How the Cult Saves the World

"Ugh!"

"What is that...!"

I heard my companions gasp in shock. And I just blinked, unable to do anything.

The Black Moon Bear that we faced was extremely... no, incredibly huge. The part that was visible above the lake was more than three meters long, and its body was at least four times bigger than a human.

It looked like a black bear, but it had long fangs protruding from its mouth and claws as long as a sword on its front paws.

"Eek!"

As Katu shrieked, the Black Moon Bear moved. It swung its front paw at us, glaring at us with ferocity.

Bang!

Fortunately, no one was hit by the Bear's paw. But its destructive power was astonishing. The ground was cratered as if it had been struck by a meteor.

"Everyone, snap out of it and attack!"

"Got it, Master."

"Yes, sir."

At my shout, Troy ran towards the Black Moon Bear. And Zain also took out his bow. I followed them with my mace and headed for the Black Moon Bear.

Whoosh-

The Bear's massive arm aimed at me precisely. I rolled quickly and avoided the attack. But I sneezed while rolling on the ground.

---My child!

'I can endure this much.'

I had blood on my knee, but I had no time to care about such a minor injury. I hurriedly got up. Then I saw Troy dodging the Bear's attack and slashing with his claws.

His claws were like well-sharpened blades. They attacked the Bear's arm. But they only grazed it, not leaving a deep wound.

Squeak-!

Zain's arrow flew at the right moment. But it couldn't even pierce the Bear's skin.

"Zain, aim for the eyes."

I gave Zain an order and ran towards the Bear without waiting for his answer. I used the momentum from running and leaped. I struck the Bear's arm with my mace.

Bang!

I heard a crunching sound of bones breaking. It hurt.

"Grrr!"

The Bear screamed in pain and swung its arm wildly at me.

With a sound of cutting through the air, both arms attacked me at the same time. It was so fast that I wondered if I could dodge it with my injured leg.

---Pull yourself together, my child!

I was in a daze, as if the game I enjoyed comfortably and the reality where life and death were at stake overlapped.

"Master!"

Someone caught me. It was Troy.

"Are you okay?"

"Ah, thank you, Troy."

"Don't space out!"

"Sorry. I hurt my leg."

"Is it bad?"

"Not really."

While we were talking briefly, the Bear prepared for the next attack. It aimed at us and swung both arms. At that moment.

Crack!

Zain's arrow pierced the Bear's left eye.

"Krrr!"

"Sir, are you okay?!"

"Uh. Good job, Zain."

The Bear groaned in agony. Troy didn't miss the chance and continued his attack.

---Don't lose your focus in battle, my child!

'Yes, Kyros. I was just startled.'

I observed the battle situation and thought. It seemed better to switch to long-range attack than to swing my mace in this state.

So I raised my left arm and gathered my energy.

'Huh, it seems like I have more energy than before?'

I thought so and released my energy.

Whoosh-!

The bright light that flew out.

"...!"

It blew off the top of the bear's forehead. The resulting fluid scattered in the air.

Splash!

The Black Moon Bear fell into the lake. There was no more movement.

"Sir, what is that... How can you have such power when we've been struggling so much?"

"I didn't know either."

"What do you mean..."

Zain looked at me with a puzzled look.

"Master, are you okay?"

"My goodness."

Troy and Katu came to me in surprise. The one who was more surprised than them was me.

The size of the energy release I used just now was similar to before. But the density of the power was much stronger than before.

About twice as much?

After the Bahano incident, it was the first time I used energy release. I didn't know my power was this much.

Of course, it was much weaker than when I faced Helis.

But still, I didn't expect to have such destructive power.

---You're amazing, my child!

No wonder I felt more energy gathering when I used energy release.

As my power increased, so did my energy consumption. But I could control that part, so I had to adjust it later.

'By the way...'

Because of the Bahano incident, the number of believers increased and I received a lot of energy from Kyros. That's why I could release such power.

The Black Moon Bear itself was not that strong of a monster.

'But still, this is much stronger than me swinging my mace.'

Maybe I should also infuse some energy into my mace like Zain.

As I thought so, I suddenly realized that the quest was not completed.

"Troy, the Bear is dead, right?"

"Yes. It's completely dead."

This meant that I had to get Lufu out of the Black Moon Bear's nest to complete the quest.

"Excuse me, Master. When will Lufu..."

"I was thinking of a way to do that, brother."

I was wondering if I had to swim across the Black Moon Lake. I didn't want to go into the lake where the monster's corpse was.

While I was hesitating to speak, Troy transformed into a black panther.

"I'll bring him back,"

Troy said, and went to the edge of the lake. He moved to the closest spot between the Black Moon Bear's nest and the land.

And the black panther leaped in one go.

"Oh my."

"Wow..."

"As expected of the Mont tribe!"

Zain, Katu, and I admired Troy. Troy landed on the Black Moon Bear's nest and bit Lufu's clothes in his mouth. And he leaped again with force and came back to us.

"Oh, Lufu!"

Troy put Lufu down on the ground and Katu ran to Lufu, crying. In the meantime, Troy returned to his human form.

"Good job, Troy."

"It's nothing."

I patted Troy's shoulder and praised him. I was glad that Troy was on my side.

"Lufu, Lufu! Wake up!"

On the other hand, Katu shook Lufu's body, who had lost consciousness, while sobbing. Lufu looked just like Katu, but he wore different clothes and had a big mantis on his forehead. And there were scratches all over his body.

"It seems that he barely survived after being caught by the Black Moon Bear at the lake. The Black Moon Bear keeps its prey in its nest to preserves its freshness."

"Preserves its freshness..."

"It doesn't know when it will get more food. But it doesn't eat every day, it eats every three days. So I think we were lucky to save him in time."

I frowned at Zain's explanation. It was like throwing away the mood.

I produced a healing potion from my inventory and approached Lufu.

"Excuse me, brother."

And I pushed Katu away and gave Lufu the healing potion.

Soon, Lufu's eyelids opened.

"Where is this..."

[Sub Quest

<Dwarf Rescue Operation>

<Dwarf Rescue Operation>

[Sub Quest Reward is given.]

[You get 'Dwarf's Gratitude' as a Sub Quest Reward.]

[Dwarf's Gratitude: You can request item production from Katu and Lufu. (Limited to 3)]

The quest was finally completed.

"Lufu! Are you awake?"

"Katu? Why are you here... I was sure..."

"I came to save you, you bastard!"

I smiled at Katu and Lufu's reunion. And I turned my eyes and read the system message.

'Dwarf's Gratitude' must be a production reward. But the item production is only three. It's a pity, but three dwarf-made items were a good result.

"Lufu, I told you, right? I became a believer of Kyros Church."

"Oh, yeah. You wrote that in the letter."

"This is the Leader of the Kyros Church. And the person next to him is Troy of the Mont tribe, and this is Zain."

Katu introduced us to Lufu and told him about the journey that brought us here.

"I prayed to Kyros, and they came. That's how I was able to save you!"

"Oh, really. I see. Thank you very much. I thought I was dead when I was caught by the Black Moon Bear!"

Lufu bowed his head politely to us.

"No, it was your brother's request."

I smiled kindly and said, and Katu hugged Lufu's shoulder and looked up at me.

"Leader! Thank you very much! I want to repay you for this!"

"Yes. You are my lifesaver, so if you need anything, I will do my best to make it for you, even if it's impossible! We are the best craftsmen among the dwarves, you know!"

Katu and Lufu's eyes sparkled. And Zain poked my side. I knew what he meant without him saying anything. But I had to get out of here first.

"Let's move to a safe place first."

We killed the monsters around the lake and got out of the Black Moon Lake area on Troy.

When we reached the barren land where no monsters appeared, Katu and Lufu came to me again.

"Master! Just tell us!"

"Yes! We want to repay you as much as we can!"

I answered them with a smile.

"Then can you make one piece of equipment for each of us?"

"Of course!"

"Sure!"

Zain and Troy's expressions brightened.

I was going to take all three of the dwarf-made items, but I decided to give one to Zain and Troy each.

I just had to get the things that were hidden all over the world.

But even among them, the number of defensive items was small, so it was not a bad thing to get one dwarf-made item if I got the chance.

"Wow, I'm touched. Master."

"Master, thank you."

"What. It's natural."

---- You're so considerate of my child.

Zain and Troy were the ones who would be with me for a long time, so it was an investment for the future.

'Properly made dwarf equipment is not something you can buy with money.'

Sometimes, people would enslave the dwarves and make them produce equipment like a factory, but those equipment always caused problems later.

In that sense, proper equipment was like having reliable insurance, so it was not bad at all to have it.

When I thought that, the two dwarves asked us a common question.

"Then what kind of equipment do you want?"

"I want a bow."

"I want armor."

"I want something that can protect my body. Something that I can carry lightly. A necklace or a bracelet would be fine."

My words were longer than Zain and Troy's, and Katu and Lufu pondered. The two of them discussed with each other and asked carefully.

"Master, do you want something that can use magic, that is, an 'artifact'?"

"Yes. I want it to activate a protective effect when I want it."

"First of all, we can make the equipment for Zain and Troy right away, but for an artifact, we need a special material."

"Magic Stone."

Zain answered Katu's words. As a merchant, he knew about Magic Stones.

"Yes. That's right. We need a Magic Stone, a special mineral that can hold magic."

Unfortunately, I didn't have a Magic Stone. Magic Stones were hard to get in the market, and even if I got them, they were only low-grade Magic Stones. I didn't want a low-grade Magic Stone that was worthless.

But I knew very well where to get a high-grade Magic Stone.

"So why don't you go to our village first?"

It was the dwarves' village.

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