The young elf locked eyes with the giant elven bear. The bear splitted out the arm and stood up. He towered over the elf. She was scared. Her arms began to shake as she aimed her rifle at the bear. She took a shot at the bear, it hit but the bear didn't even flinch. Instead it roared. This threw the young elf off balance.

The bear started a few steps towards the elf. She crawled backwards whilst holding her gun. She paused for a while trying to aim at the bear's eye. She controlled her breathing and fired. The sound of the gun thundered. She felt the violent recoil. She looked at the bear, it hit him but the bullet only made the bear flinch.

"Oh shoot" She said thinking what might happen to her.

As the bear got close her survival instinct kicked in. Her legs moved on. She sprinted away. It wasn't supposed to be the right thing to do when you're facing off against the bear. In fact running is the last thing someone should do when facing a bear.

The bear saw this as an opportunity she chased after her. She moved as fast as her adrenaline could push her. It was faster than the beginning of the race. As the bear's distance closed in, her hope of survival decreased. But as she continued to run she found a cave that was blocked by a tree with an opening small enough for her. She altered her course towards the cave.

She was about a meter away from the cave when the bear lunged at her. Her reflexes commanded her to jump away from trouble. Her movement was fluid but it wasn't fast enough to dodge the bear's scratch. It grazed her leg. The force of the scratch threw her off. She was lucky, if it hit her leg, it would've been cut off entirely. She dropped to the ground. Her leg was giving her so much pain. She wanted to scream but thought of survival and clenched her teeth.

The bear approached the young elf. She played dead. As the bear moved in to smell his latest victim a shot was heard. The bear grunted and growled. The shots continued at first it annoyed the bear then he was left no choice but to look at the one shooting at him. As his body turned far away from the elf a grenade was tossed towards his face. It knocked the bear back. Then the shots continued. The elf looked to see who it was. It was the girl from before the ceremony started, Syun.

Syun ran towards the girl whilst firing at the bear. She tapped the elf at the shoulder.

"I'll get you outta here okay?" Syun assured her.

Syun grabbed the elf by the shoulder and dragged her towards the cave. The elf managed to put herself inside the cave. Syun saw this and followed here inside.

"That won't hold him for long," The young elf said.

"I know. We gotta move" Syun replied. "Can you move?"

"My leg hurt. I don't think I can walk"

Syun looked at the elf's leg. It was scratched up and bleeding fast. Grabbed something from her back pocket. It resembled a pocket tissue packet. She opened it and pulled out a white paper the size of a brochure. She placed it on the elf's legs. The paper glowed revealing a few writing on it. Then it burned the elf's leg. Cauterizing the wound.

"I stopped the bleeding. I don't think you can still walk in the next twenty minutes." Syun said.

The bear looked through the hole where the girls walked in. He reached out his hand but he could not get them. He continued for a little more before giving up and moved on. Syun assisted the elf to walk.

"That was a" The elf was interrupted.

"Great elven bear, yeah." Syun said.

"I saw it eating someone"

"That would be the hunting party that provoked the thing. They got cocky and thought they could kill the thing."

"Were you a part of the party?"

"No. I was following the thing, in case it runs into someone... and I run after you"

"Thanks. But shouldn't they be here? Didn't the council check the forest beforehand?" The elf was worried.

"Well normally they shouldn't be here. At all. But I guess it got past the safety seals put in the night before... Or someone missed a giant bear, which if that were true. Then someone is getting fired." Syun tried to inject humor in her answer.

They continued to venture into the cave until they reached the exit.

"Oh I'm-"

"Syun. I know I heard you and your parents arguing earlier." The elf said.

"Oh. And you are?"

"Yuna."

Both of them smiled. In that moment they formed a bond, a friendship. They continued walking and talking, getting to know each other. They kept the pace for about fifteen minutes.

"How are you feeling?" Syun asked.

"I can slowly feel my leg," Yuna responded.

They exited on the other side of the cave. They were at the other end of the ravine, almost a few kilometers near the town colosseum. Winning the gathering was not on their minds but survival. They kept a steady pace until they heard a familiar sound. The bear's roar echoed and rubbled to their ears. Syun looked back and saw the bear standing. Looking at them.

"Can you run?" Syun asked.

"Barely"

"Give me your bag" Syun requested as she reached out for Yuna's bag.

Yuna gave her the bag and they started to run at a limpy pace. Yuna's leg hasn't fully healed yet. They continued this pace until the bear was closing on them.

"I can run, give me my bag." Yuna shouted.

Syun paused. She looked back at the bear. It was coming closer. She gave Yuna her bag, as well as her own. Then she took out any weapons from Yuna. She also gave her all her killed trophies.

"You heard the story about two guys running away from a bear?" Syun asked.

"No."

"Well one guy told the other we can't outrun the bear. The other guy said yeah but I can outrun you. Then the bear ate the slow guy."

"What are you saying" Yuna was confused.

"I'm letting you out run me." Syun replied confidently.

Syun ran towards the bear. She opened fire at it and threw a few grenades. Yuna looked helplessly but she had no choice but to run. She ran forward but kept looking back. She saw Syun firing at the bear. The bear moved forward and lunged at Syun, she rolled back into the ravine and so did the bear. At that moment Yuna assumed that her new found friend died.

Yuna ran so fast that she arrived at the colosseum. She saw a few people welcoming her. She wasn't the final person to arrive in their knowledge but for Yuna she might be. She was a little hysterical.

"There's a great elven bear.... Inside... it killed a few of them..."

The people that welcomed her changed their faces. A few people heard this and they felt a little panic. The town head approached her.

"What do you mean?" The town head asked her.

"There's a great elven bear. It killed a few of the contestants. I was lucky because... Because, Syun saved me." Yuna's eyes watered.

The town head felt the need to secure the safety of his people. He gathered the town guards to go inside and rescue the few remaining contestants. He then delivered an announcement to his people.

"Citizens, one of our youths reported a sighting of a great elven bear. Do not"

His speech was interrupted. The crowd's attention was out in the forest. They saw someone walking struggling. It was a silhouette at first then it was slowly revealed to be Syun. She was struggling in walking not because of some wound but because behind her she was dragging something. It was the great elven bear dragged with a vine. The entire community was shocked. The town head and a few other town guards looked at her.

Syun looked at Yuna. She dropped the vine and went back to the bear. She picked something. It was a bundle of deer antlers. She handed it off Yuna.

"You dropped this"

Yuna took the antlers and thanked her. Syun looked at the town head and gave him five family bands soaked in blood.

"These are the armbands of the hunting party that tried to stop the bear. I was too late in stopping them." She said as she looked at her parents in the pew. Both of them were relieved and proud at the same time.

With Syun returning along with the family armbands the gathering was announced to be over. The closing ceremony was a mix of congratulating the finalist as well as paying respect to those fallen.

This gathering the recognized victor was Syun, she was awarded with a new title The Slayer Protector.