Lord announced with re-vitalised hope.
The Lord of the base emerged from the encirclement of defenders, his leg no longer torn but fully restored. Whether it had returned to its previous condition or remained weakened was unknown.
Moving towards the front line with his spear in hand, the Base Lord cut an impressive figure. He had a decently lean muscular build, stood at approximately six feet tall, with a buzz-cut hairstyle and piercing eyes that made you respect him.
The Lord began his speech, his eyes locked on the Mountain Bear that stared him down with what looked disturbingly like a mocking grin.
"To all awakeners who came to my aid, I thank you for your courage and loyalty. Many of you have lost precious lives, weapons, and suffered injuries. Once this is over and the beast is dead, you are all invited to my residence. I will thank every one of you personally for this favor. So let’s kill that bear and head back to ea—"
Before the Base Lord could finish, his head fell to the ground as a figure appeared beside him seemingly from thin air. A smirk formed beneath the black cloth mask the person wore.
Everyone on the scene, including Moon, had their eyes widen in shock. The figure had appeared out of absolute nowhere with no warning, no mana signature, nothing.
Before anyone could react to the assassination, the Base Lord spawned. Luckily, he still possessed lives remaining to avoid true death.
Slash!
The anonymous figure appeared beside the Lord again instantly, slashing toward his throat with terrifying speed.
The Base Lord, to his credit, was ready and expecting the follow-up attack. A dagger formed in his hands from his spatial storage in an attempt to block. His spear had fallen to the ground upon his first death, leaving him armed only with backup weapons for close quarter combat.