Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear

Bear-san Decides to Fight

“But are you sure the two of you can handle this situation?” (Yuna)

The Giant Spiders in the forest might come to the village.

“I’m not so weak as to have a bear worrying about me. You go to the royal capital instead of worrying about me.” (Deborane)

Deborane waved his hand in a gesture as if to ward off puppies.

“Besides, we’ve taken down so many of them that even if the Giant Spiders come, they won’t amount to much. I’ll take them down myself.” (Deborane)

That’s called raising a flag.

But someone had to report to the Adventurers’ Guild and take care of the Giant Spiders that had been defeated.

It would be faster for me to go to the royal capital than for Deborane to go there, and I could not dismantle the Giant Spiders.

I might be the right person for the job.

“All right.” (Yuna)

As I was about to depart to go to the capital on Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear alternately and let Hugging Bear rest, Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear reacted with a “kuu~un.”

“What? Why are you suddenly cooing at me?” (Yuna)

Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear were looking out of the village.

Did they show up again?

A Giant Spider’s response was heading toward the village when I checked with my detection skill.

“I think one of them showed up again.” (Yuna)

I knew that he had set up a flag.

But it’s just one spider, so it’s not really a flag.

“That’s a handy bear. Well, I’ll take it down myself, just like I said before.” (Deborane)

Deborane and Lanz started walking out of the village.

The Giant Spider was heading our way.

Hm? It was too far away to be sure, but it seemed to be one size larger, and it was red.

As I wait on the sidelines behind Deborane, the Giant Spider picks up speed.

“Lanz!” (Deborane)

“Yes!” (Lanz)

It approaches.

It was bigger, and it was red.

The two of them drew their weapons.

The red spider jumped in front of them. Lanz tried to block it with his sword, but suddenly his sword and body were wrapped in threads.

“Lanz!” (Deborane)

The Red Spider remained in the air; its sharp legs pointed at Lanz; Deborane twisted his body and waved his greatsword to the side. The greatsword hits the Giant Spider’s leg. Thanks to that, the trajectory of the red spider’s leg shifts, resulting in its landing position also shifting.

Deborane then swings his greatsword in pursuit, but the Red Spider evades.

What was that spider?

Its movements were different from those of the Giant Spiders I’ve killed. Besides, it’s bigger, and its color is red.

“You’ve got to be kidding. Why would something like this show up?” (Deborane)

Deborane looked at the Red Spider with disbelieving eyes.

The red spider clicked its mouth, and its body glowed red as it attacked Deborane again.

Deborane swings his sword, but the red spider avoids him.

“Bear! Attack!” (DeboraneYuna)

Deborane shouts with a look of urgency on his face.

I quickly fired an ice arrow, but it was easily dodged.

It was fast.

“Move Away!” (Yuna)

I have a bad feeling about this, so I shoot a rain of ice arrows at the red spider, making it impossible for it to escape.

The red spider’s body glows red, but countless ice arrows hit it.

“Did you beat it?” (Deborane)

He set a flag again.

An unharmed red spider, glowing red, appeared from the rain of ice arrows. A WW golden pattern was floating on a part of its body.

The red spider’s eyes looked at me.

I was horrified, and at that moment, I unknowingly released a bear wind magic. I had a gut feeling that I had to defeat it here.

The bear’s wind blade hit the red spider.

I thought I had cut it up, but the bear wind blade only left three carved marks on the ground where it went through, while the red spider was undamaged.

Are you kidding?

The red spider withstood bear magic.

The red spider was angry, and its mouth was ticking. Just when we thought it would attack us, it moved towards the village.

We could only look on in wonder.

“You’ve got to be kidding. I didn’t expect to encounter such a thing.” (Deborane)

Sweat broke out on Deborane’s forehead.

Then, as if remembering, he looked at Lanz.

Lanz, entangled in the threads, lay motionless on the ground.

“Lanz!” (Deborane)

Deborane reached out to help Lanz, who was wrapped in the thread, but let go the moment he touched the thread.

“Damn, numbing thread.” (Deborane)

Numbing thread?

Apparently, if you touch the Giant Spider’s thread directly, you could go numb.

“Get out of the way!” (Yuna)

I grab the thread with my Bear Puppet and forcefully tear it off.

“Lanz, wake up!” (Deborane)

“Ah, Deborane-san. I’m sorry, my body is numb.” (Lanz)

There was still a chance that that red spider would attack us again.

There was no time to hide it.

I will cast a healing spell on Lanz.

I imagined toxins disappearing from his body.

“Move.” (Yuna)

Lanz moved his arm.

“You can also do something like this?” (Deborane)

That was not what I was interested in at the moment.

“What was that spider? It’s not moving like a normal Giant Spider.” (Yuna)

I knew in the short fight that this was no ordinary Giant Spider.

It moved fast, avoided my attacks, and even withstood bear wind magic. It was no ordinary Giant Spider.

“That’s a King Spider.” (Deborane)

“King Spider?” (Yuna)

Is it like a leader of the Giant Spiders?

So it was like a Goblin King?

“Deborane-san, are you sure?” (Lanz)

“I’ve only heard about it in documents and stories, but its color is red, and when it used its magic power, a golden crown pattern appeared on its body. That is a characteristic of the King Spider.” (Deborane)

When I released bear wind magic, a jagged, grass-like pattern appeared on the red spider’s body.

“It is said among adventurers that if you encounter one, you should run away. You probably saw it, too. It moved fast, easily parrying my sword, dodging and withstanding your magic. Its attacks emit toxic threads, and its hard legs can pierce even iron armor.” (Deborane)

The Goblin King also withstood the bear wind magic, but it inflicted damage. But against the red spider, the bear magic didn’t feel like inflicting any damage. I couldn’t compare them with just one hit, though. However, I could tell that the gigantic red-colored spider was strong.

“Bear, I don’t want to make the suggestion I made earlier. I’m going to ask you straight to the point. Can you beat that thing?” (Deborane)

Earlier?

…You mean about going to the royal capital?

The impact of the red spider’s appearance was so strong that I didn’t know what he was talking about for a moment.

“You must have felt the strength of that spider, too.” (Deborane)

I felt it.

It was not something I would want to fight if I could.

“Deborane-san, even an adventurer like me has at least heard of the King Spider. No matter how strong the bear is, that thing is impossible.” (Lanz)

“You beat the Goblin King and the Black Viper all by yourself, didn’t you?” (Deborane)

Deborane ignores Lanz’s words and confirms to me again.

“Are you trying to get me to do something?” (Yuna)

“I’m just confirming. If you can’t beat it, I’ll withdraw from the spider fight. Please don’t feel bad about it.” (Deborane)

“Don’t you want to have materials from that spider?” (Yuna)

“What’s the point if I die before I can get any? There is a saying among adventurers that if you meet a king of monsters, you should run away.” (Deborane)

If the armor was just hard, I should be able to kill it with bear fire from the inside. However, because of its size not being big enough, I could not use that strategy.

If I want to defeat it, I may have to use a series of bear magic attacks, like when I first defeated the Goblin King.

“It should have appeared in the past, right? How did they defeat it then?” (Yuna)

“I don’t know the details, but I heard that theyyou sacrificed a lot, hunted it down, and defeated it.” (Deborane)

Many sacrifices…

I could tell from that brief attack and defense alone that ordinary adventurers would be no match for it.

“Even just one Giant Spider has the power to best an adventurer. A Giant Spider of that size if found in a village can be defeated with the right number of adventurers, but a King Spider, even with the right number, will still suffer from casualties.” (Deborane)

I agree with that.

No matter how many adventurers you have, they would only end up as a pile of corpses if they were not capable.

“If you can’t defeat the King Spider, I’ll let the villagers escape right now. I’ll help you with that.” (Deborane)

“Deborane-san, to let everyone in the village escape…” (Lanz)

I couldn’t possibly think that it would be possible with the number of people in the village.

“We’ll use horses.” (Deborane)

“I saw several horses dead. We don’t have enough horses.” (Lanz)

“In that case, we’ll prioritize the young ones and leave the old ones behind. In the worst case scenario, the old ones can act as decoys for us to escape.” (Deborane)

Deborane’s words made me angry.

“Does that anger you? Neither I nor Lanz can defeat the King Spider. If you can’t either, then we can only escape with the villagers. And if we can’t all escape, then it’s only natural that the young people who can rebuild the village should be the first to escape.” (Deborane)

What Deborane was saying was right. It was a good argument.

Even adventurers could not defeat everything. If they could defeat any adversary, no one would have any trouble in this world.

And Deborane was only airing his opinion on what he could do.

In return, I would be the coward who had a way of letting everyone in the village escape but kept quiet because I didn’t want my secret ability (of bear portals) to be exposed to the public.

I have no right to be angry with Deborane.

Deborane behaved more like an adventurer than I did.

If I did not want the populace to know about the transfer gate; if I wanted to protect the village’s inhabitants, and if I could not accept Deborane’s idea, then there is only one choice available: I had to go back to the village and defeat the King Spider.

“All right. I will fight. No, I will defeat it.” (Yuna)

Deborane grinned at my words.

I felt like Deborane was taking advantage of me, but it couldn’t be helped. But I have bear equipment and bear magic. This was neither an ocean nor a small space. I think I could not take it down with no effort.

But the problem was that King Spider had escaped into the village. If I used magic, the village and its people would be harmed.

I regret that I couldn’t defeat it before it escaped into the village.

“Well then, I’ll head back to the village for now.” (Deborane)

“What do you plan to do?” (Yuna)

“I’ll inform the village chief.That if you can defeat it, there will be no problem, but in case of emergency, we’ll ask him to decide whether to flee the village or stay in the village as long as we could return to inform the Adventurers’ Guild in the Royal Capital.” (Deborane)

It would be best if no one were harmed.

But we must also consider what would happen if I could not defeat it.

Either we all remain in the village and wait for the adventurers to gather, or only those who could escape will run away.

In the former case, they might all die. The latter would leave the weak behind.

If I didn’t have the bear cheat ability, would I be able to make a decision like Deborane?