The imdiate loss of vision was sothing even humans would struggle for a very long ti to adapt to. It was much worse for an unintelligent beast.
The Crimson Ash Bear reeled back, bringing its paws to its eye and clawing at it vigorously. The shock made it completely forget Gio’s presence for a mont.
’The eyes are always the most obvious target.’
For that sa reason, a lot of beasts had evolved so their eyes couldn’t be as glaring of a weakness. The Crimson Ash Bear wasn’t one of them as Gio learned when he watched Amaya butcher the first one they killed.
Its drastic reaction gave him more than enough ti to land on the ground and roll back to his feet.
’Its entire left side is a blindspot until it recovers. After that, it’s only a matter of how sharp its senses are.’
Gio moved with light and slow steps, sneaking around the bear’s left side. The beast roared wildly, flailing its arms and swiveling its head in an attempt to keep its enemies away until it could recover.
But it was already too late.
A small human drew his sword, held it with both hands, and hoisted it level to his chest. His energy filled its form as he jumped up and stabbed it into the gash once more.
The energy-coated blade slipped through its flesh like nothing and cut through its muscle tissue. He could feel the emptiness at the tip that indicated he’d cut all the way into the bear’s internals, yet, Gio was not happy.
’I’m too damn short.’
If he could just drag his sword through the gash and completely open it, this battle would end so much faster.
However, puberty was working very slowly on him.
’Tch!’
He clicked his tongue again and pushed away from the beast with his sword in hand, drawing his pistol and firing a few shots into the open half of the gash.
’This is...’
The beast was bleeding profusely. It had been leaking blood for a long ti, and it never stopped straining its body. Its blood flowed faster and faster as it got more and more excited, throwing more and more blood out of its body.
’It’ll die in a few minutes even if I don’t touch it again.’
Technically, what he’d done thus far was enough. The amount of damage he caused, in terms of lasting effect, was not small.
It was why he was so confident. Once he’d taken its eye, its fate was sealed.
’Just thinking about letting it end like that puts a sour taste in my mouth, though.’
He looked over at Amaya again.
’She wouldn’t give sothing like this without reason.’
After so many minutes of battle, it was more than obvious that the Crimson Ashen Bear wasn’t a beast Gio should have even been attempting to fight at his level. It was nowhere near the level of the average beast he’d fought over the past ten days.
Yet, he learned a lot about Amaya after living and hunting with her.
Even if she acted like she did everything on a whim, she was always perfectly aware of her actions.
’There’s a reason.’
Gio’s eyes narrowed. He hid behind a tree, disappearing from the confused beast’s world. It looked around in search of him, but when it was unable to find him, its attention imdiately went to Amaya.
Grrrrr...!
A low growl filled the air as it slowly backed away from her. Gio watched carefully and took a deep breath.
’Let’s view this objectively.’
Objectively, if this wasn’t a training situation but a real combat situation, the smart decision would be to attempt to wait.
If it could be assured that the dying beast wouldn’t attract predators or continue to threaten his safety, Gio would absolutely wait and allow it to die.
He could conserve energy and avoid the dangers of charging in and suffering from the beast’s death throes at the sa ti. In the end, the mission would still be complete. The beast would still die under his watchful eye.
His eyes followed the Crimson Ash Bear that was still facing Amaya and backing away from her.
Coincidentally, it was coming in his direction.
’Both options beco viable if it’s in front of distracted.’
He looked back at Amaya. Her eyes never left him.
It was as if she knew what decision he was on the verge of making. She was waiting to see what he chose to do.
’If this was a real battle...’
"Huu..."
This was what it ant to fight as a weakling.
"Pride" in battle could only be entertained by the strong.
’By any ans necessary. Even if it feels like I’m being a coward, it’s fine as long as it works.’
What was the most important thing for him to show Amaya and the rest of the team?
Was it his strength or his mind?
’Amaya already acknowledged my talent. She’s seen fight too many tis to be questioning the limits of my strength.’
Rather, if she didn’t know the limits of his strength, she wouldn’t have been able to set up this scenario.
It was a battle easy in so ways and hard in the worst ways. Gio was almost certain she’d secretly done sothing else to weaken it without telling him when she reached into its maw.
’What she needs to see from the kid who has too much talent and ambition isn’t a scene where he runs back in and puts himself in danger unnecessarily.’
She wanted to see if he could show restraint.
The mont his thoughts reached that point, Gio’s mind cald down. He crept away from the retreating bear’s trajectory, keeping himself hidden in its blind spot.
A trail of crimson was left in its wake, contrasting the green and brown brush. It was over ten ters away from Amaya before it finally turned her back on her.
And then it ran.
It tried to run for shelter, a place where it could nurse its injuries.
Too much ti passed before the beast realized it was truly injured. Its body was already numb, so it never really understood how much blood it had lost.
It tried to run, only to trip over its own paws and tumble to the ground. It rolled over and stood back up, only to find that its remaining eye was not seeing properly.
The world around it was fading in and out of existence, moving side to side as if it were dancing with the wind.
It couldn’t walk straight. It couldn’t run at all.
Its limbs were not injured, yet it had no choice but to limp, throwing itself into the surrounding trees to keep itself steady.
Step by step it moved, looking for any signs of familiar land. It was instinctively searching for the den it left behind to hunt.
Step by step, it trudged, letting the world fade away around it.
The jungle beca small, then tiny, then minuscule until, finally, the beast could only see it through a peephole.
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
Three more tis, its paws landed heavily on the ground.
And on the fourth ti, it collapsed, unable to hold itself up any longer.
In the midst of the wild jungle, that beast fell into a permanent sleep.
Gio stood behind its corpse with a frown on his face. The winds whipped against his skin. They told him to expect her arrival, so when her words ca from behind, he wasn’t surprised.
"I didn’t expect you to do it," she said, walking up behind him and putting a hand on his shoulder.
"But you chose the right path."
The assumption in his mind was the truth.
"Now, I can be sure that you won’t act stupidly if we ever bring you out for a real field operation."
Gio nodded as Amaya walked around him and approached the beast’s corpse.
"On that note, I found sothing interesting. Want to hear it?"
’She’s asking like everything else was a segue.’
The sourness in his heart evaporated in an instant.
’There’s no way that was a segue, right?’
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