Chapter 9: Strong bear
Roan went to the cave quickly. He needed time to set the ants into position. He was not sure if the ants could hunt the beasts.
He reached the cave he stayed in last night. He went inside and took out all the ants from his bag.
He sent one ant in the metal bear's cave. He ordered the ant to reach the end of cave and come back.
If the ant came back it would mean the bear does bother to kill it then he could do a sneak attack.
The ant came back a moment later. He did not hesitate and sent ten ants to reach the cave's end and come back.
The ants followed his command and went in the cave. He was not very optimistic, no beast would be careless to allow ten other beasts roam in it's home.
Surprisingly the ants all came back. It did not look like there is an intermediate beast inside.
"Is the bear out for hunting now?, If it is not in the cave I can still kill the cub." he thought
He made all the ants into groups of ten. The total of seventeen groups were formed. He sent four groups to enter the cave's edge and remain near the exit.
He followed the ant group with the remaining thirteen groups. Inside the cave, there was no Metal bear.
He went inside deep in the cave. The depth of cave was nearly the same as the snake's cave.
A rock of two meter in height and half meter wide stood near the end of cave. He slowly walked toward the rock with knife in his hands.
He went ahead and examined the stone. The bear cub was peacefully sleeping against the erect stone.
He thought it was great opportunity. He clutched his knife ready to thrust it inside the bear cub.
He did not want the little bear to make noises and alert the adult bear. He put all his strength in his one thrust, ready to stab.
Unfortunately lady luck did not mean to bless him. The stone suddenly moved, it made creaking noises.
The stone slowly broke like porcelain, and the adult bear came out of it. The red eyes of bear had a very strong bloodlust.
If not for that the bear cub was still there sleeping it would have smashed the sneak attacker into paste.
The tension in his eyes grew, he knew there was no way out. If he wants to leave alive, he would have to hunt the bear.
The bear and his eyes met. He knew once the bear cub wakes up, he would have to attack. The only reason the beast was not attacking was it's concern for the child.
Roan was praying very hard for the cub to not wake up. But he knew it was inevitable. He commanded the ants to secretly surround the bear.
The seventeen groups of bear all went into different spots where the metal bear could not notice them.
Even if the metal bear did notice the ants, it would not associate the ants with him.
Roan felt relief, it was relief that he could depend a little on the ant group.
He gave the command for the ants to start attacking the beast the moment it starts fighting.
"I do not know if I can escape this cave, the only option is to fight the bear. If I do not attack the bear now I will not get another stalemate situation."
He did not wait any longer in stalemate. The bear was not attacking him because it did not want to hurt its child.
But he did not have any consideration, For him this was his only chance to get the momentum.
The distance between him and the bear was no more than three foot. He suddenly acted to thrust his knife with full force into the bear's neck.
The bear had an absolute defense, even the illusion snake could not pierce its skin when the bear used its ability to turn into metal.
He did not want to put himself in a disadvantageous situation. He struck the beast suddenly, blood spread.
A pulch sound was made of piercing flesh. To Roan's surprise the knife did not go in more than three inches.
He could not believe it. A body as strong as his could battle with an above average intermediate tier beast.
"Don't tell me the first beast I chose to hunt has a peak intermediate tier mother, with a terribly strong body." he stuttered in disbelief
The bear did not move, but the sound of knife piercing made the bear cub awake. The cub saw its parent stabbed in neck, then it turned around to look at the attacker.
It did not waste time and rushed behind its parent to hide. Certainly the kid was experienced with such situations. It played itself as if practiced for hundreds of times.
The cub new its parent was strongest beast around. He waited for the intruder to die and then continue its peaceful sleep.
Roan tried to pull the knife back the moment he stabbed the bear. But the body of beast was so tight, as if it cemented the knife in its neck.
He could not pull it out so he left the knife stuck there. Aside from the big knife in bear's neck he only had two small knives.
He gripped the two knives tightly ready to struck the bear. The bear turned its already black body into a dark metal form.
The bear struck with its left hand towards Roan's head. Roan dodged the hand, moving to left.
He struck with small knife on beast's skin to slash it. The slash not at all made the beast bleed. It only made a faint scratch on its skin.
He did expect this level of defense from the bear and attacked again. He tried using his same hand to slash at the same location he just striked.
He reverse gripped the knife and pulled it backwards. The faint line on the bear's skin grew a little but not at all made it bleed.
The second slash was not timed well. When he slashed, the bear had already used its hand to punch him.
The strike was meant for his body but he ducked quickly and saved his head. The same could not be said for his shoulder though.
His shoulder almost got smashed. Except for the overbearing pain, the strike also managed to dislocate his shoulder.
A message came into his mind from his bloodline system, explaining the damage to his body.
He thought that his shoulder was a gone case. But the information to his brain relieved him a little. A small dislocation could be solved in two or three hours.
His left hand was in no form to battle. He cautiously maintained distance from the bear. The bear dashed to him trying to smash his body.
He used his right hand to forcibly correct his shoulder dislocation. It could damage his hand but at least allowed him to battle currently.
He ducked very quickly this time without thinking of attacking. The bear slammed into the cave wall.
Cracks appeared on wall. It seemed as if one or two more such attacks would break the wall.
Roan dodged and dodged again. The bear kept using its metal like hands to smash him. His speed was more than beast, if he only wanted to dodge he could survive for a while.
But he wanted to kill the bear and leave alive. He turned to the bear cub and smiled.
The adult bear noticed the smile and turned to look at safety of its child.
slash slash
The moment the bear turned to take a peek, its waist was slashed twice. However the bear endured the pain.
It rushed to its child to save it from the ant colony assault. Roan did not let go of the gap. He slashed at the waist again.
Blood rushed out of the bear's waist. A cut of seven inches was made into its waist. The cut was not deep but enough to bleed.
The bear groaned in pain. It still saved its child and crushed all the ants with its strong body.
The child was no longer in danger but roan was. He knew the time for beast to be defensive was over. It was now his turn to bear the brunt of its attacks.
He gripped his two small knives looking determined. The bear did not let him wait long. It rushed the distance of five meters in two steps instantly.
Roan was ready to dodge the moment the bear struck. The bear swung its right hand at him. He could not completely avoide it. He swung his right hand with full force.
This time he felt even if he gave his all it would still not stop the strike.
He unconsciously used his energy into the strike and stopped the bear's strike. His knife was stuck into the bear's hand but his palm was shattered.
The bear was startled from its attack being stopped. The moment of surprise was enough for roan to attack again.
Just know he used energy into attack. It was not done well but at least it damaged the bear.
He tried to feel what he felt through his hand and used the same sensation to kick the bear's neck.
One strike was enough for him to add the newly found energy into his kick.
He kicked the knife stuck on bear's neck and the knife went through it.
The kick made the knife pierce through the metal bear's neck.
The bear thumped down on the ground. A familiar notification showed up.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone