Even after the Black Bear had been shot once, it was unable to find Michael who was hiding behind the thick canopy of leaves, perched high up in the tree.
The Black Bear had its head turned in Michael's direction, but it didn't have enough time to take a closer look. The huge Frenzy Deer attacked the Black Bear violently.
Meanwhile, the rest of the huge Frenzy Deers horde was either returning to the vicinity of the clearing or charged at the Black Bear to attack it from all sides.
Wanting to make the most out of the situation, Michael also continued to shoot.
With the Hardwood Bow fully drawn out with the highest possible pulling force, in addition to the high destructive force the Return Arrow could unleash, Michael could inflict some serious damage. The Black Bear's fur might be too thick for the arrow to penetrate through, but there were enough spots Michael could target.
Even if his arrow was not a very lethal weapon, Michael's attack distracted the Black Bear. He released the Return Arrow whenever the Black Bear was about to claw one of the Frenzy Deers or dig its fangs into them, slowing it down. That way, Michael supported the Frenzy Deers while further enraging the Black Bear.
The huge Frenzy Deer used the distraction caused by Michael to charge at the Black Bear twice. It injured the Black Bear by cutting deep into its fur with the huge and pointy antlers.
The Frenzy Deer horde supported their leader from all sides, inflicting minor injuries on their enemy. They might only be Tier-1 Monsters, but their antlers were a force to reckon given their numbers.
After being surrounded by the Frenzy Deers and faced with an onslaught from all sides, the Black Bear's limbs sustained several serious injuries. Despite that, it was able to pinpoint Michael's location at last.
'It finally found me? Was about time it did,' Michael thought as he saw the Black Bear looking straight at him.
He smiled lightly and shouted out loudly, "Water Barrier!"
Kelia Tan waved her wand the moment Michael's order left his lips. She conjured a large water screen using bits of energy and moisture in the surroundings. A thin layer separated the fighting monsters from Michael and his people.
It was not strong enough to block any attacks, but that was not Kelia's intention either way. She created a temporary barrier, blocking the Black Bear's view while giving others the time to move now that their cover was blown.
Thus, Michael and the other long-range combatants jumped down from the tree. They used the other tree branches around them as a staircase and reached the ground within seconds. Afterward, Michael and his people changed their position once again.
The water screen dispersed while their group took the cover of the dense vegetation and put some distance from the mighty beast.
Realizing that it had lost Michael in the forest, the Black Bear grew enraged. And while it was trying to look for Michael again, it had to endure the constant attacks of the huge Frenzy Deer and its horde. The Frenzy Deers gained more courage and attacked more valiantly seeing that they weren't getting attacked or torn apart.
But their bravado did not last long as the Black Bera's pawns smashed down on two of them as if it was swatting angrily at flies.
Enraged, yet unable to find the perpetrator, the Black Bear could only unleash its wrath onto the pesky beings around it. The Frenzy Deers were crushed, clawed, and bitten, killed one after another.
The huge Frenzy Deer was able to inflict more lethal wounds on the Black Bear's body in the meantime, but it had lost a lot of blood and was already lethally wounded as well.
"You can join the attacks now. Target the Black Bear's wounds for now," Michael ordered after he heaved himself on a large branch high up in the air of another tree. The Archers and Aero Crossbowmen had followed him, and they followed his instructions without hesitation.
Their distance to the battlefield had been shortened to 150 meters. It was still a big distance, but the Untamed Jungle was not windy, and it was not raining heavily either. Thus, hitting the target from 150 meters was the only issue.
Fortunately, the target was big and easy to pinpoint.
In the following ten minutes, the scene on the battlefield changed drastically.
The Water Elemental Mage changed the terrain in the clearing several times and showered it with rain to turn it sticky and trap the legs of the Black Bear in mud. This would provide Michael, the long-range units, and the Frenzy Deer opportunities to strike while limiting the Black Bear's movement. Simultaneously, Kelia conjured water spikes out of the moisture in the mud to pierce through the Black Bear's paws and its lower body.
Kelia conjured and released water bullets as well, but their lethality was highly restricted due to the amount of energy at her disposal, and her distance from the target.
But that didn't matter a lot because Michael and his long-range units were able to inflict some injuries upon the Black Bear. Michael's attack caused the most destructive damage since his attacks targeted the Black Bear's head most of the time.
The distraction caused by Michael and his people was enough to allow the Frenzy Deers to further injure and tire out their opponent, and the injuries inflicted by the Frenzy Deers were enough to distract the Black Bear from Michael's attacks.
With their combined power, it was possible to dwindle the Black Bear's strength drastically. But it was not impossible to avoid casualties altogether. In fact, the Black Bear was strong enough to deepen the severe injuries all over the huge Frenzy Deer's body and kill three dozen Frenzy Deers.
The huge Frenzy Deer was taking its last breaths and was about to bleed to death.
It was Michael's great fortune that the Black Bear attacked the Frenzy Deer horde and lessened the number of beasts they would have to deal with. He realized that the huge Frenzy Deer alone would have been strong enough to trample his entire military might to death before half a dozen arrows would have pierced its hide.
Both the huge Frenzy Deer and the Black Bear were definitely Tier-2 Monsters. The power, stamina, and endurance they displayed were several times higher than Michael had expected. They were, in fact, stronger than the lizard mother.
This was something Michael realized upon watching the terrifying battle of the two powerhouses for a long time.
It was probably another half an hour later when the huge Frenzy Deer and the Black Bear finally showed signs of exhaustion. Both monsters should have bled to death by now, had they been ordinary wild animals, but they were still alive.
Michael and his people were stupefied by that, but they were not discouraged. The two powerhouses and the remaining Frenzy Deer horde were already exhausted and weakened.
Meanwhile, Michael and his team were neither exhausted nor weakened.
They could display their full strength and reap all benefits!
"Charge!!" Michael shouted out loudly.
He had returned to the ground with the Archers and Aero Crossbowmen and charged straight into the clearing.
Tigerfang had manifested in his right hand and Tiara charged next to him, wielding her silver spear in one hand and the round-shield in another. Her new Artifacts materialized around her body, protecting, and strengthening her as she charged ahead.
It took Michael a single glance to understand that Tiara's strength had increased by more than 30%. She charged ahead confidently and pierced the silver spear through the head of the closest Frenzy Deer.
Now that the Frenzy Deers had returned to the clearing, more than 50 of them were left alive.
However, most were focused on the Black Bear and their leader.
Some tried to protect their leader while others attacked the Black Bear with their remaining strength.
As for the few that didn't do either, they turned into easy targets of Michael and his people!
**
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