"Argh! Why is this not chopping off?" Jaspreth exclaimed. His arm was getting sore from cutting down a few trees unevenly as planned.
Along their way as they try to maintain a suitable distance from the monstrous thing, he was able to cut through a few barks. The ones that were left standing were those that were out of their reach and didn't have enough time to make the cut.
Zera was in charge of clearing the path, so if they managed to fool the bear to run after them further into the trees, there was a chance it would either step or smash on the unevenly cut trees.
Grimacing at the thought of its palms passing right through a jagged end, she could only imagine the pain. It made her almost gag. But it was either the monster or them. She had no plans of losing her friends to some unrealistic monster.
"If it doesn't budge, let it be,"
Jaspreth sighed, leaving the unwilling tree. He moved on to the next. The beast was slowly making its way towards them.
"You know, if this was a zombie movie, I think we'd be dead." Jaspreth commented. Zera rolled her eyes at him.
"If this was a zombie movie, we'd be running all around, throwing snowballs at every zombie we find. Also, I think I'd prefer to fight them off any day compared to humongous beasts with so many health points."
"Right. When we come across such monsters on the next level, I'll blame you."
Zera forced herself to laugh. She heaved and with all her might, cleared their path, pulling away the fallen trees which Jaspreth had successfully cut.
Normally, Zera could hardly push a heavy object without aid. However, she realized that their attack points managed to give them some extra strength. But it was still a struggle.
Sweat had broken out on her forehead.
"I'd finally have a reason to use my weapon, so sure. If they would offer more guns at the next levels, I'd happily switch. It seems more fitting to use on most occasions."
Jaspreth snorted.
"Imagine if all of us had guns. What about close combat? I mean, we could brawl just fine." Jaspreth cleared his throat, a faint memory of Zera throwing him off after a few practices with his uncle coming to his mind. "You know what? Never mind. Do as you please."
Zera shook her head, grinning despite feeling the cold and exhaustion combined. It surprised her how she managed to sweat even when it was freezing in their surroundings.
If she was back in reality, she'd be worried. Yet, with them stuck inside the game, the concept of what was real and what wasn't, mixed in her head.
She was treating everything as both real and unreal. The threat between her and her friend's lives were real. Their surroundings and all else; it can be unreal.
Computer-made monsters that spurt out colorful blood, weapons that appear out of thin air, different settings for every stage.
Zera could name a few more but decided to end her list there, coming back to reality.
"I'm not that good at actual combat, Jay. You saw that earlier. I should have pushed that guy off, disarmed him." Zera breathed out a sigh. "But I just stood there like an idiot."
"To be fair, you were taken by surprise."
"That's making an excuse, to be honest."
"Ugh," Jaspreth swung his axe and made a huge cut on the current tree he was attacking. "Whatever, Charm. I remember the three of you harassing me for ice cream after each took turns slamming me on the ring." Jaspreth made a face.
"Hey, your uncle said you made a bet with him. That wasn't our fault."
Jaspreth snorted once again. He watched the tree fall on the ground with a thud while Zera dragged it away to clear their path once more.
She glanced back towards the gigantic bear and sighed.
"It's coming close. We can stop here perhaps and see how we can take turns in lowering its health points."
"If there's some sort of another animal around, I'd gladly use that as bait and have it chase me down here."
Zera perked up, but Jaspreth shook his head.
"No, don't say it."
"I was going to agree with you." Zera clarified, knowing Jaspreth caught her before she could volunteer to be the bait once more.
"This needed to be a different bait. I need you to back me up on the attacks."
Sighing, Zera unsheathed her samurai sword and stood beside Jaspreth.
"ROOOOAAAAARR!" the beast belted out, shaking the ground with its cry of fury.
"We should be panicking," Jaspreth stated, tilting his head as he tightened his grip on the axe he was holding.
"Oh yeah? Do you want me to start screaming for effect?" Zera replied, not bothering to hide her sarcasm.
Jaspreth nodded.
"You should. The calmness is scaring me."
"The last time I remembered screaming was when we almost forgot Beatrix's birthday cake on the way to her place."
Jaspreth couldn't help but chuckle at the memory. It was the first time he saw Zera lose control, screamed once while they were in the elevator to surprise Beatrix.
Even Astherielle couldn't stop but laugh at that when all three of them ran to buy a different birthday cake. The one they had prepared had sat inside Zera's fridge.
Beatrix wouldn't have minded, but Zera overreacted, as it was her first time trying to surprise a friend. Since both of them were away from their parents, she thought it was a big deal having to have the cake.
Beatrix appreciated the gesture, but wished she was there to witness Zera losing her cool.
"That was one epic day."
"I know." Zera blew out a sigh. She zeroed in on the enormous bear whose footsteps shook the ground. Glancing towards Jaspreth, Zera tilted her head.
"Are you ready?" Zera smirked his way. The ground shook even further as the gigantic beast came close. It seemed excited that its target had stopped moving.
Jaspreth got into position, turning to face the big boss head-on.
"I was born ready, Z."