Chapter 50: Roar
"Hahaha!"
Arthur choked, as if trying to suppress it, but the laugh got out of him anyway.
At the same time, John just stared at the empty brush where the goblin had disappeared, flabbergasted.
"What the... it says they have to attack me."
Arthur wiped his eyes and gave John a thumbs up as he said seriously,
"Marvelous. Truly inspiring stuff. I’ve never seen someone taunt a goblin straight into retirement. Fear not. Somewhere out there, that goblin will be telling its grandchildren about that time it survived from you."
John clutched his head with both hands and spat out a "Fuck me." before letting out a breath.
He knew he had it coming after mocking Arthur for fumbling [Water Arrow] the first time around, so he couldn’t say much. Still, he didn’t give up, and the two of them went looking for another goblin.
Unfortunately, the second time was even worse. The next goblin saw John winding up and running towards it, and bolted before he even let out a roar.
The third goblin they encountered froze for exactly half a second, then scampered backward on all fours.
Every time, John’s chest swelled and he looked like he was getting closer and closer to murdering the goblins with his bare hands.
Eventually, Arthur decided to give him a hand.
He didn’t know exactly how [Roar] worked, but he guessed the premise of activating it was probably similar to his [Water Arrow], if not the same.
So John had to actually use his mana to activate it, not just scream at the imps.
"How the hell do I even do that?" John asked, the edges of his ears reddening a bit.
Arthur shook his head.
"I’m not really sure. Just... sit down and focus?" he said.
Truth was, even Arthur had no idea how he’d gotten the hang of [Water Arrow] so quickly, but using mana was something you needed to experience for yourself. You couldn’t be told how to do it.
For a while, the two of them kept roaming around the forest, as Arthur watched John scream at the top of his lungs while trying to activate [Roar]. Every time a goblin wandered past, he threw even more into it.
It was about half an hour later that John actually succeeded for the first time.
A level 4 Spear-Guard seemed to have noticed the commotion and come looking for the source of those unholy shouts terrorizing the forest, only to find itself face to face with John.
John sensed the imp right away, but for the first time, he wasn’t in a hurry to shout. Arthur watched his friend close his eyes and focus for a second, as the goblin grabbed its spear and made a beeline for him.
Then John’s voice rang out once more.
"ROAAAAAAAAAR!"
This time the goblin didn’t run away. The moment John’s voice echoed, its eyes turned red, as if it had just laid eyes on a mortal enemy of its kind. Then it rushed in even harder, even more set on killing the man who’d taunted it.
John’s mouth twisted in elation.
From the side, Arthur watched silently, his own lips curving up.
Fighting a level 4 Spear-Guard was child’s play for the current John. If he wanted, Arthur knew he could probably kill it in a single strike. But that wasn’t the goal.
No, John had to practice [Roar] more. Now that he’d found a willing victi- *ahem* opponent, he couldn’t just let it go.
Soon, the goblin went wild. Its eyes dilated, red blooming around its pupils as it lunged at the hateful human.
But John parried its strikes with ease. It was obvious he wasn’t even breaking a sweat.
All the while, he kept trying to fire off more shouts, but to no avail.
Three minutes later, he finally let out a second successful [Roar]. Arthur could tell he had succeeded because, just like the first time, the goblin went mad with fury and lunged at him once more, firing attacks with even more fervor!
A few minutes later, the level 4 Spear-Guard finally collapsed, John’s spear ending it with a single strike through the chest.
[Goblin Spear-Guard defeated. +12 EXP]
John stepped back grinning, droplets of sweat running down his jaw, before he turned to Arthur with a satisfied look and said,
"I told you I was getting the hang of it."
Arthur gave him a grin.
"The forest seems to agree."
"The forest can kiss my ass."
Arthur glanced at the goblin’s vanishing corpse, and after making sure it hadn’t dropped anything, he shook his head as the two of them continued deeper into the forest.
...
As they walked, more and more goblins showed up, only to fall to John’s spear as he kept testing out [Roar]. Finally, a little over an hour later, they reached the foot of the familiar mountain.
The beasts hidden in the mist welcomed them with punctual brutality.
[Iron Boar]
[Level 6]
[Type: Monster]
An Iron Boar barreled out of the fog with its head hung low, this one aiming for Arthur.
But Arthur didn’t flinch. He was already used to this sight.
So he just let the beast charge at him while he planted his feet and stretched out his right hand.
A moment later, an azure arrow appeared out of thin air, cutting through the mist and flying straight for the boar’s snout.
What followed next was a fountain of blood dying the mist red as the boar’s body faltered and went limp mid-step.
It collapsed with a heavy thud, and the familiar system notification blinked into view once more.
[Iron Boar defeated. +26 EXP]
Just like that, Arthur and John continued their ascent.
...
It didn’t take them long to reach the safe zone this time around. Since they already knew what to expect on this part of the mountain, dealing with the Iron Boars and Rock Serpents along the way was much easier.
Before long, the familiar slanted path of loose gravel came into view, the faint orange of the bonfire flickering through the mist.
This time, however, Arthur realized it wasn’t Greg and his group resting around the fire.
No, there were three unfamiliar players: two men and one woman.
They wore chestpieces you could only get from Goblin Spear-Guards, with spears at their sides. They weren’t the same kind John had, reinforced with a band of blackened metal, but the ones bound with vines instead. Even so, Arthur could tell their gear was pretty good. It didn’t get much better at this point in the game.
The moment Arthur laid eyes on those three, one of the two men seemed to have noticed him too and quickly shot to his feet as he grabbed his spear. The other man and the woman were up a second later, spreading out in front of the fire.
"That’s far enough," the first man said. His eyes flicked between them, his gaze resting on John for a second longer before he continued,
"As you can see, this spot is taken."
Arthur didn’t say anything, but next to him, John’s easy expression flattened.
His grip on his spear tightened, but he didn’t raise it. He just waved a hand and said nonchalantly,
"Relax. Nobody’s after your stuff."
The woman’s gaze dropped to the band of blackened metal on John’s spear, and something in her face suddenly tightened. Then, she whispered something to the man beside her and all three of them went still.
Arthur didn’t know what the woman had just said, but it was obvious these people weren’t looking for a fight. So he shook his head and said lightly,
"We’re just passing through. You can keep the fire."
For a moment nobody moved.
Then the first man fell back half a step, though his spear stayed up.
"...Then keep passing."
Arthur gave the man a nod, but neither he nor John slowed down. They weren’t planning to rest in the ’safe zone’ anyway.
The mist thickened as they walked by, eventually swallowing them and leaving those three people behind.
Only when the bonfire’s glow had fully faded did John speak again, clearly a bit disgruntled,
"Friendly bunch, huh?"
"Can’t blame them. One of them was pretty seriously injured." Arthur said as he shook his head.
"Seriously?" John asked in surprise.
Arthur nodded and looked back at the mist as he said,
"Yeah. One of those men was bleeding from his left shoulder. That girl also recognized your spear, so she probably thought it wasn’t worth picking a fight for no reason."
Arthur couldn’t tell how injured the man was, but he’d caught sight of that woman bandaging him with her shirt just before he and John approached them.
But well, it’s not like it was any of his own business, so Arthur just shook his head as he and John continued to climb.
...
For some reason, the mountain seemed to have even more boars and serpents than the day before. The higher up they went, the more frequent these ambushes became.
Neither Arthur nor John complained, though. If anything, they were hoping it would keep up.
A level 7 Rock Serpent peeled off a flat stone slab to their left, baring its rows of teeth as it tried to ambush them. But before it could get within range, Arthur’s [Water Arrow] cut through the air with a sharp whoosh as it struck its right eye. The arrow landed with a wet, crunchy sound, and the serpent collapsed on the gravel with a thud.
[Rock Serpent defeated. +34 EXP]
A few steps away, John knocked a boar sideways with his spear, then drove the tip into its belly, drawing out a fountain of blood.
[Iron Boar defeated. +26 EXP]
Another system notification came as Arthur and John settled into a rhythm.
Their attacks, their breathing, everything seemed to sync up the more they fought.
Every now and then, John’s [Roar] would come out, yanking the attention of any monster that drifted too far away from him. When he timed it with a boar’s acceleration towards Arthur, Arthur could see the creature’s legs stutter as it toppled over. Five seconds didn’t sound like much when you were standing still, but in a fight, it was more than enough to decide the winner.
The two of them kept climbing, and two hours later, Arthur realized they’d returned to the spot where they’d fought the Mountain Howler the day before.
For better or worse, the Howler was nowhere to be seen today, though. Instead, two massive Iron Boars had taken over its territory. Two level 8 boars.