"You know, master, when you mentioned going on a hunt, I thought we were going to hunt a fox or something," I remarked.
Leo chuckled. "Where's the fun in that, my dear disciple?"
I raised an eyebrow. "So, the epitome of fun for you is hunting down an entire pack of Ice-Claw Bears?"
As of now, we had ascended to the peak of the snow-covered mountain that we were on earlier.
As soon as we arrived, from our vantage point, we spotted a cluster of caves nestled in the mountainside in the distance and a pack of white polar bears living there.
Only these polar bears were unlike any I saw on national geographic in my past life.
They towered twice the size of the polar bears back on my Earth, and their claws gleamed with crystalline ice-like material.
Yes, they were mana beasts, and they were known as Ice-Claw Bears.
As Bronze Ranked mana beasts, they possessed the ability to wield a few Ice magic spells.
Currently, we were hidden within the cover of the nearby woods, out of their sight and undetected by their senses.
From a rough estimation, I counted their numbers to be around thirty.
I really had no idea how we were going to hunt them.
"No, my dear disciple, the epitome of fun for me is watching my dear disciple tackle the task of hunting down the entire pack of Ice-Claw Bears alone."
...Huh? Wait! Hold on, hold on, hold on! Is he seriously expecting me to hunt them alone?! What?!
"...No! Wait a minute, absolutely not!"
"If you think you're in trouble or you're about to die, just shout for help," with that said, Leo grabbed the back of my neck.
"No! Master, I will die! I WILL DIE–!" As I was in the middle of begging him to let me go, Leo tightened his grip on my neck.
With a surge of strength, he pulled me backwards before lifting me off the ground and forcefully throwing me forward into the air.
"Return to where we were training once you've finished! Good luck!"
Leo's voice trailed off as I hurtled through the air, crashing amidst the group of Ice-Claw Bears, who were leisurely lounging in the snow.
Thwuck—!!
"Arghh!"
With a groan escaping my lips, I gingerly rose to my feet. My head was throbbing, so my hands reached to massage it.
Maybe I hit it when I landed. Thankfully, the ground was covered with snow, so it cushioned most of the impact.
As I struggled to regain my composure, a sudden surge of unease gripped me and brought me back to reality, causing a shiver to run down my spine.
It was killing intent. A huge amount of killing intent was directed at me.
I gradually pried open my eyelids, cautiously allowing my eyes to adjust to the surroundings.
Dreadfully, I surveyed my surroundings to see, for lack of better words, how fucked up I was.
And let's just say what I saw was enough for me to just resign to my fate and accept the fact that I was about to join my dead grandma in heaven after a few minutes.
My crash landing had grabbed the attention of all the Ice-Claw Bears in the vicinity.
Their gazes were filled with a primal hunger, their eyes tinged with bloodlust, and their mouths watering at the thought of sinking their teeth into my flesh.
Since not many humans visit this mountain range very often, it's clear that human meat was a delicacy to these mana beasts.
"Tsk," I clicked my tongue in annoyance and summoned my bow and a quiver full of arrows from my smart bracelet.
This was going to be a drag, but I wasn't going to become their rare dinner without putting up a fight.
–"Gaauuuur!"
One of the Ice-Claw Bears let out a thunderous roar and darted towards me with its menacing claws pulled back to unleash a powerful strike.
In response to its lead, the other Ice-Claw Bears surrounding me swiftly followed suit and also rushed at me.
Though, a few of them stayed behind to strategically block any possible escape routes if I might try to run away.
This showed me that they were not mere mindless creatures; they were intelligent, and they were working together in coordination.
Although this put me at a disadvantage, I didn't have the luxury of crying about it right now.
Without hesitation, I took a deep breath, drawing an arrow from the quiver and aligning it on the taut bowstring.
My sights were fixed on the first Ice-Claw Bear that rushed at me. I took aim at it and released the arrow.
Swish—!!
The arrow launched at the Ice-Claw Bear at breakneck speed, but the mana beast was quick to react.
It raised its claws and deflected my arrow with ease, not stopping its charge at all.
I was prepared for it, so I also dashed at the incoming Ice-Claw Bear.
–"Gaaawwr!"
The Bear roared as I got too close to it and swung its claw at me, aiming to shred me asunder in an instant.
"Haaa!"
But I channeled mana into my legs and jumped over its head in the air. From there, I knocked another arrow on my bow and shot it at the beast.
The Ice-Claw Bear, who saw the attack coming, again raised its claw over its head to block my arrow.
"Heh!" But I could only smirk as that happened.
Kaboom—!!!
The arrow exploded as soon as it came in contact with the Ice-Claw Bear's claws, obstructing my vision of the beast with smoke.
Thud—!
I landed a few steps away from the beast and quickly took out another arrow and placed it on the bow.
Since many other beasts were also rushing at me, I had no time to celebrate my kill. I had to continuously keep on fighting if I wanted to survive.
–"Gaaawwr!"
"Huh?!"
But right then, the Ice-Claw Bear I thought I had killed emerged from the smoke and furiously rushed at me again.
"Fucking hell!" I cursed out loud before placing my bow back into the dimensional storage of my smart bracelet and taking out my spear. "Come!"
