Forest north of the capital Justin's P.O.V.

As the bear charges I am surprised by its speed, even only using four legs to move it is quicker than a horse. Emelia reacts the fastest but her arrow sticks in the thing's fur and doesn't penetrate.

"Shining Slash!"

My slash only leaves a shallow wound across the thing's chest. I have to immediately throw myself to the side to avoid being trampled by the thing. As it turns to follow me Koko appears above it and swings at it's head, but her sword just bounces off it's skull. Emelia manages to hit it with an arrow in the wound I left on its chest, but it doesn't go in very far.

This thing is really tough, I am starting to wonder if we can even kill it. Maybe going by road and dealing with soldiers wasn't such a bad idea after all. As I see the bear above me I realize this is not the time to be laying around thinking about other things!

The earth where I just was gets shredded by the bear's claws as I desperately roll aside. When I stop rolling I find the bear above me still and already swinging down at me. Out of desperation I raise my shield, and am rewarded with blinding pain.

The bear destroys the shield and breaks my arm as easily as I might push a curtain aside. I would have died right then and there if it wasn't for my party members. The bear lets out a roar and spins away from me, as it does I see Giles' lance jutting from its side.

The next thing I know Rachel has me by the shoulders and is dragging me away from the fight. The relief as she starts healing my arm is enough to clear my head. When I look back to the fight I am shocked to see the bear clawing at nothing.

It takes me a minute to realize that the bear is blind, it has one of Koko's daggers in each eye. Her accuracy is terrifying! At this point the bear has a dozen different wounds and I want to get up and get back in the fight.

Rachel says "Stay still until I finish!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

Staying still while the fight is still going on is hard, but I don't want Rachel mad at me. As I watch Giles manages to get his lance back, leaving a gaping wound in the bear's side that is bleeding freely. At this rate the bear might die of blood loss before we manage to inflict a fatal wound.

Just as Rachel finishes healing my arm I realize the bear has a major weakness, it can't attack someone on its back. So as soon as Rachel gives me the nod I surge to my feet and take a two-handed grip on my sword. Then I run at the bear, timing my run so the bear is facing away from me.

As I jump to the bears back I hear someone exclaim in surprise but I stay focused. Keeping my footing with the bear bouncing around is one of the hardest things I have ever done. I wait patiently for the bear to pause for a second, when it does I quickly set my feet and swing my sword as hard as I can at the thing's neck.

"Shining Slash!"

With my sword buried in the bear's neck the slash ability does even more damage. The bear staggers, throwing me from it's back. I hit the ground hard and get my breath knocked out of me. By the time I can breath again and push myself up so I can see, the bear has already collapsed.

*DING*

Congratulations! You have gained a level!

You are now level 9! +100 HP +50 MP

Ability Shining Slash is now level 3!

Gained New Ability! Piercing Light!

Giles dismounts and walks over to offer me a hand up. Rachel hurries over to see if I need more healing, but other than a few bumps and scrapes I am fine. She then turns to Giles who I now notice is limping, it seems the bear managed to graze his leg.

While Giles is getting healed I walk over to retrieve my sword. When I get close enough to the bear to see over it I find Emelia is already hard at work skinning the thing. It takes me a minute to free my sword from its neck."

"What are you doing Emmy?"

Emelia says "I am going to make bearskin cloaks for Rachel, Koko, and myself."

"Good idea, it will probably be colder the further north we go."

Emelia says "Yes, and if it takes us too long to get to the empire we might get caught by winter. If you and Giles want cloaks you will have to kill another one."

"Um, no thanks. I would rather not fight another one of those."

Giles says "Emmy, you said you read about this thing? Is it edible?"

Emelia says "The book didn't say, but bear meat normally is and from the smell I would say this is edible."

Giles says "Great! Let's cook some up and try it!"

"Alright, but Rachel should try it first."

Rachel says "Why me?"

"Don't you have spells to detect and counter poison?"

Rachel says "Oh, yeah."

So while Koko helps Emelia skin the bear we cook up a small piece for Rachel to try. Just from the smell as it is cooking I think it is going to be good.

Rachel says "It is the most delicious meat I have ever tasted!"

Hearing that we quickly cook up some more so everyone can try it. Even though we already ate we worked up an appetite again fighting the bear. Once everyone has tried it and agreed that it is the best meat ever, we set about butchering the bear and putting the meat in our inventories.

The great thing about the hero inventory system is things come out exactly the same as they went in. So even a year from now the meat would still be perfectly fresh.

Giles says "This thing tastes so good I wouldn't mind fighting another!"

"Speak for yourself, that hurt! Oh by the way do you have an extra shield I can have?"

Giles says "Yeah I do, I told you the stuff from the soldiers would come in handy."

Rachel says "What should we do with this thing?"

As I turn to look she is holding up the strange orb we found in the bear while butchering it. It has been cleaned of blood but still isn't anything I recognize.

"Emmy, do you know what this is?"

When I don't get an answer I look around, but I don't see Emelia anywhere.

"Anyone know where Emmy is?"

Rachel says "I haven't seen her since we cooked the meat."

Giles shouts "Emmy!"

Rachel says "Maybe she had to go?"

"She still shouldn't be so far away that she can't hear us and answer."

Koko says "Search."

"Right, Rachel, you stay here in case she comes back. Giles, you, me, and Koko will search the area. Be careful!"