The bear seemed offended by Silas’ audacity. It released a thunderous roar and dropped onto all fours before charging directly at him. However, Silas was ready for it.

Instead of retreating, he veered into a curved path, carefully guiding the bear away from Darius and Alfred. Without waiting for instructions, Darius activated his tusk ability and slammed his iron tusk against the creature’s rear flank.

The impact felt like striking solid stone, and the armoured plate barely trembled.

"Get back!"

Alfred grabbed Darius and yanked him away just as the bear lashed out with a rear kick. Fortunately, it struck with its leg rather than using its claws. Otherwise, Alfred might have died instantly. Even so, the impact launched him dozens of meters through the air.

Thanks to Cher’s relentless assault and Lara’s tigers, the area where he landed had already been cleared of monsters.

"We can’t keep this up!"

The battle was already difficult, but it became truly desperate when the second bear joined. Keeping pace with a single bear had pushed Silas to his limits. But facing two at once was another matter entirely.

Slowly but surely, he was being forced backwards. Yet amid the growing desperation, a faint glimmer of hope appeared. As he immersed himself completely in the battle, the Time Mind World activated on its own.

Countless shadows emerged before him, one after another; every possible path ended in failure. The bears crushed them all. Then, at last, a single possibility survived.

"Bring them closer to the shield!"

Silas shouted.

He had no idea how Cher was doing. He did not know whether Lara’s taming attempts had succeeded, nor did he have the luxury of checking on Darius and Alfred. Every ounce of his concentration was devoted to controlling the battlefield, leading the two bears in precise circles while maintaining complete focus on his Raven ability.

He barely heard the replies that followed, as his mind had entered a strange state. On one side, he was doing everything in his power to avoid the deadly claws pursuing him. On the other hand, he was wrestling against the Shadowheart.

The entity was roaring inside him, growing more violent with every passing second, desperately trying to break free. Silas had to struggle to maintain his focus while fueling all the rage inside the bears and his Raven.

The others were stunned by Silas’s performance. Cher in particular found it difficult to believe what she was witnessing.

She was fighting against hordes of monsters, yet her situation was nowhere near as dangerous as his. Time and time again, Silas evaded attacks that should have killed him, reacting with uncanny precision as though he possessed years of combat experience far beyond his age.

"It has to be his wind element."

She desperately searched for an explanation.

"He must be using it to enhance his speed and reflexes."

It was the most reasonable answer she could think of. Yet deep down, she felt there was something else at work.

When Silas shouted his order, she immediately adjusted her movements. And Lara followed. The controlled tigers now had another addition of nine golems. Even if the golems were slow, they were quite formidable in terms of defence. Not to mention their big bodies served to act as a perfect blockade.

While continuing to keep the monsters at bay, Cher gradually expanded the area under her control. Her beams swept farther and farther from the outpost until a vast hemispherical battlefield formed before the shield, creating more space for Silas and the others to manoeuvre.

She still didn’t understand why he wanted to fight closer to the outpost. If he was exhausted and intended to retreat, he could have simply ordered everyone to head back behind the shield.

The fact that he had not done so meant only one thing: Silas was still determined to kill the bears.

As Silas retreated toward the outpost, with Darius and Alfred desperately supporting him without achieving any meaningful results, a sudden attack startled everyone.

A rain of Mana Arrows descended from above.

The arrows exploded upon impact, engulfing both bears in roaring fire and dense clouds of dust. At that moment, Silas’s order finally made sense; he intended to use the outpost’s defences.

Everyone expected furious roars and heavily wounded bears. Instead, the bears didn’t roar, and they saw Silas sprint directly into the explosion.

Darius and Alfred were closest to the battlefield, yet even they could not see through the thick dust cloud. Seeing Silas charge forward without the slightest hesitation caused Darius’s heart to sink.

"Get back!"

He lunged forward. The moment he passed through the cloud of dust, he saw the two bears not suffering a single wound. On the other side, Silas just arrived near the two, jumping high in the air, while operating his daggers, preparing to attack them head-on.

"They’re still alive! Get back!"

His shout startled Alfred and immediately drew the attention of Cher and Lara. Cher abandoned what she was doing and rushed toward the battlefield as fear gripped her heart.

"Save him!"

Lara reacted just as quickly.

"Don’t let him die!"

More than twenty tamed monsters surged forward at her command. At that moment, nobody cared about the mission anymore. All they wanted was to save Silas.

Unfortunately for them, they had completely misunderstood his intentions. Silas was not throwing his life away. He was following the only path to victory shown to him by the Time Mind World.

In their panic, everyone had overlooked a crucial detail. The Mana Arrows had failed to wound the bears, but they had accomplished something else. The explosions had hurled both monsters onto their backs.

For the first time since the battle began, their bellies were exposed. And from the Time Mind World, Silas knew that was their weakness.

Every other part of their bodies was protected by thick armour plates. Under normal circumstances, their terrifying claws prevented anyone from reaching the vulnerable area beneath them.

But now the opportunity had appeared. And Silas had no intention of wasting it. The instant the Mana Arrows struck, he charged forward through the dust cloud, five daggers orbiting around him.

One bear was already rolling back onto its feet, while the second was a fraction of a second slower. That delay was enough for Silas, who instantly used his Raven ability, launching all five daggers toward the exposed belly.

This time, they pierced flesh. And a deafening roar shook the battlefield as the bear writhed in agony.

"Their bellies," seeing this made Darius’ eyes shine. Yet before he could celebrate the discovery of their weak spot, he saw the bear that had just been attacked wanting to roll and cover its belly.

"Alfred, on me!"

Darius didn’t even think; he darted and then shouted. Just before Silas would touch the ground or recall his daggers, Darius threw himself onto the bear, swinging his right arm and landing a strong blow over its head.

ROAR!

The bear roared, and the second bear raised a paw, aiming to tear Darius apart. Yet Alfred just arrived in time, threw himself and rolled with Darius away from the face of danger.

Yet Silas didn’t give it another chance. He instantly threw his daggers, distracted the second bear, before turning to attack the first one again. This time, he aimed at the monster’s four legs, aiming to sever its tendons and muscles, preventing it from doing this roll again.

This was only the beginning. All the frustration Silas had endured, all the pressure he felt, all the struggle against the Shadowheart, everything was unleashed upon the fallen beast.

The second bear repeatedly tried to intervene, but Silas never gave it the opportunity. He moved constantly around the wounded bear, forcing the other one to chase him while preventing its companion from regaining its footing.

As for Darius and Alfred, once the two escaped death by hair’s breadth, they instantly retreated and stood by Cher’s side. By the time Cher arrived, she found herself staring at an almost unbelievable sight.

Silas was single-handedly torturing a C-grade bear to death. Meanwhile, the second one looked no more threatening than a confused E-grade monster.

Yet she didn’t stand idle. She knew how important this moment was. She instantly controlled her beam, sent it to annoy the second bear, and even added more wounds to the first one.

At the same time, Lara’s tamed monsters arrived. She was far away at a distance, so she couldn’t properly judge the situation. Yet she sent her monsters forward, losing almost half of them on the paws of the second bear, while the rest helped Silas and Cher kill the grounded one.

ROAR!

Eventually, the first bear released one final howl before collapsing.

"We did it!"

Darius was the first to shout.

"We killed one of the bears."

His shout joined with Alfred’s, while Cher showed a tired smile on her face. Yet Silas did not pause for even a moment, didn’t even smile. The instant the bear died, he spun around and sprinted toward the outpost once more, dragging the remaining bear behind him.

"What are you all standing around for?"

Seeing what Silas intended to do, Cher instantly had a change on her face. She turned around, where only puzzled looks appeared on Darius and Alfred.

"Snap out of it!" Cher shouted. "Secure the perimeter!"

A quick glance around was enough to reveal the danger drawing closer. Countless monsters were already converging on Silas’s position. If they reached him before he dealt with the second bear, everything could still fall apart.

"Alfred, cover the left flank!"

"Darius, hold that side!"

"Lara, use your monsters to stop anything that gets close!"

Silas was completely focused on the bear, leaving no room for him to command the battlefield. Without hesitation, Cher stepped in and took control. And her orders arrived just in time.

The team rushed into action, intercepting the approaching monsters and preventing them from disrupting Silas. As for the latter, he drew the remaining bear closer to the outpost. Moments later, another volley of Mana Arrows struck.

The bear sounded wary of the arrows and tried to retreat when it saw Silas stop. But Silas had already lured it too deeply. Even if it tried to turn around and run, it was too late. The arrows landed, and the explosion deafeningly rang across the area.

The bear was blasted off its feet and sent crashing onto its back. And like before, Silas immediately lunged forward and attacked the monster. It tried to flip its body more than once, even resisting the pain and pushing itself despite the daggers going deeper through its body.

At these moments, Darius snapped the monster back by punching its head as hard as he could. As for Cher, she kept using her beam of light brilliantly at the right moment, interrupting the bear from completing a flip and sending it resting on its back.

Several tense minutes passed. Then the second bear finally released its last roar. For a brief moment, everyone stood frozen. The realisation sank deeper into their hearts.

Darius stared at the dead bear and laughed, then punched Alfred’s scaled shoulder. The latter didn’t bother with the punch, leaned over the dead body and touched it in amazement.

It felt like a dream to all of them. Even Lara kept jumping and dancing inside the shield. The impossible battle turned at last in their favour.

Killing D-grade monsters was already quite the feat; killing one grade higher was an achievement. Even Cher heaved a deep sigh of relief at one moment, then chuckled in delight at the next.

A surge of excitement swept through the team. Yet before anyone could celebrate enough, Silas suddenly turned and sprinted toward the outpost.

"Cher, take over the battle!"

His voice sounded strained.

"I need to deal with something urgently!"

Without waiting for a response, he accelerated toward the Rune Heart as fast as his legs could carry him. The moment the second bear died, something inside him had snapped. The Shadowheart madly erupted.

A tsunami of rage and hatred crashed against his mind, threatening to drown his will. Silas could feel his control slipping away with every passing second. If he delayed even a little longer, the Shadowheart would seize control of his body.

And what should have been his team’s greatest victory would turn into a disaster.