After the two came, it seemed like no other animals were coming my way. I guess that was indeed not the best idea.

Hmm, if I could just get Sheepy to talk to them, maybe I could ask them where to find dumber creatures or maybe just evil ones? What a pain...

I drove back to the same bear cave and blocked it again, waiting a bit.

"HEY! This is the second time today someone has-"

The bear saw me mid-sentence.

"ROOOOAARRRR! It's you again! What the heck is wrong with you? Can't a bear get some rest?"

Bear was not pleased.

"Sorry about that! Mind if I ask for directions?"

"Directions? The only direction you are heading to is the underworld if you keep annoying me!"

The bear raised a paw, its sharp claws shining menacingly in the light.

"Sorry, sorry, I'll leave right after this! I just wanted directions to look for dumb animals to fight. That or bad guys?"

It gave me a strange look.

"Grrr... that's a strange request. I'm not in the mood to fight you right now, so get lost once I give you directions, alright?"

"Ah! I'm not implying you're dumb or evil. We weren't even planning to fight you."

"Yes, yes, whatever. Dumb beasts... there honestly aren't many round here. The only ones I can think off the top of my head are the mountain wyverns, but I doubt you'd stand a chance against them." it stopped to think for a bit. "There's also a gang of wolf bandits that cause a lot of trouble, but they're really elusive so I have no idea where they are."

I guess if animals were smart, it would make sense for some of them to form bandit gangs.

"I would recommend the colosseum if you want a fight, but I doubt the organisers would allow a human to participate, let alone cheating by using a machine. There, is that enough info for you?" the bear said unenthusiastically.

They had a colosseum too? How?

"Is there really nothing else? Not even some kind of monster plants?" Radio asked weakly.

"Eh?" the bear seemed surprised. "You're looking for a challenging fight, aren't you?"

Huh? How the heck did it draw that conclusion?

"Um, not really?"

"Grrr... you do realise that the dumb ones are the nastiest of the lot, right? They might not have brains, but even an experienced fighter might be crushed by their sheer strength!" the bear looked like it said something incredibly obvious.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Oh... so the monster plants are weak?"

The bear put a paw over its face. Is that really safe for a bear to do? What if it scratches its eyes?

"And here I thought you were looking for a challenge! What are you, a coward? Yes, some of them are both weak and dumb. Happy?"

"Sorry?"

The bear raised a paw again. A shining ball of light was suddenly conjured. I guess magic use was really typical here. Kind of sad that I couldn't use magic while even random wild animals can...

"Follow the light, it will lead you to spot overgrown with weird plants. You can look for something to fight there."

"Oh, thanks!"

"Good riddance."

The speck of light zoomed off the moment I moved away from the cave.

Why was it so fast? I had to even use Engine Burst from time to time to keep up. But I found out that apparently, it takes me longer to take damage from the heat since the weather was so cold! That was very good news in case I needed to move fast or escape.

I was soon led to an area choked with random plants, with leaves both blue and green. There were trees, grass, bushes and many weird looking plants I didn't recognise. There were some I recognised, like sad little flowers that drooped downwards, but I didn't bother to find out what their names were back on Earth.

The little ball spun in the air a few times, then poofed out of existence, as if to say goodbye.

Well then... I didn't see anything I could fight. Was the bear messing with me? There was a herd of deers with gently glowing white antlers, but that wasn't what I was looking for. They gazed at me cautiously.

As I looked around a bit more, I saw some sort of little plant thing running in the distance. It looked like a root with many little root legs, somewhat like a centipede? A deer was chasing it... and firing magical missiles from its antlers at it, though all of them missed. Everything was using spells. They'll spell my doom at this rate! Haha...

[This is not the time for puns.]

After a while, I realised the plant thing was running towards me. Crap, the missiles would hit me at this rate! I quickly swerved out of the way.

As the deer passed by me, a huge set of green jaws burst out of the ground, showering the area with snow. It was some kind of giant venus flytrap! 

The deer was swallowed in a single bite. And the bear told me the plants weren't dangerous? I guess it would be less dangerous for a truck, but still...

The trap's exterior looked like some sort of hard shell. It was shaking from the poor deer struggling inside!

I expected the deers to panic and start firing spells at the monster, but they just took a glance and continued grazing. Wait, were they dumb animals or something? Surely even those would at least run?

"Hey! Are you going to help your friend?" I asked Sheepy to shout in Rolgh.

A few deers glanced at me.

"It's none of your business." one of them said.

So they were just heartless... I didn't understand. Surely, they could take down the trap with ease with such numbers, couldn't they?

I decided to just attack the monster. No, not for EXP... I'm helping the deer!

[Engine Burst innitiated]

[+50% STR & SPD]

[Winter Effect: 75% less damage]

[-1 HP / 9s]

With full speed, I slammed into the monster.

[-3 HP]

I felt like I had slammed into a wall. Why was it so tough?

My HP was only at 41/60 by now, which made me feel somewhat unsafe. I really needed to find a better way to fight or a way to heal... If I lost so much HP in a single day, would I die from the gradual damage if I couldn't level up in time? That was a very frightening thought.

The plant monster was uprooted from the blow. Now that it was out, I could see the trap had a thorny stalk and a huge bulb with weird leg-like vines growing out of it. There was a huge dent on the shell from my attack, but it still refused to open its mouth. So stubborn!

The monster quickly started to scuttle away, but I wasn't going to let it get away. I crashed into it again with another Engine Burst!

[+358 EXP]

Wait, did it die? But... it was still running away and I didn't take damage! What was going on?