BXBX NOVEL Chapter 37: A fierce and rewarding battle
The guardian bear growled, standing almost five meters tall with its sharp claws gleaming like pure chromed steel. It was ready to face Samira, to protect its territory at any cost.
Despite the bear\'s size, it wasn\'t something that could be defeated quickly, and it wasn\'t slow either; on the contrary, it had good speed that initially startled Samira.
"It\'s not an ordinary bear, it\'s at least in the early cultivation levels," Samira concluded. She was a Master Corporal cultivator, not a Mana user, but she used her flames because it was her best skill when she was without a sword.
As it came running towards Samira, she dodged the first onslaught of its blows, moving with grace and speed to her right and landing a punch to its stomach, followed by a kick. With a spinning kick, Samira tried to destabilize the bear, but the creature resisted, shaking its head in fury.
Its claws shimmered in the light of the flames as it charged again, forcing Samira to quickly dodge backward.
"Tsk, the problem with dealing with beasts is that those without intelligence and acting on instinct are always more difficult to handle," she said, completely forgetting about Strax and focusing entirely on fighting the huge guardian bear.
Despite all her efforts, nothing seemed to be enough to defeat the bear. It was a force of nature and was in its territory, determined to protect its home at any cost.
Samira didn\'t have time to think about what to do; she began to use everything she had. Her injured arms started to move. "Screw this shitty arm," she said and began to endure the pain. "Come on, you piece of crap!" She shouted as she advanced again, landing an extremely powerful punch on the bear\'s side.
"ROOOOOARRR" The bear roared loudly, feeling the blow with all the impact it could receive; Samira\'s hand left a mark on the bear, and again...
The snowstorm began as the bear\'s eyes turned neon blue. "So it was you all along! You little bastard!" She shouted and punched the same spot again.
KRAK
Samira felt the spot she punched give slightly; she had broken one of her ribs. But unfortunately, a blast of ice hit her in the stomach.
"Ughtt!" She couldn\'t even scream in pain; she was thrown backwards, her back hitting a tree. "Ahrgt!" She growled, her back hurt, but none of her bones were broken; fortunately, she was physically strong enough.
She lost her breath for a few seconds, but decided to pull herself together; otherwise, Strax could die... "Wait, where is that bastard?" She questioned. Despite the fight having been brief, Strax should... She wanted to think more about it, but... "Roar!" The bear\'s claws came at her, and she quickly ducked.
"Damn it!" She cursed as she saw the tree being completely cut down and crashing with a loud thud.
Samira fought fiercely, but something was missing... "Good thing I kept this after killing the wolves," Strax thought as he took something out of the Skill "Inventory."
He let Samira fight for a short time; it might seem like a lot, but in reality, it had only been three minutes. He recovered from the stake that impaled him, fortunately not in a vital spot and reasonably superficial, allowing for passive regeneration from cultivation.
Then, just when it seemed like the battle was lost, a ray of hope appeared. Strax appeared behind the bear, wielding a sword with his eyes focused on a specific spot: the tendons of the huge bear standing.
Without hesitation, Strax advanced at full speed, and with a quick and decisive movement, he aimed for its tendons and struck accurately.
The metal met flesh with a metallic sound, and the bear let out a roar of agony, completely losing its balance and falling to the ground.
Samira looked at Strax, her face completely dark... "IF YOU HAD A SWORD, WHY DIDN\'T YOU GIVE IT TO ME? HUH, YOU DAMN BASTARD! I ALMOST DIED!" Samira shouted as Strax protected his ears. "ROAAARRR" The bear was still alive but weakened.
"You could thank me, you know?" Strax questioned, "You let me do all the work!" She roared. "Punishment for throwing snowballs at me, we\'re even. Little Fire." He said with a smile as he offered his hand to help Samira up.
"Thank goodness she was strong enough to hold him off until I recovered."
Roar!!
The bear, however, showed no signs of stopping its advances and began to rise again, this time... its body started to be covered in ice from its power. "Hey, Samira... is it getting up?" Strax questioned, helping Samira up by the arms after assisting her to stand.
"Yeah, it\'s getting up," she said, trembling, her body burning with pain, but she enchanted her fists again. "It\'ll only last a minute," she said, and Strax smiled. "Shall we fight together then?" He said, smiling, and she nodded. For some reason, she was really excited for that, and soon the two got into attack position.
"You take the right, keep hitting that spot," Strax said, and Samira retorted, "I was already going to do that! Don\'t give me orders!" She roared as she lunged forward.
"She\'s cute even when angry," Strax thought, and he began to prepare. "Let\'s see if this will be as I hope it to be."
Strax returned to action, running behind Samira in a zigzag to confuse the Guardian Bear. "Get him!" Strax shouted, and the bear turned to him, trying to swipe its claws at his face, but Strax deflected them with his sword, causing it to hit the ground.
At that moment, Samira landed a solid blow to the bear\'s ribs, which were already damaged, and once again, a loud cry of pain echoed through the skies as it staggered backward.
"He\'s getting tired!" Samira yelled, and Strax nodded. When the bear prepared to shoot ice stakes, Strax came at him with all his strength, landing a blow to its stomach. Samira didn\'t stand still and delivered a blow to its jaw, making it fall backward, but it regained its balance, its white fur now almost entirely red after so much fighting.
Now, however, it was surrounded. In front of it was Samira in a combat stance, and behind it was Strax. It didn\'t have a good field of vision and was still dazed from the previous impact on its jaw.
At the moment it roared even louder, Samira leaped onto it. "You\'re going to pay for hurting him," she thought, putting all her strength into her fist. "Even with empty hands..." She shouted, "I am strong!"
"!!!"
The bear was completely brought down to the ground, its body went limp but it wasn\'t over yet. Strax, who had been holding back his final blow, finally came to finish it.
[Brutal Cut!]
He struck, much stronger than before, completely destroying the bear\'s head with the blow.
"Wow, where were you hiding that?" She questioned, seeing that the bear lost almost its entire upper part with the impact of the strike. "Oh~ That? I can only use it when the target is almost dead," he said, sweating from the heat and panting. It demanded a lot from him, so he fell backwards into the snow.
"The blizzard has ended," Strax thought, looking at the sky now completely clear. "Yeah, it seems like it\'s finally over," she nodded and lay down on the ground next to him.
They both gazed at the sky as they rested. Meanwhile, the System was going crazy, sending numerous messages to Strax, who decided to completely ignore them after all, why bother, right?
[You defeated a "Mountain Guardian" - the Ice Bear, as a reward you obtained one of its abilities "Glacial Ice Manipulation (5*)", this ability requires training for full control]
[You have broken the limits imposed by the system on the user, the System update will start soon after the completion of Act II\'s mission]
Meanwhile...
"The blizzard has stopped!" One of the surviving adventurers said, and Jason nodded. "Let\'s start the search! We need to find the two Bosses!" Jason said, and the rest of the guild decided to follow his orders, after all, he was the strongest at that moment.
"Young master... be alive... I will die if you are dead, do not condemn me along with you... I have a wife and family," Jason said to the wind, looking at the sky that was beginning to brighten as the clouds drifted away.
"How strange..." he thought upon hearing a strange sound and the sky clearing completely a few seconds later. "Hey! Let\'s head in that direction!" He pointed, calling the remaining others, and they set off in search of their bosses.