The Age of Horrors

The master and his student entered the cave and were confronted by monsters as before, but this time, the old man killed them without letting Basil intervene.

Basil asked his master, "Master, why didn’t you let me face any of them at all?"

The old man replied, "That’s because you’re going to face the 'Depth Bear.' You need to conserve your stamina. Have you forgotten what happened last time?"

Basil remembered what had happened before and shuddered slightly. That bear had merely waved its paw, and it had sent Basil flying, leaving his body shattered. But he said, "Master, I’ve improved a lot more than before over the past week. I don’t think what happened last time will happen again."

The master continued, "Don’t be naive, boy. That bear was only using a fraction of its strength. You still haven’t seen it being serious. And besides, it can use the 'first level' of earth magic, specifically the 'intermediate section.'"

Basil was surprised. It seemed he had severely underestimated the enemy, as the bear hadn’t used magic against him in their previous encounter, meaning he wasn’t even worth the effort.

Basil gulped in fear and started feeling lucky that his master had been with him at that moment, or else he would have been in the bear’s stomach by now.

They quickly reached the bear’s lair because the master had been killing all the monsters along the way. As soon as they arrived, a glowing orb appeared above the master’s shoulder, lighting up the entire area.

The master said, "Alright, don’t worry. It’s still under my control."

Basil was tense, his alertness at its peak, so the master tried to calm him down a bit and continued, "I’ll make sure it doesn’t use magic temporarily, so don’t be afraid of its magic for now. But your body should still remember that strike from last time, so I advise you to be cautious and not repeat the same move twice. The first might succeed if possible, but the second will definitely fail."

"Understood, Master," Basil replied. After answering his master, Basil stretched his body a little and stepped forward toward the center of the lair, keeping a significant distance between himself and the 'Depth Bear.' He assumed a combat stance and said, "Alright, let’s begin."

Basil began circling the bear, but this time the radius of the circle he made was large enough that the bear’s paws couldn’t reach him.

Basil circled for a while, trying to find a gap in the bear’s defense, but the bear never revealed one. Suddenly, the bear charged toward Basil when he came into its line of sight, attempting to gore him with its horns. Basil was taken aback by the sudden attack and leapt with all his strength.

"Master, didn’t you make it defend only, just like you did with the ape?" Basil asked, cold sweat running down his face.

The master answered, "Why would I do that? Last time, I did it because you had no combat experience. If I had made the ape attack you from the start, you wouldn’t have made any progress because you would’ve stayed on the defensive. But now it’s different; you have enough experience, so I didn’t need to order it to hold back."

Basil frowned a little and began thinking, "If the master didn’t command it to refrain from attacking and only defend, it’ll be really difficult to approach it. What should I do now?"

While Basil was contemplating a strategy, the bear charged at him again, swinging its right arm, trying to strike him. Basil tried to dodge, but the bear’s large claws caught up to him, inflicting wounds on his left side, causing him to scream in pain.

The bear didn’t give him any time to rest and immediately attacked again. Basil tried to flee by circling around the area, but suddenly a strike intercepted his path, knocking him down.

The master sighed and said, "Didn’t I tell you not to try the same thing twice?"

He approached the unconscious Basil and gave him some medicine.

Hours later, Basil woke up with a scream due to a nightmare, drenched in sweat. He started touching the areas on his body that the bear had hit, but he found they had already healed. He breathed a sigh of relief and looked around, seeing the bear lying down far away. He glanced to the other side and saw his master cooking food, so he went over to him.

The master said, "Alright, eat, and we’ll start again."

"Understood, Master," Basil replied. After answering, he ate the food, though it didn’t go down smoothly, as he couldn’t stop remembering his severe injuries.

When Basil finished eating, he saw that the bear had already gotten ready and was waiting for him. He stood up, walked toward the center of the area, and assumed a combat stance again.

This time, Basil didn’t try circling around. Instead, he moved directly toward the bear slowly. When he entered the bear’s attack range, the bear stood up on its hind legs and swung its left paw toward Basil’s head.

Basil dodged the attack by quickly ducking, and as the paw passed over him, he jumped toward the bear’s head and kneed it. But the bear blocked the strike with its forehead and swung its right arm toward Basil’s left side. Basil used the bear’s head to spring away, avoiding the blow.

As he retreated, Basil thought, "I need to attack directly since tricks don’t work twice on him, and I should save my tricks for the end. I’ll try to create an opening if he doesn’t reveal one himself."

The bear charged at Basil again, but this time Basil leapt to the side before the gap between them closed, darting behind the bear. He tried to kick the bear, but it turned quickly and stood on its hind legs, raising its right paw to strike as Basil approached. Basil stopped abruptly and changed direction, moving to the side again, repeating the same move as before. But this time, the bear turned even faster and swung at him.

A smile spread across Basil’s face, as if he had just pulled a prank on someone. When the bear’s paw neared him, Basil leapt into the air, spun, and came down with all his strength, landing a powerful kick on the bear’s head.

The master, observing the battle and analyzing it, remarked, "Wow. Since the bear saw him going behind it the first time and tried to hit him, the second time, it turned around faster, expecting to hit the boy who would be behind him. But the boy, Basil, anticipated this and instead waited for the bear to make the first move, exposing a temporary gap in its defense. Then he exploited the weakness that appeared—or should I say, the one he created himself. He’s really a genius in battle. He used the bear’s tendency to make repeated attacks useless to create a gap in its defense."

Back in the fight, when Basil hit the bear’s head, he drove it into the ground. The bear stood up quickly, filled with rage, and attempted to strike Basil with its paw. But Basil leapt back, and just as he landed, the bear charged at him, trying to gore him with its horns, but Basil jumped over it.

This went on for a little while until Basil suddenly charged at the bear. The bear saw him coming, stood up on its hind legs, and raised its paws, ready to crush him to the ground.

Seeing this, Basil stopped in his tracks and waited without moving. The bear, seeing Basil stand still, grew even more enraged, dropped to all fours, and rushed toward Basil with all its speed. Basil smiled again, then jumped toward the furious bear, spun in the air as before, and came down with both feet on the bear’s head. The bear screamed as its head was driven into the ground like a nail.

The bear stood up, blood streaming from its head, and it seemed its skull had been fractured. Its eyes were filled with a murderous intent. Basil backed away slightly, but as he did, a sharp, pointed, triangular stone pillar suddenly emerged from the ground and shot toward him.

Boom!

A wind barrier stopped the bear’s earth magic, and the master appeared between Basil and the bear. He said, "I commanded you not to use magic, but you disobeyed me. Now you’ll pay with your life."

Whoosh!

The wind sliced the bear in half, and both halves fell to the sides. Basil breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that the previous attack would have killed him instantly if it had hit.

Basil thanked his master for saving him, then looked at the bear’s corpse, feeling sorry for it—not for its death, but because it had disobeyed the master’s order. While looking at the body, he noticed something shiny and said, "Could it be...?"