Chapter 76 I cant bear i (1/2)

When Tiny notices I'm running forward, about to overtake him, he speeds up!

Stop it you stupid ape! I'm trying to save your d.a.m.n life!

Oblivious to my good intentions, Tiny is sprinting with all of his ape might, grinning from ear to ear and screeching out his simple minded l.u.s.t for battle.

Bless you, you idiot.

Gritting my mandibles tight I exert every ounce of my strength into my legs, moving them so quickly they flicker in my eyesight. Is this the legendary shadow step technique?!

It's enough. Triumph surging in my heart I pa.s.s my ape companion at the last possible moment and break out of the tunnel and into the open pit.

Ha ha! Take that Tiny you slug!

Oh right, the bear.

Before I have a chance to throw the breaks on I smash into the bear, effectively head b.u.t.ting it rather close to the eye, quite hard due to my impressive momentum. The bear of course is extremely impressed by this action and attempts to repay me by levering its face out of the dirt and biting my head off.

Duck!

The ma.s.sive jaws snap shut directly over my head. Thankfully I've learned from past experience and remembered to pull my antennae down when I ducked, I'm not losing my antennae this time!

Ok. Now I'm face to face with a truly terrifying and enormous bear monster. Now that I'm closer to it the scale of the monster is even more impressive. This thing is probably the same size as Tiny or the t.i.tan-Croc, but is most likely even more ma.s.sive. I suspect this thing weighs even more that t.i.tan-Croc, it's carrying some serious heft.

Watch out! Paw!

Leaping back I manage to avoid a fearsome swipe of the beasts paw, the claws whistling past my face.

Thankfully the monster is considerably restrained in this pit, it's ma.s.sive upper body and head occupy almost all of the available s.p.a.ce, making it rather crowded in here now that Tiny and I have joined the fray.

It would be nice if I try and build up a mana ball to blast this thing but since Tiny has decided to engage in melee with it

In these narrow confines I can only make use of my finest ant-like qualities to make the best of this situation.

Scrabbling up the wall I make my way out of the reach of those fearsome teeth and begin to charge up my infused mandibles. Waves of mana flow from my core, streaming through my body and charging my mandibles with vibrant energy.

Hope you're ready for this, bear!

Crus.h.i.+ng bite!

THUNK!

Holy bristling eyebrows of Gandalf, that is tough!

When I snap my mandibles down on the bear's hide, right on his flank, it feels like I'm digging into a tree trunk with a knife! This bear is ridiculously tough! Tougher than anything I've come across so far in this place, I can't bite through it, even with my infused mandibles!

The bear roars indignantly in response to my attempted wounding and struggles even more violently to free itself from the trap, finally pus.h.i.+ng managing to push its paws under its face and start to lever his head out of the dirt.

I'm not sure were Tiny has got to, no doubt punching the bear in the eyeball or something else horrifically dangerous. In order to keep the monster distracting I keep biting, hoping to eventually carve through this creatures ridiculously thick hide!

Using the piercing chomp this time I bite again at the creatures side.

THUNK!

What the heck is this bear made of!?

His hide feels as tough as nails. My mandibles, aided by the bonus penetrating power of the piercing bite are able to dig deeper than before, but I still don't feel as if I'm getting meaningful internal damage to this monster.

This guy is tank!

From the other side of the bear, above the constant grunting and growls as the ma.s.sive monster tries to free itself, I can hear the chirping crackle of electricity. Clearly Tiny has warmed up his fists and is ready to go to work!

There comes a thumping noise and the entire body of the bear flashes with electrical light. The bear groans and slumps momentarily as the potent energy rips through its body.

Nice, Tiny! I'll give him another chomp!

THUNK!

Dammit!

I think I was able to bite a little deeper that time but this bear is a tough nut to crack! I try to pull more mana from my core, drawing it out faster and faster before it packs into my mandibles, causing the light they give off to be more intense each pa.s.sing second.

As the bear is making more headway in extricating itself I decide to jump off the wall and clamber onto its back. Pus.h.i.+ng off I latch onto the beasts fur with all six of my claws, holding fast even as I'm rocked back and forth. I can see from here that the hind legs of the bear are getting a decent hold of the ground outside the pit, allowing the monster to pull itself out more effectively, it won't be long now and this guy will be free!

If possible I need to deal some damage before then!