Killing Bears

Heading out on Almos' back, Allen quickly found the targets. The two bears in question quickly noticed the large group as well and this time didn't seem to treat them like bugs as they did last time. This time the bears seemed to get ready for an actual fight.

Granted with 31 powerful wolves it is hard to not take the situation seriously. Many of the fire mages even chose to ride Tree Wolves instead of the Giant Wolves. While the Earth mages rode all the Forest Wolves and got ready to provide whatever interference they could.

Allen didn't hesitate either and stopped his troops to activate bestow. Getting off Almos, Allen activated the skill.

[Bestow: +13 Strength to nearby troops (Time Limit: 11 min.)]

[Cooldown: 12 Hours]

The bears on the other hand looked at the situation in confusion as the powerful force suddenly stopped and started howling in pain. As the painful howls subsided, they curiously walked closer, but that was when the wolves attacked!

The Forest Wolves with the earth mages quickly ran around as large earth walls quickly appeared blocking the path. The bears could easily break these walls, but their main purpose was to interfere with movement.

The Fire Mages were next using the opportunity to get close and cast Flame Wave blinding the bears and leaving them confused and slightly hurt. The Giant Wolves seemed to get their cue and as the flames slightly subsided, the Giant Wolves attacked together making the bears flail around helplessly.

The Wind Wolves were doing their best using Wind Cutter to cut at the tendons of the bears. The bears could only swat at the fast-moving wolves that did the least damage at first but were clearly making a wound slowly cutting into the flesh.

The Wolves had also all gotten a slight strength boost as the Giant Wolves had all reached level 3. The Forest Wolves had also reached level 4 allowing them to do as much damage as the Giant Wolves were doing yesterday. The fire mages were also doing damage despite their low stats as the bears were Plant Bears and were weaker to fire.

All of this combined led the bears to try and escape and force the stone mages to put up thicker walls to block their path. The bears could only use the surrounding plants to heal while being used as punching bags to test the new mage's skills. Even the Wind Wolves were having the time of their lives cutting a tendon multiple times as the bears healed their wounds within minutes.

The high-intensity fighting lasted even past the 11 minutes of Bestow making the fight take even longer. Despite having all the plants die making the bears unable to heal, it still took 23 minutes total to kill both bears. By the end of the fighting, everyone was tired beyond belief as they did their best to recover. The Forest Wolves who did the least out of everyone went out to scout the area to make sure nothing was around to attack them.

[Battle Gains -> +50 Exp.]

It was only half an hour later that everyone started moving. Allen took this chance to check on the Lord couple while sending almost everyone back to camp to dissect the bears. The couple was still being guarded by several bears trying to find a way to enter.

Allen who was riding Almos alerted the couple of his arrival even more than before. Feno and Alice were quite startled by the appearance of such a large wolf coming in their territory.

"Lord Allen," Feno spoke formally while bowing. Alice followed her husband's example and did the same.

"It's good to see you. Let's talk more." This time Allen hopped off Almos as he spoke more casually to the pair. "I need to know your situation. I don't want you to suffer now that you have entered a contract with me."

Feno breathed a sigh of relief, "Well let's start with the time limit shall we?" While the group walked to a large wooden house they began to talk openly about everything.

"You see we only have a full day before the time limit to the house wears off. How many bears can be killed before then?"

"I think we can hunt one more time before the sun sets and once more right before this time today. Right now we can deal with two bears together without casualty. Yesterday we found a total of seven bears minus the two we killed this morning and the new wolves I will summon today, I know we can deal with all of them before this time tomorrow.

Do you think you can get a good count of how many bears there are? If we missed one or two it would be a big problem for you. I will send you several Forest Wolves so you can use them for your scouting efforts."

Feno suddenly laughed out loud as soon as Allen finished talking, "You know I was so worried of your attack yesterday, but now that you stand before me and talk, I suddenly feel I shouldn't have felt so threatened in the first place."

"Well, we both really just wanted peaceful interactions. I didn't plan to attack you in the first place so you can rest assured being threatened is the least of your concerns."

"I knew it! See Feno, I told you what he really wanted was a peace treaty! Why else would he give in to such stipulations that seemed to only benefit us."

Feno rolled his eyes, "Back to the topic. If you can send those fast moving wolves I would be grateful. I would also like for the bears to become nothing to me."

"Why not join me during the hunt? It can help your men level up."

"Wait, hunting can help us level up?"

"Huh-" Suddenly the three people were all staring at each other in confusion.

"Didn't you say you were about to hit level 5?"

"Yeah through a method that increases my power by gathering the energy in the air. It slowly raises my level."

Alice nodded, "I use the same method since he gave me it."

"I remember now, you all were from a different world so this system that is similar to a video game is probably not something you understand intuitively. Well if you kill something you can get experience that upgrades your level."

"By killing? Like some Demons do?"

Feeling a headache Allen slowly explained everything he understood about leveling and how he understood the system worked. Eventually making Feno and Alice realize how stupid they were using the system before. Especially hearing that Allen had already reached level 5 and was even halfway through the level.

"Wait if you don't hunt what do you eat?"

"Elves dislike meat and prefer fruits and mushrooms."

Despite how strange Allen found the pair he still got back on track. Giving them the spare house crystal he had.

"I want you to only use it in an emergency if the beasts are attacking. Also, I was wondering, would you all be willing to tell me about your talents and skills? I will also promise to tell you about my talents and skill."

Alice and Feno seemed to start a conversation with their eyes for a good three minutes before nodding to each other. "I declare this is the real beginning of the meeting! We must now speak truthfully!"

Suddenly a power seemed to oppress both parties. Allen didn't really mind since he had planned to speak the truth anyways, so he just kept a plain face and nodded.

"Alright let us just make sure it is working."

Allen spoke first, "Were you really that scared I would attack when we first met?"

"Yeah." Feno smiled and asked back, "Are you really going to send Forest Wolves to aid with scouting efforts?"

"Yes, of course."

Alice on the other hand face palmed, "I meant like say names as a truth and then try to say an obvious lie. So I shall say, 'I am Lord Alice' now you."

Despite the embarrassment of the two men they both nodded.

"I am Lord Allen."

"I am Lord Feno."

"Now a lie."

"I am a wo-" Allen who decided to go first suddenly felt a burning pain in the depth of his body and mind.

"So it causes pain? Well, it can't be that bad. I am a Hu- ARRGH-" Feno also ended up flailing on the floor.

Alice on the other hand was sweating buckets as she realized she had dodged a big bullet by not going first. That idea was only strengthened as it took a full ten minutes before the painful growls ended.

Allen quickly got up from the floor holding his head in his hands, "Let us skip this part of the meetings in the future."

Alice could only nod embarrassed since she was the one who initiated the idea.

Feno who felt such intense pain for the first time could only groan as he got up. "Alice is this how you feel when you add stat points?"

Allen who had basically recovered quickly caught on to the important part, "You gain stat points as well? My system says it is a gift from god. So which god blessed you?"