A Lesson For Kang-soo Jin

{Planetary Wide Announcement}

[Player "Infinity" is the first to kill an Expert Tier Beast]

{Galaxy Wide Announcement}

[Player "Infinity" from planet Earth is the first to kill an Expert Tier Beast]

[Planetary Leaderboard have been unlocked]

[Galactic Leaderboard has been unlocked]

"What the heck?" I spat out as sudden notifications came into view, and at the worst of times too.

"Shit!" I exclaimed as a paw slammed me through a tree.

CRACK! CRASH!

'Damnit!' I cursed inwardly as I got back on my feet hastily with my eyes glued to the beast in front me.

There couldn't have been a worse time for a notification to appear.

I found myself in the middle of a forest after meeting a woman who called herself Gaia.

Within the ring she gave me, I found a dagger as well as a substantial amount of information about my current situation.

With caution, I moved around the forest looking for clues.

Unfortunately, today wasn't my lucky day as I stumbled upon a one meter tall bear with dark brown fur and a scar running through its left eye.

At the same time, it also spotted me. It let out a low growl and ran towards me without hesitation. Making its intention very clear.

And so began the fight between a man and a bear earnestly, with both having similar levels of strength.

I honestly couldn't imagine myself losing, as I was revered as one of the strongest men on earth, alongside three others.

But as seconds began counting, reaching up to a minute and surpassing it, I felt my belief crumble.

SWISH!

I narrowly avoided a large furry paw aiming for my head, and created distance between us.

At the same time the bear abruptly stood on two legs and activated a skill.

The bear covered its skin all the way to his head with rocks and formed an earth armour of sorts. Which drastically increased it's defense.

But that wasn't all, the bear moved a notch slower than me physically due to the added weight of the rock armour, but used spikes made of rock and soil to cover it's lack of speed, these spikes lung out of the ground at different intervals in different places.

Each one lunging out of the ground at the speed of a fired arrow with pointy tips sharp enough to pierce my armour.

Using this, it blocked off my escape routes, giving me no choice but to fight while simultaneously putting me in a perilous situation.

By sensing the mana in the soil, I was able to pinpoint and avoid the rock spikes ahead of time.

Clearly, the bear had fighting experience as it didn't give me any time to breathe nor pull out my sword, and slammed me through a tree the moment I got distracted by the announcement, but of course, I didn't take it lying down.

I moved with speed while dodging the bear's paws and rock spikes, all the while familiarizing myself to this monster's antiques and then...I counterattacked.

SIUUM!

At the opportune moment, I pulled out my sword speedily and brandished it, all the while moving nonstop as I kept dodging the protruding rock spikes and large paws.

The bear had begun exhausting itself as it increased the amount of firepower, suddenly doubling the speed the rock spikes were formed, and increased the maximum amount of spikes at once, which caught me by surprise.

Already sensing the changes in the soil, I moved with the intention of avoiding it.

Alas, I was too slow.

Sss!

I hissed as I felt pain coming from my three parts of my body, the rock spike had punctured my armour through my left leg, left arm and shoulder. With blood Leaking from each point.

With a glance at my body, I swung my sword without hesitation, and no, I didn't cut off my body parts.

I slashed the rocks spikes and moved speedily with pieces of the earth spikes still embedded in my body and then;

SHOOM!

A rock spike lunged out from my previous position, the bear began attacking desperately, trying to end the battle as fast as possible, but that had now turned into a disadvantage against it.

The broken rock spikes were still in my body, making every movement painful, but it was bearable.

After all, on earth, I had felt pain at worse levels than this when clearing dungeons.

ZOOM!

As soon as a gap became visible in the bear's defense, I lunged forward while cutting down any and all rock spikes within my line of sight.

The bear noticed my advancement, suddenly took a step back, and then;

GROWL!!!

It growled loudly at me, causing my black hair to flutter.

Some might have stepped back instantly thinking it was going to unleash a mighty skill, but I wasn't fazed because I knew that the bear was trying to stop me from approaching.

With every swipe of it's paw, it's speed decreased, the rock spikes were also not forming as fast as it used to.

The moment of payback had arrived, and I wasn't going to miss it for the world.

I charged forward while cutting down it's feeble rock spikes and closed the distance instantaneously and began to chip apart it's already weakened armour, and then;

SLICE!

A furry arm flew off and blood splattered all over my already red armour, and a crazed scream rang out the next instant;

GROOOWL!!!

The bear was being pushed into a corner, and it knew so too. With an arm lost, the chances of it being victorious was down to twenty percent, and if so? It was going to give it's assailant as many injuries as possible.

At this moment, a change occurred, the bear on the verge of collapse suddenly gained momentum and then;

SMASH!

The Bear's paw slapped my body backwards, the distance of a meter and would have gone further if I had not lodged my sword into the ground.

"What the heck?!" I said as I spat out blood.

I looked at the bear and I couldn't see the bear that was being pressured a minute ago, instead, it's eyes were now bloodshot and we're only looking at me, before it abruptly moved its fingers in peculiar ways.

"Huh, what are you- Shit!" I shouted, and jumped from that spot, and immediately after, a rock spike that was sleeker and looked to be made of crystal instead of rock.

Cold sweat ran through my back as I stared at the earth spike, before I moved again, narrowly avoiding the rock spikes, and like this, a game of whack-a-mole or better yet, skewer-a-mole began, with I being mole and the bear being the skewer.

Attacking was also a no-go, because the bear had begun attacking without a care for its own life, which made it far more deadly.

Notwithstanding, I still attacked it, only to find out that the rock spikes formed even faster the closer I got to the bear, it was using itself as bait, trying to trick me into killing myself.

With a sword in my hand, I slashed the rock spikes down and pressed forward.

It may sound funny, but it was anything but that, a single mishap could cause my death with the rock spike punctured into my lungs if not careful.

Using my body to it's extreme I moved unpredictably and nimbly avoided the earth spike, my aim was the bear, and I was going to kill it with this strike.

I increased my speed and approached the bear from the side left, and then;

SCREECH!

It seems that I had still underestimated the Intelligence of this bear, because the scene in front of me wasn't at all in my expectations.

My sword which ought to cut through the bear cleanly was stopped in its tracks as four spikes suddenly appeared and blocked the attack for two seconds.

It might not seem like much, but in a battle, it could easily decide the winner and the loser.

I jumped back, creating distance as I grind my teeth and pressed forward once more.

This continued for a few more seconds before the bear abruptly halted like a cogwheel that got stuck and fell headfirst into the ground.

Simultaneously, a set of notifications came into view;

[You have killed "An Expert Tier Earth Bear " ]

[You have gained the title "Forest lord"]

[Please input a player alias]

I felt something flow out of the bears body before going into mine which increased my body's healing rate and helped me sustain consciousness.

I slumped down and backed a tree as I ruminated on the fight, while pulling out the broken rock spikes embedded in my body.

Sss

I hissed as I felt the pain and pulled the last one from my legs, blood gushed out at first and my body began to heal.

To think that I, Kang-soo jin, could be beaten to this extent.

It was indeed a valuable lesson and an Eye-opener.

I had grown conceited after being cooped up on earth for too long.

To survive, I had to become stronger.