Chapter 70: [70] Bear Hunt (2)
Inquisitor tracked the monster’s footsteps to a large cave with an entrance several feet tall.
The opening was so big that a wyvern could likely fit into it, and mind you, wyverns in this world were not as small as they were portrayed in games.
They were like mini dragons, some of them even as large as a house.
"So this is their base huh..." Ark
Muttered under his breath. It was almost like a dungeon.
Once they stepped into the cave, red eyes lit up in the darkness, followed by audible raws that caused the cave to rumble.
"It looks like they sent us a welcome party..." Ark glanced at his mage, and without any words, she immediately understood his intentions.
She stepped forward and raised her hand. Fire flickered in her palms, just before a large, blue ball of fire appeared, painting the walls in a bright blue light.
VWOOOOSH—!
The cave became sweltering hot as the fire tore through it, rushing over the rock bears like a raging tide.
The monsters shrieked in pain as the fire melted their fur and ate at their flesh and skin.
[You have slain a level 10 Rock Bear! +15 exp]
[You have slain a level 10 Rock Bear! +15 exp]
But not all of the bears died from the attack, they were rock bears, and just like their names suggested, they were durable fuckers.
Two bears suddenly burst out of the fire, racing towards Ark like kamikazes. Their plan was clear, ram into him with their flaming bodies, get him to share in their pain.
But it was all futile.
"Mountain."
The undead immediately got in front of the two bears and planted his massive shield into the ground with a clang!
BOOOOM!
The bears collided with the shield, creating a shockwave that blew hot air past Ark and pushed Mountain back a few steps.
"Inquisitor..."
Inquisitor was already racing towards the bear as though desperate to prove a point, to show that he was just as capable as Sumo.
He was not...
But he was not bad either.
Inquisitors swung his blade, hisnsword slicing through flesh and bone before bursting out at the other end, spewing hot blood into the air and on his armour.
The second monster redirected its attack to him. It brought both paws down at once, but Inquisitor closed the gap between them, before buring his sword into the monster’s heart.
The rock bear stilled, then slipped out of the blade, its body still burning on the floor.
[You have slain a level 10 Rock Bear! +15 exp]
[You have slain a level 10 Rock Bear! +15 exp]
Inquisitor grabbed its leg and tried to pull the monster towards him, just like sumo had done...
But it was too heavy for him to pull with one hand...
A few seconds passed.
He glanced at Mountain.
And then they both held one leg, pulling the monster to Ark.
"Eh... good job!" Maybe if he encouraged them, the rivalry would die?
Ark didn’t even know undead could have rivalries, but it was not like there was some sort of handbook to guide him.
[Harvest successful! You have successfully received 1 Strength point!]
[Harvest successful! You have successfully received 0.5 Defence points!]
[Harvest successful! You have successfully received 0.5 Defence points!]
[Harvest successful! You have successfully received 0.5 Strength points!]
They continued to advance through the cave, and with the help of his undead, Ark didn’t have to move a single bone.
All he did was given commands while his undead went on a killing spree.
Although they were winning, the rock bears proved to be a destructive force. They had managed to destroy his undead twice, but each time, Ark simply revived them at the cost of his mana.
Sadly, there were no useful skills to be found from the bears, only a handful of extra defence stats.
Ark appreciated it of course, all stat points were good stat points, but he had hoped he could get at least one decent skill...
After leaving a pile of corpses in their wake, Ark finally met what must have been the leader of the pack.
This bear was likely as big as two of the rock lar bears combined. Its claws were much longer, almost like that of a mole. Well, if a moles’ claws could tear through iron...
Instead of regular rocks filling its back, this monster had a shield of black stone, which was undoubtedly far harder than what the regular monsters had.
[Threat detected! Iron Hide Bear, Level 10 x 1!]
Sumo took a step forward, but Ark raised a hand to stop him. "I’ll handle this one myself..."
Although it was nice to sit back and play commander, Ark had no plans of letting others fight all his battles.
His summons were nice, but they were not everything, and he could not afford to get rusty.
"This will be a good way to balance my stats..."
After all, he had twenty one unassigned stats from leveling up in the tutorial.
The bear opened its eyes grudgingly, staring at Ark like an ant that hand wandered into his enclave.
It shook its head to push back the sleep, its eyes glowing fiercely as it stood up to its full height.
Ark knew he was short, but the monster eclipsed him so much that he looked like a dwarf in front of it.
The monster breathed out steam and spittle, its throat rumbled with annoyance as it took the first large step forward, shaking the cave.
"Let’s dance big guy..."
And then it unleashed the roar, sending hot wind blowing past him. Ark was tempted to cover his nose just because of how foul its breath smelled. But he held back the urge.
Ark summoned his scythe and spun the weapon around his body, the crimson blade catching the light, just before he pointed it at the monster.
The bear lunged forward, and Ark did the same, the both of them meeting in the middle. Scythe met claw in a clash that caused sparks to brighten up the space.
A tremor traveled right from Ark’s arms, right down to the base of his spine. He was knocked back a few steps, but he laughed it off, shaking the numbness off his arms.
"You’re strong."
’System, seven points to strength."
They met once again, but this time, the bears eyes widened in shock—
Bang!
Its large arm was blasted back by the force of the impact, his claws shattering like glass. The bear growled and tried to bite Ark’s head off, but he side stepped the attack and flipped into the air, right at his back—
But the bear was waiting for him. It swung the back of its arm so fast that it tripped. But the arm came right at Ark with the force of a battering ram...
[Rewind.]
One moment, Ark was in the air, and in the next moment, he was back on the floor.
The bear roarer stumbled, trying to evade, but Ark was too close to it, and far too prepared to miss.
Slash!
The scythe ripped through the thick fur of its abdomen, slicing through tissue and flesh, ripping out intestines as through fishing for eels.
The monster coughed up blood. But it did not die. It fell down to a knee, breathed out labouredly, before fixing those hatred filled eyes on Ark.
But Ark had not slowed, his scythe was already moving, this time its tip sliced upwards, right towards its neck.
Just as it was about to make an impact, a golden shimmer appeared, blasting the Sythe back.
"What?"
BOOOOM!
The bear brought both hands down on Ark. A net of cracks spread around it, fissures so deep that a fully grown man could sink into it.
But Ark was not there.
"A self defense skill huh?"
The bear suddenly swung its head, only to see Ark sitting on his shoulder.
Ark stared at the bear and laughed. "Why didn’t you show this earlier? Are we now keeping secrets from each other, dear?"
Rawr!!
The bear tried to attack, but Ark swung first, only for his attack to bounce against that same golden wall.
The bear’s claws came next—
"Four points to agility."
Ark smoothly maneuvered past the arm, racing past its shoulders, before using his webs to catapult himself back to the floor.
"Hmm... an automatic self defense skill?" He stroked his jaw as he stared at the monster. "In that case, what I need is more fire power..."
The scythe transformed into an ornate magic staff, and Ark raised it, pointing it at the bear.
Sensing the danger, the monster immediately turned around, facing its rock-solid back at Ark. Then the gold energy from before encapsulated its body.
"Oh? Not a bad attempt. System, ten points to mana."
A cooling sensation washed over him as he felt his mana stores rise.
The staff suddenly began to sparkle with blue lightning, just before ashen flames surrounded it, transforming the spell into something several times more deadly.
"[Spell Amplification]."
The lightning grew more turbulent, the fire more chaotic, as the spell grew larger.
And when Ark was satisfied with it, with the sheer destructive nature of fire and lightning, he unleashed the spell—
A thunder clap spread through the room.
Lightning crawled through the floor like spider webs.
Fire washed over everything in sight.
And then an explosion rocked the entire space.
"Let’s see how well you do against this..."