Vayu formed a plan.
After almost getting killed by the beast in the village, Vayu had learned his lesson, so instead of rushing into the battle arena—and dying, he chose to be cautious. The arena was filled with many powerful shapeshifters, who had fought here for years and possessed monstrous strength. If he wanted to stand a chance against them, he needed to grow stronger first. Much stronger, as devouring shapeshifters was impossible for now. But the forest was different. It was filled with demonic beasts, if he could devour them, he could earn more skills and increase his chance of living inside the arena.
He slipped out of the small opening behind the laboratory and headed in the direction the cat-girl had gone. The forest here was vast, stretching beyond the city's edge and yet, many people wandered inside the forest without any fear. Vayu moved as slowly as possible, not wanting to endanger his life . After hours of searching he found a beast.
A bear—a demonic beast.
It slept peacefully with its small cub curled beside it. Its fur was a deep, earthy brown, thick like armor. Even lying down, it looked like a small sand dune and if it were to stand on its hind legs, it would be atleast twelve feet tall. Demonic beasts were bigger, stronger, deadlier than normal beasts. Vayu took a single step forward… then immediately stepped back. Because fighting something like that was suicide. This thing could tear him in half before he could even hurt it. Vayu turned around and started walking before the bear woke up, but then stopped again, as a idea sparked in mind what if he just follow the bear, he could eat the leftovers it left behind. It would be less riskier for him, a slow grin spread across his face.
Moving silently, Vayu climbed the nearest tree, settling himself among the branches like a patient predator. From there he had a perfect view of the beast below. He sat patiently waiting for the bear to wake up and move. Hidden between the leaves, he stared down at the sleeping giant, with excitement in his eyes. About an hour later, the bear stirred. Its massive chest rumbled with a deep growl as it woke its cub, nudging the little creature gently. The cub was barely a quarter of its size—the little bear blinked and then opened its eyes making them large, it didn't look like a demonic beast at all, then it opened its little mouth and yawned as if wanting to sleep more, the bear had brown fur but had some streaks of black mixed around it nape. The mother bear nudged it again and the bear started walking. Soon, the two began moving deeper into the forest.
The trees grew denser here—thick branches woven like a cage overhead. Vayu followed silently, moving from one branch to another, following behind the two . His movements were careful, controlled as he followed behind them. Although Vayu thought he was well hidden, but bears have amazing hearing senses, the mother bear had noticed him long ago, but didn't bother with him for two reasons, first she thought he was of noble blood and second she felt no ill intent from him. Vayu saw them moving between the forest, but then the mama bear froze. It slowly rose onto its hind legs, towering above the undergrowth.
It sniffed the air once… twice… then its massive head snapped toward Vayu. A chill stabbed down Vayu's spine. His body stiffened and his back was soaked in sweat instantly.
Before he could think the bear charged towards him. Its paws thundered across the forest floor, shaking the ground with each stride. Vayu grabbed the nearest branch and braced himself for impact as the bear came near, but the blow never came. The bear rushed past him, not even glancing at the tree he was hiding in. The cub, although small was unbelievably fast, darted after it like a streak of fur. Vayu exhaled sharply, forcing his lungs to work again. His heartbeat thrashed in his ears as he stabilized himself and followed behind them. He lost the sight of them after a minute—but he could still hear them as they ran inside the jungle.
When he finally caught up, he froze. He saw a gigantic beehive, which was at least three feet long and seven feet wide, hung from an ancient looking tree. Dozens—no, hundreds—of massive bees swarmed around it. Each bee was triple the size of a normal one, their stingers were nearly as long as ordinary bee. The horde attacked the bears in a buzzing frenzy. But their furious stings were useless as the thick fur absorbed everything. The giant bear ripped a slab of the hive clean off, honey dripping down slowly and falling on the ground, the mother bear placed the slab before the cub and together they began devouring it and soon after finishing everything, they were licking their paws smeared with honey.
Then the big bear suddenly stiffened again, its head rose and its eyes narrowed looking upward—but not towards Vayu, but the tree right beside Vayu. Vayu followed its gaze and a branch to his right… moved. Something slid into view, a snake—but not like the one he had ever imagined, its body was as thick as the tree trunk itself. Its length stretched across four or five trees, only some part of it was visible as it was very well hidden. Its scales shimmered like wet stone, while the tongue flickered, tasting the air. The branch beneath it bent dangerously under the weight, creaking instantly. These beast were smart and it had used some skill to reduce its weight or even the whole tree could not bear its weight.
Vayu felt his soul try to crawl out of his body "how did something that big get so close without a sound?" he thought
If it wanted him dead, he wouldn't have had time to blink. The bear and the snake locked eyes and the tension rose between them. Then the snake's long neck curled back, coiling, tensing the next instant, it lunged.
And hell broke lose
Both the bears roared and the forest erupted into chaos. The bear rushed forward, and a deep brown glow erupting around its paws. It was demonic energy, at the same time the snake's long fangs lit up with a sickly green glow, and its body shot forward like a bolt of lightning, deadly and unstoppable. It was too fast and yet the bear caught it with a single massive paw. The impact shook the surroundings, but the snake immediately twisted around the bear's paw, tightening, squeezing, trying to crush the bone. The bear roared and swung with its free paw, but the snake opened its mouth—its glowing fangs flashing and bit down.
The paw went straight into the snake's jaws, and both the brown and green demonic energy fought against each other. The bear snarled and yanked its arm back, slamming the snake onto the ground with a thunderous crack. Dust exploded around them. The snake's coils loosened for a brief second and its jaw opening from the shock. The bear ripped itself free and leaped back, panting. The snake lifted its head slowly, its massive body beginning to move, slithering and uncoiling, it circled itself again and again, piling its enormous length. It took nearly five long minutes for its full body to settle into place. With every loop, it looked bigger, more terrifying, more ancient than the bear.
But the bear didn't dare attack, it stood still, watching as it clearly knew the snake was stronger than him, so it stood guarding its cub. Then the snake's eyes opened wider and started glowing bright green. The bear's face twisted in pain which was slowly replaced with confusion and soon a drool appeared on its face. It began walking toward the snake like a mindless puppet. To the bear, he had forgotten about the snake and all he could see was a massive bee hive dripping with honey. It stopped barely foot away from the snake, its tongue flicking at empty air, licking greedily at illusions only it could see. It was clearly hypnotized by the snake. The snake lowered its head, its jaw opening slowly, savoring the moment as it silently prepared to bite.
Then— came a roar, although it was not as terrifying as the mother bear, but if contained killing intent.
ROOOAAR!!! and the baby bear charged towards the snake. The snake froze, its control weakening for a second. The big bear's body vibrated as a wave passed through it, showing sign of struggle briefly—but its mind remained trapped in the illusion, again it started licking desperately at nothing but empty air. The cub ran toward the snake with reckless fury. The snake glanced at the small creature…and dismissed it. To the serpent, the cub posed no threat as he would first devour the mother bear and then the baby bear.
But that act of arrogance lit something inside the little bear and its entire body flared with brown energy, and between the cracks of light, black streaks flashed like living fire. Then the cub slammed into the snake. The world seemed to pause as the snake's long body lifted off the ground—and flew. It smashed into a giant tree with such force that the trunk uprooted, soil exploding outward as the tree toppled.
Vayu froze.
The snake froze.
Even the cub stared at its own paws, shocked.
Despite being tiny compared to the giant bear…
The baby bear was far more stronger.