The war ursa unleashed its entire fury upon Findlay pressuring him with its unbridled bloodlust and pseudo aura before charging forward. Its left eye was a bloody mess, but its right eye was still good, and it was locked solely on Findlay.
Findlay visibly trembled and clicked his tongue as he braced himself for the charge, ready to dodge at the opportune moment. A full strength charge from a bear that weighed over ten tons was not something he'd be able to endure. If he wished to win this battle he couldn't afford to be hit cleanly even once.
Frost and Khuno smiled lightly as they watched on, struggling to hold back a chuckle. Findlay well and truly pissed it off and then some. Whether that ends up being a good thing only time will tell.
Now however since the war ursa had fixated upon Findlay the two of them needed to delve into the muddy waters behind them. Even without the war ursa there was still two mid C-ranked frost drakes as well as five entry level ones in play. Powerful opponents that cared little about inflicting damage to their comrades or even themselves.
The frenzied state imbued by the mana vein's corruption filled them all with a mad ferocity and a numbness to pain. Without the two of them managing the battlefield the casualties would sky rocket.
Four monsters had already been lost, an ice revenant, two frost revenant knights and a ronso plus those with heavy injuries numbered close to a dozen. Blood, flesh, scales and runic armour littered all over the battlefield while roars, screams, grunting and clashes of weapons reverberated throughout the entire winter highlands.
Frost gave a knowing look to Khuno who nodded his head in understanding, they couldn't stand here and monitor Findlay's battle, they were needed elsewhere. Plus having them watching on the side lines would make this battle pointless. Findlay needed the true threat of death, something that wouldn't arise if Frost and Khuno were able to leap to his aid at a moment's notice.
"Findlay the floor is yours, don't die." Frost spoke bluntly before turning his back to their battle, his fists however were tightly clenched revealing his worries.
"Good luck brother!" Khuno shouted loudly before joining his lord, turning his back and delving back into the muddied water to hunt.
Bang!
Findlay narrowly dodged a wide swipe from the war ursa, distracted momentarily by Frost and Khuno's words almost met him with serious injury.
He jumped backwards and noticed his heart beating a mile a minute and that a cold sweat had formed along his forehead and down his back. His hands and legs were trembling, partly from excitement but mainly from primal fear, something he had only felt from Maya and Frost yet this time the entity was doing their very best to kill him.
As the feelings washed over him a mad smile grew on his lips and the trembling stopped. Like master like servant Findlay was a battle junkie, he found his current situation exhilarating.
Boom!
The War ursa roared out before sweeping up a large amount of snow and tossing it at Findlay temporarily obscuring his vision.
This time however it wasn't going to go easy on this prey. The war ursa tensed its entire body and leaned forward before swaths of red energy covered its body, it was using a skill and from its form a charging skill.
Findlay had actually witnessed this skill once before when he fought against the standard ursa solo several days ago. Unfortunately he was caught cleanly by the bear's charge sending him carolling through the air with heavy injuries. So much so that he was forced to recuperate for the next few waves.
Now it was an even stronger monster using this charging skill and his vision was completely obscured, the situation wasn't ideal. However he was currently in a very good state, his senses were all on full whack and his confidence was raised after successfully dealing with the war ursa's last attack.
Seeing that his vision was once again obscured and the fact that the war ursa had intelligence and the known track record for being an ambusher he didn't take what was coming lightly, fully expecting something beyond what he could normally deal with.
'It'll likely use some sort of skill.' He surmised while shuffling his feet against the snow to get a better foothold.
A few milliseconds later the enhanced war ursa appeared dead ahead. Its entire head and forelimbs were protected by a red energy shield, dramatically increasing its charging force as well as frontal defence.
Findlay winced but wasn't caught off guard, he expected such a move.
He moved seamlessly, striking out with his battle axe once again while also leaping back hoping to negate much of the beast's charge.
This time however the same tactic wouldn't quite work. Findlay's battle axe sliced through the air once again aiming for the war ursa's exposed teeth but before it could reach them it stuck harshly against the red energy shield and was strongly rebuffed.
The war ursa's charge wasn't affected in the slightest in fact it appeared as though the thing was continuing to gain momentum; Findlay was going to be literally overrun.
However the smart ice troll commander wasn't done yet. A wild smile still adorned his face and time seemed to flow far slower than normal. He didn't have a choice if he didn't somehow break though his limits and enter the zone he was a dead ice troll.
With the strong rebuffing of his battle axe Findlay kicked against the snow and performed a backflip launching him backwards with enough speed to not be caught by the war ursa.
His window to act was short, however. The moment his feet touched the ground again the war ursa was milliseconds from smashing into him. Such an attack would likely see his chest blown apart and his shoulders dislocated, killing him at that point would be a simple task.
Findlay immediately kicked off the ground, this time he wasn't leaping backwards but up and forward with a twist. The change in momentum was so sudden that the war ursa couldn't react. By the time it realised what was happening Findlay was rising above its head and out of reach.
It tried desperately to stop him but only managed to brush up against Findlay's foot. Its charge skill had been perfectly evaded.