The trees draped in wires intercepted the King’s lightning. It was enough to protect the hunters, though the wood smoldered and the metal softened like taffy being pulled apart. When the lightning abated, the hunters emerged from behind the trees to attack.
Borba immediately drew the bear’s attention once again, and the two antagonists launched themselves at each other. The rest of the hunters punished the bear for ignoring them. Inleio’s spear in particular pierced deep. His movements, free of ornamentation, pure of intention, embodied the hunters’ Spear Arts. He held nothing back, and in doing so, his spear reciprocated.
One attack became two, and two turned into three. Then, like a magician revealing his trick, Inleio’s spear multiplied; it seemed to materialize from everywhere in front of him. He left afterimages as he moved through the Spear Arts stances, and his attacks must’ve stung, because the King swiped at him. The small shield attached to the hunter’s prosthetic was ripped from his arm. The momentary distraction let Borba slip in a strike, and a rusty glow spread yet once more onto the bear’s side. The bear leapt away before Borba’s spear could bite into him more deeply.
The hunters got back into formation, and the King stared them down, his eyes calculating and his breathing rough. There was blood on his fur too, but not enough given the wounds across his body. He should have been bleeding to death, but wasn’t. None of the injuries appeared to be fatal. If he retreated now, I had no doubt he would return to full health.
The standoff continued long enough for me to slip into position behind the hunters and for the separated piece of Yuki to station themselves twenty yards to the left. “Be ready,” I whispered.
None of the hunters turned around, but I felt the swirling of their qi intensify.
I dropped Scentless Hunter, and Yuki pulsed their qi. The King of the Forest raised his head and narrowed his eyes. A moment later, he leapt at where the hunters gathered. I dodged back, then cloaked myself in Scentless Hunter as I moved to the right. The bear and the hunters now fought in the space between me and the separated piece of Yuki.
Once more, Inleio stood at the fore. The bear swiped at him with his claws, but that didn’t deter the master hunter. He dove in and out in a shifting, dizzying array of spear thrusts. The bear sparked electricity along his fur in response, but before he could discharge it, the separated piece of Yuki dropped their Scentless Hunter and pulsed their qi.
The bear spun and leapt, but the separated piece fled into the underbrush, its scent masked as soon as the bear was in the air. The King roared in frustration at losing the scent, and a bolt of lightning arced into the nearest tree.
It took only a moment for the hunters to get back into formation. They charged him, and I used the chance to find a new position, once again opposite the separated piece of Yuki.
The strategy repeated once more: Yuki and I distracting the bear and moderating the pressure on the hunters. That was, until the King decided that he didn’t want to play anymore. He backed off and refused to be lured in by Yuki’s qi.
The dolbecs taunted the bear; they waved their spears and yelled insults. When that didn’t work, they charged, the other hunters following after, but the bear leapt away and kept his distance.
He watched the hunters, his eyes considering.
The hunters pivoted and charged again, but this time the King received their attacks. He batted them aside and retreated, not letting the hunters get behind him. None of the spears, not even Inleio’s, reached his body, so the hunters focused on attacking his paws and legs.
Throughout, Yuki pulsed their qi. The bear noticed—he glanced my way—but the distraction was minimal and didn’t create any opportunities for the hunters.
The fight became a slog. The hunters desperately fought to pierce through the bear’s defenses, but their qi and mana eventually ran dry. Their attacks slowed and weakened, losing their capacity to pressure the King. The hunters began to tire, as well. They made small mistakes and got in each other’s way.
Inleio was the first to drop out, his speed and grace disappearing. He carefully withdrew to keep from becoming a liability to the other hunters.
From where I crouched, I saw his back bow and skin wrinkle. The fire that I’d seen ignited in his body guttered, and my heart sank as his once vital body diminished before my eyes, aging twenty years in the process. He stayed close by, though, to call out instructions and warnings. The others fought on, determined to see the hunt through.
How long could they keep it up before they, too, were spent? The King of the Forest had Unending Endurance. There was no way the hunters could outlast him, no matter how determined they were.
Only Borba kept up the pace, but he alone wasn’t enough, especially now that Inleio had nothing left for him to Siphon. The hunt would fail and more people would die—unless a new variable was introduced, one that changed the fight’s dynamics.
I was untouched, and my qi was still full thanks to Yuki feeding me theirs. I’d used about half my mana on Scentless Hunter, though. Tension ran through me. Terror as well, if I was honest, but I resolved to keep going.
I checked Bearbane, and the spear was in good condition. Nothing I’d found could nick the spearhead, and that apparently included the King of the Forest’s bones. The water skin at my side contained enough water for two healing spells.
I felt Yuki’s readiness, and through them, Sun-on-Snow’s. She lay in wait, prepared to pull me out of danger if it became necessary. Between breaths, I merged with Yuki for a brief dip into her consciousness to check on our ability to see through her eyes, and confirmed we were visible to her. We’d been working so hard to make sense of the neural impulses related to vision, and the effort was worth it.
Her intensity of focus was breathtaking, and we took a moment to dwell in it and sharpen our own resolve. We didn’t let ourselves linger long, though, and we soon separated our component consciousnesses. Each of us had our parts to play.
Ah, if only my version of the Blink spell worked as well as hers.
Inside my heart dantian, a small cage hummed. Inside that, a qi sculpture crafted by Yuki waited to be connected to my meridians. The cage and sculpture were Yuki’s and my attempt to mimic the role of body power in the Blink spell. In effect, the structure was a kind of emulator based on what we’d seen inside Snow.
The emulator even worked; I had been able to successfully teleport from one side of the Glen’s pool to the other—but then I’d had to cast consecutive Healing Water spells to stop the internal bleeding that resulted. Bleeding (3), to be specific.
We’d tried to refine the emulator in time for the hunt, but the work was slow and frustrating. As a result, the spell wasn’t feasible in the middle of a fight, not unless I wanted to bleed to death in the process. That was why Snow was on standby.
Inventory complete. All the players ready. There was nothing else but for me to attack.
I circled around to the bear’s rear. The noise and chaos of the battle masked my approach and gave ample opportunity to line up a Sensei-approved thrust. Yuki cast Dog’s Agility and Iron Heart for me, then Bearbane leapt forward to strike the King in the ass. I’d aimed for his testicles, but he’d moved at the last moment. Still, the spear sank a good two feet into his rear before I had to dodge the kick that came at me in response.
The King roared his outrage and swung around, exposing his butt to the others. They pounced and tore into the wound I’d opened for them. A wave of rusty light swept over the back of the bear’s body. The King swung around again, but Borba was already running for the trees, his body thicker than before.
I’d expected the King to give chase, but I underestimated his desire to eat delicious things. He’d smelled Yuki within me once before, and he must’ve realized there was a good chance the uekisheile was still inside me. That caused him to hesitate: to choose between the danger to his qi—Borba—and that which was most delicious—Yuki.
The King’s response was to arc lightning in all directions. I took a massive streamer to the chest point blank. My mail bled the electricity into the earth, but the ground quickly became saturated, and some came back up through my shoes. Fortunately, the lightning-protection potion blocked it.
The sweat that accumulated in my hair and under my clothes vaporized in a flash. My skin was scalded, especially around my groin and under my armpits where the steam didn’t have any easy exits to escape.
I gasped and threw myself aside, which was just enough to dodge the King’s lunge. Yuki cast a quick Anesthetic to numb the pain, and I followed up with Dog’s Agility to give us some distance. The other hunters also scattered to avoid the lightning splashing from the bear.
The King looked like he wanted to try another quick lunge to get me, but his qi continued to bleed out towards Borba. The hunter was still running, his arms and legs pumping, and getting farther and farther away. I realized he was trying to protect himself while draining the bear’s qi.
With a growl and mighty leap, the bear smashed through a stand of pine trees to close the distance with Borba. The streamers wrapped around the hunter, but they seemingly made no difference. He focused on dodging and weaving between what was left of the trees. The King let the aurora peter out and ran after him.
I hurriedly poured Healing Water down my pants, then splashed it on my head and under my arms. The blisters diminished, and the skin’s color faded from an ugly red to deep tan. There was a hitch in my step—likely a pulled muscle—but I let the water run down my leg and that smoothed out my gait. Manipulating my qi for me, Yuki shifted us back into Camouflage and Scentless Hunter.
I was almost out of mana now—only about four points left—but my qi ticked back up to full as Yuki refilled my reserves.
How’s your qi? I asked.
We’re at about half.
That was worth about another 35 points of qi, then. Yuki had estimated that they had twice my capacity, so the two of us together represented a ridiculous amount of qi when full—over 100 points’ worth.
Inleio had watched me fade into the background. His voice when he spoke was thready, but there was steel in it nonetheless: “Haol, switch to archery. You’re not doing much good with a spear. Tegen, withdraw for healing, but return quickly. Agath and Moon, how are you holding up?”
The dolbecs took stock of their arms and armor. Their shields had long been shredded, and there were several blood-soaked rents in their brigandine. Thin wires dangled from the small plates under the cloth. Thankfully, in addition to their potions, the team from Albei had followed the Voorhei hunters’ lead by also using wires to protect against the bear’s electrical attacks.
“We have strength enough,” Agath said for them.
“And I have qi for one more Pierce,” Mumu replied, panting.
“Same,” Kuros said, and Banan nodded to show he’d also saved enough qi for a Spiral Pierce.
Inleio turned to watch Borba dodging the King’s claws. The bear looked like a giant porcupine with all the arrows and ballista bolts sticking out of him. Still, Borba’s efforts were buying the others time to recover.
“We need a fatal strike,” Banan said, his eyes also on the battle. “A heart shot.”
“The muscles around it are too tough,” Mumu said. “It’s like striking iron. What about his brain?”
“The bones behind the eyes and mouth won’t be any weaker,” Kuros said, shaking his head. “Even with Pierce, the small ribs were enough to deflect my spear.”
“Blinding him would still be good,” Agath said.
“We’ve been trying to blind him,” Kuros said, “and it hasn’t gotten us anywhere, you stupid—”
“That’s enough,” Banan said. “The bear knows the danger that blindness poses.”
In the distance, the King crashed through the forest and left it in tatters. The spirits who lived in and among the trees raged at its destruction. An ill will collected around the combatants: the forest’s spite.
The last of the rusty light on Inleio’s body flickered out. He had nothing left to give Borba, and he shuddered, no longer able to stand upright unaided. The lodge master waved off Mumu’s offer of help and leaned on his spear. His voice was barely a whisper: “Eight?”
“Yes, I’m here.”
“Another ambush with Bearbane, but this time from the side. Banan will follow to make it look like—” Inleio coughed, and blood splattered on what was left of his prosthetic. “He’ll make it look like we’re aiming for his heart. It will be good if the strike lands true, but the real targets are his eyes, which will be Mumu and Kuro’s responsibility.”
“And us?” Agath said, gesturing to herself and Moon.
“Will charge from the rear to break his stance.” Inleio turned to look at each hunter. “All is for the purpose of creating an opening for Mumu and Kuros. Understood?”
The hunters nodded one-by-one, with Banan being the last to agree. They checked their gear one final time and left Inleio behind, leaning against a tree.
