They quickly locked the door, the next step was a tad unknown. Initially, he guessed that it was in the woods right behind the shack; he was wrong since they kept going deeper into the city. So as the only person that knew where to go started talking, he listened.

  “It’s in the Bamboo-Winds Forest. We need to take a carriage to the town nearby.” She explained, making them passengers in this rodeo. Though, it did prompt a question;

  How was she planning to leave without Li?

  “T… Thery-Theristown?” Kanade stuttered, making both of them glance at her. She was reading off the paper she got from Wenn. Assuming that she had decent knowledge of what was around Higelsdale, they would’ve been fine. And, to be fair, upon hearing the name, he had a rough estimate of where it’s located and which forest they’re supposed to go in.

  “Therystown, yes.” She corrected her and continued walking. Passing the midday crowded square and led them to the middle-class. To pass through, they had to walk through it and directly exit through the opposite gate he and Kanade first walked through to enter Higelsdale. Despite the walk being of decent length, their time wasn’t horrid; Han’s gait was like a pendulum, very efficient, whilst Kanade seemed to be fine with his speed, and Li didn’t care, as her steps were naturally huge, so all in all she didn’t need to adjust.

  As they were approaching the gate, the carriage businesses were rampant. Their eyes, or at least he guessed with Li, were examining the carriages. He never cared for the carriage price as it was accounted for, but an easy tip to save money he always used was to only approach those with shitty wagons.

  Kanade was the first one to lead them to a wooden wagon, with no cushions or comfort, only practicality. She shouted how much would it cost, the man pointed at his throat with one hand whilst the other threw up his palm.

  “5 bronze coins?” She caught on and reaffirmed, to which he nodded. After forking up the coins, they sat in the back; at least they had seats. They sat facing each other, though Han sat in between them facing their wagon’s behind. This way he could wait and see Higelsdale slowly departing from their view.

  Still, the bumpy journey was boring and had nothing worth mentioning, so Han just disassociated whilst staring in the distance, thinking about a plan. Since Lilliane came along, their plan actually become pretty much the same; he bites, goes and becomes a nuisance whilst the aggro kept switching between him and Li, akin to ping pong pretty much with the addition of arrows. She probably already knows to target the eyes. With all of that, their chances of success are quite high, alas, he wasn’t the type to fully overestimate himself.

  He kept thinking of random things until farmland came into his view on the right. Some small crops indicated civilization, and he was right; a boarman glanced away from his work as they passed. They had reached the dense Therystown. As the mute driver stopped by what seemed to be the town square, at least Han assumed by the fact that buildings surrounded them since he hadn’t been here a while. Though, he did remember the tavern they stopped at, and as he looked around, the town seemed a tad bigger or more populated than his prior visit.

  However, they weren’t here as tourists and relied on Li to reach the bear, or at least that’s what he thought. Until he finally turned around and saw a huge mountainous forest that seemed to climb into the sky, to a point where it had a whole dark cloud cluster to itself. He could practically feel the humidity from here. Now that, that was something he doesn’t remember being here.

  “That’s… big… and ominous…” Kanade was the first one to comment. However, they still weren’t deterred and moved closer. Seeing as the town was pretty close to the forest, it had to be safe aside from the Hanma Bear that’s lurking up in there.

  Even before they entered the forest, the downdraft was insane. Where the wind was coming from was unknown since the only one who was here before, Li, didn’t add anything. The moment they actually stepped foot, the forest turned out to be a literal jungle. Kanade instantly readied her daggers and took the front. She kept swinging at the vines, plants, and bushes that didn’t seem to end, nor would.

  “Do you hear that?” Kanade paused. Her hearing was on par with Han’s, but he couldn’t say if he did hear anything either way.

  “No.” Li’s short answer seemed to echo in the silent jungle. Somehow the downdraft didn’t even make a whistling sound or the plants that are moving due to it. Apart from their footsteps and the rhythmic slashing of plants;

  “It’s dead silent.” Nonetheless, they continued. Han kept pathing after Li, checking their behinds just in case. Though, he and Kanade would pick up on any ambush. They continued walking and walking, and walking. The wind that kept blasting towards them not only kept increasing in strength but also in warmness. Besides that, Han also couldn’t help but notice how they were moving slower until he finally glanced ahead.

  Kanade’s swinging could barely be called a swing; they reminded him of a baby holding something far too heavy for them. She made the daggers look blunt. Li’s steps made her seem more like a zombie with armor than the majestic behemoth he saw a day ago, her muffled breathing reverberated multiple times. He just knew that her face was wet due to the condensation inside and the armor was practically smothering her. If anything, if they suddenly stopped, they would both fall over. He wanted to stop them, but it would do more harm than just letting them push themselves into a longer rest. Since the bear wasn’t going anywhere. Aside from their state, which made him more alert and vigilant, they continued at a snail’s pace.

  Though that really didn’t last for long, maybe an additional couple of feet. The humidity made it so that every breath of his was more liquid than air, the girls were also ailed by it. Using the rampant tree roots, they sat down to take a well-needed breather.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Lilliane decided to take her helmet off. Letting her bundled-up white hair escape from under it, he had forgotten how stunning she was. Basically a princess that also weighed like a whole motorcycle and was capable of lifting one effortlessly. Han preferred to stand, he wasn’t tired in any shape or form, though maybe of the nature itself. So avoiding any bugs that might be on the ground, he remained standing.

  “Why are you risking everything to get strong?” Li’s words spark up a whole different vibe, and quite honestly, it made him listen in more attentively. “You haven’t been this bold. Ever.”

  “And? You know what I lived through. They… still haunt me. The cold nights, constant whipping, waiting to be sold at a meager price like a piece of moldy bread, and now… now I have to pay absurd amounts! Strength dictates everything, doesn’t it!?! You have some, and you’re able to stand on your own two feet, and yet I’m the one holding you and Pochirin back! Money would be delivered at my feet the moment… the moment I’m strong. Is it that wrong to want something so simple? To finally look people in the eye without worrying that they’ll kill me if I so dared!” She rambled on, barely pausing to take breaths. After speaking her heart out, she was left huffing, yet regretful. Akin to a kid getting caught doing something wrong.

  The long pause gave Han time to really reorganize what Kanade just spouted. This girl shared Han’s view, somewhat. He doesn’t care for the end-game content or events; he needs a body worth keeping. To do so, he needs to level Pochirin up and lose the familiar link, to note, he’s the reason they’re even here.

  “Money’s evil—you of all people should know that.” With Li’s comment, Han grasped another piece of the puzzle that these two are. Everything was slowly coming together. Her remark was enough to make Kanade close up, literally and figuratively, as her head pointed to the ground, combined with her small figure; she was slowly turning into a ball.

  “I… sorry. I didn’t... I didn’t mean it that way… I got too heated.” She waved her hands around as if to show where they are in. “Thank you. Thank you! I know I… rarely say it, but thank you… I—“ Her sincerity was interrupted by a teary gesture; Li jolted to Kanade, her cold armor’s gauntlet gently lifted her chin and forced her head straight whilst placing her forehead against hers. Han saw Li’s legs shaking under all that armor, he still couldn’t help but understand her.

  “After we’re done. I’m sleeping through tomorrow.” She finally smiled and added while standing up. Kanade followed suit.

  “Your parents… why did they y’know…?” Kanade asked shyly on a seemingly touchy subject. She prepared her daggers, since she didn’t continue, he guessed that she wasn’t moving until Li answered.

  “The crime fit the punishment.” She added before donning the helmet again and fully entering the sarcophagus of heat.

  “There has to be more, right? Exiling your own daughter—for not following tradition?! And those posh pricks dare call us imbeciles.” She snickered at the end, then planned to continue when the wind switched directions. Initially they had been heading straight towards the draft; now it was to their left. The warmth brushed past them, strong enough to nearly upheave Kanade; the direction was slightly upwards.

  All of their eyes turn to the thick jungle. The midday sun was pretty much gone, the closed canopies gave no light. Even with Han’s perceptive eyes, he couldn’t see further than a couple meters into the jungle due to the dimness and density. Nonetheless, he still relied on his sense of smell and sound, since nothing really could’ve ambushed them; he was calm.

  Two giant eyes, were glowing purple, slowly moving and simply observing them without a hint of presence, and then another pair of eyes opened seemingly on its shoulder. And another on its neck, and multiple pairs strewn all across its huge body; they all kept staring at them from above.

  They couldn’t move, Han couldn’t move, nobody could, or in its case, simply didn’t. Han’s heartbeat reverberated so loudly in his head that it slowly started to hypnotize him like a lullaby. His eyes kept darting around it, unlike his wishes to see who he will die at the hands of; the Hanma Bear wanted to see its prey before filling its stomach.

  Around thirty or so eyes, even with time being irrelevant as it seemed to stretch, his mind wasn’t clear to count them all like a maniac. They didn’t follow the same point of interest, nor were they connected, maybe half of them were really watching them, the others; the sky, behind it, at the jungle. Seeing as it’s towering over them, easily three or more meters tall. The fur was absurd, it was black yet had a purple gleam, and more importantly, it had a pattern that barely matched a panda’s. The white was replaced with a deep, muddy, complete abstract gray

  How come nobody really explained to them how it looked; that didn’t matter anymore. Its warm breath stops as the concept of hiding seemed to differ in its brain.

  Han’s the first one to do anything. With a thought he enabled ? Bite of Obliviousness ? and jolted towards the Hanma Bear. The distance between them was barely a couple of feet, his agility was enough to approach the hunks that were its legs.

  His jaw could barely stretch far enough to bite its thick hide; it felt like he was biting a thick, hairy mattress. Hoping that his fangs were enough to pierce its skin and enabled the status effect, he hopped back. A gleam made his eyes flicker for a split second. Li was multiple meters in the air, cutting dozens of vines with her sword before it ended up in its neck.

  Fucking A!

  Han didn’t have time to glamor at Li as he ran forwards. She sliced its stomach along the fall landing beside him. The skill was still on cooldown, but gnawing his knees won’t do much for now; he still needed to do something. Viscous warm liquid covered Han’s back, it was disgusting. The bear’s blood kept gushing out; yet it hadn’t moved.

  How long did the status effect last?!?

  The Hanma bear in a few seconds sustained a devastating injury by Lilliane and the relentless minor attacks by the duo. Yet it still didn’t move. Han hopped back once more, hitting some tree blindly by accident. It seemed like the whole jungle got covered in its blood, aside from Kanade, Han, and Li were drenched in it. The whole scene was more like a gruesome execution than a boss fight. Its huge body was covered in a dozen arrows, and it still hasn’t even fucking moved.

  “Why ain’t he doing anything?!?” Kanade stopped her long-ranged assault for just a moment. Her voice barely reached Han, who was focusing on the bear; she had somehow managed to climb a tree in the span of a couple of seconds and pelt it with arrows.

  “This isn’t a Hanm—“

  —Clunk! Crash!

  The wind that the attack managed to create threw Han in the air. Lilliane was sent flying through multiple thinner trees; he had no time to even see her stop as a shadow covered his vision. He instantly had to evade an attack. Its paw, the size of him, swung past. Deafening his left ear, the aftershock it made reverberated through him a couple of times. He wasn’t even sure if he actually dodged when another attack landed beside him.

  I’m… I’m not winning this.