Lennox disappeared into the incoming pack of monstrosities before the nearest bear could finish its charge, slipping beneath its sweeping paw and driving his foot into the creature’s ribs hard enough to lift its front half from the ground.
KATHOOM!
Esme saw this, thinking, ‘The hell is that strength?! You never see anyone that strong without magic or enhancements…’
Lennox’s left fist bashed into the vulnerable flesh beneath the bear chest, then his knee crashed into the same region before he seized the bear by the fur along its neck and swung his entire body around, using the creature as leverage to fling himself toward another.
A second bear opened its jaws around his head, but Lennox ducked beneath its incoming teeth, caught its lower jaw with both hands, and wrenched it aside while bringing his forehead into its snout with a sickening crack.
KRACK!
The bear reeled back a little, and Lennox grabbed the opportunity by springing onto its back, wrapping one arm around its throat while his other hand punched repeatedly into the weak region behind its foreleg.
‘I’ll beat em’ all up! Every single one of them!’ Lennox thought while he kept smiling.
But then, thunder hammered his body with every impact, scorching his clothes and sending him tumbling through the dirt, yet he rolled across his shoulder, stabbed one hand against the ground, and sprang back toward the pack before the pain could register properly.
“Agh!”
Oh he definitely felt it, but didn’t let it slow him down.
‘Keep going…!’
A massive paw struck his side and launched him across the area, but Lennox twisted through the air, caught a tree trunk with his feet, pushed away from it, and came racing back with his sword already leaving his hand, throwing it straight ahead.
SHIIIING!
The blade spun through the air, its runes burning super bright as it rammed one bear beneath the jaw, continued through another creature behind it, and then punched into a third before the weapon tore itself free and continued its murderous path through the pack.
Lennox reached the first wounded bear before it could recover, grabbed its head, and drove his knee beneath its chest, then kicked another creature in the stomach hard enough to send it skidding through several trees.
A bear clamped its teeth around his shoulder, and Lennox replied by grabbing its muzzle with both hands and strafing his body sideways until the creature lost its hold, after which he drove his heel into its abdomen and sent it crashing into another bear.
Blood covered his face, hair, arms, and clothes, yet a grin remained stretched across his features without him even seeming to notice it.
‘I’ll beat em’ up!’
He tore through the pack with recklessness like always, using fists, knees, elbows, feet, teeth, and even his forehead whenever his sword was beyond reach, taking blows that would have crippled an ordinary fighter and continuing as though every impact gave him another reason to hit harder.
One bear slammed him into the ground, another struck him across the back, and a third caught his leg between its jaws, but Lennox seized the third creature’s head, twisted free, and drove both feet into its chest while wrenching his leg away.
He landed on one knee, spat blood onto the ground, and immediately sprang at the next target, his grin widening as his fist rammed beneath another bear’s ribs and his other hand grabbed the wound before he ripped the creature apart in two with his bare hands..
The remaining animals flooded around him, thunder and lightning blasting through the trees with every paw strike, yet Lennox kept forcing his way through them, exploiting stomachs whenever possible and overpowering anything too large to reach with brute strength alone.
Esme tore into the opposite side of the clearing before the pack could surround him completely, her massive scythe growing and a lashing through the air as she brought the weapon across her body and struck three bears fast with one wide attack.
SHUUUNK!!!
“Haha! Dumbasses!”
The blade returned to normal size before she spun beneath a clawed paw dropping toward her head, then she expanded her scythe again as she rose from her crouch and drove the massive weapon through the creature’s side, sending it tumbling across the grass.
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Another bear came from behind, and Esme put one foot against its chest, flipped over its back, and allowed the scythe to shrink while she rotated through the air before extending it again at the instant she descended, catching the animal beneath the neck and sending it crashing away, lopping its head off.
Thunder and lightning hit her repeatedly as she fought, scorching her arms and tearing at her clothing, and one claw smashed against her ribs hard enough to send her skidding across the ground.
She rolled beneath another attack, sprang over a fallen bear, and caught the handle with both hands as the scythe expanded to an enormous size, swinging it in a wide attack that split several creatures apart and sending their body parts flying while the blade tore through the space between them.
Lennox jumped over her weapon as it passed beneath him, tucked his legs beneath himself, and landed on the back of a bear charging toward Esme, driving his fist into its stomach before using its body as a springboard to reach another, his fist literally stabbing through.
Esme reduced the scythe to its smaller form before a bear could touch it, spun the handle around her body, stepped inside the creature’s reach, and slammed the butt of the weapon into its throat before enlarging the blade and sweeping it across the creature’s legs and chest.
“Lennox!” Esme exclaimed,m as Lennox came crashing through the same group a heartbeat later, grabbing one bear by the muzzle and another by the head before smashing their heads together, releasing them, and driving his heel into the stomach of a third.
With all three near him, he flipped into the air again with a twist, and ripped the bears off against in a spiral-like move.
‘He’s not fighting with his sword anymore…? He’s truly an animal….’ Esme thought.
Esme slashed past him at the same instant, her scythe shrinking before it passed between two bears and growing again after she cleared them, allowing the blade to strike from an unexpected distance and send both creatures flying dead.
Lennox and Esme moved through one another’s attacks without stopping, fighting in sync like they’ve fought together before; Lennox crossing over Esme’s path while she cut beneath him, Esme spinning past his shoulder as he struck above her, and both repeatedly using the other as an opening against the pack.
A final larger bear arrive, dropping down in the air, more lightning and thunder coming from it’s body as it raced ahead with intensity, clearly devastated by the massacre of his kin all over the ground.
“RAGGHH!”
Lennox grabbed Esme, and threw her ahead forward, and Esme slashed straight the legs and arms of the bear, which completely made it useless as it fell on its stomach, and Lennox was already in the air because of it, right above the bear.
He came down hard, with his sword in his hand again, using Hej, creating multiple constellation runes in the air with his body as he dashed through the sky, and stabbed the rune with his blade, and the large horde of light energy crashed down hard on the bear.
As the destruction kept going, Esme made her scythe large and used it to cover herself. Then Esme exclaimed, “Hey! I’m still here, fool!”
Lennox yelled, "Haha! Should've moved!”
“How the hell would I know you’re gonna do that?!”
The clearing became silent after the destruction was done, and Lennox remained among the bodies, chest heaving like crazy as he stared at the wreckage around him.
Blood covered nearly every part of him, and his breathing was coming out pretty harshly while his fingers trembled from exhaustion, yet that strange grin still lingered.
He looked toward the ruined forest, then toward the scattered corpses, as though some part of him expected another wave to come charging through the trees.
“I need more….”
STTKK..
‘Hm?’
A tiny sound came from behind him, and Lennox slowly turned and found a storm bear cub sitting several paces away, staring at him with round eyes. It possessed the same distinctive features as the creatures he had spent the last several minutes slaughtering, including the fur, powerful limbs, claws, and small beginnings of the strange storm-born traits that made its adult kin so dangerous.
Despite that, the cub looked ridiculously adorable, small enough that Lennox could have held it against his chest, although he knew even a young Northern Storm Bear could potentially maul a grown human if frightened or provoked.
The contrast nearly broke whatever remained of his battle focus, and Lennox’s grin changed into something far softer as he lowered himself toward the ground.
“Awww!” Lennox stared at the cub for several seconds before his entire demeanor changed, the same man who had just torn through an entire pack now looking genuinely guilty as he remembered what he had done to the rest of its family.
He raised one hand toward the cub, stopping before touching it, then shook his head with an uncomfortable grimace.
“I never came across a cub! I’m sorry I had to slaughter your bear family, those dirty demon kids back at the village need to eat and stuff. I’m not that heartless to rip you to shreds, so I’ll let you run along…”
Esme suddenly came racing into the clearing, yelling with a smile, “THE FINAL BOSS!”
Her foot caught the cub squarely and sent the tiny bear flying high through the air, with a spray of blood following its trajectory as it vanished beyond the trees. Esme landed, brought her scythe back to its ordinary size, and casually settled the weapon against her shoulder while looking over the devastation around them.
“Phew. That was a close one.” She wiped sweat and blood from her head when she said that too, adding to the ruthlessness of her nature.
Lennox remained kneeling exactly where he had been, staring toward the place where the cub disappeared with a horrified, traumatized look.
“You monster…”
Esme chuckled, reached down, and rubbed Lennox on the head as though comforting a child who had witnessed something profoundly upsetting. “We need to get enough meat off these guys to feed all the demon children at the village.”
Lennox began twitching beside her, his face still locked in disbelief as he stared at the trees. “You’re so evil…it was so innocent…not really but yeah…it just looked innocent…YOU’RE EVIL. MONSTER.”
Esme’s laughter grew louder as she watched him struggle with the sheer absurdity of what had happened. “Haha! This is why I need you around me at all times. You’re so weird. Come on, funny man. Plus he was gonna chomp your hand off the second you tried to touch him.”
“TCH! I KNOW!"
“Then STOP BITCHING.”
Lennox said, “Bitching..?”
Then, Lennox dashed towards her and tackled her, and they began wrestling once again like they did on the Griffon.
Esme said with a grin, “Ohoho you’re so fucking dead, I wanted a round two.”