Kapitel 3: Quest Generated: Survive!
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Grizzly Bear
Level 20 Beast
Health: 510/510
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...
That's a high-level boss! Look at that health compared to mine!? What is it doing here? Did I just run straight to the boss monster and collapse? It feels like I surrendered my new life and offered myself on a silver platter!
*~Chime~*
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Quest Generated: Survive!
Description: A grizzly bear is trying to make you breakfast. All you have to do is survive.
Rewards: 1,000 experience points and 50 credits.
Note: The final reward may change, and extra rewards will vary depending on the method of completion. You will a hard time if she dies.
Failure: DEATH
[Close]
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A mission? No. A quest.
His heart was still pounding from the jaws of death earlier, as the existence of the translucent screen in front of him somewhat alleviated the tension.
Does this mean I can gain quests depending on my encounters? Neat! That would mean it would be easy for me to level up soon once I get the hang of how to use this body. Maybe I'll become a guardian wolf of the forest one day!
As Ash had temporarily forgotten about his near-death experience and thought about the future possibilities, Lucy, who was carrying him, darted her eyes around and stopped on a stone lying on a patch of soil just a few meters away from them.
While taking note of its location, she redirected her gaze at the beast, making sure she wouldn't be exposing her back. With each slow and gentle step, she was getting closer and closer while not prompting the beast to attack.
Ash sensed her movement and remembered the predicament they were in.
He snapped out of his reverie and exclaimed inwardly, Uhm, what are you doing!? We only need to get away to complete the quest. We can just outrun it by purposely swerving around the trees!
Ash knew that she couldn't understand him, but he hoped that she would at least follow the easiest way out since that's what the quest asked.
When he turned his head around, however, he saw Lucy's headstrong gaze, and with the steady rhythm of her heart, she was staring intently in front of her.
Ash followed her gaze, which led straight to the horrifying beast, missing the translucent screen before him.
She... She can not see it?
He quickly read the bottom portion of the quest window and finally understood something.
I will have a hard time if she dies. Does this mean that not only this quest was meant for me, but she also doesn't seem to have one of her own, or at least I can't see it from my perspective like she can't see mine? She doesn't have an interface.
If she does, then maybe her quest was to kill it.
Ash reined in his thoughts as he tried to close the quest window. Since he didn't want to prompt the beast to attack them by doing any extra movements other than what Lucy was currently doing, he didn't raise his paw but only used his thoughts.
After the translucent window disappeared, he could see an exclamation notification on the bottom right of his point of view. It wasn't too big or small. When he bobbed up and down from breathing, it was still stuck in that position of his perspective.
Ash tried to press it with just his thoughts like he was dragging an imaginary cursor across his screen and pressing it.
*~Chime!~*
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Quests
Quest: Survive! ( ) [ Expand ]
-none-
-none-
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It really does feel like an interface, Ash thought as he continued testing before closing it. The beast's translucent window was left over the beast's head and he couldn't close it.
I can live with this.
With a shiny gaze, Ash stared straight at the beast that didn't seem to be so horrifying anymore, but in his eyes, it had EXP points written all over its body.
For the first time in his two lives, this was the first time he felt death up close and personal. But strangely, he wasn't afraid.
He didn't want to kill, per se. Since in his previous life, he wasn't even a killer or a hunter, all he killed was a bunch of pests with his trusty mosquito-killer tennis racket.
But in this new world, he already had the idea that it was to kill or to be killed, especially now that he was less than a human.
Ash unconsciously licked his canines in expectation and thought internally, There are no hard feelings between us, buddy... you attacked me first.
Of course, the beast didn't notice the change in Ash's greedy gaze as it was steadily assessing the young woman who had snatched its breakfast.
Human fast, it thought.
Grrrr.
The beast emitted a guttural noise in annoyance as it lowered its stance, and slowly lifted its right paw, ready to lunge forward. It exposed its sharp set of teeth while making sure the young woman wouldn't disappear from its sight.
With her gaze composed, Lucy returned the gesture by ignoring it entirely as she inched closer and closer to her target, then gently bent her knee to pick up the stone without breaking eye contact.
No matter how I see it, fighting a beast head-on is tantamount to suicide. We don't have any weapons, and based on Lucy picking up that rock, maybe she has strong skills as well. This is going to get us both killed. My set of skills isn't going to do much damage. I would die before I could chip away even a tenth of its health, but with the two of our levels combined, I think we can manage. But with this debuff thing, I'm just not sure if we can come out unscathed.
Ash thought to himself, furrowing his forehead. Despite knowing that killing the beast would give him potentially more rewards, his inner "gamer sense" is itching for those rewards.
But he shook his head internally as he concluded otherwise.
Unless we found a surefire way to kill the beast without significant damage to ourselves, we should be running when we have the chance. Surviving comes first. I should try to do something once I have the chance. I hope this woman will be able to follow it.
Lucy continued to study the beast, maintaining eye contact and taking in all of its details.
Nobody made any sudden movements for a little while until Lucy took another step.
Crack!
GRrroar!
With the sound of a twig snapping, the large beast sprung into action as it used all its four limbs and charged at the two of them!
With its large size, it arrived in front of Lucy and Ash, almost instantly traversing a few meters in a split second. Its left claw was slamming down diagonally, aiming for the young woman's head!
Dodge Lucy! Ash exclaimed inwardly as his vision rattled for a moment.
Lucy had anticipated this and prepared herself beforehand. The bear's enormous, razor-sharp claws struck down, only for it to plow another patch of soil.
Thud!
Grroaar!!!
In anger, the beast rained down strike after strike, trying to end both of them in a flash, changing the landscape in the process.
Bushes were uprooted, the ground had holes in it, and patches of grass were turned over, sending clouds of dust into the air.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The beast's strikes missed their target, but even with its anger, it didn't lose control of its temper, realizing that it had a slight advantage.
As the dust settled, the beast grinned, exposing its sharp teeth as it lowered its body, glaring at the young woman's piercing blue eyes.
Heh! Human dodge. Human weak! The beast thought.
The young woman also gazed back at the beast's head, just a meter across from hers. Despite the difference in species, it was strange that she could sense that it was mocking her.
She blinked a few times, pondering why, but then smirked as she was able to dodge the beast, which meant she was faster!
The beast released a mocking snort as it tried to look for his breakfast in the young woman's grasp, only to bulge its eyes when it found nothing.
Food missing!? it blurted out internally.
Lucy caught on to the change in the beast's gaze. To make Ash less susceptible to the next attacks, she tried to reposition him behind her, only for him to disintegrate before reaching her back!
With her Ash-holding arm on her left, she snapped her gaze on it, only to see the clump of dirt and grass she was holding on to, disintegrate from her grasp.
"...," she was staring at her empty arm for a quick second.
She wasn't holding Ash!
Lucy snapped her head back at the stupefied beast with the thought that it somehow munched and swallowed Ash in that split second, only for it to stare back at her with the same gaze.
She scrutinized the bear's teeth and found no blood on them.
The heads of the beast and the young woman darted around in search of the missing canine.
Just a meter away from the two of them, like a three-way face-off, a small white creature covered with dirt and dust was standing on all fours, barely reaching the height of the young woman's knees as its pupils bounced back and forth between the two.
After successfully dodging the incoming strike earlier, Lucy's grip on Ash momentarily loosened, dropping him accidentally without being seen by the two.
The clump of soil that was plowed by the beast earlier coincidentally landed on Lucy's arms, and with his dirt-covered body, Lucy mistook it for Ash.
With the two gazes intersecting at him, Ash couldn't help but close his eyes, and with a small head tilt, he said, 'Uhm, hi?'
Ruff… Arf~?
Groar!
The bear immediately lunged at him, but this time, Ash was able to dodge it easily as the beast wasn't ready to react. It didn't expect its food to just be within paw's reach and failed to claim it, but then blunt force snapped its head out of nowhere, bending it to the side almost instantly, abruptly halting its chase.
Thud!
Groar!
Lucy didn't deal any fatal blow, but the beast felt slightly dizzy as it shook its head and saw the young woman landing in front of it, obstructing its path.
"Where are you going, big fella? I'm right here?" Lucy exclaimed with a wide grin, her short hair covering half of her face.
The young woman's blue eyes shone through them as they reflected the beast's figure.
She lowered her knees, propped her now free left hand in front of her in a defensive stance, and positioned the stone-holding right arm behind her, ready to attack.
She didn't run away or cower in fear, instead, she stood her ground and faced the beast head-on.
With Ash safe and out of the way, she was now more or less confident in handling the beast on her own, or at least buying time for Ash to escape before losing the beast someplace else.
Just run home, Ash. I'll see you there, she prayed internally.
Grrrr.
With its body shaking in anger, the beast slowly pushed down and lifted its body. Its paws left the ground, exposing its height, which easily reached over four meters high.
More scars from its old hunts were plastered across the beast's chest, further emphasizing its great vitality and prowess.
GROOAAA-ACK!
The beast didn't even have time to shut its mouth as it halted halfway through, Lucy casually chucked the stone inside the beast's throat.
"Ku-hahahaaha, choke on that, you brute!"
Lucy quickly turned around and started to sprint to a different path, away from where Ash escaped.
A few meters away from them, Ash stopped in his tracks as he discovered the beast wasn't following him.
He was planning to lure it away and be the bait while the young woman would throw rocks at it, chipping away at its health.
He darted his head around and found Lucy's figure, disappearing to the other side with a large and angry beast hot on her heels.
Strangely, Ash could still discern the translucent window floating above their heads and found that the beast had lost some health!
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Grizzly Bear
Level 23 Beast
Health: 409/510
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She started her attack?
Ash thought as he turned around and made sure to keep sufficient distance to not garner the beast's attention while closely observing how the woman was going to deal with this.
She wants to fight it alone? Is it even possible?
In the distance, the young woman picked another stone and took another shot at the beast that barely missed and hit the fur beside its left eye, making it madder in the process.
[-3hp]
Grrroar!
Ash could hear some birds taking flight after the beast's loud shout.
Is she trying to kill that bear by kiting it?
In his previous life, the word "kiting" he meant was a popular game strategy for killing monsters or other players by staying at a distance while using ranged attacks and running away when the enemy came near.
It is a strategy used to maximize the damage against short-range enemies while minimizing the damage one would receive while fighting.
Despite that, the executor of the strategy must have enough speed to outpace the enemy and endurance to last until finally finishing the opponent.
It seems to be working, but she'll lose stamina faster than her enemy. That's why I wanted to take the first shift, and when I'm exhausted, she'll take over, Ash thought as he continued to follow and witnessed Lucy throw another rock.
Even with the distance in between, Ash could understand what the young woman was aiming for.
Is it just me or are her throws are packing a punch? Her strength stat must be over ten points!
She's also aiming for the eyes... She's trying to blind the bear! With this, as long as we have enough stones, endurance, area to outmaneuver the bear, and a few of my barks as a form of distraction, maybe we can do it!
I need to help out!
Ash's blood boiled as he started to run quicker towards them, but suddenly, he abruptly halted his steps as he turned his head to the right and gazed at the rustling leaves beside him.
He could feel a strong wind coming from an unknown source, even though there were still a lot of bushes and trees in front of him, which was peculiar.
I need to plan properly or else it might just be a repeat of offering myself as food, he thought as a distant roar interrupted his contemplation.
Grooaar!
Boom!
The small creature returned its focus to the young woman, who had managed to evade a falling tree with an unconscious small grin on her face.
That was too close for comfort! You're not even in your top condition! Don't taunt it anymore than you already have!
Woof! Woof! Woof!
The small creature barked to get the beast's attention, but its endeavor was ignored.
The beast must have been too occupied with it's target, despite it's food calling out a couple of meters away behind the undergrowth.
Its eyes had a peculiar expression of indecision before gritting its teeth and running into the bushes.
The leaves rustled even more before settling in, matching the wind's rhythm for a while longer until nothing came out.
As the quest stated, the only thing the small creature had to do was survive.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein