Growling away from the sudden pain, the beast’s roar grew quickly, together with its movements. Using the left paw instead, it delivered a blow at the man whose sword was still hovering around the snow.

  Yet, suddenly twisting his knees and hips, Lutiel thrust it up, heading for the darkened skin underneath the paw. Blood splattered instantly while the bear roared egregiously, the blade protruding to the other side.

  However, the man swiftly pulled his weapon out, watching as the bear almost immediately tried to drag it away. Clenching both hands around the hilt tightly, his lowered body readily replied to any twitches of the beast.

  Once the bear lurched forward, he quickly dodged to the side and lowered himself even further, ducking under the claws slashing through the air. Then, he pierced through the fur, creating a shallow gash along the creature’s right side.

  “GRRRRR!” Roaring away, it didn’t stop. Despite yet another injury appearing on its fur, the beast cascaded at the prey below it. Creating a gale from the force it generated, the right paw swiftly tossed the snow away, digging through the soil. Albeit, the nimble hood escaped once more, followed by a slash heading at the limb.

  However, before Lutiel could truly arrive, the left paw made his eyes flinch. Moving right at his sword, he was made to jump back, stopping just barely before a tree. Yet, he once more clenched his jaw before tossing himself to the ground, the bear’s chase ending as it had already slashed at the bark.

  Splintering away completely, the trunk briskly descended to the ground, at the space where Lutiel lay. Still, right before it could turn him into a paste, the man got away. Watching as the snow speedily scattered away from the fall, he couldn’t get distracted however.

  The bear wasn’t ahead of him anymore, vehemently approaching where Runi ran off.

  ‘Damn it!’ He cursed internally, quickly heading after the fluttering fur of the beast. With his remote light kept in the bag from earlier, though, he didn’t slow down despite being on unknown grounds, running between the trees.

  With his steps tossing out the snow beneath him, each of them powerful enough to send him more than one ahead, Lutiel achieved a pace that made even him stagger around the eyes. Especially after seeing that the furred monster got closer instead of further away from him.

  ‘What is this speed? My previous body wouldn’t be able to handle even half of it. Yet, I’m breathing so easily right now,’ he mused, only to speed up even further. Although he almost crashed into a few of the trees, it didn’t matter.

  Tossing his eyes down at the bear, the beast was abruptly startled. Turning its head around in the middle of the hunt to see the commotion behind, its pace diminished as it saw the human. Growling whilst readying its paw to swat the pesky human, they met a breath later.

  However, it winced almost immediately, the speeds at which Lutiel was approaching together with his prepared weapon simply too much for the limb to handle. Aiming the tip right at the wrist, all of his momentum stopped, transferred to the blade instead.

  With a precise cut added on, he cut through the half of the limb, making the paw part slightly. Whimpering with high-pitched growls, the beast turned enraged, swinging the same claw at him. Albeit, the rash decision quickly met another disaster.

  Slashing once more at the wound, despite not using too much of his strength, Lutiel went through the paw, dropping it to the ground. Warmth escaped from the blood, briskly melting some of the snow before resting upon the white blanket.

  With how much of it dripped from the clear wound however, a puddle formed briskly. The monster’s black eyes lingered around its decapitated paw, nippily raising its head before wrinkling the dark nose.

  Growling deeply before roaring, the bear started yet again, throwing itself at the human. Although it lacked

  perfect mobility, the pain hadn’t made it any slower. Rather, the anger it released gave it more vigour. Arriving towards the man, it swung once more, leaving deep impressions in a tree behind him from its sharp, black claws.

  However, it wasn’t able to target Lutiel. Having jumped to the side in the perfect moment, he promptly appeared behind the beast, clenching his jaw whilst meeting the tough flesh around the back. Still, pushing through with the blade, he successfully attacked the area around its nape.

  Pulling out once a sufficient portion of the blade went through, he stepped back as the beast briskly turned at him. One more time, it swung down with its paw, however, it was more of the same. Despite having more size and strength, it wasn’t able to harm the nimble human.

  A slash of the claws came forth, only for the harsh blade to part its furry skin away. Swinging down at the empty ground, snow splattered out and the bear winced with growls once more, feeling more of its neck getting nicked and slashed apart.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Yet, the most damage still came from the front right limb. Because of the cold and their strife, nothing stopped the blood from escaping. More and more, minute after minute, the blood piled underneath the beast, tainting the snow as they circled around the area.

  The hooded man stood still, his sword raised in the air whilst looking ahead at the monster that slowly turned sluggish with each step it took. Regardless, he knew it wasn’t enough to stop the incredible mass it carried behind itself.

  Both frozen in place, they calmly watched ahead of themselves, staring at the enemy solemnly. Gripping his sword tighter, Lutiel brought it closer to his right shoulder.

  On the other side, the beast kept on three limbs, lowering its body slightly whilst a grim expression resided on its face. Staring hatefully at the human ahead of itself, a quick roar escaped its throat before the beast lurched forward, the man doing the same.

  Running at each other, both of their eyes became filled with a sole desire. To decimate the one before them.

  Slashing with his sword before he could meet with the animal, the bear did the exact same, using its left paw to cut the wind apart.

  The man respired lightly as a breath was skipped. Standing in the middle of the trees with the glowing bag illuminating his surroundings, Lutiel watched ahead of himself once again, this time, at the shadowy tree standing in the horizon.

  His sword lowered down beside his knees, he promptly gazed down, glancing at himself before witnessing the clothes, bloody dots scattered throughout. Then, he turned towards his weapon, scouring through the cold blade dripping with crimson droplets.

  Finally, a soft sigh escaped his mouth, turning around before the beast resounded in his pupils. Lying on the snow lifelessly, the left paw was no longer attached to the front leg, together with the head. Slowly dripping out blood towards the soil, the corpse was promptly approached by the man.

  Standing over it with calm eyes, Lutiel watched the beast for a while, at the same time doing faint motions.

  Slowly, he reached with the tip of his blade towards the snow, placing it ahead of himself before putting both of his palms on top of the pommel. Gazing at the ground, he closed his eyes before remaining in the position, only breaking away after a few breaths.

  “I still have a long way to go,” he muttered to himself, promptly taking off his left glove before getting to the ground. Cupping the snow, Lutiel swiftly cleaned the shining metal back to its prime, no blood lingering on it. Then, he quickly rubbed it over his thigh, drying the weapon. Unable to sheathe it for now since he left the scabbard near the camp, the man parted his lips first, surrounding them with his gloves.

  “Runi! Where are you?” His voice briskly rang through the forest, flowing in between the trees before dispersing into complete silence.

  No response came forth, however, he had already expected it. ‘My best chance would be to simply go in the same path he ran off to,’ he thought, promptly looking around before settling at the space to the right. He quickly started moving off to the direction, passing through the trees one by one.

  Yet, as he went beyond just ten of them, he suddenly stopped, turning off his light with a whisper before hiding behind one of the trees, gazing to the side from the footsteps he heard a moment ago.

  Lingering around the area for a while, his heart didn’t stop racing whatsoever, rushing in anticipation even further as the steps dissipated.

  “Hey… are you a human?” Out of nowhere, he turned ahead of him, his widened eyes staring at the dainty figure. Kept in a long, green cloak veiling almost all of her except for the head, the deeply yellow hair flowed in waves along the fabric.

  Smiling away as she asked, he almost didn’t recognize her as a demon. If not for the single, curved horn on her head, the pale complexion would have made his mind stumble for answers. Still, raising her yellow brows whilst waiting for an answer, he steadied his face before deeply glancing into the verdant eyes.

  ‘They shouldn’t hurt me if I say I’m a human, but…’ He wondered briskly, constantly peering into the gem-like irises inside her eye sockets. “In, tis li in,” Lutiel uttered through the shadowed hood, slowly revealing his face as the words fell out.

  With a nippy change of expressions, the girl’s face fell beck, she herself leaning away slightly after truly seeing his figure. Still, moving back to the previous one, she parted her lips anew, speaking fully in demonic this time. “Why were you screaming in the human tongue a few seconds ago, then?”

  Once again, his face didn’t turn from the straight mien, however, he opened up the eyelids somewhat. “I was searching for my horse. The dealer said he only reacts to aseunish.”

  “Hmm…” she hummed, squinting her eyes somewhat whilst scouring through his figure. Going up and down quickly along his chest however, the girl briskly sprung up back into his eyes. “Where’s your core?” She asked suddenly, opening her eyes further whilst staring at him casually.

  Immediately, the man’s face fell silent, his eyebrows twitching and furrowing before dropping faintly. “I don’t have one. I’m a cripple. Is that enough for you?” He whispered out, somewhat somber before the girl straightened out her back.

  “No, that’s enough, I’m sorry for that,” she replied, quickly engulfing him with silence whilst staring at his image. However, a few breaths of quietude later, she turned around, gazing through the darkness as though it was a fluttering curtain.

  Widening somewhat before calming down, her eyes kept staring at the place. “Are you telling me you defeated that beast? With only that sword of yours?” She asked without moving away.

  “Yes,” he spoke tersely, somewhat quietly. Letting his tongue run through her mind, she wondered silently for a while, changing the angles meekly a sparse few times.

  “Was your horse white?” Turning around, she asked suddenly, watching a swift nod fall out of him before smiling from ear to ear.