Martial Era: Starting With The Strongest Talent-Chapter 180: Dancing Bears
If humans were going to compete here, they weren’t going to make it easy.
The dancing suddenly grew... wilder and more aggressive.
Massive bears started exaggerating their movements, stomping harder, swinging their limbs wider.
Some even tried to "accidentally" bump into the two women while pretending it was part of the dance.
At that moment, only seventeen contestants remained.
The old bear eliminated another one and it dropped to sixteen.
Then suddenly a bear lunged toward Remedy, pretending to spin into a dance move.
In reality, it was trying to slam straight into her.
Remedy didn’t panic.
She pivoted smoothly, spinning with the rhythm.
Her body flowed into the next move like water.
The attacking bear missed completely and smashed face-first into a nearby tree.
CRACK.
The old bear immediately roared.
Eliminated.
Fifteen contestants remained.
Seeing that, the other bears became even more aggressive.
But Felecia wasn’t about to let Remedy take all the spotlight.
She stepped forward into the chaos.
A bear swung toward her in a clumsy dance shove.
Felecia answered with one of her own.
Her physique activated subtly, muscles tightening as she pushed back.
The bear stumbled backward and crashed into another contestant.
The old bear roared twice.
Two eliminations.
Thirteen remained.
Remedy and Felecia continued dancing.
Their movements were sharp, full of rhythm and control.
The bears tried everything to disrupt them, but the two martial artists adapted to every attack.
Three more bears were eliminated.
Then, the music suddenly stopped.
****
When the music stopped, the forest fell silent again.
Inside the circle, only eight bears remained.
The rest stood outside the ring, already eliminated.
Remedy and Felecia were the only non-bears left standing among them.
As usual.
The old bear stepped forward.
Then it began to roar.
Long, deep sounds that echoed through the cave entrance.
It was clearly giving some sort of speech.
Unfortunately, neither of the two humans understood a single word.
Felecia leaned slightly toward Remedy.
"Think he’s congratulating us?"
Remedy shrugged.
She didn’t know herself.
When the old bear finished, it turned around and walked toward the cave.
The eight surviving bears followed immediately.
Remedy and Felecia exchanged a glance, then followed as well.
Inside, the cave was far larger than it looked from the outside.
Golden runes were carved into the stone walls.
As the old bear passed them, the runes shimmered faintly, reacting to the boss monster’s presence.
Eventually, the group stopped in front of ten large jars arranged in a neat row.
The old bear gestured toward them.
The meaning was obvious.
One jar each.
The eight bears stepped forward and grabbed theirs first.
Watching them try to carry the jars with their massive front paws was... something.
The result was a series of extremely awkward bear hugs.
The two women took their jars as well.
Unlike the bears, they simply stored them inside their storage rings.
Felecia looked especially satisfied.
With Remedy here, she had managed to secure an extra jar today.
That meant her supply would last much longer before she had to come back again.
Once everyone had their reward, the old bear waved them away.
Clearly dismissing them.
It probably wanted to start brewing the next batch for tomorrow.
Remedy and Felecia stepped out of the cave alongside the other winners.
The moment they emerged, they were greeted by a completely different atmosphere.
Dozens of bears surrounded the clearing.
Their golden fur bristled.
Their eyes were feral.
This was the real nature of the Hol Bears.
During the dance competition, something suppressed their murderous instincts.
Almost like a biological switch had been flipped.
But once the contest ended, that switch flipped back.
Remedy looked around at the snarling monsters.
Then sighed.
"And I thought I was bipolar."
The bears roared.
Then charged.
Straight at the two human intruders.
****
Adam returned to the manor using Rapid Charge.
With his increased Star Power, his speed had reached a ridiculous level.
Traveling across Tristan’s sector now felt effortless.
Lightning faded around his body as he stepped through the manor doors.
The house was quiet.
Too quiet.
Adam glanced toward the living room.
The couch where Remedy had been sleeping earlier was empty.
He paused for a moment.
She probably had something to handle.
Adam didn’t think much of it.
Instead, he headed upstairs.
Inside his room, he shut the door and locked it behind him.
Then he reached into his storage ring.
A moment later....
Twenty Royal Purple conduits dropped onto the bed.
CLANG.
CLANG.
CLANG.
The sound of metal striking the mattress echoed through the room.
Adam stared at them with a satisfied grin.
These things had cost him a small fortune.
Which meant they had better be worth it.
If they didn’t work...
He didn’t even want to think about how painful that loss would feel.
Adam shook his head.
No pessimism.
Time to test them.
He reached down and equipped five conduits immediately.
His remaining Body Slots accepted them one after another.
Royal Sword Equipped
Royal Spear Equipped
Royal Staff Equipped
Royal Halberd Equipped
Royal Shield Equipped
The moment the conduits synced with his body, pain struck.
A sharp resistance surged through his limbs.
Much stronger than the backlash he felt when he fused Pure-Silver conduits to create Judgement.
Adam gritted his teeth.
But he didn’t resist it.
Instead he immediately activated his talent.
Fuse.
The five conduits began to fuse rapidly.
The sharp pain in Adam’s body gradually eased as the energies intertwined, forming a glowing, unstable state.
The conduits hovered in a strange in-between phase, neither separate nor fully combined.
Adam reacted immediately.
He summoned Judgement.
The black scythe appeared in his hands, its curved blade humming softly as the fusion process continued.
The conduits melted into streams of violet light and poured into the weapon.
Adam watched closely.
He could feel something changing inside Judgement.
The scythe vibrated faintly.
Energy pulsed through the weapon.
Minutes passed.
Then, the glow faded and the light disappeared.
Adam looked down at the weapon in his hands and Judgment was exactly the same as before.
