“I really don’t think that’s a divine tree.”
The bear must have gulped down the juice the moment it arrived here.
Its mouth was completely smeared with black liquid, looking like a total mess, and it seemed the bear had knocked away the animals that were drinking the juice before it arrived, as the black-furred beasts were scattered about haphazardly.
“Well, whether it’s a divine tree or not doesn’t really matter right now.”
“That’s true.”
Yona removed her hands from James’s shoulder.
Now her arms were completely stuck to him.
With the height difference being so significant, as she unwrapped her arms, Alex quietly began to massage Yona’s shoulder.
“What should we do about that thing?”
Kaiyak had surely wounded the bear during his fight.
But thanks to getting here first and drinking up that juice, the bear now looked perfectly fine.
Moreover—
“That glare seems to have gotten even scarier.”
Just as Alex said that, the bear howled and charged at them.
Its charge was aimed right at Kaiyak, who dodged to the side just before the bear could pounce on him.
– Whoooosh
They heard a sound like skin tearing.
But that was all.
“The skin has gotten tougher!”
Just as Kaiyak cried out, the bear didn’t even have a scratch on it.
Even though every swing of the axe was supposed to be steady and inflict damage like a silver-ranked warrior, it seemed Kaiyak’s strikes hadn’t left a mark at all.
“James, at least aim for its eyes!”
“I’m already aiming!”
James had distanced himself just enough to track the bear’s movements with his eyes, readying five arrows on his bowstring.
One was properly nocked, while the remaining four had been prepared to minimize loading time.
“Isn’t there some trick we can do?”
Alex pulled a round shield from a clip on his shield and handed it to Yona.
As she accepted it and strapped it onto her left arm, Yona swallowed hard.
“Alex, should we try that thing we did before?”
“No way.”
Alex shook his head.
In the meantime, the bear seemed to see Kaiyak as its biggest threat and was directing its attacks at him. It wasn’t really a situation where Alex could jump in.
“Why not?”
“Are you trying to channel divine power directly again like the time with the goat-head?”
“…maybe.”
Alex shook his head even more vigorously.
“We don’t have any extra Sacred Barriers. Plus, this bear is much smaller than that goat. A few swipes of its front paws could take you out in moments. And trying to do that while it’s rampaging like this is way too risky—”
“Alex! Cover me!”
At Kaiyak’s shout, Alex stopped talking and started running.
Yona followed him closely behind.
As the bear swung its front paw toward Kaiyak, Alex jumped in and deflected it at an angle.
With a loud bang, the front paw was knocked upwards, barely missing Yona, who took a step back in shock.
“This jerk!”
Kaiyak bared his teeth and crouched low, preparing to dive in.
His target was the legs.
If he could take those out, he might just be able to topple it.
With all his strength, Kaiyak struck his axe down, and it thudded into the bear’s knee.
– GRAAAAAAH!
“Great!”
With James’s shout, an arrow flew in, hitting the fur around the bear’s eyebrow but failing to embed itself and bouncing off.
He went out.
“James, you little punk! After retiring from adventuring, you haven’t taken care of your gear, huh!”
“I’ve been too busy managing my wife!”
With that quip, Kaiyak blended back into the shade of the trees.
The enraged bear went on a rampage, swiping its front paws wildly and stomping furiously, causing continuous tremors.
“Uh, ugh…!”
As a result, Yona stumbled, losing her balance.
In front of her stood Alex, but Yona’s wobbling created distance between them.
– Roar!
The bear let out a horrific roar as it swung its paw.
As soon as Alex deflected the bear’s paw, the creature didn’t waste a moment and swung its other paw towards Alex’s side.
“Gah!”
Alex hurriedly put up his shield, but couldn’t fully block or deflect the blow, absorbing the impact entirely.
With a force that even a human like Alex couldn’t withstand, he flew several steps back.
“W-What the…?”
In Yona’s eyes, the bear raised its massive paw high.
If that paw came crashing down, Yona would become a flattened chunk of meat.
“Slowpoke!”
As soon as Yona heard Kaiyak’s shout from behind, she barely managed to dodge out of the way.
If a sure-kill opponent was right in front of her, she’d keep her focus on that.
Yona decided that the moment she tripped up and lost her balance.
And right nearby was Kaiyak.
The instant Yona dodged, Kaiyak’s axe came crashing down smack in the middle of the bear’s head.
A perfectly executed strike that pierced its opening.
No matter how fierce, a bear was still just a wild animal, and it wouldn’t withstand the weight of Kaiyak’s blow—
– Roarrrr!
“What the…!?”
Despite the axe being buried right into its skull, the bear showed no signs of staggering.
Instead, it whipped around swiftly after being struck and swiped at Kaiyak.
“Gahhh!”
Kaiyak screamed in agony as he went flying into the thicket across from him.
“Kaiyak!”
Yona shouted as she rushed to Kaiyak.
“Alex, cover me!”
“Leave it to me!”
Without taking his eyes off the howling bear, Alex raised his shield high and jumped alongside Yona.
When Yona saw Kaiyak, who was tangled among the bushes, she held her breath.
The long claw marks on his side were deep, to say the least.
Three distinct gashes.
Blood poured from those gashes, and without a second thought, Yona pressed her hand against Kaiyak’s wounds.
“Y-Yona…!”
“Shut up, lizard! Alex is covering us, so it’s fine!”
“T-That guy… is weak…”
Amidst her concern, Yona slapped Kaiyak’s cheek, frowning.
“Be quiet, you lizard brat.”
Alex stood on guard, shielding both Yona and Kaiyak, bracing his shield firmly.
He rested his hammer inside the shield, intending to stay put right there.
– Whoosh!
At that moment, an arrow flew in and struck the bear’s eyeball dead on.
With blood pouring from the bear’s eye, the once furious glow was replaced by a stream of crimson.
“Kaiyak! That guy doesn’t even have a wife to take care of, and it doesn’t look like he’s managing his skills either!”
James, dodging the bear suffering from an arrow stuck in its eye, looked at Kaiyak lying down and said,
“Ha, you’ve got to be kidding me. That orc…”
“Can’t make jokes, huh? Guess you’re still in pain. What’s the status on Kaiyak, Yona?”
“He’ll be fine!”
Yona confirmed that the bleeding from Kaiyak’s wound had stopped and it was mostly healed before standing up and turning away.
Blood was dripping from one of the bear’s eyes.
“What’s that thing doing?”
The bear was backing away, looking down at them with its remaining eye.
As it stepped back, something that used to be a divine tree was there, its sap still oozing out like a fountain.
“If we eat that, wouldn’t it heal our wounds!?”
Proving Alex’s words, the bear began greedily gulping down the sap without taking its eyes off them.
The arrow was pulled out from the bleeding eye and tumbled to the ground.
The bleeding stopped, and light began to flicker back in its gaze.
“…Isn’t that a potion? If we eat that, will we get stronger?”
“Honestly, I don’t want to become strong externally.”
“Well then, we should be fine. We aren’t human anymore.”
Though they were joking around, everyone felt that the situation wasn’t good at all.
They had to prevent the bear from eating that or…
‘…What should we do?’
Right now, their strongest asset was Kaiyak.
However, Kaiyak’s power was at a silver rank, and the bear was at least that or stronger.
‘Should we run?’
“James.”
James, counting the remaining arrows, turned to Yona.
“What are the chances we succeed if we run?”
“None. We’d probably get picked off one by one while escaping.”
Running away was out of the question.
What should they do?
“Wait a moment, everyone, wait a moment.”
Kaiyak waved his hand.
Kaiyak saw it.
The bear’s gaze briefly dulling, then flaring back up red.
Then it would look faint again, only to flare up once more.
And around its mouth, red foam was bubbling and spilling over.
“…That might be…”
When Kaiyak signaled, James nodded and melted into the shadows of the trees.
Soon after, an arrow flew out of nowhere and hit the bear’s head with a loud thud.
It didn’t penetrate, but it was sufficient to get the bear’s attention.
“Alex!”
“Oh!”
Alex yelled and charged forward.
“Hey, let’s go together, you idiot!”
Yona shouted in panic, following closely behind.
Kaiyak also dashed forward, keeping some distance from Yona.
Alex, wielding a hammer, relentlessly pounded the bear’s knees and legs.
Yona kept a distance, ready to react at any moment, watching both Alex and Kaiyak.
Kaiyak was doing the same.
As the main force of the party, Kaiyak swung his axe, constantly attacking the bear.
– Wham, wham, crack!
The blood and foam flowing from the bear’s mouth poured out even more fiercely.
The hot blood and foam were flowing down so hot they were steaming, and the bear wildly swung its front paws, attacking Yona and the others.
“Just a little more, just a little more!”
With Kaiyak’s shout, another arrow flew in and burst the bear’s eye.
“Now I’m out of arrows!”
“Great! Leave it to us!”
At James’s shout, Kaiyak responded and swung his axe again.
Kaiyak responded and swung the axe again.
Pushing away with his front paw like a shield, Alex stole a glance at Yona.
It was somewhat safe, perhaps because they were keeping a proper distance.
“Darn it!”
With Kaiyak’s shout, the axe smashed into the bear’s knee.
Unlike before, the axe dug in, bursting forth blood in one swift move.
– Grrrrrrrrr!
With the bear’s desperate scream, Kaiyak raised a signal to retreat.
Alex quickly stepped back, and Yona hurriedly checked if Alex was injured.
“Let’s just wait and see for a bit.”
As Kaiyak said, the bear was going crazy.
The blood and foam from its mouth were not just dripping; they flowed like a waterfall, and one of its eyes had popped, unable to regenerate.
“Is that beast going to drink that goo again?”
Alex’s words were spot on.
The bear had its mouth buried in the trunk of the sacred tree, continuously drinking the flowing juice.
“Wait a minute.”
Kaiyak raised his hand.
Then, for a moment, the bear stopped.
Just as a crimson aura swiftly enveloped the bear’s black-furred body—
– Splash, splash…
A terrible sound followed as its skin and flesh began to melt away.
The flesh, turned to mush, left only black traces and started to merge with the overflowing goo, creating a chaotic mix.
*
“…Anyway, I am a priest, at least half.”
“Right.”
“Tell Kaiyak and James to turn away. It’s an arm I don’t want them to see.”
Following Yona’s words, Alex told Kaiyak and James to turn away for a moment.
He too turned around, not looking back.
Once Yona confirmed that Alex, Kaiyak, and James were all turned away, she began to unfasten the Sacred Barrier from her arm.
Though she didn’t know what that goo was, it surely wasn’t good.
With the aura she felt, it was definitely magical; having absorbed that much magic into its body could easily lead to its destruction.
The bear acted that way due to its foolishness, but if they left things as they were, and some nasty human tried to drink the goo and control it…
That would be a disaster.
‘I’m not saying I’m particularly righteous or anything…’
Yona completely unfurled the Sacred Barrier and carefully tossed it to Alex.
Alex neatly packed the covered Sacred Barrier into his sling bag.
‘Well, if I hadn’t seen it, it would be fine, but having seen it, there’s no going back.’
As the wind brushed against her arm, marked with dark tattoos, a chill ran through her.
She absentmindedly opened and closed her fist, then approached the sacred tree.
Even now, the goo was overflowing, strangely bending and flowing as if responding to the divine energy emanating from Yona’s right arm.
“Evil ones, return to the Abyss…”
Yona recited a line from her prayer and plunged her right arm deep into the goo pit.
The divine energy burst forth intensely, beginning to spread into the goo.
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