Chapter 514:
Rylie didn’t spare them a thought. Her mind was locked on one goal — draw the beast away from the rest of the students.
She turned and ran, muscles coiled tight, her thoughts firing as fast as her strides. The bear thundered after her, shockingly fast for its size. The reek of it pressed closer.
Sunlight flashed through the leaves as the animal rose onto its hind legs, blotting out the light. Its injured forelimb curled in, but its other paw arced forward with bone-crushing force, cutting through the air toward Rylie’s back. One strike like that could end her life on the spot.
Rylie’s eyes were cold and unflinching. There was no hint of fear in them, only calculation. She had already mapped out her escape. As the bear’s paw came crashing down with the weight of a falling boulder, she moved — not backward, but in a fluid, snake-like slide to the side and behind. Her movement blurred, too quick for the eye to track.
The paw struck the spot she had occupied an instant before. Dirt and rock erupted like shrapnel, leaving a shallow crater gouged into the ground. A sharp sting burned across her skin as flying stones grazed her.
She came out of the roll already rising, not wasting a heartbeat.
Her right hand swept to her waist and drew the longest knife she carried. Her left reached over her shoulder for an arrow, gripping it point-first like a short spear instead of setting it to the bow.
The bear’s rage only deepened at the miss. It hurled its bulk forward again, jaws yawning wide, breath foul with blood and decay. The gleam of its fangs bore down on her head, intent on crushing her.
Facing this wild beast, Rylie advanced instead of retreating. When the gaping maw descended, she dropped low, sliding under it in a split-second move. Her knife hand lashed upward with the precision of a scalpel.
Steel sliced through the softer fur and flesh along the bear’s chest and belly, creating a shallow but stinging wound. A rush of hot blood spilled across the ground. The beast gave a strangled grunt, halting mid-motion as pain slowed its assault.
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Rylie shifted her weight and moved swiftly, circling to the side and slipping behind the bear with fluid precision. Her eyes narrowed, cold with focus, as she flipped the arrow in her grip like a striking viper, channeling all her strength and judgment into driving it into the vulnerable joint of the bear’s hind leg, where the dense fur thinned. The arrow plunged deep.
The bear shrieked, its roar twisted and ragged from the surge of pain. Its wounded leg buckled beneath its massive weight, disrupting the rhythm of its assault instantly.
The blow left the male bear staggering, its joint torn and useless, forcing a deafening, tortured howl from deep in its throat. The roar wasn’t just from agony—it was primal, wild, a furious cry that thundered through the mountains, tearing through the forest like a storm.
“Run, Zaylee, run!” Connie’s voice cracked, thick with panic, as she dragged Zaylee over the rough, root-covered terrain littered with leaves.
Zaylee’s limbs were unsteady, her knees threatening to give out, barely staying upright thanks to Connie’s iron grip on her arm.
“No, this is wrong!” Zaylee gasped, her voice broken as she pointed toward a distant shape, her eyes wide with fear. “We’ve looped around! That’s Rylie again!”
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