Valerian, The Legendary

38 Edge.

Valerian was hit hard by the impact of the explosion and crashed into a tree trunk. The pain was so bad, that he almost lost consciousness. However, the strength of the shock wave from the explosion was not as strong as the impact from the paw he took yesterday.

From his experience yesterday he learned that the beast will not let go of this chance, and he again cast the spell, Ventus Motus, not to flee but to dodge the burly black shadow rushing at him.

As soon as he moved to the side, Valerian heard a strong impact from the back, the War Bear seemed to have crashed into the big tree. After opening up the distance, the boy ground his teeth and cast a gaze at the black-colored beast.

He has decided that he will kill this bear. Thinking about that, he rushed away from the place after taking his shirt back from the branch of the tree.

He did not stop until he came to the burrow. It was already evening, Gleam had just woken up and was about to crawl out of the burrow and go hunting when she spotted the boy with a variety of wounds on his body, sitting outside.

She moved closer and asked, ‘What is it?’

Valerian replied, ‘That Bear needs to die.’

Gleam was surprised, he did not expect him to say such a thing. According to her understanding, the boy was really calm and kind to the beasts, he never took the initiative to attack a magical beast.

She wanted to know why was he stating a fact that the bear needs to die. She asked, ‘Why?’

.....

‘Because I died almost twice under its attacks. I will not spare it or I will live in fear. I do not wish that.’, said the child.

Gleam could tell that even now, he was a bit scared of what happened. His wounds, the swollen shoulder, and bruised back were evident enough. She said, ‘How do you plan to kill this guy?’

Valerian said, ‘I have thought of a few ways to deal with it. Do not worry.’

He was stimulating the fight scene in his mind and trying to figure out any loopholes that the beast would expose. Just like the day before, Valerian sat down with his back leaning against the wall behind him.

Gleam could tell that the boy was immersed in deep thought so it did not disturb him. Leaving things be, the snake went into the forest to hunt.

Valerian had fallen asleep and the jade vine appeared to heal his injuries. The process was nothing less than bliss. In the morning Valerian did not get up quickly to rush to the War Bear. He was going to take his time.

He started to work out as he used to in the training field. Valerian realized that the stamina of his body was even better than it was in the city palace. After finishing his workout, he spotted the snake coming back to the burrow with a bloated belly.

He said, ‘I will bring you a feast tonight.’

Gleam raised her head and replied, ‘Oh, I hope you make it back alive.’

Valerian nodded and then he jogged away. The snake cast a gaze at his receding back, but then she shook her head and went inside the burrow. She thought that Valerian was trying to boost his morale when he said that he will bring back a feast.

...

Valerian arrived at the War Bear’s lair and rushed forward with a big rock in his hand. Just when he was about to get close, the Bear raised its head and roared.

The special attack was released right away. However, Valerian was also prepared. He cast the spell, ‘Umbra Disiectio.’

His body vanished from the place, this spell was taught to him by Priscilla during their training. The War Bear was surprised, he did not expect this boy to be able to use three attributes.

It looked all around when Valerian appeared in the sky. The shadow dispersal spell just made the body vanish, and appear in the same line as you were moving during the spell cast.

Priscilla had told him, that to confuse the enemy, it will be a good thing if Valerian could change the direction of his movement between casting the spell.

Valerian had done that only. He jumped in the air when the spell cast was complete. Thus, he appeared in the void. He avoided the roar’s focused area of impact, but he did not close the distance with the Bear.

Before he could fall down, he cast another spell, ‘Ventus Motus.’

The spell pushed him forward and the trajectory was going to send him directly to land on the wide back of the bear. His resolve to kill this guy was complete.

He cast a series of spells in succession, ‘Vitis Paralytica.’

Followed by another binding spell to aid the vines to hold this crazy bear in place, ‘Terra Liga.’

This was a grade one binding spell, it was mainly to make the rocks encase the limbs of the people to hold the target in place. The War Bear sensed obstruction and was surprised that its legs were unable to move and the body was being crawled over by vines.

These vines gave it a bad feeling. It was going to cast a magic spell when a strong impact threw it flying in a distance. This impact came from the kick that Valerian had delivered to its side.

The beast tried to stand over and wanted to move but suddenly it felt a threat looming over it. Valerian had cast a movement spell again and moved close to the War Bear.

He cast, ‘Petra Chirothecam.’

His fists rained down on the head and shoulders of the beast. Valerian not only attacked but also evaded the attacks made by the beast. If the beast tried to attack him with the claws, he would duck and dash close to deal blows to the body of the beast. The beast would roar, however, Valerian did not stop.

The War Bear tried to smash the head of the boy between its claws with a clapping attack. However, Valerian crouched, and after casting the hardening spell cast the blows at the belly of the beast.

Suddenly, Valerian sensed movement from beneath his feet. He could tell that the beast was trying to cast the explosion spell, but it could be that the forelegs were not connected to the ground it was taking a bit longer.

Valerian looked at the hind legs and decided to topple this behemoth. The beast was very tall while it stood on hind legs. The kick was fast and directly hit the most vulnerable part of the leg and the imbalance caused the Bear to topple.

The biggest trouble right now was that the body of this beast was as tough as a rock. Valerian could not find a place where he could make a wound and affect this guy. Yet, he could tell that the beast was twice slower than it was at the beginning.

Suddenly, he recalled something. The vines from his earlier attack did not have thrones as that would be wasteful, however, they could still secrete the paralysis spore from it to make the beast slow down passively.

Valerian decided to give up on brawling and cast spells. He cast the most powerful wooden spell he knew. This was a grade two spell, ‘Pruina Serpens.’

A small snake of ice condensed in front of him. As this serpent touched the ground, it was all covered with frost. The snake slowly moved forward and crawled over the body of the War Bear.

The beast roared, it could tell what was about to happen. Valerian could naturally discern the cries for mercy. The small snake moved from the belly to the mouth of the beast, and it slowly made its way down the throat.

Valerian could see the dilating pupils, as the beast slowly moved closer to death. The huge behemoth shivered, and let out low roars, the ice snake was freezing it from the inside.

However, as the magic beast, the War Bear had a lot of mana to resist the attack of the ice snake. It was a process of mutual consumption, but the earth attribute was overwhelmed by the water attribute of the spell.

Gradually, the heat from the body dissipated, and the eyes of the beast grew vacant, losing the glimmer of life in them. Valerian stood still at the place, he could tell that the end of the beast was not good.

He thought that he was really cruel, however, he realized that if it was him in the place of the beast, he would have died twice over. He did not try to talk to the beast and ask for help. If he had, then things might have been different.

However, he also understood that the experience at the edge of life and death was different then what he had learned in the training. This edge made him realize a lot of things. Things that changed his mindset completely.