Chapter 109: Gray Roads 4

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The night was dark and filled with dread. The lushes of green were swaying. The moon was up and it glistens the flora around the giant trees. Mist of white covered the base of these trees. It was dark, eerie and quiet.  There is fur of brown and fat rugged limbs that pressed the ground.

Oswin crouched like a wolf near an obscure rock. His silver sword would glint and pulling it would attract the attention of the bear he was seeing. His eyes were like a cat, He’d drink a potion that has granted him night vision from his pockets. The effect would last for about five hours. The downside was that he would have his vision blurred because of the toxicity of the potion. It was a double edge potion and it was best to use it when one is sure that the kill would be fast.

The bear stared in the same pot. Its giant mouth tore through the skin of a soldier who was wearing chainmail. The mouth of the bear was sharp as a blade. The chainmail held no resistance and the metal rings were clamped up with a clang.

Oswin breathed out slowly, his breath made a wisp of cold smoke. The bear was a dire familiar. It had runes but it had independent action. He could tell that however controls this bear. It clearly hates the human enough for it to let the bear devour the soldier.

The bear continued eating the meat of the soldier. Its mouth got bloodied and it was sucking the entrails of the soldiers as it was pasta. Its huge eyes were half closed and clearly, it was focused on eating the soldier. Oswin carefully watched every move of the bear.

He thought. There should be a weakness to this bear. And even if it did the master of the bear should be still around, giving magic to the bear through a connection of energy that he could not see. He was normal. And as a magic-less, he could only rely on items to see the connection of the dire familiar bear.

He took out a monocle out from his pockets. Oswin has always been a rather meticulous and thus he bought this tool to see any traces of magic around the area. This tool was made in the eastern tall lands. He bought it from a passing merchant and out of usefulness for it.

He took a look at the monocle and saw the line of blue energy flying like a snake connected to one single point. He followed the trail of blue energy with his eyes first. Then, he took out a round shell from one of his bandoliers. This round shell had engravings, runic sigils that are capable of disabling magic for a while.

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Oswin aimed this runic shell at the line of energy that was connected to the bear. This energy was like an umbilical cord and once Oswin cuts this. He would able to separate the master of the bear to his familiar. He threw the round runic and then it dispersed like a firework and the mana was immediately cut.

The bear that was eating suddenly quivered badly. The inscriptions on the side of its body disappeared and quickly it roared and rolled around as if it was suffering. Then, its black beaded eyes turned towards a direction. This direction was where Oswin was standing!

Oswin felt shivers spread around his body. He immediately grabs the silversword on his hand a with a hiss and a shimmer, he drew an arc in the air, leaving a blur, hitting the dire bear right in the neck, The neck of the bear was thick, so Oswin had to pirouette in a semi-circle and then slash his sword at the bear’s neck again.

The bear, however, jerked back instantly. It then pounced madly at Oswin. Oswin, however, rolled back, rotated his body and then use the collected force of his weight to slash the fur of the bear and graze its neck totally. The silversword of Oswin was coated with blade oil and is razor sharp with all of the sharpenings that he has done to it. The blood of the bear showered the silver sword. He waves his sword and returned it back to its scabbard.

The battle was rather quick and easy. Oswin was able to take care of the bear easily due to cutting the line of energy. His method of fighting is simple. Find the Achilles heel of the enemy, cripple, and then go for the kill. He learned this way of fighting from a mutated soldier of the church. The soldier was a monster hunter who had gone through many purges and most of his teachings were useful to Oswin in a way. He begged the soldier to teach him and because of that soldier that he was partly mutated.

Oswin took a glance at the dire bear lying dead on the ground. He could see that it was not moving. There was also no breathing or painful grunts thus he believed that the dire bear was indeed dead. He made a sighed. His legs carried him near the bear and then taking out the dagger hung in his belt. He started decapitating the head of the dire bear. After that, he butchered the skin and shed the fur off its body. There was no way he would eat the meat of an animal that has devoured human flesh. So he let the skinned bear and its entrails. He then tied the bear’s head around his waist using a rope and a hook.

The blood of the bear dripped down his garments. But it did not bother Oswin. He was more worried about the night and his surroundings. He just killed the bear and then made noises about. Surely even those elves would hear him so he decided it was time to go.

He looked up at the sky. It was already deep in the night.