Subjugation

Elric, Alice, and Klein searched deeper into the Teal forest searching for a Giant Bear. He was sure that there were more than the one he had encountered.

They continued to walk in search of it and only stopped to eat. They ate the dried meat they had prepared before winter started.

Walking slowly and steadily, hearing the crunch of the snow each time they took a step. They had searched for any kind of shelter the bears may have been hibernating in.

However, springtime is almost upon them. Some bears may have awoken from their sleep earlier than expected.

Days passed with no trace of them until they happened upon a cave that was large enough to fit a giant beast.

Treading carefully as they approached, suddenly a roar was heard from a beast that had the fur as dark as the night, contrasting the pale white snow that covered the lands.

All three of them ducked low and out of its sight to plan their attack. Alice and Klein carefully walked around it and entered its cave.

Not only do they plan to absorb material inside the cave but also, they plan to lure the bear to them using its territorial characteristic, leaving Elric the opportunity to strike the giant beast at a distance.

Once Klein and Alice have activated their skills, with Klein having his thicker and more refined shield and Alice with daggers as her hands, sharper and sturdier, they heard Elric's signal to start their assault.

"Klein! You know what to do! GO!" Alice screamed out as they made enough noise to get the giant bear's attention.

Klein rushed forward carrying his stone shields attached to the front of his forearms while screaming to get the bear's attention.

"AAAAAAHHH!!"

The bear was taunted by Klein's provocation and was furious by their presence in his territory.

The giant beast roared and raised its body to assert dominance.

But Klein stayed in his position and provoked the bear even further.

"Come on! Let's go!" Klein yelled out.

Anger was seen in the great beast's eyes and started to rush forward to attack Klein as it roared repeatedly.

Klein leaned back to sway his arms up and crashed them down to bury them under the pile of snow to support his shield while Alice was still behind him waiting for the right time to attack.

The giant bear panted as he quickly ran to the people who dared to trespass inside, not only his territory but as far as his cave. The great beast was furious as it was ready to bash its own body to the stone shields that Klein had secured on the ground.

"GAAAAAAHHH!!" Klein yelled out as he braced for impact.

*BANG!!!*

A loud sound echoed throughout the forest as the beast and Klein's shield had collided.

Klein grunted in pain as the impact had almost broken the shield and his hands buried to support it.

"ELRIC!!!" Klein shouted as his veins started to bulge from exerting all the force that he used to counter the weight and power of the giant bear.

The bear stood and was ready to once again assault the still erect shield in front of it.

[Caster Skill Activated]

[Energy Propulsion]

*BOOM!!!*

A blast had hit the giant bear from the back and made it fall over and cancel its action to bash the shield.

Elric had caught its attention with an attack using his long-distance skill.

The bear roared with great anger and quickly turned its hostility towards Elric.

However, Alice came out behind Klein with her dagger hands and slashed its limbs as fast as she could, while it was still distracted and hide once again behind Klein, causing the attention of the angry beast to shift once moreover to her.

It stood up and was readying its body once again to fall unto the stone shields but Klein took this chance to uproot his hands and bashed his shields forward to push the towering bear and make it fall on its back.

The beast roared as it fell and was quick to get back on its four paws but as it searched for the two, they were already retreating to the cave to reactivate Klein's stone shields which he had already shed because of the damage caused by the angry bear.

But before it could chase after them.

[Caster Skill Activated]

[Energy Propulsion]

[Caster Skill Activated]

[Energy Propulsion]

*BOOM!* *BOOM!*

Multiple shots of energy were fired by Elric and landed on the beast. It had taken considerable damage and seemed to be running out of steam.

He had bought enough time for Klein to reactivate his skill but instead of going on the defensive, Klein started to run towards the confused beast with his shield still in front of him while screaming at the top of his lungs.

Alice was running close behind him and Elric had not stopped from blasting it with his skill, sending the great beast into utter confusion.

Assaulting it from both sides proved most effective.

As Klein made an impact with the beast and bashed it forward, he kneeled once more and buried his hands once again in the ground. Alice came and jumped on Klein, using him as a stepping stone to jump high into the air.

At the same time, Elric was also running towards the confused bear without stopping from his barrage of attacks. He had his sword unsheathed and ready to strike, once he was close enough.

The beast made its last efforts to shake the attackers and stood up once more but Alice landed a slash on its neck deep enough to almost decapitate it, as she landed. Elric who was just in time had pierced the beast's chest to kill it as quickly as possible.

The hunt was over. They had successfully subjugated the beast and killed it. The gigantic body fell to the ground tainting the pure white snow in red.

The three were happy. They were overjoyed that they had defeated a strong opponent and came out unscathed.

"We did it!" Klein exclaimed as he panted from exhaustion.

"We did it!" Alice celebrated and jumped from her excitement.

Elric smiled as he watched his friends celebrate their victory. He was glad that their training had proven fruitful and effective in real battles.

He was also excited by the thought of taking on the goblins once again.

However, they needed to prepare extensively to make sure that they would all survive the challenges and threats that they would have to face.

The goblins may be smaller and weaker but they were considerably smarter than wild animals in the forest. Using tools and weapons to attack and defend themselves would prove to be quite difficult to deal with.

After sharing the Enliven that the deceased beast had provided, they gutted and skinned the bear and took its meat back to their cave.

Once the fire was started, Elric had announced his plans on how to eradicate the goblin hoard.

"We have to scout the areas again to know where we can place the traps and so we can slowly widen the entrance and make our cave bigger as we move forward." Elric explained.

"We also need to close the entrances to the goblin caves so we can limit how many can come out, so we don't get overwhelmed." He added.

"Okay, I get that but what kind of traps are we going to make?" Klein asked.

"You'll see."