Chapter 03: Magical Beasts Fight.

Marlon was surprised, then everything in his head began to make sense.

"So this is what that monkey stole my traps for; he wanted to help his mother... or father. Speaking of the fucking monkey, where is he?".

While the big Monkey was engaged in an intense fight with the bear, a small figure could be seen lying on the ground.

"Is that monkey... Is he dead?" Suddenly, Marlon caught a glimpse of something a few feet ahead of the little monkey. It appeared to be a yellow, cylindrical-shaped crystal. It was embedded in the ground in what appeared to be the area where the bear was sleeping. Next to it was a skeleton with a blue robe and a book in its hand.

So those beasts are fighting over that treasure, and the little guy tried to steal it, but was shot down. What should I do in this situation? It's obvious that that shiny object is valuable, but it's also obvious that this place is beyond my capabilities. Those two beasts use magic, and I know nothing about magic beyond the stories told in the Farmia Village tavern. Even my grandfather didn't talk to me much about it, it's as if he always wanted to avoid the subject.

ROOOOOOOOOOAR!!!

Suddenly, the bear, which could not move because its hind legs were immobilized, began to do something. The blood spilled on the ground, product of the wound left by the bear traps, dripped on the ground and disappeared. A second later, a smaller version of the bear appeared in front of the bear, made of mud.

The big Monkey was alarmed. He thought that the bear did not have long to bleed to death and so he chose to prolong the fight while dodging its columns of earth that were constantly emerging from the ground to hurt him. Suddenly he did a somersault using his tail to climb a small stone ledge in the cave 5 meters above the ground.

The bear used his earth magic again, and made a pillar come out of the ground and destroy the small stone ledge, making the big Monkey jump and land back on the ground. When he landed, the mud bear materialized in a second in front of him, and used its claws to punch the monkey in the face.

The large monkey rolled several meters from the impact, while dust was kicked up wherever it passed.

The big monkey stood up. It now had a claw mark on its face, from which blood was dripping. From the force of the impact, and because it was a cut and not a blunt blow, one could sense that the monkey was quite resistant, since the wound was not very deep.

The mud bear absorbed itself into the ground, and 5 seconds later it materialized in front of the monkey, who had just stood up.

This looks bad for the monkey. I'll see how this plays out for now. It seems they haven't noticed my presence yet.

This time, the big monkey anticipated it. He jumped high, grabbed his hind legs and spun vertically in an astonishingly fast manner in the air. A second later, it enlarged its tail to the size of a tree trunk as it continued to spin. Then he unleashed the full power of his giant tail in the face of the mud bear.

The trapped bear saw this, and summoned an earth shield to protect the mud bear, just before the blow hit.

BAAAM!!!

A loud impact was heard and immediately a pile of dust was kicked up all over the deep area of the cave.

That was incredible.

Marlon watched as the dust faded and slowly revealed the two figures. One was standing, holding his stomach as he gasped, this was the big ape. The other seemed to have lost half his body, from head to navel. This last figure was the mud bear, who was still standing, staggering.

How could that thing still be standing? Marlon wondered.

The bear in the trap saw this and roared again, causing the earth to swallow up all the blood it had once again spilled from the traps on its hind legs. An instant later, the mud bear began to rebuild itself. You could see how the mud was growing from its navel to its neck, then it stopped. Apparently the blood the bear used to repair the mud bear was not enough to restore the mud bear's head as well.

The headless mud bear charged forward, using its claws again to strike at the big ape. The big ape couldn't move, so he decided to enlarge his tail again to take the cut as he closed his eyes, preparing for what was coming.

PUFF!!!

"...", nothing happened. The monkey opened his eyes and watched as the mud bear began to crumble. Then he watched as the bear in the trap finally fell silent.

The big monkey knew he was no match for him, so he planned to use the trap to immobilize him while he exhausted him and caused him to bleed to death. But things didn't go as planned, as the bear kept moving despite having one of its paws trapped. He worked out a whole plan since he discovered that the bear had taken the metaphysical core. First he stole that trap that his son found in the forest, then he had the little monkey, his son, sneak into the bear's cave and set the trap while the bear was hunting. As soon as the big monkey heard a scream in the cave, he knew that the bear had fallen. They began a fight, but he held his own as best he could since the trap had not completely immobilized him. It was then that the little monkey who was behind him waiting for the opportunity to steal the metaphysical fragment told him to hold on and left. At that moment he thought his son had been scared out of his wits, but a few minutes later he came up with another trap, which the big monkey used at his convenience to catch another of the bear's paws. He just had to wait for it to bleed out while he used up his magic. Whichever of the two happened first would serve to steal the metaphysical core. At that moment, the little monkey saw his chance and tried to take it, only to be hit by the bear's magic. So far the big monkey did not check if he was still alive, but he was very worried.

COOF, COOF!

The big monkey suddenly coughed blood and collapsed on the ground.