With their meeting now over, Roy and his band made their way downstairs and out of Roger’s house. The three groups were sitting around talking with each other and catching up. This was one of the few moments where they could truly rest afterall, the rest of their time was spent either hunting or patrolling.

Looking at their tired faces, Roy smiled wryly. I should probably have them sleep well tonight, they can’t fight the bear half-asleep.

Roy gestured to the group leaders to come closer to him, “Have your guys rest tonight. “Have your guys sleep properly tonight. There is no use hunting anymore since it won’t change how we’ll fight the red bear, it’s just gonna make it worse.”

Marth nodded at Roy’s words, “Good call. I was about to tell you the same.”

With Marth, Alfonse, and Jack each going to their group, Roy looked around for Jaimie before walking toward him alongside Robb.

“Hey, Jaimie, Lorenz, do you guys wanna take the night off and rest? The other groups are gonna go sleep.”

Lorenz shook his head at Roy’s suggestion, “No, I just took a nap. I won’t be able to sleep even if I want to.”

“Yeah, I also wanna stay with you guys.”

Roy scratched his head while Robb covered his chuckle. Seeing Robb laughing at his misery, Roy sighed deeply. “Ehh, we’re gonna go to a dangerous place, you can’t be coming with us.”

Jaimie had a look of betrayal on his face before he retorted, “Bu-But-Is it more dangerous than the ogre village?”

Robb almost choked on his own spit, it took a tremendous effort not to burst out laughing. He then looked at Roy with a grin, “The kid has a point.”

“You’re not helping anyone,” Roy sighed and shook his head.

He then looked at Jaimie who was pouting and on the verge of tears before concocting a string of words in his mind that would salvage the situation. “But that’s a good thing, you know? We’re going to the forest and we won’t be hunting anything for hours. That’s too boring, right? Why don’t you go with Lorenz and fight some monsters? You can catch up to us quickly that way.”

Roy’s words deflated Jaimie a bit, but he was still pouting, “But… I wanted to be with you guys.”

“Are you a big baby?” Lorenz cut in. “Are you a little baby boy who can’t be away from his big brother for a second?”

“I’m not a big baby, take that back!” For the first time in what seemed like forever, Roy saw Jaimie genuinely angry.

Lorenz just crossed his arms and humphed at Jaimie’s reaction, “I’m not taking anything back until you stop acting like a baby.”

Jaimie clenched his fists at Lorenz’s attitude. “Okay, we’re gonna see who is a little baby when we go and fight those monsters.”

Seeing that the situation had more or less been resolved, Roy thanked Lorenz with his eyes.

“Since you guys are gonna be on your own tonight, I wanna make one thing clear,” Roy’s voice regained its assertiveness. “Jaimie, you’re gonna listen to what Lorenz say, is that clear?”

“Why is that?!” The young boy stomped on the ground. The last thing he wanted to hear was to listen to the boy who called him a “big baby”.

“Because he is smart, and will stop you from doing anything reckless.”

“I-” Jaimie was about to retort Roy’s statement before the latter continued with a louder voice.

“I need you to listen to him, you understand me?” Roy looked with serious eyes at Jaimie. “Or you guys will just have to stay with Mr. Roger. I can’t let you risk your lives when I’m not there to help.”

“Listen to Roy, Jaimie,” Robb who had finally stopped chuckling at the ridiculousness of the situation came in to help. “He is just telling you what’s best for you.”

Jaimie pouted in silence for a few seconds before muttering under his breath, “Okay… I understand.”

“You guys are done?” Jack walked from behind Roy and Robb. “Our group is done, we can move now.”

“Okay, we can go,” Roy then looked at Jaimie, “Good luck. Cheer up and have some fun.”

Jaimie looked back at Roy before his frown disappeared and nodded, “Okay, thank you.”

Roy chuckled at the young boy’s response before walking back to the new scouting group. It was made almost exclusively of his friends and the knights, with the only exception being Peter.

The new group made their way through the village and into the forest. As was usual, Roy used a miniscule amount of his mana to light a small fireball that would guide their way. After around ten to fifteen minutes, they reached close to their old hideout. The little shed in which they used to sleep was nowhere to be found anymore. The topography had substantially changed and there was now a plain in the place of a cliff.

However, before making another step, Roy and his band immediately went down to the ground and started putting dirt all over themselves.

“What are you doing?” Marth asked in confusion.

“You have to put dirt on your whole body or else the bear will definitely smell you,” Robb responded. “We were lucky as hell it didn’t last time, but we shouldn’t poke our luck too much.”

Hearing Robb’s explanation, the rest of the group immediately followed suit and covered their bodies with grass, dirt, and all the natural smells of the forest. While this should not completely cover their tracks, it would still make it significantly harder for the red bear to spot them.

After a few minutes, the group was full of dirt from their face to their toes. They were now one with the forest itself. With their preparations complete, they continued on their way.

The familiar screen appeared once again in front of Roy and the rest of his friends. The quest which had been their goal for so many days was now close to being done. As feelings of nostalgia and contentment invaded Roy’s mind, he shook his head.

It’s not the time. We still have to kill it.

“What’s this lord system that they’re talking about?” Alric suddenly asked.

Robb looked at him and shrugged, “Who knows? I guess we’ll soon find out.”

While everyone was talking with each other about all kinds of subjects, Roy shushed them. He then put his index finger next to his ear, “Do you guys hear it?”

With everyone turning silent, they could hear shuffling and rumbling in the distance.

Roy’s instinct screamed at him and he ordered, “Hide. Hide behind the trees.”

There was no moment of delay, the ten men scattered in all directions and hid behind different trees. That way, even if one of them was spotted, the rest could escape.

The sound and noise became increasingly louder as the beast marched toward them. The red bear stood up on his hind legs and towered over some of the small trees. Roy’s eyes opened wide as he looked at the beast. Did it grow bigger?

The bear was now close to seven meters tall when standing up. Roy remembered clearly the size and height of the beast he saw a couple of days ago, and he was sure that it had grown by a considerable margin.

The beast walked around in search of something. Whether it had detected their presence or not, Roy did not know, but that did not lessen the scariness of the situation.

Suddenly, the bear changed course. As Roy noticed its new trajectory, his heart fell to his stomach. It was going in Robb’s direction.

Roy looked at his friend and silently gestured for him to move. Robb nodded at Roy’s suggestion before using Ghost Step and dashing away from his tree. In but a few seconds, he was already out of sight.

The red bear’s head turned suddenly as it heard the slight shuffling from Robb’s feet. With a mighty roar, it charged at one of the trees and slammed it with its massive paw.

Boom!

The beast’s attack uprooted the tree and snapped its trunk in half. The whole ground was raised with dust and dirt filling the air. The explosive strike’s noise was only overwhelmed by the beast’s guttural roar.

It smashed and trashed the ground around the tree that it just struck. Its eyes were mad with an unadulterated instinct to kill, and the mean scars all over its body only added to its terror.

Roy’s back was glued to the wall as he stared in a daze at the beast’s rampage. He looked down at his hand only to find it shivering in fear.

Thankfully, none of the other members of the group made any noise. Roy looked around for the little boy Peter only to find him standing behind a tree farther to his right. Marth was standing next to him and covering his mouth so that he does not make a noise.

Thank the gods for Marth.

Roy’s thoughts were sincere. Having a man who would always be reliable and know what the best course of action is, was something he appreciated dearly. Before the apocalypse, that was Aiden’s role. Fortunately, Roy found Marth after his friend’s death.

The beast continued its rampage for a few more excruciating minutes. With each strike and each roar, Roy’s heart beat faster. This was the beast that they needed to kill, a creature that could instill terror even in the roughest of men.

As the minutes went by, a thought germinated inside Roy’s mind. What if he just uses all of his mana and blasted that creature’s face off? Yes, it was scary, but it was not much stronger than that three-necklace blue ogre.