CHAPTER 155: CALL OF THE PHOENIX

-Huff huff.

Kael panted roughly as he dove around another attack from the massive beast before him. If it wasn't for Alice, who held the bear at bay, he would have been long dead. Unfortunately for the beast, while its domain made it far stronger, it also allowed Alice, whose attacks didn't diminish with distance, to attack safely from afar.

Kael's webs brought him behind the beast, but with agile movement, the bear swiped at him with its right claws, its body turning in the process.

-SKREEE!

A piercing bird cry suddenly filled the area, and soon after, a barrage of little phoenixes bombarded the bear from the side, stopping its attack in place.

— BOOM! — BOOM! — BOOM!

The bear snarled in pain, as Py's Aeternal flames seared its flesh hidden behind its magma armor. Despite its great resistance to the fire element, Py's flames still hurt it deeply, the little bird now also at level 22, just like Kael. And since the others had escaped, Py had been summoned back to Kael as an earring when she surpassed the distance limit between them.

Kael didn't stop for even a moment. Taking advantage of the opening his familiar had bought, he pulled through the fatigue he felt and weaved his silks around the bear's stopped right limb. With a grunt, he dove below the beast's arm, the momentum launching him into the air on the other side.

Kael flew upward, his body inverted, and his eyes tracing two lines of blue, as he boosted his Strength stat by more than twenty points.

With a loud battle cry, his feet connected with the bear's lower jaw, halting its snarls of pain instantly, as it stumbled backward.

That attack had almost made the beast bite off its own tongue as it retreated a step back, its crimson eyes almost rolling into the back of its skull.

It didn't even get the chance to breathe, as Alice, who was still in her transformed gigantic form, suddenly thrust out her massive rapier three times in quick succession, all within a split second.

— DONG! DONG! DONG!

Three massive indents appeared on the beast's stony armor around its chest, stone chips the size of boulders scattering in every direction.

Kael landed agilely on each of these stone pieces, as he jumped higher and higher into the skies with the aid of Combat Trance, at the same time the bear took another three consecutive steps backward, a pained groan escaping its snout.

'We can't continue like this!' With his eight Weaver limbs spread out behind him, he glared at the creature, a hint of fatigue flashing in his eyes.

By now, Alice's attacks only came once in a while, and Kael could still remember her words. With her high attack power, she lacked stamina, and might not have much left in the tank. Even he himself was getting tired, the smoky flames of Ember Regeneration rising from his torso as it healed his limbs.

This creature was too powerful. Far too powerful for them to deal significant damage against it, especially with the fiery armor it had encased itself in.

'Should we escape?' It was in the process of contemplating when Kael glimpsed a pink flash. He instantly shifted his head to the side, but he didn't see anything of the sort.

'Was it my imagination?' That thought had barely formed when he saw the massive boar Elena had been facing collapse to the ground. But that wasn't all.

Far in the distance, where the real battlefield was, a chorus of angry roars suddenly shook the skies.

Kael quickly turned in that direction to see many of those abominations collapse to the ground without warning. While this strange sight drew his curiosity, what made him feel a chill was that many of those abominations were riled up in anger, with many now turning in his direction.

And that included the two Epic-ranked boars that had been clashing with the two Elite crawlers, undead centipedes and wolves.

"We need to run!" Kael shouted in agitation, fear etched on his face. Not even his Mythical skill could suppress his emotions when hundreds of those abominations had their attention fixed on him.

Without hesitation, Kael planned to retreat back to Alice, when the bear before him suddenly roared.

Sensing the strange death of the monsters in the distance, the bear became overcome by a fear of uncertainty, but that soon stoked its anger and it instantly flew into a rampage.

'God dammit.' Kael cursed as he quickly dodged the launched fiery stones thrown at him.

'We can't escape like this.' A cold light flashed within his eyes when he arrived at this conclusion.

With his sister not in the area, he had no choice but to shout at the top of his lungs.

"ALICE! We need one decisive attack to bring it down, if not, we can't escape!"

He swirled around the claw of the bear once more, and he could barely hear the thunderous cadence of approaching footsteps, but he quickly focused back on the beast before him.

'Py.' He called out in his mind.

'Chirp!'

The little phoenix's ruby eyes glowed with a brighter intensity, and soon after, bright red flames formed around her small frame.

She flapped her wings and flew higher into the dark, rolling clouds, and as the flames wrapped around her and condensed into a more condensed form, a majestic and powerful cry pierced the heavens and shook the earth.

— SKREEEEEEEEE!

The bear that had been swatting at Kael with angry roars suddenly seized its attack and raised its head to the skies, as an overbearing pressure fell upon it.

It could feel it.

Deep within its bloodline.

Its eyes fell on a regal creature with a wingspan of more than thirty meters. Each feather appeared soft and yet looked like red metal. Its eyes were two burning red suns that seemed to look down upon all beneath it with absolute disdain.

Its multiple flowing tails of fire spread behind it like majestic plumes, each one wreathed in flames that danced through the dark clouds.