Chapter 13

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Do-or-Die

Thanks to her <Intimidation> Letty managed to get the bear’s full attention. Showing unexpected agility, the colossal beast rushed her, all claws bared. Even so, Letty deftly dodged the blow.

“<Double Thrust>!”

Diving in to assist Letty, I plunged my spear into the bear’s wide-open flank. The beast reared back, a red splash jutting from its side.

<Heavy Blow> <Intimidation>! Over here!!”

While trying to get back its attention, Letty raised and brought down her hammer full force on the bear. The powerful blow would have killed instantly any of the wolves we fought earlier but the problem was, how much damage would go through that boulder-like body—

“—are you kidding me?!”

My eyes had found the bear’s HP gauge. The red bar that hovered over the beast’s head barely went down a few millimeters. Whether its defense was insanely high or its total HP was huge, it didn’t matter right now. What did matter was that our attacks were nowhere near enough to down him.

“Letty! It’s not working!”

“I noticed. And its attacks probably hurt a lot.”

“You don’t say!”

We kept our futile attacks going while arguing. Letty focused on building her aggro while I stabbed the bear all over.

A minute had passed when it let out a resounding roar.

“—huh?!”

In a swiping motion, the bear struck in front of him. I managed to get out of the way in the nick of time, but its log-sized arm struck wide and went to crash in the trunk of a nearby tree. The falling tree missed me by a whisker and I almost tripped on it in the confusion.

“Be careful, please!”

I pulled myself together at Letty’s warning and hurriedly took my distance.

Fighting in the forest means dealing with a lot of obstacles. We should try to stay in an open space as much as possible.

“Still, it sure is massive.”

The sheer size of the beast sent chills down my spine and I felt like my legs could buckle at any moment. That a thing like this was freely strolling around made the planet suddenly more terrifying.

“UGAAAH!”

The bear came once again for me. I ducked and countered with a thrust.

If we get hit it’s over but there’s nothing to worry about if we can keep dodging.

“Take that!”

Letty made use of her small body to dance around the bear while steadily delivering attacks. After a while, we got used to the speed and movement of the bear and the fight was getting smoother.

In a surprisingly small amount of time we cut down its HP by 50% and hope started to show its light. If we can keep up the pace, we might actually have a chance.

Or so I thought.

And thinking got me to lower my guard for a split moment.

“Ouch! —”

One moment I was floating and the next I was rolling fast on the ground, vision spinning and fallen leaves and dirt scattering in my wake. When I came back to my senses, I found myself paces away from the fight.

“Ow… Lemme check my LPs…”

I brought my arm up and took a look at my status. My LPs were hanging by a thread, threatening to drop to zero if someone were to so much as blow on it.

“Dammit, I can’t move with so few LPs.”

My whole body was going numb and screaming pain.

Turning to me, Letty let out a scream, “Ledge!”

“Careful, Letty! It hurts like hell!” I warned.

She desperately jumped and ran around the bear all the while worryingly calling my name.

“We were so damn close.”

Before we realized it, the HP bar was down to 10%. Sure, we might have been too weak but we still put up a good fight.

I found comfort in that thought and closed my eyes, feeling somewhat relieved.

“Don’t give up now!”

As I closed my eyes, Letty’s voice ringed throughout my body, and I blinked them open in surprise.

In the dim forest, Letty was still smartly dodging and delivering counterattacks.

“Please, it’s not over, Ledge!” she repeated.

“We came this far together! Don’t give up now. It’s… It’s not over yet!”

The bear brought his huge paw down, raising a cloud of dust and sending leaves in a swirl.

Letty’s next hit broke the ephemeral stalemate and gouged the flank of the beast.

The monster’s voice boomed in fury, oozing anguish and anger.

“You’re right, we can’t afford to give up now, can we?”

Letty’s words along with the desperate roar of the dying beast brought my fire back to life. Using my spear as a support, I lifted my creaking body and stood on my trembling knees.

“Hang in there, Letty.”

My voice came out awfully small but her bunny ears picked it up loud and clear. “Leave it to me!”

I lost track of how many times she had used her <Intimidation>. She was still fighting fervently, slipping through the deadly attacks of the bear.

I brought up my inventory. I could still help her.

“<Heavy Blow>!”

Letty’s vicious hammer found one of the bear’s knees. At the same time, the sound of something breaking resonated.

“Letty?!”

“I’m fine. Looks like its bones broke.”

I looked at the scene to see that the bear was down on one knee. The beast’s tough bones finally gave up under Letty’s repeated heavy attacks; the ensuing roar strengthening our hope.

“Letty, fight… I’ll fight, too. “

Clinging to my spear, I started walking. One step at a time, I crawled back to the battlefield.

“Kyaa!” The shriek of Letty resounded.

I looked up to see her locked in the arms of the beast.

“Letty!”

The bear squeezed hard to make sure its prey didn’t escape. She struggled hard but the bear’s strength and size were overwhelming.

“Le-ledge…!”

She moaned painfully as her chest was being compressed. Convinced of having finally seized victory, the bear slowly strengthened and tightened its grip on Letty.

The panic settled in fast and I tried to come up with a plan before I was completely submerged in it.

“Think. Think. Think, dammit!”

“Ledge… run…”

Her usually taut and alert ears started to droop. Soon, her hand lost its grip on the hammer and it fell to the ground in a thud.

“That’s it…!”

There it was, my ray of hope. I hurriedly opened my inventory and took the item out. Letty looked at me, a mix of surprise and disbelief on her face.

Sorry, it might look like a bad joke but I’m serious.

All the while apologizing internally, I held the item at the ready. I looked in the viewfinder and poured what was left of my forces in my finger.

“All right, say cheese.”

A single flash of bright light surged out of the camera. The eyes of the beast that had completely adjusted to the darkness took a direct hit.

“GURUAAAAAAA?!”

The bear staggered backward in a mixture of confusion, astonishment, and anger. Making use of the opportunity, Letty slipped through the now loose arms.

“I leave the rest to you, Letty!”

“You can count on me!”

She quickly picked up her hammer and dropped her hips low.

In a feat of rage and anger, the bear bared its fangs and swung its arms in a mowing motion.

However, Letty easily ducked under the blind bear’s attacks and slided right to its feet.

“You’re finished!”

With all her might, she swung her hammer hard and fast upward. The hammerhead connected with the beast’s jaw at maximum speed and something broke.

The bear let out a shriek and everything was still.

After what had seemed to be an eternity, it toppled backwards, the ground shaking under its weight.

Once the leaves had settled, the beast lied completely still.

“Did we… get him?”

“I think so. We did it together.”

The forest felt silence and, in its center, we looked at each other. Countless dead wolves and one huge bear. Among the heaps of corpses, we stood victorious.

“We did it… We won!”

Letty ran to me, dropping her hammer mid-sprint, and jumped on me. It was so sudden that I barely had time to react so we both fell to the ground.

“We won, Ledge! The both of us took down that huge bear! We’re the best! The best!” Letty happily buried her nose in my chest.

By the way, my LPs had still not recovered so this was hurting like a bi— a lot.

“Yes, yes, I get it. Calm down.”

I managed to finally pull her off a bit and catch my breath. I still couldn’t believe we made it through; It all still hadn’t sink in.

While I tried to process our victory, a sudden fanfare echoed throughout the forest.

“The Strong-armed Kaiser, guardian of the <Forest of the Beasts>, has been eliminated.

“The investigation’s range had been expanded.

“A portal for the high-speed armored train Yatagarasu has been activated in the <Forest of the Beasts>.”

A tsunami of logs flowed on our [Mirrors]. We looked at it, then looked at each other.

“Is that…”

“So, that bear we just killed was the boss?”

I looked at the bear that lied on the ground, still radiating an overwhelming presence, and swallowed hard.

“Wha—?!”

“Kyaa—!”

All of a sudden, the center of the clearing radiated a bright white light and we instinctively shut our eyes.

In the distance, a loud whistle resounded.

Tips

◇<Spearmanship>

One of the basic weapons skills. It allows a spear user to activate many piercing abilities. As a rule of thumb, abilities accessible via this skill have short delays, low LPs consumption, and low attack power. While the skill mainly revolves around piercing techniques, depending on the mastery of the user, it is also possible to use a variety of techniques such as strikes, cuts and knocks, making it an attractive and versatile skill.

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