Imperial Crown.

Chapter 173 Killing the Earth Bear
This news also reached Xuefeng Territory. When Lady Doreen, who lived in the castle, received it, she was so excited that it was like receiving a love letter from her secret crush.

She dressed up carefully, her outer clothes were thicker and more conservative, but her inner clothes were particularly wonderful, a full set of lace underwear. She put on the Angel's Kiss that Raven gave her, and fluttered in the corridor, bringing gusts of fragrance.

After knocking on the door of Raven's office, Doreen said softly as soon as she entered: "Baron Raven, thank you so much. By taking back this port, our Simpson family can continue."

"I don't know, how can I thank you?"

Raven smiled slightly. "That's too much. Baron Romney and I are comrades who fought side by side. How can I be grateful or not?"

"If it weren't for my late husband, you wouldn't help me?" Doreen said as she walked around the desk and came to Raven.

If Doreen seduced Raven just for the sake of profit before, now she really wants a young and capable lover like Raven.

She leaned down slightly, put her hands on Raven's shoulders, raised her knees and placed them on Raven's legs.

Raven only felt the rich aroma entering his nostrils, and his hand gently lifted the black skirt...

Mrs. Doreen's face flushed.

At this moment, a hurried horn sounded from outside the window, and the door was suddenly pushed open. Kuman, the political officer of Xuefeng County, rushed in: "Baron, it's not good..."

He stopped talking halfway because he saw Mrs. Doreen's half-exposed white thigh and Raven's hand on it.

He immediately lowered his head and dared not say a word.

On the contrary, the two parties acted as if nothing had happened. Doreen put down her skirt and left the study. Raven coughed and said, "What's the matter? Tell me."

Kuman whispered, "The Earth Bear has attacked Green Forest Town in the west!"

Deep down, Kuman was not convinced by Raven. He was used to Viscount John's way of governing, and Raven's approach seemed radical and overbearing.

This approach has its advantages. In just over ten days, through an inexpensive banquet, Raven successfully established his authority in Xuefeng Territory and created a "fair" and "powerful" personality.

But because of this, the already scarce elite forces at Raven's disposal became even more depleted.

Now Eric has not returned yet, and the Earth Bear is a powerful second-level monster. Now Raven can only watch helplessly.

He continued, "This attack by the Earth Bear caused a total of 16 houses to collapse, 11 people to die, 26 people to be injured, and now there are at least 30 people buried under the rubble whose fate is unknown."

"I suggest that you follow Viscount John's approach and first send some soldiers to clean up the ruins and treat the wounded, and then..."

Raven nodded and said, "That's a good idea, Volaf!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Volaf pushed the door open and walked in: "My Lord Baron!"

"You must lead your personal soldiers to the disaster site immediately, treat the wounded, and maintain law and order to prevent others from taking advantage of the situation to rob people." Raven said as he walked out: "Leave the Earth Bear to me!"

Kuman was stunned to hear this. Baron Raven was actually going to go out in person to deal with the Earth Bear?
"But, Baron..." Kuman wanted to persuade him, but he saw Raven had already walked out of the room quickly.

With a snap, Volaf patted him hard on the shoulder and said, "The Baron's orders cannot be questioned. I will go and call for help. You come with me and lead the way."

Kuman still couldn't come to his senses and followed Volaf in a daze.

You know, the Earth Bear is not an ordinary second-level magical beast. It is known as the "Dear of the Earth". As long as all four of its feet touch the ground, the power it bursts out is even stronger than many third-level magical beasts. Ordinary second-level transcendents are no match for it at all.

This Earth Bear suddenly appeared about nine years ago. Every July and August, it would rush into the town like crazy, destroying buildings, killing and devouring the people. It would only leave after it had eaten its fill.

At first, Viscount John thought of ways to capture and drive away the monster, but it was too cunning, and its unique "earth perception" could detect an area of ​​several kilometers.

If we send people to guard in advance, but if they are only at the first or second level, then they will not be its opponent at all; if Viscount John is in charge personally, then it will not come at all, or choose to attack weak points, which will not only have no effect, but will make Viscount John embarrassed.

Viscount John had also contacted the Mercenary Guild, hoping to hire experts in this field, but the prices charged by those with high ranks were too high and the cost outweighed the benefits, and those with low ranks were unlikely to be competent, so the matter was left unresolved.

If this continues, Viscount John will have no choice but to respond passively.

Shrink the population and industries inward to minimize the damage caused by the Earth Bear. As for the serfs who were eaten - at most a hundred each year, and at least dozens. Viscount John can afford to compensate.

No matter how much he valued honor, Viscount John was still a nobleman. In the eyes of most nobles, including him, serfs were just numbers, two-legged animals, and moving property.

Kuman had heard Viscount John sigh that if he wanted to get rid of the Earth Bear, he had to be able to fly!
Although Baron Raven is a second-level magician, he is still a bit overconfident to achieve this...

At this moment, a shadow passed before his eyes. Kuman looked up and saw a horned eagle soaring into the sky with a cry, and galloping towards the southwest of Xuefeng County!

"Don't just stand there." Volaf pushed Kuman's shoulder and said, "Hurry up and lead the way. If we haven't arrived at the scene by the time the Baron has dealt with the beast, it will be too embarrassing!"

Sitting on Xiaobai's back, Lei Wen breathed in the air flow in the sky freely and flew all the way to the west.

Xiaobai was flying at an extremely fast speed, and in just over ten minutes, he saw the ruins outside Green Forest Town. The entire street was completely destroyed, with rubble and broken bricks everywhere, and blood splattered everywhere, just like it had been blown up.

After circling in the air for a while, Raven came up with a plan and let Xiaobai fly away from Green Forest Town and land outside the town.

In the magic pool, the dead white mark trembled, and magic power was poured into it. After a burst of smoke rose, the figures of two undead guards emerged.

It was Brother Kun holding the axe, and Xiao Heizi holding the bow.

I don’t know if it’s an illusion, but Raven feels that the bones of these two are a little more crystal clear than when they were just summoned.

As mentioned before, undead creatures observe the world differently from living things. They can see traces of the flow of life energy, and the Earth Bear is undoubtedly the creature with the most abundant life energy nearby.

Raven just gave a brief order, and the two undead guards moved and began to run wildly in one direction.

Unlike the clumsy ordinary cannon fodder skeletons, the second-level skeleton guards are extremely light in weight and now move at extremely fast speeds, not inferior to any warhorse at all.

Raven rode on Xiaobai and flew into the air again, slowly following the two skeleton guards.

The Earth Bear is running.

As an adult Earth Bear, it has an extremely strong physique. Even on all fours, its nose is three meters from the ground. Its body is more than five meters long. It is covered with brown fur, and each strand of fur is as thick as straw. If it lies on the ground, from a distance, it looks like an unchanging boulder.

Its limbs are thick and each leg is like a pillar. Its thick claws are pitch black and extremely sharp, with a little blood between its hairs.

At this moment, the Earth Bear suddenly stopped. It was panting, shaking its hair, and its eyes showed a kind of impatience and contempt in a very human way.

It had discovered not long ago that two reckless second-level creatures were chasing after it, seemingly tirelessly and without slowing down.

Second level!

so what?

The Earth Bear sneered. It had seen too many second-level human warriors who coveted its fur and magic cores, but all of them became its food without exception.

It stopped leisurely, ready to give the two guys following it a little "lesson".

Finally, the two second-level transcendents appeared in the eyes of the Earth Bear, leaving it stunned in place.

The ones chasing it were actually two... skeletons! ?

The one in front held a huge axe in his hand, and the one behind held a huge bone bow. The green soul fire in their eye sockets kept jumping, and the eyes they looked at the Earth Bear were full of greed and hatred for living things!
"Ah--" The Earth Bear let out a low roar, arched its body and charged forward, its heavy footsteps hitting the ground like war drums.

Boom!Boom!Boom!
At this moment, the bone guard at the back took out a bone arrow as thick as a short spear, placed it on the giant bone bow, and pulled it into a full moon. The gray-white aura of the dead was infused into it, and a gray line of fire was drawn in the air, which shot out with a whoosh.

The Earth Bear narrowed its eyes slightly, exerted strength on all four legs, and stretched its mountain-like body across several meters, almost dodging the bone arrow.

However, at this moment, the soul fire in the eyes of the skeleton holding the bow trembled, and the bone arrow in the air suddenly turned and pierced into the eye socket of the giant bear!

Blood spurted out.

"Ah——" The intense pain made the Earth Bear howl. It didn't understand why the undead creatures could use martial arts.

The panic of having half of his vision blackened made him stand up and slam his claws on the ground. Then the ground under the two skeletons changed, and two rock pillars as thick as two people could hug each other rose from the ground!

Innate magic, Rock Thrust.

The skeleton holding the bow seemed to have extremely rich experience. After shooting an arrow, he immediately started to move without staying in the same place, causing the rock spikes to miss the target.

The axe-wielding skeleton had already been on guard, and immediately held the axe upright in front of him. With a bang, the tip of the rock spike shattered, and the flying stones scratched his body, and even half of the bone in his right foot was smashed.

If it were a living person, even if he did not lose his fighting ability, the severe pain from broken bones would cause his movements to become deformed. However, the axe-wielding skeleton was an undead creature, and as long as the soul fire was not extinguished, he would not be considered injured!
The axe-wielding skeleton opened his mouth and let out a silent roar. Then he exerted force with his legs, jumped high under the influence of the undead fighting spirit, and swung the giant axe to chop down on the head of the Earth Bear!

The axe was wrapped in the fighting spirit of the undead, and it fell as fast as a meteor. It was impossible to tell whether it was the bones wielding the axe, or the axe pulling the bones!

The wind pressure blew away the Earth Bear's hair, and a vicious look shone from its only remaining eye. It roared, and the ground beneath its feet seemed to begin to melt. The melted ground flowed upward, wrapping its entire body in a layer of solid rock armor, which faintly revealed a diamond-like luster!

Innate magic, body protection gem.

boom--

The giant axe hit the armor on the top of the Earth Bear's head, and the blade was instantly rolled up. As the steel flew, the rock armor also shattered. The gray-white aura of the dead seeped in, dyeing the originally brown-yellow hair into iron gray!

Although this blow broke the Earth Bear's armor, it was not fatal.

The Earth Bear immediately pounced and pressed the axe-wielding Skeleton in mid-air to the ground. Under the pressure of its claws, the originally soft soil became harder than steel. The solid black armor on Brother Kun's body was flattened like a can, and his ribs were broken into pieces.

The Earth Bear raised its head and bit fiercely at the skull of the axe-wielding skeleton, wanting to completely destroy and erase its existence.

At the critical moment, the bow-holding skeleton who had been waiting for an opportunity released the bowstring. The bone arrow swam in the air like a snake and suddenly pierced into the nose of the Earth Bear, the only place not covered by armor, and then drilled into its mouth through its upper jaw!

"Ow—"

Blood splattered and the Earth Bear let out a sharp wail. The severe damage to its softest part made it lose its mind. It held down the axe-wielding skeleton with one front paw and raised the other paw, trying to pull out the bone arrow!
This should have been a foolproof move, but the axe-wielding skeleton showed the ruthlessness of an undead creature. He supported himself on the ground with both hands and exerted force suddenly. With a snap, the entire sternum was torn off, leaving only a head, a collarbone, and two arms connected by the collarbones.

Without the burden of his body, the axe-wielding Skeleton became even faster. Before the Earth Bear could react, he had already grabbed the bone arrow on its nose and climbed up to its head. His fingers, wrapped in gray-white undead fire, pierced into the Earth Bear's only remaining right eye!

At this moment, the Earth Bear's body was shaking violently, and it groaned like a defeated dog. The darkness before its eyes made it at a loss. It could only shake its body wildly, shaking the axe-holding bones to the ground, then turned around and ran away!
There was a sound of breaking through the air, and Bai Gu, holding the bow, had already shot out the third arrow in this battle.

The Earth Bear accelerated its run, and with the blessing of the earth, it ran for its life, and in just a few seconds it had already run more than fifty meters!

In mid-air, Raven clearly saw the bone arrow shot by the bow-wielding skeleton shot out, and when it was halfway through its flight, the tail suddenly exploded, and its speed suddenly increased. It turned as if it had eyes, circled in front of the Earth Bear, and suddenly pierced into the tail of the bone arrow in its right eye, nailing the arrow body into its brain!

The Earth Bear's body twitched violently, and then it fell to the ground with a bang, using inertia to plow a deep trench about eight or nine meters long in the ground.

Its limbs kept flapping on the ground like a fish out of water, splashing up large amounts of dust and digging four deep pits, but its life was still irreversibly lost.

The top-level powerful one among the second-level magical beasts, the darling of the earth, died at the hands of two second-level undead creatures.

A shadow covered the area, and Raven descended from mid-air riding on Xiaobai. After a while, Xiaoheizi came over holding Kun's remaining body.

Looking at the huge body of the Earth Bear, Raven smiled with satisfaction and looked at the two skeletons: "Well done."

The main purpose of dealing with the Earth Bear is to test the actual combat capabilities of these two skeleton guards.

Now it seems that it has far exceeded Raven's expectations. His choice of fighter planes and the sophistication of his fighter planes are not inferior to any second-level knight of the human race.

Raven did not issue any specific orders during the battle. This was unlike the undead creatures that Raven had encountered that fought solely on instinct.

He touched his chin, his eyes moving between Brother Kun and Xiao Heizi's faces: "You two, do you really have no consciousness of your own?"

They just stood there, as if they didn't understand anything.

Raven shrugged and gave an order. Xiao Heizi picked up the battle axe that Brother Kun had thrown on the ground and chopped it hard, cutting off one of the Earth Bear's hind legs, which was thicker than an adult human.

Throwing Brother Kun and the leg together, Lei Wen chanted a spell, and suddenly a cloud of gray mist rose up, covering the white bones and the thigh.

More than ten minutes later, the gray fog dissipated, and the bear's leg turned into a piece of rotten mud, but Brother Kun's skeleton had been completely restored, and was even taller than before.

First-level necromancy, shape shaping.

This is a kind of magic that is essential for creating undead creatures, and can transform the bones of other creatures into the desired shape.

As for the missing armor, Raven planned to find a set for Brother Kun after returning.

Looking at the huge bear corpse, Raven was a little troubled for a moment. His Xiaobai couldn't pull this behemoth weighing several tons, but it would be a waste to just leave it here.

That's a second-level monster! Just the leather from it can be sold for more than a thousand gold coins if it's made into leather armor.

After thinking for a while, Raven's eyes fell on the tree next to him and he smiled.

Two hours later.

Kuman stood outside Greenson Town, pacing back and forth anxiously, his heart in turmoil.

Raven has been gone for too long!
It doesn't matter if we fail in the expedition against the Earth Bear, it's just a loss of face. What we should be afraid of is that Raven will show off his bravery and die in vain at the hands of the Earth Bear.

If that happens, God knows what those soldiers who finally betrayed Raven would do!

Just then he heard a strange sound, not sharp, but low and harsh, like a cloth bag being dragged on gravel ground.

Looking up, Kuman was almost scared to sit on the ground!
The Earth Bear is coming!

After calming himself down, he could see clearly that the Earth Bear was not walking towards him, but was wrapped in a net bag woven from leaves and vines and was being dragged over by the Hippogryph!

The mouth and nose of the Earth Bear were wide open, and its eyes had turned into two bloody holes. The blood that flowed out solidified on its fur, and there were flies and mosquitoes flying around.

The Earth Bear is dead!
With a whoosh, Xiaobai fell to the ground. Raven turned over and jumped down. There was no scar or dust on his body, as if he just went out for a walk.

Kuman was stunned: "Baron...you...you are really..."

He was having trouble finding the words to describe Raven.

This monster that had troubled Xuefeng County for nearly a decade died at the hands of Raven, who was only in his early twenties!

This is a feat that even Viscount John could not accomplish!

At this time, the townspeople of Green Forest Town who heard the noise rushed over. When they saw the body of the Earth Bear, they shouted and called on their relatives, friends, and neighbors to witness this scene together.

Some people laughed out loud, but as they laughed they burst into tears; some had no expression on their faces, but tears kept streaming down their eyes; others just rushed forward, punching and kicking the Earth Bear, shouting at it to return its relatives.

"Thank you, Baron Raven!"

I don't know who said this first, and then such voices continued to rise. The people of Green Forest Town knelt down one after another to express their gratitude and thanks to Raven.

If Volaf and other personal soldiers had not stopped them, many of these subjects would have come to kiss Raven's boots.

Kuman was also stunned by this scene. He had ruled Snow Maple Town for many years and organized many activities to curry favor with Viscount John, but this was the first time he saw the subjects so sincerely grateful to a lord.

They may be foolish or ignorant, and they don't know what kind of governance philosophy Raven has, but they are clear about one thing - it was Raven who rescued them from dire straits.

“Kuman.” Raven did not respond directly to the gratitude of the people. Instead, he called Kuman over and said, “You stay here and take the people to deal with the Earth Bear. I have already taken out the magic core. You only need to peel off its skin. As for the meat, give it to the people here.”

This decision caused another round of cheers. The serfs might not have any meat to eat for a whole year, let alone Warcraft meat?

Especially since this demon beast had once killed their relatives!
Kuman immediately gave orders to dismember the body of the Earth Bear, and the local people also started to make fires and set up pots.

Kuman finally found an angle to praise Raven: "First, Viscount John wiped out the goblins, and then you killed the Earth Bear. We in the Snow Maple Territory are so lucky to have such an outstanding lord!"

"Goblin?" Raven was stunned for a moment: "When did it happen?"

Kuman thought for a moment and said, "About ten years ago, Viscount John led his army to destroy a goblin tribe and captured their leader. He should still be imprisoned in the dungeon of Snow Maple Castle. Don't you know?"

"Oh, I remember now." Raven nodded slowly, with a hint of realization in his eyes.

Raven and Viscount John had been exchanging letters. In a letter after Angel's funeral, Viscount John mentioned that he had imprisoned a strange creature in the dungeon, saying it was a small gift for Raven.

At the time, Raven thought she was some kind of exotic woman, like a drow or an orc.

But later on, there were too many things to do, so Raven put the matter behind him.

Now that I think about it, the Goblin Tribe and the Earth Bear probably formed some kind of balance, so after the Goblin Tribe was destroyed, the Earth Bear began to cause trouble.

After ordering Volaf to withdraw his troops with his personal soldiers, Raven rode on Xiaobai and rushed back to Xuefeng Castle.

I don’t know what this goblin looks like, but he is called a “gift” by Viscount John.

Raven was filled with curiosity.

……

(End of this chapter)