7 Efforts in vain.

After a short stop for refueling at Zaban city, I was on my way to my second destination.

It was nearly fall and the horned bears of Raoul mountain had likely already given birth. Now usually a pregnant horned bear births 3 cubs per year. But given that they are born in late monsoon to early fall, the cubs are wholly unprepared for the harsh winter right around the curve.

Usually only 1 of 3 survives. In cases of particularly bad winters none do.

Not to mention the poaching, for both their horns and meat.

The horns of a horned bear are used in traditional 'medicine' and some such. I read up on some research papers on my way here and they had no medicinal properties. Yeah none. One would think that this being a fictional world and all, these sorts of things would actually be worth something or have some magical properties. No. Just plain old keratin. Horn stuff.

Now their meat on the other hand was the real deal. Horned bears were immune to trichinosis and their meat, high in proteins and fat was a world famous delicacy.

First the spider eagle omelettes and then a fat piece of bear backstrap.

Now I really gotta find a gourmet hunter on the down low to cook this for me.

Once I reached the mountain, I noticed that there was no place for the airship to land.

I sighed and opened the hatch in the back and dropped down on a ladder.

Then the ladder stopped short of the ground by a couple of meters and I jumped off landing on the outskirts of the forest.

Early signs of what was to come really.

The first thing I did after landing was to find a suitably thick and pointy branch on a nearby tree and broke it off. I pulled out the smaller twigs off of it and made my way into the forest.

I had grasped zetsu just yesterday and I was eager to try my hand at stealthy hunting.

Over the course of the next two days, on and off, I practiced zetsu and tracked down, with what meagre tracking ability I had, the cave of a horned bear.

I hid on a nearby tree, waiting, scheming as the first light of dawn rounded the horizon.

A couple of hours in, a bear exited the cave followed the soft whines of its cubs.

Alright! Now I know that at least there are cubs in there and mama bear here was their only guardian. Great.

Now for the delicious bear meat and hide.

I followed the mama bear on its hunt as it downed a deer and ate some fish for lunch.

Once she was done, she picked up the deer and began her journey back to her cave. Slowly and steadily she made her way back and I followed.

Then, when she was rounding a particularly tricky crag, I channeled my aura into the tree branch I was holding in an amateur version of shu. I positioned myself just right and jumped straight down onto her back.

Mama bear let out an ear shattering scream as she began to flail about wildly. As I scrambled to get off, she thrust her horns right into me, puncturing my side. I gasped and choked as I fell off the bear's back.

I strengthened my will and covered my hand in shu as I thrust it right down her throat and ripped out her tongue in an adrenaline fueled haze.

Blood stained my shirt red as I stumbled, the dizziness hitting me as blood rushed to my head.

I activated my Ren and channeled as much enhancement into the wound as I could.

The sun began to set as I crawled under the mama bear's corpse and fainted, the pain and exhaustion getting to me.

I awoke the next morning, still feeling like shit but at least I was alive. I crawled out from under the mama bear's corpse and checked around. There were mountain lion tracks around the corpse and some chunks of the mama bears were missing.

Fuck! Now I can't even have some steaks for my troubles. The meat is probably infected now, the fur is ruined from the bite marks and I'm down a quart of blood. This whole hunt was a big fat waste of time.

"Fuck!" I shouted, kicking a nearby tree only to hurt myself.

"Ouch ouch ouch! This fucking tree. I'm going to burn you down you bastard! Just you wait!" I screamed at the tree, alone like a madman.

I wasn't mad per se. This wasn't delusion, I liked to call it a soliloquy. Sounds classier that way.

As the haze of anger left me, I realized why I had originally come here. Yes! The baby bears! Cubs! Gotta get them all now. Or maybe not all. No no. I'll get them all. Might as well get some bear meat. Their mama certainly won't be objecting anymore. Heheheheheh....

Man that was dark. Maybe I really should see that shrink.