Bear-san, Fighting Spiders Part 1
âSo youâre saying we should defeat the Giant Spiders in the village, right?â (Yuna)
I tried to be strong in front of Deborane but to tell you the truth; I didnât want to fight. Fighting that big spider was damaging to my psyche. Even the best bear gear would not protect me from the mental damage.
So I wanted to leave everything to Deborane. But I canât do that either, so I want to avoid at least cleaning up the mess.
âIâll help you take down the Giant Spiders, but I wonât process the Giant Spiders.â (Yuna)
This much was non-negotiable.
Sorry, but I would not even want Giant Spiders in my bear box.
Of all the insects, spiders were super hard for me to deal with. I didnât even want to think about bringing home a spider that big, and I didnât want Fina to dismantle it, either.
So I have decided to have Deborane take care of the Giant Spiders.
I didnât think I would be punished if I did that.
By the way, I buried the spiders I had defeated until I arrived in the village.
âDoes that mean youâre giving me all the materials for all the Giant Spiders?â (Deborane)
Deborane frowns.
Did you really think I would want all of Giant Spiderâs materials?
âIâll give you all of it. I donât want it. I canât even look directly at it.â (Yuna)
âReally. Then weâll deal with the Giant Spider you killed.â (Deborane)
Deborane grinned.
It was a nasty grin, but we had a deal.
Dealing with the Giant Spiders would mean touching them with my hands and sticking a knife into them. I couldnât even imagine it.
For the first time, I might have some respect for Deborane.
âFirst of all, let me tell you, itâs too late to demand it later.â (Deborane)
âI wonât ask for it. So keep your word. If you donât keep your word, this is what you get.â (Yuna)
I made a straight punch.
Deboraneâs face twitched as she remembered the punch I had given him.
I was pleased to see the smirk disappear from Deboraneâs face.
âHey, wait a minute. Are you really going to let that young lady dressed as a bear fight?â (Village Chief)
The Village Chief, silently listening to me, asked as he looked at me.
âDonât worry, this bear is not just any bear. Sheâs stronger than I am.â (Deborane)
âStronger than Deborane-san?â (Village Chief)
âOnly a little bit.â (Yuna)
I didnât mean to flaunt my strength since it was thanks to the Bear Equipment God had given me. But why did I feel annoyed when he said I was slightly stronger than him?
I guess I didnât make a good first impression after all.
They say first impressions matter.
âSo donât worry.â (Deborane)
At Deboraneâs words, the Village Chief looked at me with concern.
The Village Chiefâs impression of me might be that of a little girl who wants to defeat a monster. If a strange girl told me she would defeat a monster, even I would be worried.
I turned to Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear and reassured the Village Chief, âThey will protect me, donât worryâ.
âUnderstood.â (Deborane)
The Village Chief turned to Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear as he said so.
I was glad he was concerned, but I didnât want to be held back.
âWell then, weâre going to take them down, Swaying Bear, Hugging Bear, letâs go.â (Yuna)
âKuun.â
Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear, who had been sitting on the floor, stood up.
âLanz, weâre going too.â (Deborane)
Deborane and Lanz, who had been tending to their heavy swords, also got up from their chairs.
Apparently, they would fight the Giant Spiders together.
âVillage Chief. When we leave the house, make sure the door is tightly closed.â (Deborane)
âYes. Everyone, thank you for your help.â (Village Chief)
Deborane opened the door and, along with Lanz, me, Swaying Bear, and Hugging Bear, walked out of the house. Once we were all out, the Village Chief bowed his head and closed the door behind us.
âDonât slow me down.â (Yuna)
I said to Deborane walking in front of me.
It annoyed me, but if they died, I would feel bad about it.
Deborane didnât even bother to respond; instead, he drew his greatsword.
A nearby Giant Spider reacted and attacked Deborane, who was walking in the lead, but with one swing of his great sword, he split the Giant Spiderâs body in half.
âWho says Iâm slowing you down?â (Deborane)
He proudly said as he turned back around.
It annoys me, but he seemed to be doing okay.
But I wouldnât want Giant Spiderâs legs to wiggle around when cut in half.
Thank goodness for Deborane, who said he would process the Giant Spiders.
âLanz, weâre going, from the right!â (Deborane)
âYes!â (Lanz)
âThen Swaying Bear, Hugging Bear, weâll go left!â (Yuna)
âKuu~nâ
Starting from the Village Chiefâs house, Deborane, Lanz, myself, Swaying Bear, and Hugging Bear run off in different directions.
Normally, it would have been faster to take down the monsters by going around with Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear separately, as we did when we took down the wolves, but for my own mental health sake, I asked Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear to escort me.
âKuu~n!â
We moved on, and soon a Giant Spider came crashing up to us, moving its eight legs.
Ugh, it was disgusting.
Even small spiders were no good for me, but a big spiderâ¦
I released ice arrows at them since it would be grotesque if I cut up the Giant Spiders with wind magic. The ice arrow pierced into the spiderâs brain, and it still tried to move, but its legs stopped, and it fell.
It was better than using wind magic to slice it up.
The legs still twitch at the end, though.
Burning them with fire magic would be nice, though. In fact, I once killed a spider with fire magic. The spider was engulfed in fire, but it moved for a while.
Furthermore, I couldnât use fire magic because there were houses around, and it would be serious trouble if it caught fire. Earth magic was the same as ice magic, but ice magic had the additional effect of freezing the spider from inside its body so that it would drop dead faster.
So ice magic was more effective than earth magic.
I moved through the village with Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear in tow.
I used ice magic to kill the Giant Spiders, gathering one after another. Perhaps they might be thinking that their food had escaped.
Six Giant Spiders surround us.
âSwaying Bear! Hugging Bear!â (Yuna)
When I called their names, the Swaying Bear and the Hugging Bear started to move in unison, forming a triangle.
I dealt with the Giant Spider in the front, and Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear dealt with the Giant Spider in the back.
I killed two of them with my ice arrows, and Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear also killed two of them, each with wind blades from their claws.
I felt safe knowing that Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear protected me.
When we moved to a larger area, spiders gathered around us.
There were so many of them.
Some of them were newly arrived spiders from outside the village.
âHow many spiders are there?â (Yuna)
I know this may be a reference to cockroaches, but it was often said that if you see one spider, there could be a hundred of them.
At least it wasnât a very strong monster, except it was creepy.
The threads that the Giant Spider spits out can be burned with fire, and ice arrows could be used to stop it.
And as I was steadily defeating the Giant Spider, Hugging Bear, behind me to my left, shouted, âKuh~n!â.
I turned around and saw a spider about to leap at me from the roof of my house. Hugging Bear stood before me and pierced the Giant Spiderâs body with its pointed claws.
If Hugging Bear had not protected me, the spider would have attacked me from behind.
And I might have been traumatized for life.
âThank you, Hugging Bear.â (Yuna)
âKuh~n.â
Hugging Bear turned around.
âHu, Hugging Bearâ¦â (Yuna)
Hugging Bear turned around and backed away a bit.
âKuu~n?â
The Hugging Bearâs white fur was now covered in the Giant Spiderâs blood.
Blood was sticky from the arm where the Giant Spider had pierced him all the way down to his body.
That beautiful white furâ¦.
Hugging Bear approached me as if wanting to praise it.
âHugging Bear! Stop. Wait a minute. Youâre a good boy, donât move.â (Yuna)
âKuun?â
Hugging Bear tilted its head and stopped walking.
If Hugging Bear hugged me, I would be in big trouble.
After confirming that no Giant Spiders were around, I unsummoned Hugging Bear. Then, I re-summoned it again.
A beautiful white Hugging Bear appeared in front of me.
This secret technique allowed me to send back and summon a clean Hugging Bear.
Unlike games, there was no time cooldown penalty for the number of summons or re-summoning.
âKuu~n?â
Hugging Bear had a âWhy did you return me?â look on its face.
âNothing, Hugging Bear, thank you for protecting me.â (Yuna)
I moved closer to the Hugging Bear, and this time I hugged her around the neck and thanked her for her protection.
She had fluffy, beautiful white fur. Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear should be beautiful, right?
Hugging Bear purred happily.
We then run around the village, trying not to be surrounded by Giant Spiders, and take them down.
I asked Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear to use magic as much as possible to defeat them and avoid close combat.
No matter how many secret techniques they have, I would not like to see a dirty Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear.
I should give them both a bath and feed them with honey when we return home.
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