At first, the footprints extended toward where the two examinees had been. But after passing them, they suddenly changed direction and continued toward the path Asher and the others had just come from.
More precisely, it was moving toward Asher.
The stabbing pain in his chest appeared again, stronger than ever before.
"Scatter!" Asher abruptly raised his head.
Almost at the exact moment his voice rang out, a black tree dozens of meters tall suddenly exploded from the middle.
Rumble!
Wood fragments swept through the area.
A massive figure more than five meters tall charged out from behind the tree. Like a small mountain moving at high speed, it carried an unstoppable force as it crashed directly toward Asher.
It was a gigantic bear covered entirely in dark red bone armor.
Two white bone spikes curved outward from its shoulders. Within its scarlet eyes, there was none of the hunting instinct belonging to a normal magical beast. There was only an almost insane killing intent.
C Rank Magical Beast: Crimson Bone Berserk Bear.
Danger Level: High.
Warning: Target is under special inducement.
Target has locked onto Host.
Asher dodged to the side.
The Crimson Bone Berserk Bear ignored the other examinees who were closer to it. Its enormous body forcibly changed direction, and its right paw descended toward Asher’s head with crushing wind pressure.
Asher crossed both arms.
"Life Burst!"
Life force instantly surged into his arms.
Bang!
The bear’s paw collided head on with his arms.
The ground beneath Asher’s feet violently sank. The bones in both arms cracked simultaneously, and his entire body was hurled away by the force far exceeding D Rank. He smashed through three black trees in succession before crashing heavily to the ground dozens of meters away.
Host’s arms fractured.
Chest cavity suffered shock trauma.
Remaining Life Force: 91%.
Hyper Regeneration activated.
The Crimson Bone Berserk Bear released a deafening roar, dropped onto all fours, and charged toward Asher again.
"Why is it only attacking him?"
Claire could not help shouting.
Nova did not answer. She raised her right hand.
Violent lightning instantly gathered.
"Thunder Pierce!"
Boom!
A bolt of purple lightning as thick as an arm tore through the forest and struck the Crimson Bone Berserk Bear directly in the head. The powerful impact caused its body to tilt slightly, and several cracks appeared across the bone armor covering its face.
But the attack did not truly stop it.
The Crimson Bone Berserk Bear did not even glance back at Nova. Its eyes remained firmly locked on Asher, who was rising from the ground.
Ryan attacked as well.
The muscles throughout his body rapidly expanded as he gripped his spear with both hands and thrust violently toward the bear’s relatively soft abdomen.
Clang!
The spearhead collided with bone armor.
Sparks scattered everywhere.
The spear, powerful enough to pierce an E Rank magical beast, left only a tiny white mark on the dark red bone armor.
The Crimson Bone Berserk Bear casually swung its left paw.
Ryan and his spear were sent flying together.
"Normal attacks can’t break its defense!"
Lightning flashed beneath Nova’s feet as she quickly arrived beside Asher.
"We have to attack its eyes or joints."
Asher ignored her and lowered his head, looking at the examination badge hanging from his chest.
Ever since the Crimson Bone Berserk Bear appeared, an extremely faint magical fluctuation had continuously emanated from inside the badge. Every time that fluctuation appeared, the killing intent in the bear’s eyes became even more frenzied.
The system completed its analysis.
C Rank Blood Inducement Crystal discovered.
Crystal has been fused with Host’s examination badge.
Effect: Continuously attracts high ranking magical beasts within a five kilometer radius and forcibly increases their desire to attack the carrier.
Remaining duration: 11 hours, 34 minutes.
So that was it.
Cassian had not only sent him into an abnormal Spatial Gate, but had also placed an inducement crystal capable of attracting high ranking magical beasts inside his examination badge.
As long as Asher continued carrying the badge, every powerful magical beast nearby would actively seek him out until he died here.
Asher reached out. His five fingers violently dug into the gap on the back of the badge.
Crack!
The hard casing was forcibly crushed.
A blood red crystal no larger than a fingernail fell from inside, and an intense bloody aura immediately spread through the air.
The Crimson Bone Berserk Bear went completely berserk.
It opened its enormous jaws.
The bone spikes covering its back simultaneously lit up with dark red light as its massive body erupted with speed once again, charging straight toward Asher.
Asher gripped the Blood Inducement Crystal.
"Nova, attack inside its mouth."
Nova immediately understood his plan.
"You’ll die."
"Then don’t miss."
Asher hurled the crystal behind the Crimson Bone Berserk Bear.
The blood red crystal streaked through the air.
Affected by the inducement force, the Crimson Bone Berserk Bear instinctively raised its head and opened its enormous mouth, attempting to swallow the crystal directly.
Now!
Life force erupted beneath Asher’s feet.
His body instantly crossed more than ten meters.
He did not dodge. Instead, he deliberately rushed directly in front of the Crimson Bone Berserk Bear. His hands grabbed its open upper and lower jaws respectively as he concentrated all his life force into both arms.
"Life Burst!"
Boom!
The muscles that had only just begun healing tore apart again.
Blood continuously seeped from beneath Asher’s skin, yet with his strength temporarily elevated to the peak of D Rank, he forcibly prevented the Crimson Bone Berserk Bear from closing its mouth.
"Do it!"
Purple lightning illuminated the entire forest.
Nova brought both hands together in front of her. A spear formed entirely from lightning rapidly took shape, and the instant it appeared, her face turned pale from the enormous magical energy consumption.
"Heavenly Thunder Judgment!"
Rumble!
The lightning spear shot forward instantly.
It brushed past Asher’s shoulder and accurately entered the Crimson Bone Berserk Bear’s mouth, piercing through its throat before stabbing directly into the heart protected beneath its thick bone armor.
The next moment, all the lightning erupted inside the bear’s body.
Bang!
Flesh, organs, and shattered bones sprayed from its open mouth. Its massive body convulsed violently several times before finally losing all strength and collapsing heavily in front of Asher.
The ground shook violently as a huge cloud of dust spread outward.
Nova dropped to one knee, breathing heavily. That attack had clearly consumed most of the magical energy inside her body.
Asher released his hands as well.
Both his arms had been pierced by the Crimson Bone Berserk Bear’s teeth, and large areas of flesh had been torn apart by the backlash of Life Burst. But as the battle ended, Hyper Regeneration immediately activated, rapidly repairing the fractured bones and damaged muscles.
Host and Target Nova have completed their first combat cooperation.
Target Favorability increased.
Current Favorability: 19.
Target Trust increased.
Sacred Aphrodisiac Body Influence Level: 3%.
Nova raised her head. She saw that Asher’s arms, which had nearly lost all ability to move, were recovering at a speed far beyond ordinary healing magic. The surprise in her eyes became even more obvious.
Yet she did not ask about his regenerative ability.
Her gaze fell upon the blood red crystal lying beside the Crimson Bone Berserk Bear’s corpse.
"What is that?"
"A gift someone put inside my examination badge."
Asher walked over and picked up the cracked crystal.
As he wiped away the blood covering its surface, a silver lion emblem no larger than a grain of rice slowly appeared at the bottom of the crystal.
It was the exclusive mark of a magical research laboratory owned by the Valderis family.
Nova’s expression froze.
"Valderis..."
"Now you should understand why I said you might regret changing groups."