Syla dashed to the back, pushing her body to the opposite direction as moments later, the bear's claw tore through the ground with a loud impact.
Boom!
"Good grief, if you were on earth you'd be an unkillable myth among the villagers, they would provide you with sacrifices every week." Syla said after she saw the bear's raw strength.
"But unfortunately, you're living in a world where you can't judge something based on their appearance alone." Syla suddenly pushed her leg again, this time she was dashing forward, she intended to face the bear head on.
And the bear gladly accepted her challenge.
RAUGHHMM!!!
Syla was about to enter the bear's attack zone, and the bear also ready to swing its claws towards Syla, it made sure to put everything into the attack as it knew that Syla was fast enough to dodge it. If the bear can't catch Syla with its strength, then what it needed to do is to simply match its speed.
"You don't have a tactic." Syla said before abruptly changing her course by pushing her body with her other leg to the side, the sudden change in her trajectory made the bear loses its focus and when its claws was already falling to the ground, the bear couldn't block or prepare for the attack that was about to happen.
Swing!
Syla pointed her sword towards the bear's chest and with her flexibility, she managed to generate enough force to slice the bear's entire body into two. She watched as half of the bear's body slowly slides down and fall into the opposite side with each other.
Thud!
Thud!
As Syla turned her head to see the bear corpse, she swung her sword once more to clean the blood stain before inserting it into the scabbard on her waist.
"That bear was stronger than any of the orcs.." She said with a sigh. "Ah right! The flowers-"
Syla soon looked at her left palm and was relieved to see the three vaguely glowing flowers still within her grasp, she fortunately didn't let it go when she was fighting with the bear otherwise it would be crushed or even buried by the soil.
"It didn't die right?" Syla said as she looked closer, the vague light that was being emitted by the three flowers didn't disappear after a few seconds, and Syla was once again relieved to see that it was still absorbing mana.
"Huff– Im already so far into the forest, but all i encountered was just this bear, i haven't met with a deer or a wolf yet.. Usually they would be everywhere, but now its all quiet." Syla said before looking into her surroundings.
There was only the sound of insects and birs flying in the sky. While Syla was thinking about where to go next, she was startled by the sound of multiple footsteps coming closer to her location.
'A person?! No, maybe an orc? Or perhaps something else?' She thought.
Syla hid behind the tree just incase if the footsteps belongs to something that she did not expect, and after waiting for a minute, Syla could hear the noises getting closer, it was only a few meters away from her and from the noises alone, Syla could tell that there were not just one, but approximately 6 person that is trying to approach her.
'Could it be a giant spider? Or a centipede?' Syla first assumed that it would be a monster, since the chance of encountering other people in this forest was incredibly low, she doesn't want to make a false hope.
Then, a few seconds later, Syla heard a rustling noise among the bushes that were not far from her, while she was hiding, Syla peeked from the tree and what she saw was not a monster, but rather, a human.
There were multiple of them, and as soon as Syla saw their face, her expression quickly turned into shock. As it turns out, the people that was coming after her was none other than Errick and his mercenaries friends.
"Uh oh.. Yikes– Looks like a fight just broke out between this Forest Bear and whatever that killed it.." Errick said when he saw the bear corpse.
"What kind of creature could kill this thing in such a brutal way.." Vahen said.
"I think its not a monster, this cut is way too smooth, its almost like it was caused by a sword." Anther added, he observed the bear corpse and noticed the small details.
"So another adventurer? That's unexpected." Yveia said.
Whilst everyone was confused and wondering who might killed the Forest Bear, they soon saw a shadowy figure emerging from behind the tree infront of them. At first they were cautious and immediately pulled out their weapons, but after the figure was lit up by the sunlight that broke through the crevices from the tree leaves, they instead was surprised and relieved at the same time.
"Errick?" Syla said as she walked closer to her acquaintance.
"Huh?!.. Syla!?" Errick's couldn't believe what he was seeing his jaw almost stuck while being opened before he closed his mouth to answer.
"SYLA!?" Yveia was obviously shocked aswell, along with Vahen and Anther, they said the same thing with the same tone of voice.
"Syla!? Why are you here!?" Hilma was also confused by the unexpected encounter.
"What are you doing– This is the inner layer of the forest, aren't you supposed to kill orcs?!" Errick said. "Wait, are you searching for the orc dungeon right now?"
"Yep, since im already deep into the forest, i thought it'd be a waste if i just left now, might aswell check if the dungeon was true or not, and if it is, then i'll see if i can clear it." Syla answered nonchalantly.
"I- is that so.. Well, you being an A-Rank adventurer, i suppose you could try clearing it.. But how are you going to find the dungeon? Do you just exploring the forest until you stumble upon it?" Errick asked again.
"You want to clear a dungeon on your own? You got some guts, though its not like i doubt your skill." Hilma said.
"You keep surprising me everytime we met, first with that bandits at the cliff passage, and now an orc dungeon.. Haha! Im inspired!" Yveia was smiling as if she received some insight and wisdom.
"It might be risky, but there's no doubt that you're capable enough." Anther also added his opinion.
While everyone was praising Syla for her noble intention, the alchemist, Verima, who had been observing the conversation this whole time, noticed the strange flowers that Syla was holding in her left hand.
"Umm, excuse me but what is that in your hand?" She asked to Syla, a little shy but she can't hold her curiosity.
"Huh? Ohh.. This is-" Syla opened her left palm and showed the flowers to everyone. "I found it when i was exploring, it seemed valuable, so i plucked it out to get it appraised later."
"Hey hey– Isn't that the Drowsy Edelweiss?!" Errick said loudly, almost like a shout.
"HUH!? REALLY!? WAIT THAT'S— IS THAT REALLY THE FLOWER!?" Vahen was beyond surprised and instantly get close to Syla to observe the flower in her hand a bit more.
Everyone also walked closer so that they could see the so called 'Drowsy Edelweiss'.
Verima on the other hand, was sure that the flowers that Syla have was the Drowsy Edelweiss, she didn't need to see it closer since she had already dealed with it a few times and knew the differences.
"Verima, is this really the flower?" Yveia asked.
"Yeah, it's the Drowsy Edelweiss." Verima replied calmly.
"You gotta be kidding me.." Hilma added.
"What's the problem?" Syla asked in confusion, she had no idea why Errick and his friends reacted that way to the flowers in her hand. "Is this really valuable?"
"It is.." Errick answered. "Atleast to us."
He then explained more as to why he was shocked to see Syla having the flower.
"The Drowsy Edelweiss is one of the ingredients that Verima needed, and we've been searching for it ever since we left you at the forest edge back then." He said.
"Ohhh– I see, now that i remenber it, you also said that the materials that she needed usually grow in a wet and damp area." Syla responded, she had forgotten about it, but now she understand why Errick acted like that. "How many Drowsy Edelweiss do you need?"
"Verima needed 2 of them, but she's also fine if we only find one, they're not that easy to come across, especially in forests." Errick said.
"Is that so, then why not you take this?" Syla stretched her hand and seemingly willing to give her Drowsy Edelweiss to Errick and Verima.
"Huh? Are you sure!?" Errick was startled by Syla's sudden act of kindness. "This is precious you know? It'd be better if you just sell it.."
"T- that's right miss Syla, you should save it for yourself.. It feels wrong to accept something that valuable from someone else.." Verima also rejected the offer.
Seeing as how no one wanted to accept the free Drowsy Edelweiss from Syla, she decided to use a different method.
"Then how about you buy it from me?" Syla said to Verima.
"Huh? Buy it from you?" Verima responded with some confusion.
"Yes, pay me money and i'll give you the flower, this way you won't feel bad right?" Syla said.
"Umm..." Verima thought about it for a while, she had already spend some money to hire Errick and his friends, to spend more money just so she could have the material that she needed sounded a little to expensive for her.
While she was thinking about what option she should choose next, a voice suddenly interrupted the two of them from the side.
"How much is the price?" Errick firmly said.