NOVEL NEXT Ch12 - It's a bear!
Chapter 12: It’s a bear!
Luca instantly dashed toward the suddenly appearing man-eating giant bear. Without anyone noticing, he had already drawn his magic sword from its sheath, lowering his stance as he swung the sword straight at the bear.
“—Skill [Burst]!”
He quickly closed the distance and flexed his right hand.
“—Skill [Thunder Sword]!”
Crackle! A fierce electric charge enveloped the sword, turning everyone’s vision white. The brilliant light was overwhelming. Streaks of lightning crawled along the ground from the sword, and the massive amount of magic power was channeled into a single strike, aiming at the bear.
The intense light blinded the beast as its dark, coarse fur began to sizzle and burn.
GRAAAAAAAARRR!!
The air filled with the distinctive smell of burning fur and fat, and the bear let out a pained roar.
Lena and her familiars stood frozen, mouths agape, overwhelmed by the sight before them.
Luca spun on his heel, using the [Burst] skill again to dash back to them. He was unusually flustered, his voice rising unconsciously.
“We need to run!”
“W-What!?”
“Hurry! I’ll carry all the bags, and Lena, take care of the familiars. Run with everything you’ve got!”
Luca grabbed the bags lying on the ground and slung them over his shoulder, tossing the slimes toward Lena.
“Eek!”
Lily quickly wrapped her arms around Lena’s neck, clinging on for dear life. Ahead, Luca looked back, urging them to follow, and though still confused, Lena steeled herself and began running.
Their destination was the opposite direction from the bear—far, far away!
As Lena ran, barely keeping up with him, her mind raced with questions.
“L-Luca! That bear didn’t go down from that amazing attack!?”
“It’s a good thing you borrowed that [Physical Ability Boost], Lena. If you’d tripped, we’d be in serious trouble. You’re running fine now, though.”
Luca’s voice was bitter as he replied.
“No way. That kind of attack? Nowhere near enough. I’m pretty sure that man-eating bear is the boss of this area. It’s level 35—I saw it.”
“Hiii!!”
“Eeeek!”
“Only elite knights would form a squad to hunt something like that… If we don’t get away, we’re really in trouble.”
Glancing back, they saw that the bear had already recovered from the blinding attack and was scanning the surroundings. It spotted Luca and the others and glared at them, unfazed by the damage it had taken. The level difference of 25 between Luca and the bear was a huge gap.
The bear bent its stocky body and bared its teeth in a sinister grin before pressing its back legs into the ground and charging toward them once more!
“Please, give us a break,” Lena thought, cold sweat running down her forehead. Luca checked the bear with his magic eye and found that it had a gift called [Sturdy]. “Just stop already,” he muttered.
“We’re going to enter the forest up ahead. Get ready! The trees are dense, so we’ll have to dodge them as we run!”
“Got it! Ouch!”
Lena bit her tongue in her panic. It seemed the physical ability boost didn’t extend to speaking skills. Poor thing.
At the edge of the grassy field was a patch of tall grass, and beyond that, a narrow road led into another forest. Thankfully, it was in the opposite direction from Danatzera, but how far could they really escape into a monster’s territory?
The man-eating giant bear had a strange obsession with food. It loved soft human flesh and would pursue its prey relentlessly once it locked on.
They burst through the grass and onto the road.
“!?”
Someone was there—a man in red!? What a nuisance at a time like this.
“Hey, hey! What was that sound and light earlier? Was it you screaming?”
“Ha! What a cute scream! What’re you running from? Something scarier than us?”
Two greasy-looking men in dirty red gear blocked their path, grinning wickedly.
“No way out! We’re the Red Fanatics gang! We run this whole area! Fear us and bow down!”
Wild Bandits appear! x2
“Skill [Electric Shock]!”
“AAAGHHHH!!”
The wild bandits were defeated! x2
“That was brutal!” Lena exclaimed.
The bandits hadn’t even had time to properly introduce themselves before Luca zapped them unconscious with a strong electric shock, nearly killing them in the process. His frustration at being blocked at such a crucial moment had gotten the better of him, and he’d poured extra magic power into the attack.
“We’ll use them as bait.”
“That’s cruel!”
“You care more about them than your own safety? Want to know their criminal records? You wouldn’t feel sorry for them. …Though, their meat looks pretty unappetizing.”
“My apologies! Let’s use them to buy time!”
“Nicely summed up.”
“Lily, cast an illusion on them!”
Lily, still clinging to Lena’s neck, turned and pointed her finger at the bandits.
“Skill [Illusion]!”
And just like that, the bandits’ bodies transformed into large, delicious-looking pieces of meat with cartoonishly thick bones sticking out of them. The blood-soaked meat looked disturbingly appetizing to monsters.
“…Wait, I said the bear likes people, didn’t I?”
“Oops.”
Luca’s voice had become panicked, unusual for him.
Yes, Lily had made the meat look delicious, but the bear chasing them preferred human flesh. It probably wouldn’t even be tempted by such an obviously strange piece of meat. Perhaps leaving the bandits as they were—ugly and human—might have worked better… even if that was a terrifying thought.
“…Hehe.”
It should not be forgotten that Lily’s base intelligence was [4].
“She’s so cute!”
However, the master, while shedding tears of blood, continues to praise his familiar. Perhaps it’s time to learn how to properly scold it.
…Luka’s mind was on the verge of overload, almost going blank from the wholesome world that had formed in this place.
But somehow, he pulled himself together and started thinking about what to do next.
Should I climb a tree?
…No, with that kind of attack power, the trunk would be shattered.
Should I hide somewhere?
…With its wild instincts, its nose would probably be sharp. It would definitely find me.
“Ah, geez… what should we do?”
If they kept running like this, their stamina would run out, and eventually, they would be caught.
The loud commotion might even alert the kingdom’s search party to their location.
When Luka glanced back, sure enough, the bear, paying no attention to the mysterious meat, was charging straight at them.
For now, Luka refocused on the forest ahead and dashed up the low stone steps with large strides.
Lena, panting heavily, somehow managed to follow him.
After running a few dozen meters into the forest, the two suddenly found themselves floating.
“!!”
…Although the ground was uneven around them, the forest floor seemed to stretch out flat as far as the eye could see. There were no cliffs or pits in sight.
So why this floating sensation?
That thought only lasted a moment.
An overwhelming feeling, like they were falling from a great height, shut down their thoughts.
Even their screams were swallowed whole by the hole.
The entrance closed.
All that remained was the usual forest, once again ruled by silence.
The man-eating bear growled in dissatisfaction, circling the spot where they had vanished, over and over as if unwilling to let them go.
▽Next! Labyrinth Fall?