Numa woke up with a terrible ringing in his head. For a second there, he lost himself. But then he opened his eyes and saw countless fallen soldiers and the bodies of the beasts lying lifelessly all around him. Based on the chaos, the blood, the violence, and the loud sounds that came from every direction, he quickly came to the conclusion that he was still in the heart of the battle.
The last thing he remembered was the powerful slap of the giant bear. He looked at his hand guards, they were torn to shreds. Even his breastplate was destroyed by the claws of the powerful beast. He then looked to his right. The bear was still there. That hand swipe threw him quite far away, but still close enough for him to notice what the bear was doing at the moment.
Going on a rampage, crunching the soldier's skull through their thick helms, killing as many Arkhain soldiers as it could. That was what the bear was doing. Even the three spearmen who helped Numa take down the leopard earlier had lost their lives in the battle. No, in the massacre.
Before rejoining the battle, Numa checked his body first. Just to make sure every limb was still there and there was no open wound that needed immediate treatment. All good. In fact, he actually felt quite energized. That's when he realized that the faint blue light was still enveloping his body. No wonder he survived that monstrous slap, his spell was still active.
Feeling relieved, Numa stood up and made way towards the mighty bear. He knew regular attacks wouldn't work on it. So what should he do? There were plenty of ways to distract the beast, but once he got the bear's attention, what then? He was certainly not powerful enough to kill it by himself. That said, while Avara was still active, Numa was pretty much as strong as a regular beastmen. So the key was to find a way to make use of his enhanced strength to defeat the beast, or at the very least, weaken it enough so that the other Arkhain soldiers could help finish the bear.
Once again, Numa was looking around the battlefield. Searching for something that could help him take on the beast. That's when he noticed the spear. Arkhanian steel was famously dense and durable. They may not be the sharpest steel around, but they could at least handle the abuse of war. A perfect weapon to pierce the monster bear's thick hide.
He picked up the spear from the fallen corpse of his fellow countrymen and gripped it as tightly as he could. He knew he only got one shot, and luckily for him, he was standing at the bear's only blind spot. Its left side. Now that he thought about it, it was actually quite fortunate that the bear had thrown him on the side of its blind eye.
To maximize the spear's penetrating power, Numa took several steps back and then ran as fast as he could, counting every step. After about five steps, he launched the spear as hard as he could, aiming for the beast's neck.
Though the bear lost its left eye, its left ear was perfectly fine. In fact, it could hear better now that it was in its beast form. That's why it could hear a faint screeching sound of a projectile piercing through the air coming from its left side. The beast instinctively crouched forward, but it was too late. The sheer power of the impact pushed the monster to its right side.
Numa's spear missed its target, but at least he achieved one of his objectives. The bear could no longer use its left arm now, and it was bleeding quite badly. But this attack also achieved something else that Numa desperately wanted to avoid. The bear was extremely furious.
"Ah, shit. He will kill me now," said Numa to himself.
Right after he said that, the faint blue glow disappeared from his body. The spell dissipated. "Great, what perfect timing to run out of mana," he said. Frankly speaking, Numa was quite surprised that Avara would last this long, but alas, he was no longer under the protection of his beloved spell now. At the moment, he was nothing more than a rookie Legionary of the Iron Legion of the Arkhain Empire. Against an enraged Bear beastmen, he would most certainly lose his life.
Sure enough, the mad bear stood back up. Some people might find it hard to read a bear's expression, but this time, everybody present could understand the minute changes in the bear's face. It went from surprise to disbelief to utter rage. And all that boiling anger was directed to one man: Numa.
The bear let out an ear-splitting roar. It got back on its feet and started limping away toward Numa. And then it sped up, ignoring the spear that was still lodged in its shoulder and the blood that kept gushing out of the wound. His mouth opened wide, displaying its perfect set of bone-crushing teeth. Its raging eyes focused solely on its target, and it wouldn't stop until it could rip Numa's neck apart.
As for Numa, he already accepted his fate. He had run out of mana, his body was aching all over, and his brain couldn't come up with any trick to defeat this rapidly approaching bundle of anger. He was hoping he could at least last a few years in the military, or at the very least, survive long enough to have a couple of battles under his belt. But alas, that was not meant to be. Numa straightened his body, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes.
"This is it. This is as far as I can go. I'm sorry I couldn't do more for you, Mom, Mira," said Numa softly to himself.
Numa was patiently waiting for the jaw of death to snatch his life away. He heard people say that when you are close to death, time would feel like it stretches to eternity. But surely it wouldn't be this long, would it? And then he heard a loud thumping sound, followed by the ground shaking, and a soft, whimpering voice. Curious, he opened his eyes.
Right in front of him stood a man in crimson armor. A Magick Knight. And by the looks of it, it appeared that the Magick Knight just punched the bear right on its face.
"Are you alright, kid?" asked the Magick Knight without turning to see Numa.
"Y-yes, sir," answered Numa.
"Good job with the spear, kid. You stopped the bear's rampage and saved a lot of people with that move," said the Knight. Numa couldn't see his face, but he could tell that the Knight was genuinely smiling when he said those words. "But most importantly, you bought enough time for me to come."
"Thank you, sir."
"What's your name, Legionnaire?"
"I'm Numa, sir."
"Numa. Okay. I'll remember that," said the Magick Knight calmly, as if he was not in the middle of a deadly battle with a massive Beast Bear. "Now you can hang back and enjoy the show."
"Yes, sir."
Numa couldn't believe the scene that unfolded right before his eyes. The Magick Knight unsheathed his sword, cast a spell, and a burst of flames suddenly engulfed the blade. He then jumped forward and performed a downward slash toward the bear. The beast tried to parry with its hand, but the scorching blade cut through them like butter and even left a deep cut on its chest. Numa could see the helplessness in the bear's eyes, but he knew the beast wouldn't give up as easily.
As expected, the bear put every strength that it had left on its feet and launched forward toward the Magick Knight. It opened its jaw and was ready to crunch through the enemy's head. But the Knight effortlessly took half a step to the side and unleashed a powerful, fiery, upward slash that cut the beast's head off. Everything happened so quickly. One moment, the raging bear was there, and now all that's left was a decapitated body and the stench of burned flesh.
"DUUUUUUUUNNNNNN"
The unmistakable sound of the Arkhain Empire's war trumpet filled the air. It marked the end of the battle. Every soldier on the battlefield was running and screaming in euphoria. Numa grabbed one of them and asked, "What happened? Did we win?"
"Yes, man. Can't you see the beasts retreating?" answered the soldier with a bright smile on his face. "I heard Captain Elric successfully killed the enemy's leader. We won!"
Numa let go of the soldier. He could feel his strength leaving his body. His knee was the first one to give up, and then he found himself lying on his back, for the second time today. Curiously enough, his hands were no longer shaking. He closed his eyes and smiled.
"Thank Gods!"