If we abandon all the arrogance and vanity of human beings, and honestly from a biological point of view: a single human individual is at most in the middle of the food chain in nature.

Humans don't have fangs and claws, and they don't have muscles that are strong enough. Carnivores like tigers and lions, which are also mammals, are naturally not comparable, but even compared to more closely related primates, humans tend to be weaker.

Downright disadvantage.

Even if he is tall and mighty among humans, he will not end well when facing a brown bear.

This is a situation where wisdom should be used to win, but—

The distance between the two sides, which had not been much wider, was sharply closer, and several charges of the huge male bear named Alagami had swept away a pile of snow from the nearby surface, and the snow and water were rapidly melting under the scorching clear sky, and the crystal clear water reflected the posture of a man and a bear who did not give in.

"Roar!!" The roar was thick enough to be heard far away, and the beast's smell was so smoky as the air from its lungs was so smoky that it couldn't open its eyes.

Its broad paws stepped on the ground, and then its entire body pressed down slightly, and then it jumped up and slapped its right palm with a claw more than ten centimeters long towards Henry's head.

The sage who dodged its attacks repeatedly made it feel threatened, and the wisdom that came with the elders made Arakami understand that if the human creature was not killed, when they fled back, they would return with more people next time.

It was not going to give him any more chances, but to make sure that the man could never move again in the most brutal and direct way.

So.

Henry can only hard-connect.

"Bang!!" The huge impact really touched the arm, and the bones and muscles were screaming. Although he amplified his enhanced magic in an instant, and actively bullied forward to avoid the terrifying claws, he raised his upper and lower arms to increase the contact area, and carried the blow with his entire shoulder. But the slapping of a brown bear is still not something that humans can bear.

"——!!" had no choice but to shovel a large cloud of snow up on his right leg sticking out to the side.

But he took the slap from Arajami.

"Hah-" Henry let out a white breath, then sank his center of gravity, and the muscles of his legs soared, and then he kicked forward hard.

"Roar—" The huge brown bear staggered backwards as he pushed it, and the sage seized the opportunity to raise his axe and slash at its head.

"Bang!!" its attack didn't work, but Henry's counterattack hit accurately. However, the strong defensive ability of the brown bear's skull was revealed at this moment, and the sage took the lead and the attack that landed only caused its head to concuss, and the reaction of Alacami directly turned his head and bit his wrist with a big mouth.

"Click——!!" He could only abandon the hand axe, and the hand axe that failed to cut into it and was bounced off by the skull was directly bitten in the mouth by Alakami, and then threw the axe to the side, "Woo-" and threw it out, and rushed up again to bite Henry's throat.

"Whew-huh!" the sage withdrew his right hand and pressed it near his body, and then, in the second moment of exhalation, he moved his calf again, and slammed it directly into the face, knocking it all around.

Two successive attacks on the head made Alacami also start to feel a little dizzy, and this was exactly the opportunity Henry wanted, he did not take advantage of the victory, because he judged that Arajami would immediately flick his claws and counterattack, Henry took advantage of this gap to move to the left.

"Roar!" the old brown bear waved his destructive claws indiscriminately, then chased after him and slapped it again. But the snow that had been swept away by it before was also cleared of the obstacle, and the palm fell into the ground, only splashing a lot of dirt. With no snow in his way, the sage, who had become extremely agile in his movements, quickly circled to the side of Arakami's blind eye, stepped forward again, and then kicked it in the shoulder of its right forelimb.

"Whew!" the roar of the battered brown bear had begun to show signs of pain, but it only made it more ferocious to the tenacious beast. It flailed its claws so wildly that the sage had to distance himself again, and the powerful bear claws were either dead or wounded if touched.

The two sides distanced themselves a little again, and Mira and Lulu, who knew that the current situation was not something they could intervene in, both hid behind the trees, and the Sage remained steady in the face of the huge brown bear that grinned and began to breathe rapidly.

The fact that the bear was so smart was once again revealed, and despite the pain in many places, it did not attack more frantically because of the pain, but stayed where it was and began to cautiously look at the human in front of it.

It's weighing the pros and cons, it's in.

Ponder.

The sage's eyes narrowed slightly, a thinking beast was far more dangerous than a mindless beast. He didn't think the bear would choose to retreat, and even if it did, it would definitely only come back after recuperating. It knows humans too well, and like any other creature that has been documented in folklore mythology around the world, these unique wild animals often have minds and physical abilities beyond their peers, and if you want to describe it in the most appropriate way-

They are too human-like.

Vindictive, thinkable, and even able to endure hunger and pain beyond the instincts of beasts.

This is no longer a bear that exists in the natural cycle, as it has not been used for two hundred years, and it is only then that the sage remembers the meaning of "alakami" in the local language.

"Aragami"

In the polytheistic culture of the aborigines of Crescent Island, the gods are not the only supreme and good guardian of humanity that the White Church believes in. Although this is true of the meaning of the Rigal language in the vocabulary, the "gods" of Crescent Island walk in a gray area, and they can be good or evil.

"Aragami" is such a unique existence, it is a word used to describe monsters who are crazy about fighting, have lost their minds, and live only for revenge and killing.

Such a word is placed on the body of a bear, and some things can be guessed more or less.

Bears that exist in nature make up 60% of their food from berries, various tubers and small insects. Although they are powerful and hunt small and medium-sized creatures, they are not meat-eating creatures like lions and tigers.

And this bear is a being that has been disconnected from nature, and the sage can already feel it from its attack and caution.

It's enduring hunger.

It overcame its animal instincts, and despite its skinny nature, it looked at Henry not at food, but at a threat and an enemy.

Filling your stomach is only its secondary purpose, what it does.

It's to kill all the people here.

Not for hunting; It's for revenge, killing all the humans here.

This is a bear that has broken away from the natural cycle and evolved into a god of vengeance in conflict with humans.

It already.

It's not an animal anymore.

Therefore, there is no need to keep it anymore -

"Bang ——!" moved the battlefield to the flat ground that it swept out by itself, and the sage's high speed could be unreservedly exerted, he rushed up, but deliberately backed away to lure Alacami to attack, and then stretched out his hand again, but instead of blocking the attack, he grabbed its right forelimb, and then the whole person used his strength from his waist to take advantage of the momentum to throw the brown bear out of the whole head to the side.

"Boom!!" With the snow as a cushion, the heavy fall didn't really work, but breaking the opponent's balance in any martial art was only the beginning of a succession, and he quickly stepped forward and punched the huge brown bear to the base of his ear quickly and hard before he could react.

"Smack!!" a lightning-fast punch sent even the snow off his fur, and Alakami, who had been hit in the cochlea, immediately began to feel tinnitus and lose his balance - but that wasn't the end of it, Henry aimed at the eye on his left side, which was not yet blind, and then punched again.

"Bang!!" "Roar ——!" used all his strength to punch the whole dizzy and unsteady brown bear from the state of half-standing on all fours, its huge body more than two meters high covered the sunlight in front of Henry, and the sage kicked his feet again and then rushed up to hug the huge brown bear's shriveled body due to lack of fat, and then used all his strength to lift it up and smash it to the ground.

"Bang!!" The huge body, which had lost its fat and still weighed hundreds of kilograms, came into close contact with the ground full of small stones, and the melting cold snow water immediately wet its fur, turning all the mixed hairs into a dark color.

Arajami had broken a canine tooth and his left eye socket was swollen, and his cochlea was in a mess due to the impact on his cochlea, but even then it was still roaring and waving its limbs, "Shhh

But even if the luck is just that the coat is torn, it still gives the other party a chance to get back up.

This was one of the few difficult opponents in Henry's battles, except for those that were competitive in nature. It was true that he did not have the powerful Kramer in his hands, but after the sage had made up his mind to kill the other party, he was able to stand up after so many attacks, and the old bear's physique and will were perfect.

For individual humans, creatures of the level of lions, tigers, wolves, leopards, bears, and small and medium-sized dragon lizards are the most threatening.

Larger individuals, while often stronger, are not necessarily more threatening.

For just as giant pythons don't have venom, and the largest spiders and scorpions are the least venomous, relatively small predators tend to evolve a variety of other advantages over brute force alone, as opposed to the largest ones relying solely on brute force.

In the past, when facing a huge crocodile weighing ten meters and weighing one ton in the swampy area, our Sage could easily solve it, partly because he had a weapon in his hand at the time, and partly because the giant crocodile attacked in a very monotonous way and was not smart enough.

Reptiles have a much lower level of intelligence than mammals, and the wolf lizards that exist in the southern part of the Rigal continent are even one of the main prey of the local forest leopard - despite their comparable physique, even if they move in groups.

Large predators with only brute strength and low levels of intelligence are biological individuals who have developed a single weapon to the extreme.

These creatures, which are of medium physique, especially the mammalian carnivores, have embarked on a versatile form that is balanced in all aspects and has excellent adaptability.

The giant brown bear, which the locals call "Aragami" with seven points of fear and three points of hatred, is scarred but still roaring.

Its ferocity is second to none.

But for some reason, that posture was a little sad.

"Bang ——!!" "Click!!" The unresponsive brown bear was hit hard in the jaw, and Henry dislocated it directly with a heavy punch.

"Roar!!" it propped itself up again, but its movements were sluggish due to the heavy blow to its cochlea and the swelling and pain in its only eye. Before its right forelimb could be fully raised, Henry leaned in and grabbed the whole thick, foul-smelling brown bear paw.

Immediately after, the sage twisted his body and pressed down hard.

"Click!"

"Roar!" Arakarmami, who had lost support after the joint was twisted in reverse, fell to the right, still trying to scratch and fight back with its left claw, but its exhausted body, which had been injured several times, finally began to bite back, the blurred vision and the lack of balance caused by the trauma to its inner ear made it unable to judge the direction clearly, and the sage quickly returned to the place where it had first charged, found the short spear with the broken pole in the compacted snow, and walked back in front of it with the previous section.

"Rest in peace. ”

"Roar !!" The huge brown bear, which had two broken canine teeth and a crooked jaw stained with blood, still roared uncomproperly.

Aiming at the neck of an opponent who had been deposed and powerless to resist, Henry accurately stabbed the sharp weapon into it.

"Teacher, be careful!" Mira behind her reminded, but before that the sage had distanced herself.

The old bear's carotid artery was sliced with blood, and it quickly stained its fur red, but it still roared and waved its claws in an attempt to kill the enemy in front of it. And after the mistake, he wailed and rushed towards the bushes that had been drilled out before, trying to find a safe place to rest.

It charged furiously through the deep snow, then slowed down until it staggered and rested.

Hot, smelly bear blood dripped all the way, and the bright red stood out against the dazzling snow.

Alagami struggled, and walked a distance of more than ten meters before falling to the ground.

Two young girls who came out from behind the trees stood behind Henry, and the three of them watched the scene together in silence.

It was still struggling, trying to get up as hard as it could even when it fell.

Henry's wound was undoubtedly fatal, but it was still struggling.

When everything finally returned to peace, it was quite a long time later.

After finally twitching, then craned its neck as if intending to growl, but only let out a slight "hiss-" sound of airflow, it lay down on its massive head with its eyes open.

"......" Mira swallowed, not daring to step forward, because she was not sure if the other party was really dead.

Lulu walked up quietly, petite and lightweight, she was also very agile when walking in the snow.

She held a hunting spear turned from a mountain knife and looked at the huge brown bear lying in the snow, its fur covered in dirt, blood, and dark color wet with snow.

"Pacunez sent a (rest in peace). ”

"Aragami (Aragami). ”

So it was said in the language of the Yi people.