Battle with Little Black

Little White and Little Black were Aeneas's nicknames for the Silverback Gorilla and Terror Black Bear, respectively.

Aeneas had encountered these two dim-witted kings of the jungle many times. They had sparred no fewer than a hundred times, and while they had not gained anything else from it, they had forged a bond.

That was why Aeneas had not killed the Silverback Gorilla. He could not bring himself to be ruthless toward such a foolish monkey. Over the past half year, the only ones who could match wits and strength with him were these two big idiots.

And today marked the first time Aeneas had truly defeated the Silverback Gorilla head-on while it was in peak condition!

Next, he was going to challenge the Terror Black Bear—Little Black.

Aeneas made his way with practiced ease to the hill where the Terror Black Bear lived. It was a tiny peninsula, bordered by both coast and forest, and the Terror Black Bear often ran out of the woods to catch fish.

Speaking of fishing, Aeneas was genuinely amazed.

"The fish here are seriously huge!" Aeneas had been shocked the first time he went fishing. "Not to mention the Sea Beasts and Sea Kings. There's even a Near Sea King in the East Blue."

That Near Sea King was truly something. Back then, it had bitten off one of Four Emperors Red-Haired Shanks's arms in a single bite.

Though it sounded ridiculous, one could not deny that in this world, which was nearly ninety percent ocean, the fish and creatures living in the sea were incredibly powerful.

Whether in strength or size, they possessed overwhelming intimidation.

That was why humans took pride in defeating Sea Beasts or Sea Kings. Some land creatures could even tear Sea Beasts apart with their bare claws, and this Terror Black Bear was one of them.

When Aeneas had gone into the sea to fish, he had been surprised to catch a fish even bigger than himself. But he had also happened to see a black bear over three meters tall on the peninsula smash a massive Sea Beast over ten meters long with a single paw.

The more he compared them, the more Aeneas looked forward to facing this opponent.

For the past two months, he had been sparring with the Silverback Gorilla almost exclusively and had faced the Terror Black Bear only a few times.

"Little Black, you really are here!" Aeneas quickly spotted a black bear charging out of the forest.

With a forceful push from his feet, Aeneas leaped more than ten meters into the air and landed on the branch of a towering tree nearby. Though not much time had passed, his current strength had already far exceeded anything he could comprehend in his previous life.

As for his earlier One-Punch Man state, that had not been real. This time, Aeneas had genuinely improved his strength.

"Thanks to Uncle Obi-Wan's jumping training." Aeneas looked at the occasional broken branches around him. He had smashed through those during training, all to strengthen his lower body.

Now, Aeneas felt like a Spring Man, enjoying the pleasure and exhilaration brought by his growing strength.

Aeneas leaped again in the next moment and quickly landed atop the Terror Black Bear's head. He had long since overcome his fear of giant creatures. Even before a Terror Black Bear far larger than himself, he dared to jump onto its head and tease it without hesitation.

"Roar!"

Seeing a human brat riding on its head, the Terror Black Bear flew into a rage. Its two huge paws struck down one after the other.

A smug smile appeared on Aeneas's face.

"You really are a big idiot!"

Then Aeneas sprang away, and the Terror Black Bear's immensely powerful paw smashed directly toward the back of its own head!

"Bang!"

The Terror Black Bear showed no mercy even to itself, slamming its head straight into the ground.

The Terror Black Bear felt utterly dazed. Its bloated body tried to rise, but it could not recover for the moment.

"Hahaha—" Aeneas laughed at it without restraint. "Little Black, you're really pathetic. You hit yourself that hard?"

From the corner of its eye, the Terror Black Bear saw the one who had made it hurt itself. Was it that human child who had toyed with it the last few times?

In an instant, the Terror Black Bear's eyes turned bloodshot, as though it had entered a berserk state. Its hard body sprang up, and it launched another frenzied barrage of slaps at Aeneas!

"Smack! Smack! Smack!"

The Terror Black Bear's strength truly was terrifying. Every swipe shattered the ground. Aeneas dodged the chain of attacks, but the flowers and grass were pitifully mangled beyond recognition.

Aeneas licked his dry lips and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.

"Little Black really is violent." Aeneas could not help comparing the Silverback Gorilla and the Terror Black Bear again in his heart. "In terms of strength, the Terror Black Bear definitely has the upper hand. If the Silverback Gorilla took one of those head-on, it would probably be down for the count."

If even the Silverback Gorilla would be knocked flat, then there was no need to mention Aeneas's small body.

Though he had trained his resistance to blows, what hit him had only been things like small stones, not bear paws weighing several tons.

"But its weaknesses are obvious too. It's too slow, and when Little Black fights, it goes all out. It'll chase you to the ends of the earth!" Aeneas had angered the Terror Black Bear once before, and it had turned the entire Hilrute Mountains upside down.

The Silverback Gorilla had stayed far away at the time. Later, the Immortal Vulture appeared and decisively knocked the Terror Black Bear unconscious.

Then Obi-Wan had settled the matter with a single sword strike, firmly engraving Aeneas's determination to become a Swordmaster into his mind.

Whatever else could be said of Aeneas now, he was agile. That clumsy black bear could not even touch his shadow.

But this time, Aeneas had not come to play hide-and-seek with the Terror Black Bear.

This time!

He did not intend to run away. He wanted to face the Terror Black Bear head-on!

Aeneas gently placed his hand on his waist. His wooden sword had long been replaced by an unsharpened high-density Iron Sword. Though it had no edge, Obi-Wan had still demonstrated to Aeneas how to create sharp cutting marks.

The high-density Iron Sword was astonishingly heavy. Its shape and size were perfectly ordinary, yet its weight had bizarrely soared to a hundred jin. In other words, Aeneas ran around every day carrying an Iron Sword heavier than himself, and even had to swing it ten thousand times!

Aeneas had not disappointed Obi-Wan either. After enduring the painful early days, he quickly grew accustomed to the Iron Sword's weight.

Aeneas did not ask too many questions about where Obi-Wan had obtained such a strange thing.

He only needed to focus on his training.

Aeneas easily raised the Hundred-Jin Iron Sword and faced the Terror Black Bear, but he did not attack immediately.

Instead, he looked at the Iron Sword in his hands, closed his eyes, and asked himself, "Aeneas, this time, why are you swinging your sword?"

Silence...

The Terror Black Bear wore a surprisingly human-like look of confusion, unable to understand what Aeneas was doing. But it did not care. It simply raised a paw, preparing to smash Aeneas to pieces.

Sensing the danger, Aeneas did not continue standing there foolishly. He twisted aside and skimmed close to the ground, leaving the enormous bear paw's striking range. Then, holding the Iron Sword, he used his simplest and most practiced swing, slashing straight down!

"Crack!"

There was no sound of cutting. The Terror Black Bear only felt a heavy blow strike its arm. It roared in pain, then swung its paw back, sending Aeneas flying.