Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

Chapter 315: Chapter 14 Wrestling the Bear_2

Winters was not at all surprised why he and Ralph hadn’t spotted it at first, because no one would consider such a huge stone to be an animal. Even though he was very aware he was tracking a giant bear, the size of the thing in front of him far exceeded his mental expectations.

The beast was so large that it could no longer be called a bear. No words could accurately describe it; only the royal eagles raised by oathbreakers could compare to it.

Could the two muskets really inflict damage on that thing? The lieutenant felt a flicker of doubt in his heart.

For many days, Winters Montagne had dreamed of finding this fierce beast. Now he was less than twenty meters away from it, but the lieutenant did not know how to kill it.

Fortunately, the beast was perfectly still at the moment, appearing to be in a deep sleep.

What to do? Fight or flee?

The hunter and the lieutenant exchanged a wordless glance.

Winters quietly placed the javelin and the military saber in his hands on the ground, then he took off the two muskets from his body, setting them down just as gently.

To avoid waking the beast on the opposite bank, every move Winters made was extremely slow and without the slightest noise.

The sound of flowing water, the chirping of birds, the rustle of wind through leaves… the more noisy the background sounds of the forest, the more terrifying the silence that the hunter and the lieutenant felt.

After putting down all his weapons, Winters gestured to Ralph not to make a sound. He silently walked over to Ralph, grabbing one of Ralph’s legs with one hand and Ralph’s arm with the other.

The lieutenant took a deep breath, his abdominal muscles suddenly tense, lifting the old hunter onto his shoulders in one movement.

As the old hunter was hoisted onto his shoulders, a crisp sound came from his bag.

Instantly, Winters felt the hairs on his back stand up, and Ralph immediately pressed down on his tool bag.

The two froze in place, not daring to move. Winters slowly turned his head to look at the giant bear. Luck was on their side; the beast was still lying under the tree, motionless.

The lieutenant nodded, carrying the old hunter back in the direction they had come from, moving slowly and steadily. The old hunter held tightly to his tool bag, preventing it from making any more noise.

Winters counted his steps silently; when he reached five hundred, he found a flat spot to put the old hunter down.

“Sir,” Ralph didn’t even have time to thank him, he knew what the lieutenant was thinking and urged in a low, anxious voice: “Just the two of us can’t deal with that creature, you mustn’t go over there alone. Sir, let’s figure it out when the others get here.”

“What if that thing runs off before the reinforcements arrive?” Winters chuckled softly, “Don’t worry, I’m not that reckless. I’ll go and watch it, make sure it doesn’t run away again.”

“Then take my foot spikes,” the old hunter said, taking a set of shoe studs from his tool pack.

After a brief explanation of how to use them, Winters took them and turned to leave.

The old hunter was at a loss, wanting to call Montagne lieutenant back but not daring to raise his voice, he could only watch helplessly as the lieutenant walked away.

Returning to the previous location, Winters recovered his weapons. The giant bear was still sound asleep beneath the tree, oblivious to the happenings around it.

“Shooting this massive thing in the body is useless; it has to be shot in the head,” Winters estimated silently in his mind. “But perhaps even the head isn’t enough; it would have to be the eyes or some other vulnerable spot.”

At this moment, what Montagne lieutenant regretted most was not having brought a cannon into the mountains.@@novelbin@@

With two guns in hand, Winters found a gently flowing shallow where he crossed the river and approached the giant bear without making a sound from downwind.

Winters was not confident in the accuracy of the muskets in his hands.

Unlike the two wheellock guns Anthony had given him, which were made by royal gunsmiths and could shoot exactly where they were aimed, their bores as smooth as mirrors,

the muskets from the Blackwater Town Armory were cheap, and their barrels were not finely polished. He had to get close enough to ensure a hit.

The closer he was to the giant bear, the more palpable was its immensity. The beast was like the embodiment of the wilderness, as if its sheer existence was to demonstrate the force of nature.

The lieutenant still had his wits about him and didn’t consider handling such an enormous creature by himself.

But he also could not allow himself to let the dangerous animal escape. So when he was about fifteen meters away from the giant creature, he found a suitable tree fork and mounted the musket.

He did not dare, and could not afford, to get any closer.

What followed was the wait.

Waiting for reinforcements.

The distance was too close, and Montagne lieutenant could even hear the bear’s breathing. At some moment, he suddenly had the illusion that the forest itself had come to life, pulsating with the breathing of the giant bear.

Time seemed to blur, perhaps a second, a minute, a quarter of an hour?

The heartbeat of the forest, paused for a second.

The bear under the shade of the trees woke up, as if a giant stone had been endowed with a soul.

Winters’ breathing halted suddenly, his heart constricting fiercely.

The bear moved its body slightly and turned its head towards Winters, sniffing with its nose.

The distance was too short, short enough for Winters to clearly see every detail of the giant beast: its unkempt fur, pronounced back, pointed ears, dark snout, cold eyes, black eye rims.

He also saw the reddish color of the fur beside the bear’s nose, the fresh blood of a recent victim.

As the two looked each other in the eye, Montagne lieutenant did not hesitate to use magic to ignite the gunpowder in the musket barrel.

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