Ch65: Hunting In The Hills

“Ya ‘ave any plans fer later?” Beryl asks, lazily swinging her legs through the air as she sits up on the half-finished stone wall.

“Not really, no.” Krvavy answers her Elf, setting down a brick and melding it in place. Rather than continue her work from yesterday, Krvavy decided to finish expanding the walls at the edge of the platform. She did start that little project first, so she might as well actually finish it before getting too far along on another project. Besides, this is rather easy. Leaving large empty spots for windows really helps to speed the whole process up.

“Would ya like ta go huntin’ wit’ me? After ya’re done wit’ this, o’ course.”

“Didn’t you just go out on a hunt yesterday? With Khalia?” Krvavy questions, turning towards Beryl.

“Aye, but we only caught a single hare. Yer puppy was a bit too excited and kept spookin’ the prey. But tha’ doesn’t matter.” The tomboyish Elf dismissively states. “Ah thought tha’ we could go out and give those throwin’ spears o’ yers a go. See ‘ow well ya use them out in the field.”

The barbarian takes a moment to consider that. It would be a nice way to get some more experience, which she desperately needs to keep levelling up. And it isn’t like she has anything else planned either. Krvavy can’t even mess around with her little princess, as Thea doesn’t want to be bothered while she tries to figure out what she can do with her magic...

“Alright, sure.” Krvavy answers, causing a wide smile to blossom across her Elf’s face.

“Wonderful!” Beryl happily clasps her hands together. “Now get back ta work! And don’t mind me, Ah’ll just sit ‘ere and wait fer ya!”

Krvavy chuckles lightly at that tomboy’s barely masked anticipation. There honestly isn’t much more she can do before running out of mana, but maybe she can drag it out just a little bit to tease Beryl...?

“Anything in particular that we’re looking for, or...?” Krvavy quietly questions, carefully stepping over an exposed root as they walk through the hills.

“Not really. Perhaps a goat if possible?” Beryl replies as she intensely stares off into the distance.

It feels strangely odd to see the Elf like this. Not focusing on the hunt, but wearing clothes. Beryl seems to have fully embraced the nudist lifestyle, at least while in their home, so it has been quite some time since Krvavy has seen her with any part of her skin covered. And here the Elf is, wearing the outfit that she wore when Krvavy met her, wooden bark armour and all. Not that Krvavy is complaining or anything. Beryl’s ass looks great in those tight leather pants...

“Enjoyin’ the view, my dearest love~?” Beryl teasingly asks, bright blue-green eyes twinkling as she glances back over her shoulder... while wiggling her firm rear. “Though as much as Ah enjoy yer gaze, perhaps ya should focus on the task at ‘and?”

Krvavy’s face flushes faintly, having the decency to feel slightly embarrassed about her ogling. “Ahh... Yes, right.” She almost mumbles out, fiddling with the strap slung over her shoulder holding her assortment of javelins in place.

Beryl smiles a rather smugly as she turns away, continuing to walk through the hills looking for prey. The natural and not at all exaggerated swinging of her hips is... hard to ignore.

They have been at this for nearly an hour, but it feels like much longer than that to Krvavy. The sky is cloudy and dark, though Beryl insists it won’t rain until the sun begins to set, so it is hard for the barbarian to tell exactly how much time they’ve been at it.

The Elf raises a hand, silently gesturing for Krvavy to stop and crouch down, which the barbarian quickly does. After a few moments Beryl hums in disappointment and shakes her head. A rather plump looking bird takes to the air, and the tanned tomboy makes no move to aim her nocked arrow.

Krvavy isn’t surprised by that in the slightest. She was for the first dozen or so times the Elf spotted some prey and ultimately decided to let it flee, but it has almost become routine at this point. Hence why she asked Beryl if they are going after anything specific. Granted, they have mostly seen birds and a couple rabbits, all of which would have been rather difficult for Krvavy to hit with her javelins, but this is supposed to give her a chance to practice...

Beryl suddenly perks up. “See tha’?” She gestures with an arrow in hand.

The barbarian narrows her eyes and scans where the Elf is pointing. “No...?” Krvavy confusedly states, as she just sees the side of a rocky hill.

“Really?” Beryl tilts her head.

Pursing her lips, Krvavy carefully looks over the area once more, trying to spot whatever camouflaged animal the Wood Elf sees. But there isn’t anything there. Many of the birds in these hills can hide incredibly well amongst the rocks, mosses, and shrubs, but they aren’t too hard to spot if you know what to look for. “I don’t see anything.”

The Elf clicks her tongue once and shakes her head. “Look at tha’ rock. The one next ta the little tree. Wha’ do ya see?”

“A rock. It’s pretty big, basically a boulder, and has some moss on the top.” Krvavy dryly states, beginning to get a little annoyed with how cryptic Beryl is being.

“There is moss around the base, see? It climbs up the sides of other rocks, but not tha’ one. Why?” Beryl briefly pauses, only to continue upon seeing Krvavy’s unimpressed stare. “It is not a rock. It is a bear.”

“A bear?” The barbarian skeptically asks. While she doesn’t think Beryl would just make something like that up, as this Elf wouldn’t even dream about lying to her, it is still rather hard to believe that the rock could even be a bear.

“Aye, at least by name. Tha’ is a Rock Bear. Not the most imaginative thing ta call it, Ah know, but it is descriptive enough.” The Elf shrugs out, sounding almost dismissive. “They’re ambush predators, spendin’ most o’ the day curled up and sleepin’ like tha’. They wait fer prey ta get close enough ta smell and then attack it.”

“I’ve wandered through these hills quite a bit and haven’t... encountered anything like that.” Krvavy points out, still finding what Beryl is saying hard to believe.

“Aye, o’ course not. Ya smell like a Dragon, and while these bears aren’t the smartest they do know enough not ta attack a Dragon fer no reason.” Beryl replies, staring at the barbarian intensely. “They’d ‘ave ta be starvin’ and quite desperate ta even risk tha’. Though at tha’ point they’d probably give up waitin’ fer food ta come ta them and instead ‘unt it down themselves...”

Krvavy raises an eyebrow as she stares back at her experienced tomboy. “Are they... common?” She asks, as Beryl seems to know quite a bit about these bears. Granted, the Elf seems to know quite a bit about every animal there is, but still.

“Not particularly, no. At least not outside o’ the mountains. Didn’t expect ta see any down in these ‘ills, though it isn’t too much o’ a surprise.” The athletic Elf answers, before a smile creeps onto her face. “Ya wanna kill it?”

“Huh?” The barbarian is caught off guard. She didn’t expect her Wood Elf to just suggest something like that, as Beryl hates wasting even a single part of an animal, and this...

“Oh~? Is there a problem~?” Beryl teasingly giggles out. “Is the mighty Dragon scared o’ fightin’ a little bear~?”

“No.” Krvavy flatly replies, raising an eyebrow. “I just didn’t expect you to want to kill it.”

“Hmm? Why not?” The Elf’s playfulness melts away quite quickly as she tilts her head in genuine confusion. “Ah ‘unt all the time.”

“Yeah, but nothing that big. How would we even get it home? I’m not sure if I could carry something as large as it. At least not without dragging it across the ground.”

“We will ‘ave ta leave some behind fer the scavengers, aye. But Ah’m sure tha’ ya can carry the rest o’ the remains back wit’ us just fine.” Beryl confidently declares. “And we can make great use o’ it too. The meat may not be the most pleasant, but the bones and pelt should be quite ‘andy. In fact, the pelt would be rather tough and durable, likely even the highest quality pelt we’ll find out ‘ere.”

“You just made me a new loincloth.” The barbarian dryly points out, immediately getting what Beryl is hinting at.

“Aye, out o’ a lowly deer pelt. Ya would benefit far more from wearin’ this bear instead.” The Elf insists. “But tha’ is just a bonus, and we should cull it either way. It should not be ‘ere, trespassin’ in yer hills. A single one isn’t too much o’ a problem, but if it were ta find a mate... Well, we should not let tha’ ‘appen. It already competes wit’ us fer food, but the young will be worse: they are known ta eat excessively. It is best ta nip this problem in the bud and kill it now tha’ we ‘ave the chance.”

Krvavy sighs in defeat. She doesn’t even know why she is arguing about this. It isn’t like she cares about how much waste there will be. Guess it is just a bit of a surprise that Beryl chose a bear as their prey after what felt like hours of letting other, much smaller, animals flee. “Alright,” she relents, “but will my spears even be able to scratch it?”

“Probably not.” Beryl honestly admits. “But ya can still try. These beasts ‘ave short and stubby back legs, so they aren’t very fast. At least not compared ta other, actual, bears. So ya should be able ta throw all o’ yer little javelins and still get yer Soulbound Weapon out by the time it gets ta ya.”

Not being able to properly use the javelins kind of defeats the point of this whole hunting trip, but Krvavy will still get experience from killing it... And, to be fair, levelling up Soulbound Weaponry is very, very far from a bad thing. That skill is much more important than her Thrown Weapon Proficiency...

The barbarian dismisses those thoughts with a shake of her head. “So... how are we doing this? I assume that you have some sort of plan?”

“Not really, no.” Beryl replies, giving Krvavy a playful smile. “Ta be honest, ya could probably ‘andle it on yer own, though Ah imagine tha’ ya’d damage the pelt quite a bit.” She teasingly pokes her rather barbaric lover. “So if Ah may give ya some advice... Don’t use the axe part o’ yer weapon, unless ya really need ta. Instead, just use the spearhead ta stab into its chest and then drain its blood wit’ yer magic, if ya can. Ah’ll do my best ta restrain it wit’ vines while aimin’ ah’rows at its mouth and eyes.”

That sounds like a plan to Krvavy, both literally and in that it seems like a good idea. “Alright. I think I’ll go down... there first, yeah?” She points to a spot a little further down the hill from them. “That way it’ll have a straight path to me once I start chucking spears.” Which means that it, hopefully, won’t go for her Elf instead.

Beryl nods her head and gestures for Krvavy to go on.

The barbarian carefully climbs down the short rocky slope to where she had pointed and grabs up her spears. Before she throws them, Krvavy takes a moment to take one last look at them. The spears – javelins, technically – look alright and pretty much identical to each other, as expected considering that they were shaped with magic. It almost feels like a waste to use them like this, throwing them at a bear that is almost certainly going to shake off these stone-tipped sticks...

Shaking her head, Krvavy picks out a spear at random. Making sure that she has a firm grip on it, the barbarian lifts the sharp stone-headed stick above her, pulls her arm back, and with a step forward hurls it towards her target.

The homemade javelin arcs through the air, but instead of just watching its flight the barbarian grabs up another.

1 Damage dealt to [Rock Bear]

Krvavy frowns slightly as the second spear leaves her hand. Even though she didn’t expect much out of these javelins, she is still disappointed by how little damage that was.

1.2 Damage dealt to [Rock Bear]

0.9 Damage dealt to [Rock Bear]

1.1 Damage dealt to [Rock Bear]

The boulder begins to move as Krvavy lifts the fifth spear into the air. It would seem that the bear is getting annoyed by the steady stream of sticks raining down on it. Understandable.

0.2 Damage dealt to [Rock Bear]

0.4 Damage dealt to [Rock Bear]

0.3 Damage dealt to [Rock Bear]

The last three javelins each glance uselessly across the bears rocky hide as it slowly rises up, finally shedding its disguise. “ROAAAGHH!” The beast bellows out a guttural roar, sweeping its head towards the source of all those javelins. A pair of beady eyes lock on the barbarian and it immediately charges towards her.

Krvavy hesitates slightly as she summons her Soulbound Weapon. This... this is definitely not a bear. She has no idea what it is, but the thing looks like some sort of prehistoric ice-age beast. It has a rather large hunchback and an oddly flat face, not the normal snout of a bear. If it wasn’t for the giant jagged teeth, she would think it was some sort of sloth. It has the sickle-like claws for that.

184.59 Damage dealt to [Rock Bear]

-4.1 Health

Krvavy braces herself as best she can, thrusting out the spearhead at the end of her axe to meet the beasts charge. But its size and weight is too much for her handle, the collision causing her to skid back across the uneven ground. She nearly loses her footing, only able to stay upright due to the base of her axe getting jammed against a stone.

-71.09 HealthYou have been inflicted with a Major Wound: Severe Bleeding. You will lose 2.25 Health per minute as long as the bleeding continues.

Pain shoots through Krvavy as hooked claws dig into her shoulder, tearing into her flesh and scraping across bone.

But before it can bring its other clawed paw down onto her, vines burst from the ground and coil around the beasts shaggy arms, pulling them back.

74.8 Damage dealt to [Rock Bear]

Krvavy twists the spearhead side to side, widening the wound in the beast’s chest as it presses down against her weapon, desperately trying to reach her.

Suddenly and without warning, its head jerks towards Krvavy, large jagged teeth snapping shut a hairs breadth in front of her face. Frustrated at its failure, the beast’s mouth stretches uncannily wide and it roars at Krvavy, forcing its warm fetid breath and moist specks of saliva onto her.

“DUCK!” Beryl’s voice calls out, and Krvavy does just that without even a thought.

With a wet thud an arrow embeds itself in the Rock Bear’s eye. It takes a moment for the beast to react, pulling its head back and rearing up as it desperately struggles against the vines spreading across its shaggy body, anchoring it in place.

The beast’s panic grows, thrashing side to side and trying to pull back. Some vines snap, others are uprooted, but more replace those that break. It is trapped, without hope for escape. And it knows that.

Krvavy focuses on the bleeding wound in this ‘bears’ chest, activating Transmute Blood with a thought. It takes a surprising amount of effort to coax out a stream of blood, which flows down the haft of her axe and fades away into her mana reserves before even reaching her knuckles. That fills Krvavy with relief, as the brief difficulty in activating her spell made her realize that this is her first time using it on something that is still alive. She is lucky that it worked.

1.1 Damage dealt to [Rock Bear]1.2 Damage dealt to [Rock Bear]1.4 Damage dealt to [Rock Bear]1.7 Damage dealt to [Rock Bear]2.1 Damage dealt to [Rock Bear]2.6 Damage dealt to [Rock Bear]3.2 Damage dealt to [Rock Bear]

A deluge of rapidly increasing damage notifications pop up in the back of her mind, easily ignored as her eyes focus on the freely flowing blood being pulled from the beast’s chest. More and more vines coil around the Rock Bear’s body, wrapping around its stubby throat and encasing its shaggy body in a leafy cocoon.

24.2 Damage dealt to [Rock Bear]26.4 Damage dealt to [Rock Bear]28.7 Damage dealt to [Rock Bear]31.1 Damage dealt to [Rock Bear]33.6 Damage dealt to [Rock Bear]

The beast’s struggling slows down as its breathing becomes ragged and choked, before slowly fading away without any fanfare.

[Rock Bear] has been slain!+1,500 Experience

“Ya alright, my dearest love?!” Beryl’s worried words carry through the air as she rapidly approaches the barbarian.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Krvavy grunts back, straining at the weight of the beast slowly tipping towards her.

“Oh!” The Elf calls out in surprise. “Sorry!” She waves a hand and the vines slowly drag the Rock Bear’s corpse off Krvavy’s Soulbound weapon, toppling the thing onto its back. “Tha’ better?”

“Yes, tha-Ahh!” The barbarian winces in pain as she rolls her shoulder, that motion moving her torn flesh around.

“Ah’m so sorry!” Beryl almost sobs, tears welling up in her eyes. “Ah should’a restrained it right away!”

“It’s alright, I’ll just–”

“WAIT!” Beryl’s hand reaches out and grabs onto Krvavy’s wrist before it can reach the wound on her right shoulder. “Let me!”

Krvavy raises an eyebrow as the Elf fumbles with something on her waist. “I have healing magic. Kind of. It really isn’t a problem.”

“We should disinfect if first!” The Wood Elf insists, carefully soaking a square cloth with a clear liquid from a small flask. “These beasts dig inta all manner o’ things wit’ their claws, so who knows how much filth it got inta ya! Ah don’t want ya ta get an infection!”

“I am losing a lot of blood.” Krvavy dryly responds, carefully keeping an eye on her health bar as it slowly decreases.

“Oh, can... can you clean tha’ up before mendin’ yer wound?”

“I’ll... try.” The barbarian is hesitant to absorb her own blood while it flows freely from an open wound. She doesn’t want to drain her own life into mana. Especially after seeing how effective that was on this bear. But she doesn’t have much of an option here, so...

“Can ya lower yerself down? So Ah can reach it better?” Beryl asks from behind the barbarian, prompting Krvavy to carefully kneel down, recalling her axe back into her soul as she does so.

“Fffh!” Krvavy sucks air through her teeth as the cold cloth presses against her raw flesh.

“Sorry! This’ll sting a little!”

Rather than responding, the barbarian simply grits her teeth and endures the little stings of pain that accompany each careful pat of the wet cloth. That fact that she doesn’t get any damage notifications from that doesn’t exactly make it any better.

“There!” Beryl’s voice calls out after a few agonizing minutes. “Ya can close the wounds now!”

Krvavy activated Knit Flesh before the Elf even finishes speaking, gasping out and almost doubling over in pain as her flesh slowly crawls together. She can feel it all sliding across her bones, twisting around itself as the muscles and meat reconnect.

+60.25 Health

Beryl makes a choking sound from behind the barbarian. “Tha’...! How is tha’ healin’ magic?! A-are ya alright?!”

“Its not pretty, but it works.” Krvavy replies with a sigh of relief, rolling her shoulder and hardly feeling more than the slightest bit of discomfort.

“Not pretty!? Tha’ is an understatement! It looked like yer flesh was... was a mass o’ worms writhin’ in yer wound!”

“I did not need that image...” The barbarian grimaces as she turns to her Elf, pulling Beryl into a hug.

“S-sorry! It is just...!” The tanned tomboy shivers. “Ah wasn’t expectin’ it ta be like tha’!”

“I’ll give you a warning next time.” Krvavy says as she tries looking back over her shoulder to see the damage. It is an awkward angle, especially with her lower horns in the way, but it looks like she has a new scar: three wide ridges of slightly dark pinkish flesh laying side by side. As scars go, it isn’t that bad looking.

“Ah’d rather there isn’t a next time!” Beryl forcibly states, exhaling loudly. “Tha’ beast sullied yer perfect form!”

“It’s just a little scar.”

“Little?! It covers ‘alf o’ yer back!”

Krvavy raises an eyebrow at that. The claw marks are really just over her right shoulder blade, covering at most a fifth or sixth of her upper back. Beryl is just overreacting, though Krvavy can’t really blame her.

Shaking her head lightly, the barbarian decides to change the topic. “That... didn’t look like any bear I have ever seen.”

“Aye, Ah know.” The Elf immediately replies. “But Ah didn’t name it, so tha’ is just wha’ it is called.” She shrugs her shoulders. “Now, we need ta gut tha’ thing. And fast, if we want ta get ‘ome before it rains.”

“Alright,” the barbarian opens her arms and lets Beryl free from her hug, “after you.”

The Elf nods her head, reluctantly leaving Krvavy’s embrace.