Strength Vs Brain

Before Livio could react, the bear slammed him with its claw. Sent crashing into one of the trees, a black fruit the size of a pumpkin fell above him. Before he could do anything, the fruit exploded like a bomb.

"Ahhhhhhh!" Livio screamed at the top of his lungs.

It felt as if he were burning alive. His hearing dulled for a while, and his health bar dropped by 15, leaving only 40.

As his vision adjusted and his hearing returned, his legs trembled, making him collapse. His dry forehead was now covered in sweat.

"The bear.... it's coming. I have to run. I can't fight it head-on." Using the tree behind him for support, Livio forced himself up.

"Here goes everything!" Livio covered his body with his Pbv. Before the bear could reach him, he leaped to the side, narrowly avoiding its bite.

"I'll keep a huge distance between us, then figure out a way to defeat it." He eyed a tree and adjusted his Pbv to make a massive jump.

Suddenly, the spikes on the bear's back perked up. Livio turned his head just in time to see them.

"Fuck! This can't be happening!" He landed on the ground, but before he could escape, the spikes spread like bullets in all directions.

They pierced his body from head to toe—even his eyes.

"Ahhhhhhh!" The forest echoed with his screams.

A screen popped up: "30-second paralysis."

The bear grabbed Livio and dragged him near a tree, pulling along some black fruits in the process.

Then, it tore into Livio's belly and began pulling out his internals.

"Ahhhhhhh! Ahhhhhhh! Ahhhhhhh!" Livio thrashed his arms and legs like a fish gasping for air.

The bear sat on his legs, pinning him down. He wasn't strong enough to escape its grasp.

"Ahhhhhhh! Someone help! Mom, Dad, someone help!" His screams grew more desperate as time passed.

His health bar flashed continuously, dropping to 25.

As the bear prepared for another pull, Livio screamed, "No, please, noooooo!"

In sheer desperation, he flailed his hands, forgetting all his strategies and instincts. His hand grasped a black fruit from the ground, and without thinking, he threw it straight into the bear's eye.

The fruit exploded on impact.

"GRAHHHH!" The bear roared, covering its eyes in pain.

Livio gasped for air. "Here, take that, you bastard!" He channeled every last bit of Pbv into his right fist and punched the bear's neck with all his strength.

The bear crashed to the ground, and this time, the forest echoed with its roar.

Wasting no time, Livio covered his whole body with Pbv and launched himself into the air, jumping into the trees and vanishing into the forest.

The bear recovered from the pain. Its health bar read 92.

It looked around and roared once more.

High up on a thick branch surrounded by black fruits, Livio sat, hugging his knees and burying his face between them.

"I can't defeat that bastard. I should escape. In a battle of strength, I'm completely outclassed, and I can't even close the gap because of those spikes. That's right..... I'll complete this level another time." He opened his inventory and pulled out the escape stone.

His fingers tightened around it, and the stone began to shake.

Then, a cold gust of wind brushed against his neck. The sudden chill made Livio drop the stone.

His eyes turned lifeless as he stared at his motionless hand, frozen mid-air as he tried to retrieve the stone.

Then, he laughed—a hollow, unsettling laugh.

"Haa... haaa.... haaaaasa....." He wiped away a tear and picked up the stone, placing it back in his inventory.

"What the fuck am I even afraid of? Is it death? Or pain? Sometimes I forget..... I've already seen hell. I watched all my comrades die before my eyes. They begged, they screamed, and I couldn't do anything but watch. Even if I run now, what will I do in the future? I can't escape. The day I met that bitch, my fate was sealed. Fighting and risking my life is my soul. How can I cast that aside?"

Livio stood up, smiling—his resolve unwavering, his fear gone.

A small black fruit dropped onto the branch he stood on, causing a minor explosion.

"The fuck was that?!" Livio turned to see the scattered fruit.

Then, an idea struck him. "Wait a minute.... why the fuck should I fight the bear head-on?" He rubbed his palms together and grinned—a sinister, knowing smile.

The bear approached a tree, slashing its bark to leave a mark.

"GRAHHHH!" it roared.

"Welcome, motherfucker! I've been waiting." Livio stood, hiding something behind his back.

The bear glanced up and began climbing the tree slowly.

"Good! Must be hungry, right? Here, take this!" Livio hurled a large, pumpkin-sized black fruit at the bear.

The bear didn't even flinch. Its spikes perked up.

"Shit! I forgot about that!" Livio activated his Pbv, sprinting away from the branch just as the fruit exploded.

"With those spikes, I can't get close.... Now what?" He watched as the bear climbed back down.

Then, something clicked.

"Wait a minute...." Livio focused on the bear as it started climbing his tree.

The spikes on its back hadn't regenerated yet.

This time, he threw a smaller fruit, the size of a shot put, directly at the bear.

It couldn't block in time. The fruit exploded in its face.

Roaring in agony, the bear lost its grip and crashed to the ground, slamming onto its back.

Its health bar dropped to 88.

Livio squeezed every bit of Pbv into his legs and used it to jump toward the upper branch. Before hitting it, he rotated, kicked off the branch, and launched himself straight at the bear.

Right before impact, he pulled both knees back, channeling all his Pbv into them, and drove them into the bear's neck.

The ground beneath them shattered as the bear howled in anguish.

Its health bar plummeted to 80.

The bear stood up, shaking off the pain. Its spikes reappeared, ready to fire.

"Fuck! Gotta go!" Livio weaved through the trees like a snake.

"GRAHHHH!" The bear unleashed its spikes, but the trees blocked them.

Something moved between the trees. The bear charged and leaped to catch it—only to realize it was just a small branch.

Then, it heard a voice from behind.

"Surprise, motherfucker!" Livio hurled a fruit even bigger than a pumpkin straight at its face from the treetops.

The explosion sent the bear crashing through trees, flinging it 30 meters away.

Its health bar dropped to 65.

Livio didn't give it a chance to recover. He rushed in.

"Time for a test!" As the bear tried to stand, Livio delivered a powerful roundhouse kick to its neck.

The bear adjusted, swinging its right claw to slice him.

Livio ducked, dodging it.

The bear swiped with its left. Livio jumped, driving his knee into its face.

The bear stumbled back. Livio leaped onto a tree, putting distance between them.

The bear roared as its spikes regenerated.

Meanwhile, outside the dungeon, inside a cave, voices murmured.

"The time is close. Prepare yourselves," a woman's voice said, as the scent of alcohol wafted from the cave.