The Fight Ends, The Hunt Begins

"Zed!" Bates shouted, dropping down from his vantage point to follow him. "Where the hell are you going?!"

"This thing's ruining it for me," he said while waving his hand flippantly. "If you want to kill it be my guest, but I'm leaving."

The Demon Bear, finally realizing that the deadliest thing in the area had apparently lost interest in it, quickly turned and ran. It was clearly slowed due to its injuries and [BLOOD LOSS], but its raw stats were still enough to outpace most players.

Bates cursed to himself before chasing after the bear. "Don't just stand there! Go after it!"

Bates' teammates, now snapped out of their stupor, quickly grabbed a handful of arrows from the battlefield before chasing after the target. In a matter of seconds, Zed was alone as he made his way back to the village.

As he walked, his expression continued to sour. Soon, he looked like he was ready to cough up blood.

'Why did it have to give up...'

Zed loved fighting, but he was no executioner. There was no excitement in killing someone who wouldn't defend themself. Even worse, the Demon Bear had used its diminishing strength just to stand. Not to attack or flee, but to die on its feet.

'Fuck that dying with honor nonsense!'

Everyone in the village thought Zed was some suicidal warrior who wasn't afraid of death, but that didn't mean he ever planned to just lie down and accept it. Death was the absolute end, and to Zed, the only sane response to such a concept was to fight it, down to one's last pathetic dying breath.

If you know you'll die then run, run as fast as your legs can carry you, and live to fight another day. Fight even when you're on the brink of death so you can bet on a miracle, or at the very least so you can take those bastards with you.

An honorable death? Refusing to 'live like a coward'? Scars on the back are a swordman's shame?

Bullshit.

Zed liked fighting fair in games, but when lives are on the line there are no rules. Honor and pride are just pretty words.

You don't become old and fat by playing fair, you do it by winning and cheating whenever possible.

'Just like...'

Zed shook his head. He tried to improve his mood by thinking about what could happen if the Demon Bear escapes, like with Loran's named Hell Pig.

'Maybe getting a name will give that bear some sense,' he hoped.

By the time he reached the fields around the village, he had mostly cleared his head, and a new complaint was at the forefront of his mind.

"Why can't the Kitchen make alcohol yet?"

~~~~~

Yin suddenly dropped down beside Soze as he ran back to the village.

"Is she okay?" He could sense the worry in her voice despite her even tone.

"She'll be alright, she just took a bad hit." He looked at Yang's face, eyes closed with blood covering most of it. The strike from the Demon Bear had left her with the [UNCONSCIOUS], [CONCUSION], and [BLEEDING] debuffs. None of it was fatal, but if Zed was confident that he could finish off the beast then it was best to get Yang back to the village as soon as possible. "What about you? Seems like Zed kicked you pretty hard."

"I am unharmed, although I will need to have... words with Zed later."

Soze said nothing but based on her tone he had a good feeling that at least a few of those "words" would be punctuated by arrows.

Soon they left the treeline and were greeted by the village in disaster mode. Nearly every capable player was armed and standing out in the western field, forming a defensive wall against a possible attack.

The vast majority of players were too weak to go up against a level 40 Demon Bear, but that didn't mean they couldn't defend the wall and rely on its fortifications if the bear came closer. It was an intimidating sight, with nearly forty melee players lined up with shields, spears, and axes. Some even had Soldier Blades that had been refurbished by the Workshop after Yang and the others returned from Ziege Basin. Behind them were almost fifty archers, standing with bows drawn and ready to pincushion anything that came out of the woods.

Fear and dread rippled through the crowd of players as they realized Soze was carrying Yang, assuming the worst.

"Holy shit! Is she dead?!" someone shouted when Soze got closer.

"No, just unconscious," Soze shouted back, filling everyone with relief.

A few players stepped aside, letting Soze and Yin pass as they made their way to the Kitchen. Navigating the village was quick with the normally crowded pathways being almost deserted. When they arrived, it was not a pretty sight.

One of the eating areas had been cleared away for the five players that had been ambushed by the Demon Bear, each of them suffering heavy wounds. Two melee players were covered in deep lacerations and large bruises across most of their bodies, but they were at least conscious and in stable enough conditions to apply Wolf's Boon and treat their own injuries.

The three archers were far worse off. Their Agility stats were too low to keep their distance from the beast and lacked the Endurance to take any more than a single hit. Each of them was suffering from multiple broken bones and was being carefully looked over by the players with healing magic. One of them had particularly low Endurance and had lost an arm to the Demon Bear's claws.

When Soze saw who they were being healed by, he nearly felt a blood vessel burst.

"Loran!?" Soze shouted, passing Yang to some other players to be healed. "What the hell are you doing here!?"

"Helping," he said, never looking up as he picked through the flesh of the severed limb.

"You should be resting," Yin said, clearly trying to not look at the archer's stump, her face pale.

"I was going to, but then this poor bastard showed up and I decided I was needed. It's not like we have anyone with actual medical training, so I officially have the most experience reattaching limbs."

"Have you forgotten that YOU WILL DIE WITHOUT REST?!" Soze shouted.

"No, I will die if I exert myself. I got one of the builders to carry me over here, and Extreme Exhaustion is a physical debuff, so using magic is fine."

"You're sure it's safe?" Yin asked.

He looked up at them. "Think about what I just did recently to avoid the small chance of death by Demon Bear. Do you really think I would risk my life for someone's arm?"

While Soze wasn't sure if bringing up this recent act of insanity was supposed to reassure him, but Loran was right in that he wasn't the type to take such huge risks when it wasn't necessary. Deciding the situation wasn't worth arguing over, he gave Loran a pat on the back before turning away.

"I hope you know what you're doing."

"I might," Loran said, half-jokingly.

Soze turned to leave the Kitchen, a little surprised when Yin turned to join him.

"You're not going to stay with your sister?"

"As you said, she will recover; and to be frank I would rather not be here at the moment," she confessed with a slight shudder.

The two left the Kitchen running back toward the battle. Passing quickly through the West Gate and leaping over the defensive line, they made it about halfway across the field before seeing Zed walking back to the village alone, clearly annoyed by something.

"What's the matter?" Soze asked as he approached. "Bates and his buddies steal your kill?"

"They can have it, I'm too pissed to care." Zed kept walking without looking at either of them.

"Did something happen?" Yin asked, apparently putting aside her earlier annoyance. "Your behavior is...strange."

Strange would be an understatement. Zed was not one to steal kills, but more than that he never gave his targets to others. Once he set his sights on something he would chase it until it died.

Curious, and getting no answers from the man in question, the two continued toward the woods, hoping to get an explanation from Bates.

It didn't take them long to realize something was wrong. They found the site of the battle, filled with destroyed trees and bloodstained grass, but the Demon Bear and Bates' team were nowhere to be found. A trail of blood left the area, and after following that until it ended they soon met up with Bates's team, bitter and complaining.

"What happened?" Soze asked, expecting them to be happy from killing the bear.

"That's what I'd like to know," Bates said, rubbing his forehead. "Zed let the damn thing get away."

Yin's eyes widened. "He spared it?"

"Did I stutter?"

"No, I just... That's really bizarre, especially for him." Soze was silent for a moment before turning back to Bates. "So, how did it get away from you guys?"

Bates shrugged. "The damn thing had 80 Agility, even heavily injured it was fast as hell. We kept up with it for maybe a minute, but our arrows couldn't finish it off."

Soze frowned. "So now we have a Demon Bear just wandering around in our territory, with no idea of where it is?"

"Yep."

Soze was quiet as he considered the situation. "...are any of you injured?"

"No. Most of us fight with bows, and our melee fighters got too nervous to fight after seeing Yang get tossed around," he said with a tone of annoyed understanding. The shoulders of the Tank player slouched with barely contained shame, while the two offensive fighters did their best to not look embarrassed. None of them wanted to admit any fault but knew that their stats were lacking when compared to Yang.

"Any of you ready to go again?"

Bates' eyes widened. "You want to go after it?"

"We certainly can't allow it to roam freely," Yin said. "Nothing in the region can threaten it, and if it decides to stay it may ambush others."

"If it's injured, then this is our best chance to kill it without taking more casualties. I can track it down and it'll have to rest soon to recover." Soze's eyes passed over them. "I'll ask again, are you guys ready to hunt?"

No words were exchanged as the ten players shared a few uncertain glances, but after a moment any hesitation was gone. Bates turned and began walking deeper into the woods.

"It went this way."