Chapter 28 – Air Bear

When Dream woke up, it was already daylight out.

*yawwnnn* 

A yawn graced the room as Dream sat up while rubbing his eyes. He was feeling...surprisingly good?

"Everything is so clear...Like my senses are better. What happened?"

[Since you worked your brain so hard, it recovered and became stronger. Like a muscle.]

"Nice! I do indeed feel fresh. It's already daytime, I imagine that I overslept a little."

[If a little means for a whole day and night then yes, I guess you did too.]

"That long?!"

[It has been 33 hours since you fell asleep.]

"....Damn. Alright, you know where everyone is?"

[The connection with Luna points to a nearby restaurant. They're probably eating breakfast since you couldn't make it.]

"Ok. I guess I'll go join them"

Dream hopped out of bed and cleaned himself up before leaving the hotel.

After walking down a street, Dream saw the restaurant they were in. He walked up to the door and entered. When he did, he saw many people looking towards a specific table. Dream knew what was probably going on and indeed saw the family sitting at the table.

A certain somebody also noticed his entrance.

"Dream!" (Luna)

Luna shouted his name with the brightest smile he's ever seen. This also caught the attention of all the men in the restaurant. 

*clang*

A couple utensils were dropped in awe at the utterly mesmerizing smile that brought happiness to everyone's hearts. Though that was only until they saw who it was aimed at.

"Hehe. Hi guys."

Dream got a little sheepish at all the sudden attention he got and scratched his cheek. He made his way over to the table they were at and found a seat next to Luna. Riddick spoke when he sat down.

"You were asleep for a while, Boy. I didn't realize you stressed yourself so much." (Riddick)

"That's fine. I also didn't plan on doing as much as I did either. It kinda just happened. What about you girls? How long did you sleep?" (Dream)

"Well dad actually helped us and we woke up and practiced some more. Then got tired again so he took us back to the hotel. I say we got another couple hours practicing after an hour of sleep." (Iris)

"Oh, nice. Any progress?" (Dream)

"My air magic went up to intermediate. I also got more mana from that as well as practicing so much. Almost past F+ magic." (Iris)

"My earth magic also went up to intermediate. My magic went up to E- as well." (Luna)

"Fantastic! Now the best way to level those skills is through combat. Scarlet with her torch, Luna with her earth and ice. We can kill hordes of those crawlers."

Dream spoke with great expectations. The strategies they could employ with their skills were limitless.

Iris had a different idea though.

"Actually, we were thinking of finding a different target. One that could get us more experience. We actually leveled up yesterday while you were asleep. But those crawlers don't give much so we couldn't get our class." (Iris)

"Actually, that's a good idea. Let's do that. I'm 4 levels away. How far are you guys?" (Dream)

"I'm level 48." (Iris)

"I'm also level 48." (Luna)

"Good. Then let's try and get our classes today. We can find suitable opponents when we get to the guild." (Dream)

Dream settled their plans and everyone ordered their food when a waitress came over. 

After an hour, they had gotten their food and finished eating. They then walked to the guild.

The first thing that Dream did when entering the building was turn in his kills. The girls had already completed the quest, but he didn't need crawler heads taking up inventory space.

Dream found the reception lady and gave her all the heads. Though she was baffled by how many he brought, they accepted them all and he got a couple dozen silver for them.

After turning them in, Dream walked over to the girls who were at the board.

"Have you guys found anything suitable?" (Dream)

"We were looking at some of the creatures. Apparently those crawlers can go up to level 60 with the leaders being almost level 70. But we were looking at some of the bears. They don't wander in large numbers, but they're very tough. The weakest ones are around level 50 while the strongest can go up to level 100. It depends on how deep we go and how old the bear is." (Iris)

"Interesting. Sure! Let's do it! It'll be good experience to fight something that can shoot back. We just need to be careful. Especially ones that can control elements." (Dream)

"The quest calls for the hides of level 60+ bears. No amount or type of bear specified. So we can take it as we want. This one?" (Luna)

"Ya. Go turn that one into the lady. We can head out after." (Dream)

Luna went to the reception desk and got a copy of the quest. Once they were finished, they head out to the same forest as last time.

...............

Since Dream and the girls had already gone through this, they quickly bypassed several groups of crawlers to head deeper into the forest.

Luna was told by the reception lady at the guild that bears mark their territory with claw slashes on trees. And as the three kept running, they eventually found their first tree with a claw slash.

"These cuts are deep. Though it's only a tree, getting hit by them will be no joke. From what I know, bears are heavy, big, strong, tough, and even fast. They might not be as fast as us, but in close combat, they won't be much slower. We can't get caught off guard. Not to mention if it controls an element." (Dream)

"Should we make a plan?" (Luna)

"We should. I was going to keep my strategy from last time. My stealth skill is maxed and it would be stupid not to use it. Now considering that, you two will be the ones in an upfront confrontation. You know your skills best as well, so I'll just give general strategies.

Luna, you have earth magic that can easily create holes. This can be used to trap their legs and temporarily immobilize them. You can also use water and ice to freeze them temporarily as well. Lastly, your lances allow for ranged damage. 

Scarlet, I don't know how strong these bears are, but I want you to think twice about going close combat. I suggest sticking with burning them with the torch. Though it might destroy their hide, it's better than you getting hurt. Got all that?"

"Yup." (Iris)

"I do." (Luna)

"Okay. You two can figure out the details when we fight the first one. Until then, I'll scout around with stealth and see if I can find any."

After Dream said that, he activated his skill and ran ahead. The girls lost sight of him.

"He really did level that skill. He basically disappeared in plain sight!" (Iris)

"...Yes, he did. I wouldn't want to be the bear that gets put at the end of his barrel." (Luna)

..............

'Alright Sophia. When we fight, try and analyze the skills these bears use.'

[Roger! I also have actually been analyzing the skills of the girls for a while. All I can say is that it's extremely complex. Those girls definitely didn't level all the way to manipulation.]

'So they were born with water and fire manipulation? Make sense considering their titles.'

[Agreed. But that's also the reason why I can't figure out how it works. Luna creating water from nothing and Iris being able to accelerate and burn mana. It's obviously impossible according to physics but this isn't physics. What will make things easier however is watching as their secondary magics level up. That's easier to copy since it isn't in the realm of creation.]

'Interesting. Well just start with a general outline and we can fill in the information when we come across lower level elemental magic.'

[Okay!]

Sophia enthusiastically gave her understanding and Dream focused back on finding bears.

Since bears were lesser in population, they were obviously harder to find. Dream actually searched for nearly 45 minutes before finding some.

There were 2 bears here, both tearing away at one of their kills. The bears weren't massive, but weren't small either. He figured they were still growing and not adults yet.

Dream backed off a little and signaled Luna to his location. They were by his side in 10 minutes. Iris spoke with a whisper.

"Dream! You found one? Where?" (Iris)

"About 150 meters over there. There are two that aren't fully grown. They're eating some food right now so we can catch them by surprise."

"Are they elementals?" (Luna)

"I'm not sure. We'll have to find out when we fight. Just keep your distance at first." (Dream)

Although Dream didn't know if they were elementals, he did know that they had a large amount of mana. This either meant that they were very tough, could use magic, or both.

"Alright. I'm going to stealth and sneak up close to them. I want you guys to approach and when they notice you, I'll start firing. Okay?"

Both the girls nodded to him.

"Good. Stay safe."

Dream activated his stealth after he spoke and ran off into the distance. 

As he approached the bears, he started planning what to do.

'I'm thinking I should bring out my sniper. I can shoot first, maybe kill a bear, and then start harassing the other as the girls fight it.'

Dream formulated a simple plan and set himself up bout 30 meters from the bears. 

He crouched down and summoned out his heavy EM sniper rifle. He then took aim at the head of one of the bears, waiting for the girls.

The girls were able to approach to about 90 meters before the bears finally spotted them. 

When the bears spotted them, they growled while standing their ground next to their prey. They didn't want these humans to take their food.

This worked in the girls' favor as they were able to get closer. It was when they were about 40 meters away that one of the bears finally moved.

The first bear that was actually slightly smaller than the other darted forward to attack the girls while the other stayed behind. 

Though, it was only able to take 2 steps before being met with a bullet.

*DSHH*

*CRACK*

*Thud*

"..."

The bear that was charging forward dropped dead on the floor with a heavy thud. The girls, who had been agitated to fight, remembered just who it was that was hiding somewhere in the trees.

'....I truly couldn't imagine having him as your enemy. You wouldn't even know how you died...'

Luna thought to herself and felt a great amount of security. Knowing what Dream was capable of and that he had her back even when she couldn't see him. She would've loved to give him a kiss if there wasn't a bloodthirsty bear in front of them.

Meanwhile, the bigger of the two bears saw its partner die and was overcome with rage. It didn't know how the humans did it, but that didn't matter.

*ROAR*

A battle cry came from the bear as it began its charge. A great killing intent erupted forth at the same time.

The girls knew that they couldn't always rely on Dream and prepared to fight. 

Iris began by blowing out a 30 foot long torch right at the bear's face. Luna also sent her mana into the ground so she could create a pit for the bear.

When the bear saw the flames coming towards it, it halted itself. No matter how angry it was, it didn't want its face burned to a crisp.

Though this acted as the opportunity Luna was waiting for. She dropped all the dirt around the bear about 6 feet, which was the bear's height. Trapping it in a hole

After the bear was dropped into a hole, it began to panic a little. This was because the girl with the flames was quickly approaching it.

Iris began running towards the bear with her torch still burning. Though she began to notice her flames acting weird.

"It's using air magic! It's blowing the flames away!" (Luna)

Iris realized what was happening and stopped her flames. When she did, she could feel gusts of wind blow by, probably the result of the bear's air magic.

"I can't burn it if it's just going to blow it away!" (Iris)

"I'll try my ice lances." (Luna)

After she said so, 5 ice lances were created around Luna. She then started launching them with a speed much greater than yesterday.

Though, the bear wasn't concerned with such light projectiles.

*thud* *thud* *thud* *thud* *thud*

5 low bumps came from where the lances hit the bear. 

"Its defenses are too thick. Small lances won't cut it." (Luna)

As Luna pondered on what to do, the bear started climbing out of the hole.

"Luna! Dig the hole deeper! I'll keep bothering it with my fire while you make a bigger lance!" (Iris)

Iris came up with a plan on the spot and went into action. She began shooting out her torch and the bear responded by blowing it to the side.

Luna didn't miss the chance while the bear was distracted and made the hole bigger. The bear lost its ledge and fell even deeper than before. 

While Iris maintained her torch on the bear, Luna started making a lance. This lance was much bigger, and much sharper than the other ones. But it also took more time to make.

When she was finally done, a 7 foot long and 1 foot thick lance appeared above Luna. What one noticed about this lance though, was how sharp its tip was.

One could see just how needle-sharp it looked, and being backed up with all that weight, if this couldn't pierce the bear, nothing could.

Luna walked over to the hole that Iris was harassing the bear in and began raising the lance into the air.

When it was about 30 feet high, Luna started throwing it down, letting gravity and her own acceleration increase its speed as much as possible. It was aimed right for the middle of the bear.

*pui*

*ROARRRR!*

The ice lance pierced right through the tough hide of the bear, and it let out a roar of intense pain.

As it got distracted by the lance, it also completely forgot to defend itself from the fire. Iris didn't miss this chance and concentrated her torch right on the bears face.

*ROAAAAAHHHH*

The bear howled in absolute agony as the fire incinerated its hair and began superheating its skin. Its eyes were burned instantly and it became blind

The bear kept screaming in horrible pain but didn't have the spare mind to activate its wind magic. After several more seconds of Iris torching it, the skin started to melt and the howls started to die down. 

When the bear no longer made noise, Iris stopped. This is also when Dream showed up.

"Hmm. The bear is actually still alive. It probably passed out from the pain. Though it won't live long with that ice lance inside it. I'll go end it's misery." (Dream)

Dream hopped down into the hole and put a bullet through its almost unrecognizable eye socket. The bear was finally dead.

<You killed Lvl 66 [Air Bear]!>

<You have leveled up!>

Dream got the notification and was one step closer to his class.