Chương 36: Bear With Me

I cast [Artifact Index] and the notification immediately materialized in front of me. [Lady Midday - Scythe] +25% Enhanced Damage +25% Increased Attack Speed +8% Life or Barrier Stolen Per Hit 10% chance to inflict [Heatstroke] on hit I read the stats aloud to Vasil.

"That is pretty good," he said.

"Named weapons are relatively rare. You would not find commoners carrying something like this. All of them are valuable. This is something a professional would use." I turned the scythe over in my hands. The blade caught the light, and for a moment I could see my reflection in it. Yup, still a stone cold stunner, I thought as I grinned to myself. While the scythe had nice enhancements, it was also completely useless to me since I was a [Gunwitch], not a [Farmer]… or an evil spirit.

Since I also didn't feel like carrying this big thing on my back the whole day I figured I might as well offer it to upgrade a skill. Now for the question of what to upgrade. I had seven skills to choose from: [Quickdraw], [Omniglot], [Clean Entry], [Reload], [Soul Index], [Artifact Index], and [Headhunter]. [Omniglot] was out immediately. Language skills weren't going to help me in a fight, and I was looking for something that would give me an extra edge.

[Reload] was already good enough, and [Quickdraw] would improve with every level I gained anyway. That left [Clean Entry], [Headhunter], and maybe [Soul Index] for future consideration if I wanted more detailed information on people. But what would I even want from [Clean Entry]? It already killed in one shot. Lower mana cost, maybe? What else could it even do? Make things explode harder? I mentally tried to put the scythe in Mēnē's upgrade slot for [Clean Entry], but it wouldn't let me. I guess she was not a fan.

I tried slotting it in Ambelios's slot and it accepted it. [Clean Entry - upgrade preview] Offering: [Lady Midday - Scythe] Resulting modifiers: +10% Life or Barrier Stolen Per Hit 5% chance to inflict [Madness] on hit If this skill kills its target it applies Lady Midday buff: +25% Enhanced Damage for 10 seconds. +25% Attack Speed for 10 seconds. This buff and its timer stack. Alright. So it didn't carry the enhancements from the item, but more the general idea of it. Not bad.

A couple of kills with this might actually make my regular bullets pretty nasty… for a limited time. But I also had [Headhunter]. Too bad I didn't have a head yet. I had no idea what it really did or what kind of upgrades would be available. What if it applied that buff passively to all heads? That would be insane. Better to wait. Get another skill, or at least test [Headhunter] first and see what my options were. I looked down at the Powudnitsa's body.

Would it hurt to take a little piece, just in case it counted as an acceptable offering? Mēnē might appreciate the hand of a spirit. I shrugged.

"Close your eyes, Vasil." Then I drew Stabigail. It sang its usual choir note as I bent down and sliced the spirit's hand clean off. Then I held it out toward him.

"Here. Put this in your inventory." He immediately hopped back.

"I don't want to store any hands." I gave him my best apologetic look.

"Sometimes you have to take one for the team."

"What are you taking for the team?" Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. I pointed at the scythe.

"Would you prefer to carry that instead?"

"That won't fit in my mouth," I sighed and looked around. The spirit's dress was still intact, so I cut a piece of fabric from it. After I cut the piece off, I remembered that I needed new clothes. Maybe I should've taken her dress for myself and cut a piece out of my ruined tunic instead. Real smart, Hecate. Then again, when people die they often lose control of their bowels, and I didn't want a poopy dress. I looked down at my tunic. Eh… Could have been mistaken for poopy. I glanced back at her.

Do spirits even poop? Oh well, too late now. I wrapped the hand in the cloth and stuffed it into my satchel. Then I picked up the scythe and looked for a way to carry it. After a moment, I managed to strap it across my back. It was awkward, but it would work.

"You should start stretching your mouth," I said to Vasil, making pulling apart motions.

"So your infinite storage might actually become useful." He gave me a flat look but didn't respond. We moved on. The sun was still brutal, and my tunic was still soaked with sweat. Sure would have been nice to have some new clothes.

"So what else is out here?" I asked.

"Hard to say. Could be—" I glanced down at my poor tunic, mentally scolding myself for not taking the spirit's dress.

"Could be what?" Silence.

"Vasil?" I turned and the frog was gone. In his place: one very large, very angry bear staring at me. Where in Erotokomos's silken cascade did that gigantic bear come from? Bears weren't exactly known for their stealth. I figured I'd try the diplomatic approach.

"Hey, man… did you eat my frog?" The bear blinked, clearly not expecting to be addressed.

"Yes. And I will eat you next." I nodded thoughtfully.

"Yeah. I was afraid you might say that." Alright. This time, save the head for [Headhunter]. Aim for the heart or something. Where would the heart even be on this big bastard?

"Could you stand up straight for a second?" I asked. The bear looked confused but complied, rising up on its hind legs. I drew my pistol, aimed where I thought the heart should be, and fired. The bear looked down at the bullet hole in its chest, then back at me.

"Are you done?"

"Uh oh." Guess not there. The bear moved faster than it had any right to. One second it was glaring at me, the next its paw slashed across my stomach. I dove to the side, but wasn't fast enough and felt its claws tear through my skin, pain flaring. I staggered back, clutching my stomach. My tunic was in ribbons, blood dripping down. It charged again. I squeezed off more shots, but every hit just made it angrier. I ducked under another swipe, the claws missing my face by inches. My footing slipped in the mud.

The world tilted, but I had an angle on the back of its neck. I activated [Clean Entry] and cracked off a shot aimed at its spine. The shot punched right through its spine, causing the bear to freeze mid-step. It gave a deep grunt, then crashed down like a felled tree. I exhaled hard and let myself fall back into the mud, hand pressed to my bleeding stomach.

"Fuck me." [You have gained 1 level.] [You have gained 1 skill point.] [You have gained 3 stat points.] I pulled out a health potion. The liquid was cool and sweet, and the pain faded almost immediately as the wound closed. My tunic, though, was a lost cause, hanging off me in muddy, blood-stained ribbons. I sighed. Another weakness. I still wasn't fast or mobile enough. If I couldn't kill something in a single shot, and I couldn't dodge… then the next time could be the last. Time to test out [Headhunter].

I pushed myself up and walked over to the bear's corpse, but before I could try out my skill a muffled sound came from inside the bear. I frowned.

"What's that? I can't hear you." More muffled noises. I leaned in closer to the bear's stomach.

"Have you tried going out the other end?" The muffled noises turned angry. I sighed and pulled out my knife.

"Alright, alright. Hold still." I cut open the bear's stomach, and Vasil tumbled out in a mess of half-digested food, looking absolutely miserable.

"You had your fun," I said, making shooing motions with both hands.

"Now step aside and let me try out [Headhunter]."

"Okay," I said, spreading my arms wide.

"Headhunter!" Nothing happened. I frowned.

"Headhunter!" Still nothing. Vasil cocked his head.

"Maybe you have to cut off the head first." I threw my hands up.

"Come on! I thought it would just do it automatically."

"Apparently not." Cutting through a bear's neck was harder than I expected. While the blade was sharp, it clearly wasn't designed for decapitating giant bears. Thankfully my shot had completely severed the spine so I didn't have to cut through any bone. By the time I finally severed the head, my arms were tired and I was covered in even more blood. Maybe one or two points in Stamina wouldn't be such a bad idea. The moment the head separated from the body, I felt [Headhunter] activate.

Within seconds it was about the size of a small egg. I picked it up—it weighed almost nothing. I held the tiny head next to my belt and a thin dark cord formed, tethering it in place. Convenient. As the totem became active, a surge of raw strength flooded my body and I felt light as a feather.

"Well," I said, "at least it won't throw off my balance." A notification appeared: [Headhunter - Bear] +15 Strength +20% Physical Resistance I read the stats and groaned. Insanely powerful buff, but literally the most useless stats for me. Maybe it would be different if I attached it to my pistol instead. The skill description had mentioned that totems could be attached to weapons. I pulled the head from my belt, and immediately felt the weight of the world pressing down on me. I held it against my revolver.

The System responded, creating a small metal loop that dangled from the grip, locking the bear head in place. Another notification appeared: [Headhunter - Bear] +100% Damage +5% Critical Hit Chance -25% Weapon weight Now that was more like it.

"This is actually really good," I said, turning the pistol in my hand. Vasil hopped closer.

"So it worked?"

"It worked." I holstered my revolver.

"Two different bonuses depending on where I attach it. Belt gives me strength and resistance. Pistol gives me damage, crit chance, and reduces weapon weight." Vasil looked down at himself, covered in bear stomach contents.

"Can we please go back to the cathedral now?" I shook my head.

"There's something I need to do first."