Hunting Black Ursus Part 4

Some minutes before…

“Once we encounter the black ursus, we need to sneak in close and attack as soon as possible. Once it notices our magic, the ursus will feel threatened and will start using magic too. Pontius and I will attack it. Quintus, get ready to defend us both and support Pontius' attack. Nina supports my attacks. And Jovita supports Quintus and Nina if they need to move out or attack. Against the ursus, we need to go all out. I will try to kill it in one blow with my sword. Pontius will distract it for me.”

…

There it was—the well-known apex predator of Wood Crests. Only a B adventurer’s party and up have permission to hunt one. The Black Ursus is majestic. Its dominance over its territory is absolute. No other beast in the region would dare to attack it. Fighting a Black Ursus one-on-one means certain death.

The Black Ursus doesn’t care about what anyone thinks about them. Black Ursus are silly, playful, and full of curiosity. That’s why they have been spotted in weird places or doing strange things like swimming in rivers, rolling down hills, sitting on the very top of trees, or stuck between rocks. However, once you mess with their food or they feel their territory threatened, they will go all out for the kill.

Focus, Antonina, you can't go all out fighting by yourself now. I need to help the party or someone might get killed.

“We will not have a chance like this. We need to kill it now. Quintus and Nina quickly boost me before the ursus notices it.”

“By the Gods, bring your presence before me, come forth and ignite from within me, fire boost!”

“Deities of the wind, power unleashed in the tempest’s cry, wind of the Spirit, unseen, untamed, boost speed!”

Fabia unleashed her magic as she rushed forward to initiate her assault. Simultaneously, the formidable black ursus released its own powerful magic, obliterating the tree into scattered debris, and slowly turned its gaze toward us standing on its hind legs.

“We follow the plan!”

Pontius and Quintus immediately rush forward. Quintus boosts Pontius, who landed a decisive middle strike to the ursus—the ursus parries with its forearms and claws, making an opening between its front legs. Instantly, Fabia strikes an underhand cut, cutting part of the chest and snout of the ursus. It was bleeding, but the cut was shallow.

The ursus, not losing a beat, gallop forward, huffing, attacking Pontius, trying to grapple with him, but Quintus made a few earth walls in front of the ursus, slowing it down and missing Pontius.

Then Fabia attacked again with an overhead cut, aiming at the neck of the beast, which blocked it with its shoulder, making another wound in the ursus.

“Nina! You are up! Jovita, recover our stamina.”

The ursus stood ready to attack, but I threw a wave of fire in its face. It stepped back, covering its face. I got closer to its ribs, thrusting my knives in its body multiple times, but it's not deep enough to be deadly.

“Fabia! Let me use your Ika!” Adventurers commonly use Ikakalaka swords due to their diverse range of attacks and uses.

“You don’t even know how to sword fight! You better not break it!” She hurled the sword, piercing and getting stuck in a tree nearby.

“Jovita and Quintus boost me!”

I grabbed the sword and ran heads-on into the ursus. The ursus tried to slash me with its right front claws, but I ducked the strike and cross-cut its side.

The beast tried to chase after me, but Quintus made more walls in front of it. Then Pontius jumped from behind the beast to impale it with the sword, but the ursus quickly turned, striking him in mid air, sending him flying.

“Jovita, go check on Pontius!”

“Here, Fabia, your sword.”

“Okay, now we attack together, Nina.”

While I was exchanging blows with the ursus, Fabia would throw a cross slash at it to weaken it. However, the beast managed to knock my knives away.

“It seems it’s getting tired.”

“Nina, use water magic to help me push it back. Everyone, be careful. It might try to escape.”

The black ursus was slowly moving backwards while Quintus was making walls to guide the beast towards a cliff wall it would not be able to escape from.

“I’m out of energy! I can’t use more magic!” Said Quintus

“Understood!”

In that moment, the beast unexpectedly lunged forward towards Fabia, striking her with its paws, sending her flying. The next second, the ursus grappled my body, holding my right shoulder with its jaws. I was using all my magic to stand still and protect myself from its attack, holding its neck with my right forearm. However, the beast was too strong. It used all its strength and weight to throw me down. Quickly, I grabbed my wand as I was falling and thrust it headfirst, killing it in an instant.

Still, the body weight of the beast crashed me to the ground, leaving me unconscious.

…

It’s raining, the night is dark, and thunderstorms are coming down left and right. The lightning reveals a valley of human corpses of all species. I’m running desperately looking for my family.

“Camillus! Cato! Paul!” Where is everyone? Why are all these corpses here?

“Marcus! Eugina! Paulus! Where are you!”

I’m desperate. Then I find multiple swords stuck in the ground. All of them are made out of precious metals. I tried to pull out an adamantium sword, but it broke. It was only covered by the precious metal, but the inside was rotten wood. This happened multiple times until a humanoid spirit told me:

“Don’t judge strength by what your eyes can see, but by what I’ll show you.” Pointing out a stick in the ground.

“Now go grab it and train. There is no time to waste.”

…

“Ouch… My shoulder…” Oow, pain in my whole body.

“Welcome back, honey. Were you having a nightmare?” Said Fabia

“Since when are you so sweet? A dream? I don’t remember.” I said, holding my head.

“Since an ursus almost ate you alive, I think it’s appropriate to call you honey.”

“Why are we moving so much, and why is my shoulder in pain?”

“We are on our way back in the cart. We are an hour away from Dale. Your shoulder hurts because the ursus, the one on the back of that cart, died biting your shoulder, which you protected very well with magic.”

“F*** me.”

“Good job Nina.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Miss Nina, you are amazing.” Jovita was excited to talk with me.

“Jovita, don’t call me miss, we talked about this before.”

“I can’t disrespect someone as strong as you. Not only can you use water and fire magic without incantation, but you can also stab the head of the black ursus with a wand? How is that even possible?”

I searched the area of my waist looking for my wand. “Take a look at my wand.”

“What is this? It’s a light 10-inch metal with a rounded pointed edge and a grip all around it, but wands should not be made of metal because it’s not the best conductor for magic. It needs to be wood since it comes from a living organism.”

“It is wood… that’s adamantium. The strongest material in the world.”

“A-a-aaaadamantium? It can’t be. This cost a fortune!”

“Blacksmith husband, long lineage of blacksmiths in the family, it was a gift from my father-in-law. It’s called kubaton.”

“I need to marry a blacksmith… Any chance you have a son my age?”

“Ha ha, ow! Ha ha, in your dreams, I will introduce you to my son, Jovita. He will be stronger than me.”