Valerian, The Legendary

37 War Bear.

Valerian stood in front of the War Bear. His resolve was not yet very firm, and he was aware of that. Quies had taught him, that to win a battle, one must commit to the battle. This commitment could cost him, his sweat, blood, flesh, and even life.

The boy closed his eyes, steeling his heart. The stone he had flung earlier at the bear’s head successfully awakened the beast from its slumber. When the War Bear gazed at the boy in front of him, it roared.

Swiftly the beast stood up and charged at the boy. Valerian heard the roar, he understood how arrogant this beast was, the roar meant, ‘Almost died yesterday, now you dare to come back. I will shred you.’

Valerian moved slightly to the left and dodged the attack coming at his head. The speed was so fast that the boy only sensed a wind caressing his forehead. His heart was beating so fast as if it will explode.

The first obstacle in facing an enemy was to maintain the calm of your mind. This was what Valerian needed to do at the moment, if his thoughts were overwhelmed by fear, and anxiety then he will be facing the enemy with a doubtful heart. Doubt was the chink in the armor of commitment, that will certainly lead to death.

Valerian was aware that commitment was not the only thing needed to win battles, but doubt was certainly the termite that will hollow your spirit before you have the chance to let it shine. A hollow spirit is akin to death.

The War Bear attacked with its left claw and swung it in a horizontal manner. The attack was aimed at the torso, the impact will leave Valerian bisected from the center. The child stepped back to avoid the attack, however, his response was not quick enough.

The claw had grazed his shirt and Valerian heard a clear tearing sound. This was a gift from Diligentia. At this moment, he was enraged and remorseful.

When he left the castle, he wished to be close to Diligentia, so he put on these clothes, but the situation had changed. The War Bear did not give him a chance to process his emotions.

.....

Opening its basin-like mouth, the beast tried to bite the boy. Valerian saw this and cast a spell, ‘Gelu Terminus.’

A frost wall appeared in front of him, it blocked the incoming attack, Valerian used the chance to step back. Valerian did not hesitate and moved back to a big distance. He came to the side of a tree and took off his shirt, and hung it over a branch.

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Casting his gaze back at the frost boundary, he thought, ‘Fighting a beast is so tough, unlike those human warriors. Magical Beasts are indeed stronger than humans, and humans are smarter and much more cunning than beasts. I will have to calm down soon, or, at this rate, I will be done for.’

As he was trying to come up with a plan, the War Bear roared and the frost boundary was crushed. Valerian had not read some information about the War Bear, that was, the more this beast roared, the berserk it will become.

The speed of the beast increased, and Valerian was surprised, and he moved accordingly to dodge the attack. The game of tag and chase continued for an hour before the exhausted Valerian managed to deliver a kick to the face of the beast and managed to create a distance from the beast.

He glanced at the shirt hanging from the branch and the angry bear between him and the tree and ran away. Valerian was not hurt, but he was tired, the final kick had drained him of all his power. He did not wish to even lift his hand.

The bear roared in the background and leveled a few trees to vent its rage. Valerian had arrived at a safe distance and he hid between the two big boulders from the day before.

Leaning against the coarse stone, he closed his eyes, thinking about the battle just now. In his mind, the whole battle was playing like a loop. This loop was his learning material. Gradually he fell asleep and a jade vine crept out of the earth and started to do its regular work.

Valerian might never know about this vine. He did not notice that in a distance, a pair of dim eyes flashed, and then it vanished.

...

Morning came, and after grabbing himself a good amount of fruits, Valerian made his way to the lair of the War Bear. Today, the beast was gnawing on some bones, and looking at the cleaned-up carcass he could tell that this big guy went out to hunt last night.

He calmly sat down in some distance, the War Bear cast him a look and the boy growled, ‘Finish your food and I will wait. I will not fight you on an empty stomach.’

The Bear was surprised to see this human speaking to him, but then it snorted and let out a low roar, ‘You overestimate yourself, human. Today, I will kill you.’

Valerian waved his hand, his resolve was stronger than yesterday. He was ready to face this guy. He was not afraid, at least, not as much as he was the first time. Valerian had decided that until he defeat this guy, he will not find another beast to spar.

The beast finished eating after a few minutes, and with a lazy yawn it stood up. Valerian also stood up and waited for the War Bear to charge at him. However, the beast was scrutinizing the human in front of him, it could sense that something about this prey was different.

It could not point out the reason but for some reason, this human was rubbing him off in the wrong way. Suddenly, the beast moved, and Valerian took a step to the right.

If he was studying the beast, then the beast could also study the human. Valerian moved to the side but he realized that the attack was a fake, and the beast opened his mouth. He could tell that the beast would use the special attack from the get-go.

His thoughts were in a disarray, but forcefully the boy calmed himself down, and instead of moving away, he moved in closer and delivered an uppercut to the chin of the beast.

Valerian was not tired today, his strength was not weak. The impact directly changed the direction of the mouth and the roar was converted into a muffled wail. The bear almost bit off its tongue.

As the beast reeled back from the impact, Valerian cast a spell, ‘Petra Chirothecam.’

This spell allowed one to harden their fists like it was a rock. The beast’s momentary retreat was the opportunity that Valerian had to exploit. He closed in on the beast and wanted to punch it again, but the beast was not that easy to deal with.

BOOM!!!

The punch was countered by a strong claw swing. The impact was terrifying, Valerian had flown over for a few meters, with his arms shivering from the aftershock. The beast had backed off by a meter. The War Bear roared in anger. This was the first time it was being attacked by the enemy.

Casting a gaze at Valerian, the beast stomped the ground twice as if wanting to crush it. Suddenly, Valerian had a bad gut feeling developing in his heart. He jumped and rolled to the side and the ground where he was standing exploded with a bang.

Valerian was shocked, he did not know what was this spell. Before he had the time to process it, he ran again. The spot exploded again, and Valerian started to run around.

He did not run around without a purpose, everywhere he stepped the ground exploded, it was like the place was littered with mines.

Soon, Valerian noticed that the gap between the explosions was getting lesser. Casting a gaze at the beast in the distance, as it was constantly stomping on the ground, he grits his teeth in anger.

He could see the expression of joy on his face. Valerian did not want to make things easier for this guy and changed the running pattern.

The War Bear could not predict the spot where the prey was going to be and it was enraged. The speed of the stomping became faster, and the ground started to explode in random places.

Valerian thought for a moment and stopped. He gazed at the War Bear, and cast a wind spell, ‘Ventus Motus.’

The spell allowed one to move like the wind. Valerian wanted to reach closer to the beast, and he cast another spell at this movement, ‘Umbra Spiculum.’

However, before he could release the spell, the ground in front of him, exploded loudly. The beast had counted this and Valerian flew off from the impact, crashing into the trunk of a tree with a loud bang.