Chapter Twenty One
Joe found his eyes traveling ever upward, his neck straining backwards as he stared at one of the largest ursine like creatures he had ever seen! It’s great mouth sharp with fangs let out a deep growl even as it stood on its rear legs and shambled back and forth, threatening and intimidating but not yet committing to a charge. A great wall of deep brown bordering on black with arms that waved like sails, the beast stood almost twice, if not three times his height and gave the trees the impression of being almost… petite! The massive beast seemed a bit corrupted, his fur seemed … off. It gave the impression of That … there is no way that’s normal sized! Is it? The thing is HUGE! Joe’s mind struggled to grasp the absolute size of the thing more than the terror he was feeling from staring at it. His bow whipped up quickly and he settled an arrow to his bow with the ease of long practice.
All right. What’s the best play here! I don’t want to antagonize it. So shooting is a last resort! So… Is it a black bear? We stand our ground and growl back? Or do we run like a scared little baby cause it’s more like a grizzly! Even as he considered his options, the bear opened its mouth to offer a chuffing growl, and Joe decided to go with option A: stand firm and yell back. It seems a bit undecided. Let’s see if I can help it make up its mind! Joe took a step forward and roared as loud as he could. The bear actually seemed to flinch, eyes blinking as it froze and looked down on the tiny creature that seemed unperturbed by its posturing. Joe almost thought he had it backing off, offering another great roar and a step forward, when he saw the bear snapping its head around to look in another direction.
Joe cursed under his breath even as he realized that someone had decided to run. No! NO! Joe knew it was too late now. Animals running from a predator would just kick in the predator’s instincts to chase it. Joe let his arrow loose, his aim almost perfect as the arrow slid into the great beast’s neck. Shit! Missed his carotid and jugular, don’t think I even hit his throat! He’s still breathing fine! Joe’s movements were smooth and quick, another arrow already in and drawn even as he stepped back and to the left of the bear. The arrow had sunk deeply into the flesh of the bear, leaving only about a quarter of its length visible. The bear had jerked back in surprise, batting at its chest and allowed Joe to fire another arrow which also sank deep into its neck. Joe continued moving to the left and backing away from the bear as it dropped to the ground, roaring in anger with its eyes still focused on whoever was running away, the beast still confused by what was harming it. Joe’s third arrow struck into the side of the bear’s neck, tearing through its voice box and its roaring instantly silenced. The arrow skewed, twisting to the side and seemed to puncture into the right lung. If they have lungs? Gotta have lungs, right? Should be… Joe silenced his thoughts and settled into the moment, his thoughts only on the next shot.
The bear struggled and shook its body, coughing roughly at the arrow that had pierced through its throat. Enraged, the bear starting lumbering after the runner and Joe shouted at it even as he sighted another arrow. The bear stopped and turned towards his shout and raised its head to try and roar. Even as it did so, Joe released the arrow and finally felt the calm of the perfect shot. Finally, man! I really sucked! Took me four shots to get it right! Sure is harder in the middle of a real fight! The arrow slipped just beneath the open jaws of the bear and buried itself perfectly at the apex of its throat thudding deeply down into the bear’s chest. No ribs from the front! This arrow buried itself to the fletching, piercing deep into the bear’s torso but seemed to do nothing to the bear’s vigor.
It shook off the pain then opened its mouth to roar loudly once again. The arrow through its voice box silenced it once again and it shook its torso before lining itself up to charge at Joe. Joe cursed both at the bear’s still strong fighting spirit and his stupidity of not having another arrow ready and slung his bow onto his back, holstering it quickly and sloppily before ripping out his good spear. He glanced behind himself and sidled around to place himself before a thick tree before quickly backing up until he felt it thump into his back and bump into the butt of the spear. As he was stepping back and looking away from the bear, he heard a mighty thump then the rumbling of the bear charging. Joe cursed much louder this time and looked back as he settled the butt of his spear against the tree trunk behind him before facing forward.. I sure hope this works! The bear was huge and he realized his spear was too low! He quickly shifted it upwards, slamming the butt back against the tree once again and now had the spear almost over his head. He cursed when he noticed the blades were vertical and quickly twisted the shaft so the blades turned horizontal. Don’t want the teeth catching on it! The bear came forward and opened its mouth wide to bite down on him and Joe guided the spear directly into its mouth. The bear tried to react, but it’s mass proved overwhelming and the spear drove itself down into the bear’s throat. The bear rasped out a poor roar as pain maddened it and it’s teeth began snapping at the shaft in it’s mouth. The spear twisted in Joe’s hands, turning the spear clockwise, blades screwing deep inside the bear’s chest, turning vertical once again. Joe wrestled to hold the spear in place, but the bear’s strength was overwhelming, and he huddled against the tree as he struggled to stay out of the bears swiping forelegs. When that failed, the bear reared its head, its mouth snapping shut once again as it attempted to ravage what was stuck in its throat. The spear head ripped upwards through the bears body even as the butt of the spear remained anchored in the tree. The spear shredded out of the rear of its neck, ripping through vertebrae.
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The bear dropped like a stone, head snapped back and vertebrae actually breaking through the skin of its neck. The torso slewed around to Joe’s right under its raging movement even as the spear slid forward through the bear’s neck. Joe ducked under the spear and bear as he dove to the left out from under the tumbling mass of the bear. Its shoulders slammed into the tree as the rump continued slewing around and the massive beast rocked to a halt up against the tree. Joe stared at the beast, wary even as he crouched in readiness to run, entire body quivering with adrenaline and terror.
It took a few minutes for Joe to understand everything was done, and he finally relaxed even while collapsing, the boneless relief washing through his body making him limp. He breathed in a sigh of a relief before he finally whooped.
“Well! That was nuts! Right?! But we are going to feast tonight! Right! HA!”
Joe looked up to find the four hunters staring at him in stunned shock, Garnedell several steps beyond them. Joe smiled up at them and gave them a thumbs up!
“Hey! It’s all good, right!”
The hunters seemed to break from their frozen state and came forward, shouting with animated surprise and glee, each speaking wildly and quickly before one offered a hand, pulling him up. Joe smiled at each of them, offering and receiving the odd sliding caressing hand shake then a much friendly slam on the back from each of them. Garnedell had stood, staring in a bit of shock while he watched, but then also came forward to offer his own congratulations. It was only slightly later that he realized he had received some form of experience from the kill, and after looking at his log, he realized that he had killed something equivalent to a three gem slime. That one kill ended up giving him almost a hundred experience! I don’t think that was worth it! Ha! What he did notice were four unusual and new lines immediately above the experience gain.
Log Entry: (SY 55.5 – 3.11) (11:37) :: You have taken an amazing shot against a beast much greater than your capabilities: Char: Bow skill perfected by ten percent.
OK! That was quite nice. Maybe mastering… uh… perfecting a skill is a bit easier than I thought? Or maybe it won’t be. That wasn’t exactly easy! Joe put away his thoughts on the strange status update and turned to the bear. It still hadn’t moved at all, but Joe was still careful. Joe stepped up to the bear cautiously, coming from behind and above as the other hunter had done to the boar, and pressed his hand to the bear, checking for a pulse or movement. I don’t even have to bend over! The thing comes up almost to my neck even laying down! As nothing seemed to indicate the bear was alive, Joe finally pressed his hands to the bear’s throat and brought fingers down firmly on the bear’s carotid. No pulse! Oh … wow! Joe’s relief was palpable, and the four hunters came forward quickly to also check, all four finding no signs of life.