The first Ice Bear roared and charged at Azael with a thunderous shake of the ground. He barely managed to slip sideways just enough for the creature to miss him before it slammed head-first into the icy wall. The impact echoed through the chamber.
"What? I thought they only fought with their tongues! Why are they charging now?"
Azael had no time to even blink. The second bear faster than the first lashed its long tongue forward like a whip. The strike clipped his hand, slicing the skin open and sending him crashing to the ground.
He hissed in pain, clutching his hand.
The first bear still dizzy from its impact shook its massive head and scraped its claws along the ice floor, readying itself for another attack.
"I have to move…" Azael staggered upright.
The bear thundered toward him again. Instead of dodging early, Azael stood still waiting, timing his breath sharp and shallow.
The very moment the bear's shadow swallowed him
Azael threw himself aside.
The beast crashed into the wall again, ice splintering around its skull.
"It's time…"
He swung the ice pick and drove it toward the bear's side.
CRACK.
The ice pick shattered like thin glass.
"WHAT!?" Azael froze, stunned his only weapon in pieces on the floor.
He didn't notice the second bear's tongue before it struck.
It wound around his torso and flung him across the chamber.
Azael smashed against an ice wall etched with ancient writing. A small crack spider-webbed across the runes, but Azael was too busy gasping for breath to notice.
He pushed himself up slowly, a hand over his bruised stomach.
"…okay."
Two sets of glowing eyes stared at him.
"One likes to play in the front while the other stays in the back." Azael groaned, then forced a weak grin. "I'll call you Headbutt… and you" He pointed at the second bear. "You're Tongue-y."
The names slipped out before he could stop them. Even in this nightmare, Azael wanted to laugh at how absurd he sounded.
Tongue-y lashed at him again, aiming for his head. Azael reacted on instinct grabbing the slick, cold tongue between both hands just in time. The creature shrieked, pulling back, creating a tug-of-war that made Azael's arms shake violently.
"Why am I always doing this!?"
He braced his feet, pulling hard
but Headbutt had already recovered.
The front-liner charged again, ice cracking beneath its weight.
Azael had to let go of Tongue-y or take the full force of the hit. He dropped the tongue and dove aside as Headbutt smashed into the ground where he'd stood.
The chamber rattled.
"Don't you ever get tired?" Azael gasped, sweat dripping down his forehead despite the freezing air. His breath came out white and thin. He had just finished fighting the smaller bear. Now these two were coming at him one after the other, like a perfectly coordinated duo.
He backed up, analyzing because brute strength wasn't going to win this.
Okay. Headbutt's body is insanely tough. Tough enough to break my weapon and survive slamming into walls repeatedly. If I try to fight him directly, I'll be the one to collapse first.
Azael's eyes moved to Tongue-y… then slowly, a smirk crawled across his lips.
Azael raised his chin, breath steadying.
His heart pounded, but now with focus not desperation.
"Alright," he whispered. "Let's even the odds."
Azael sprinted across the icy cavern, slipping between Toungie's snapping tongue strikes and Headbutt's heavy charges. Frost sprayed with every near-miss, the air trembling from the force of their attacks. Even under pressure, Azael stayed sharp, reading their movements and weaving around them with growing confidence.
Headbutt slammed into the cave wall again, the impact sending a tremor through the ground and wall. Azael's eyes lit up.
There. That's the moment.
Tongue-y lashed at him again. This time, Azael grabbed the tongue, twisting his body as he hooked it around a large ice block jutting from the floor. Tongue-y instinctively tried to retract it only to trap itself.
"Got you," Azael whispered.
Headbutt recovered its footing and charged once more, moving with the same straightforward intensity every time. Azael quickly positioned himself so the path lined up with Tongue-y.
At the last second, Azael stepped aside.
Headbutt collided with the outstretched tongue, snapping it from the tension. The pieces scattered across the icy ground, black blood painted the cold floor, and Toungie recoiled with a pained cry, unable to continue the fight.
"One handled," Azael muttered, adrenaline building. "Now for the other."
Headbutt pawed the ground, still determined, still charging without hesitation. Its single track behavior sparked a thought in Azael's mind. If it can only rush forward… then its weakness might be just that.
He scanned the cavern and spotted a wall studded with natural ice spikes.
Azael sprinted directly toward it, letting the creature fix its gaze on him. Headbutt lowered itself and rushed after him again with overwhelming speed.
Azael waited, and dodged at the very last possible moment.
The bear couldn't stop its momentum. It collided with the spike-covered wall, stunning itself and collapsing as the impact overwhelmed it, the spike penetrate through headbutt head covering the tip with black blood.
Azael caught his breath and stared at the result, surprised at how effectively the plan had worked.
"Wow… I really didn't expect it to end that cleanly," he murmured. "I was aiming to distract it, not completely shut it down."
Headbutt's body slowly dissolved into harmless black mist, signaling the end of the battle and azael winning the fight.
[ Congratulations — you have defeated a Hellhound Creature: Cave Bear.]
[Warning: Soul Energy exceeds the limit. This creature's Soul Energy cannot be stored. ]
"Cave bear?" Azael frowned. "It looks almost exactly like the ice bear… but that doesn't matter." He eyed the glowing notification above him.
"Still, how do I raise my limit? It's gonna be a waste if this keeps happening."
Azael was still lost in thought about the soul-energy limit when he finally noticed the massive shadow falling over him. He slowly turned and froze.
A towering bear-like creature stood in the entrance, her fur shimmering faintly like frost under moonlight. It was the big bear azael seen before.
"What happened here?" she asked.
Her voice was deep, unmistakably feminine, and carried the tone of someone used to being obeyed.
Azael stumbled back instinctively. His heart pounded as he scanned the room, desperately trying to form a plan.
The large bear surveyed the chaos. The cracked walls, the collapsed ice, and Toungie lying motionless with its tongue damaged. She exhaled sharply.
"Truly? My offspring can't manage a single sinner?" Her gaze slid back to Azael, he trembled under it.
"Interesting…" she murmured. "Not a bad-looking human."
Before Azael could react, her massive tail curled around him and lifted him effortlessly. Its weight alone made resistance impossible yet the fur was unexpectedly soft, almost soothing against his skin.
She lifted him closer, eyeing him with curiosity. Then a second eye emerged on her forehead opening like a blooming flower. It wasn't gruesome, it appeared like a mystical organ awakening, glowing faintly as it examined him.
"You're cute. And your eyes… are unusual." Azael blinked, confused until he saw his reflection in that glossy, hovering eye.
His own eyes shone back at him.
They were luminous, like someone had carved a deep sapphire into the center of each iris. The light caught inside them, scattering through facets that shouldn't exist in a human eye. They glowed softly, shifting from midnight-blue to silver-flecked cerulean whenever he moved.
He'd never thought much about it before. But now, even he felt a strange awe. "I would ask where you got such a gaze," she continued, "but you remember nothing. Not your past. Not your purpose."
She was right. He remembered nothing.
And the weight of that truth pressed harder on him than her tail.
Before he knew it, tears gathered at the edges of his eyes. One fell, landing softly on her fur. She paused surprised but then a slow, unsettling smile curved across her face.
Azael didn't even understand why he was crying.
Have I really lost myself?
Since when do I break this easily?
He couldn't speak. His throat wouldn't move.
"Do not cry, child," the bear said. Her voice softened, yet carried a chilling certainty. "It will be over soon."
Her tail tightened not to injure, but to restrain him completely. He couldn't move. Couldn't fight. His breath caught as the mystical forehead eye drifted closer to his face, connected to her by a smooth tendril of living flesh.
Her tone changed, becoming deeper, slower, almost rhythmic like a lullaby meant to sink into the mind.
"Let go," she whispered.
"You've struggled long enough. Rest. Obey."
"You will be useful to us. You will serve me and my kids, you'll become they're plaything"
"There is no need to resist."
The words wrapped around him like warm fog.
Azael's pulse slowed. His eyelids drooped.
Every instinct telling him to fight… dissolved.
Am I being pulled under?
Is this… it?
Is this really the end of my journey?
His thoughts grew quiet.
Then faded.
Then disappeared entirely.
Neither he nor the bear noticed the fractured wall behind them where a faint black radiance seeped through the cracks Headbutt had created earlier.
A voice echoed from within it,
Like something that had been waiting centuries to speak again.
"This will not do," it rumbled.
"I will not allow my vessel to be taken by a mere archfiend."