As Chen Xuan watched Fenrir, he let out a weary smile, sighing as he too could sense the energy in Fenrir's howl.
Despite this, he didn't blame Fenrir, knowing that it was due to the overflowing energy, as if forced to howl.
With a sigh, Chen Xuan ordered Fenrir to stay at the base of his tree and not to leave his side while Chen Xuan braced himself just in case.
As expected, through his roots, Chen Xuan began to feel a faint trembling in the ground. Unlike last time, the trembling didn't come from just one direction.
Two came from the north and one from the south. From the north, two big wolves emerged, standing at about the same length and height as the previous wolf.
They seemed to be a couple, one male and one female wolf. The male was about 10% bigger than the female, being approximately 185 cm long, while the female was 170 cm long. Each of them were far larger than normal Himalayan wolves, their size likely never seen before other than the wolf previously.
Meanwhile, from the south, a behemoth slowly emerged. It was a large black bear, over 270 cm long and a little over 150 cm tall when on all fours. When the monster moved, a rumbling could be heard, intimidating every creature around it.
As the monstrously large black bear appeared, the two wolves glanced at it before immediately sprinting away, running for their lives and praying that the beast wouldn't chase them.
The sheer intimidation the black bear radiated was immense; its large frame towered over most creatures, with very few that would be larger.
Only the largest of the large beasts could surpass this bear's size, mostly being creatures like rhinos or elephants.
As the bear emerged, it looked with a plain gaze at Fenrir, who sat beneath Chen Xuan, looking down on him like a true apex predator.
Its gaze didn't linger much on Fenrir, as it could sense a source of life energy far superior to that of the little wolf.
The source was none other than Chen Xuan, who emitted only a faint trace of life energy. The issue was the strength within the small amount of life energy that Chen Xuan let out; if anyone was close by, they could feel the strength behind it.
As the brown bear appeared, Chen Xuan became tense. The sheer size of the bear likely meant that it was no Tier 2 beast.
As the bear appeared, Chen Xuan ordered Fenrir to stay at the base of his tree unless he was about to get hit.
Chen Xuan knew that he had no chance to avoid the fight, as trees have no legs.
Bracing himself, Chen Xuan unfurled all of his flowers, activating them at full power, causing a strong floral scent to slowly released and permeated the surroundings.
The surrounding wildlife that didn't escape from the black bear, such as ants or other insects, became confused. At times, they walked in circles; other times, they froze, all while trembling in fear.
The bear, however, only felt a slight distortion, its mind blurring slightly to slow its reactions and thoughts.
The bear, however, was still mostly sane and rational, its spirituality far superior to that of most other animals.
After a slight pause due to the sudden and unexpected blow to its mind, the bear became enraged, letting out a resounding bellow.
With its threat lingering in the air, the behemoth of a bear charged toward Chen Xuan, its speed insanely fast for a creature of its size.
Chen Xuan estimated its speed to be 20 m/s,
crossing the distance between it and Chen Xuan in a little over 2 seconds due to the time it takes to build speed.
As it reached Chen Xuan, it raised its front paw, slamming it down toward Chen Xuan's trunk.
In response, Chen Xuan quickly combined over a dozen of his branches to block the strike while combining his remaining branches into a large club-like object.
As the paw struck the branches, a loud cracking sound echoed as the bark of many of the branches cracked and flaked off.
His branches did, however, hold and managed to barely stop the bear's paw.
Meanwhile, the club formed from over 50 other branches was barreling toward the bear's lower back.
With another bellow, the bear felt its instincts scream at it, making the bear turn around, getting up on two legs before putting its entire body weight into a strike with both paws.
When the bear did this, Chen Xuan's eyes gleamed, clearly expecting the bear's current actions. Quickly, Chen Xuan rotated his collection of branches.
Simultaneously coiling his branches and also changing the trajectory, the branches acted less like a club and more like a drill.
Unable to react in time due to the flower's effects, the bear could do nothing but watch as the branches drilled into its paws, shattering one of its claws and mangling its paw.
However, the combined strength of over 50 branches couldn't be stopped by just a paw.
The collection of branches quickly pierced into the bear's chest, piercing fully through.
"Mooooaaaaaahhhh"
The bear moaned as it was pierced, immense pain flooding its body.
The bear was stunned; it was furious and confused about how such a seemingly weak tree had dealt with it.
Furious, the bear used its remaining strength to bellow before using its remaining paw to strike at Fenrir while its jaws bit down on the branches that had pierced the bear.
The bear's teeth ripped and tore at the branches, cutting off a few of them as its paw quickly descended toward Fenrir.
Without wasting an instant, Chen Xuan snaked around the grip of the branches to wrap around the bear's face, blocking its vision. This singular action allowed Fenrir to escape from under the bear's paw, only getting scratched slightly by the tip of its claws.
With a sense of cold anger, Chen Xuan used all of his branches to wrap around the bear's head and squeezed until a loud pop and crack sounded.
With these sounds, the bear went limp, and its jaws went slack, loosening around Chen Xuan's collection of branches.
As life slipped from the bear's eyes, Chen Xuan let out a sigh as he pulled out the branches from the bear's chest.
With a loud thud, the bear fell hard on the wet dirt, creating a small pit where it fell.
The battle, though detailed, still only took a few seconds. The sheer dominance shown by Chen Xuan's strength was baffling and awe-inspiring.
It didn't take long for the pain from the broken and cut branches to slowly dull as the branches began to heal.
Meanwhile, at the side of the clearing, just beyond the treeline, the two wolves stood still. Originally, they were planning on ambushing the winner after a hard-fought battle; however, due to how short the battle was, all they could do was stay still. Stunlocked.
As Chen Xuan looked down at the bear, he felt a slight presence, partially due to the roots within the ground and partially due to plain instincts heightened from each of his breakthroughs.
Turning his gaze towards the treeline, he saw the two wolves, clear as day, standing and watching.
The two wolves standing in the treeline suddenly shook, the attraction, repulsion, and fear from the flowers still affecting them even over the far distance. That, combined with the gaze they felt, made them tremble in fear.
Immediately after, without wasting any time, they turned tail and sprinted away, running far into the trees.