Chapter 17 Beast In Human Skin
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Aria approached slowly and stopped about fifteen meters away, face to face with the bear that was still trying to release one arrow left in its abdomen.

The bear noticed that someone was approaching. After its attention shifted to a creature smaller than him, it roared even louder at Aria.

Perhaps it thought that this little creature was the one responsible for the wounds on its body, as its eyes stared at something similar behind.

"Stronger, bigger, and not as fast as the wolf. But it's safer if I assume it's still faster than me."

Aria muttered softly under his breath, furrowing his eyebrows. He entered his serious mode. With all that initial judgment, if he was alone, then retreating was the wisest move he should take under these circumstances.

However, the opportunity to face a stronger opponent under professional supervision could push his potential to the limit. He would not waste the opportunity to reap this valuable experience.

'I have to make sure both his paws and mouth are out of my sight. I need more information.'

Aria held his broadsword with both hands and positioned it in front of his body, with the tip pointed at the bear.

Seeing such provocation, the bear became even more furious, feeling challenged by a weaker opponent.

Its eyes grew redder as it roared upwards, before finally leaping forward, rushing toward Aria.

Its speed was a bit faster than his estimation. But that didn't make Aria panic in the slightest, because it was the first lesson his father had taught him. Not power, not speed, nor technique. It was guts; bravery, not afraid to face anything.

Seeing the approaching bear, Aria naturally wouldn't stand still like a rock waiting to be slapped into the ground. He retreated to the right and stepped back, moving away from the bear's rushing path, while maintaining a safe distance for the time being.

Unexpectedly, the bear was able to change its dash slightly following Aria's movement, so that the distance between them was only a few meters left. A collision could no longer be avoided.

Aria didn't hesitate to meet the claw the bear had launched with his broadsword the hard way. Claw and sword met. However, from the collision, people who watched could see the difference in power clearly visible.

'Damn it, too strong!'

Aria cursed inwardly after feeling his arms tremble violently from the impact, almost letting go of his grip on the broadsword.

Meanwhile, he only managed to reduce the bear's momentum and change the direction of its attack just now.

But the dangers still hadn't stopped. The bear's other claw had already followed, aiming at the now exposed defense of Aria's chest.

Aria gritted his teeth hard, forcing his still slightly numb hand to quickly move his broadsword to ward off the attack.

The power from the second attack was almost as strong as the first one, causing Aria's body that had been slightly off-balance since earlier could no longer handle the attack well. His body was pushed back.

Aria quickly reacted. Taking advantage of the momentum of the attack, he pushed his feet as an added force to keep his distance from the bear once again.

“I'm fine, Uncle! Don't interfere yet!"

He did not forget to shout as a warning after escaping the crisis. Aria knew if he didn't do that, there would no longer be a one-on-one fight.

Regardless of the response from the people around him, he turned his attention back to the bear in front of him which coincidentally stopped its combo attack.

Perhaps Aria's scream made the bear aware that they weren't the only two there. And it was evident from the glances of its eyes to the left and right, either because it had seen people hiding behind the trees or was still looking for something.

'Tch, I hope it won't run away.'

“Hey, big idiot! Come here!”

Aria tried to taunt the bear. It's just that he didn't know its language so he didn't know if his words would be delivered well.

He hacked the ground at his feet with his sword, and threw the dirt at the bear, hoping that his provocation could work.

And sure enough, the bear's anger was easily ignited. It roared again, preparing to launch the next attack.

"Oh, that's easy. Indeed, the beasts are still the beasts.”

Aria readied himself to welcome the bear's attack. Learning from his mistake, he no longer tried to run away. He just waited for the bear to reach him and reacted appropriately.

The attack arrived instantly, still with its claws. The bear's claw approached, about to strike his right shoulder.

He didn't face it with such a hard swing of the sword as before. He couldn't make up the gap of power in a direct confrontation. And he would lose a proper defense as a result.

So, he just made sure the claw didn't touch him by making a soft, angled sword touch to divert the attack. Simultaneously, his footwork moved to the right, out of range of the other bear's claw.

The bear roared in anger, finding his attack missed again. Even though the target seemed to be getting slicker, constantly moving in a direction that made it difficult for it to keep attacking.

But it didn't learn much, or couldn't learn much. It still thought this weak little opponent would be easily crushed under his paws.

Goto who watched the boy fight the bear was relieved. At first, he was worried and almost took over the fight from the start.

"Good, he can find a rhythm to his fight. However, this is neither practice nor a game. What are you going to do when things don't go your way?"

.....

Skirmishes between a bear and a boy continued for more than twenty minutes. All that could be heard were the clashing of sword and claw, the footsteps of the two opponents, and the roar of the bear. The boy seemed silent, did not make any sound from his mouth.

‘This is pretty dull.’

A few minutes after the start of the fight and the bear still launched the same attack pattern. Even though Aria couldn't meet him head-on, but he was able to overcome it with a little footwork and swordplay.

Even though he was fully concentrated and didn't relax his vigilance a bit, if nothing changed, besides being bored, he was also worried that he would slack away by the monotonous battle. What's more, he didn't feel there was anything he could learn by keeping this farce.

'Time to make a little change.'

Aria took the initiative to attack for the first time. He glanced to the left side of the bear's body.

After successfully dodging the next claw and taking a step to the outer left side of the bear's body, his footwork didn't stop there.

With big strides and a big swing, he went back to aim for the soft parts of the beast with four limbs like this.

The difference was, unlike the wolf from yesterday, he used the flat part of his sword as a hammer, to push the hilt of the arrow that was still stuck in the bear's abdomen.

*ZLEB*

As soon as his sword connected with the arrow, he jumped back several times, keeping a safe distance and observing the bear's reaction.

And sure enough, the bear's roar was the loudest this time. It was obvious that Aria's gift this time was causing it a lot of pain.

The blood that was pouring out was much more in quantity. The body of the arrow was almost completely embedded, leaving only the larger end outside its body.

From the length of the arrow, it didn't matter how thick the bear's skin was. It was certain that the wound this time was not only a skin wound, fat wound, and flesh wound, but injured its internal organs.

The bear continuously let out groans of pain, it was in a sitting position, with its two forelimbs touching the side of its injured stomach.

That was when its eyes turned back to Aria. From a ruthless stare it was giving him, Aria felt this bear becoming more and more aggressive.

“Have to be more careful,” Aria mumbled, still preparing to continue his battle.

This time, when the groaning subsided a little, the bear once again approached Aria. But for some reason, it was no longer rushing toward him as quickly as before.

It only stepped one by one. The blood from its stomach dripped onto the ground making a trail from where it had been before.

“Did I see it wrong about the aggressiveness earlier?”

Aria wondered if he saw it wrong. Even so, he still retreated slowly, instead of initiating an attack.

He felt something was wrong. Even though the bear was approaching him slowly, he felt its momentum just getting stronger. His danger sensor became more sensitive.

And sure enough, after a few steps, without roaring as usual, the bear sped up at once, leaping faster than before.

There had always been a momentary pause every time the distance between the two drew near for the bear to launch an attack with its claws. But this time nothing at all. Full speed ahead.

“Here comes the stinky mouth!”

Aria braced himself to dodge to the side a few inches before the mouth bit his sword. As he succeeded, when he would launch a slash to its side, the bear stopped abruptly. Without changing his orientation, his hefty forelimb swung toward Aria's body.

"Damn it! You play brute!”

He could only protect his body by positioning his broadsword between his body and the attack. With that pushing force, he also tried to find a distance.

However, the bear didn't give him a chance to breathe. Again it launched a more savage attack.

Its way of attacking was no longer the same. This time it was no longer playing around. With brutal attacks as if it didn't care about defense as long as Aria could fall victim to the tip of its claws or fangs. And those savage attacks in the end paid off.

As clever as a squirrel jumped, it would fall to the ground too. That phrase adequately described Aria's condition.

He who was pressed by the bear's attacks insistently, and much more intense, his only choice was to dodge. He had no time to think otherwise. Moreover, he was not experienced enough to deal with such situations.

That was when Aria made a mistake, a little mistake to be honest.

When he had just overcome a barrage of attacks, landing with his feet on the ground. He had no time to correct his shaky balance, so he was unable to dispel the claw that came properly.

Immediately Aria got four big gashes on his right arm.

"That's sting, you stupid beast!"

Aria who managed to put some distance after the attack took a deep breath. It was the first time he had wound this deep, four not less.

Perhaps because the adrenaline was pumping a lot in his body, the pain he felt was not worth the amount of blood flowing. It could be that his resistance to pain had been trained from all the past modifications.

But this bleeding had to be stopped before too much blood was lost. He immediately regenerated the injured part of the flesh, just to make sure there was no more bleeding. As for the skin wound, he didn't care a bit.

Perhaps he forgot that there was something more important for him to worry about. It's just he didn't have time for it because this damn bear didn't give him time too.

“You are a dead meat!”

The wound on his arm became the trigger for Aria to put cautiousness to the wind.

He no longer kept dodging. He didn't even try to come clean without getting hurt. As long as he judged that it would not inflict a fatal wound, he could tolerate some injury, in order to inflict a bigger injury.

…..

The fight continued between the boy and the beast, or perhaps two beasts to be precise.

That was the opinion of the guards around them. They weren't just impressed by the way the boy fought. It was a pure brute power without calculation, a savage madness. Swapping attacks, with more and more injuries on their bodies.

The guards simply couldn't believe that their young master, who was no more than seven years old, could keep up with his opponent, fighting like a cub of a beast without fear.

Yes, like a beast, not human. That raw power, that madness on his eyes, his attacks were no less brutal than his opponent. He even dared to accept the wounds on his body to give a bigger wound with his sword.

And again, this fight had been going on for quite a while, almost an hour. They didn't know where his energy came from. Could eating a lot become like that?

“Truly a beast in human skin!”

While the guards stared at the battle in front of them in awe, only one person was depressed.

“Damn, this kid has really lost it. Did he ever think about his future when he came home with a body full of wounds like that? Shit!”

Goto really didn't expect Aria to snap in the middle of the fight and threw the early warning away from his mind. When he saw the increasing number of injuries on the boy's body, apart from being worried for the child's safety, Goto was also worried about his own safety.

"Whatever, everything has happened. I just hope Lady Alisa won't be too cruel with her punishment."

Goto could only resign himself to the situation and surrender his fate which seemed no longer in his hands. He took his sword, began to approach the battlefield. Be prepared to intervene as quickly as possible when needed.

…..

“Huff… huff… huff…”

Aria's breath had already started to catch on after parrying two consecutive claws as he took a few steps back.

Although he could barely keep up with this damn bear with his swordplay and maneuverability. However, the thick skin and fur made it difficult for Aria to inflict a deep wound.

All he could inflict are only minor injuries. Many, but not fatal. While the injuries on his body, although he looked more pathetic, they were all just skin bleeds.

“I need more attack power!”

Even though the bear looked fine, it had internal injuries from before which was fatal. But it seemed that it would take more than that to take down the beast that was bigger than himself.

"There's no other way!"

Aria saw that the bear was ready to start its attacks again, feeling that there was not much time left.

He instantly activated the limit ability [Myokinesis], focusing to strengthen only his right arm. He clearly felt his stamina drained quickly.

"Looks like I can't stay in this fight for too long, I have to end it quickly!"

Aria noticed that his right arm was slightly larger than his left. He felt like his arm's strength this time was doubled from before.

This time he tried to save his energy as much as possible. He focused on the movement of his footwork which was now clearly smoother than before, flowing like water, even though he didn't know any movement technique about it.

He fully put his focus on the incoming attack, trying to find an opening to land a fatal blow on his opponent. When the bear launched its merciless bite, Aria managed to dodge it by the skin of his teeth.

"NOW!!"

Like deja vu, he's back doing a spinning movement to create greater momentum. Meanwhile, his grip on the broadsword had changed. This time he held it with only his right arm, resembling someone about to throw a javelin.

With a slight jump, he released all his might with this thrust. The broadsword was hurtling toward the bear's abdomen which had been injured from the start. With such a close distance, it's impossible to miss.

However, he didn't have time to make a defense with all of those moves when the big forelimb's swing came.

Fortunately, Aria was able to use his left arm as a shield to protect his head and chest. Adding with his position in the air, reducing the momentum significantly.

But it still made his body thrown away into the air several meters. Meanwhile, the bear was stuck with a sword in his stomach.

The two fighters fell at the same time, albeit in a completely different state.

It didn't take long for Aria to immediately get up after landing, even though his appearance was quite miserable.

His left arm hung limply at the side. It didn't break, just hurt to move. Blood dripped from the corner of his lips.

Even though the power he received was significantly reduced, not all of his internal organs were ready to receive such a shock. Fortunately, no fatal injuries occurred.

"Are you okay?"

Goto worriedly approached Aria. This child's condition was truly pitiful. His pale face was covered in sweat and blood. His clothes were tattered, also covered in blood. Needless to say, the injuries were all over his body.

But at the very least, his eyes were still brimming with vigor. At least he's fine.

"No, I'm really spent. I really need to eat.”

Aria answered seriously, his eyes still fixed on the bear that was now tumbling down, letting out a groan that was clearly getting weaker. Its body was now covered in blood from the last big wound. Yup, it was finally done for.

Aria was relieved, immediately slammed his butt to the ground. Fatigue began to hit him as his adrenaline pumps dropped, he heard Goto voice from the side.

“Kid, it was a good fight. But, I think you forgot something important."

Aria looked puzzled as he was staring at Goto. He seemed to remember something, then looked down at his current state. His eyes turned as big as a saucer as he loudly exclaimed.

“CRAP!!”

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