Chapter 51
The bear charges forward.
Leo had no intention of avoiding it, nor did he have any intention of blocking it.
Focus only on the attack.
He devoted himself entirely to the act of cutting, just as Joshua had told him to do.
He wrapped the blade with Aura.
Gripping the sword as white heat rose from it, he slashed the tendons of the bear’s left arm.
Dark red blood splattered upward.
The bear’s wrist beca tattered.
The creature lunged once more, twisting its body before it could even feel the pain.
Boom!
Joshua’s [Shield] protected him once again.
He was not visible, but he was fulfilling his role, hidden sowhere in the forest.
“Grrrrr!”
Leo could not believe his eyes.
The bear moved past the [Shield] and dug into the empty space on the right.
It had learned the sturdiness of the [Shield].
This was a thod a common zombie would never think of.
He steadied his breathing.
[Composure] suppressed the feeling of his mind going blank.
Aiming for the left arm he had attacked earlier, he swung his sword several tis.
Every ti the steel infused with moonlight flashed, it inflicted large and small wounds upon the bear.
However, that was not enough.
He had to crush the wrist.
If not, he had to aim for the legs.
Minor wounds were aningless to a zombie.
“Leo, widen the distance. It is 150m to the north. There is a small cliff over there.”
Joshua’s instructions were heard through the darkness.
It was a clear and vivid voice.
Leo repeated the command out loud several tis so he would not forget it.
In the anti, he arrived near the point he had been told.
The bear was still full of energy.
“Be careful so you don't fall.”
When a brief mont of leisure arose.
Leo slightly turned his head.
A steep slope was located behind his back.
Below the slope, wooden spears made sharp like daggers were planted.
They seed to have been used once already.
A few were broken, and blood was pooled at the tips of others.
“Wait at that spot. When I give the signal, crouch down and close your eyes.”
“W-Wait, close my eyes? If I look away from that monster, won't I die?”
“Just stop talking back and do as you are told.”
Leo had an unpleasant expression, but he had no other alternative.
He clashed with the bear once again.
With his sword gripped tightly, he cut through the left arm he had been persistently targeting.
The severed arm fell to the ground with a thud.
Blood flowed from the spot where the arm had flown off.
But without any leisure to rejoice, the bear swung its remaining right arm.
The [Shield] blocked the incoming claws.
However, it did not perfectly absorb the impact.
The impact transmitted beyond the [Shield] sent his body flying into the ground.
He shook his head violently as he was buried in the mud.
The tension he had been holding back exploded at once, and his breathing beca rough.
His throat grew hot.
As if a hole had been pierced in his lungs, his body would not move according to his will.
“Who told you to crouch down as you pleased without my signal?”
Amidst his hazy consciousness.
Only his voice could be heard with strange clarity.
“You try getting hit once! I didn't crouch down because I wanted to.”
“Whatever. Just stay there quietly with your face buried.”
Leo was conflicted.
The sound of the bear’s breathing could be heard from a very close distance.
It was in a state of great excitent.
He was too anxious to stay still even with such a thing in front of him.
“Do not have any foolish thoughts and stay still.”
Joshua warned him successively, as if he had read his thoughts.
If it ca to this, he had to trust and leave it to him.
Roar! The bear’s howl pierced his ears, and the vibration of the ground grew stronger.
The boy prayed toward the sky.
Then, like a lie, an intense streak of light covered his closed eyes.
“Roar!”
Joshua used [Flash] from right behind the trap.
The bear, which montarily lost its vision, fumbled and was sucked into the cliff.
The creature’s belly was flipped over.
“Tania!”
Now it was the girl’s turn.
A rain of fire fell from the sky.
Dense flas wrapped around the bear’s fur.
“How long are you going to stay lying there. Get up.”
Leo stood up while brushing off the dirt.
“Ugh, my head.”
Leo doubted his eyes.
During the short ti he was down.
He saw the bear that had fallen into the trap floundering in the flas.
“Isn't this a fish already caught?”
“It is still far off.”
A dragging sound of footsteps was heard from below the hole.
The bear slowly climbed back up the slope.
The creature’s appearance beca even more hideous than before.
Its skin bubbled up, and the inner flesh was revealed.
Muscle fibers and white skeleton were visible between the exposed flesh.
“Leo, how much Aura do you have left?”
“I am almost exhausted.”
“Then you withdraw from this spot.”
“I can still do more.”
“I know that even standing is the most you can do. Stop pretending to be strong and disappear because you are in the way.”
Leo swallowed his words.
Normally, he would have hesitated to retreat, misunderstanding that his achievents were being stolen.
But it was not like that now.
Exhaustion of physical strength accelerates when Aura is released.
The ti he fought the bear was only a few minutes.
However, a fatigue rushed over him as if they had been hitting each other for several hours.
This was the end.
It was regrettable, but his head cooled down when he thought of it as a matter of life and death.
“You worked hard. Leave the rest to .”
Leo thought as he left the spot.
It was a mysterious feeling.
Among all the praise he had heard so far, this felt especially better.
He thought about the reason.
It was not flattery.
He had purely encouraged him as a fellow comrade.
Leaving behind the tickling feeling in a corner of his heart, he moved as far away as possible.
He t Tania, who was hiding near a tree.
She also gasped for breath as an aftermath of firing her magic.
“Are you safe?”
“I am okay. What about you, brother?”
“I cannot move a single finger.”
Leo collapsed on that spot.
The strength in his legs gave out.
He barely managed to endure his consciousness fading away.
When he poked his head out to check the outside, Joshua was taking the place where he had stood.
He was looking at the bear.
“It seems I have put too much of a burden on him.”
Before starting, Joshua had promised he would block attacks up to ten tis.
However, that number had already been exceeded long ago.
At least twenty tis or more, by a rough estimate.
He looked at Tania beside him.
Her expression was distorted and she broke out in a cold sweat.
The flas that attacked the bear were certainly an attack squeezed out to her limit.
He must be experiencing the sa pain she felt.
Even so, Joshua did not let out a single groan.
“Grrrr.”
Urgon growled.
Fury blazed in the bear’s gaze as it looked at the human before it.
It was not distinguished by intelligence.
It was the scent.
The scent of the boy had followed it ever since it fell into the trap while approaching the camp.
The consciousness that it was unpleasant remained.
Because it was a variant, such emotions existed, though they were weak.
“Roar!”
Urgon attacked with its teeth in the lead.
Clang!
The [Shield] broke.
Small fragnts fell to the floor like a broken glass window.
The strength had noticeably weakened.
The bear swung its teeth and claws as if to maintain its montum.
The attacks it poured out while carrying its body size.
Every single strike was threatening enough to shatter a rock.
Joshua moved backward.
He was definitely slower than the boy he had faced earlier.
However, strangely, he could not be caught.
The bear continued to chase the boy without thinking.
“Even if you don't get tired. It is natural for abilities to drop if the body is broken.”
Urgon’s body was a ss due to the pincer attack from Leo and Tania.
Just as his shield had beco dull.
The creature’s condition also beca weaker than at the beginning.
“It seems you haven't eaten much yet.”
Joshua recalled one piece of knowledge about variants.
It was the characteristic of becoming stronger the more life they devoured.
The more they craved flesh.
They regain their intelligence and approach the power they handled in their previous life.
If Urgon had hunted more humans, things might not have gone according to plan.
“If you were to find a cause for defeat from your perspective, it would be that, and this fight is now over.”
He took a scroll out of his pocket.
And he activated the magic contained in the scroll.
It was [Shield].
The bear extended its claws as if it rembered the defensive power of the [Shield] from a mont ago.
Crack!
The extended claws broke, and the skin of the arm was torn away.
The advantage of a scroll was that mana consumption is low when using the contained magic.
And the ability of the contained magic.
It is based on the mana at the ti it was produced.
This scroll was produced yesterday.
“Grrrrr!!”
Urgon moved backward, unable to handle its own power.
Joshua picked up a branch.
It was a sapling that had just begun to grow, with even the roots not removed.
However, even such a sapling.
It was enough to pierce the skin Leo had torn and the muscle tissue Tania had burned.
One, two, three.
He thrust the prepared items in without rcy.
The sensation of digging into flesh is transmitted to his fingertips.
“It is over.”
There were 8 scrolls remaining.
He scattered as many as seven of them into the air.
They were all things containing the magic of [Growth].
As the scrolls glowed, the branches stuck in Urgon all flashed at once.
Crunch!
The several saplings stuck in the bear grew in an instant.
The grown branches pierced through as they destroyed the inside of the body.
Blood and brain matter flowed over the pierced branches.
Urgon did not move.
[Sub Quest - You have cleared the Trial of the Forest.]
[You have acquired 50 coins.]
[You have implented the doctrine of the God of Harmony.]
[You have acquired 20 additional coins.]
[Coins held: 70]
If it is the God of Harmony…
It was a god he had learned about at the cathedral in Triden Village.
It seed this fight had given him a deep impression.
According to the contents of the scriptures, he valued fellowship.
If these coins were a reward for the result of fighting together with two people.
It did not feel bad.
“There is one more thing I have to do.”
He took out a dagger.
He stabbed the blade near the heart of the bear that no longer made even a slight movent.
It was an unpleasant sensation.
If it were not for [Patience] and [Steady Nerves], he would not have had the confidence to carry out the task.
Slowly, carefully cutting out the inside.
The desired item finally appeared at a location his hand could reach.
A heart containing mana.
It had a brilliant blue light like a sapphire.
A texture closer to a hard gemstone than a soft jelly.
He took out the heart and imdiately put it into the space remaining in his inventory.
Everything was settled and he headed to the place where the two people were hiding.
“...You.”
Leo made an expression as if he had seen a ghost.
“Are you safe? What about that variant?”
“I am on my way back after finishing it off.”
Leo swallowed his dry saliva.
This side was in a state of exhaustion as an aftermath of using Aura.
But he still looked like he had room to spare.
“What is your status?”
“I am not infected, so you don't have to worry. A certain person protected perfectly. Only the last attack was painful.”
“Tell the symptoms accurately.”
“How heartless, it is a bruise. It seems a few of my ribs are broken. It is painful to breathe.”
“Okay. Tania, what about you?”
The girl shook her head.
Except for pouring out too much mana, she was healthy.
He turned his gaze back to Leo.
“Can you stand up?”
“It is impossible.”
“That is a bit disappointing.”
“You are the strange one for still being able to move after facing such a monster.”
“You could’ve definitely done better.”
Leo furrowed his brows.
He seed to be expecting sothing from him.
But he thought the power to et that expectation was lacking in himself.
“What if zombies co at a ti like this? I think it was loud when you fought the bear.”
“I will keep watch. If you are okay with it, I would like to borrow your sword.”
Leo reached out and picked up the sword left beside him.
He tried to put strength into his arm to give it to him.
His hand did not want to go above his shoulder.
“I am sorry, but it seems you will have to pick it up yourself.”
“Okay.”
Joshua approached and picked up the sword.
He spoke as he looked into Leo’s eyes while bending his waist.
“I only nagged you, but I used you because I had trust in your ability. It wasn't 100 points, but it should at least be 50 points.”
“Is that supposed to be complint?”
“Think what you want.”
“I have never fallen below 90 points even once since I entered the academy. Your evaluation is stricter than the instructors.”
Leo gave a bitter smile.
He spoke sarcastically, but he was feeling satisfied inwardly.
The word 50 points ant that half of the parts to be filled still remained.
Thinking as such, his competitive spirit blazed up.
It seed Joshua had calculated this score while taking even his personality into account.
“There is one thing I want to propose to you.”
“What is it?”
“You, do you have any thought of working together with ?”
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