C18: Choice

Bane who was dodging the bear's attacks for a quite a while before could easily feel it. The bear was growing sluggish with every passing moment.

And now that a lot of time had passed, the effects of the poison were apparent even on his large body.

The goblins foot soldiers who were but being swept around like rag dolls till now working as distractions for Bane and the group of goblin archers to do their magic, had somehow got the upper hand now. They who weren't even able to get that close to get a few stabs were now climbing up on the bear's back and shoulders relentlessly assaulting it with their weapons.

Some stabs pierced while some couldn't pass through its hide, but needless to say the tide of the battle had already deflected towards the goblins side.

The use of poison was by all means despicable against the valiant forest bear. But...

"They can't get anywhere close to humans can they?"

Bane chuckled to himself thinking back on how entire forests had been burnt for the sake of a human's hunt.

But in the goblin's battle, the forest wasn't unmarked either. It was marked with blood.

Even if the goblins were winning...

If one were to glance around numerous goblins had died in this assault.

'Was it really worth it?'

Bane didn't knew how their dynamics worked. But he realized that they must have been hard pressed for the winters to be risking their lives for food.

After all, most prey including the forest bear would disappear in the winters wouldn't they?

'But speaking of despicable, wouldn't digging a hole and somehow trapping the bear inside be a better alternative?'

Bane couldn't help but think of ways how it could have been done better.

And yet he had no way to find out if his theories were true or just empty paper waste.

He was just a foot soldier after all.

How they hunt their prey would be decided by the shaman at least for now.

*Clash*

*Clang*

Bane swiftly maneuvered his spear to dodge an attack coming his way.

Things had now proceeded to the point where Bane could now deflect the Bear's paw with his spear as he continued his assault.

Was it because of the spear mastery skill?

Or was it because of the poison?

Perhaps it was both.

Bane couldn't help but be thankful to the dwarves who made it.

The bear swung its arm in a downward slash since it realized most of its attacks were 'swiped were being avoided easily.

*Clash*

"Not so fast"

Bane spear clashed against the heavy arm. Had it stayed under its pressure any longer it would have broken. But Bane slid it across as the spear brushed the bear's hide only for him to side step at the same time and avoid the blow.

*Slam*

The arm fell heavily on the floor as if it had become flabby with the bear losing all control on it.

*Stab*

Bane didn't let go of the opportunity as he gave a few more stabs to the arm that was now in his immediate vicinity.

'Even the arm along is twice my current size. What would have happened if I had reincarnated as a forest bear instead?' Bane thought.

The more he thought about it, the more his face turned grim. He would have been probably fated to be killed by a bunch of goblin if indeed that really happened.

"GRRRR!"

The bear roared pulling back for the first time since it came against them.

But the charge of arrows from behind it didn't allow it to. Most of them were being deflected by his hide at the current range.

But the closer it got the more sharp they appeared.

This was something unique to poorly made goblin arrows. Turned out they were made so bad that most of their force were lost due to air friction along the way. Streamlining was close to none. But it was different thing if they were shot at point blank range.

And another big factor that played against it was how the goblins climbed its body as soon as he showed its back.

Now there was no way, the bear was faster than the goblins was there?

Probably the bear thought that there was no way of escape.

Or probably he thought that if it wanted to escape it absolutely had to get rid of the foot soldiers who were already climbing behind it as soon as it turned its back to them.

But bear roared in absolute fury as it seemed to have regained its lost strength.

"Grrr!"

The bear wallowed and cried. The goblins on its back were either ripped apart in two pieces or fell off on their butt.

It seemed to have regained its strength causing the goblins to go into a panic...

But Bane knew, it was the last fickle of the candle before it died down.

'There is no way moving like that wouldn't worsen its condition. The poison would spread only further.'

A beast can always have the poison resistance skill, but since the bear was suffering till now there was no way that it was true.

Bane raised its spear high in the air.

"Griguek! Brothers we are going to win through this!" Bane cried a declaration of war.

Some of the goblins who seemed to have lost it due to the shock and helplessness regained their focus.

But that wasn't the only thing bringing them back to their senses.

"Valiant"

The sound of the goblin shaman echoed through their ears. A spell was casted on a small group of goblins.

It immediately got rid of their 'fear' effect they had on their statuses.

Apparently Bane was among the select few who didn't got this status effect thanks to him being assured of his victory.

But unfortunately the spell wasn't large enough for it to encapsulate all of the goblins at the same time.

Even so, the select few goblins alone charged towards the forest bear.

"Grrrr!"

The number of goblins had grew considerably thinner.

There were some goblins who had got rid of the 'fear' on their own thanks to Bane's encouragement and watching their brothers fight.

But some were still taking their sweet time getting over it.

More and more goblins were joining from behind. But the force on the frontlines were fewer than before.

'The shaman seems to be run out of spells. It isn't casting anymore. Bad news.'

Was that his last spell?

Bane couldn't help but wonder.

If it came to this he couldn't rely on the shaman to heal him either.

And as weak as a foot soldier was, it didn't have any means to heal itself.

Thus, Bane had to avoid it all costs.

"This is bad."

But turned out that without the strength of numbers to distract and the bear moving with every last bit of his last life force was harder than he had thought.

Even with his spear mastery skill Bane was only avoiding the attacks at hair's breath.

He wasn't even given a chance to breathe in between as there was no was to distract the bear while he collected his breath.

And while it was true that some goblins foot soldiers under the effect of 'valiant' had joined along with him in the battle. But the problem was...

'These foot soldiers are but.... well foot soldiers.'

As expected they weren't able to do much to help Bane out of his crisis.

Victory was threes.

That was for sure.

But would Bane himself come out of it unscathed?

For all intent and purposes, Bane didn't want to lose an arm or leg either. He had his goals to keep in mind.

"Come on, how long is he going to last?"

The foot soldiers that were fight along with Bane under the effect of valiant were being killed one after another.

The situation looked grim.

It wasn't long until Bane along with a few were the only ones standing. And Bane knew those standing alongside him weren't reliable at all.

'Should I fall back?' Bane wondered.

It wouldn't be too hard, neither would it be cowardly.

If he fell back here, all the goblins beside him would die, but the archers would take care of the rest and kill the forest bear.

So many goblins had already died.

How did it matter, if some more were to die too?

Didn't the goblin shaman just care for the prey and tossed its soldiers into fire?

"Tch, no... I can't do that."