Chapter 138: A day

With rapid, hammering steps, the damage dealer ran back to his leader... "Here! I! Come! ...Hah!"

Rushing past the leader and tank, he swung his sword to both sides, sweeping past two saber wolves as he tackled down the last one behind these two. The tank, stammering as always, enjoined prudence and carefulness on the damage dealer, but the leader reassured the tank, saying it was all right, and that they might need a little recklessness in their situation.

"Mmm! <Iron Skin>... and <Provoke>!" Surprisingly non-hesitant coming from the sluggish tank. Voicing his agreement through his thick bastard sword, too, he cut down a saber wolf then and there, and the battle went on.

The leader had said it: they could use a little recklessness here. The situation was dangerous. At any time, it could happen. Again. The next thing they knew, maybe one of them would be losing a whole leg, this time. That was why, though it might have been seen as a contradicting order by the leader himself, the party needed to be reckless.

The battle went on, and the two supports had to get closer to the front. The monster-type wolves weren't exactly that big of a threat to the party, but you never knew when more enemies were summoned, so the plan here was to have even the supports partake in the front-fighting.

"Bonk, bonk, bonk..." the priestess whispered to herself. Silently, she mentally got prepared. "You never know what happens!" With her, the sorceress chimed in, and they both got ready. For now, maintaining their support from behind was simply what they did.

At the front, there were three guys fighting with their sweat and blood. Behind them, there were two other fighters, silently cheering and giving their best from the back.

...And just behind these two, there was a monster.

Also, deadly goblins still hid around, ready to attack when the party would be the weakest.

And then it happened. A turn that none expected. The goblin leader gave the order. "Screeeeech!"

As the swinging swords were slashing still, in search of monster meat, and as the saber wolf's ridiculously grand sharp fangs were just about the same, except they were after human meat... goblins showed up. All at once. As if it were nothing. Of sounds, you'd have heard the clashes of swords against the saber-like fangs, the laborious heavy breathing of the fighting folks, and their footsteps relentlessly shifting and moving upon the undergrowth of the earth—everything became silent. All blank.

Dark greenish goblins flew off some bushes around, hopping onto the ground, surrounding the whole party. Everyone had heard the screeching warning, but it all was way too fast. And the screeching warning was doubled by many others. Over a dozen goblins.

Unlike the goblins, my humans didn't jump out of bushes, they jumped out of fear. Their eyes rounded up, and their hearts instantly dried out, their cheeks became hollow, and a digging pain was instantly eating at their stomachs.

Then, the humans became statues of blood, flesh, and bones. Similar to them, the saber wolves stopped all offensive. Whatever was the justification for that, they weren't so madly attacking with their sharp fangs anymore.

But the goblins didn't bother waiting. They rushed in to get the adventurers, made themselves at home, and decided to do whatever they wanted.

"But... like I said..." I faintly murmured. "These humans are mine, goblins...!" The priestess' eyes darted onto me with panic. My voice carried all meaning there was to it, and as the goblins rushed in for the kill, I "showed through." The monster did.

Within a blink, literally, I vanished from the rear and reappeared right at the middle of the humans' formation. From there, I activated the "Intimidation" skill so that it mostly reached the enemies outside of the close circle. I directed my killing intent toward the monsters. I bared my aura to the goblins.

Thick, dark purplish layers of mana twirled around me like a tornado. People always described it as breathtaking to an unimaginable point. Instantly, the goblins stopped in their course. Beholding a true monster, it was natural for them to. Also natural for them to drop their weapons, to back off, step by step, struck by the fear of death.

❮ New Title "Ultimate Scarecrow" has been obtained! ❯

They all ran. I made sure to direct my killing intent at the goblins solely. A peace treaty was brokered, and they all fled as if they had never once been here before. Well, in the end, I didn't quite know for sure what team to cheer for, but I guess the adventurers were my boys, presently, so they were placed under my protection.

And I broke the bad spell that silently ruled over and subdued my adventurers. "Woah ha haaah! Tremendous shit! They actually afraid of us!?"

It was better that way.

"Would you look! At! Them! ...Gosh!" Seconds after that, the other statues came back to life, summoning back their will to live. "Only are the shitty shitting shits, now, hah! Even them are afraid to... well, well, well, man!"

As I said, I mostly directed my dreadful aura and intimidation toward the goblins. Still, even then, they now seemed way more docile and calm.

The leader woke up. Breathing in and out, he didn't know what to believe. Should one of the party members have leveled up, or hell, should multiple party members level up at once, maybe that was possible their level of threat was increased, making enemies run away from them immediately... but what were the odds many of them leveled up at the same time? Especially at the time they were all frozen to death.

Swiftly walking to the damage dealer, together, they beat up some dogs to death, and the man chose to believe in himself.

And following these two, the three others also silently, still in shock, got back to it. The priestess, who was the most hesitant, first placed her eyes on me again, with pursed lips, arched-up brows, full eyes, and fear marked on her face.

"W-W-W-What... d-did you... ...Aoi...?"

"Huh? What was that?"

"N-N-Noth— Nothing!"

Whatever she saw, the priestess had time to calm down. I leveled up again, reaching level 45. Soon, every pup was dealt with.

"Guys, we made it!" laughed the leader.

"I... I can't believe they just... took off," commented the babe, hesitantly eyeing me.

"To be fair... I... woah."

"Mhmm..."

"Guys, don't be so shocked! They were afraid of us! They were right! Run! Hah hah!"

The Party was so strong that such powerful numbers couldn't even hope to win against them anymore, so the monsters fled. Could you blame them for wishing to believe that story? It was a sweet story to believe.

And after what I did today, I yet again marveled at how versatile and grand the System's origin was. Was the System's influence on the world so supreme? I couldn't answer that.

After what I did to save the adventurers today, next time they hunted, they were sure to progress even deeper into the dark woods, fight even more numerous monsters... and lay the groundwork for a future quest whose requirements had just been fully met. A quest that would lead them all to the hardest hardship. A quest that would lead me to the "First Dungeon," after I completed all the quests of the First Act, where I would meet my archenemy.

The whole afternoon, my adventurers hunted, filled with strength and confidence. As I was the party porter, I had my own job to take care of. Like this, night was quickly falling. And the quest became that:

❮ "Learning the ropes! (2)" — Wander around the forest and hunt the following monsters: 0/10 Goblins; 20/20 Gray-claw wolves; 5/15 Poison-bite spiders; 3/5 Yellow slimes. ❯

Before long, they called it a day.