Chapter 229 — The Rematch with the One-Eyed Bear

The Southern Region of the Ancient Forest was a landscape of broken stone and unforgiving earth. Jagged pillars rose from the ground like the remains of some forgotten civilisation, their weathered surfaces bearing the scars of countless battles between the beasts that ruled this territory.

Far from the region's center, a violent commotion had erupted across an open stretch of rocky ground.

BOOOOOOM!

A heavy impact shattered the silence as dust and fragments of stone exploded into the air. Several enormous creatures clashed across the devastated field, their roars echoing between the surrounding pillars.

At the center of the chaos, a single Terra Bear was being overwhelmed by a relentless assault.

Seventeen Terra Bears had surrounded it.

Yet the most dangerous presence in the area wasn't among them.

High above the battlefield, Evan stood on the summit of a massive stone pillar, watching the slaughter unfold with a calm expression.

His eyes followed every movement below, occasionally shifting toward the surrounding terrain to ensure nothing unexpected approached.

The battlefield had already been devastated.

Stone pillars lay broken across the ground, deep craters marked the places where the beasts had collided, and enormous claw marks scarred the earth. This wasn't a battle that had begun moments ago. The damage suggested a prolonged struggle, one in which the surviving Terra Bear had somehow endured an overwhelming numerical disadvantage.

Its forelimbs were still covered in Earth Elemental armour, but the hardened layers had been shattered in several places. Cracks spread across the remaining protection, and blood dripped from the wounds beneath it.

The beast growled weakly as another group of attackers approached.

Unfortunately for it, those attackers possessed no fear, no hesitation, and no instinct for self-preservation.

Their hollow eyes burned with dark green flames.

They were Evan's undead Terra Bears.

And every one of them had come to kill.

Earlier, Evan had discovered a group of six Terra Bears while searching the Southern Region. After spending hours hunting and raising the beasts he encountered, he had finally gathered enough undead to test the limits of his growing army.

He had dispatched twelve undead Terra Bears to eliminate the group.

The result was exactly what he had expected.

Two undead against one living Terra Bear created an overwhelming advantage, especially when the living beasts had no opportunity to focus their strength on a single opponent. Their Earth Elemental abilities made them troublesome, but they couldn't compensate for the relentless attacks coming from multiple directions.

One by one, the living Terra Bears had fallen.

Only their strongest member remained.

Even after being surrounded by seventeen enemies, it had continued fighting longer than the others. Its Earth Element armour had allowed it to withstand attacks that would have crippled an ordinary Terra Bear, and its powerful forelimbs had managed to injure several undead before the tide finally turned against it.

Evan had been watching the entire time.

'You're considerably tougher than the others.'

Another undead Terra Bear slammed into the wounded beast's flank.

BOOM!

The impact forced it to stagger. Before it could regain its footing, two more undead rushed forward, tearing into its weakened defences.

The living Terra Bear roared and swung its armoured claws.

One undead was knocked aside, but the other seized the opening and sank its teeth into the beast's shoulder.

The remaining undead immediately closed in.

There was no room to recover.

No chance to escape.

The Terra Bear struggled for several more seconds before its legs finally gave way. Its enormous body crashed onto the ground, raising a cloud of dust that briefly concealed the battlefield.

The seventeen undead surrounded the fallen creature.

Evan leapt down from the stone pillar and approached at a steady pace.

When the dust settled, he discovered that the Terra Bear was still breathing. Its chest rose and fell unevenly, and its remaining Earth Elemental armour flickered as the energy sustaining it weakened.

Despite the overwhelming assault, the beast had survived until the very end.

Evan stopped beside its head.

"You're the strongest I've encountered apart from that one-eyed bear. Let's see if you'll make a worthwhile addition to my army."

He raised his hand.

Necrotic energy gathered around his fingers before spreading across the Terra Bear's head.

The creature's remaining eye widened.

Then darkness swallowed its vision.

Its final breath escaped its lungs, and its massive body fell completely still.

Evan lowered his hand.

[Raise Undead]

The corpse twitched.

Necrotic energy spread through its muscles and bones, forcing the damaged body to respond once more. Its wounds began to close, and dark green flames gradually ignited within its hollow eye sockets.

The newly resurrected Terra Bear pushed itself off the ground.

Another soldier had joined the army.

Evan studied it for a moment before turning his attention toward the battlefield.

The destruction was considerable, but the result had been worth it.

He opened his storage and checked his current forces.

'Sixty-six Terra Bears under my command.'

His expression remained calm, though a faint trace of dissatisfaction lingered in his eyes.

'I was hoping to reach eighty. At this rate, I'll have to make do with what I've gathered.'

He had spent hours hunting.

After escaping the one-eyed Terra Bear for the second time, Evan had gone on a relentless campaign across the Southern Region. He hunted during the day, continued through the night, and resumed the following morning again, attacking groups of different sizes whenever his scouts located them.

At first, finding prey had been easy.

The region was filled with Terra Bears, and every successful battle expanded his army. Even when some of the beasts possessed Earth Elemental abilities, his undead could overwhelm them through numbers and coordinated attacks.

But the longer he hunted, the harder it became to find another group.

The Terra Bears seemed to have vanished from the outer regions.

The group he had just eliminated was the only one he had managed to locate after nearly two hours of searching.

It was almost as if the entire population had realised that something was hunting them.

'They might have retreated toward the center.'

Evan's gaze shifted toward the distant rocky landscape.

The Ironhide Bear's territory lay deeper within the Southern Region. If the ordinary Terra Bears had begun gathering around their ruler, the number of opponents waiting for him there could be considerably greater than he had anticipated.

And somewhere among them, the one-eyed beast was almost certainly still moving around.

Evan's expression cooled.

'I'll give myself another two hours. If I find that One-eyed Terra Bear, I'll deal with him before moving toward the center.'

He paused.

'If not, I'll have to face him during the final battle. That would complicate things considerably.'

The one-eyed Terra Bear wasn't simply another powerful beast.

It had detected Evan through Nightstep, launched a coordinated elemental attack without hesitation, and survived long enough to become a genuine threat even before he had gathered his current army.

Leaving such an opponent behind him would be a mistake.

Evan recalled his undead bears and summoned ten Skeleton Warriors.

They emerged around him, standing in silence as he issued their orders.

"Spread out across the surrounding region. Search everywhere except the central zone. If you find any Terra Bears, report their location."

The Skeletons immediately dispersed.

Their skeletal frames moved between the stone pillars before disappearing into the distance.

Evan settled onto a broad section of rock and began recovering his spent mana.

He had spent much of the previous day fighting and raising undead. Although his mana reserves were substantial, he didn't intend to enter another serious battle without recovering as much as possible.

Especially not against the one-eyed Terra Bear.

Time passed.

The wind swept across the rocky landscape, carrying the distant cries of beasts from deeper within the region.

Evan remained still, his breathing gradually returning to normal.

Nearly an hour later, he opened his eyes.

Two connections had vanished.

His expression sharpened immediately.

'Two Skeletons destroyed?'

He focused on the remaining connections, separating their locations through the feedback provided by the System.

One had been lost near the central region.

The other was considerably closer, roughly half a kilometer away.

Evan stood up.

'I'll check the closer one first.'

He recalled his remaining summons and launched himself from the stone pillar.

His body raced northward, crossing the uneven terrain with long, powerful strides. He leapt over broken ridges and passed between towering stone formations, rapidly closing the distance.

As he approached the location, his expression gradually changed.

At first, he could only make out the silhouettes of several massive creatures moving across the ground.

Then he reached a higher outcrop and finally saw the entire group.

His lips curved upward.

There were approximately seventeen Terra Bears gathered in one place.

But Evan barely spared the others a glance.

His eyes had already found the figure standing at the front.

A massive body.

One remaining eye.

An old scar where the other should have been.

The one-eyed Terra Bear.

It stood over a pile of shattered bones, crushing the remains of Evan's destroyed Skeleton beneath its enormous paw. Its head moved slowly from side to side as it searched the surrounding terrain, apparently looking for the intruder it had encountered earlier.

There was no sign of Evan.

Not yet.

The beast had detected him twice before, but this time he had approached from a different direction and kept his distance until he could confirm its position.

Evan's grin widened.

"Found you."

He stepped onto the edge of the stone pillar.

Then he jumped.

His body descended toward the seventeen Terra Bears below, cutting through the air with Crimson Edge resting at his side.

The one-eyed bear reacted first.

Its remaining eye snapped upward.

ROOOOOARRR!

The thunderous roar immediately alerted every Terra Bear in the vicinity. Several raised their heads, while others turned toward the descending intruder.

Evan landed in front of the group.

BOOM!

Dust spread beneath his feet as he straightened and lifted his gaze.

His eyes met the one-eyed Terra Bear's.

Neither moved.

The beast rose onto its hind legs, towering over the surrounding bears. Its scarred face twisted into a vicious expression as it unleashed another roar directly at Evan.

The sound rolled across the rocky field.

Evan didn't flinch.

He had spent hours hunting the creature's kind, building an army from their corpses, and preparing for the moment he could confront this particular opponent on his own terms.

Now that the opportunity had arrived, he wasn't going to retreat again.

His shadow began to spread.

Darkness flowed across the ground, extending several meters in every direction. Then enormous shapes started emerging from its depths.

One after another, undead Terra Bears climbed out of the darkness.

Their heavy bodies struck the ground with dull impacts. Their once-living hides had dried and paled in places, while several bore deep wounds that their resurrection had not completely repaired.

None reacted to the damage.

Dark green flames burned within their hollow eye sockets, casting an eerie glow across the battlefield.

The living Terra Bears stared at them.

For a moment, even the surrounding beasts seemed uncertain.

They recognised the creatures standing before them.

They were Terra Bears.

Their own kind.

Yet something had been stripped from them. Their eyes no longer held the aggression or instinct of living beasts, and the wounds covering their bodies meant nothing to them.

They were dead.

And Evan commanded them.

Thirty-eight undead Terra Bears emerged from his storage.

Combined with the living beasts surrounding the one-eyed leader, the battlefield was transformed into a sea of enormous bodies and glowing green eyes.

Evan's gaze never left his target.

"Aren't you getting a little too comfortable?"

His voice carried across the rocky field.

"You attacked me the moment we met. Now it's my turn."

He raised his hand.

"Charge."

The command fell.

Thirty-eight undead Terra Bears surged forward.

Their roars shook the ground as they charged into the living herd, their enormous bodies colliding with the enemy in a devastating wave.

BOOOOOOM!

The first collision sent several living bears stumbling backwards. The undead pressed their advantage, attacking without hesitation while the living beasts retaliated with claws, teeth, and Earth Elemental abilities.

The one-eyed Terra Bear roared.

Its entire group responded.

Every living Terra Bear charged into the battle.

Despite being outnumbered, the one-eyed leader didn't retreat or hide behind its subordinates. It rushed straight into the heart of the undead formation, its enormous claws tearing through the first opponent in its path.

CRAAACK!

One undead Terra Bear was smashed into the ground.

Before it could recover, the leader struck again.

BOOM!

A second undead was sent flying into a stone pillar, shattering the rock on impact. A third attempted to attack from the side, only for the one-eyed beast to turn and strike it with such force that its massive body crashed several meters away.

Three undead bears had been knocked down in the span of a few seconds.

Evan's eyes narrowed.

'What ridiculous strength.'

He had expected the one-eyed Terra Bear to be powerful.

He hadn't expected it to tear through his undead so effortlessly.

Even with their overwhelming numerical advantage, the creatures couldn't simply surround the beast and bring it down. Its strength was far beyond that of ordinary Terra Bears, and its reactions were sharp enough to prevent most coordinated attacks from reaching its vital points.

'If this is what an elite Terra Bear can do, how much stronger is the Ironhide Bear?'

The thought passed through his mind, but he quickly pushed it aside.

He couldn't afford to lose control of the battlefield while thinking about another enemy.

Evan raised his hand.

[Necro Heal]

Necrotic energy surged across the fallen undead, spreading through damaged flesh and broken bones. The worst injuries began to mend, and the dark green flames within their eyes brightened as they recovered.

At the same time, Evan redirected several nearby undead bears.

"Leave that one to me. Deal with the others!"

His summons immediately changed course.

Rather than repeatedly charging the one-eyed leader and being crushed by its superior strength, they spread throughout the battlefield to overwhelm the remaining Terra Bears.

The change was immediate.

The living herd had numbers on its side only in certain parts of the battlefield. Against the coordinated undead, their defensive formations began to collapse. Every time a living Terra Bear focused on one attacker, another struck from the side.

The undead didn't care about injuries.

They didn't hesitate when their opponents roared.

And they didn't retreat when the ground beneath them shattered.

Evan watched the fighting for a moment, confirming that his army could manage the other enemies without his direct intervention.

Then he started walking toward the one-eyed Terra Bear.

The beast was tearing into another undead when Evan's voice cut through the noise.

"Oi. Where are you looking?"

He raised one hand.

"Your opponent is over here."

Earth Elemental energy gathered above his palm.

A sharp stone spike formed in an instant before shooting toward the beast's head.

SHWOOOM!

The one-eyed Terra Bear turned.

Its jaws opened.

CRUNCH!

The spike disappeared between its teeth, crushed into fragments before it could reach its target.

The beast spat the broken stones onto the ground and fixed its remaining eye on Evan.

A low growl rumbled from its chest.

Then it charged.

Evan's smile faded.

'Good. Come at me.'

Crimson Edge appeared in his hand, its blade igniting with crimson flames.

The one-eyed Terra Bear raised its forelimbs.

Earth Elemental energy surged around its paws, rapidly forming thick layers of hardened earth. The armour extended along its limbs, and its claws grew until they resembled enormous blades capable of tearing through stone.

Evan observed the transformation.

The claws were almost twice their original thickness.

He remembered the force behind the beast's earlier strikes and the damage it had inflicted on his undead in mere seconds.

A direct clash would be dangerous.

But he hadn't come here to test whether his summons could defeat the beast for him.

He wanted to know how far his own strength had progressed.

Evan's eyes narrowed.

"You think you're the only one who can reinforce your body?"

His shadow surged upward.

Bone fragments emerged from the darkness and assembled around his body, forming a dense layer of armour over his limbs and torso. Earth Elemental energy followed, filling the gaps with a hardened outer layer, while a faint coating of ice spread across the armour's edges and joints.

The defences locked into place.

Lightning began circulating around his legs, gathering beneath his feet and sending brief sparks across the rocky ground.

Evan clenched his hand around Crimson Edge.

The flames burning along its blade intensified.

His aura grew heavier as he completed the strongest defensive configuration he had assembled during the Trial.

The one-eyed Terra Bear watched him without moving.

Then fragments of earth began rising around the beast.

One.

Three.

Five.

More pieces tore free from the surrounding ground, gathering above its head as Earth Elemental energy compressed them into dense, hovering boulders.

Evan's expression sharpened.

The same attack that had forced him to retreat before.

Only now, he was standing directly in front of its source.

The one-eyed bear lowered its body, preparing to charge, while the boulders above it trembled under the pressure of its power.

Evan adjusted his grip on Crimson Edge and leaned forward.

Around them, the battle between the two armies continued to rage, but neither paid it any attention.

The beast that had hunted him was finally within reach.

And Evan had no intention of letting it go this time.

The first strike was coming.