54 Grizzly Encounter
As he looked around for a bit to find a proper source of firewood, an effort was made to avoid all of the insects that slithered through the nightly forest.
Once finding a tree that wasn’t covered in eerily-large millipedes or colorful arachnids, he drew his sword from its sheath, planning to strike the tree down.
Here goes…He thought.
“Hyaah!”
As he swung towards the body of the tree with all of his might–
Nothing.
Just a few pieces of bark were chipped off and a small cut was embedded in the trunk of the stalwart tower of nature.
…Father made that seem a lot easier than it is! He thought.
Sheathing his sword, he instead lifted his staff this time, pointing the end towards the tree as he breathed in.
At first, he was going to use slices of highly-pressurized water to get the pieces of wood needed, but he realized that would definitely be an unwise idea.
If I did that, I’d just end up soaking the firewood…I’m pretty sure I’d be getting the stink eye from Vandread for the next week, he thought.
Instead, he used a burst of wind slices to get the materials needed, feeling as if he was playing some sort of sandbox video game by gathering wood like this.
While he could’ve easily just cleaved the tree in half, he was making an attempt to stay low and off-the-radar to whatever creatures lurked in the densely-packed forest, so he only used silent winds to cut off the portions of firewood needed.
…How do I carry all of this? He realized.
Again, he found himself cursing his barely-teenage body as he hoisted up the firewood, struggling to hold it up as he marched back towards the area where the carriage was stationed.
Though it was difficult to see in front of him with the firewood stacked in his arms, he moved forward nonetheless with no clue what was in front of him.
A scratching nose met his ears, but it was soon clear that it was the sound of something cutting into flesh.
It was certain enough of a sound cue for him to know he found his way back properly through the dark forest, though it wasn’t as if he ventured far anyway.
I guess it makes sense he’d still be skinning that thing…it was freaking huge–just to think it was leaping towards me…He thought with a shiver.
“Is this going to be enough?” He asked.
As he gave his question out as a sort of greeting, he didn’t receive an answer, but the sound of cutting stopped.
“Vandread?” He asked.
There was no answer, but leaves were crunched under the weight of something. The man he was traveling with was certainly few of words, but not to this degree.
As he peeked around the pile of freshly-cut firewood he held, he saw it—something that was certainly not the platinum-haired, dark-skinned man.
On the ground was a fallen elk with its belly torn open and guts strewn out across the small clearing, but what was standing over it and looking right at the young boy was a dread-inspiring creature.
It was around three meters in height; towering over him like one of the trees of the forest. Shrouded in bristly, black fur that was covered in the blood and guts of the elk, it wasn’t a human, but its physique was similar in how it stood as a bipedal, but possessed massive claws and beady, onyx eyes.
“–” He was left speechless in fear.
It was a cross between a bear and a gorilla, packed with muscle and a terrifying stature; the sharp claws it possessed were dripping with fresh crimson, falling down onto the leaves below.
The firewood was dropped as he immediately equipped his staff, raising it, but before he could invoke a spell, he was stifled by complete fear.
It was the terrifying predator rushing towards him with surprising agility that his concentration was broken and his natural instincts instead caused him to falter.
“Gh–!”
As the bear-like creature dashed over, it roared out with a skin-growling warcry before using its massive paw to slap the staff out of his grip.
Against the strength possessed by the carnivorous creature, there was no chance of him holding onto his catalyst as it was flung several meters to the side.
Shit…! He thought.
There was no time to draw his sword, and no merit in doing so in his mind as the creature loomed over him with its mighty stature.
Backed into a corner, he raised his hand and instead invoked magic the old-fashioned way he knew how: manifesting a swirl of water and blasting it against the torso of the creature.
“–!”
It was a strengthened water ball, spiraled and contorted into a stronger shape: “Piercing Water Sphere.”
As the gyrating sphere of water crashed against the bear-like creature’s chest, it sent it back several meters as it crashed into the tall foliage that neighbored the trees.
Did that do it…? He thought.
Of course, he jinxed it.
He heard deep growls from the terrifying, giant creature that took him by surprise as the quickly-cast spell was fully intended to bore right through it.
Crap…! He thought.
Before it could get up, he sprinted over to where his staff was flung, but the creature was quick to its feet as it roared out.
“–!”
It raced towards him, prompting him to desperately slide across the leaf-laden ground and grab his staff, pointing it towards the burly, bear creature just as it got within range of him.
He clenched his teeth and focused with the half-second spared to him to do so, invoking a massive spear forged of stone to rise from the ground, piercing through the creature’s chest and hoisting it a couple meters into the air.
“Graaagh…!” The creature roared, trying to swipe at him.
“–” He caught his breath.
Even with a pillar of sharpened rock sticking through its body, the creature was still terrifying to be within distance of as he watched it closely to make sure it died to the blow.
He was still left vacant of breath for a solid minute at the encounter with the bloodcurdling creature; it was a startling example of what type of world awaited him.
…Creatures in this world are no joke. What the hell kind of bear is this?! Something like that would’ve been the apex predator of Earth! It was so fast–I guess my training really paid off, huh? Thanks, Celly…He thought to himself.