Battle with Little Black

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

Aeneas had crossed paths with these two dim-witted kings of the jungle many times. They had sparred no fewer than a hundred times. They had gained nothing else from their sparring, but they had forged a bond through it.

That was why Aeneas had not killed the Silverback Gorilla. He could not bring himself to be ruthless toward such a goofy monkey. Over the past half year, only these two oversized fools had been able to match wits and strength with him.

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, so the Terror Black Bear often ran out of the woods to catch fish.

Speaking of fishing, Aeneas was truly amazed.

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

That Near Sea King was no joke. Back then, it had bitten off one of the Four Emperors, Red-Haired Shanks's arms in a single bite.

Absurd as it sounded, there was no denying that in this world, which was almost ninety percent ocean, the fish and other 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 catch fish before, he had been surprised to catch one bigger than himself. But he had also happened to see a black bear over three meters tall on the peninsula smash a gigantic Sea Beast more than ten meters long to pieces with one swipe of its paw.

The comparison only made Aeneas look forward to this opponent even more.

For the past two months, he had been constantly sparring with the Silverback Gorilla, so he had rarely faced the Terror Black Bear.

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

Aeneas pushed off with his feet and leaped more than ten meters into the air, landing on the branch of a towering tree nearby. Though it had not been long, Aeneas's current strength had already far surpassed anything he could have understood 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 broken branches scattered around him, which he had smashed through during training—all to strengthen his lower body.

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

Aeneas jumped again in the next instant, quickly landing atop the Terror Black Bear's head. He had long since overcome his fear of huge creatures. Even when facing a Terror Black Bear far larger than himself, he dared to leap onto it without hesitation and tease it.

"Roar!"

When the Terror Black Bear saw a human brat riding on its head, it immediately flew into a rage. Its massive paws came slamming down one after another.

Aeneas revealed a triumphant smile.

"What a big dummy!"

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

Bang!

The Terror Black Bear showed itself no mercy, driving its own head straight into the ground.

The Terror Black Bear felt completely dazed. Its bloated body tried to rise, but it could not recover its senses for a while.

"Hahaha—" Aeneas laughed at it without mercy. "Little Black, you're way too 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. Wasn't 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 shot upright, and it unleashed another barrage of frenzied slaps at Aeneas!

Smack! Smack! Smack!

The Terror Black Bear's strength truly was terrifying. Every slap shattered the ground. Aeneas dodged the chain of blows, but the poor flowers and grass were left battered 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 advantage. If the Silverback Gorilla took one of those head-on, it would probably drop immediately."

If even the Silverback Gorilla would go down at once, then Aeneas's small frame stood even less of a chance.

Though he had trained his resistance to blows, the things that hit him had only been small rocks and the like, not bear paws weighing several tons.

"But its weaknesses are obvious too. It's too slow, and when Little Black fights, it fights like its life depends on it. It'll chase you to the ends of the earth!" Aeneas had provoked the Terror Black Bear once before. That time, 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 efficiently 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 swordsman into his mind.

Aeneas might not have had anything else going for him now, but 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 plan to run. He was going to face the Terror Black Bear head-on!

Aeneas gently placed a 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 how to create sharp cutting marks with it.

The high-density Iron Sword was astonishingly heavy. Its shape and size were perfectly normal, yet its weight had bizarrely soared to a hundred jin—meaning 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 days at the beginning, he quickly grew accustomed to the Iron Sword's weight.

As for where Obi-Wan had acquired such a strange thing, Aeneas had not asked too many questions.

He only needed to focus on his own training.

Aeneas easily raised the Hundred-Jin Iron Sword. Facing the Terror Black Bear directly, he did not rush to attack.

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

Silence...

The Terror Black Bear wore a strangely human look of confusion, unable to understand what Aeneas was up to. But it did not care about that. It simply raised a paw, ready to smash Aeneas to pieces.

Aeneas sensed the danger and did not continue standing there stupidly. He twisted sideways and skimmed close to the ground, slipping out of the massive bear paw's striking range. Then, gripping his Iron Sword, he used his simplest and most practiced sword swing and slashed downward!

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 arm back and sent Aeneas flying.