by Erik Colombe
Did they find the bait traps? He wondered as he went downstairs. A few rats shouldn’t get people this riled up in the morning, regardless of their size.
When he got downstairs, he saw the room was filled with people clamoring for a chance to get their opinions heard. Reka was working to calm them down. A man was behind the bar pouring drinks for the thirsty mob. John spied Saarka in the crowd and made his way over to her.
“What the hell is the commotion for?”
“For some unexplained reason, a Dred Bear has entered the city and has been tearing through everything in its path this morning. Three people are dead already. Everyone here is trying to decide whether to take up arms or get black out drunk and hope it passed. The latter is currently winning.”
“Did they post it on the job board, yet?”
“No. Did you hear me when I said three people are dead?”
“Why do you care?” John asked.
“I actually don’t. I’m just surprised you don’t.”
“Well, if anything in this hellhole ever goes my way, I might start caring about others’ wellbeing. Hang back here for a minute. I got this.”
John walked over to the bar and asked for a pint, while he pretended not to care about what was going on in the room. He took his drink and made his way into the back of the room near the darkest shadow he could find, so he was sure no one was watching him.
He activated his skill he acquired in the actual game. It was a favorite for luring NPCs off cliffs.
Skill: Throw voice
Effect: Make your voice sound as if it is coming from another area to draw attention away from you.
He locked onto a different place around the room, where the shouting was the least.
“Hey, isn’t there a new guy in town,” his voice said at one end of the room.
“Yeah, an adventurer,” his voice said at another end.
“Get him to do it.” A few ears perked up at that, and John knew just another little push was needed.
“Yeah, send the adventurer!” His voice resounded at different ends of the room, until it was drowned out by the shouts of others, who were yelling the same thing.
He walked up to where Reka was and held up his hands.
“You want me to kill your Dred Bear?” he shouted.
“Yes!” came from the crowd.
He slammed his empty pint tin on the table.
“500 copper plus the guild fee, and I’ll kill your bear,” he said.
There was a reluctance in the crowd. It was a lot of money, and John knew that, but he didn’t want to make it seem like he was doing this for heroism. Just a person willing to risk their life for money. There were thousands of idiots like that.
“A few coppers and your problem is solved. If everyone chips in, it will cost you the same as a cup of coffee, and none of you will need to fear risking your lives.”
People came up and started dropping a few coppers in at a time. When it looked like it was close enough, John walked out of the building to go fight a Dred Bear, with only one question burning in his mind.
What the hell is a Dred bear?
Saarka ran up next to him.
“Are you an idiot?”
“What do you mean? I kill this thing, and we’ve got our golden ticket out of here.”
“Except you’re going up against a Dred Bear, and you made a big spectacle about it.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning there are going to be people watching, and you want to make everyone think you’re an E Rank adventurer, which means no magic against a Dred Bear!”
“Damn, I should have charged a viewing fee.”
“Do you realize how dangerous a Dred Bear is?”
“Relax, I’ll be fine.”
John heard a roar coming from one end of the city, followed by a building collapsing and the wind from the wreckage carrying dust through the streets. John felt slightly nervous all the sudden. A thousand years could have bred something more dangerous than what he could handle. He clung to the side of a building with his back to the wall. He listened as the Dred Bear was digging through the rubble, presumably to find the bait Saarka had hidden.
He peaked his head out, focused on what he could see of the Dread Bear, and triggered his Analyze skill.
Name: Dred Bear
Level: 61
Magic: Air Slash, Dash, Dred Howl
Class: Animal, Undead
The apex predator of the Blestan Kingdom. A Dred Bear will normally not come out of the deep forest, unless enticed by a selfish dumbass. Twice the size of a regular bear, it has bald patch on his head that adventurers might mistake for a weakness, but is actually hardened bone that allows it to use the magic head dash, capable of hollowing out mountains. The Dread Bear does not feel pain, as it is an undead creature. A parasite has infested a bear and caused it to grow monstrous. The parasite has a constant need to feed and turns the bear into a killing machine.
New entry: It also likes peanut butter.
John walked up behind the Dred Bear, trying to use any stealth skill he had. He didn’t have any. Next to luck, stealth was one of the things in the game he would forgo for a higher attack level. He was regretting that now as the Dred Bear heard him before he was anywhere near it. The Dred Bear saw him and charged. John ran at the bear, kicking up dust on the way; his sword dragging behind him infused with wind magic, kicking up enough dust to cloud everyone’s vision.
“Oscillating Blade,” he yelled at his sword, and it started to resonate in his hand. The Dred Bear came for him, swiping a large claw at John. He slid under it and swung his blade against the bear's hind leg, nicking it and drawing a thin stream of blood as his blade shattered on the leg.
The bear roared and snapped its jaws at John, or where he used to be. The moment the sword shattered, he shifted his wind magic to his feet and jumped out of the way. He looked at his broken sword, which looked more like a dagger now, and saw down the street where a crowd had gathered to watch him flounder.
“So, no magically summoning anything from my inventory. Well, this just got interesting,” John said, trying to think of a way to win.
He jumped back as the Dred Bear came rushing forward with the patch on its skull pointed for John’s ribcage. John saw the magic swirl around the bear as it picked up speed becoming a battering ram that was faster than John expected. It hit him, and he felt the blow as he went sailing 12 feet into the wall that surrounded the city.
Negative -1250 HP appeared under his health bar, and John saw a big chunk of it disappear.
“Big boy hits hard, good to know.”
“Reinforce!” John said, casting reinforce on his sword. His sword gave off a faint green glow, showing him the change, and his mana bar dropped by two thousand.
The Dred Bear howled in defiance, and John could see the air drip with a mist from its Dred Howl.
Dred Howl status ailment failed, a notification said in his vision. He looked to the crowd behind him. Some had passed out; others were awake, but knocked down to the ground. He saw Saarka struggling on her knees to get back up.
“Fuck you too,” John said, running at the Dred Bear. He tried to slash at the Dred Bear, causing it any amount of harm, but his reach was shallow, and the Dred Bear’s flurry of slashing motions didn’t leave room for him to land an attack. John was faster, but the Dread Bear didn’t give him a moment of rest, and it didn’t get tired. He wouldn’t be able to drag out this fight. The Dred Bear pressed him, and while his attacks missed or did the least damage, John was getting pushed back to the wall. It was penning him in, cutting off his escape. When his back touched the wall, it would just have to wear him down. It was playing with him, and John knew it.
“I wasn’t food for a god, and I damn well ain’t lying down for your ugly ass.”
John watched the Dred Bear’s arms swiping at him and stuck out his broken sword, catching its right paw and piercing through it. The Dred Bear howled in rage. John took the moment and sprinte
d to the wall putting his back to it. He looked around to see if anyone was close enough to see him, but no one could move any closer after the Dred Bear’s first howl. He started casting his water magic. It was a slashing attack meant to be used against fire elements, but instead, John took the condensation from the air and sent it directly in the ground as the Dred Bear recovered and pointed its bald skull at him.
John pressed the water down, willing it to soak into the earth until he was down to his knees in mud. The Dred Bear charged. John couldn’t move and was weaponless. He braced himself as the Dread Bear’s attack struck dead center in his chest again, and he heard a rib break as he was lifted from the mud and into the wall. A crack ran up through it, and the Dred Bear sank deep into the mud.
Critical Hit Minus -2050, appeared under John’s Health bar.
John gave a hesitant breath as he waited for the wall to fall. The Dred Bear was getting out of the mud. He needed the wall to fall.
“Reinforce,” he shouted and slammed his strengthened fist through the wall like paper, causing it to tumble down.
Negative 2000, appeared under his mana bar.
A giant section of the wall came caving down on John and the Dred Bear. He held up his reinforced armored arms against the falling barrage.
He closed his eyes as random negative numbers showed up on his health bar as the falling debris pelted him until he was buried. He opened his eyes and saw he was missing over half his health bar. He started to move the boulders; the reinforcement spell had already faded from his arms, and he had to push and grunt against the large stones that had buried him until he saw light. He sat back and took a ragged breath as his health regeneration hadn’t fully kicked in and repaired the broken rib. He looked over, expecting the Dred Bear to be nowhere in sight and buried under the rubble. Instead, it’s front legs and head were above the rubble, while it growled and snapped at the stones that surrounded it, trying to break loose.
John crawled over behind the Dred Bear, sucking in painful breaths. He found a large stone and brought it over to the Dred Bear. People were starting to gather around the wall, looking to see if he was still alive. John hefted the large piece of stone and grunted against the pain.
“Just die already,” he said, activating his reinforced skill on the stone and brought it down on the Dred Bear’s skull over and over again. The Dred Bear howled and thrashed, but the stone and mud prison held, and John kept bashing its skull until the Dred Bear stopped moving and he could see bits of brain matter sticking to the stone. He dropped it and hobbled down the pile of stone to the crowd below.
The crowd that gathered was silent while they watched John come down and move toward them. A rumbling cheer rang out from them as he could make out the Dred Bear’s skull cracked open to see the sun. Some ran towards the Dred Bear, trying to get a souvenir or get a look at the thing that everyone was so scared of. Others walked around John, spreading rumors about the fight and how John managed to kill the thing.
John walked down the street, clutching his broken ribs, heading for the Adventurer’s Guild. He wanted to get his rank up and get to sleep. He was watching his health bar. It was refilling, but every time he took a step, his ribs ached, and he noticed that every step he took would take a bit of his health bar. It was troubling that there was a greyed-out section of his health bar that was not healing. He hoped he just needed sleep, and it would be taken care of after a bit of rest.
He reached the Adventurer’s Guild, and everyone around him started to order drinks to celebrate the Dred Bear’s death. John walked up to Reka and took down the Dred Bear’s request, handing it to her.
“It’s done,” he said.
“So I hear,” she said, pulling out the 500 copper. John pushed it back to her.
“Rounds are on me today,” he said to the large cheer of everyone around him.
Reka gave him an odd look, but didn’t argue and took the coins from him. She pricked her finger and put the bloody thumb print on the paper. John pulled out his adventurer’s card. The job had been added to the card, but John remained at rank E. He looked up at Reka, his face asking if there was a mistake.
“It takes most adventurer’s almost a lifetime to raise their rank. Quest rankings are designated by the person requesting them and how many people it affects. Sorry, this town is just too small to get a rank up even with a Dred Bear.”
John sighed.
“I’ll be in my room. Don’t let anyone disturb me while I rest.”
“What about the request money?”
“Don’t care. Let everyone drink themselves to death if it makes them happy,” he said, not looking back as he climbed the stairs.
He hit the bed and slept deeply. He would have slept longer if it wasn’t for the shuffling of feet in his room, and he bolted awake. He relaxed when he saw it was just Saarka, emptying his dresser into a travel bag. He noticed that a few of the traps he had set up in his room had been disabled while he had slept.
She’s getting better.
“What the hell are you doing,” John yelled halfheartedly.
Saarka didn’t look back at him and kept working.
“You seemed tired, and after the fight, I wanted to let you sleep, but the caravan comes today, and you need to be ready to leave. I bought us some provisions with the money I got from Reka last night. There wasn’t much left after you got half the town drunk, but enough for our journey.”
John looked at his health bar and saw the rest he got had refilled his greyed-out health bar section. He would have to be careful in the future and remember that, while he had a large health stat in this world, broken bones still acted the same as they did in his world.
“I didn’t get the rank up. There’s no way I’ll get hired for the caravan.”
Saarka stopped packing his bag and turned to him.
“You killed a Dred Bear. Vihpier the caravan leader heard hungover men singing about it this morning when he took his first step into town. He’s been requesting you all day to hire you for their journey.”
“Did you accept in my place?”
“I told him you had already found employment on the caravan.”
“What? Why? With whom?”
“With me. While you’ve been busy trying to get your rank up, I’ve gotten an entire stock of that peanut butter. I sold enough to Vihpier to earn my own spot on the caravan, instead of as a hired hand. I let the leader know you were working for me. We are good to leave. They arrived earlier this morning and are leaving right after noon. We only have two hours to get you packed and introductions made.”
“Wait, so it was the peanut butter that got us on the caravan?”
“Exactly. I didn’t know if they would take to it or not, so I brought a sample to Vihpier this morning, and he accepted me. He paid for half of my stock up front, and when we leave the caravan, he’ll be able to sell it for 10 times the amount he paid. He tried to get the recipe off me as well, but there’s no way that was going to happen. We’re prepared to leave when you’re ready.”
Chapter 3
John packed his belongings and settled his bar tab before he went out to the caravan. It was located near the Northern gates on the other side of town. He expected to see a few horses and maybe one horse drawn wagon with one or two adventurers hanging around. Instead, there were five wagons with tents to keep out the elements, two carriages built for travel and comfort, along with a handful of horses with packs on them. John saw there were at least three adventurers, based on how many swords he saw on the horses penned in front of the gate.
He walked over to Saarka and her cart. He walked up to the horse; it was the same one that he had first gotten a ride on to Fort Trellis.
“Hey buddy, you’re looking good,” he said, patting the horse. It didn’t look sickly anymore, and instead of just making a full recovery, he was a good deal more muscular.
Did he get taller? John wondered as he slung his bag into the spare space in the cart.
“Whatever foo
d you gave him made him a stronger horse than when I bought him. Is it like your peanut butter? Something where you’re from?”
“No, just something I found, and I’m all out,” John lied. He had gone over his inventory screen before leaving and knew he had one whole piece of fruit left plus scraps from one he had eaten. They didn’t spoil while in his inventory, and even though they had some nice stats on them, there was nothing that explained the growth of the horse.
Maybe that’s why all the animals from the forest were so monstrous. The fruit does something to animals.
“It’s a shame. We could have made even more if it was another recipe.”
“I think the peanut butter will be more than enough, but don’t worry; once we reach our destination, you’ll have seen enough to match the wealth of a King three times over.”
“Sounds nice, but I’ll be happy with the wealth of one and being kept alive. Don’t forget your part of the deal. I help you find what you’re looking for and you keep me safe on this little adventure.”
Saarka went back to getting everything tightened in the back of the cart as three people came to greet John. By the way they walked and the swords they carried, they were adventurers just like him.
The one in the middle addressed John.
“Ay. Names Mihel,” he said, holding out his arm. John held out his arm, and Mihel clasped him near the elbow and gave his arm one good shake. He was taller than John, had a kind face with white starting to show in his beard. His armor was iron and well-worn. There were dents and scrapes all along it.
“Nice to meet you. I’m John.”
“We’ve heard a good deal about you. Everyone in this city won’t stop talking about how you killed a Dred Bear. I’m Rank C, and I don’t think I could’ve done it. How’d you do it?”
“Sorry, trade secret, but you can make a good guess by the new missing chunk of wall.”
“Ay, I did see the city was a bit more decayed than the last time I was here. But I’ll share a secret with you. I’ve been up against something similar to a Dred Bear, a different continent’s version of the cursed thing. We call them Smegs, a wolf that has grown to the size of a bear. It killed two of my teammates before I could take it down, and we had been chasing it. It was hurt, tired, and hungry, and we still lost two good adventurers trying to take it down. I’ll be keeping my eye on you. I think we’ll have something to learn from you before this is over.