Senseless
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Chapter 23 Hound-Faced Bear
🕑 Added 2025-06-27 09:16:28 +0000 UTCJon could hear the loud rhythmic thumping of the approaching beast. A pulsing sensation that was mirrored with the almost explosive beating of his heart within his chest. Every natural fear response or instinct that humanity had accumulated over the entirety of its existence urged Jon to run away.
The deep-seated bellows of the beast alluded to its proportions. The sound of its four legs pounding against the earth hinted at is mass and size. And the fact that it was hunting this strange, short humanoid creature instinctively alerted Jon to the nature of this approaching creature.
‘A predator,' Jon tightened the grip on his spear, narrowing his eyes towards the tree line.
The young adult human noticed the short humanoid figure let out what he thought to be some sort of tsk, before raising his hand, muttering in some strange alien language, his hand glowing a faint golden colour.
Even without turning his head, Jon could feel the faintest ripples of spiritual energy emanate from this small humanoid. While Jon did not question that the alien was chanting some sort of Spell, he did not feel the familiar prodding of his [Monstrous Intuition] alerting him to danger.
In fact, Jon was pleasantly surprised to see small System generated line of text appear in front of him, as he felt his form engulfed with a foreign spiritual energy. Jon’s form, clad in an oversized hoodie and a pair of sweatpants, now gained a slightly golden tint to it, as a protective mana surrounded the entirety of his body.
[Golden Bulwark]: Blesses a target with protective bulwark of a castle rampart. Temporarily increases physical endurance and stamina. Temporarily increases resistances towards physical strikes and blows. Temporarily grants the Castle Trait to all abilities.
Jon felt his eyes widen, and unconsciously turned his head to the side, glancing towards the short humanoid alien. The pair felt their eyes lock for a second, before the alien nodded its head slightly at Jon, to which the human returned the gesture with a smile.
Clasping his free hand over his chest, Jon muttered his own chant, feeling the rotation of his Knowledge Mana Core stir at his command.
“Clad in robes crimson, harkening thou pitiful extinction. Sing thou of the coming of blood and war, proclaiming the sounds of trumpets that announce mine arrival."
Jon felt the effects of his Spell infuse his muscles and tendons with an unnatural amount of strength. While it did not produce any sort of light, he knew that his body was tinged with a faint crimson aura, causing the alien beside him to raise their eyebrows, peering at Jon with a small smile on their face.
The approaching thumping had become thunderous, and Jon thought that he could begin to make out the figure of the oncoming beast.
The human knew that with their mass and size that he would be knocked over the moment it decided to charge at him. He needed to break its momentum in order to gain the upper hand.
Placing his hand on the ground, Jon imagined the rotation of his Wood Mana Core increasing in speed. His actions once again surprising the alien behind him.
Jon knew that the barest amount of spiritual energy would produce a piercing tree branch of less than two meters. Jon needed more than that to guarantee that his plan would work, releasing a steady stream of spiritual energy out of his second Mana Core.
His eyes remaining locked onto the tree line over twenty feet away, feeling his breath hitch, watching as the abomination crashed through the shrubs and fallen branches, bellowing as its eyes locked onto the two figures standing beside the water’s edge.
Jon felt the words of his chant flow out of his mouth, his Spell soaking up as much spiritual energy as he was willing to release from his Mana Core.
“Theirs is the savagery that accompanies creation. Theirs is the might that cradles the earth and sky. Theirs is the wrath, that announces destruction!”
A swell of wood natured spiritual energy surged from within Jon, being pushed down into the ground beneath his feet. Jon could have sworn that he saw the sand underneath him gain a slight green colour to it, before erupting with over a dozen piercing tree branches, some thicker than the width of an adult male thigh.
Jon found that it was not the length of the tree branch which took the most spiritual energy, but rather the number of tree branches he decided to create. Creating over a dozen drained roughly fifteen percent of his total wood natured spiritual energy, somewhat regretting using his [Green Is The Blood, As Red Is The Flesh], a couple hours ago.
The charging beast immediately felt the spiritual energy emanate out from the larger two-legged creature, trying to cease its unrelenting advance, shoving its front paws deep into the ground in front of it. Despite this however, Jon merely gritted his teeth, pushing another five percent of his total wood natural spiritual energy into the Spell, watching as the piercing tree branches extended another half dozen feet forward, rushing towards the beast with an incredible speed.
Jon could see his piercing tree branches strike true, pushing through a thick layer of fur before puncturing the flesh of this massive beast. Patches of bright crimson appeared all across its white coloured fur, using its enormous arms to snap the branches off at their thinnest, baring its fangs at Jon, growling as it narrowed its eyes at him.
Jon could see unnatural amount of intelligence, behind the creature’s eyes. While he thought that it was just his nerves, Jon got the impression that the air had suddenly become colder, the hairs on his arms and neck raising in response to the sudden drop in temperature.
‘It’s growling is actually a type of Spell! It can make the air around itself colder!’ Jon instincts immediately warned him.
Jon felt an unfamiliar twitch in his chest which he swiftly realized was the debuff effect of his [Wrath Of Green, Piercing Wood Eruption] taking root within the beast. Feeling the corners of his mouth to rise up, Jon flourished his spear as he took in the entirety of the creatures form.
It was quadrupedal and covered in a thick layer of white coloured fur. It was distinctly bear-like, although possessed the head of a hound, rather than that of a bear. It was probably taller than Jon, even on all fours, and its claws were unnaturally blue, even within an environment devoid of light.
Jon could also see several spikes adorned on its back, each of them a strange brownish colour, and giving off a somewhat earthy feeling to them. It was not quite the same feeling Jon got from observing his Fragment Of Dirt but felt that at the very least the concepts were related to each other.
Narrowing his eyes, Jon held his makeshift spear in one hand, feeling himself filled with an overabundance of physical energy. Releasing a long stream of warm air from his mouth, Jon felt his instincts, and the sense of wrongness born from his physical enhancement Spell guide him towards the right movement.
Jon’s figure practically flickered, crossing the fifteen feet distance between himself and the bear-creature in the time it took to take a breath. His spear thrusting forward towards one of the wounds he had inflicted upon the beast.
The tip of his spear came into contact with one of the sharp wooden fragments his Spell felt behind, pushing it deeper into the underside of the beast.
Jon suppressed a grin and felt his [Monstrous Intuition] warn him of an approaching danger, swiftly leaping back, disengaging from the beast. A large, clawed paw slashed through the space where Jon once stood, shattering some of the tree branches his offensive Spell left behind.
Branches the thickness of a human torso exploded as if they were made of paper, causing the beast to growl, its vision dyed crimson in rage before charging towards Jon. The young adult human side-stepped and twirled on the balls of his feet, avoiding the paw slashes of the enormous beast.
A single strike would shatter his bones, so getting hit was not an option in Jon’s mind.
Jon did not once falter, smiling as he prepared the chant for [Wrath Of Green, Piercing Wood Eruption] once again.
While Jon did not push as much spiritual energy into the Spell as he did before, merely used it as a method to create an obstacle between himself and the bear-creature. A single piercing tree branch, the thickest one that Jon had ever created using the Spell launched forward from the location where his hand touched the ground, causing the bear to halt, swiping at it as if it had been prepared for it.
It's claws glowed an icy blue, shattering the tree branch as if it were made of paper. The eighteen-year-old human raised an eyebrow at the ability, not seeing any sort of growling or muttering that could resemble a chant.
‘An Enhancement? Or is it an actual Ability? I don’t have any abilities that are Techniques, so I can’t tell the difference between all four of them’. Jon let out his own small tsk, glancing down towards the wooden spear in his hands.
While it had yet to grow blunt, Jon could see an obvious crack sprout from the tip of his makeshift spear. He knew that such a thing wouldn’t last him for very long, so Jon merely narrowed his eyes, gazing towards the massive head of the hound-faced bear.
With his Fragment Of Regeneration, Jon was not afraid of being injured or wounded. And with the [Golden Bulwark] buff given to him by this new humanoid alien, Jon felt as though he could afford to move in closer towards his target.
Jon increased the flow of spiritual energy into [Cometh Thy Red Horse Awaits]. The physical enhancement effect growing stronger, as Jon ignored the subsequent weakening effect that followed.
His figure flashed through the night, thrusting out with a staggering amount of force and finesse behind his blows. The young adult human lowered their centre of gravity, avoiding the rapid swipes of the bear, thrusting his spear upwards towards the wounds that he had initially created.
Jon felt every one of his mistakes, correcting each one of his movements as his [Monstrous Intuition] alerted him to an approaching danger. Without fail, Jon knew the best moment to disengage from combat, and subsequently go on the offensive whenever he spotted an opening in the creature's guard.
His wooden spear was less of a polearm and more of a pointed-dagger, as Jon often switched his grip, swapping between his dominant and non-dominant hands in order to better angle each on of his strikes.
The short, purple-blooded alien watched as Jon practically danced around the hound-faced bear, seeing that the taller bipedal alien possessed the same monstrous-level physical capabilities that this hound-faced bear did.
He could do nothing with just a couple different abilities at his disposal. Watching as the bear-creature could do nothing but swipe at his shadow, trying to catch this slippery prey.
Under the cover of darkness, Jon was a ghost.
Jon had never kept his physical enhancement speed active for so long, but continued to push forward, his figure exploding forward, approaching with a speed and dexterity that the bear-like creature couldn’t match with its current abilities.
While Jon could not prove it, he suspected that like the fire-breathing duck, this creature did not possess any form of sensory-related or mental enhancement abilities.
While its physical abilities were off the charts, capable of resisting multiple puncture wounds and shattering tree branches with a single swing of its arm, it did not seem to have integrated any fragments relating to agility or movement.
It relied on the natural mass and musculature of its species to overpower and outrun its prey, allowing someone like Jon who possessed such abilities to take advantage of its lacklustre variety of integrated fragments.
Nothing but a perfect sense of what he needed to do, and how he could achieve it remained within Jon’s mind.
The clarity born from his Knowledge Mana Core, and the information acquired from [Cometh Thy Red Horse Awaits], pushed Jon’s understanding of his own physicality beyond something that he did not even realize he was capable of.
Violence and war were something inherent to every single human being, regardless of their heritage, social status or ideology. Even if he wanted to deny it, Jon could feel his blood singing as he cast another instance of [Wrath Of Green, Piercing Wood Eruption], putting another obstacle between himself and the bear-creature.
All the emotions that he had accumulated on Earth. All the experiences and feelings that he had bottled up, did not need to remain stifled any longer.
Jon felt something inside him shift as if a door that was once locked was now open, waiting for Jon to turn the handle. Reaching out towards it, Jon felt the image of his Sea Of Knowledge superimposing over reality, before being brought back to the present through his [Monstrous Intuition].
Jon could only stare helplessly as the bear opened its mouth and released an enormous roar, saturating the environment around Jon with an incredible amount of spiritual energy. His eyes widened, and his thoughts came to a halt as the temperature around Jon plummeted, a freezing wave of ice emanating from beneath the feet of the beast.
