Arc | Chapter. 22: Tremor Bear (Patreon)

Chapter. 22: Tremor Bear

Heroes.

Not much was known about them, each of their personalities distinctly different, their powers even more so, from being able to control gravity, to elements, or even certain kinds of monsters. Hero powers were as varied as the stars, something that Rory found incredible.

She liked meeting people, ever since she was young she hadn’t had a home, of course, that didn’t mean that her childhood was bad. Instead a group of traveling mercenaries took her in and taught her, new people came and went into the group, and some sadly died.

At some point, no one of the original group remained. Rory during those times had been extremely saddened, but the fact that she still found familial love from people that were once strangers taught her many things. And also, made her open to many things, which was meeting people.

Sometimes, Rory wondered what it would be like to meet a hero, how would they be like? What would their powers be? How strong would they be? So many questions that she had, and so little answers, though unfortunately heroes were something that people rarely met. They were rare existences.

Meeting a hero during one’s life could be considered a blessing, that’s how rare they were.

Rory held hope, but she also understood that she probably would never meet one. Though, that wouldn’t exactly stop her from her goals, because in the end, meeting and getting to know people was something she enjoyed.

She smiled looking at the white haired woman next to her. Arc. She was a prime example of the unique people that Rory so desired to meet. She may not have been a hero, but she sure was an interesting individual.

Rory was looking forward to seeing more of her.

And that didn’t take long.

A monster showed up, and not any monster but a C Tier monster.

[Tremor Bear. Tier: C]

A Tremor Bear. A beast that resided near mountains and could shatter the earth with its sharp claws, its hide known to be tough and hard to deal with. It could be considered to be a monster at the peak of C Tier, something that even an experienced party of high ranking D Tier adventurers would be unable to take down.

Rory had to intervene, but somehow, her instincts told her not to. She blinked and Arc let out a sigh, as she stepped forward.

“Protect Ceylon.”

She nodded on command, and readied herself pulling out a staff from a storage ring. One with a red gemstone atop of it, and then Rory watched what her new companion would do. First thing the white-haired girl did was summon a sword of ice which was…

Weird.

Ice wasn’t the strongest of elements, and especially when it came to creation. Its true strength lay in its ability to freeze, that’s why ice related magic was categorized as frost. But, Rory didn’t question it as the bear pounced.

Arc dodged the swipe and with incredible agility slashed at the bear⁠.

That wouldn’t work⁠—

And the Tremor Bear squealed, blood spluttered onto the ground as Arc went from another swipe. Rory blinked as two diagonal slashes appeared across the bear’s belly, then it landed shattering the earth. The monster immediately turned towards Arc, its claws glowing and swiped.

Arc took the full brunt of the attack with the sword, an explosion of dust billowed as she was sent crashing against a tree, and then, the monster turned to Rory.

The fight had ended, however…

She looked at the Tremor Bear that was bleeding heavily, its steps shaky as it turned to her. Even though Arc had lost, she had put an incredible amount of effort, and had exceeded any expectations Rory could’ve placed on her to begin with.

And now, it was her turn to take care of things as the higher Tiered individual.

Rory took a breath looking at the Tremor Bear. She wasn’t just any B Tier adventurer, but someone that was nearing A Tier, so something like this was easy. She pointed her staff and the crimson gen lit up.

“[Extinguish⁠—]”

And a spear hit its head, blowing its brains out with a small explosion of gore. The grand body of the monster was swung right into the ground along with its impaled malformed head, and all Rory could do was… stare.

Her mind bounced for answers as she looked at the blue weapon sticking out of the corpse. It-it didn’t make sense⁠— who?

At that moment she heard footsteps coming from the forest, Rory turned in a hurry only to see Arc, who was massaging her shoulder, and the young woman was…

“Impossible…” Rory muttered.

Completely unscathed. There wasn’t even so much as sweat on Arc. She looked indifferent, almost annoyed as she reached the group once more.

“Sorry about that, thank you for protecting Ceylon.” She nodded before turning to the Tremor Bear. “It was a bit stronger than I thought, but nothing I couldn’t deal with.”

“What do you mean nothing you couldn’t deal with, aren’t you C Tier…?” Rory asked with confusion. “That’s a Tremor Bear!”

Ceylon let out a sigh, and Arc raised her brow.

“It’s C Tier is it not? Why wouldn’t I be able to kill it?” Arc asked with confusion and some annoyance. “It certainly hit pretty hard, but it wasn’t strong enough.”

“Hit pretty hard…?” Rory paused. “You got flung into a tree! How are you even okay?”

“Oh, I have a lot of protection artifacts,” Arc said, tilting her head. “Is that strange?”

Rory thought for a moment. “I guess not… but you should still be more careful.” She sighed. “Still, that Tremor Bear is at the peak of C Tier, almost no C Tier individuals should be able to kill it.”

“Well, but⁠—”

Rory shook her head. “The thing is, that.”

She pointed at the corpse, whose blood was staining the ground.

“Those wounds shouldn’t be possible to make with an ice sword, and that spear… it just blew its head off.” She paused once more in awe, replaying the moment in her head before turning to Arc. “Which can only mean one thing.”

Arc for the first time in the conversation, paused. Rory smiled looking at her reaction.

“You must be B Tier!” She chirped. “You’re just keeping your promotion a secret!”

The white haired girl blinked as her expression softened. “Yeah, I should’ve said something earlier, but I didn’t want to risk a forced promotion. Sorry about that.”

At that moment, Ceylon let out a sigh as Rory chuckled.

“It’s fine, I did the same too for my C Tier promotion, we all have our reasons, from not wanting to leave our old adventurer party to not wanting notoriety.” She smiled. “Still, you really did a number on that Tremor Bear, you must be at least in the middle stages of B Tier.”

“Well, not that advanced, I just used a very powerful skill.” Arc shook her head. “I’m pretty tired even if it may not seem like it.”

“Oh, is that so?” Rory raised her brow.

She examined Arc, but aside from her uncomfortable body language, there really wasn’t anything that told her the woman was tired. If anything her gaze was sharper than ever. But in the end, she also knew she would get no answers if she continued pressing.

With people, it was best to push a bit and then give them time, at least that’s what Rory believed.

“I see, it does seem pretty tiresome to fight like that.” She nodded.

Arc immediately agreed. “Yeah, let’s go now, and walk as much as we can for today.”

Rory blinked. “Are we just going to leave the corpse here? Ignoring the material, bear monster meat can be very good.”

And the white haired woman frowned. “I’m not going to eat raw meat.”

Ceylon paused, and so did Rory. After a tense moment, she couldn’t help but ask.

“Who said anything about raw food?”

Arc blinked. “Do you have a way to cook it?”

“Of course.”

Without even wasting time, Arc walked to the monster and with a knife of ice began to dismantle it, piece by piece avoiding organs and somehow getting almost all of the cuts just right. Then, with the snap of her fingers all of it was encased in ice. The handiwork was impressive, and so was Arc’s ice magic.

Then without care, she turned.

“Who is storing it?”

Ceylon paused and looked pleadingly at Rory. She was already planning to store the meat, but everything⁠— this entire event was incredibly confusing to her. For starters, was Arc a magic swordswoman? No, that wouldn’t even work, she had used a spear. But maybe she was a warrior with great ice creation abilities, that would answer a lot of questions.

As for the name of her class?

Rory had no idea.

With confusion, she stored the meat and they went on their way. She wanted to know more about Arc, but for the first time ever, she felt stumped, and so, she simply focused on thinking.

* * * * *

That night, we ate roasted Tremor Bear, it was really good, so good to the point I couldn’t hide my happiness from our new companion, Rory. However, contrary to my expectations she didn’t bombard me with questions.

It was weird really, she had been mind blown by the fight, and I could tell she had a lot in mind but she didn’t ask anything, instead she relegated to watching. Something that I found a bit… uncomfortable. She’d still talk with me and Ceylon, but I could tell her priorities laid elsewhere.

However, as for what she was trying to accomplish, I had no idea. Same thing happened the day after, where we traveled, encountered a few monsters I easily killed. Of course, it was in a much less flashy way, but irregardless of what I did I was placed under intense scrutiny.

We still ended up eating delicious monster meat, it certainly didn’t compare to what we ate in Blackcrest for dinner, but it certainly made traveling all that more enjoyable. And to some extent, I wanted to go hunt monsters just to see what they tasted like. But I couldn’t act on that desire, let alone try it.

Rory was… measuring me up somehow.

I didn’t understand it really, until finally, the day after I told Ceylon to wait and dragged her to somewhere more private.

“What is your problem?” I asked with annoyance. “You’re acting like a detective.”

“Detective?” She asked, evidently confused by the word. “Where did you learn that word⁠—”

“That’s not the point,” I said with minor annoyance. “Why are you scrutinizing every single one of my actions, do you think I’m blind or something?”

She blinked. “Is it that obvious?”

“Yes!” I said exasperated.

There was a small pause from her, her green eyes meeting mine with some confusion before there was regret. Her expression changed to a crestfallen one as she let out a sigh.

“I just don’t… understand you Arc.”

“Understand me?” I asked with confusion.

“I don’t understand where you even got your clothes from, what your class is, why you seem to enjoy food this much even though it's okay at best,” she said, clearly tired. “There is nothing I understand about you other than that you care for Ceylon. I find it a bit frustrating, talking to you is like talking to a wall.”

I paused, remembering what Ceylon had said. I guess, I wasn’t really making progress, though I was unsure if I wanted Rory as a friend either. A sigh left me, as I told myself I’d give it a try.

“Fine, ask anything and I’ll answer as truthfully as I can.”

“What does that even mean?” She asked with confusion.

“It means that I’ll answer truthfully unless it's information I don’t want anyone to know,” I said, massaging my head. “Now ask away so you stop acting weirdly.”

She nodded. “Alright, what is your class?”

“Can’t say.” I shook my head. “Next one?”

“Okay, where are you from?”

I thought for a moment. “The US.”

“The… U… S…?” She asked in confusion. “Where is that?”

“Can’t say, next?”

Rory nodded, this time more determined.

◇ ◇ ◇

“This sucks…” She groaned. “Most of the things I ask are, ‘can’t say’!”

“Well, maybe if you didn’t want to know my backstory that badly.” I shrugged, though I certainly found her reactions amusing. “At least you’ve found out that I like fighting, I like sweets and food in general, I plan to travel the world, what else do you want?”

“I just don’t understand how you reach those goals… adventurers get to travel the world already.” She massaged her temples. “Even when I asked truthfully if you were B Tier you said can’t say, what’s that even supposed to mean?”

“Hey, you wanted the truth,” I said with a small but amused frown. “There you go, that’s the truth.”

“That’s…” Rory sighed. “I guess so, but I’m not giving up.”

She protested and began to go back to Ceylon. And I simply smiled in amusement. Rory was a silly person, and that brought me some joy. Teasing her was enjoyable.

I smiled and joined the group to resume our journey.

Unfortunately, for her Rory would never find out I was a hero, and it was all for the better.

◇ ◇ ◇

And the next day we arrived at Mount Arlais. We stood at its base as we talked about more details.

According to Rory, it was going to be an extremely hard mission, but I never would have expected to just get the intel immediately for the request⁠. A roar shook the skies, and craning our heads we saw it.

[Dragon of Flames. Tier: ???]

That’s strange⁠—

And then, it dove right at us, firing a crimson deluge of flames.