The monster pulls itself higher, and finally, even others notice it, a few shouts sounding into the surrounding.

Kinetic energy turned into flames hits the head in the form of a bright yellow flame that I continue to strengthen with each passing second as my heart pumps more energy through my body. Soon after even Isabella's blue flames join them and start to burn the monster, the disgusting smell of burned fur and flesh hitting our noses.

Tess also used her lightning attacks, Kim activates his gravity skill, and I know he is applying it on the monster in hopes it will lose its grip and fall down.

But nothing helps and the bear climbs over the walls and a shockwave hits all of us, pushing us away from him and stopping our attacks on the monster.

When the flames and smoke disappears the beast's head is revealed, only a skull barely with any fur and muscles. Yet it still continues to look towards us, calmly as if not seeing us as a danger.

Maya, already in full armament and with a spear in her hand, stands in front of it with Hadwin by her side as the bear tilts its head and swings its paw at a speed that seems nearly impossible judging by its size.

Both of them are thrown away and sent flying over the wall.

But we can't give them any more thought as another attack hits us. Another simple yet strong shockwave throws Sophie and Isabella over the wall and pushes others even closer to the edge, and I barely catch Kim and Lily before they fly over.

Seeing Sophie fall over, the last remaining member of Hard Difficulty jumps over the wall as well, seemingly about to help them.

In that short time between the attacks, I make my decision and put Lily into Kim's arms and push them both over the edge, leaving only me, Tess, and the twins on top. The twins are already much further on the wall, both of them boosted by their skill [Haste].

(We will try to use [Sensory Deception] at the right moment!)

One of them sends into my head and only then I remember Biscuit, making me look around with a hint of panic. Thankfully the corgi is fine and dangling from the edge of the wall by one massive purple tentacle that continues to stretch, slowly lowering him down.

(Gone) he sends me and continues to lower himself faster.

Good boy.

Another shockwave hits us and I absorb most of the kinetic energy of the attack and throw it behind myself to propel myself ahead.

Tess endures as well, the lightning armor around her body crackling in red and white colors.

“Lure it away and run?” she shoots me a question.

“It will follow others,” I say while dozens of mana projectiles pop into existence and shoot towards the bear only to be shrugged off as nothing together with Tess's lightning-imbued javelin.

The monster takes another step towards us and this time I feel Tess push against the shockwave and even weaken it enough to have almost no effect.

Again the bear tilts its head, a skull with empty eye sockets, and an even stronger shockwave hits us, strong enough to render my projectiles flying at it useless and even blow off the flame I try to throw at it.

Okay!

Fine!

Thrown over the edge of the wall I push myself back only for armor to appear around my body and then a helmet with a smooth front and without any holes for eyes. [Perception] encompasses the area and I [Focus] more.

Then I release my Mana Regulator a bit more and kinetic energy starts pummeling my body from inside only to be immediately turned into physical strengthening through my Symbiotic Transference.

When another shockwave hits me I absorb most of its energy to strengthen myself even further and immediately start infusing my body and my muscles with mana with the help of [Mana Infusion], which allows me to release my Mana Regulator even more and strengthen my body further.

The armor around my body is still transparent but in a darker shade of blue, and a sword appears in my hand, made of dark blue mana that I infuse with more and more of it until light blue and purple wisps of mana start flowing through the blade.

I did not put every available stat point into mana to fight melee! Damn it.

I dash at the bear my body strong as never before and my sword glowing with wisps of mana flowing inside of it. I absorb another shockwave only to immediately throw it at the monster and it just dissipates on the surface of its fur, causing no harm at all.

Reading the monster's movements I duck under the paw that barely misses me and cut against it with as much force as I can.

The sword just bounces off and I absorb another shockwave, using it to further speed up my body while oscillating mana coats the blade and I slash again, this time leaving a deep groove on the bear's paw.

I avoid the bite and watch its movements to dodge another two swings and step to the side, letting a shockwave pass me by while I angle my sword and slash again.

The blade, even coated in oscillation, bounces off, doing damage only to decaying muscles and bouncing off the bones.

Needing to release some energy generated by my Kinetic Mana Heart, a bright yellow flame explodes around me in a similar shockwave to the bear's and burns its fur and muscles.

[Disruption] then fires up and I immediately follow it by slashing against the paw I used disruptive mana on. The sword bounces again and I push myself far away from the monster as I feel it collecting even more mana.

A strong shockwave hits me even in the distance and throws me from the wall only for me to propel myself back up.

Such a tough asshole, I groan.

The monster doesn't seem that dangerous or strong, at least not to me, but its defense is annoyingly strong.

A shockwave that works like attack and defense at the same time. High physical stats and then the bones that seem to be impossible to destroy yet the monster still reacts carefully every time I get too close to its chest and probably its heart while totally ignoring attacks on its head where the brain should be.

For a moment, we just stand there: me, the bear, the twins far in the distance, and then Tess jumps back onto the wall.

"Others are safe," she says before turning her attention back to the bear.

Hearing that my sword flies in the air only to be stretched and pressed into the shape of a javelin I start feeding with more mana. Let's see how you will endure this.

I notice the twins start running even further and even Tess is getting ready to jump down from the wall.

The bear tilts its head again, looking at me. He looks at my chest where my Kinetic Mana heart beats. And then, out of nowhere, its own heart beats loudly, loud enough for us to hear.

One heartbeat.

The bear widens its stance and opens its maw.

The bear's second heartbeat sounds deafening.

A massive wave of kinetic energy is thrown at us and I know if it touches us, it will tear our bodies apart. It's an attack and energy I know that well.

So, for that moment, I let go of my control over the javelin and instead, my dual [Focus] combines into one and I put my full attention into absorbing the kinetic energy thrown at us. There is so much of it, much more than I can output with my currently regulated Kinetic Heart.

Yet, I do not hesitate. It's the energy that I know so well, the energy I handle so often.

I reach towards it all. Not to weaken it, I reach out and grab it in its entirety and using some of it to further strengthen my mana-infused body and shoot the remainder in a thin cone of kinetic energy towards the bear, tearing apart the muscles and fur on its chest and revealing its ribs and its shining giant heart.

Its heart is covered in green mana and each thump strengthens it, generating kinetic energy in a similar way to my construct.

The monster somehow copied me.

Another heartbeat and the bear uses another shockwave combined with kinetic energy.

This time Tess helps and her [Psychokinesis] pushes against the shockwave while I absorb kinetic energy and use it to propel the already white glowing javelin that pierces the monster's chest, barely missing a rib, it stabs its heart and while tearing it apart flies outside of it and further in the distance where it explodes without affecting us at all.

Finally, the monster shows some reaction, and more of its mana rushes into its chest while I stagger a bit.

When I reach out and check my mana reserves, I do realize that I have barely ten percent of my mana left. Because of my massive mana pool, I didn't even think about limiting my mana and didn't limit it at all, using so much of it for my attacks.

Slowly, the bear takes another step towards us and its heart starts healing, covered in green mana. Then it beats strongly and I can hear its bones vibrate under the kinetic energy the heart sends through the bear's body.

Another heartbeat reverberates through its body and the monster stops, once again tilting its head as if in a confused manner.

With another heartbeat the bear's kinetic energy rages through its body, tearing apart muscles and revealing more of its pearl-white bones.

I start forming another javelin when I feel Tess's hand touch my shoulder.

"We should run while we can," the blonde says and it makes me stop, realizing that I barely have any mana left.

The heartbeat sounds into the surrounding and the bear opens its mouth in a soundless growl. Kinetic energy flowing through its body tears more and more of it apart, every beat audibly shaking and vibrating the bones that absorb some of this energy. The kinetic energy does more damage to the monster than we did.

I give the bear one last look and together with Tess, we jump over the wall.