Chapter 51: Golden Mountain Bears (1)

"Bears huh, It's been a while hasn't it," I mutter.

Looking over to Homura I can see she is dealing with her PTSD well. She is suppressing her urge to scream and run in the opposite direction by playing with blue kindles of fire in her hands.

"Do you want to go over there? We don't have to," I ask.

"I-I have to face it eventually...:" Homura says taking a huge gulp.

Seeing the resolution in her eyes I nod and dash towards the direction we heard the roar. Jumping between the ground and the long branches attached to the huge trees we arrived quickly crouching on a branch above a group of 7 bears.

[Golden Mountain Bear]

[The peak of all bear species in the [Mountain of Twilight]. This species is so savage that it even devours its comrades. The leader of this savage species is nicknamed by the other Mountain Guardians as the '5th Mountain Guardian'.]

Staring at the black bear with lines of gold in its fur I mutter,

"Seems like I've got another challenge,"

"What's the matter?" Homura asks.

"You shouldn't be ashamed that you couldn't fight back against these bears since their current leader is nicknamed the '5th Mountain Guardian',"

"R-really!" Homura says in shock.

"It's alright if he or she comes, I'll take care of them unless you want to kill them," I say.

"Yes. It has to be me that kills them…" Homura says shivering in fear, but her eyes say otherwise since they look enraged.

Of course, she would hate them since they murdered her entire tribe but that's also the exact reason she fears them… they are extremely strong. Only a few massacred her entire tribe and if 100s of them attacked her she would probably die… well that would happen if I weren't here.

"I still can't underestimate them though," I mutter to myself.

Homura activates [Ring of Wisps: 1] leaving scorch marks on the branch we are standing on. Seeing that she still has some resolution to face her past I leave her be and spectate from above.

As she jumps down the bears feel the intense killing intent coming from above and look up immediately only for 3 of them to be burned to ashes. Adrenaline pumps through her veins as the fear that held her back was slowly assimilating into a rage.

The bears try to run but Homura's body modification expands and then quickly shrinks sending a wave of blue fire towards the bears. The bears were able to barely dodge it but Homura was already on the move activating [Feral Claws]. Her normal human-looking hands flexed, extending her nails into a deadly weapon that could slash or pierce most opponents.

Diving towards each bear, Homura's sharpened nails tore through 2 of the bears leaving another 2 remaining.

The remaining bears saw how they couldn't escape, so in a desperate attempt, they both lunged towards Homura extending their jaws out to bite her. Homura retaliated by expanding the blue halo on her back which lit both bears, fur on fire causing them to roar in pain.

Before the blue fire could devour the bears Homura slashed them into pieces with [Feral Claws] sending chunks of bear meat flying everywhere.

ROOOOAR

Snapping my head in the direction of another roar I see dozens of bears charging towards Homura. Their golden highlights glimmered in the sun which contrasted well with their deep black fur.

Homura still pumped full of adrenaline dashed towards them extending her razor-sharp nails as her blue halo spit out small flames of blue fire that burned the bears. She massacred the bears for a couple of seconds before quickly getting overwhelmed again.

They trampled over their dead comrades and threw the ones that were on fire out of the horde to only get killed later with a golden spear that extended from the ground.

"I guess I killed them too fast last time to see them use any of their skills," I muttered.

Dozens of golden blades and spears erected from the ground slowing down Homura's movement. Some even landed scratches on her, causing her to snap out of her adrenaline-filled state and into a more calm and composed state.

Jumping out of the horde of bears, she raised her hands as small pillars of fire appeared inside the horde. These pillars not only burned the bears but lifted them and sent them flying into the air, then later dying by plummeting into the ground.

The crowd slowly moved apart as they circled her, but that wasn't the end since I saw another wave of bears appear through the forest. This next wave of bears caused me to frown as I knew that somebody was controlling them.

Hearing more and more roars dozens of new hordes appeared in the forest and most of them were aiming towards my… kingdom.

"HOMURA DO YOU THINK YOU CAN HANDLE THESE GUYS!" I shout while healing her with [Ichimei] from a distance.

"THANKS! ALSO, I SHOULD BE ABLE TOO, I'M GETTING THE HANG OF THEIR ATTACKS!" Homura shouts back.

"ALRIGHT, THANKS!" I say before dashing towards the horde of bears charging towards my kingdom that was made up of about 300 bears.

We don't have any walls so if they reach my kingdom then it's game over. Even though I'm confident my subordinates and wives can handle them, I don't know where the leader is. If they are leading the front lines then they could wipe out my entire kingdom.

Running ahead of the horde of bears I see no leader so I decided to warn my kingdom first before attacking them.

…

Arriving at the outskirts of my kingdom I activate [Mind Magic] in a desperate attempt to communicate with my citizens. Closing my eyes while still running along the treetops I feel a link between my citizens' minds and mine.

'CITIZENS OF MY KINGDOM!' I yell out in my mind.

'THERE ARE INVADERS! OF THE ONES THAT CAN FIGHT, CONGREGATE IN THE DIRECTION OF THE FOREST OF POISON! OF THE ONES WHO CAN NOT FIGHT, YOU WILL BE LEAD BY MY SUBORDINATE: AITO, WHO WILL LEAD YOU INSIDE OF MY CASTLE AND TO THE TOP OF THE HILL! EVERY SUBORDINATE OF MINE MAKE SURE NO CITIZEN IS HARMED!' I yell in my mind.

Seeing that my citizens were looking around in panic I knew that my skill worked, so I turned towards the massive hoard of bears approaching my kingdom.

Activating both of my soul equipment while using all of my presentation skills the bears instantly turn their head in my direction. All they see is a black figure flying in the air with a very dangerous presence.

Half of the bears turn towards me growling while the other continues to charge towards my castle.

"Leave,"

My eyes turn icy cold as I do one big swing putting my back into it which creates a flying blade of black flames that plummets towards the bears. The blade cuts about 40 of the 300 bears in half and then the corpses go up in black flames. Manipulating them with [Amaterasu] I create spears of black flames that pierces and burns anything that gets in its way.

Checking on my kingdom I see that about half of the citizens have been evacuated while most of the battle-ready citizens are lined up at the outskirts of my kingdom. There was no fear in any of their eyes, only excitement for testing out their strength.

『Status』

[Name: Arpious]

[Race: Dark Siren]

[Status: None]

[Servants: 3]

[Subordinates: 7]

[Slaves: 1]

[Level: 47/50]

[HP: 100/100 MP: 80/80 SP: 30/30]

[Strength: 15 (+5) (+25)]

[Defense: 10 (+5)]

[Magic: 25 (+25)]

[Speed: 15 (+5) (+25)]

[Luck: 1]

[Charisma: 10]

[Skills: [******] [Forbidden Magic: Zeus's Nimbus] [Boost (2/5)] [Scratch (3/10)] [Mind Magic] [Shadow Magic (4/10)] [Berserk] [Swipe (2/10)] [Poison Immunity] [Disease Immunity] [Virus] [Commanders Presence] [Army Control] [Forbidden Magic: Medusa] [Fire Immunity] [Lightning Resistance] [Water Control] [Flying Sense] [Enhanced Senses] [Enhanced Regeneration] [Horse Beetles Extreme Senses] [Liquid Fire Secretion (2/10)] [Domain of the Night (Locked)] [Demonic Berserker] [Amaterasu] [Ichimei] [Guardians Presence] [Phoenixes Dominating Presence] [Fires Will] [Inspect] [Magma Control (3/5)] [Kingfishers Flexible Wings] [Magma Secretion (2/10)] [Gluttons Stomach] [Pickpocket] [Body Enhancement] [Seduction] [Strong Libido] [Contortion] [Wind Control]

[Body Modification: [Fangs] [Cursed Eyes] [Aquatic Lungs] [Metal Bones] [Mark of a Berserker] [Boiling Bloodline of the Phoenix] [Iron Skin] [Cursed Wings (Partial)] [Blessed Wings (Partial)] [Cursed and Blessed Tattoos]

[Mastered Weapons: [Scythe (Partial)]

[Soul Equipment: [Fire of Deaths Sword: Raiu] [Fire of Deaths Armour: Araes Dress]

[Equipment: [Queens Crown] [Green Ring of Twilight]

[Titles: [Blessed by the ********* Spirit of *************] [Savage Assassin] [Heartless] [Blessed by a Star] [Chief of the Fire Harpies] [Blessed by the Overlord Spirit of Curses] [Blessed by the Phoenix Mountain Guardian] [Blessed by the Overlord Spirit of Blessings] [Incomplete Monster (Humanoid and Intelligent Monsters Killed (43/50)]

…

I think I can use this.

"[Army Control],"

Suddenly the battle-ready citizens at the front lines are enveloped in a golden glow that pumps them full of adrenaline and fills them with a newfound strength. I am also able to feel a slight connection between me and them, almost like I can move their own body like a puppet.