I Can Counter-Kill?

It was obvious that none of them intended to give up. Even if they were rescued, giving up would cost them more than just having to repeat the year. Besides, they'd already missed the best time to call for help. By the time the rescue team arrived, a few people in this group would probably be dead.

This bear... In the terminology of this world, it had a very high Mutation Degree. As long as an Exotic Beast's Mutation Degree was high enough, it could become absurdly powerful, no matter what species it belonged to. So classifications based on species weren't entirely reliable.

Even lions of the same species could vary wildly in strength. What was so strange about a mouse turning out to be a genius among rats? Judging an opponent's strength by its species... Usually, that worked. But when your luck ran out... well.

Of course, the offspring of powerful Exotic Beasts were bound to have exceptional innate talent.

There was a thud, followed by a series of cracking sounds. The Brown Bear caught up with a student from the Flesh System and swatted him. The student was strong, and at a glance, his height of over two meters made him look imposing!

Then there was the Brown Bear. At a glance, it was also over two meters tall...

At the shoulder.

When it stood up, it was as tall as a two-story building. How could anyone compare?

The student was pretty tough. He hit several trees in a row, yet still managed a few groans. He spat up some blood, but that was all. He wouldn't die anytime soon. As for playing dead, supposedly bears weren't interested in corpses?

Oh, that was only when it came to eating. Maybe this one just happened to enjoy beating up corpses. Playing dead? You had some nerve!

The student was pretty loyal—or maybe that was just a common flaw among people with Flesh System abilities. They were full of energy, and always had a bit of youthful enthusiasm in them. Especially since he was still a student... Well, he wasn't much younger than Jiu Ming, either.

So after rolling around on the ground for a while, he got back up with a series of yells. He even picked up a broken-off section of tree trunk beside him and hurled it at the bear. The Brown Bear smashed the trunk with its head, reducing it to splinters. Its already bloodshot eyes now looked almost like tiny red bulbs.

Being passionate didn't mean being stupid. Those who were both passionate and stupid were often the hardest to kill. The student turned and ran the instant he threw the trunk. The enraged Brown Bear chased after him with a roar that shook the heavens.

Well, it looked like he wouldn't have to step in just yet. The big, stupid bear had a high Mutation Degree... Sure. But it seemed all its points had gone into its body. Maybe it was just a little smarter than an ordinary bear?

It didn't seem much smarter, at least. It had been lured away so easily. The student hadn't even called it a "bastard"—he'd just thrown something at it.

"Move! Now!" The Brown Bear had been lured away for the moment, and the other students knew that one student couldn't hold out for long. Their abilities barely hurt the bear; its thick fur made it highly resistant to their attacks.

Their only Chance of Survival was to try something else. If they played their cards right, maybe they could counterattack?

All right, maybe the idea that I could counter-kill it was a bit too optimistic.

But... why not try?

If they killed this bear, every one of them would get a huge boost to their final exam scores!

"Oh? You reacted pretty quickly." Seeing what the students were about to do, Jiu Ming wasn't in a hurry anymore. He watched them like a bystander. Their method was crude: dig a pit...

Back in the day, their predecessors had used this tried-and-true method to bury how many enemies they couldn't beat head-on? No matter how capable you were, once you fell in... once you fell in... Well, that depended on the skill of whoever dug the hole...

Dig it well, and you could bury anyone. Dig it badly, and your target would climb right back out as soon as it fell in. What was the point of that?

The soil on the ground visibly began to sink, like quicksand. Jiu Ming glanced at the student pressing both hands to the earth. An Earth Element Ability? Digging a pit would certainly be convenient. He gave the growing pit a closer look. They weren't mindlessly digging a hole; it was just the right size to trap the Brown Bear.

Looking at this Earth Element Ability student, who seemed so honest and harmless, Jiu Ming wondered if he did this kind of thing often. Otherwise, how could he be so experienced?

And he didn't stop after digging one pit. He dug several more in different places, then covered their openings with a layer of soil. With the Earth Element Ability student's control, several students could stand on top of the pits without falling in.

Once everything was set, they hurriedly used their communicators to alert the student who'd been drawing the bear's attention. The rumbling sounds that had gradually faded away came back toward them. The student was in even worse shape than before, his clothes now tattered.

Apart from the Earth Element Ability user, the other students quickly moved to help him. The Earth Element Ability student stood there calmly—though he'd have looked calmer if his hands weren't still trembling. An Earth Spike suddenly burst out of the ground, hitting the Brown Bear right between its hind legs...

Hey, hey! You really didn't deserve that honest-looking face of yours. It barely did any damage, but the effect was spectacular!

The Brown Bear's bloodshot eyes turned toward the Earth Element Ability student, and it charged straight at him. Even Jiu Ming couldn't bear to watch what happened to the bear next.

Maybe the Brown Bear couldn't understand why the ground had suddenly caved in. Those little things had just run across it without anything happening!

The trapped Brown Bear refused to stay down. Relying on its Brute Force, it thrashed violently. The ground shuddered with every movement, and deep cracks spread outward from the pit. Maybe it could smash its way out through sheer strength.

The students were starting to regret it. Was a pit ten meters deep too shallow? If only they'd dug it more than twenty meters deep...

The Earth Element Ability student was limited by his ability; this was as deep as he could make it. Now he was doing everything he could to reinforce the trap. The earth flowed like water, smoothing over the cracks around the pit. Even the opening was slowly closing.

They were openly digging a pit to bury it alive.

Jiu Ming nodded. The bear's fate was sealed. The other students were using their abilities to keep narrowing the opening, interfering with the Brown Bear and striking it while it was down.

"Roar! Roar! Roar..."

Another roar rang out, and every student present went pale. Damn it, there was another one?

The Earth Element Ability student was drenched in sweat. One bear had already pushed him to his limit. Another one? Should they just run?

"Keep at it. We'll lure the other one away." After a brief discussion, three students from the group stepped forward. The student from the Flesh System was nearly out of strength; he'd made it back only by sheer willpower. "Our abilities are all speed-related, so we'll be fine for now. Hurry up and finish this."

They had a good team spirit. Jiu Ming sincerely praised them. Maybe they cared about their credits, but so what?

They deserved praise for going this far.

But should he keep watching over them? Things were happening on both sides, and he couldn't be in two places at once...

Hm?

A faint glimmer caught the corner of his eye. Jiu Ming grinned and waved toward it, then quietly followed the three students. Someone else had come to help, so he didn't need to keep an eye on things here.

This year's students really weren't bad, the Hidden Support thought as he watched from hiding. Under normal circumstances, these students wouldn't stand a chance against this Brown Bear; it could trounce them with one paw. Bear-type Exotic Beasts were always trouble: thick-skinned and tough, highly resistant to physical attacks and equally resistant to abilities. Fortunately, most of them relied on their bodies. They were difficult to deal with, but there were plenty of ways to fight them.

Still, the students had actually dared to think about counterattacking while they were running away—and they'd pulled it off. If the student who first drew the bear's attention had been more timid, or if the others had gotten scared and chosen to keep running, the consequences... Heh.

They'd handled what came next pretty well, too. After learning there was a second Brown Bear, they'd made the right choice. They had a decent chance of taking them down one at a time, and there were other teams in the Training Area.

They'd gotten lucky and escaped. If the two enraged bears went on a rampage, the other students would be in for a world of trouble...

"Which one's male and which one's female?" Looking at the bear, which seemed even stronger than the one being buried alive, Jiu Ming muttered in confusion. Ahem, he wasn't going to go check its butt.

The three students had speed-related abilities, and they ran like the wind, occasionally turning back to harass the Brown Bear. But they were getting too close to it. Jiu Ming shook his head. The Brown Bear looked clumsy and didn't seem to have any long-range abilities, but the definition of "long-range" was rather vague, wasn't it?

A rock thrown at someone counted as a ranged attack, too.

Bang!!

The Brown Bear, thoroughly provoked by the three students, swatted a large tree beside it. Its huge Brute Force shattered the trunk, and the impact sent splinters flying toward the three students ahead at even greater speed.

"Holy crap!!"

The three students hadn't expected the Brown Bear to pull a move like that. They froze for a moment, then hurriedly scattered to find cover.

They were too close to the Brown Bear. Before they could get behind cover, quite a few of the flying splinters struck them. Two of them had Mental System abilities—the kind that dealt with the elements—and the third had a Flesh System ability that enhanced his speed. In short, none of them could take much of a beating.

"That was close..." Clutching his shoulder, the student endured the pain, which might have been from a bone injury, and checked on his other two companions. Only after seeing that neither had injured a leg did he breathe a long sigh of relief.

A leg injury was the worst thing that could happen. If that happened, they might as well stop running and lie on the ground pretending to be dead. Their odds of surviving might actually be better that way.

This time, they didn't dare get carried away just because the Brown Bear couldn't catch them, like they had before...