A [101 ★ Gianteating Black Bear] missing its hind legs tried to crawl away from me. I grinned. I stalked after my injured prey with a slow gait. Once I reached the unfortunate creature, I raised Jakki and chopped down. The weapon split the bear’s upper torso from the lower end. Blood splashed across the forest floor, muddying soil that was already drenched by the innards of prior prey.

I inhaled deeply, sucking in the heavy coppery scent that permeated the air. It was a divine pleasure that sent comforting ripples through my body.

“The bears have populated quickly,” Moffee said from her pouch. “Not much of a challenge, but that doesn’t bother you, does it, Lady Rhonda?”

“It is fun to demolish foolish creatures,” I said. “If they attack me, they forfeit their life for my pleasure.”

I felt Moffee shift around uncomfortably on my hip.

“Unless I find a reason to spare them,” I added, coming down from my bloodlusting high. “Sorry if I frighten you, little one. I had been useless for two months and a lady for another month. I must release my savage self more than ever.”

“They don’t have the identification perk like we do,” Moffee said. “So, they have no idea how powerful we are unless we show them overtly.”

I wondered if collecting bear heads and dragging them behind me in a vine net would be warning enough. Then again, if the gianteating bear population had grown larger because they hadn’t been culled properly, then this was a good opportunity for us to fulfill some ranger duties.

I relished the idea. It would honor the start of our adventure by slaughtering creatures deemed to be the eaters of giants.

I heard a branch sway heavily above me. Looking up, I spot Cassandra positioned in the tree canopy over my head. I gestured for her to report.

“There are two hundred bears gathered ahead, milady,” Cassandra informed. “At the center is a big white bear with a rare tag. It’s unusual, too. The air seems to warp and buzz around it, from what I can perceive. Like a storm’s brewing that’s about to release itself.”

My heart pulsed rapidly.

“No,” I said.

“I know what has you worried,” Moffee said. “But if it’s that creature of ancient giant lore, it would be much higher than rare ranking.”

Cassandra quirked her head slightly.

Before I could answer, I heard heavy paws shuffling to my right. Another bear burst out of the undergrowth and rushed my flank.

I swung out my arm and hurled Jakki sideways. The Skyripper skimmed low across the forest floor. Upon meeting the ignorant creature, she hacked through all four of its legs. Then she chopped down a few trees and continued her path of destruction.

I reined her back to me, snatched my axe out of the air, and returned my attention to Cassandra without missing a beat.

“In ancient times, in the past before my parents, there was a bear known as Stormpaw the Giantravager. It was an evil bear, and it was vastly more powerful than any other bear. It had disappeared long ago along with a hunting party led by Ghoulfang the Bearhunter. While Ghoulfang was recorded as a legend in the poems of giant lore, rangers couldn’t confirm nor deny if Stormpaw had truly perished.”

“Oh, wow, that’s one hell of a legend,” Cassandra said, her attention drawn toward the crying bear that lost all of its legs. “Can I put it out of its misery?”

I was letting the bear cry to warn away other bears, so they wouldn’t interrupt our conversation. But I saw how queasy my cruelty toward the bear affected Cassandra.

“Yes, go ahead,” I said.

“[Slashing Wind Flurry]!” Cassandra’s personal magic diced the bear in separate halves.

“I wonder,” Moffee said.

“The one with the biggest brain in the smallest body is wondering,” Cassandra said. “This is going to be good.”

“I wonder if we’re more powerful because of our experiences against giant monsters,” Moffee said.

“Well, that’s a no duh,” Cassandra said. “We got the star power to prove it.”

“I’m not just talking star power. The stars enhance what’s already there. But I wonder if our hunting of moosers and our times eating them pushed our bodies beyond what the stars dictate. Then the fight against the Ents pushed us even further.”

“Isn’t that what our ranks are for?” Cassandra said.

“Mm, yes. The stars are a quantitative measure that’s easy to track. The ranks present an idea that we can achieve more than our star power. This is what we’ve been told. But so much has happened that defies what we’ve been told. I wonder if there are more hidden secrets.”

“If there are more secrets to grow in power, we shall find them,” I said with a smile. “It pleases me that you are so thoughtful, Moffee.”

“Someone has to lest you like muscle brain to contemplate these matters,” Moffee said.

“Hey! I do think about these things,” Cassandra protested.

“I see monster. I kill monster. Grind, grind, grind,” Moffee quipped.

Cassandra’s brow furrowed. “Whose the one with a higher star power?”

“Who has the higher rank?”

“I do and I do,” I said merrily. Laughter rolled out of me, shaking Moffee about in my goblin pouch.

The banter helped ease the worry I felt from the possibility of facing Stormpaw. It was like Moffee said⁠—such a creature of my legend would be a higher rank. It was also strange for Stormpaw to venture this far south without my knowing.

But that raised a question. What sort of creature could be ahead of us that would share Stormpaw’s likeness?

There was only one way to find out.

I ventured to the side, getting off the open trail to reenter the forest properly. I stalked forward like an experienced ranger. My footfalls barely made any noise as I prowled. I avoided low-hanging branches and reaching undergrowth, using tree roots to walk across or gravel that I stepped over gently, leaving no prints behind me. My progress quickened as the wind blew at my front, carrying the scent of freshwater from the Gjoll river and the stench of bear. Lots and lots of bear.

I even smelled bears that were unfamiliar to me.

Cassandra had gone ahead of me since she was much faster and lighter. By the time I neared the forest line that would transition toward the Gjoll river embankment, the rogue had returned. She landed on the back-basket with a soft tap and crawled onto my left shoulder.

“Milady, there are more bears now,” she said. “Different types of them just appeared, too. The uncommon ones are above 120 stars.”

“What types?” Moffee asked from my hip.

“[Forest Firestarter Bears], [Shadowbane Bears], [Behemothhunting Bears], and [Ursine Men],” Cassandra explained. “That’s including the [Gianteating Black Bears] and the rare bear I can’t identify at the center. They’re holding the passage across the Gjoll river on both sides, and it looks like there are three hundred of them and counting.”

“Many of these bears are of the Ironwoods,” I said, my chest tightening with nervousness. “These are creatures with magic, too.”

“Did they march down past us?” Moffee asked. “How’d they slip by you, Cassandra?”

“Lady Cassandra is only one human,” I defended. “There are many trails east of here near the coast. Or west of here. They could’ve gone all around us while avoiding the land around Ironhidr, my manor, and the training fields.”

“Maybe that’s why they’ve dodged us,” Cassandra said. “The ent-mooser graveyard might’ve warned them to move around.”

“Sorry, Cassandra, for sounding harsh,” Moffee rasped. “It’s just a little shocking the forest has changed so fast. I thought the destruction of the star arena would calm things. I want a challenge, but this sounds a little more than what I liked to see at the start of this adventure.”

“We cannot ask for our struggles to be heavy or light when it pleases us,” I said, rubbing my free hand over Jakki’s blade. “We can only ask ourselves to be strong and steady no matter the challenge.”

“Yes, milady,” Cassandra said.

“Skol,” Moffee answered.

“I would need to see the rare bear’s star power,” I said. “Then we shall decide on how to respond to them. Raise your spirits and brace yourselves.”

Cassandra dropped to the floor. As I moved forward, she dashed near my legs confidently, weaving around ferns that reached up to my thighs. She stopped at a tall enough bush with gaps for us to look through while Moffee clambered out of her pouch. The goblin used the leather plates of my outfit to scale up my back. As I lowered down on all fours, Moffee positioned herself on my shoulder as Cassandra stood beside my arm.

We peered through our cover and saw a mighty army of bears. Just like Cassandra had said, they weren’t just the [Gianteating Black Bears]. There were bears whose fur sparked with flames. There were bears covered in liquid shadows that moved in currents and whorls over the surface of their bodies. I saw bears that were bigger than moosers. Much bigger. Some bears were upright like giantkins. The upright ones had huge furry fists that carried primitive clubs as big as Jakki, too. All of the bears milled around a not-so-large bear with white fur and electric-blue eyes. Just like Cassandra had said, there was an abnormal presence of energy that surrounded the bear.

It was not as powerful as me, though. But what I saw shook me to my core anyway. I identified it as a [152 ★ Giantravaging Stormcub]. I relayed this to the others, enabling them to identify the creature fully now.

“Shit,” Moffee cussed quietly. “Stormpaw the Giantravager lives if that’s just one of its brood. I can sense its magic from here, and it’s stormy.”

“What do we do?” Cassandra asked. “We’ve never fought magical creatures like this before. This can get dangerous fast.”

Moffee and I had fought Garmra, but she hadn’t been very magical outside of controlling wild dogs and her voice. This was certainly greater than her.

The growing bear army occupied the passage that would lead us to the Giant Dragon Defense Fortress, the first stop of our journey. We were an hour and a half away, and there was still plenty of daylight before nightfall. To attack them and cull their ranks sounded like a much-needed strategy. But what Cassandra had said rang with a lot of truth.

We had never fought magical creatures with serious power like the ones controlling the passage. Most of these new bears presented a unique tactical challenge compared to fighting simple, monstrous creatures that would charge you physically.

At least the [Behemothhunting Bears] and the [Ursine Men] seemed simple enough. But the storm cub, the [Forest Firestarter Bears], and the [Shadowbane Bears] had powers that could prove disastrous if we didn’t take great care.

After all, Moffee and Cassandra could die to lesser star creatures if they made a grave error. Or if I happened to make the wrong judgment as the leader. Just because the bears were weaker than me didn’t mean I could overlook their numerical advantage and powersets. Nor could I overlook my friends’ weakness in vitality and resilience.

I stalked backward and led our trio away from the bear army. We needed to rethink our approach and come up with a sound strategy. I was a ranger that would serve as a brazen warrior sometimes. But I was a ranger first and foremost. My friends were rogue and wizard that was dedicated to their trade. We didn’t get as far as we have now by acting extremely careless.

Well… not with the experience we have now.

Besides, not everything had failed around me.

I could wait on being an utter savage.

***

For half an hour, we conversed over a plan.

We spent the next two hours setting up our traps and escape points. I thanked Jessica for reminding me that this was part of a ranger’s repertoire.

We killed a few black bears that were scouting around us. We let none escape us to warn the bear army at the Gjoll River crossing.

We took another hour to run over the details of our plan and made sure everything was staged. We had three objectives.

Objective A was near the bear army.

Objective B took us into the forest toward the fishing village.

Then Objective C saw us repositioned to make a final stand at a location that favored us. If things went according to plan, the bear army would be severely massacred. I doubted it, though. I had yet to see anything go as planned with my friends and me.

The hard part was coming to terms with everyone’s positioning. Undoubtedly, I would start the plot at Objective A and work my way to Objective B and Objective C.

Cassandra didn’t like it. She tried to protest, hoping to swap with me.

I overruled her.

She was fast and strong. But she was human and more prone to dying than me.

Moffee agreed, seeing my strategy as sound.

“We might come away with a good amount of star fragments,” she said. “Or get caught off guard and taken out.”

“You’re in a bright mood,” Cassandra said dryly.

“Nervous is all,” Moffee said. “Hadn’t fought seriously in months.”

“I understand,” Cassandra said.

I thought of comforting them. I decided against it. It was good that we were all nervous. It gave us a much-needed edge to see things through competently.

“Cassandra,” I called as I prepared to leave them. “Say to me the words of my rangers.”

“ᚹᛖ ᚨᚱᛖ ᚱᚨᛜᛖᚱᛊ. ᚹᛖ ᚨᚱᛖ ᚦᛖ ᛚᛁᚷᚺᛏ ᛁᚾ ᚦᛖ ᛞᚨᚱᚲᚾᛖᛊᛊ. ᚹᛖ ᚹᛁᛚᛚ ᛚᛖᚨᛞ ᚦᛖ ᚹᚨᛁ,” Cassandra said. “We are rangers. We are the light in the darkness. We will lead the way.”

“Rangers lead the way,” Moffee and I said in unison.

I departed alone for Objective A.

***

I knelt behind my concealment at Objective A, overlooking the growing bear army. There were around four hundred bears now. Most of them were [Gianteating Black Bears] that had reached above a hundred stars. That was enough to threaten us if they swarmed us competently.

This was not like the Mooser-Ent battle where we had two sides waging war against each other which allowed us to cull them during the chaos. This was one group organizing nefariously. So the gathering of [Gianteating Black Bears] had me a touch concerned. Then I counted down from the weakest to the strongest of the new archetypes.

There were at least fifty [Ursine Men] around 125 stars. There were around forty [Behemothhunting Bears] around 135 stars. Twenty [Forest Firestarters] were around 140 stars. Ten [Shadowbane Bears] were right around 150 stars.

The shadowbanes concerned me the most if I didn’t consider their leader first. Ranger colleagues of Mother had told me of such bears that could move through the shadows of the forest like the wind breezing through the air. They could hide in these shadows and make not a sound. While they were out in the open sunlight, they were quite vulnerable. But that depended on them staying there. That also relied on the limited daylight we had before nightfall arrived.

I needed to kill all ten of those shadowbanes along with the [152 ★ Giantravaging Stormcub] before I moved to Objective B. Would I succeed? I was uncertain. Three months could’ve rusted my skills. But my power gains and battle experience gave me more confidence in the current me compared to who I had been four months ago.

Stormpaw’s Cub stood on its hind legs and started making bear noises. Bawls. Roars. Grunts. Barks. The other bears watched the cub closely, enthralled by whatever speech it made for their sake. This was my opportunity to strike.

I set Jakki down a distance behind me.

If I needed to flee, I would run and pick her up.

Returning to my concealed spot, I removed two arrows from my quiver. I unlatched my vial of [Last Breath Poison Paste] from my belt and twisted off the top. I dabbed a twig into the vial and slathered the concoction on the antler-tips of my arrows. After topping the vial again, I replaced it on my belt. I prepared my aim and drew hard both arrows in unison.

Almost a hundred stars ago, I doubted myself while attempting a double-shot. Now, it seemed like a practical option for me.

Something rustled the bushes to my right. I perceived the wandering bear before it even knew I was there. In a few seconds, it would see me and give away my position.

I let loose my arrows.

Thwwang. Snnthhk!

Both stuck my target in the chest, surprising every creature that the cub’s speech had enraptured. I hadn’t aimed with full power since I wanted to focus on accuracy. I trusted the last breath poison to finish the job. At the same time, it was easier to rapid-fire arrow after arrow with a lighter touch.

Thwang. Snthk!

Thwang. Snthk!

Thwang. Snthk!

Three [Shadowbane Bears] slumped toward the ground, my arrows piercing their chests with critical aim. An [Ursine Man] roared and pointed its club in my direction. I kept firing arrows as the bears started to respond to me.

Thwang. Snthk!

Thwang. Snthk!

Two more shadowbanes fell before they could run far.

A [Gianteating Black Bear] lunged out of the bushes and at my side. I turned with an arrow already drawn.

Thwang. Thwsh!

The arrow plowed through the bear’s torso. It tore a gory hole out of its back and killed it. Viscera peppered the bushes.

I turned back to my objective, an arrow already set. I sighted a [Shadowbane Bear] nearing the treeline on my side of the Gjoll River.

Thwang. Snthk!

I caught the shadowbane while it was midrun. It fell into a tumbled heap and died.

A crackling fireball soared at my position.

I jumped out from behind cover while I nocked and drew another arrow. My former position erupted in a roar of fire, scalding my side lightly. My aim remained steadfast throughout.

Thwang. Snthk!

My seventh shadowbane fell. I nocked and drew again as one of the shadowbanes slid to a halt and started reversing course to flee. That convinced the last two to run in the opposite direction from me. Good.

Thwang. Snthk!

Thwang. Snthk!

Thwang. Thrash!

An [Ursine Man] used its club to defend the last shadowbane!

The club tore apart into a cloud of splinters, deflecting the arrow into the torso of a black bear. Frustrated, I tried to aim at the fleeing shadowbane as it darted away through the commotion. More fireballs soared at my position. The [Ursine Men] grabbed and hurled stones to batter my area. The [Behemothhunting Bears] and [Gianteating Black Bears] formed into a ferocious furry wall that charged me.

Losing sight of my quarry, I let the last [Shadowbane Bear] escape and turned to flee.

I slung my bow over my shoulder and snatched Jakki off the floor. I ran with an uncanny quickness that surprised me. The forest floor blurred under my fast-moving feet. Fireballs splashed so far behind me I barely felt the wave of heat that they emitted. By the time the main wall of bears smashed through the treeline, I had to remind myself to slow down and not lose them. I had to lead them to Objective B, after all.

Keeping my senses sharp for the last [Shadowbane Bear], I turned to face the head of the charge. A monstrous [Behemothhunting Bear] thundered through the forest, crashing down every tree that got in its way. It was unfathomable how a creature around 135 stars could be so large and terrifying. Then it started to slow down just before reaching me. It panted heavily, struggling to cover the remaining gap to attack me head-on. It had spent a lot of stamina dashing over here just to get at me, I saw.

Ah. So we shared similar trouble⁠—low stamina. I nearly felt sorry for the thing since pure and utter exhaustion could be painful.

I threw Jakki into its face and ripped apart its head. The Skyripper spiraled up into the air, hurling blood in crimson arcs that glinted in the sunset’s light.

Another [Behemothhunting Bear] appeared along with a gaggle of [Ursine Men]. I pulled back the bond between Jakki and me. The Skyripper swooped around close to the ground. She carved a huge wound that nearly bisected the [Behemothhunting Bear].

The [Ursine Men] were about my height. Jakki turned them into a bursting splatter of gore and limbs.

I spun around, swinging out the arm that held Jakki’s mystical bond. The Skyripper followed my command and orbited my body. Then I tossed her back into the rushing front of the bear army. She thrust through the middle of them, raising a trail of pink mist and bone chips that followed behind her path of destruction.

Dozens of bears who couldn’t escape Jakki’s path fell in cleaved pieces. A [Behemothhunting Bear] crashed down after losing its leg, crushing [Ursine Men] underneath it. A [Forest Firestarted Bear] burst open upon contact with Jakki, hurling oily blood lit on fire. Multiple trees fell over, clogging the direct path toward me.

Death and destruction reigned! It was glorious! But I couldn’t keep it up for long. My fatigue grew quickly.

I recalled Jakki to my hand. The bear army regrouped and continued their pursuit of me.

We entered Objective B.