Darius collapsed in a heap. His body a ragged mess of sweat, panting, and pain. He had finally made it out of the forest with his continuous jogging, yet the effectiveness of the water had fallen far faster than if he would have just walked.
Towards the end, he had just been limp-jogging, fueled by the promise of the end being close as shown by the mini-map. The second he reached his goal, all his energy had bled away, leaving him as he was now.
With shaky hands, Darius gulped down the rest of the Pure Water, but apart from refreshing him, it had little effect on reviving his vivacity. He spent more than half an hour just like that, until his heaving chest subsided and all that was left was a sea of fatigue as well as aching limbs.
Darius felt his eyelids become heavy as the cool night breeze passed over him, its gentle touch seemingly carrying away his will to stay awake with each draft. He knew it would be a bad idea to sleep in a grassland like this, but the feeling of soft grass on his back and the cool wind magnified his tiredness greatly.
Without much resistance, Darius fell asleep.
* * *
Darius' brows furrowed as he felt himself rising from the depths of sleep. Coupled with slight grogginess, Darius was about to open his eyes when a foreign sound made him aware of exactly why he had woken up just now.
Something was currently sniffing his face as he lay there on the grass. Darius could feel a wet nose as well as the small but quick puffs of air that passed over his right cheek gently and curiously.
Darius cracked his eyelids open every so slightly, just enough for him to barely make out what was standing above him without alerting the other party that he was awake. His heart sank when he recognized that it was a large bear with beady red eyes and frazzled grey-black fur.
It looked very malicious and menacing, making Darius thankful that he had been smart enough to play dead. For now, the bear seemed content to check whether this strange fellow beneath it had passed on to Valhalla, and Darius used this chance to inspect it.
[Grey Bear - Level 3 Beast
HP: 20/20 MP: 2/2]
Darius shivered internally. Not only was this bear two levels above him, but it was also the first creature he had encountered so far that had mana, albeit just 2 points of it. If it had access to some sort of spell, or more likely a skill that utilized it, Darius would be in even more danger.
In his current posture, it was impossible for Darius to move his finger, for the Grey Bear would notice it. Even if he did, he wasn't sure he could fire off a spell before the large beast ripped out his throat or tore his face off.
He patiently waited for it to either step back or become distracted, giving him an opening to turn his shitty situation around, but the damned thing just continued to sniff him leisurely. Could it have developed a liking for the smell of humans?
Darius did not dare ask it, so he could only settle for waiting longer. Eventually, the Grey Bear did pull back a bit, but not in a way Darius liked. It raised its head a little and roared lightly, opening its mouth wide.
Darius didn't like the look of that, as it seemed like it was about to take a bite of the snack beneath it, so he directly raised his left finger towards the opened maw of the bear and shot off the Sparks spell.
Just like with the Reticulated Python, this resulted in a critical hit, though it was merely 3 points for now. However, what Darius had craved was the stun effect, which gave him the opportunity to roll away and rise to his feet quickly.
He noticed that his body was outwardly fine, apart from his clothes being messy and smelly from his sweat and lying in the grass. However, he had much more important things to worry about than his personal hygiene at that moment.
Unlike with the boar or the snake, the stun effect didn't even last a full second. The bear quickly rose to its feet, roaring in pain and anger. Darius guessed that either the bear had higher magic resistance than them or the level difference was beginning to show.
Whatever the case, he had an angry bear in front of him that was about the size of a small car and it looked like it was getting ready to charge at him. Darius did not dare to test his reaction speed against the bear's charge and attacked again with his only spell.
The Grey Bear received this on its face and cried out in pain, but otherwise shook off the stun effect even faster. Its HP dropped by another point, leaving with 16 more.
Darius was aware that he was truly fucked this time around. In hindsight, it might have been wiser to sleep in the boughs of a tree in the forest nearby rather than on the ground in a plains area.
However, he had expected prey animals to frequent plains, herbivores mostly. Since when did bears traverse the grasslands? Could it be that the bear had followed him from the forest he had exited?
It was extremely likely, as he had been noisy and conspicuous with his panting and jogging last night.
Hm… last night…?
Darius' mind ran at a speed faster than the events occurring around him thanks to his heightened Intellect and perception. He quickly drafted a hasty plan that required more luck and guesswork than skill and finesse, but he had to take the chance.
As such, by the time the Grey Bear began to barrel forward to smash him into paste, Darius had already stretched his hand forward and cast Sparks for a third time this fight.
The Grey Bear was further hurt but continued to rush at him through the pain. Darius had partially expected for a stun to not occur, and had therefore used the moment in which the Grey Bear had closed its eyes to protect them from the lightning by jumping out of its trajectory.
