Chapter 7: The Bear of the Cliffs

Nicco looked at the migrating wolf clan. The young man from earlier was already at a distance, and the group breathed with a sense of relief as they saw the last wolf disappear from the horizon. 

The team didn't move when wolves linger and raced on the grassland. They persevered with every ounce of their strength to not encounter the cold fist of the young man from earlier. However, since the wolf clan had already left, everyone slowly stood up.

"That was such a dangerous encounter! I'm glad they're gone."

Mazel said as he dusted his body. His 10-man hunting party and Victor followed him in his actions as the three elders moved later.

"I thought we were going to die from that teenager."

Victor replied as he checked out his sword.

"Let's look over their battlefield. Maybe they've left the snakes' carcasses. We can make two sets of armor from those."

Elder Remona said as he checked his backpack for a cutting knife.

"Elder Remona is right! However, I think we should keep people here to hide the carcasses. Remember, Mira is the point of this journey. Not the resources."

Chief Muska commanded as he readied his two swords.

"Thank you, brother."

Elder Marwal said as he kept a grip on his spear and readied himself to resume the search for Mira.

The bird saw the whole encounter and wondered how to become as powerful as the young man. However, for now, he is a minute speck in the air—not even a rock.

The bird flew first because the team was preparing to survey where the snakes and the wolf teen fought. However, he didn't immediately go in because of the dead snake. If, for some reason, they still had a bit of life in them, then he might immediately die.

So he transferred from tree to tree, skipped the grassland in the middle, and perched on a tree outside the mound.

Nicco ensured he was safe from any eventualities as he was not an assassin as before but was now a bird that could die on a whim—even one of the smaller dead snakes could kill him with a bite.

***

After Nicco flew towards the mound of dead snakes, the 15-man team followed.

The search party's careful and steady approach from earlier became more evident after witnessing the battle between the wolf and the snakes.

A few minutes of cautiousness bore fruit as the team saw the carcasses of massive serpents.

"These are not basilisks."

Elder Remona said as he examined the dead on the ground.

"However, the bigger one seemed to be in the process of evolving into a basilisk."

He added as Victor looked at him with amazement and said:

"Forgive me, Elder. But what is a basilisk?"

"Basilisks are creatures that reach the Fabled Class when they grow up. They have dragon blood and hence part of the dragon bloodline."

This time, Elder Remona was silent. Instead, Chief Muska took this time to instruct the future leaders of Vulta village as he examined the fiftieth-meter-long serpent.

"We have a good body full of valuable materials here."

Chief Muska uttered.

"I think half of us should stay and defend these treasures."

He added as he pointed at Elder Remona.

"You should also stay here, Elder."

Then he looked up to see everyone and proceeded.

"Together with everyone from the hunting party."

After saying these, Chief Muska paused.

"However, Mazel, come with us."

He stood up and ordered.

"At least you can save your favorite cousin."

Chief Muska said as he smiled and walked towards the deep parts of the Weathered Forest.

***

Chief Muska, Elder Marwal, and Leader Mazel slowly walked toward the deeper parts of the forest. At the same time, Nicco perched on Mazel's shoulder.

The bird felt something pleasing from the young man that he didn't think twice about perching on his shoulder.

The three relatives ducked and walked their way inside the forest. However, as if the forest loved these individuals, they didn't experience any unfateful encounters. Instead, they went faster this time. Only small animals made noise in these areas. But there were still no birds around. The sole bird in the forest was Nicco.

The bird flew up occasionally to check for directions, and within an hour, they'd already found the ravine. However, they got scared as they saw dead animals around. The bodies of these animals littered the area, and it looked like a valley of blood.

"What happened here?"

Elder Marwal said as he gripped his spear, as he uttered:

"I hope Mira is safe."

"Mira's a strong kid. She's fine, brother."

Out of the blue, Chief Muska comforted Elder Marwal as he tapped him on the back.

"Thank you, brother."

Elder Marwal replied as he calmed his nerves and relieved his heart of worry.

The team went into the ravine and saw the bird fly straight into a cave on the cliffs.

The three warriors slowly walked while remaining vigilant against the monster that turned this new ravine into a bloodland.

However, as they drew closer to the cavern where Mira stayed, they saw a massive bear crawling outside one of the nearby caves.

"That's an earth bear!" 

Leader Mazel whispered as the three flung their bodies toward the opposite wall to hide from the bear.

"Of all creatures, why do we have the king of this forest?!"

Elder Marwal murmured as he looked at Chief Muska with blood draining from his face.

"I hope Mira is 'really' fine."

He buzzed as he readied his spear.

"Wait, brother."

Chief Muska said as he pulled the arm of Elder Marwal.

"What?! Why are you holding me down, brother?!"

Elder Marwal softly growled as tears started to flow from his eyes.

"My baby's dead, brother."

He whispered begrudgingly while his hands shook at the thought of only seeing the dead body of Mira.

Chief Muska didn't reply but moved to comfort his brother.

He embraced his kin as Mazel, with bloodshot eyes, looked at the coming bear.

The three men mourned and hoped for the best. However, the thought of seeing the carcass of a ravaged Mira lingered inside their heads as they kept a low profile to evade the wrath of the bear.

The three men feared the bear since an adult bear was already at the level of Fabled Class, and Chief Muska and Elder Marwal were only Extraordinary Class. 

Mazel, on the other hand, was only an Ordinary Class. They were out-powered. And they felt bad that they could only shake their fist to heaven for this terrible outcome.

***

The downed and broken team of three waited until the bear returned to the cave or left the area.

However, the bear slumped and felt the sun on its fur.

"That bear is sunbathing."

Mazel said while holding his crossbow.

But, the three started to console themselves by bringing the dead body of Mira. They saw the bird flying out of the hole to where they were.

"How are you, black bird?"

Mazel said as the bird perched on his shoulder.

"Wait! Look!" 

Suddenly, Elder Marwal uttered while pointing at the cave where the bird came from.

Then, the three men saw it. The dirty Mira crawled out with mud all over her. She looked like she was buried alive.

"Is that Mira?"

Mazel said as he deemed his mourning useless. Nonetheless, tears came again—they were tears of joy—as he wiped his tears away with his empty left hand.

"I know she'll be fine."

He added.

Unexpectedly, Mira crawled out with determination.

The Hiwas, seeing the danger Mira was putting herself in, held up their hands as they motioned Mira to stop and look at the bear. 

However, the sick and tired Mira moved constantly as she crawled down, seemingly oblivious to the coming danger.

Instantly, the bear opened its eyes as it snorted at the dirtied Mira crawling into the blood-littered ravine.

Mira, with pain all over her, moved slowly.

The three men were shocked at the response of the bear. The bear looked like it didn't care about the ant in front of it and focused more on sunbathing.

"Isha, be praised for this miracle!"

Elder Marwal said as he held his head in amazement and disbelief. 

Mazel, on the other hand, had a gaped mouth that could allow a fly to get in.

While Chief Muska lapped his forehead in amazement.

The three Hiwas were having various reactions to the astonishing feat Mira did. They stood on the other side of the cliff like cacti in the desert, as they stood erect and unmoving.

The whole endeavor lasted for a few minutes as Mira touched the ground. The three men afterward helped her as Elder Marwal piggybacked his daughter while holding on to his spear.

After securing Mira on his back, they started to walk away from the ravine. 

However, the bear suddenly roared. 

The earth-shattering growl of the bear caught them off guard as they looked back to check the lazy giant. However, the bear snorted and smiled, easing the worry of the four.

The bird, on the other hand, felt threatened by the sleeping giant.

***

The bird, the four humans, and the one pup hiding inside the girl's jacket breeze through the forest. However, they were still making sure that they were hiding from danger. Nicco was perched again on Mazel's shoulders as he scouted the area occasionally.

The journey from the bear's ravine to the serpents' mound took them at least an hour, which made their belly rumble.

Nonetheless, Elder Remona prepared some meals beforehand to ensure they were well-fed inside the Weathered Forest of danger.

Although the short expedition to save Mira started rough, it was now uneventful. The Hiwas were having lunch while the hunting party members and Elder Remona were salvaging the materials from the monster carcasses.

The bird was perched beside Mira as he inquired about what happened earlier. Hulkis, on the other hand, was having a meal of serpent meat.

'Mira, what is a Fabled Class individual?'

Nicco asked Mira as he looked at the team, slicing up the materials and ingredients from the dead serpents.

'Fabled Class individuals are something you don't always see. Why are you asking?'

Mira weakly said as she ate her lunch. She felt better now as Elder Remona provided her with medicine and dry clothes. The worries she had earlier were slowly fading away into a harsh memory of yesterday's pain.

'We saw one earlier kill these snakes!'

Nicco interjected as the team was done with the second snake and was now preparing to harvest the last monster corpse.

'Really? Then, you're exceedingly lucky!'

Mira replied as her eyes lit up and noticed the wet grass and the frozen leaves from the nearby trees.

"I can't believe it! DID YOU GUYS SEE A POWERFUL BATTLE HERE?!"

After learning what happened, Mira shouted to the team, cleaning up the monsters' remains with wonder and excitement.

"Yes!"

The team replied with a series of thumb's up for their approval as they smiled wide open.

"Wow! You're all so lucky!"

Mira said while bits of food flew out from her mouth, while the team replied with a grin. 

However, after the whole exchange, the extraction team resumed. 

They detached the skin from the body, collected all the valuable organs, and dug a hole to bury the parts they won't need—since leaving bodies out in the open promotes monster growth, but burying monster remains helps the ground.

The mound once had ice sheets on it, now looked mashed with grass, soil, and bits of wet ice.

***

"By the way, Mira."

The bird chirped as Mira faced Nicco.

"What is a Fabled Class person?"

Nicco asked the question again. However, this time, it reeks of excitement and curiosity.

'Fabled Class are like heroes of old. They can summon the elements with the Hum. They can turn Hum into a weapon and many more!'

Mira rattled about what she knew in her mind. However, remembering that the bird wouldn't like long answers, she cut it.

'In short, they are exponentially powerful!'

"How powerful?"

Nicco asked with undivided attention.

'I think you've only seen a new Fabled Class. But a peak Fabled Class has a range of around 100 meters. Nonetheless, these are all theories I heard from Old Fernan.'

Mira replied again with a long answer and saw the enthusiasm of the bird going down, so she cut her answers.

"Thank you, Mira. So, where am I right now?"

Nicco inquired with a renewed eagerness.

'I think you are an Ordinary Class since you are a Summer Bird.'

Mira replied as she rested on a bark. But before Nicco could ask further questions, Chief Muska hollered from a distance.

"Everyone, pack up! We're leaving!"

'Dang! I wanted to ask more!'

Nicco looked at Chief Muska with bloodshot eyes. His view of the world became evident as he perched on the Mazel's shoulders and asked Mira more questions about the world.