Haunting, corrupted trees were tossed around like victims of a toddler's rage. Hunter felt fear rising in his heart as his body worked overtime to prepare him for the battle ahead. His pain and fatigue were forgotten. His senses sharpened, and his muscles twitched with barely contained energy. When Hunter's opponent crashed onto the path, he felt prepared.

In the face of overwhelming power, Hunter's mind had gone to a place between sleep and wakefulness. He didn't do it consciously. It was a relaxed, dream-like state where his thoughts flowed through his body like they were emotions made manifest. He felt alarm, anger, and hunger. They were mixed in a potent brew that both invigorated and sustained him. He didn't have a word for the trance he found himself in. An Archive notification alerted him to change to his status, but he dismissed it. He couldn't afford any distractions.

Hunter's opponent finally revealed itself by crashing to the last line of trees. The stench of hidden places and rotten corpses punched Hunter's senses like a blow to the gut. Even with his newfound inner peace, Hunter couldn't suppress the pounding of his heart. Rising on two feet, a bear three times as tall as the teenager cast him in its shadow. Its fur was the color of old blood that faded into a soot black. The hair was matted with the remains of its last victims mixed with its own shit.

Each limb had five sword-length claws. They reflected the crimson light overhead with a metallic shimmer. Each one could spit a full-grown man without much effort. The claws on its feed gouged deep furrows into the densely packed earth. Its mass seemed to defy all the rules of nature. It was a twisted, tainted creature.

Hunter and the bear studied each other for a couple of seconds. Hunter's gray irises were fixed on the green flames that burned hatefully in the bear's eye sockets.

Lvl ?? Greed-Twisted Bear

Hunter studied the bear in a detached, clinical manner. He supposed that it made sense for a bear could be warped by the influence of the Rift. During the best of times, the creatures in Colorado were shy, solitary creatures. They tend to stay away from humans until they were hungry. However, there were signs all over Crested Butte warning not to feed bears. Once they learned that humans were a source of food, they became ravenous, dangerous animals.

Hunter had idly wondered what happened to the native life on the mountain, and it seemed he had found the answer. Just like everything else touched by greed, this primal specimen had been transformed into a funhouse mirror of itself. All the parts were right, but it was subtly changed by demonic forces.

Flaming eyes notwithstanding, now that Hunter was studying it closer, its limbs were misshapen. One arm appeared slightly longer than the other. Its flesh around its face was cracked and seeping pus. One leg had six claws rather than the typical five. Overall, it was a bear but also not-quite-a-bear. It was sad.

As if sensing Hunter's pity, the bear roared its defiance. Thankfully, it didn't have the same sonic attack that the imps wielded. It was all brute force and rage. Terrifying, to be sure, but Hunter thought he had all the right tools to defeat the bear. He wasn't sure where his confidence was coming from, but it was a welcome salve to the fear he felt. His courage wasn't the absence of fear. It was his ability to push through the fear.

He rose his right hand. It felt slow, like he was pushing it through water. Emerald flames lit up his palm, and then time returned to its natural state. Hunter released a barrage of fireballs until his mana was thoroughly exhausted. A dozen infernal projectiles impacted against the bear. It shrieked as the fire blossomed over its flesh and set alight the fur and biological remains of earlier kills. The sound was grating to the ears, wholly different from the creature's prior roaring.

When the last fireball detonated, the bear exploded into action. It dropped to all fours and ran toward Hunter. It's rumbling steps shattered the earth and propelled it far faster than a creature that size should be able to move.

Hunter was already sprinting before the bear moved. His heightened Perception had observed the flexing muscles that choreographed the creature's movements before its brain had even finished sending its instructions. His Intelligence matched with the battle fugue spurred his body into action before he had consciously recognized the threat.

The bears charge took him past Hunter, and the warrior took advantage of the near-miss. His sword snaked out and bit deeply into the bear's arm, ribs, and thigh. Black blood gushed from the wounds and soaked the ground. Hunter could already feel his health, mana, and stamina regenerating as the Flames of Avarice absorbed power from the bear.

The creature twisted faster than Hunter thought possible and slapped him in the chest with an open strike. His armor, The Timely Investment, absorbed the majority of the force behind the blow. Hunter was still propelled from his feet, and the air knocked out of his chest, but that turned out to be a blessing. His unintentional reaction caused the bear's follow-up slash to miss, and his breath wasn't knocked out of him when he crashed to the ground.

Hunter gasped and rolled to his feet while throwing another fireball. It exploded in the bear's face, and it roared in pain. It tried to use its claws to beat away the flames, but it only slashed its face to ribbons with its razor-sharp claws.

Taking advantage of the momentary distraction, Hunter sprinted forward and plunged his blade into the beast's left eye. He detected the bear's reaction and twisted out of the way as a massive paw swiped through where his head had used to be. Half-blind and enraged, the bear made more sweeping attacks.

Hunter didn't try to fight the bear directly. It outclassed him in sheer strength, and the warrior knew he wouldn't survive even a glancing blow from the beast. Instead, he focused on small glancing attacks with his sword. On more hits than not, he could replenish his energy while stealing from the bear.

Soon, the battle became one of attrition. Hunter circled continuously to stay on the monster's blind side while launching attacks of opportunity. His goal wasn't to win decisively but to wear it down until he could make a killing blow.

The fight continued for hours in this manner. The bear only grew more enraged and wild while Hunter became lost in the rhythm of battle. The world narrowed until all he thought about was pivot-slash-dodge-circle-distract-pivot. The continuous greed-aspected attacks drained Hunter's enemy while keeping him refreshed.

After uncountable rotations of his strategy, the bear was finally exhausted. It made a final attack before crashing to the ground. The abrupt change of pace caught Hunter off guard. His body was already trying to strike another blow, but he restrained himself while warily watching his enemy. It was taking ragged breaths, and the warrior could see foam around the monster's open mouth.

Hunter made traced small circled with the tip of his sword while he assessed his opponent. It was covered in hundreds of little cuts. The ground underneath the pair had been turned into a black marsh from the bear's significant loss of blood.

Deciding that the bout was over, Hunter paced his way to the bear's head. He lined up his blade and plunged it into the already blinded eye. He summoned every point of Strength to plunge it deep into the creature's brain. It thrashed weakly as the blade pierced its brain before finally going lax.

Congratulations! You have slain a Lvl ?? Greed-Twisted Bear. You have earned…

ERROR… You do not possess a Class and, therefore, cannot earn any experience. Please find the nearest Rift Sentinel and receive your Class.