Her approach was like lightning as she zipped across the muddied earth. I could only stare in awe as this bright high school girl challenged what could only be dubbed a complete monster.
Striding to its backside, Agawa began recklessly stabbing at the bear's lower leg, which had already been jammed with the last dagger. With each brief moment of the blade's insertion, before she removed it, the wet squelching of the bear's flesh could be heard between its repeated irritated whimpers.
Though I was no expert at bear anatomy, I'd say Agawa must've severed an important tendon or two during her reckless barrage of skewering strikes. Something I had to assume, given how the beast struggled to stay upright.
Feeling the consequences of having its leg eviscerated, the bear fumbled backward, falling onto its wounded leg and embedding the dagger even deeper into its flesh. Thankfully, the shift in position forced its swing to miss Takagi by the length of a hair with its razor claws.
Seeing the bear lose its balance, Agawa shouted at me. "Don't just stand there; get Takagi!"
"O-Of course, "I stammered over myself in surprise that she'd succeeded in stunning the beast, "right away!"
I sprinted toward the danger, with every bone in my body cursing me as a fool for placing myself so close to a vicious predator. Still, I may just have been a numbers guy, but I was loyal dammit! I had an honor to uphold!
Thus, I ignored every warning light flashing within my mind and dashed to where Takagi had been kneeling…and right within the bear's striking range.
I glanced at the beast, and I could feel the quake in my legs become even more pronounced. Still, I ignored it and withheld my panicked breaths.
I grabbed Takagi by the arm and pulled him upwards as the beast stared at us in a seething rage.
Takagi struggled against me, of course, dropping his sword in the process. "What the hell are you doing?! Get ou-"
"Shut the hell up, boy!" I shouted, surprising even myself with my crude word choice. Luckily, it was effective, and Takagi instantly became complacent with my demand. I guess he'd been shocked as well.
I pulled Takagi onto me and steadily but hastily retreated from the beast. It had tried to inch closer and take a swipe, but Agawa's assault had been relentless and kept the beast from advancing.
Once we'd made a three-meter gap between the bear and us, we ran to the shelter of the roots. The entire while, Agawa hadn't let up her endless stabbing of the beast's flesh.
Though the leg she'd been wounding was no longer accessible, Agawa swiveled around and began thrusting the knife into wherever it would stick. She created so many holes in the beast's body that its side became redder than brown.
pαпdα Йᴏνê|,сòМ With each jab, the bear howled with an increasingly angered guttural cry and began thrashing about to force Agawa away. Loud thuds from its fattened body rhythmically played as it flailed against the mud.
Sadly, though Agawa had been determined, she couldn't confidently keep up with a beast gone mad, so she relented and backed away.
Once she jumped away, Agawa hurriedly rendezvoused with us back underneath the roots we'd been using for safety.
After her retreat, the beast collapsed in exhaustion. Though it lay deathly still, it was apparent that it hadn't yet died. There was still a distinct aura of bloodlust in the air. Given those wounds, however, its death was all but inevitable.
"Is everyone okay?!" Agawa rasped, trying to regain her breath. "How's Nakamura?!" She'd been panting uncontrollably and kneeling with the bloodied palms of her hands on her knees. Staining her clothing even more than it already was.
"He's… I don't know. Not good, obviously!" Ayame impatiently snarked.
In Agawa's absence, it looked like the two sisters took it upon themselves to try to care for the injured. While Hikari tended to Takahashi's head by resting it on a cushion made from leaves and elevating it, Ayame was frantically trying to bind and pressure Nakamura's back wounds.
Ayame's hands ran slick with his blood as it bubbled up from his wounds. Though she pressed tight with as much pressure as she could muster, the claw and bite injuries on his back bled profusely, even creating a puddle on his back.
"He needs a doctor!" She shouted in a panicked tone.
"You think?!" Takagi taunted Ayame and glared at Nakamura. He looked like he'd wanted to shout more to release a torrent of anger, but he gritted his teeth and tore his eyes away.
Meanwhile, I heard a soft voice calling me from the sidelines. "H-Hey, "Hikari beckoned to us and pointed to an empty patch of dirt beside her. "Over here."
Shuffling forward, I brought Takagi to where Hikari had instructed. Carefully, I laid him down with his back to the tree's base. He groaned in pain and discomfort as his torn back touched with the rough bark.
Once fully settled onto the ground, Hikari inched over to look at Takagi's wounds. They were grotesque, purpled, and ran crusted, wet with a mixture of old and fresh blood.
We didn't have much to bind with at this point, but she sacrificed a few straps from her clothes to wrap Takagi's leg gash in.
Takagi grunted through clenched teeth as he endured the stinging pain. Although Hikari wasn't an expert like Nakamura, she carefully but tightly wrapped Takagi's raw flesh in cloth with precise circular motions.
"Where'd you two learn to do this?" I asked while she worked.
"O-Our…" Hikari tried to respond but struggled to utter even a syllable.
"Our mother, "Ayame affirmed for her sister. "Our mom was a nurse." She spoke with total concentration. She'd been absolutely absorbed in her task of minimizing Nakamura's blood loss.
Meanwhile, since the injured were being cared for, Agawa kept her vigil on carefully eyeing the beast she'd left behind. It was just before Hikari had finished tending to Takagi that Agawa gasped.
"What…the hell?" Agawa said, pointing toward the bear that had been stationary all this time.
We all focused our eyes on the whimpering beast, with even Takagi trying to angle his neck for a view. It made a somber howl when it started glowing an ethereal green aura again.
This time, instead of accelerating toward us at high speeds, the flesh that had been parted began weaving itself back together. It was exactly as we'd seen from the kid, Roman, back in the clinic.
It was an awe-inspiring sight, one that captivated all of us with fascination and fear. The only exception was Takagi, who'd been questioning what we were so focused on. Questions that became more irritated in tone as we neglected to answer them.
Could you blame us, though? Our minds were working at max capacity trying to make sense of what we'd been witnessing.
As if the glowing aura around the beast hadn't been mind-boggling enough, even the crimson puddle on the ground turned a hazy and bright green. Once the blood had become entirely illuminated, it began lifting into the air as an iridescent mist.
It wafted around the bear, curing it of its wounds or, at least, most of them.
I guess, as miraculous as the sight was, it still couldn't wholly mend all the damage Agawa and Takagi had done. Including the knife that Agawa had stuffed into its leg.
Its fur billowed wildly, despite the lack of wind, as it stood up from the ground.
I didn't want to believe it, but the beast had nearly fully recovered from Takagi and Agawa's assault with ease. It turned toward us, more furious than ever and raring for round two. Looking back at my companions, I couldn't say the same for us.
"Shit…" I said, losing any sense of elegance.
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