The red lightning bolt tore open the ground in its path, clouding the clearing in dust.
Although, the dust and dirt was immediately blown away by the ensuing thunderclap, revealing the bear's ferocious appearance as it returned to its relaxed posture after firing the lightning bolt.
The three cats had almost been paralyzed by the static and the shockwave, but the bear's snorting forced them to pull the ragged and dirty purple cat out of the pile of beasts and cages.
The weakened beasts hadn't been able to withstand the repeated shocks and waves of pressure, so the dark purple cat had to be dragged and carried away by Lucy and the other two.
Although the bear was confident that not many beings that were lower level than itself could withstand its charged lightning bolt, a gut feeling prevented it from turning its gaze away from the only remaining cloud of smoke.
The bear's instinct proved correct since, on the other side of the smoke, a silhouette's outlines started becoming defined as the smoke dissipated.
However, the silhouette's appearance was irregular and nothing at all like a human figure. The bear was confused since its lightning bolt usually reduced the size of its targets when it struck, not make them larger.
When the smoke finally cleared completely, Toz's figure was revealed. He had been blown back into the tree again, and both him and the tree were covered in scorch marks and traces of having been struck by lightning.
But next to the tree, protruding diagonally out of the ground, was a pair of metal rods, half melted, charred, twisted, and bent beyond recognition.
Using the small window where the bear charged its lightning, Toz made use of one of the several preparations he and Nil had made while they were running around the clearing, trying to find the cat and a way to interrupt the ritual.
With them being in the middle of a forest filled with the lightning element, it wouldn't be weird to be attacked with actual lightning. In order to prepare for something similar, Toz and Nil had prepared several sets of lightning rods to direct the lightning into the ground.
Since the lightning rods were made and reinforced by Toz's fourth level mana, they had been enough to redirect most of the lightning bolt fired by the bear, but not all of it, so Toz had still gotten hit pretty badly. Not badly enough to knock him out, but bad enough to make it difficult to move, and when he did move, his limbs and eyelids twitched from the remnant electricity lingering in his body.
The Demonic Spark Bear merely raised an eyebrow at Toz's survival before it trudged over to deal the finishing blow. It was slightly surprising that a weak fourth level human had survived its attack twice, but by the looks of it, making it a third time would be outside the range of the human's capability.
However, Toz would only be dead if the Demonic Spark Bear did attack a third time.
Taking advantage of the thunderclouds doing their best to repair the hole and sinking the forest back into darkness once again, Lucy covered Nil and Mindle, carrying the purple cat in a veil of shadows, and sent them into the forest where they could take cover.
After the three cats entered the forest, Lucy turned his gaze toward the bear leisurely approaching Toz. Although the bear had charged blindingly fast when launching its first attack, now that Toz was incapacitated, the bear didn't feel a need to rush and took its time while surveying the depths of the forest beyond the clearing.
The bear was in a completely new place, so it was only natural it would be moderately cautious, even if the place for its transportation didn't hold any immediate danger and seemed like a great spot to grow stronger using all the nearby lightning.
But when the Demonic Spark Bear only had six meters left to reach its target, slightly more than its body length, the bear felt someone target it. It felt like someone was peering directly into its mind and poking around its brain. It didn't hurt, but it was extremely annoying and violating.
The bear looked around with blazing eyes looking for the culprit but couldn't instantly find Lucy, who had hidden himself deeply within the shadows outside the clearing. Even if the bear couldn't find Lucy, it could sense the general direction, which was to the opposite side of the clearing from Toz.
Having found the approximate location of the one foolishly attacking it, the bear didn't hesitate to turn around. In any case, the human it temporarily ignored was in no shape to move anywhere. At most, it could crawl a little bit into the forest. There was no way the human could escape its pursuit, even if it spent a few moments rampaging through the area the culprit was in.
But right before the bear could begin attacking the area with all its might, the feeling of its mind being invaded with tendrils caressing and poking at its brain disappeared.
Then a few moments later, it appeared again, this time originating from deeper within the forest, and it wasn't only touching his mind, it was padding it with slightly more force, enough to send a feeling of discomfort through the Demonic Spark Bear's spine, further irritating the bear.
And right when the bear got to the spot where the culprit should be, the feeling disappeared.
Then once again, from even further into the forest, it reappeared with even greater force, almost causing the bear pain.
Each time the bear sensed the location of the one troubling it, it rushed over but right before the bear could find the annoyance causing its discomfort and pain, the feeling vanished. And before the bear could relax or decide whether to go back to its initial prey or continue chasing, the prodding of its mind was continued.
The Demonic Spark Bear, in its rage, started feeling like it had been a bad choice coming through the portal. It had been promised a tremendous amount of lightning that wouldn't be easily come across back home. And it had indeed discovered a veritable cloud of lightning, right there for the taking. But along with it, he had been targeted by some nefarious creature intent on tormenting it until it lost all reason.
