The Systems Challenge

When they reached the top of the rise and could actually see the stellar bear, Elin wasn't sure how to react. Not only did the bear seem like a mountain in and of itself, but its gaze looked like it could see through her entire existence while unable to see her at all.

She wasn't sure how to react to it, but she was willing to let the others decide what to do. After all, they'd be the ones on the front line while she'd be there for support. It wasn't clear if she'd be able to do anything specific, but she knew that the others counted on her to do her thing.

The bear was around halfway up the slope of the mountain, heading straight for them. Though, how fast it seemed to be moving was almost like it was moving through air that was incredibly thick. Like if she merely walked at a casual pace, she'd be able to walk twice as far as a single step from the bear would take it, before it could take that step.

Although, as she looked at the bear, she wasn't really sure exactly what the others might be able to do. She hoped that things would go as well as planned, but given the size of the bear, and how difficult regular bears were to kill, she wasn't sure what to expect with this bear.

Although, when she looked at the others, only Elmo seemed to have any worries about the upcoming fight. Elin wasn't sure if that was because he was like her and just didn't like the situation in the first place or if he was just the only one she could see that wasn't very good at hiding their unease. Assuming he was trying to hide it in the first place.

Personally, she hoped that the decision would be made to back down so they could reassess if their plan of attack was still viable or if they needed to adjust it. If only to delay attacking the bear. The very thought of getting closer to that bear made Elin break into a cold sweat. She was pretty sure that the paws of that bear were at least twice as wide as the widest wagon they'd had when they'd been travelling with Kim's army.

Despite her worries, the others started to charge down at the bear. Making Elin give up on her hopes that this fight could get delayed. Not that she was really surprised at the matter.

Elin launched out a volley of her Sacred Flare spell. She hoped that it would at least do something, though she couldn't say that she expected anything. Or at least anything that she'd be able to tell

However, she knew that she wasn't to do anything else after that initial volley, but rather wait until she saw anyone else need help. Though, with how slow the bear was, she couldn't imagine anyone not being able to get hit by the bear, unless they were so distracted that they got crushed themselves by the bear's slow movements.

Not that she expected anyone to survive if the bear actually did manage to crush anyone. With that size she'd be more surprised if someone survived long enough for her to get to them to heal the injuries that they'd definitely have sustained from the bear.

Still, she saw Elmo, Patricia, and Patrick begin to launch his spells on the bear, as everyone else began using their weapons to attack the bear as best as they could.

However, like Elmo had suspected, it was clear that they weren't making any real headway at dealing any damage to the bear. Or at least in any way that Elin could see.

Elin watched as the others in the combined group attacked. The bear didn't seem to have any luck at counterattacking them in response, although it seemed more annoyed than angry at the attacks. Like it was having to fend off a swarm of angry insects.

Kim, Jonas, Elwin, Bart, and Thomas were attacking the bear up close with their melee weapons while Frank, Owen, and Stanley were shooting arrows at the bear. While Elin couldn't be sure if the arrows were actually doing any actual damage, she had to admit that if an arrow reached an especially vulnerable area, like an eye, it could do more damage than anything else. Although, Elin had a feeling that wasn't likely to happen.

Elin wondered if there was anything that might tip things into their favor, as it mostly felt like they were at a stalemate. That nothing they did was having any real effect.

Maybe Patrick's fire attacks were doing some damage, but Elin had a feeling that if it was doing something, that it wasn't doing enough. That any damage it was causing wasn't of any real significance. Much like putting a hand too close to the fire for a minute.

Patricia's ice attacks didn't seem to have any actual effect. That they merely made it seem like the bear was getting hit with a light frost, comparatively based on it's size. Though, as far as Elin could tell, Patricia didn't seem like she was willing to give up her continual frozen assault.

Elmo was launching one spell after another, typically his Brimstone Flare and Frozen Shrapnel. Though, his spells seemed to have even less of an effect than Patricia's attacks were having. Not that even he was letting that deter his efforts.

Then while Elin wasn't able to see how well the others were actually doing against the bear, given how the bear seemed more annoyed than angry, hurt, and hostile. Elin wasn't sure what they might be able to do in order to actually make any headway in deal any amount of significant damage to the bear, but she could tell that what they were doing wasn't having any real effect. That if they continued, they'd merely wear themselves out and eventually the bear would be able to land a blow, regardless of how slow it was.

However, despite her ability to se how well all of them were faring against the bear, she couldn't see how she would be able to actually say anything about it. Not with how she was at the rear of the fighting, merely waiting to try and heal anyone who wasn't able to get out of the way of the bear in time. Though, Elin suspected that it was going to be a while before any of that happened.

Which actually made this whole situation rather boring for Elin. She itched to just do something, anything else right then. However, she knew that she either needed to wait or just leave. Which was now something she was really starting to consider, given that she was really feeling less of a member of the group in this situation than she had when it was just her, Kim, Jonas, and Elmo.

Elin wasn't sure how long the fight had been going when the bear seemed to actually take notice of those who were ineffectively attacking it. Elin wasn't sure if it was getting tired of what it likely considered an irritation or if there was something else, but it slowly stood on its hind legs, lifting its front part up about maybe a quarter of the height of the mountain before coming back down, its speed aided with the force of gravity.

Elin felt her eyes widen as she realized what was going to happen. Not that she even had time to react before the tremor caused by the bear's front half slamming into the mountainside knocked her down to the ground.

While she didn't get anything worse than maybe a few bruises and a couple scrapes, she could see that for those by the bear, getting knocked down was a bad thing. As while the bear was slow, it was at least fast enough to try to step on those who were struggling to get back on their feet.

So, she could only watch in horror as half of those attacking the bear in close quarters fell under it's left paw. Elin hadn't expected this to happen, and even with her spell to bring people back to life, she didn't think that she'd be able to save everyone, although she couldn't say if she'd be able to anyway, given how close to the bear she'd have to get.

Yet, as she watched the bear move its paw away, she didn't see any signs of anyone having been crushed under it. Nor did she see anyone who weren't directly under where the bear's paw was. Elin couldn't think of how that was, but she couldn't help but just feel relief that it wasn't the case. Even Owen, Stanley, and Frank weren't anywhere to be seen, though she didn't let herself think too much about that.

She wondered if maybe she'd actually been knocked out when she'd fallen and this was just a really weird dream. Although, she did notice that Patricia, Patrick, and Elmo were carefully making a quick exit, not even trying to resume casing their spells. Not that Elin thought it mattered anyway. All she could do herself right then was accompany them in their hasty retreat.