White Fur

The Elite Great Black Bear was a stronger monster that they could not just easily defeat. It was far too strong for the male sorcerer to defend against, so he had to move back.

As a result, the two warriors did not get any proper opportunity to sneak in and attack the bear.

The bear itself had a strong hide too, which stopped the sword and spear from digging any deeper than an inch. While they were able to wound the bear that way, none of their attacks were lethal.

The elite bear had two weak points, which were its eyes. And that was what the archer was trying to aim for. However, with the bear moving around a lot, she did not get a good aim. The arrows simply struck the bear's skull and fell to the side.

The only things that were keeping the bear at bay now were the two sorcerers, who used their spells one after another. The sorceress switched between what she called the 'Fireball' spell and the 'Double Lightning Strike' spell.

The sorcerer switched between 'Light Wrap' and 'Fireball.'

The warriors attacked during the times when the bear was attacked by a spell and couldn't focus as a result.

Jax and Loma stayed further behind than usual since it was an Elite monster. They didn't want to get caught up in any of its attacks. The party was also less sure of how easily they could kill it, after all.

"Hey Gemma, what's that purple thing all around its body? It's like it's flowing underneath its skin."

"It's a type of natural skill elite monsters have," Gemma explained. "Navi flows through their physical body, making them faster and stronger. It's similar to what happens to a warrior, making them stronger too. Only you don't see the markings on them."

Jax raised an eyebrow. "Is that why warriors are so much stronger?" he asked.

"Generally, but not right now. Right now, they don't have enough Navi for their whole body to be strong, so they have to concentrate it in just parts of their bodies, like arms and legs, leaving the rest weak."

"Ah! So that's why their attacks are so much stronger. Now it makes sense why they are physically stronger despite you saying before that they aren't."

"They're using Navi, yes," Gemma said.

Sorcerers had Navi too. In fact, Gemma had explained to him that sorcerers had a much higher capacity to store Navi than a regular warrior. Then wouldn't that make them that much stronger than a warrior?

He wanted to ask that question, but something distracted him at that moment. "Did you hear something?" he asked.

Loma, who had been watching the battle that was drawing closer, turned to Jax with a confused look. "Hear what?"

"Leaves," Jax said. "I swear I heard it coming from—"

As he turned, he noticed something white making its way toward them at a steady pace. It was a Giant Silkworm, about 30 feet away.

"Shit! It's a Silkworm," Loma said in an urgent voice as he put down his bag and reached for the matchsticks.

Silkworms weren't strong enough that they had to worry at the moment. They only had a strong skin that was tough to pierce, but once that was pierced, killing them was easy.

They also couldn't do much to hurt a human. However, what they could do was wrap a person in their silk threads, suffocating them. Many unsuspecting fighters had suffocated in cocoons made from these threads.

Thankfully, the threads were easily destroyed by fire. So as long as Loma got the matchsticks out of the bag, even if they were put into a cocoon, he could light the matchsticks on the inside and come free.

Then, killing the silkworm was just a matter of how hard they could stab it.

Jax dropped the bag to the side at the same time and looked for something Loma could light. He didn't want to get into a cocoon without a fire either.

He found a piece of dry wood on the side and turned as he waited for Loma to create a fire. He had the matchsticks in hand, ready to strike.

However, the man simply stopped at that point. He was ready to strike the match, but he didn't.

Jax turned toward the Silkworm, which was about 15 feet away at this point. They would need to move back soon.

"Loma, what are you doing? Light the matchstick!"

"I…" Loma struggled to let out the words. "I can't… move…"

Loma's face slowly became red.

Jax frowned. "Why can't you—"

His words were cut off as he felt a gust of wind cooling his back where he was sweating. Slowly, he looked up to see the source of the wind.

What Jax saw was a large beast descending from the sky with white wings and a white furry body. Its two large beady eyes stared down at Jax and Loma, and its two antennas hung on either side from the top of its head.

It was a giant moth.

Jax took a step back. "What… what is that?" he asked, but Gemma didn't answer.

Instead, the answer came from somewhere else.

"Giant Silk Moth!" Danny shouted. The party members turned to look, but they couldn't pay much attention to it. They had to focus on the bear.

"Be careful," Danny shouted while attacking the bear. "Its threads are invisible and can't be burned. You need to cut it."

Jax heard those words. 'Invisible threads?' he thought and turned to look at Loma on the ground, his face turning purple. Looking closely, Jax only now realized that the man was wrapped in invisible threads.

He looked back at the moth and was thankful that he was not its first victim. But how often could this beast use its threads? It had already been a few seconds since it used them on Loma, so Jax needed to act quickly.

He rushed toward Loma since his bags were where the knives and daggers were. He grabbed the bag and jumped behind a tree, where he quickly drove his hands into the bag.

He felt something slice into his palm, releasing a stinging pain, but he couldn't pay much attention to it at that moment. He grabbed the hilt of a blade and pulled it out.

What came out was a double-edged dagger, meant to be used to release the skin of a beast from the rest of the body. It wasn't a weapon he wanted to use at the moment—he would rather use a sword or a spear—but there were not many options.

He would have to be okay with it.