After leaving Axel's gates, sunlight filtered through the dense canopy and scattered mottled shadows across the path. It should have been a pleasant stroll through the woods, but to Kōichi Hayashi and Kazuma, it felt as heavy as walking to their own funerals.
Iris-san, on the other hand, was full of excitement. Like a child on her first outing, she lightly stepped over the roots crossing the road and even studied the moss on the tree trunks with great interest.
"Everyone, be careful. This area is already One-Punch Bear territory."
Kōichi Hayashi lowered his voice. His palms were already slightly damp with sweat. His sharp senses told him that the air around them was thick with the strong, musky smell of a beast.
"Kazuma, use Lurk and scout ahead. Darkness, get your greatsword ready. You might not be able to hit it, but at least you can... uh, block it with your body."
"I know already, stop nagging! I'm trying really hard to keep my legs from shaking too!"
Kazuma shot back in a low voice, shrinking in on himself as he crept forward suspiciously.
At that critical moment, Aqua, who had been walking at the very back with "I want to go home" written all over her face, suddenly let out an incredibly sharp, piercing scream.
"Waaaaah! Help me! It's sticky! It's disgusting!! What is this thing that reeks of low-class lifeforms and blatantly desecrates the Goddess of Water?!"
Squish!
Everyone turned back and saw Aqua's expensive boot planted firmly in the middle of a huge, steaming pile of strangely colored excrement.
She frantically shook her leg, trying to fling the filth off, but not only did she fail, her movements were so wild that she tripped herself and rolled several times across the humus-covered mud.
"I-idiot! Shut up!" Kazuma growled in terror. "Are you trying to attract every monster within 3 miles?!"
But it was already too late.
"ROAR!!!"
A deafening roar erupted from the nearby bushes, followed by the sharp cracking of snapping trees.
A massive bear, as tall as a two-story building, burst out of the undergrowth. Its eyes were bloodshot red, and the muscles across its body bulged like granite. Every step made the ground tremble, and its sickle-sharp claws flashed coldly in the sunlight as it charged straight toward the source of the noise, Aqua, who was sitting beside the dung and crying her eyes out.
"It's here! The One-Punch Bear!" Kōichi Hayashi's pupils shrank.
"Wow! It's huge! So cool!" Iris did not seem frightened at all. Instead, she clenched her little fists in excitement, her eyes shining with admiration. "Kōichi-sama! Is this the trial where victory is decided in a single strike?! Please show me your heroic figures in battle!"
"Heroic figures, my ass! We're dead! We're really dead this time!"
Kazuma looked ready to cry as he fumbled for the bow and arrows at his waist, his fingers shaking so badly he could not even nock an arrow.
"Oh, ohhh! Is it coming?! This suffocating pressure! If those thick claws were to slam into me..."
Darkness had already entered some sacred delusional state. She even took a step forward on her own, thrusting out her chest as a deeply dangerous blush spread across her face.
The One-Punch Bear's enormous paw came crashing down with a roar of wind that tore through the air, aimed straight ahead.
Facing the massive bear paw hurtling downward, Kōichi Hayashi did not choose to meet it head-on. His calm mind, honed by the Fantasy World, made its decision in an instant.
"Kazuma! Stop shaking over there and get ready to follow up!"
Kōichi Hayashi stepped forward sharply, and his staff gave off a faint blue glow.
"Create Water!"
A huge volume of water appeared out of thin air and poured precisely over the spot supporting the One-Punch Bear's heavy hind paw. Before the frenzied beast could react, Kōichi Hayashi's second spell followed immediately.
"Freeze!"
A wave of cold swept through, and the ground that had been drenched a moment earlier was instantly covered in a layer of smooth, hard ice like a mirror.
"Roaaar... Whoa?!"
The One-Punch Bear's paw strike, powerful enough to smash rock, veered completely off course as it lost its balance.
Its huge body skidded across the ice in an absurdly wide circle, its limbs windmilling wildly, before it finally crashed down with a heavy thud, landing belly-up right in front of Aqua.
"Waaah! Don't come closer! Don't come closer!" Aqua, sitting on the ground, was so frightened that she squeezed her eyes shut and kicked wildly, flinging bear dung from her boot straight onto the One-Punch Bear's face.
"Now! Kazuma, put a hole in it!"
Kōichi Hayashi shouted the order while shielding Iris behind him.
Kazuma, who had been cowering behind a tree, saw that textbook-perfect control chain, and his eyes instantly lit up. His despicable... no, clever nature immediately took the high ground again.
"Hehe, nice work, Kōichi! You really are reliable when it counts!" Kazuma rolled out from behind the tree, nocked an arrow with practiced ease, and drew the string. A classic Kazuma-style villainous grin spread across his face. "Finish it while it's down! Snipe!"
Whoosh!
The arrow flashed coldly as it tore through the air, striking the exposed soft belly of the One-Punch Bear with perfect accuracy.
The giant bear let out a miserable howl and tried to roll over and get up, but the ice Kōichi Hayashi had created turned every attempt into a ridiculous ice ballet.
"And I'm not done yet! Snipe! Snipe!" Kazuma laughed smugly as he fired arrows like he was shooting at a stationary target. "This is how an Axel hero fights! Taste despair, you stinking bear!"
Iris, who was watching from the side, was completely stunned. Her little mouth hung slightly open, and her hands were clenched tightly in front of her chest.
"A-amazing... Kōichi-sama instantly took away the monster's mobility by using the environment, and Kazuma-sama is suppressing it from range with brilliant archery... Such calm judgment and perfect teamwork... Is this the legendary battle of wits between tactical masters?!"
"That's right, Iris." Kōichi Hayashi worked to steady his breathing, trying to make himself look completely calm. "For true masters, brute force is the least of their concerns. Using wisdom to toy with... ahem, control the enemy is the essence of being an Adventurer."
"U-uwah... That sounds really cool, but could you pull me out of this filth first?"
Aqua, lying at the edge of the ice, reached out while sobbing.
"I can't take it anymore! This smell is the ultimate humiliation to a Goddess's dignity!!"
Just as Kōichi Hayashi and Kazuma were preparing to steadily wear the giant beast down, Aqua, still sitting on the ground, suddenly let out a shrill scream.
Her face was streaked with tears as she raised her staff high. Sacred light far beyond her usual level erupted from her entire body, bright enough to turn the dark forest almost as clear as day.
"Divine Purification!!"
It was pure energy powerful enough to purify even a Demon King's General, and in that instant, it spread wildly outward with Aqua at its center.
The effect was immediate. The excrement on Aqua's boot vanished, the mud on her body disappeared, and even the raw, beastly stench in the forest was swept clean away.
However...