Remy was thrown once more. He smashed through a tree and it fell on its side. His back throbbed in pain. Blood dripped from his mouth and from a shallow cut from his forehead. Yet, when he lifted his head up, a smile bloomed on his face.

He couldn’t help but laugh. He hadn’t felt this kind of pain in a while. The kind of pain that turned his blood hot and smoldering like lava.

The big man pulled himself up, using the tree next to him as a crutch. He was in terrible shape.

But, not as bad as the bear.

The bear staggered forward, tripped on the tree that had fallen. One of its wings had been ripped. One of its eyes had been stabbed by his still wet thumb. He had punched its liver, multiple times, and a fist print could be seen.

“Come on.” Remy laughed. “Come mister bear. Come at me!”

The bear rose on all four, it opened its mouth to gather light.

He wouldn’t let that happen. Remy stepped forward, throwing a hook at its chin. The bear’s head flew up, and the beam blasted up at the sunset skies like some sort of beacon.

He pushed his advantage, hitting the liver repeatedly. The bear groaned, and bent forward. It threw up vomit mixed with blood.

It retaliated with a swipe, but Remy ducked under it, and moved behind him. He grabbed the other wing and ripped it off.

The bear roared in pain. Remy kicked it on its stomach.

The blackiron bear, so tough, cried in a shrill shriek. Remy covered his ears. When it was done, Remy stood over him like an icon of death. A grim and rewarding smile spread across his face.

“A little bastard. So that was your last cry. What were you doing? Crying out for your mommy?”

There was a return cry. It sounded close. His smile faded, and he could feel his face drain of its color. He turned around, just in time to see three figures land before him. It was three more of the bears. One as big as the one he killed, and two of them a little smaller.

His gaze went down to the dead blackiron bear, and to the group of bears that just landed.

“Oh, so you have a family.”

This was bad. He recognized that. He didn’t have his sword, and he still had these on that limited his movement. But this was just a handicap.

With his five million IQ, he could see a way out of it. His neurons rapidly fired, communicating with each other to see the path that he must take.

It came down to one answer.

“The first one to attack wins!” Remy went for the biggest and most ugliest bear.

The bear opened its maw, and blasted him with a beam. His body blew through a couple of trees and tumbled down a small clearing.

It was hard to breath. The beam had hit him directly in the chest and Remy saw that there was a giant purple bruise and steam where the beam had hit him.

He touched his chest, checking it for damage. It wasn’t broken, but it hurt like hell.

As he staggered up, the bears landed in front of him. The big one made a sound that sounded like a mocking snicker of some sort.

“You bastard!” Remy took a step forward, and was met with a beam from the younger ones. It felt like being pelted by a couple of rocks at one time.

So, all he had to do was go after the big one then.

Remy hunkering his body low and dashed towards the big bear. The beams bounced off his shoulder and back. They were much weaker than the big ones. Hers felt like being hit with a boulder. She was also faster to release than the one he fought before.

She opened her mouth and Remy threw himself to the right. A beam blew where he had been, blowing through the forest and a few trees fell in the distance.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Remy had it. He knew it would take a couple of minutes for her to charge up again. He moved inside the bear’s range. He clenched his fist.

“Take this!”

His hand hit the bear’s elbow. He felt his hand crack. Then, the bear spun, hitting him in the face with a roundhouse kick. He flew and landed on his back. He leaned his head up to see the bear jab the air, cutting it.

He pushed himself up to a sitting position, unable to comprehend what he was seeing.

“The bear can do martial arts? The elf didn’t say he could do that.”

Then he laughed.

For all the years he had been an adventurer, this was one of the things that definitely took the cake. Never had he thought he would find a bear that could fly, that could shoot beams, and that could box.

He slapped his hand against his eyes. There was nothing to do but laugh.

And his joyful laughter carried across the forest, pulled him up to his feet. His broken hand did not hurt anymore. His body no longer ached.

And his laughter formed into a smile upon his face as his eyes glowed with such joy and pleasure.

He put his guard up, showing the bear that if he meant to box, then he would too.

The bear jumped down into the pit he was in. It held its paws in a guard too. The two smaller bears sat outside of the pit, with no sign that they would interfere.

“Come on then!” Remy cracked his neck, and then bashed his fists together. “Let’s go!”

The bear’s jab was quick and tight. They cut the air with a sharp whiff. There was pressure in each jab, one with a lot of weight behind it. If Remy got hit, his face would be sliced open like a tin can.

Remy weaved and ducked. Dodging the flurry of jabs, building momentum.

He knew how to box. His master had taught him the basics. He could throw his own flurry of heavy jabs.

But they wouldn’t knock out the bear.

Remy was the kind of man that liked to finish things in one big blow.

So, while he weaved, he built momentum, and applied pressure, pressing the bear back. The bear’s jabs grew sharper. If he wanted to go in deeper, Remy couldn’t dodge it anymore.

But he couldn’t take it.

He gaged the distance and the pattern of the jabs. He got a sense, and started to parry the blows. They were like big rocks tied to fists. It was slow, and methodical, but when he saw his chance, he slapped aside the bear’s right and it flew to its side.

“Your right is open!” He gripped his fist.

His fist was only an inch away from the bears liver. He pivoted his body weight, pushing it all into the fist, slamming against the bear’s liver.

The bears ribcage shattered. His fist clawed deeper still, blasting through to where the liver was, and knocking the bear up in the air. It flew, hitting the walls of the pit and crumbled on the floor.

Blood dribbled from its open mouth as it hacked breaths, desperate to get air in its lung.

Remy could see the match was over. The bear sensed as he overshadowed her, and lifted its gaze upon him.

As their gazes met, a sense of mutual respect passed by them. Remy gave the bear a curt nod and climbed out of the pit. The two smaller bears did nothing. Though he could sense their anger, they respected the outcome of the match.

Remy lifted his arm in victory.

“What are you dumb?”

A pillar of light blasted into he pits, engulfing the two bears. Remy covered his eyes.

“Bear!” He yelled.

As the light faded, Remy rushed forward, only to find three burnt bodies.

Remy turned to the owner of the voice, and snarled.

“What was that for?”

The elf pursed her lips. “You know we’re here to get the crystals right? I paid you.”

Remy blinked. “Ah! That’s right.” Still, there had been a connection, and he glared at the elf and threw her gold back. The bag hit her feet, spilling golden coins. “I don’t need it! What we had was a bond that could only have been built from a death match!”

“Are you hearing yourself? You just fought a Devil Bear in a boxing match. What kind of idiot does that? Aren’t you supposed to be a hero? You’re supposed to kill these things.”

“Shut up! I don’t need to do what anyone tells me. I do what I think is right. That’s the kind of hero I am.” He pressed his thumb against his chest.

She didn’t look at him. She focused on cutting out the crystals in the bear.

“While it’s impressive that you were able to defeat a Devil Bear, it’s weird that you were having a hard time. These are C-Rank monsters. For a hero, you could have made quick work of them.”

He bit his twisting lips. “I can’t do that right now!”

“Right. When I was waiting for you in the guild, I asked around. I talked to your former party. Edge-”

“Don’t say that traitor’s name!” He yelled.

“The new leader of the renamed party: Bliss.”

That was a disgusting name.

“Has told me they kicked you out because of your laziness. That you’ve grown weaker. I’ve known my mom when she was a hero. The difference between the two of you is as clear as night and day. You don’t deserve to have the title of a hero.”

“I do!” Remy roared. “There is no one that deserves it more than me! How I had to claw my way up, just to wrench the title! You don’t know anything about me!”

She just finished taking out the crystal. She cleaned her knife with a handkerchief and gave him a cold stare.

“My mother is the greatest hero. You’re wasting her time. You don’t deserve to be her apprentice. Go home. You still have that title for now. You can use it to cash yourself out but stop wasting my mother’s time. Or-”

“Or what?” Remy stepped up to her, looking down at the dainty little elf. “Why don’t you tell me what you plan to do? Because I won’t ever leave. Master saved me. She put me on this path, and you don’t decide to end it. Only I can.”

She gave him a smile. “I’ll kill you.”

He was blasted high up in the air. Enough to see the whole forest.

Then, he fell.