Chapter 213 Owlbear

The owlbear is a dangerous monster widely distributed across forests, mountains, and plains.

Just as its name suggests, its most striking feature is its bizarre appearance—a combination of an "owl" and a "bear".

It possesses the burly, mountainous body of a bear, standing nearly three meters tall, topped with the head of an owl.

Even its roar sounds like the deep, low hoot of a bird.

The origin of this creature has been debated in academic circles for many years.

Some scholars believe it to be the accidental creation of a mad, daring mage's experiment.

After all, whether from a physiological standpoint or through the lens of reproductive evolution, it does not look like a creature that could arise from natural evolution.

Those who refute this theory, however, point to Elven records from thousands of years ago, which already contain descriptions of creatures resembling the owlbear.

On the Aifala Continent, it is perfectly normal for monsters to look a little strange.

Opinions on the owlbear's origins vary, and to this day, there is no definitive conclusion.

Undeniably, however, this dangerous creature has become a part of the natural world, ranking among the monsters that adventurers pray to the gods they never encounter before setting out on a quest.

Owlbears are ferocious, ill-tempered creatures. Their intelligence, noticeably higher than that of ordinary beasts, does not teach them restraint or manners; it merely helps them tear prey after prey to shreds, covering their caves with rotting flesh and scattered bones.

In most situations, they love using their massive, solid bodies to brawl with other monsters in the forest. Because of their reckless, injury-ignoring fighting style, even stronger and more robust monsters sometimes choose to retreat.

Their extreme aggression and foul tempers cause many unlucky adventurers to die beneath their beaks every year.

If you meet one head-on in the forest, the only thing you can do... is pray that it has already eaten its fill.

Blindly attacking or running away will only provoke its viciousness.

It is worth noting that the owlbear's Challenge Rating is "3".

This means that taking down a fully healthy adult owlbear without casualties requires a well-structured, fully prepared team of four Level 3 Class Holders.

While Challenge Rating might not flawlessly capture a monster's exact strength, it is more than enough to indicate its danger level.

For reference, take the Petrification Lizard, the Basilisk, that Xia Nan encountered during his second quest after crossing over to this world. It halved their squad's numbers before they even saw what it looked like, and it forced everyone—including the guard Wood and the Half-Elf Hai'an—to flee in utter defeat without the slightest capacity to fight back, nearly wiping out the entire team. Its Challenge Rating was also only "3".

It must be pointed out that at least half of the Basilisk's Challenge Rating of 3 likely came from its "Petrification Gaze".

But the owlbear possesses no special abilities whatsoever.

Relying purely on its physical strength and a foul temper that ranks high even among monsters, it forcibly drags its Challenge Rating up, becoming a nightmare for countless adventurers.

Xia Nan had no idea why this fierce, cruel beast had chosen him as its first target.

Perhaps it was his relatively rearward position, or the blood and gore from other beasts on his body, or perhaps it was just pure coincidence.

Regardless.

At this moment, as he was sent flying backward, he once again experienced the terrifying, overwhelming impact of that massive, honking truck from the instant before his transmigration.

An intense, agonizing pain he hadn't felt in a long time since becoming a Class Holder erupted from his forearms, chest, and abdomen, spreading throughout his body.

He had reacted in time to block the direct attack with his Arm Shield, letting the tremendous force—enough to crush an ordinary person into a pile of meat—be weakened multiple times by the Snake-Scale Arm Shield, the Plate-Chain Composite Armor, and [Bronze Sinews and Iron Bones]. Even so, the airborne Xia Nan couldn't help but fall into a momentary daze, his eyes losing focus.

Were it not for his reasonably firm willpower, he might have passed out on the spot.

[Tidal Stabilization] activated silently:

—Falling damage halved; any push/pull effects applied to you can be increased or decreased depending on the situation.

This caused Xia Nan, whose slightly tilted body should have been blasted deep into the forest under the owlbear's impact, to suddenly feel lighter in midair.

Like a fluttering autumn leaf, he instantly regained his lost center of gravity.

From the outside, the air around him seemed to turn into a layer of viscous water, allowing him to land lightly in a bizarre arc.

Squelch—

His bloodstained leather boots crushed the rotting leaves, sinking deeply into the muddy soil.

Driven by the residual momentum, Xia Nan slid backward until he crashed into the trunk of a thick oak tree. Only when his metal armor collided with the bark with a muffled thud did he finally come to a halt.

He quickly checked his injuries.

The pain in his chest, abdomen, and arms was still intense, but fortunately, he had reacted fast enough to assume a defensive posture in a hurry. Combined with his decent physical defense, he hadn't suffered any severe wounds.

His elbow joints moved freely; the only thing lingering in his body was the pain.

He shifted his gaze forward.

The owlbear, drawn over by the thick scent of blood and slaughter on the battlefield, had not chosen to pursue him after knocking him away.

Instead, it stayed where it was and launched a fierce assault on the remaining three members of the Sea Thorn Squad.

Hoot—

The deep bird cry echoed and whistled through the branches and bushes.

Its massive, curved, and razor-sharp beak opened wide, revealing its cutting edges and the jagged little bone spurs near the jaw hinge.

Protruding from its heavy, pitch-black bear paws were hard, curved talons resembling daggers.

They didn't even need to be exceptionally sharp; no matter how blunt, driven by thick arms comparable to tree trunks, they were enough to cleave in two any flesh and blood that dared to stand in its way.

"Bang!"

Dust splattered and dead leaves flew into the air.

A deep claw print was left on the ground. Cash, who had been standing in front of the owlbear, shifted away with his Stone Spear in the nick of time, dodging a blow that would have killed him on the spot.

The middle-aged man, clad in Scale Armor and possessing rich adventuring experience, kept his face tight. He seemed entirely focused on the battle at hand, revealing no obvious emotional fluctuations.

But upon closer inspection, one could notice his slightly trembling calves, his knuckles turning white from gripping his Stone Spear too tightly, and the flickering unease and panic deep in his eyes.

Clearly, he was nowhere near as calm as he appeared.

For any low-level adventurer, the appearance of an owlbear was practically a disaster.

In Rivervale Town, the Sea Thorn Squad might be a Class Holder team that many bottom-tier adventurers couldn't hope to match.

But in front of a monster on the owlbear's level, they were no different from a decapitated panther or a leaf crushed underfoot during battle.

Shadows flickered.

Her Rogue instincts allowed Veris to catch the extremely brief moment of stiffness right after the owlbear's attack.

She burst into motion!

Emanating a dangerous aura, her poison-coated dagger thrust violently toward the vital spot on the back of the owlbear's neck.

Its massive body granted the beast terrifying strength and explosive power, but relatively speaking, its agility was noticeably lacking.

Therefore, faced with the Half-Drow's incredibly tricky strike, the owlbear failed to dodge in time.

It let the dagger land directly on its body.

And then—

"Snick."

Veris only felt an indescribable resistance travel up her hand, completely devoid of the familiar drag of a sharp blade piercing through flesh and blood.

The dense, heavy brownish mane gradually transitioned into hard, fluffy feathers around its shoulders and neck, covering a layer of skin thicker and tougher than tree bark.

Fur, skin, fat, and muscle—together, they formed the owlbear's natural defense.

In the rush after exerting force, it might not have been able to make any defensive maneuvers against the Rogue's attack, but its beastly combat instincts allowed it to tense its muscles and compact its downy feathers in less than a second.

This caused the Short Dagger to merely pierce through the feathers before being stopped by the thick hide pushed outward by bulging muscles.

Not a single drop of blood was drawn.

Boom—

A deafening sound of tearing air abruptly erupted!

An arm thicker than a grown man's waist swung its talons, tearing through the air to swat at Veris at its side like a fly.

Scarlet flashed, and Xia Nan only heard a miserable cry of pain by his ears.

The next second, Veris blurred into a shadow and retreated to Cash's side.

A large chunk of flesh was already missing from her left shoulder. Blood spewed out, and a flash of bone-white was faintly visible underneath.

It hadn't been a direct hit.

Veris's movements could already be considered incredibly swift; the instant she realized she couldn't break its defense, she pushed off her feet, preparing to distance herself.

But even so, she was still grazed by the swinging talons.

Foreseeably, if she had been even a fraction of a second slower, what got sliced off wouldn't have been just a chunk of meat, but half an arm, or simply her entire life.

After Veris pulled half a bottle of Healing Potion from her belt pouch and poured it all into her mouth, her wound rapidly stopped bleeding, healing at a visible rate.

"Damn it!" she cursed, abandoning any need to hide her Undercommon accent. "Where did an owlbear come from? Aren't we still on the outskirts of the forest?"

Cash didn't reply—or rather, he simply had no time to.

Acutely aware that the prey in front of it was recovering from its injuries, how could the owlbear possibly give them a chance to catch their breath?

Those massive, disc-like avian eyes unique to owls flickered with a cold, bloodthirsty light.

Its thick limbs pumped as it charged straight toward the two of them like a freight train.

Answering it, however, was a high-pitched wolf howl ringing out from the flank.

A phantom Wolf Head, condensed from branches, blood, and mist, roared as it closed in!

Even knowing the enemy's immense strength, Xia Nan had never been the type to back down from a fight.

Given the current situation, he naturally had to fulfill his duty and buy his teammates time to recover.

Simultaneously, numerous thorny vines burst from the soil directly beneath the owlbear.

—Further back in the formation, Mint gripped her Yew Staff tightly with both hands, her lips moving rapidly as she chanted an incantation.

Even though the thorns were snapped like weeds the moment they snaked up the beast's legs, the owlbear's movement speed still paused for a fraction of a second.

This allowed Xia Nan to close the distance, using the physical momentum from [Fang Hunt] to swing his Decapitating Longsword and execute his max-level Level 5 [Spinning Slash].

"Slash!"

An iron-gray arc flashed fleetingly through the forest.

Downy feathers scattered, and fresh blood lingered on the blade's surface.

Compared to its outstanding durability, the Decapitating Longsword was only slightly sharper than ordinary weapons, and Xia Nan's Strength attribute was only two points higher than an ordinary person's. Against regular monsters, this was perfectly adequate; what a one-hit decapitation truly required was precision and timing.

But against the owlbear, whose physical resilience was nothing short of absurd, the strike merely left a decent-sized wound on the side of its thigh.

It wasn't fatal; it didn't even hinder its mobility.

It could only be considered a light injury.

If anything, the pain radiating from the wound only caused the furious bestial nature in its avian eyes to burn even hotter.

With a light wave of its right arm, it tore the air apart. The pitch-black talons—capable of shattering armor with a mere scrape—forced Xia Nan to use [Fang Hunt] once more to quickly retreat.

At the same time, its left claw slammed downward violently. A fierce gale surged, whipping up countless dead leaves and broken twigs, forcing Cash—who had taken the opportunity to approach from the front—back.

Ignoring another thrust from Veris on its flank, the owlbear shrieked and charged straight toward Mint in the rear.

Nearly three meters tall, with rock-hard muscles clinging to a massive frame wrapped in thick fat and down, it was like a moving mountain of flesh.

Tanking the attacks from both sides, it rapidly closed the distance to Mint with astonishing explosive power and an exaggerated short-distance sprint speed.

Xia Nan, having been forced back again, was the furthest away. [Fang Hunt] wasn't some teleportation ability that could cross space; he couldn't possibly get there in time.

Cash and Veris could only stand rooted in place, watching helplessly as the owlbear rapidly bore down on Mint.

Beneath such immense force, those barbed thorns were no different from the surrounding twigs and bushes, crushed into mush the moment they sprouted.

Realizing her spells couldn't stop the enemy and that her teammates couldn't support her in time, Mint scrambled backward, desperately trying to put as much distance between them as possible.

But she had barely taken a few steps back; before she could even turn around, a disturbing, towering shadow engulfed her body amidst a horrifying hoot.

Xia Nan was too far away, his vision blocked by the owlbear's massive frame.

All he could see was the owlbear's charging back, its arm swinging upward, and the young girl's body being tossed into the air like a broken ragdoll.

The crisp crack of shattering bones was muffled by the howling wind. Her chest caved in unnaturally, and the blood spraying from her mouth stood out starkly against her pale cheeks.

Her plain robes, dyed blood-red, fluttered in the air as her frail, petite figure disappeared into the dense forest.

"Fuck!"