-Cloud Forest-
Seeing the red-furred beast instigated a primal feeling in Penta the moment he noticed it.
The Blood bear also seemed to feel a threat as it raised its head in Penta's direction before letting out a low growl indicating whatever was aiming at it to back off.
"Oho, you might be tough but I got this bad boy here this time." Penta laughed as he came out of hiding. This wasn't some mythical level beast and he had already fought one so he didn't need to ambush it, as it wasn't his style either.
The blood bear suddenly stood on its hind legs and gave out a booming roar. Scaring off the birds and beasts in the area.
Seeing this Penta held no fear as he knew he was more than a match for these blood bears from his recent encounters with them.
He simply charged at it while holding his butcher knife.
The bear noticed this impudent human charging at it and decided to do the same. No one could tarnish its dignity in this area as it was its home.
Seeing the bear charging towards him as well made him smile as he held tightly onto the knife. The moment the two were a meter apart, the blood bear suddenly swung its claws at Penta with an astounding speed almost leaving an afterimage behind.
Penta having seen the claw attack coming, simply jumped and somersaulted over the bear arriving at its rear. He didn't want to cause too much damage to the meat so he didn't immediately sink his knife into its hind legs.
The blood bear having noticed its prey disappearing, instinctually turned around as it knew it was behind him but as it was turning back, Penta followed it from the opposite side with his speed keeping himself at its back even during the turn.
Penta would throw a kick or two whenever the bear slowed down. The comical part of this fight was that the bear was actually getting a little dizzy from constantly having to turn around to match its prey but Penta's speed was no laughing matter.
He had tried taking the mother bear on with a head-on clash but it proved futile as the mother bear was very resilient. This time he just wanted the meat.
As the bear speed slowed down and its hind leg was getting injured from the repeated kicks, Penta soon found an opportunity and jumped on its back which caused the blood bear to immediately try and stand on its hind legs.
However, with the injury it got from Penta's kicks it was a little slow and Penta used that moment to hack at its cervical vertebrae. As he slammed the knife into its neck the blood bear roared in fury at its neck being sliced though the wound wasn't too deep. Penta's strength had still caused a severe injury.
Penta without remorse immediately attacked again from another angle while still standing on its back, as he knew this could end a lot more easily if he just persisted during this chance opportunity.
Unfortunately for the Blood Bear, Penta wasn't slow at all and severed its spine which led to its whole body plopping into the ground.
The fight was a little anti-climactic but Penta's mind was racing with only the thoughts of how this bear was going to taste. He did see that the bear's eyes still shone and showed grief and remorse and so he prayed again in front of the bear as a thank you before he hacked the knife into its skull.
This act immediately killed the bear and put it out of its misery but the handle completely broke from the force of the impact with the Bear skull.
Penta went into a panic as he remembered Claud telling him to bring it back.
"Shit! Shit! Shit! Why did I have to do that! I could of just let it bleed out. This emperor has messed up!" Penta was trying to think of a solution as he didn't want to get kicked out from the Inn for the broken knife.
Sighing, Penta was left with no choice grabbed the bear on his back, and told himself that he would simply apologize when he got back. He knew the word after all.
He learned it from Celia as well as he knew any good friend should know how to apologize. It was actually amusing to Celia how he had asked to know the word as he pointed at his arm and made a motion with his other hand for Celia to pinch it. She had done so as she was curious what he was doing but suddenly he jumped back and said with a look of being wronged " Celia! No!" which led her to be surprised before she just automatically said " Sorry." He had understood immediately the word and its pronunciation and even practiced a few times saying it afterward.
This led her to realize what he had just done and laughed out loud again. It felt weird to her as she got the feeling he knew what everything meant but just not the way to say it.
"I dare not believe, my godly roach body can't carry you, you oaf!" Penta yelled as he felt the bears weight on his body, it was nearly a ton. Penta was strong but he knew he wasn't going to be able to run as he did on his way here.
Over two hours later. Penta managed to reach the farms but his stomach was yelling bloody murder to him the whole way as carrying the Blood bear was really taxing for such a long trip especially without having eaten anything the whole morning.
Passing by the farmers he simply smiled and nodded as they looked at him carrying a huge Blood Bear with a butcher knife sticking out of its skull.
"..." One of the farmers was speechless before he once again looked at the youth who called Penta an idiot yesterday.
The youth was sweating bullets with his legs shaking. He never expected the guy to be so strong that he could kill a Blood Bear, those things were at the level of an advanced shaman apprentice. Since they lived so close to a city with relations to a shaman tribe, the people generally knew more about shamans than those villages in the middle of nowhere.
Penta however just waved and smiled at all of them including the young man as he dragged the Blood bear away.
"You think he forgot?" The young man asked one of his buddies while waving back with weakness in his arms.
"For your sake, let's hope so." His friend said while waving as well.
-City of Mirage-
The sun was passed its high point and it was well into the afternoon.
Serge was yawning as he was getting bored from standing under the sun all morning and couldn't wait until his shift ended. He suddenly noticed something in the distance.
"Oy Mathias! Look!" Serge yelled to his colleague while pointing towards the road.
"Well, I'll be damned. Hahaha! Serge you seeing this too!?" Mathias laughed as he noticed what serge was pointing at.
"Obviously you idiot, I'm the one who told you to look." Serge snappily replied.
In the nearby distance, a young man with tanned skin and a muscular body was seen carrying a huge Blood bear towards the gate. The most discernable point was the slightly broken butcher's knife sticking out of the bear's skull.
Arriving at the gate, Penta smiled at the two guards and said " Meat! no money now, tomorrow?"
The onlookers were already gasping at the blood bear that had dried blood on its back spine with a prominent cleaver sticking out of its skull.
"Haha, no worries. I can tell you're good at it since you paid me yesterday's fee. But hey, how about some of that meat instead?" Mathias said while Serge nodded. He too would love to get some Blood Bear meat, as it was very nutritious for any man.
Penta somewhat understanding replied:" Want meat? Come to Mirage feast Inn, I stay!"
"Oh, you found yourself there eh? Claud does make a damn good meal. Okay, we will see you after we're done here!" Serge replied this time as he knew of the Inn since Claud does really know how to cook.
"Okay, see there!" Penta expressed his approval as well before dragging the beast into the city.
Once again, another round of stares filled with gossip went around as he made his way to the Inn. However, seeing that he seemed familiar with the gate guards, people weren't too shocked as they have seen merchants delivering beast meat before but no one ever saw someone just carry it in.
Having taken close to five hours for the whole hunt. Penta's stomach was really starting to lose its cool as it was used to being fed nonstop for months even though it was dirt. His stomach was at least always full.
Walking towards the Inn, Penta started imagining the deliciousness Claud was going to make while drooling as he tried his best to hurry his steps.