ARIFURETA: Cooking to be the Strongest?

"GRRR! GOOUURR!"

The bear's roar thundered, a declaration of war, as its paws pulsed with magic, unleashing more air slashes at Shin.

SWISH, SWISH, SWISH!

Shin effortlessly wove through the attacks, steadily closing the distance to the massive beast.

After a few futile slashes, the bear stopped, letting out another loud roar. It was done with ranged attacks. Deciding to take matters into its own paws, it charged, rapidly closing the distance between them.

"Heh, you stopped being lazy and decided to come, huh? That's right, come on, get closer. Saves me a lot of time," Shin taunted.

Despite its immense size, the bear moved with astonishing speed. Shin braced himself for the inevitable collision. 

When the bear was within striking range, Shin quickly sprang back, creating distance, then hurled one of his daggers straight for its eye.

The dagger flew with pinpoint accuracy and speed. The bear sensed the incoming projectile, dodged its head, and then the red marks on its body glowed. With a sudden burst of enhanced speed, it pounced on Shin. 

Though shocked, Shin swiftly shifted his body, narrowly avoiding the bear's massive paw as it slammed into the earth, leaving a deep crater where he'd been.

"Tch, magic enhancements, huh?" Shin muttered, observing the glowing red marks.

 It seemed the bear could use body-boosting types of magic. "No wonder you can move that fast with your size."

This new information solidified Shin's caution. This creature wasn't in any monster compendium he knew. 

He'd assumed it only used those magic-clad slashes, based on his past observations. With the bear's keen senses, hiding was pointless, and its raw power alone meant a direct hit would shatter his bones.

With only one dagger left, Shin settled on a risky plan.

He stared at the bear, which was now striking nothing but air and the ground. 

"Heh, this is what you call a boss? Can't even hit a magic-less human~" Shin closed to about five meters, his voice dripping with mockery.

 "Are you really the boss of this place? Pathetic. You think you can catch those rabbits with ease, but you can't even graze me, a human?"

The bear, though not understanding his words, perfectly grasped the mocking tone and the blatant disrespect in Shin's aura. This infuriated the self-proclaimed apex predator.

Burning with rage, and sensing its target now very close, the bear pounced with the same blinding speed as before. 

It swung its huge paw with all its might, slamming into Shin.

Shin flew through the air, crashing into the cavern wall with a sickening crunch that left a large, man-shaped dent. His body lay there, seemingly lifeless, blood seeping from his head.

The bear was momentarily stunned by its own power, but its expression quickly twisted into a sadistic, mocking grin. 

That's what you get for underestimating me, it seemed to think.

Sensing no movement from Shin's body, it ceased its checks. Its immense frame relaxed, and it began to walk casually toward Shin's unmoving corpse.

The bear nudged him once, twice, then let out a low huff, completely at ease. It turned its head slightly, perhaps surveying its domain, its guard entirely down, confident its challenger was no more.

It sniffed him one last time to confirm, but the body remained perfectly still.

With a large, gaping maw, it opened its jaws wide, intending to consume this puny challenger.

But before its jaws could close, it suddenly sensed an eerie, unnatural aura. It was too late.

Its last vision was of Shin's bright red eyes, and in his hand, a materialized obsidian knife.

"Ba~ka~, you let your guard down."

With those final words echoing in its mind, the bear's head smoothly severed from its body, its eyes dimming into lifelessness. A geyser of black blood erupted from the now headless corpse, and the massive creature swayed, then toppled, shaking the cavern floor with its thunderous collapse.

*****

"Broken left arm, four ribs, huh~ good thing I shifted my body before colliding on the wall," Shin muttered to himself.

 He stood limply, his body screaming in protest.

 "This knife really drains too much stamina when cutting a powerful opponent."

He stared at the headless corpse of the bear and the dematerialized obsidian knife. It seemed the stamina cost of the obsidian knife applied not only to material hardness but also to opponents more powerful than himself.

"One, Two, Ouch," he counted, gingerly pushing himself up.

Shin reached for the pouch containing the ambrosia and downed it in one go.

 "This thing is really good, may even surpass Kaori's magic in terms of healing~" he mused, watching as his wounds knitted shut and his body rapidly recovered after drinking the potent liquid.

Then he set about butchering the dead bear, meticulously taking the best parts of its meat, its pelt, and some bones, claws, and fangs. He had plans for them later.

Though there was a lot of material to move, strangely, no magic beasts came close while he was dismantling the massive creature. 

Shin spent most of his time that day moving those materials to his hideout, a monumental task completed under the watchful, if now lifeless, gaze of the abyss's former apex predator.

*********

"Tch, seems like all magic beast meat tastes the same," Shin grumbled after moving the dismantled materials, now munching on the bear meat he'd acquired.

 He had prudently checked for parasites first, recalling how books often warned of their prevalence in bear meat.

Peculiarly, this bear had none. Perhaps it was due to its inherent magic power or unknown traits that prevented parasites from thriving in its body.

While eating, he held one of the bear's large bones, sharpening and fashioning it into simple, sharp projectile weapons—like bone throwing daggers.

"With the damned bear gone, I hope there are no others like it. I guess I need to start looking for a way up," he mused.

After finishing another tasteless meal and crafting his simple weapons, Shin retired for the day, resting his tired mind and planning to focus his time on finding a way out the next day.

****

"This place is also no good."

Shin stood before another dead end.

 It had been three days since he started exploring the current floor, desperately searching for a way out. 

But no matter where he checked, there was no indication of stairs leading upward, which was common in the upper floors. The only path he found was one descending further down from his current location.

"You must be kidding me. Is this really what fate dictates me?"

Shin looked at the dead end, clenching his hand hard. His longing for his friends and the loneliness, which seemed harder to bear every day, gnawed at him. The frequent, monotonous meals had started to numb his tongue; he was no longer living to eat but just eating to survive.

"Sigh, I guess I have no choice but to move forward, or even conquer this damn Labyrinth," he conceded.

Suppressing his anger, Shin thought logically, deeming his frustration useless. He decided to focus his energy on moving on.

After a few days of preparation, Shin now stood ready, a large bag fashioned from the pelts of some wolves he'd hunted containing his essential tools, meat, and a pelt pouch containing all of the remaining ambrosia.

The magic crystal had run out of ambrosia, but Shin still carved it out and fashioned it into a light source with a bone handle.

Clad in a dried bear pelt as a coat, and with his bag of tools slung over his shoulder, Shin began his descent further into the abyss.