Monarch Chapter 69

Chapter 69

The world narrowed to the space between Rayne and the charging monster.

The male stonefur bear came at him like an avalanche given flesh—eyes burning red, mouth open in a bellow so deep it seemed to vibrate inside Rayne’s bones. For a heartbeat, everything inside him screamed the same warning.

Death was coming for him.

His legs moved anyway, muscles coiling to spring, but he knew it wouldn’t be enough. Even if he jumped, his party would be the victims, and Rayne couldn’t let it be.

So, he raised his shield, aiming to give his party a few seconds to run.

Then the air snapped.

Hundreds of glowing threads of flame wrapped around the bear’s chest and limbs with a thunderous crack, the [Infernal ropes] flaring bright as they dug into stone plating and fur. The monster was yanked sideways mid-charge, its momentum violently arrested as it slammed into the ground hard enough to crater the earth.

Rayne staggered back as heat washed over him, barely aware of Jason hauling Nate away from the immediate path of destruction.

The stonefur bear roared—raw, broken, furious—thrashing against the bindings. The ropes held, but only barely. Each movement made them stretch, glowing white-hot where they bit into stone.

Rayne knew they had only seconds before they snapped.

“Fall back!” Axel roared. “Clear the front!”

He immediately ran, joining the rest of the soldiers alongside his party. His chest heaved as he watched the monster strain against the spell, muscles bulging. It kept letting out cries of anger and despair.

Rancour’s voice cut through the chaos. “What the hell happened over there? Why did it snap like that?”

Rayne immediately looked at him. “The other bear wasn’t the female—it was its child!”

The words landed like a hammer.

For half a second, there was only the sound of the raging monster and the crackle of burning ropes.

“Fuck,” Axel hissed, eyes flicking to the corpse.

Rancour swore viciously under his breath. “A cub? That big?”

“Probably adolescent,” Casper said, the spell matrix around her gloved hands flaring. “Enraged stonefur bears are one of the deadliest monsters to fight. We need to finish it fast!”

As she said that, the bear howled again, rage and grief mixing together before it slammed its head against the ground, then surged upward, dragging the infernal ropes with it. One of the bindings snapped apart in a burst of sparks.

“Swarm it!” Axel barked. “Now! If it breaks free, it won’t stop!”

Casper was already preparing another spell.

Sweat streaked down her face as she broke the matrix for [Infernal ropes], and the next second, another spell flared on her palms.

The stonefur bear lunged, snapping more threads as fire flared. Multiple blasts of flame struck the monster’s face and shoulders, forcing it back a step.

The bear roared, smoke pouring from its mouth, but it didn’t retreat.

It never looked away from Rayne.

Rayne felt that gaze like a weight pressing down on his chest. It had marked him as the killer of its son, and it wanted him dead more than anything else in the clearing.

If it let it get even one move on him, Rayne was dead. He could sense that.

“Don’t let it charge!” Axel shouted, prompting the other soldiers to attack. “If it gets momentum, we’re finished!”

At once, more and more archers fired arrows from the trees. A group of soldiers moved to flank it from each side, carrying spears and blades. Rayne saw Fredrick among them, the man taking the charge surprisingly.

Hobbs and Jason led a charge from the left, their weapons crashing into a cracked plate near the bear’s shoulder. Blood still covered it from the various wounds it had taken, but it was nowhere near close to death.

As two soldiers aimed for its side, stabbing at exposed muscle where Casper’s fire had burned fur away, the monster swung wildly, a massive paw catching one man mid-stride and sending him spinning into the dirt. The other let out a terrified yelp as a paw struck him in the chest.

Both of them were crippled at the least. But Rancour barked out commands not to break away.

They couldn’t, knowing what running here would do.

Fortunately, Casper’s spells kept it boxed in as she kept burning away its fur while creating stronger threads and binding them on its paws to keep it from moving.

Soldiers took advantage of that to find gaps and keep the bear’s attention. Axel and Rancour attacked it at the front, their shields letting out groans under the paws, but they didn’t let it get anywhere near Rayne.

But he knew he couldn’t stay standing.

The common soldiers had no way of holding the monster back for long. Even now, they were getting kicked back, their shields breaking under the assault. And Casper was too busy controlling the bear.

Other than the two squad leaders, he was the only one who could truly make a difference.

Hence, despite the fear in his heart, Rayne moved.

He darted in and slashed at a burned seam along the bear’s rib, the blade biting shallowly before he leapt back. The monster grunted, swiping at him, snapping more threads as it tried to lunge, but he was already out of its range.

It grunted, and as Rayne watched, it grew wilder and wilder, moving faster than a monster of its size had any right to.

Casper put more threads in place to keep it restrained, but it let out another cry and scooped up chunks of earth at the soldiers. They quickly put up their shields, but some of them staggered back.

The bear used the opportunity to lunge right at the closest soldier. The man cried out in alarm, and Rancour stepped in to intercept—but the monster was faster.

A massive paw slammed into his side with a sickening crack. The squad leader flew several paces, armor screeching as he rolled across stone and dirt before coming to a stop, unmoving.

“Rancour!” someone shouted.

That was the moment the bear tore free.

With a roar that sounded like stone splitting, it flexed its body and ripped apart the remaining bindings. Flaming threads snapped one after another, bursting into sparks as the magic failed.

Before Casper could push out more threads, it sent a scoop of earth smashing into her, and her spell matrix failed mid-cast.

“Shields up!” Axel bellowed the next second. “Protect Casper!”

But the stonefur bear didn’t charge toward her.

It locked eyes with Rayne, who immediately realized what was coming. The world narrowed just like before.

The monster charged.

Rayne ran.

He dove sideways as the bear thundered past, claws tearing a trench through the earth where he’d been a heartbeat earlier. He rolled, came up hard on one knee, and sprinted again as the beast skidded around, its stone-plated bulk tearing up soil and roots.

It came again.

Rayne felt the wind of its charge before he saw it. He threw himself forward, rolling as claws slammed down behind him, shattering stone. He barely got to his feet before the bear turned, faster than it had moved before.

Was it simply holding back before? Rayne had no idea, but he knew one of those charges would get him. Voices rose around him, but he shut them away, eyes never leaving the bear.

And then, an idea popped up. A risky one that would probably get him killed.

But there was no time to think further. He couldn’t keep dodging forever after all.

The bear lowered its head and charged once more.

This time, Rayne didn’t run.

He waited, then threw his shield right at the bear's face. With its momentum, it wasn't able to escape and Rayne took advantage of its lost vision.

At the last moment, he sidestepped.

The stonefur bear rushed past him in a blur of muscle and stone, the shield crushing under him. Rayne pivoted instantly and lunged, grabbing onto the jagged ridge of stone along its back as it tried to turn.

His fingers screamed as rough plating tore at his skin, but he held on.

The stonefur bear roared in surprise and fury, twisting violently, trying to buck him off. Rayne slammed his boots against its side and hauled himself upward, muscles burning as he climbed onto its back like a madman.

“Rayne, hold it!” Casper shouted, her voice strained. “I need it to stay still!”

But it was easier said than done.

The stonefur bear reared and slammed itself backward, smashing Rayne against the ground and nearly crushing him. Pain exploded through his ribs, but he clung on, teeth clenched, using broken stone armor seams and wounds as handholds.

Then, he raised his sword and stabbed at the same spot he had struck when he jumped from the tree.

The blade plunged into scorched flesh between cracked plates. The bear bellowed, a sound filled with agony and rage, thrashing wildly as more blood sprayed across Rayne’s arms and face.

He stabbed again. And again.

Each strike sank deeper as the monster screamed, its roars shaking the clearing. Soldiers scrambled back, dragging wounded away as the bear smashed into the ground, tearing chunks of earth free with blind fury.

Rayne felt something inside him go calm. He had no idea if he was going crazy, but all the panic faded away. And only one thought remained in his mind.

He needed to slay the bear.

He drove his blade down once more, twisting it hard. The stonefur bear howled, its mouth opening wide as it reared up, bellowing straight toward the sky.

“Now!” Casper shouted.

Rayne barely had time to register the heat.

Lances of fire tore through the air and slammed directly into the bear’s open mouth, straight down its throat. The flames burned white-hot, pouring inside as the monster’s roar cut off into a strangled, choked sound.

The heat washed over him, singing his hair, but he cared nothing about it.

The bear convulsed.

Its body seized, massive limbs locking up as fire burst from its mouth and nostrils. Rayne felt the heat surge up its spine and threw himself free just in time, rolling across the dirt as the stonefur bear collapsed.

It hit the ground hard.

Its body shuddered once, twice, then it slowly went still.

For a long moment, no one moved.

Smoke drifted upward, carrying the stench of burned flesh and stone. The clearing rang with silence broken only by ragged breathing and the crackle of dying flames.

Then, the sound of notifications buzzed at the back of his mind, and all the tension he felt left him.

You have contributed to slay Stonefur bear x2.

You have gained adequate experience.

You have levelled up. Level 29 reached.

+2 points gained in Strength. +2 points gained in Endurance. +2 points gained in Agility.

Skill Stealer Activated.

+2 points in Vitality.

There was no skill once again, but Rayne honestly didn't care. The fact he survived was enough. Taking on and killing the cub wasn't hard, but the male stonefur bear was a force of wild nature, and he couldn't have been able to kill it without Casper and the other soldiers.

He wondered just how much of a boost its base stats gave it. But there was also a good chance the army simply had outdated information about its level.

Though, all of it hardly mattered.

“I'm alive,” he muttered, taking out one of his health potions and immediately gulping it down. The bitter taste made him bite his tongue, but his body needed to heal.

Once he finished it, he tried to sit, but a sharp pain on his sides made him wince. The bear's stone armour had bruised him badly, and he was sure some of the bones were cracked too.

Despite the pain, he slowly put himself into a sitting position and looked around. All the soldiers were slumped on the ground, a few crouching over the ones that had bled over the soil. Axel and Hobbs hastily pushed health potions into Rancour's mouth.

Jason sat by a tree, axe on his side and eyes closed while he saw Fredrick simply staring into the corpse of the bears.

His own party stood to the left, staring up at him, but they didn't show shock or wonder like a few of the other soldiers. They were used to him pulling up such things by now.

Unfortunately, he had no strength to walk over to them, so he kept looking until he saw Casper coming towards him.

Just by the look in her eyes, he could tell that she had a hundred questions in her eyes.

She paused right in front of him, and looked down.

Before he could say anything, Casper said something that stunned him. “Rayne, when did you get a mana skill?”