The walk into the forest was less dramatic than Dale hoped.

Naturally, he wasn’t hoping to be bombarded by dragons and phoenixes but he at least hoped for something. Instead, it seemed as though they were on a stroll through an overgrown garden.

Austin bent over a branch and Dale shoved it aside. It snapped back in place, slapping him across the face.

Dale winced, "Stupid tree!"

Sarah laughed behind him.

Austin sighed. "Why don’t I get rid of all these stray branches? At least they won’t smack some of us across the face again."

Before any of them could protest, his muscles visibly tightened and the air in front of him rippled.

All the trees in front of him swayed as their branches blasted off creating a narrow path free of all obstructions.

"See? Better." He turned around to face them but saw a huge frown on their faces.

The redhead sagged his shoulders. "What?"

Even Dale knew better. Not only would it increase a beast’s visibility of them but it made a lot of noise.

Sarah stepped in front of him and bent slightly, just letting her fingers touch the earth. Her hair turned orange.

"Get back!!" She kicked off the ground and the others jumped away.

The ground burst open, revealing a pair of wide maws ready to rip them to shreds. The jaws of the beast snapped shut, letting out a loud bang.

It fully stepped out of the soil and shook the sand off its fur.

For a moment, it seemed confused as to why the all too familiar taste of blood hadn’t filled its mouth.

The beast looked to be a bear with black and grey patches. Its head had no eyes, yet its long snout aggressively sniffed the air.

It turned its head to them and sank into the ground as though it were water.

Gary quickly approached the others and a force field surrounded them just as the ground burst open again.

The head of the beast slammed into the force field, sending it bouncing through the forest.

Dale cursed as he was tossed around the inside of the field. ’Of course! Be careful what you wish for.’

As they bounced around, the bear chased them with an unnatural speed.

The ground around its legs actively softened to let it glide — reducing physical strain and allowing it to maintain momentum.

While it wasn’t using fine control of its power, the beast was a capable hunter.

Gary groaned and dispelled the force field, allowing them to finally balance themselves. With barely any time until the beat caught up, Trevor opened his mouth and gave a simple command.

"Harden!"

His voice echoed through the forest and a loud crash followed.

It was obvious what had happened; the beast suddenly found the ground it was using to slide harden and since it couldn’t stop, it had tripped and run into a tree, or several.

Dale thanked the universe for the opportunity and stood up, pulling out his sabers.

All of them turned to where they had heard the crash.

’Where is it?’ Had it given up. Beasts didn’t usually do that.

Suddenly, Dale felt someone pushing him. He glanced back just in time to notice Sarah shoving the others away with a large gust of wind.

The ground beneath where they had been gave out, leading into a pit of spikes.

He crashed into the ground but stood up, barely caring about what damage he got.

’Damn it! As long as there is soil beneath us, it can sneak up on us.’ Now, the thought of escaping wasn’t even an option.

If they did, the bear could always secretly follow them underground and when they were fighting the Ascended beast — maybe even before that — it would pop out, sealing their fates.

Either way, it had to be brought down.

Everyone was back on their feet and looking frantically around them for traces of its presence.

So far it seemed only Sarah could tell where it was and it was clearly limited to when it was about to emerge.

’Just one Awakened beast is giving us this much trouble?’ It was definitely a good call to avoid the pack of wolves.

Sarah threw out her arms and the ground trembled.

It cracked, throwing out a large beast — the bear.

Dale didn’t hesitate to swing Decay and Blight, releasing two slashes.

The crescents hit their skin and bounced back as though they had hit a wall of rubber.

Dale’s eyes widened but his teammates were ready.

"Freeze!" The command slowed the reaction speed of the beast.

Its skin rippled as a massive force landed on its side, sending it flying toward Sarah. She waved her hand as her hair turned blue.

A spike made of ice materialized in front of her. It was positioned perfectly to stab through the bear.

As though sensing its impending death, the bear tried to twist in the air but Dale wouldn’t have that.

[Embodiment of Light]

He kicked off the ground and dashed into the air. Quickly switching to [Thrall of Darkness], he kicked the beast.

The bear slammed against the tip of the spike but its skin merely bent at the point of contact, it hadn’t managed to pierce it.

Gary closed the distance between him and the bear.

He unleashed his force field and used it to push the beast into the spike.

It roared, struggling to free itself. Underneath it, the ground softened and hardened, running with spikes.

Sarah’s hair switched between orange and blue in quick succession.

Every time the bear hardened the ground, she’d soften it and every time it softened it, she’d harden it.

Against the five of them, it stood no chance and so, the spike pierced its skin, killing it off.