BXBX NOVEL Chapter 219
Trees bent and broke when the massive grizzly bear forced its way to pass. Behind the grizzly bear was a trail of destruction and blood. An unpleasant sight that causes negative thoughts upon the slightest glance.
Even a few rocks had broken pieces after being trampled. It was as if a miner tried to break a geode to look for minerals inside.
The new appearing grizzly bear stopped five meters away from the smaller grizzly bear and rose on its hind legs displaying its dominance with a massive height of around fourteen... fifteen, sixteen, seventeen...
A gust of wind abruptly surrounded the massive grizzly bear, and its body was mysteriously expanding up until reaching about one meter long more than it previously was.
[Vincent, use Inspection now! I think that bear is becoming stronger! I have a bad hunch it’s not a skill because the golden marks on its body are expanding, and new ones are appearing.]
Kazumi noticed a disturbance in the mana caused by the grizzly bear with her Mana Sense.
Vincent felt a jolt in his heart the moment Kazumi’s telepathic voice entered his brain. The previous ordinary grizzly bear took some time to take down without suffering any injuries. However, this time is going to be different.
Vincent is suffering from wounded arms and shoulders, hindering his movement. Furthermore, he can barely hear from his ears, but fortunately, Kazumi can relay what Vincent doesn’t hear telepathically.
.....
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[Promised Quest Update]
[Promised Quest: Protect the goblin tribe of [Blessed Retainer] Iris from the crisis.]
[Quest conditions to be met.]
*Goblins alive 60/30 (Met)
*Great Brown Grizzly Bear 0/1 (Not Met)
*Alpha Brown Grizzly Bear 0/1 (Not Met)
[Optional]
*Distance from Great Brown Grizzly Bear (20/1000 meters)
*Distance from Alpha Brown Grizzly Bear (20/1000 meters)
[Rewards]
*Reputation – Goblin Race +10
*Reputation – Pruthi Goblin Tribe +200
*Soul Synch – Iris +5%
*Strength stat +5
*Agility stat +5
*Perception stat +5
[Optional]
*Reputation – Goblin Race -1 (per Pruthi Goblin Tribe survivor.)
*Reputation – Pruthi Goblin Tribe -20 (per Pruthi Goblin Tribe survivor.)
*Soul Synch – Iris -4% (if Pruthi Goblin Tribe leader dies and all optional quests are completed.)
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Promised Quest appeared to have become more accurate with the addition of the optional requirements. This is the first time Vincent and Kazumi saw the possibility of choosing the dark side and receiving negative rewards. As if the Promised Quest system didn’t want to force Vincent to make his choice. He could be a hero or a villain by his own will.
The situation changed drastically after the grizzly bear completed a Tier Upgrade Awakening. Furthermore, the Promised Quest update made Vincent and Kazumi think the grizzly bears, one or both, have Awakened because of their cub’s death.
Vincent focused on the smaller bear first to assess the situation better. He wished it could allow Kazumi to start planing on the next best course of action. As the holder of Photographic Memory skills and also not being in physical danger, Kazumi can solely focus on planning.
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[Name] Great Brown Grizzly Bear
[Race] Grizzly Bear (Female)
[Age] 10
[Core] Earth Core (Grade – Small Stage One)
[Condition] Healthy, Enraged
[Stats] Strength 40 || Agility 35 || Perception 43 || Mana 25
[Core Skills] Harden
[Detail]
A grizzly bear mostly found in forests. Opposite to snow grizzly bears, the lighter the fur, the weaker the grizzly bear is. Grizzly bears stay with their parents until their fur darkens to the color of soil.
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The first grizzly bear seemed to have Awakened not too long ago because its core was one at the first stage.
This discovery showed Vincent and Kazumi how Promised Quest has the probability of prediction and fragmented foresight. It meant that blindly following a Promised Quest with undiscovered key factors could provide misinformation about things Vincent doesn’t know about.
However, as soon as Vincent saw the bears, the Promised Quest system’s foresight accuracy increased and updated the requirements and rewards.
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[Name] Alpha Brown Grizzly Bear
[Race] Grizzly Bear (Male)
[Age] 11
[Core] Earth Core (Grade – Medium Stage One)
[Condition] Healthy, Enraged
[Stats] Strength 80 || Agility 68 || Perception 74 || Mana 2175
[Core Skills] Harden, Earth Cannon, Earth Spike, Earth Manipulation
[Detail]
A grizzly bear mostly found in forests. Opposite to snow grizzly bears, the lighter the fur, the weaker the grizzly bear is. Grizzly bears stay with their parents until their fur darkens to the color of soil.
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Vincent gulped the moment the stats and skills entered his sight. The grizzly bear standing on its hind legs with a massive height of around seventeen feet long sent a cold shiver down his spine. The grizzly bear was not an enemy to trifle with.
The alpha grizzly bear loudly roared. However, it wasn’t a loud ear defining roar like the previous one. Instead, a pebble started to mold in front of its massive open gaping maws.
As time progressed, the pebble expanded into a rock. The same-sized rock that fell from the sky. Vincent knew first hand they had to dodge no matter the cost.
“Stand behind me! I will block the projectile not matter the what!” Vincent declared.
Ester and Lupa nodded with unwavering trust.
“I will support you. ” Ester said while planting the mudcrab shield on the ground a couple of inches behind Vincent’s back.
“I will help.” Lupa, Iris, and Iris’s father said one after the other.
Vincent retreated a step and felt his back touching the shield. “Thanks.” He accepted, brimming with the confidence of someone having his back.
Ester and Lupa knew Vincent would do his best to keep his words even at the risk of his life, so they tried their best to keep Vincent from losing balance while catching the rock.
*Pow* The rock shot like a cannon a second later.
*Boom... crack... thud.*
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*Goblins alive 51/30 (Met)
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The rock went straight to a tree with nine goblins on it. The goblins died, a few from impact, a few from the splinters shooting like bullets, and the rest crushed by the tree they thought was going to protect them.
The alpha grizzly bear decided to kill as much as possible. Thus the more enemies it could kill with one shot, the more attractive those targets became. Vincent’s group consisted of five, meaning they had to wait for a few turns until the alpha grizzly bear started targeting them.
“Gobu!!!” After feeling guilty for guiding the goblins to hide in a tree, Iris’s father spoke with a devastated expression. He felt their deaths were on his hands.
“Father, no, don’t go. Please stay with me. I can’t lose you too.” Iris begged her father to stay with her when she noticed her father’s troubled emotions, unlike the usual calm and composed leader.
Iris didn’t have a strong bond with the other goblins since she treated plants as her friends. Iris only helped from time to time, and it also felt more like a volunteer duty out of guilt rather than because she was happy to help goblins she knew.
Iris stayed away from goblins for being a rare goblin that made humans looking at her with insatiable greed. To Iris, the goblins were like part of her group. However, the kind that only says good morning and good evening in an entire day.
Consequently, Iris was mainly worried about her father being out of danger over other goblin’s death.
[We can’t win as we are, but Ester might be our trump card. I estimate we can win if Ester has the opportunity to hit the bears in a vital spot with her wind bomb. Stats aren’t everything in a fight.]
.....
[If Ester can break a tree, she should be able to break a rock. And if that’s not enough, hmm... Ahh, yes! Ester can try to use Amplify Sigil on Elsir. I wonder what kind of portable wireless wind bomb she could create.]
-Then we need to decide. I want to know what the others think about.-
“Ester and Lupa. This is going to be another battle against death if we stay here. But should we run away and leave Iris’s tribe to die and feel guilty for the rest of our lives? or should we fight against fate another time?” Vincent asked. He wanted to know how his women felt and what was on their minds.
Lupa grinned because the chance to fight worthy opponents while feeling the rush of danger appeared. “I want to fight. I want to become strong.” She said while thinking about improving quicker than Ester.
“I can’t let Iris feel sad. She has become my sister, and I will protect my sisters.” Ester clenched her hiltless blade Elsir on the one hand and the mudcrab shield on the other.
Ester seemed determined this time. She wasn’t shaking from fear for the first time.
“My mate, we hunt bad bears. I can’t lose more family. Wolves are better than bears, and I want a reward if I kill one.” Lupa felt outdone by Ester’s proclamation of looking out for her sisters, so Lupa restated with her intentions revealed and as many good words she knew to say.
Vincent was trying his best to act as he usually does. One of his ears started faintly ringing, and the other barely able to hear anything from. Kazumi had to repeat what Ester, Lupa, and Iris said all the time.
“Iris, you heard that, right?. Your sisters decided to protect you.” Vincent said.
Iris nodded and slightly blushed. She appeared to be happy while almost hiding behind the mudcrab shield and Ester. Iris looked at both Ester and Lupa in high regards now.