Chapter 17 - The Bar has been raised

I was walking along in human form to chat with Val, I hadn’t yet figured out how to talk with a wolf head. It started when I heard the sound of distressed wood, that creaking sound, when wood moves in a way it really doesn’t want to. Before I could turn towards the source of the sound, I could feel distress and pain from Skadi through our telepathic bond. Then I heard what sounded like a giant clapping his hands. I just barely managed to catch a Brown bear, the size of a carriage swatting Skadi away like I would a fly. She flew away into the forest, only the fact our connection was still ongoing reassured me that she wasn’t dead.

Luckily I had started extending my blades the moment I felt distress from Skadi, that way I barely managed to stop the giant paw coming down on me, by stabbing through it and bracing my fists against the bear’s strength. I actually managed to hold the paw. We were in a stalemate.

After a few tense seconds I decided to dump my ten free points into Strength, giving me 81. I started to overpower the bear with this newfound boost, but then a red mist started to form around the beast's eyes and I couldn’t hold it anymore. My legs began to buckle, so I decided to flee forward. I commanded my blades to break at the knuckle and burn.

In the precise moment I was no longer connected to the blades I attempted a dive forward underneath the bear.

I managed to not be flattened, but the bear still got my right foot with its descending paw. There was nothing to do, the foot was gone, my lower leg bone broken off and sticking out of my flesh.

Now that I was underneath this monster I needed to think fast. First I spun 180° to face upwards, then I sunk my claws into the bear's belly and pulled myself up from the ground. Next I started to pump as much blood and venom into this thing, as I could. Simultaneously I tried to close the wounds on my leg, while sharpening the protruding bone to a point.

I used said bone as a help when climbing between the beast's hind legs, up its butt and onto its back.

The only reason I wasn’t immediately squished was because I caused the hind legs to cramp, forcing them to stand straight, instead of belly-flopping me into mush.

Even that was a struggle. This was one of the few creatures I had encountered so far that I couldn’t disable through [Infectious Mana Manipulation]. Even the little trick I was doing right now didn’t have a chance, if the bear wasn’t distracted by the burning thing in its paw and the poison running through its veins.

Once I was on its - his, after a trip through the legs I can say that with certainty, his - back I started hacking away at him with abandon, tearing flesh where I could, and freely pouring blood and venom into the open wounds. I even shapeshifted my head into a wolven one, so I could bite the bastard.

This one-sidedness, of the battle didn’t last long. The bear pushed off the ground with his front paws, with such force that I could barely react before the bear was finished making a sandwich out of him, me and the ground by way of slamming onto his back.

I managed to mostly get out before that, but the bear got my left arm. It was torn off at the shoulder due to the bear's raw mass, ripping at my appendage. That thing weighed half a metric tonne on the low end.

I was losing this fight, by attrition alone, but the bear had made a mistake, because it was now on its back. I was too, but I was a lot more flexible. I swung my right arm to my left side and my claws into the bear’s flank, to pull myself up with the bear as leverage. Then I pushed off the ground with my left foot to jump onto the bear. When I landed, I impaled the bear's right shoulder with my sharpened leg bone.

Once I was secured that way, I shoved my entire right arm down the bear's throat, making sure to scratch all of his mouth open on the way down. Once my hand hit the back of the bear’s throat, I turned my claws towards the roof of his mouth and tried to pierce it. It took all my strength, but eventually my claws were stuck in something. I just hoped they were actually through the bone, because I pumped as much venom out of my claws as I could.

Once they were about halfway empty, I could feel the pressure on my arm increasing. The bear was realising what was going on and trying to bite my arm off. The bastard could have it. I commanded everything in my arm to heat. Not ‘burn’, mind you. That was fire and forget. Heating something was a continuous process, and more importantly, could get way, way, WAY hotter than fire. When the bear finally severed my arm, I was already using my newfound freedom of movement to bite at the bear’s skull. I wasn’t doing much more than tearing off skin, but with the venom in my saliva, every open wound made a significant difference. It took the bear almost three seconds after I shoved my fist in his mouth, until it started to bite down, so my venom was definitely having some effect. My arm trick also seemed to have been effective, as I got the distinct impression that the bear is in unimaginable pain, not to forget that I could see smoke escaping from his mouth and nostrils. Speaking of which, the red mist around his eyes had disappeared. So I should be stronger than him again. If that truly was the cause of his increase in strength.

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I couldn’t do much without arms, even if I were technically stronger once again. As the bear once again tried to move, I jumped away from him and shapeshifted into a snake to hide, and give the venom time to work.

That didn’t quite pan out, as I couldn’t hide. That isn’t a commentary on the bear’s senses. I simply became paralysed by the mental and physical anguish of what I was trying to do. Turning into a snake from a human inside one second is bad enough, if you aren’t simultaneously sustaining a heating effect on an arm, which is rapidly fading from your control. And … you know … already in immense physical pain. So I lay there, my little snake body unable to move, because my reality is replaced with pain.

After minutes of anguish, and very noticeably not being eaten, I was finally able to perceive my surroundings once more. The Bear was still on its back, breathing shallowly.

It was finished.

I had done enough damage that the bear was beaten. It was only a question of time, until the venom gave him the rest. I took my sweet time, turning back into a human. And almost as much time, to reconstruct my arms and right leg.

Then I walked up to the bear and pierced his brain with my blades. It didn’t need to suffer any more than it already had. I didn’t have any remorse, as I once had with Skadi. Skadi attacked me, because she was hungry and scared. Also I attacked first, when I burned her. This bear hurt Skadi, which should be enough for me to end him, and attacked me unprovoked.

This thing had wanted a fight to the death and I had given it to him.

Thinking of Skadi, I sent her a telepathic message, asking how she is. She responded with Fine, coming. On her way back then.

As I was pulling my blades out of the bear’s skull, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I was still twitchy from the fight, so I turned around and tried to stab whatever was behind me with my blades, still covered in flesh and blood. Luckily Val caught my attack. She was of course behind me. The strength with which she held my arm broke no discussion, whether or not I could really hurt her.

Valeria gave me a reassuring smile and said: “Congratulations, you just defeated your first actual challenge.” I wanted to object, but she beat me to it: “No a bunch of [Rangers], barely in the double digit levels and some braindead goblins don’t count. We are out of that sheltered zone now. This is where the real fun begins.”

“Wait, how exactly was the village a ‘sheltered zone’? What makes this place so different?”

“Well, for one: anything really powerful would have to move out of there, because the creatures around wouldn’t have enough vital energy to sustain it. Also for two: life begets more life. Things breed, things compete. Natural selection will ensure the powerful and the adaptable get to breed, then their children have an advantage. Then they die, they seep into the soil, the plants get stronger from that, and eventually the power increase will reach even the prey animals, when they consume stronger plants. It is a cycle that ensures power is continuously increasing in an area, without foreign intervention, like a forest fire, or humans controlling the population. If something gets too strong too fast, then they must leave, or starve. That way you don’t have a ‘king of the forest type situation‘. That is also why your class talks about ‘dominating Areas/ Species’ instead of ruling them. In the wild there are no kings, only beasts you try to not draw attention from.”

I thought about that for a moment. I went to cut off a piece of the bear, when I thought of a question: “So are beasts like this common around here? Is this the new version of those rabbits I used to hunt?”

Val wiggled her hand in a so-so-motion. “Kinda. There are still prey animals around, of course. But this bear isn’t anything out of the ordinary. Like top five species in the region for sure, but this one wasn’t out of the ordinary. Also the question about common isn’t that easy. There is no abundance of them, or anything, but with your [Challenge of the Apex] any of them will charge you, the minute they sense you in any way. Bears aren’t known for fleeing or bowing. So essentially, you will see quite a few of them even if they are rare-ish.”

That meant I should be a lot more vigilant. Can’t be on my back foot, or lack thereof, next time a fur tank charges me.

I still had the piece of bear meat on my claw, so I took a bite.

It was the best thing I had ever tasted. I could feel the vital energy flowing into me and it was ecstasy. In half an hour I had devoured almost the entire thing. Skadi managed to get one leg, when she returned. Skadi was actually still chewing on her meal, when I was entirely finished. Thanks to [Biomass] I apparently couldn’t really be full anymore. Or at least an entire bear wasn’t enough to fill me up. Sure I wasn’t hungry anymore, but I could definitely go for even more of that delicious stuff.

Maybe attracting those bears wouldn’t just be a dangerous chore.