Chapter 4: Fighting With Bears

I am currently spurring my newly purchased Executive One on the highway, heading north.
In order to earn skill points in this world, I will need a hunting ground. In regards to an appropriate hunting ground, I asked Google-sensei with various keywords.

Upon going through all the keywords that I can think of off the top of my head, a surprising result came up.
In order to test that out, here I am, pushing Executive One to the speed limit.

After several hours of nonstop driving, I have entered Iwate Prefecture in the Touhoku area (northeastern part of Japan).
Iwate Prefecture turns out to be an absurd prefecture in which the number of annual bear sightings is almost double that of prefectures in the third place and below.
I’ve always associated ‘bear’ with ‘Hokkaido,’ so the finding was quite unexpected for me.

But with that said, there is actually a ‘Bear Alert’ page on the official Iwate Prefecture website, and there is mention of some elementary school that had to postpone a scheduled excursion due to sighting reports.
With all that lined up, it seems pretty sure that this is a place where bears come out quite often.

After entering Iwate Prefecture, I get off the highway, and stop Executive One at a random parking lot that seems quite unoccupied.
Then I change into the other car that I bought as an aside that’s been stowed onto Executive One.

Getting into the normal passenger car that was loaded into the giant camping car, I follow the guidance of a navigation system and head towards the mountain that I have in mind.
I feel like I’m in a fighter jet that got scrambled from an aircraft carrier.

Which reminds me.

The relationship between aircraft carriers and fighter jets.
Aircraft carriers are ‘ships,’ so the jets stowed on them are ‘ship-borne planes.’
Then what about this passenger car that gets stowed on Executive One, which is a giant camping car?

…… Car-borne car?

I feel like I just coined a very retarded word.
It sounds really lame, so let’s forget that word ever existed.

I finally reach my destination after driving for a while.
I get out of the car, then enter the mountain on foot.

I see a signpost almost immediately——‘Beware of bears.’
This normally scares whoever’s reading it, but I’m just thinking ‘bingo.’

Proceeding deeper into the mountain, I head in the direction away from human civilization.
I bump into a bear right away.

“Is it fine to find one so easily?”

Or so I think for an instant, until I finally accept the truth of this prefecture’s position at the very top of the chart for annual sightings.

The bear also notices my presence, and looks straight at me.
I make my way over with brisk steps.
This is the very reason why I’ve come. There’s no reason to hesitate.

My casual approach apparently confuses the bear very much. Taking advantage of that, I throw a preemptive full-power punch.

“ROAARRRR!”

The bear rolls a full circle before being crashing to the ground.
The attack was enough to send it flying, but not enough to be fatal. The bear quickly gets up and roars at me.

“You want a piece of me?”

The bear spreads its arms wide open with bloodshot eyes, then attempts to envelope me in assault.

My entire figure, along with my shadow on the ground, is entirely covered by the bear. Even my vision is completely filled with bear.
But of course, I don’t intend to receive the bear’s attack straight on like an idiot. The moment the bear’s arms cross in a ‘hug,’ I crouch in evasion, then bury a punch into its gut.

The body that is almost two times the size of a regular human folds into a「く」character and is sent flying.

“Like I’ll let you get away! Leave your skill points behind!”

I kick the ground in pursuit. The two attacks in a row seem to have dealt quite significant damage to the bear, with the agony rendering it incapable of quickly getting back up.
I grab one of its arms to get it to stand up, circle around to the back, then loop my arms around in a stranglehold.

Then I pour strength into my arms, and——snap.
The bear’s neck snaps, and the fight is over.

——You have earned 20 skill points.

Delicious, delicious skill points.
It is originally supposed to be 10, but has become 20 thanks to [Double Skill Points].
That’s 10 hoodlums in one go.

Leaving that bear behind, I proceed deeper into the mountain——or not, because I’ve just encountered another bear.
This time, it’s already in a frenzy from the start, eyes completely bloodshot.

“I’m sorry, but you’ll have to die too.”

I head towards the frenzied bear.
But I have no intention of facing off against a frenzied bear from the front.

[Invisibility II], activated.
My body immediately fades away.
The frenzied bear jolts in shock, then starts looking around listlessly in search of me.

Making full use of my twenty seconds of invisibility, I circle around the bear, apply a stranglehold to it from its defenseless back, and snap its neck also in one jerk.

——You have earned 20 skill points.

I got another 20 points. That’s already 40 in total.
It was indeed a correct decision to come here.

Unlike with hoodlums, I don’t have to worry about preface nor clean up, so it’s much easier.
It did take quite a lot of time to reach here, but I’m convinced that coming here is the right call.
I circle around the mountain, managing to hunt down 3 more bears until the sun rises.
This day, I have earned a total of 100 skill points.

－－－－－Skill－－－－－
Skill Points: 111/999

Acquired Skills (6/10)
[Close Combat V]
[Increase Attack Power (Evade) I]
[Invisibility II]
[Lower Point Cost] (80%)

[Double Skill Points] (200%)
[Complete Translation]
－－－－－－－－－－－－－

Seeing my unused skill points return to being three digits, I consider moving onto the next stage.

The mountain in the night does have its dangers, so I decide to return to Executive One first.
But at that moment, I encounter another bear.

The one this time is so huge that I can sense it clearly even in spite of the fact that the night has gone completely dark.

“G-, go away!!!!”

And there is a woman running away from said bear.
It is a slope, the woman is desperately running away, and the bear is in hot pursuit.
Its eyes and movements clearly convey that it has totally recognized the woman as prey.

The difference in speed is clear to see. At this rate, the woman will be caught in a few seconds.

“Tch!”

I find myself already dashing forward, aiming to help her by stepping in between.
But I am not going to make it in time.
The experience that I gained from clearing the other world is telling me that at this rate, I definitely will not make it in time.

The distance, my own acceleration, the bear’s velocity, and the woman’s velocity.
As a result of considering all the factors, I can almost see the result of the bear having already caught up to the woman before I arrive.

Then the situation worsens.
The woman’s feet catches on something, causing her to trip and fall. Not having enough time to get back up, all she can do is face the bear and desperately crawl backwards.
If the bear really catches up to her in that situation, then everything is over.

There’s no time to hesitate.

[Close Combat VI]——is still not enough, so level 7!
Expending 48 and 56 points respectively, the total of 104 points brings me up to [Close Combat VII].
[Close Combat] does not only provide power and speed for close combat. It also provides the acceleration for closing the distance to the opponent.

With the increase acceleration from [Close Combat VII], I thrust myself forward.

“F——”

Even with that, the timing is really borderline.
Not having the time to do anything else, I slam my fist into the bear’s face with the full momentum of my charge.

“——LY AWWAAAAAYYYYYY!!”

The punch lands square on its face.
The bear that was charging towards the woman suddenly receives an enormous force from its side.
It is sent flying with incredible momentum, mowing down several trees growing off the mountain trail.

“In-, incredible……”

The woman’s eyes are wide open and her face is looking incredulous, even as she is still sitting on the ground.

On the other hand, I heave a sigh of relief at having averted a tragedy from happening.