SHLICK! Gall lopped off the head of the goblin in front of him.
"Another nest cleaned out." He walked over, pinned the rolling head under his boot, and bent down to slice off an ear. "Balrog, you want this?"
"No, get it away from ." A pale young Mage in a long robe covered his nose and mouth with a handkerchief. "It reeks in here."
Gall gave a slight shrug, shaking the blood from the ear. He took a Waterproof Bag from his pack and threaded the ear onto a thick needle inside. A dozen or so other ears were already strung on the attached linen cord.
"Captain, stop teasing Balrog. You know how much he hates sses." A tall, thin man carrying a Wooden Bow walked over and handed him two goblin ears.
"Shas, where’s Guremang?" Gall asked as he took the ears.
"Don’t know. He charged into the goblin mob at the start, and I lost track of him after that," Shas said, looking around.
"Let’s find him. Who knows where he’s passed out this ti." After gathering the few valuable items from the cave, Gall gestured for his teammates to leave the den.
"Captain, when are we gonna find that Fearso Claw Bear?" Shas asked, trailing behind Gall. "I can’t wait to shoot its eyes out."
"Don’t get careless. Its Eye of Confusion is powerful," Gall warned his team sternly as he adjusted his gear. "Plenty of Adventurers have been killed by it. We need to be careful. We can’t afford to screw this up by getting cocky."
The Adventurer Association had already announced that the Fearso Claw Bear’s Ability was Eye of Confusion. The report was supposedly confird with Detect Lies Magic, and the informant walked away with 1 Gold Coin for their trouble.
"I’ll be careful. I used to be a famous Divine Shooter in all the surrounding villages, you know..." Shas said, leaning back with his hands behind his head.
But a sudden cry cut him off. "What is this thing? It’s moving!" The Mage, Balrog, leaped aside and raised his Magic Staff.
"Agh, you little goblin runt! You dare step on your elder? I’m gonna chop you in half vertically!" A Dwarf in Armor, who had been lying on the ground, struggled to sit up.
"Hey, Guremang, ti to go," Gall called out.
The Dwarf shook his head, his two round eyes blinking open as he looked at his teammates. "Are we done?"
"Let’s go, we still have to find the Fearso Claw Bear," Shas shouted. "Once we find it, you can charge in and take a nap, and I’ll shoot its eyes out for you."
"Shut it, you braggart. That thing’s tougher to deal with than you are." Guremang staggered to his feet and followed his teammates like a rolling stone barrel.
The Mage, Balrog, shot the Dwarf a sidelong glance and silently quickened his pace. The sll coming off his teammate was... indescribable. And the Dwarf had the nerve to pull out a wineskin and take a few swigs as if no one was watching.
"I heard other teams are also looking for the Fearso Claw Bear," Shas said, gesturing excitedly beside the captain. "They even brought a bunch of Awakening Potions into the forest. They’re really sparing no expense for that Black Iron Badge."
"That potion’s so expensive, and it doesn’t even taste as good as ale," the Dwarf grumbled from the back.
"Those guys will pull any trick in the book. Have you forgotten when those three teams ganged up on that Interdiate Magical Beast, the Mud Snail?" Gall said.
"How could I forget? One team fought the Magical Beast, one team of healers managed the situation, and one team was there just to fight off other people," Shas said with a sneer.
"That’s a dedicated Adventurer organization for you. Probably called sothing like the ’Brotherhood’," Gall said with a laugh.
"Next den, let’s play ’See Who Tries Harder’," Shas suggested. "Balrog can be the judge again. We’ll see who wins. I’ve never lost."
"See Who Tries Harder" was a ga Adventurers often played. A few of them would pin down goblins by the neck and chop off their legs below the knee. When the judge yelled "start," they’d all release their goblins and see which one crawled the fastest. The winner usually walked away with about Ten Silver Coins.
"Liar! I won last ti," the Dwarf retorted, turning his head to expose Shas’s lie. His long, liquor-soaked beard trembled with his indignant words.
"Fine, we’ll play at the next den." Gall nodded in agreent. ’Searching for this long has been exhausting,’ he thought. ’We need to blow off so steam, and ssing with the goblins is fun enough.’
"The best-case scenario is we find a Fearso Claw Bear that’s already fought another group of Adventurers to a standstill. Our chances of winning would be way higher then," Shas said with a loud laugh.
The four of them gradually disappeared into the forest.
...
The Fearso Claw Bear lumbered through the tall grass. It slled that disgusting scent again.
The forest had been chaotic lately, the sll of blood drifting everywhere.
It wasn’t afraid, but years of hunting instinct told it that sothing was wrong.
That little green-skinned monkey was even more formidable than the upright, two-legged apes who wore hard shells. Last ti, it had scared the bear away with sothing that made a trendous noise.
But thinking back now, the Fearso Claw Bear realized it hadn’t actually been injured.
The cunning beast figured the green-skinned monkey was just like those other two-legged apes, using loud roars to try and intimidate it.
After just one use of its wondrous Ability, its prey would freeze on the spot, letting the bear tear into it at will.
The Fearso Claw Bear couldn’t rember when it had gained that Ability. Gradually, it had beco a part of its hunting instinct.
It tracked the scent, sensing its target was not far off. It carefully chose a path through shoulder-high bushes, keeping itself hidden from the open grassland.
A faint whiff of blood hung in the air, making it even more excited.
For the past few days, it had been prowling the periter of its target’s route, learning its patterns. It was waiting for the green-skinned monkey to let its guard down before striking—a single, fatal blow.
As the overlord of the forest, it would not permit such a troubleso creature to exist in its Hunting Ground.
Bears typically ate their prey alive; the screams of a struggling al only whetted their appetite. The Fearso Claw Bear couldn’t wait to see the green-skinned monkey pinned beneath its paws, writhing in agony.
Compared to the upright, two-legged apes, it much preferred eating monkeys. The apes’ flesh wasn’t bad, but their bodies were always covered in sothing that was a pain to tear through.
The green-skinned monkey tasted wonderful. It had very little fur, and most importantly, its at didn’t get stuck in the bear’s teeth.
This ti, it would tear out its prey’s entrails, rip off its limbs, and savor every bite.
The Fearso Claw Bear slowly approached a large tree and crouched behind it. Based on the scent, it could tell its prey was just ahead.
An annoying "COO COO COO" sound ca from the tree. The bear was used to it. Sotis, when it was eating, these birds would even co and snatch away scraps of at.
It lay perfectly still, waiting for that mont of carelessness.
The Fearso Claw Bear peeked out from behind the tree, carefully observing. In the clearing, a green-skinned monkey was swaying back and forth.
The scent was right. It remained crouched for another mont, then charged, felling its target with a single swipe of its paw.
It bit down on its prey, shaking its head violently and tearing at it. But under the imnse force, the prey exploded into a cloud of grass and leaves.
The Fearso Claw Bear was still confused about its prey when the ground beneath its feet suddenly gave way. It tried to turn and run, but it was too late.
BOOM! The trap collapsed, and the bear plunged into a deep pit, a full three ters down.
It let out a furious "ROOOAR," but the searing pain that shot up from its hind legs imdiately turned the roar into a pained shriek.
Looking back, it saw a large puddle of translucent liquid covering its hind legs. White smoke was rising from its fur.
White smoke and black smoke mixed together as the Fearso Claw Bear began to claw desperately at the vertical walls of the pit.
Then, to its astonishnt, it saw a glass tank being pushed over the top of the trap.
SPLAT. A Sli landed on top of it.
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