Dozens of them.
Large Fellfang Grizzlies, their brown fur thick and ragged like wild moss, standing as tall as houses and wider than any wagon. Their claws looked like carved obsidian, jagged and longer than a man's arm.
The most frightening part, though, were their fangs—huge lower tusks that jutted out from below their snouts, curving upward like pale blades made of bone, stained faintly red from whatever they last fed on.
Their breath came out like smoke, and even while resting, they looked like carved statues of death waiting to move.
Axelius stopped walking.
Owen jumped down from his shoulder and pulling out the katana, tossing it up. Axelius caught it in one smooth motion, his eyes never leaving the grizzlies.
The moment the steel was in his hand, the aura around him pulsed again, stronger this time.
Then something strange happened.
Three flickers of dark light sparked beside him.
And from those shadows, three figures were thrown out—one after the other.
