Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear

Bear-san Beats the Slime

Fina’s hands were trembling as she grabbed my bear clothes.

She was still an eleven-year-old girl, after all. She must be scared. Besides, she was flying in the sky for the first time. She must be afraid of falling.

I conjured a rope with earth magic and wrapped it around Fina and me.

“Yuna Onee-chan?”

“With this, we’ll be together even if we fall.”

“No, you can’t. If I fall, I’ll fall alone.”

“I’m just kidding, it’s just a way to save Fina if she’s about to fall. I’ll save you no matter what.”

“Yuna Onee-chan… yes, I’ll do my best.”

“You two are near the magic tool. Get ready.”

As Kagali-san approached the Slime with Fina and me on board, it stretched out its tentacles like arms, but Kagali-san avoided them and slipped past them. Fina, behind me, lets out a little scream.

“It’s around here.”

Kagali-san’s ears twitched; just as Kagali-san had said, there was a black box floating inside Slime’s body.

They’re useful ears. I wondered if it was sensing some kind of frequency or magic power.

“That black thing is a magic tool. Does it really work?

“It moves when my magic gets close to it. Then, I’ll do as I planned. I will use my magic to drive the magic tool to the surface of Slime, and Fina, the moment the magic tool is outside of Slime, I want you to be careful and hit it, because Slime will immediately try to take the magic tool in.”

“Yeah, I’ll try.”

Fina’s hand on my waist tightened.

“It’s okay if you can’t do it.”

We just have to think of something else. There must be another way to do it.

“Uh-huh.”

“Okay, then, let’s go.”

Kagali-san flew, keeping the magic tool in clear view. I used my ropes of earth magic from my Bear-San puppets to drive the magic tool inside Slime’s body, which seemed to be moving away from me more like an N-pole to N-pole, S-pole to S-pole magnet than like a willful avoidance.

Kagali-san chased after the magic tool, avoiding Slime’s attack so I would not lose sight of it.

I drove the magic tool into Slime’s surface, blocking its escape route from the left and right.

Fina’s magic was still weak, so I had to be close enough so that she could hit it easily.

Kagali-san, perhaps feeling the same way, moves closer to the magic tool to make it easier for Fina to hit the target as if to gauge the timing.

With one last push, my earth magic pushes the magic tool out.

“Fina!”

Even before my shout, Fina’s small hand released a fist-sized bear-shaped piece of earth magic.

Fina prepared herself behind my back.

The magic tool pops out from inside the Slime. At the same time, a part of the Slime extends and tries to take the magic tool in.

“Hit it!”

Fina shouts.

At the same time that the Slime tried to take in the magic tool, Fina’s bear-shaped earth magic hit the tool.

“Was it no good?”

Fina sounds a little sad.

That was the limit, timing-wise.

Almost as soon as it came out of Slime, it was back inside.

“No, look at it.”

At Kagali-san’s words, we looked at the magic tool.

The magic tool, reabsorbed into the Slime, cracked and began to melt. It seems that Slime has entered through the cracks and melted it from the inside.

It seems that the inside of the magic tool was not designed to prevent melting.

“…I did it, Yuna Onee-chan, I did it.”

I turned around to see Fina’s happy expression as if the anxiety she had felt earlier had vanished.

“Yeah, it was perfect.”

“Well done.”

“That’s because Yuna Onee-chan and big Kagali Onee-chan made it easy for me to hit the target.”

Apparently, the slime was late to notice.

“Because my magic is slow and less powerful.”

“What are you talking about? That’s enough. But there’s still more.”

“Fina, can you continue?”

“Yes, I can.”

After the first success, Fina seems to have gotten the timing right, and broke the magic tools with two or three bear-shaped clay spells.

It was going well.

But why a Bear?

“Fina, aren’t you getting better at magic?”

“Well, I’ve been practicing with light magic, and I was hoping to have an adventure with Yuna Onee-chan someday.”

Fina said shyly.

“That’s what you were thinking about.”

“But Yuna Onee-chan is so strong, I’m not sure if I’d be much of a help…”

Her voice changed from back to a lonely one.

“That’s not true. If you were a liability, I wouldn’t have asked you to go out with me, and even if Fina couldn’t use magic, I’d want her to stay with me…”

Something embarrassing.

“…Yuna Onee-chan.”

“You guys, we’re not flirting on top of me, are you.”

“We’re not flirting!”

“Then, do you know what’s going on? We are approaching the next magic tool.”

“Fina, let’s go!”

“Un!”

The magic tool was steadily being destroyed.

At this rate, we can destroy all the magic tools.

Just when I thought so, Kagali-san suddenly changed direction.

“Whoa!”

Fina, who was behind me, lost her balance and fell off.

However, Fina and I were firmly connected by earth magic, so we didn’t fall.

It was a good thing we were connected by earth magic.

“Are you two okay?”

“We’re fine.”

“Un.”

“I’m sorry. We were attacked from an unexpected direction, and it took me a while to respond.”

It was a good thing I had prepared insurance to tie Fina and me together.

Insurance was a must.

And then, as we destroyed a few magic tools, I heard Fina’s labored breathing from behind my back.

“Fina?”

“Nah, it’s nothing.”

No, it looks like she’s in pain.

“You must be out of magic. You shouldn’t lie.”

There were still some magic tools left.

I was in my white bear outfit, with more magic output than most people.

Fina had just learned magic and didn’t know how to distribute it. Maybe she was putting all her magic power into each blow, one blow at a time, as hard as she could.

If it were a game, there would be a numerical value, so you know how much magic power you have left, but there was no such convenient thing in this world.

You have to know the limit by yourself and use magic power while thinking about it. But it was too much to ask of Fina, who had just learned magic.

She should take a break and recover her magical power.

“Kagali-san, to the bear house.”

“No, it’s okay. I can still do my best.”

“Kagali-san, what about the rest of the magic tools?”

Kagali-san’s ears twitched.

“Three.”

“I’ll do my best.”

No need to overdo it here. After Fina’s magic power recovers, there would be no problem to fight.

“Yuna Onee-chan…”

“…Just one more time.”

“Yeah.”

Kagali-san searches for the magic tool, and I use earth magic to throw the magic tool out of the Slime. Normally, Fina’s magic should have hit the magic tool, but no magic appeared.

Just when I thought it was hopeless.

I heard a sound like a gust of wind, and something passed by me at a tremendous speed.

And before Slime was able to reabsorb the magic tool, something hit the magic tool, before the Slime was able to fully re-absorb it into its body. An arrow pierced the magic tool.

“Arrow?”

I looked behind where the arrow flew and saw Mia on the back of the Swaying Bear, holding a bow on top of the cylinder I had made.

Could it be that Mia was the one who shot the arrow?

The Kagali-san carrying us flew to where Mia was.

“Fufu, I hit the target!”

Mia was in a good mood.

But seeing her holding the bow while straddling a bear was surreal.

“Is that the arrow you just shot?”

“As you can see, Fina was in a lot of pain. Carol said Fina was using too much magic, so I asked Swaying Bear to bring us to a place where I could shoot the arrow.”

“From here is quite a distance.”

It was not within the reach of a normal arrow.

It was quite a distance away.

“This bow had a wind magic stone and other various abilities added to it, so it could make the arrow fly farther than an ordinary bow.”

“My Lady, if you can do that, then tell me quickly.”

“How can I tell you that? This girl said she wanted to do something for Yuna. But if her magic power has run out, it’s a different story. From here on, it’s my job as the older one.”

Mia’s puffing out her chest, which we don’t have.

But she was like a watchful big sister.

“Fina, leave the rest to me.”

“…yes.”

Fina nodded sadly, bowing her head.

“Don’t look so sad, Fina did her best. You might have wanted to do it all on your own, right up to the end. But leave this part to Mia Onee-chan.”

“…Yes, Mia Onee-chan, please.”

Smiling this time, I asked Mia for help.

“Then, Mia, I can leave it to you, can’t I?”

“I’d like to say leave it to me, but I don’t have that many arrows in my arsenal. How many more magic tools left?”

“Two more, I think.”

“Thank God. I had three arrows left. I used them when I was attacked by the monsters when I came to this town. And they don’t work on armored knights. But it’s cool to have a last turn.”

It would have been cool if she hadn’t said it herself. Now that she said it, she messed up.

But I wondered how Mia and the others got here. To reduce the burden on Kagali-san, I left Fina in the hands of Swaying Bear and Mia while Kagali-san and I went to chase down the magic tool.

Knowing the range of her bow and arrow, Mia kept her distance from Slime and fired her arrows at the magic tool.

“This is the last.”

The arrow pierced the magic tool as it emerged from Slime’s body.

“It’s really the last one. You’re sure you didn’t miss anything?”

“Last time, all the magical tool’s responses that I could sense are gone. Besides, look at that.”

Kagali-san looked at the edge of Slime.

“It’s splitting?”

The giant Slime collapsed and became a smaller Slime; the Slime went in and out of the town. More and more Slime dispersed.

In other words, the Slime had been liberated.

The magic tool created by someone made them do something they didn’t want to do, and they protected the magic tool. If it had been me, I would have gone crazy.

The Slime may be a monster, but I feel sorry for it for once.

So, I would not attack the fleeing Slime.

The rest was a matter between the people who came here and the Slimes.

And this was the end of our battle.

“It’s over~”