Alan

"Tsk, that's all he can stand, huh?"

You clicked your tongue as your tamed monster, a hob goblin who has been your shield throughout the fight, fell down limply after he was struck down for the nth time. A particularly large brown bear stood on its two hind legs, one paw still hung in the air after slapping your tamed monster with a huge ****. Your body was screaming at you to just run and abandon your hobgoblin, but your more calculating mind managed to stop you from abandoning such a precious tamed monster.

Your mind raced, trying to find a way out of your predicament, especially with both you and your tamed monster alive. The bear suddenly appeared not long after you and your goblin had just finished an extermination quest. The outer part of the forest should not have such a strong monster, it might have moved from the center part. Fortunately, you noticed the bear before it managed to launch a surprise attack. You told your goblin to be the tank, and then the two of you tried your best to stand your ground and fight, as outrunning the bear was not a plausible option, at least not unless you sacrifice your goblin.

It seemed you and your hobgoblin you did quite well and managed to give the bear a difficult time, despite your exhaustion. If only the two of you were in your prime conditions, this brown bear would have been defeated by now. Your hobgoblin parried the bear's attacks using a shield you bought for him, while you slowly but surely wearing and wounding it. Unfortunately, the bear still managed to hold on and finally landed a good hit on the goblin, even after sustaining quite a lot of injuries.

The bear growled, snapping your attention back to the matter at hand. It landed on four legs again, breathing raggedly and its posture slacked. The bear's injuries and loss of blood started to get to it, weakening it. The bear glanced between you and the goblin, still laying on the ground, seemingly trying to assess its next action. A moment later, the bear went and bit your tamed monster's arm, earning a scream from the green-skinned monster.

You took a deep breath and prepared to attack. You were not going to let your tamed monster just die like that. You prepared a sword skill and launched yourself forward, charging towards it by abandoning most of your defenses. The bear noticed you coming, turning its attention towards you. It lifted one of its paws, preparing to attack you as well. This might be a suicide attack, but this was your only chance to save your hobgoblin.

As the bear came swinging towards you, your vision sharpened, as a sudden burst of adrenaline washed over your body when the sword skill was activated. The incoming paw barely missed you, nearly squashing you into a bloody mess, as you stabbed its body with your sword. Your sword pierced through its skin and flesh, lodging in quite nicely. Unfortunately, as you were about to pull out your sword, but found that it was stuck inside the bear. As the bear let out a scream from being pierced by your sword, it trashed around and struck your body. You lost balance and fell onto the ground next to your goblin.

From this position, it was almost a game over for you. You were sitting defenselessly without any weapon on your hand. However, you refused to die here and rolled to your side, away from your goblin. You had decided to abandon your goblin to run away, hoping for the bear to attack him instead. But, what happened next actually exceeded your expectation. You looked back before you ran and saw the bear on the ground, lying down motionlessly. You turned back and slowly approached the bear.

It seemed your were lucky and that attack was the final blow needed to take down the bear. Not wanting to take any chances, you pull out your hunting knife and repeatedly stabbed its throat. The bear twitched and let out a growl for a moment, before stop responding completely. You definitely stabbed it more than necessary due to your anger.

Moments later, you finally stopped attacking the bear's corpse, panting heavily. You tried to slowly calm yourself down, as well as checking on your tamed monster. Your hobgoblin was alive, but he might not last much longer without some form of treatment. You brought a weak healing potion, but it would not be enough to heal him. His heavy body made dragging him back impossible, and running back and forth to ask for help would be too late for him.

You screamed out in frustration, kicking the bear's corpse. You finally sighed in defeat, accepting that you'd lose your precious servant. You gripped your hunting knife, still bloody with the bear's blood, and slit your hobgoblin's throat. If you couldn't save him, at least he could get a peaceful and quick ****. It's the least you could do for him. You stared at him blankly, silently thanking him for his years of servitude as he drew his last breath. After taking care of your tamed monster, you stripped him off his gear. The shield and armor were still good, you could get some money by selling them.

Just as you finished stripping the equipment from the goblin's body, you heard something rustled behind you. You cursed under your breath, you could not afford another battle. You wearily turned around, brandishing your knife since your sword was still inside the bear's corpse.

At that moment, you didn't know that you'd be meeting with your destined partner.