While Luan City was defending itself, another fight was underway in the forest. Ten figures darted around, surrounding an enraged beast. It was a bear, three times the size of a man and covered in black fur. Its claws were several inches long and shined with a golden hue. Every time, it swung its arms, golden arcs flashed out, slicing through the air. However, that was all it cut, the figures weaved around the trees attacking from every direction.

“Hmph, how come we have to go fight this beast? Its so annoying!” a woman’s voice was heard, loud and defiant, it would seem that she was quite unhappy.

Her hair was dark blue and her face had delicate features, she was comparable to a lily, bright and vibrant. She wielded 2 short swords, occasionally cutting at the creature and making shallow cuts. It didn’t cause much damage but it was extremely painful.

“Ai, it can’t be helped. It’s a rank 5, Golden Claw Bear. Other than us, who else can deal with it? Besides they promised us some pretty good awards so we better kill it and take its body back. Don’t forget that the claws are the most valuable parts,” said another member, his voice was deep and gravely.

He was quite big and carried a red halberd, striking with enough force to destroy the ground. His face was adorned in scars and he had a firm expression on his face. He was a tough man, no doubt. Very few would be able to stand their ground against him.

“Shade, Tower, focus at the task at hand, the faster we kill it, the faster we can go aid Luan City.”

A man looked at them coldly. He was quite handsome and had fine features. But his eyes gave off an extremely uncomfortable feeling. It was as if it could pierce through your body. Oddly enough, he was unarmed, there was no weapon in his hands, not even a scabbard or a fan.

“Yes, captain,” they replied.

The entire team continued to circle the bear, throwing attacks left and right. Slowly, more and more wounds appeared on the creature’s body but that did not hinder it at all. It even began to attack more ferociously, golden arcs flashed around it. It had to end the battle quickly or else it would die.

“Ugh, this is getting even more irritating. How long is Earth going to take with the array?” said Shade.

She was beginning to find it hard to dodge its attacks.

“I’m almost done, keep it occupied for several more minutes”, someone replied in a meek voice.

The source of that voice was a man holding several flags, placing them at specific points. He was quite thin and weak-looking, however he was covered in sweat and full of concentration. There was no sign of weakness in his eyes, only confidence. After placing the last one, he yelled out.

“Now!”

The other nine figures suddenly stopped and landed by each flag. They started inserting power into each flag forming an array. It started to light up from under the Golden Claw Bear who was confused by the glowing symbols.

“Ten Thousand Chains Array! Activate!” Earth yelled.

The array flashed as invisible chains wrapped around the beast’s body, restraining it to the center. It tried to get out but the more it struggled, the weaker it became. The chains continued to siphon its life force and it thrashed out, attempting to free itself. The team tried their utmost to keep the array on. The bear was extremely powerful, if it weren’t for the fact that it was already injured, they would not have been able to trap it into the array.

Time slowly moved and the Golden Claw Bear only attacked with even more ferocity.

“Hold on! we’re almost there,” said Earth, “Three more minutes and it is dead.”

Everyone focused more of their energy into array and new ethereal chains appeared, wrapping the creature. The Golden Claw Bear noticed the increase in strength and began struggling even more. The shock waves caused by its constant attempts to escape were enough to destroy the ground. Even the array was on the brink of breaking. Sweat covered their faces as they kept adding in power, spawning more chains.

Cracks started to appear on the array as chains started to fade away and lose power. The Golden Claw Bear could sense its impending freedom and fought against the chains with all of its might. The team struggled to keep the array alive. Seconds later, the beast had lost its strength. With the chains siphoning his life and the numerous wounds, it could not fight against the array for long.

Finally, it fell to the ground, unable to move itself. However, it was not resigned to its fate and roared defiantly. It stared at the team in hatred, if not for them, it would have already arrived to the city and destroyed it. The leader stared back with indifference before leaving his position and moving towards the bear.

A sword of wind materialized in his hand before he placed the edge on the its neck. It was already cutting into the skin, showing just how sharp this blade of his was.

“Hmph,” he stared into its eyes with indifference.

He immediately cut through its neck and beheaded it in one motion. As the head rolled off, a face of hatred stuck onto the bear’s face giving off a feeling of ferocity. The sword disappeared and he picked up the head, looking at it without any emotion.

“Phew, good thing it was dumb enough to land into the array,” someone said.

“Pfft, Mountain, don’t tell me you were scared,” said Shade.

She looked at the burly man with ridicule.

“W-what are you talking about!? I wasn’t worried at all!” Mountain said.

He went red in embarrassment, flustered by her comment. Of the entire team, he was the youngest and the physically strongest, wielding an spear that took around twenty people to lift. To be called scared was an insult to his face.

“Lets go, clean up and head for the city,” the captain said.

“Yes, Captain.”

The team cleaned up quickly before moving towards Luan City. The fight had lasted for less than an hour. One could only guess how strong these experts were. Once they arrived to the city, defending against the horde would be much easier.

It was still night time as they traveled through the forest.

“We have just gotten information from the Pavilion. The horde has already begun attacking and its size is two times larger than we expected. As for reinforcements, they will be coming in 2 days and we will arrive in one,” said Earth.

Sky was silent before finally speaking, “This rank 5 was supposedly the cause of the horde. If that is true, then there must be another rank 5 creature that is part of the horde. ”

Everyone’s faces darkened, if this really was the case, then the situation was much more serious then they had previously thought.