[Nightmare]

"Not bad." Tyrene commented.

"Yeah, but that dagger's not going to do more than piss it off." Helix replied with a bitter expression.

Marie threw a dagger into the Balken Bear's arm as she jumped away.

"The dagger isn't in a joint or a location that hurts to move." He added.

"Yeah. But at least it's something." Tyrene countered.

Helix grit his teeth bitterly.

He moved around the location to get a different vantage point.

His movements implied that he wasn't joining the fight, and Tyrene didn't stop him.

On the contrary, she was watching him with interest.

Charlotte got up and unsheathed her sword.

Marie was on the other side, ready for battle.

"Its attack movements are slow but don't lack range!" Marie called out.

"Charlotte, can you provoke an attack you know you can dodge?"

Charlotte didn't like being asked to decoy, but she understood her skill sets.

She nodded.

"Thank you! Riley, I'll attack from the front.

You need to immobilize the back leg!" Marie yelled.

"Back leg?" Riley called back.

"Yes! It stands to attack. If we cut off a back leg it hurts its mobility twice!" Marie called back.

"RHHHAAAAAAAAHRRR!"

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

BOOOOOOOM!

"They adapt quickly. That's good." Tyrene chuckled.

"Plus they have you there…."

Her eyes gilded to Helix, hiding his presence with a concealment spell.

He couldn't help them directly.

Therefore, he couldn't afford to distract them with his presence.

Helix was always twenty feet away from them.

Always there; always missing.

"Marie! Get ready!" Charlotte called out.

"Riley, go!"

Riley blasted from her position and circled the beast in a flash.

Charlotte gritted her teeth and whispered—

"[Flicker]."

A small flicker of heat collided with the Balken Bear's eyes and instantly dried the surface.

"RHHHAAAAAAAAHRRR!"

"Marie!"

Marie launched another throwing knife at the beast.

This time, she aimed for its neck.

The blade cut through the fur and penetrated the muscle.

Feeling the pain from two directions, the beast scrunched its face, and its pitch-black eyes trembled.

"RHHHAAAAAAAAHRRR!"

"Riley!"

The beast lifted off the ground to create a sweeping attack.

Riley sliced through its Achilles heel just as it was on two legs.

"RHHHAAAAAAAAHRRR!"

BOOOOOOOM!

BOOOOOOOM!

BOOOOOOOM!

The beast thrashed around.

Its right leg kicked and sent a shockwave that threw Riley into a tree.

Its right arm [completed] the motion and swept horizontally, leveling a dozen trees.

Marie and Charlotte were sent flying.

Helix missed the attack by jumping.

However, he snapped when he saw that the beast had flung all three into various objects.

"RHHHAAAAAAAAHRRR!"

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The beast was partially demobilized.

However, not being able to use a leg and not standing on it are two different things.

Its center of balance was intact, so it was still extremely fast and powerful.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

It thrashed its way to Charlotte's position.

Charlotte's groggy eyes widened in terror when she saw the beast's full attention staring at her.

It lifted its paw off the ground when it was ten feet away.

Multiple objects hit the ground simultaneously.

One was a large object falling a few feet away.

The second one fell just below the bear.

Suddenly a shining object flew into the sky.

Charlotte was disoriented and confused about what was happening.

However, her eyes were drawn to the object glittering in the sunlight.

Time slowed when the silver object was above the Balken Bear's head.

"Is that a dagger?" Charlotte muttered.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Charlotte's body felt like it was being pulled into a black hole.

The ground cracked from a shockwave, and the small nearby objects shot in the direction of the bear.

Everything turned to normal a split second later.

"What the hell just—"

The Balkan Bear was twitching on the ground.

Blood spurted out of its mouth, and failed roars exited its throat.

"Tyrene! If you have a problem with what just happened… too fucking bad!" Helix yelled.

Charlotte, Marie, and Riley looked up from their groggy haze to find Helix standing near the Balken Bear's body.

Despite the blood pouring out of the bear's arm and mouth, there wasn't a single drop on him.

"No. You've all passed the test with flying colors." Tyrene replied with sharp eyes.

After saying that, she walked away to give the four of them space.

"Charlotte, Marie, Riley… Please come kill this bear.

Please remember that it can kill a human just by thrashing around." Helix called out with a worried expression.

They nodded and walked closer to the bear in a daze after picking up their swords.

"Riley. Please cut off its leg. You all understood its weakness perfectly.

However, it only works if the leg removes its balancing system. So get a feel for it." Helix instructed.

Riley nodded silently.

"Marie. Great work with the throwing daggers.

You did great work by throwing them at a vital area that was large enough to limit failure.

Throw the blades and get a feel for how much force is necessary to pierce its defense." He continued.

Marie nodded and pulled out, throwing daggers.

"Charlotte. That was a masterful usage of [Flicker].

It would have worked better if you weren't so constrained."

Helix threw a battle disc next to the bear's face.

"This is a [Suffocate] spell. It will immediately extinguish a fire, which is invaluable for your skill set.

Practice now because you don't have to fear lighting the forest on fire." He instructed.

Charlotte's eyes widened in astonishment.

"Sure thing, chief." She replied excitedly.

Tyrene giggled to herself when she heard the poor bear scream in anguish.

The poor thing was going through a [training] session worse than torture.

Helix pinned the wretched beast to the ground with gravity discs to prevent the training from hurting the others.

After ten gruesome minutes, the bear breathed its last.

"L-Level 55!?" Marie cried out.

"Yup. When the level shows up as three question marks, you know you're fucked." Charlotte commented.

"The only thing this monstrosity was missing was a choir singing Latin lyrics behind it."

Helix chuckled in response.

He activated the [Intent Spell] and was skinning the beast with a dagger.

Riley was declawing the bear at the same time.

"So? Are you going to explain what the hell happened back there?" Charlotte asked with a bemused voice.

Helix gave her a wry smile.

"I'll show you once the bear is skinned.

The dagger's lodged in too deep to show you. " He replied calmly.

"It was you!" Charlotte exclaimed.

"Hmmm?" Helix asked with wide eyes.

"I'd get you cutting the bear's arm off and using a gravity spell.

But I was uncertain if I was hallucinating, and Tyrene threw that dagger out of the trees like a ninja!" Charlotte explained excitedly.

Helix let out a helpless, muted chuckle after her words.

"No… that was me." He sighed.

He was bitter that his girlfriends didn't get to show off on the first day.

While the lesson was valuable, it failed to teach what was intended.

He also hoped that it didn't undermine their confidence.

"This magic circle is called the [Gravity Tip Trigger].

There's a circle on the tip of that dagger.

When the tip is facing downward above the battle disc, it activates.

Gravitational pressure sends the enemy and the dagger to the earth tip down.

The larger the object, the more gravity it pulls in for safety.

That way, the object blocks the gravitational force, so the user doesn't get sucked into it.

It can increase to 50 G's, allowing it to crunch through just about anything below level 100." Helix explained.

"O-One Hundred!?" Marie cried.

"I haven't tested that, of course.

Level 100 is when that blade would break, or the monster's size is too large for the gravity to work through." He chuckled.

The women let out a sigh of relief.

"That… is pretty fucking cool!" Charlotte cried.

"Hah. That's the type of thing you'll be learning with Tilo." Helix announced with a slight smile.

"I'm stoked!" She replied with fire in her eyes.

Helix shook his head with a hopeless smile.

"I can't believe that you're excited to learn from these maniacs." He chuckled.

"But as long as you're happy, I'm happy."

—

Power stones and grammatical errors = more content. :)