A massive explosion rocked throughout the cavern, and the earth mages who previously tried to collapse it on them were now desperately trying to prevent it. Since they were also in the line of fire, they didn't want the roof coming down any more than Julius did.

Julius looked over at the Tier 5, who was unconscious inside the ruined set of armor with a frown. Truth be told, he would have never been able to hurt the man or at least seriously injure him on his own. It was only thanks to the powerful armor that he was able to generate enough force to get through the Tier 5's defenses.

Funnily enough, it would have been better if the man had fought Julius without the armor. Even with his poor combat skills, he would have beaten Julius nine times out of ten. [Void Strike] had done an excellent job at slowly whittling away at the integrity of the enchantments. To make things worse, Julius made sure to target what seemed to be the most critical sections of the array. Thankfully, it worked out, and he was able to take out the Tier 5.

It wasn't like he had actually beaten a Tier 5 on his own; there was a lot of luck and help from Emil, but he would take it. At the very least, it was a better showing than the last time he had fought a Tier 5.

The bad news was that he was quite exhausted. He had used every ounce of his power to overclock his body so that he could stand toe to toe with the Tier 5 for that brief amount of time. His mana was also almost depleted, and his soul was feeling quite raw after exploding his soul several times.

He was going to need a nice little break after this was done. He might need some help from Freya as well, to make sure that he doesn't have any problems in the long run. She would likely give him crap for pushing himself too far, but she would still do it.

Hopefully.

As much as he wanted to finish the Tier 5 off, Emil needed help immediately. The bear was very strong and had gained a slight advantage over the other man. Therefore, Julius mustered as much energy as he could and forced himself to run over.

He hefted the staff he had created with aura-woven mana over his shoulder. Not to toot his own horn, but the staff was quite a magnificent piece of mana manipulation. He was pretty proud of its construction.

He took some inspiration from the healing structure Freya taught him and added to his already powerful aura-woven mana techniques. This allowed him to force more mana than he would otherwise be able to without the entire construct falling apart or worse, exploding in his face. Such things had happened in the past, much to his embarrassment.

Additionally, the construct didn't require as much finesse or delicate control as a blade would have. He simply needed a blunt instrument, and it was shocking how much stronger a construct he could create by choosing such a simple shape.

He should have done something similar a long time ago. It would have made his life so much easier. With that being said, he previously didn't really have a skill that would go with a staff. However, [Void Strike] worked surprisingly well with the staff. The new skill synergized with the staff much better than he could have expected.

It was funny. The unique nature of the skill meant that the staff was covered in the chaotic distortions of the void. This also meant that the staff was covered in a layer of energy that was very difficult to break physically and ensured that it didn't break when smashed against the Tier 5 armor.

As he charged his body with power once more, he felt something tear. He disregarded this sensation for the moment; he had Drasil frantically healing any damage to him and would worry about it later.

He noticed that Emil was about to take another blow from the Frost Bear, and realizing that he wouldn't be able to make it in time, he took a deep breath and slammed his foot down as he threw the staff instead.

The staff ripped through the air and once again, the bear was slammed by his staff. It didn't do that much more damage than the last time he threw it, but it gave Emil enough time to protect himself.

Barehanded, Julius tore towards the bear, picking up the first staff he had thrown earlier from the ground. The staff had some cracks in the surface from the overwhelming amount of kinetic energy he had charged through it, but it was quickly fixed by a bit of mana to fill in the cracks.

Fortunately, the Frost Bear was still very much on Emil and didn't even bother to confront Julius as he got within striking distance. Emil was aware of his presence, though, and took this chance to swing wildly at the bear, who used its armored shoulder to block the blow.

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Julius jumped with kinetic energy and slammed the wide-open bear with the staff, aiming right between the gaps of the helmet and the chestplate. To his frustration, the blow still didn't do that much damage. The bear shook it off like it was nothing, but he had gotten the monster's attention at the very least.

Much like before, the bear's domain blasted out and tried to freeze Julius, but this time, Julius was prepared. He had already charged his soul, and the moment it touched Julius, he let loose a small explosion.

His already wounded soul was damaged even further, and he coughed out a spray of blood right on the bear's fur. However, he didn't use [Void Step] to gain some distance. Instead, he latched himself onto the Tier 5 as if he were a leech.

If he couldn't hurt the Frost Bear with sheer force, then he would have to do something else.

He had gotten the idea from Freya and Galten when they explained to him the possible danger of his potent healing abilities—mutated overgrowth.

He let out a manic laugh as he reached out his aura to find the injuries of the bear. Thankfully, Emil had done some damage, and there was some to work with. Julius focused on these injuries and started to go through his typical healing process, calling upon Drasil for some aid.

The bear's body must have allowed it to happen instinctively because it was healing magic. Still, Julius was surprised at how easily the life mana penetrated the monster's domain and into the beast's flesh. He wasn't about to ignore this opportunity, though.

He quickly crafted a healing structure with that life mana, but instead of making a sturdy and well-supported design, he purposefully made it as ugly as possible. He recalled everything Galten and Freya told him, then did the complete opposite. They told him to follow the paths the soul laid out, this time he ignored these paths and started to dig his own path, using his mana and aura as a bulldozer. He carved nasty channels and focused his intent on causing as much damage as possible. He let out a breathless gasp as the effort strained every ounce of his will.

However, hidden just behind his strain, a piece of his mind was surprised to see how easily his Phoenix Concept went along with this. There had always been a darker side to the Concept, which made sense considering its relation to death, but Julius didn't think it would take to this new technique without resistance.

With one final push and a silent roar, he completed his mangled, woven structure of life magic.

The bear didn't realize what was happening until it was too late. The life mana activated, and the minor injuries over its body started to ripple as if worms were burrowing underneath its skin. Then, to Julius's horror, he saw several jagged spikes of bones rip out of the beast's fur.

The previously pearly white fur was now falling off in huge piles, and massive sores appeared in these bald areas. Those sores quickly swelled up and exploded in disgusting blasts of pus. Julius was fading in and out of consciousness but was somehow able to kick himself away to avoid getting splashed by the gross substance.

The Frost Bear, which was still fighting off Emil, let out a loud roar of pain, and it lost focus as it attempted to figure out what was happening. The bear's domain suddenly shrank and condensed down into its body to get rid of the problem.

The domain quickly wiped all of Julius's mana, and the mutated growth stopped immediately, but the damage was done.

With the monster's domain no longer concentrated on protecting its body, Emil was finally able to land a massive strike on the Frost Bear's head. The warhammer slammed into the monster with such force that Julius was partly deafened from the shockwave. The helmet was only able to protect the bear to a certain extent, and the blow knocked the bear off its feet, sending it tumbling to the ground.

The helmet had also been ripped off from the attack, and Emil leaped in the air to strike once more. The dazed bear wasn't even aware of the attack until it was struck again. That wasn't the end of it either. Emil didn't show any mercy and continuously pounded his warhammer into the fallen Frost Bear.

He didn't care about the wave of ice that was released from the monster, even though it was cold enough to completely freeze the right half of Julius's body from where he was standing. Emil was deadly focused as he drove strike after strike into the now vulnerable bear.

A couple of the Tier 4 bears must have noticed their leader being beaten down and were on their way to help. Julius responded right away and groaned as his mana sluggishly bent to his wishes. Several spikes of mana were created so slowly that he almost felt embarrassed at the sight.

He pulled deep within his soul and let out a primal scream as he dragged the very last dredges of his mana from his core. Blood exploded from his orifices from the stress, but he didn't falter. He relied on his Will Concept to keep his mind focused.

Then he finally infused the spikes with [Void Strike] and sent them blasting toward the Frost Bears. They were off target and weaker than usual, but thankfully, it was just enough. The spikes smashed into the bear, and while they didn't kill, they were enough to stall for Emil to land one final overhead smash on the Frost Bear.

The man was so tired that he almost didn't realize that the Tier 4s were on top of him. Julius didn't have enough energy to scream out a warning, but he had enough willpower still left in him that he was able to blast his aura to get the man's attention.

It worked, and the chief, despite his fatigue, looked over at the Tier 4s and swung his hammer. In a blow, the man tore apart the upper torsos of the bears.

It was only once they were dead that Emil dragged the heavy warhammer over to Julius and plopped his tired body next to him.

"That was easier than expected," the village chief gasped out to Julius.

All Julius could do was cough up blood as he laughed.

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