Its eyes widened, and yet another ground-quaking roar left its mouth.
Gobs of clear drool flew out of its vibrating lips and flung forward. Though the war cry was undoubtedly impressive, I was too far gone in my giddiness to be intimidated. Even when said intimidation shook the very air that surrounded me.
"That ain't gonna work, small-fry," I laughed, "you gotta come to me!"
Scraping its paws twice on the mud to gain traction, the beast growled a final time before sprinting toward me at full tilt. While charging with earth-splitting steps, it was only a few moments before the beast was in slashing distance. Once within a couple meters, it lunged with a hunter's precision and went straight for my throat.
I evaded, of course, but just dodging wasn't my style. I had only the utmost respect for the thugs that challenged me, and a beast would be no different. That said, I graciously left it with a new battle scar for its efforts.
I lined up the blade's edge and slid it down the length of the bear's snout, using its own momentum as my driving force. Through the entire motion, a gush of blood sprayed outward, dousing my face and neck with red.
It roared to the sky in agony, realizing I'd just given it a fancy new battle scar. It spun around with eyes of murderous rage. Then, its lips constricted ever tighter, revealing the base of the bloodied gums underneath from its last meal.
I'll admit, seeing the bits of flesh stuck between its teeth shook me a little. Thinking about how those fragments of meat could be me if I'd made one wrong step allowed the fear I had caged to seep out, poisoning my resolve. The excitement I felt died down as I realized just what was at stake in this fight.
There'd be no ground rules set before the fight. No "break-ups" or rest during the fight. No ambulances after the fight. No...compared to everything I'd done till now, this was a real one. One that could end with someone dead or dying.
A crimson stream flowing from its slashed cheek, the beast began a more cautious approach. It looked like I wasn't going to get another lucky strike like that.
"Hurry up, Agawa!" I grumbled. "Hurry up and-" I'd been cut off by what I'd seen from the corner of my eye.
It wasn't Agawa carrying the lemming away; it was Kamida. He was struggling to pull Takahashi by the arm over his shoulder. But, if he was there, where the hell was she?!
I darted my eyes around to see a flash of yellow behind the blood dyed fur on the beast's backside. The blur ducked below my vision, entirely blocked out by the bushy obstacle between us. Then, within a second, the beast had begun wailing in agony for no apparent reason.
The bear thrashed about in a tantrum, revealing what had it so agitated.
Agawa had leaped in with one of Sato's daggers and plunged it down to the hilt into the beast's back left leg. Then, just as quickly as she entered, she vanished from the bear's side and dodged its counterstrike.
She strode to my side and away from the now very pissed-off predator.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" I shouted at her.
She looked at me in shock. "You were begging for help, weren't you?" She shrugged. "So I came to help." She shrugged at me in confusion.
pαпdα-ňᴏνê|·сóМ "I wanted you to carry the lemm-..." It took a moment for what she'd said to register. "BEGGING? I don't 'beg!' I just nodded at you to make yourself useful!"
She crossed her arms, still holding the sharpest of Sato's knives. "Looked like begging to me." She shrugged again.
"Just run! Don't be reckle-" Looking at her, I saw her legs and arms trembling furiously. She hid it very well in her voice, but she'd been terrified of confronting the creature.
I realized that this girl wasn't playing dumb. That she wasn't being reckless at all. In fact, she knew the considerable risk she'd been taking and, yet, showed up to help anyway.
I wanted to continue arguing with the stupid girl, to tell her to leave me behind and run away at full speed. But, unfortunately, we had an antsy third party that hated to be left out, so I had no time to debate her.
After it bellowed in anger, Agawa and I shifted our full attention to the bear.
The beast tried approaching with the same tenacity but stumbled over the leg wound. Every step it took made the blade Agawa had lodged in squirm and shake within. Eventually, the beast staggered over itself and fell, giving Agawa and me some time to strategize.
"So, you got a plan, or just want to get in my way?" I teased Agawa.
"Huh?!" She gasped angrily. "We're going to run, of course! Why do you think I even stabbed its leg in the first place!"
"To give us a prime opportunity!" I asserted.
"An opportunity to die?!" She shouted back. "Because that's what'll happen if we stay!"
"Wha?!" I was shocked by her cowardice. "No, we ne-"
"Don't underestimate that thing," Agawa interrupted. "Just because I stabbed it doesn't make it any less of a monster.'
I guess she was right, at least with that thought. Though the bear had been limping, you still wouldn't want to be caught in its clutches. It'd easily claw you to pieces if given the chance. Even so, I preferred facing problems as they arose rather than retreating from them and regretting it later.
"I'm not runn-"
"We're running," she interrupted again in a flat tone, "don't be an idiot."
My eyes twitched with disbelief and irritation. Seeing how she refused to be a team player, I had no idea who my larger problem was at this point. I guess it had to have been the bear since it was literally larger than Agawa by a huge margin.
"Fine," I grunted, "when the bear misses, I'll run." After her quick decision to run, I wasn't so sure I could trust her to have my back in a fight anyway.
Given the plan was now finalized, Agawa and I smirked at each other, and we steeled ourselves for what came next.
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