Chapter 31: Hunt
Grey recalled the details of the quest; the beast had been spotted once by the guards on patrol in the forest, but due to the lack of men they were unable to kill the beast. Apparently, the patrol had been made of G+ Rank men, which made Grey question the preparedness of the guards. If they had to resort to G+ Ranks, there must have been a severe lack of people.
'Makes sense as to why there was a quest for it.' Grey thought.
Grey moved into the forest, trudging through the deep snow. Since he had no element to warm himself, he had to wade through the frigid gale. The ground under the snow was ice, so Grey had to find his bearing by gripping the trees around. His fingers were cold, the chill freezing his muscles, stiffening his movements, but he pressed through.
'Damn, and Mana Beasts live here?' Grey thought, surprised that anything could live in this environment.
- It is rather impressive, yet the environment here supports every element except Fire, so they're built for it. - Fallen Star replied.
'Mhm.' Grey agreed and kept moving further into the taiga.
The tracks had been found close by, so he shouldn't have to move too far to find them.
---
"Found them." Grey said.
On the tree in front of Grey were 3 massive slash marks, evidence of him entering the territory of his mark.
'Those are rather large marks. I can't believe that a WaF-Bear is so big!' The marks were from the claws of the Beast, and that meant its paw was over half a meter in diameter. This meant that the bear would have been almost 6 meters tall¹. A massive beast.
Grey looked around him, searching other trees for any sign of where the bear might have gone. The floor would have no marks, the snow covering any tracks it would have left. The canopy wouldn't contain traces either, the bear unable to reach it.
'Not there, not here, not there either... Ah, found it!' Upon inspection of a faraway tree, Grey saw another mark.
Within a second, Grey arrived at the tree and looked around again. 'Argh, this is so much harder than what Dad said. Tracking in this biome sucks.'
-Did you expect it to be easy? - Fallen Star asked sarcastically.
'Kinda.' He replied.
Grey followed every trace of the bear that he found and soon came across a cave. The cave was dug into the ground, its entrance built up using hardened snow to act as the roof.
'Well then, in we go.' Grey stepped cautiously into the cave, wary of any traps. The bear was a beast, but it was intelligent. It may be a basic level of intelligence, but he had to be cautious of any trickery.
The first step in the cave was a gentle one; Grey tentatively explored the floor. Once he was sure the ground was safe, he took a second. Then a third, and a fourth. By that point, he was in the cave fully, and nothing had happened.
He kept his guard up, but he felt confident enough to walk normally. The cave was dark and winding, but a simple Light Manipulation was enough to light it up. The ball of Light he created flew above him, illuminating the passage.
The Light ball wasn't complex, so Grey had no trouble multitasking with it. As he looked around, he noted a few things. The passage was big, just a bit bigger than 7 meters in diameter, and the walls' rocky faces looked tough, and a quick check with an acid helped him deduce its strength. He would struggle to break it.
The tunnel went deeper into the earth, and so did Grey. He had received a warning from his father about caves, 'One should always look behind for hidden passages. You don't want to be snuck up on.'
Down and down he went, and soon enough he came upon an entrance, leading to a cavern.
'So, it's in here, huh.' Grey could hear a soft snoring from within, and he could smell a miasma coming from it, a crisp burning, something that made sense considering it was a Water/Fire Beast.
The cavern was wide, an open dome-like area. Grey removed the Light from above his head and the bag from his back; he didn't want to wake the bear.
Grey strode into the cavern, arming himself with his blade. The blade being drawn from the scabbard made no noise, the myth about a sound from it clinking was false. His steps were, light, measured, and controlled, no sound was released from them.
A few steps took him to the bear, right by its neck. He raised his sword high, ready to swing, and enhanced himself with Mana.
'My first kill.' There was no hesitation as he swung, but when he thought of murder, a certain entity came to his mind.
ROARR!
The bear woke, swiftly tucking its head in and moving back in.
'How did it know?' Grey thought to Fallen Star.
- Murderous Intent. You thought about God, didn't you? -
'Yeah, I did. How does that mean anything?'
- Your hatred for him, when mixed with Mana, creates a palpable force. If you push the Mana out of your body forcibly and pressurize the air, you can add a hallucinogenic effect to your intent. - Fallen Star lectured.
'I see.' Grey found that information useful, and decided that he may be able to use it against the beast, and if not, then in the future.
As it stood up, rising onto its hind legs, and reaching its full height of 6 meters, it roared a second time. Grey pushed out Mana to create a second ball of Light, allowing it to see it in its glory.
Blue fur all over, black eyes, and a black snout. It was extremely large, wider than Grey's entire wingspan of about 2.5 meters. Its arms, matching its paws, were almost as thick as trees, and he almost doubted if his blade could reach where its heart lay.
ROARR!
The bear attacked with a swipe, its claws heading straight toward his face. Grey raised his sword to block, using the sharp of the blade to catch the paw.
The blade sword bit deep into the bear's paw pad, drawing a copious amount of blood. A roar of anger came again, and the bear retaliated with a Water blast.
Grey watched the Water come toward him so he relied on the most useful Element: Null. A pulse of Magic came from an outstretched hand, wiping the bear's Magic from existence.
'Did it just use a Spell without a chant, or can it use Manipulation?' Grey asked.
- A spell. The roar was the Spell chant. -
'Fascinating!'
Grey refocused on the fight, finding a claw headed straight toward his face. Grey leaped backward, swinging his blade horizontally. The paw was split in half, rendering it useless, as blood splattered over him.
With one paw cut across the palm and another split vertically down the middle, the bear lost its main physical attack.
ROARR! ROARR!
Another roar came, and then another, causing a wave of Water to spread through the cavern. Behind it came a second pulse of Fire. Grey attempted a block with Null, breaking a hole through the wave, however, the rest of it collapsed on him.
'Shit!' He cursed.
The Water pushed him back, but it didn't hold much force since the majority had been destroyed by his attack.
That was the least of his worries, though, for the Fire pulse came straight at him. Once the Fire reached just in front of him, Grey froze suddenly, a vision of the past coming to the front of his mind. He could see fire everywhere, raining from the sky in all colors.
"Ahh, no, no... NO NO NO!" He screamed, tears leaking from his eyes. The attack hit him, engulfing him in a blaze, but the pain was all that he needed to bring him back.
"Shit!" He cursed again, trying to block out the pain enough to focus on his Magic.
'Fuck, fuck, fuck...' Grey released several small bursts of Null from his body, just barely managing to put out the blaze, and by then the bear was in front of him. Adrenaline rushed through him, numbing him from the pain, and increasing his reaction speed. Opening its mouth wide, the humongous Beast attempted to bite his head off, but an upward swing infused with Mana blocked its teeth.
With the split-second he had from the bear ricocheting back from his blade, he utilized the first movement of 'Grave's Blade', 'Strike', to pierce the Beast's chest. By imbuing his body and blade with as much Mana as he could, his blade easily sliced through its heart.
He was sprayed with blood, covering his face in red, and the bear slumped. Grey withdrew his blade and jumped back, just in time as the Beast fell forward.
THUMP!
It landed loudly, and a pool of blood congregated on the ground below. Grey stood above it, panting heavily, before moving to the cavern's mouth, where his bag lay. He grabbed a cloth from within, wiping his blade clean and placing it in its sheath before the pain came.
Abruptly, the adrenaline wore off and a searing pain came from his entire body.
"AARGH!" He cried, dropping to the floor just next to his bag. He convulsed, foam coming from his mouth.
Fighting through the pain, he reached for his bag, rummaging for the potions he knew lay inside. His arm would spasm occasionally, bringing another bout of pain.
'Got... it.' He grabbed a potion, bringing it out of the bag and to his mouth. He uncorked it and drank. It tasted like nectar in his mouth, and he greedily gulped it down.
The pain wore off slightly, and he reached for another, and then another.
By the third potion, the pain had dissipated. Grey dragged his body up into a sitting position, leaning against the wall by his bag.
He still had enough Mana to keep the ball of Light above him, and using it, he was able to see his body. His clothes were all torn and damaged from the fire, and his skin was burned badly. It was most likely just under the skin, seeping into the muscle, which was extremely bad. The potions had helped, and he could see it heal. Nevertheless, his potions were weak, low-level ones, so the amount they could heal was superficial when compared to the amount of damage.
However, there was only one thing on Grey's mind.
"Why, why did I see that? Why did that Fire affect me, when I've seen fire before?" Grey asked, confused, and hoping for an answer from Fallen Star.
- I believe it was the quantity. What you'd seen were weak, low-level Spells, nothing compared to the large blast of Fire from the bear. - Fallen Star said.
"I see. Ah, fuck, it hurts." Grey wasn't one to swear, so it was clear that he was in a large amount of pain.
He looked over to the bear, moving slowly to not irritate his burn too much, and then asked an important question.
"How do I get this back to the Association?"
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¹ = A polar bear has a paw diameter of about 30 centimeters and is about 3 meters tall, so I based it on that.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
forener
forener I tried really hard on this one, what u think?
Also, just to make sure you know, if I use a capital on an Element, it implies it's from Magic, and if I don't, then it means regular.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone