Alfonse wanted to deny Roy’s orders at first, but looking at the desperate situation, he reluctantly nodded his head. He then turned around and sprinted with all his might.

Once his friend ran toward the rest of the group, Roy put back all of his focus on the monster in front of him. It was a three-meter tall hulking beast wielding a club that was as large as a full-grown man. Other than the green skin and the vaguely humanoid shape the monster seemed from a completely different species than the usual goblins he had fought all this time.

The beast roared with the strength of a dragon before dashing toward Roy.

It’s fast! Even though the body of the monster was large and heavy, it still had a speed unbefitting for its size. Roy immediately rolled out of the way of the monster’s charge, barely dodging it.

After standing back up and taking his stance, Roy looked at the monster who was growling at him with each breath. ‘Damn, there is no way I can kill it alone’. However, Roy couldn’t just run away and leave it roaming around—It was too close to Roger’s house. If he left it alone, they would never be able to sleep in peace, even if they barricaded the door.

I have to bait it away from here.

Just as those thoughts passed through his mind, the monster pounced at him with an ungodly roar. Roy immediately jumped out of the mad beast’s charge before running in the opposite direction that Alfonse took.

“Roar!!”

The beast was enraged at its escaping prey. It sprinted after Roy’s back using all three of its free limbs as if it was a monkey jumping from one branch to the other in the forest.

Just as it approached Roy’s back and tried to grab him, the latter rolled to the side and dodged its attack. Understanding that he would not be able to outrun it in a straight line, Roy zigzagged from one side of the road to the other. He would then use the alleyways between houses to slow down the beast’s movement and gather up some space.

Enraged by its prey’s fly-like movements, the beast roared and smashed everything in its path—trees, houses, or wooden signposts. However, it could not catch Roy no matter how much it tried.

Soon, they got out of the residential area of the village and reached its outskirt. With no more small alleyways for Roy to hide, the only thing he could do was zigzag through the muddy road. Just as they reached the stables, the monster reached right behind Roy and grazed his back with a smash from its gigantic club.

Just that minor injury was enough to send enormous shockwaves of pain throughout Roy’s entire body. However, the beast was not to let its prey recover from its attack. It immediately charged back in, adamant about killing its opponent and eating its flesh.

Roy jumped in the air to dodge the incoming attack, but it was too late. He tried to parry the club’s smash using his sword, however, the attack was too heavy to be blocked by the frail-looking long sword. Roy flew several meters into the air from the savage attack and crashed into the wooden stables.

Fuck, shit! Is this how it ends?

Roy’s heart was beating out of his chest, and with every breath came a sharp burst of pain as if his lungs were about to be pierced. Damn, did I break a rib?

With every inch of power and will, Roy stood up from the rubble and looked at the monster who was approaching him. He tightly gripped his sword’s hilt and gritted his teeth and the beast ran toward him.

Roy raised his sword high to fight with the incoming monster, but just as he was about to clash with the gigantic club, two dark silhouettes jumped from the side.

The monster screamed in pain as Robb and Alfonse stabbed and slashed at its tough muscles and skin. Seeing his two friends come to help him out of nowhere, Roy was surprised at first before a wave of relief washed over his body. Those emotions didn’t distract him for long as his eyes regained their former sharpness and focus. His mind raced with thoughts to solve this situation when a plan suddenly formed in his brain.

“Robb, Alfonse, let’s bait it to the forest!”

The two looked at Roy with surprise before understanding his plan. Both Roy and Alfonse immediately ran towards the wood on the outskirt of the village, while Robb stayed to taunt the monster.

“Hey, you big ugly fuck. Come catch me if you can!”

Robb flipped his middle finger at the gargantuan beast before running after Roy and Alfonse. He entered the forest with its dense trees while the monster madly charged behind him. At first, their speed was similar, but once they entered the woods, Robb was able to quickly leave the monster in the dust.

The beast struggled with the dense trees, as it clashed with branches, tree trunks, and vines. Just as it got stuck, Roy and Alfonse jumped from a thick patch of foliage where they were hiding and slashed at the tendons of its gigantic knees.

The monster roared in pain and fell to the ground. It looked with rage at its assailants before swiping at them with its large club. Of course, Alfonse and Roy did not stand in place and immediately ran away from its range of attack.

Even though the beast was wounded, it was still able to stand up and pounce at its prey. The two zigzagged around the trees before separating into different directions. Robb, on the other hand, took advantage of the monster’s tunnel vision and stabbed the monster in the side of its chest.

After his successful attack, Robb jumped backward to create some space between himself and the beast. The latter stopped in its track and looked at Robb with eyes full of venom. With a wrathful roar, it smashed everything in its path—trees, branches, bushes, whatever it could see it smashed with its gigantic club. The beast was like a small little child throwing a tantrum at its parents. The only difference was that the child measured three meters in length, and had a face only a mother could love.

After a few minutes of smashing around, the beast finally stopped its rampage. Whether it was because of fatigue or boredom, Roy and his friends did not know. However, they were not to let this opportunity drift past them.

The trio unleashed an onslaught of attacks at the monster from all sides. They slashed and stabbed at its tough flesh until its purple blood filled the muddy ground below. They kept going in and out so as not to let the beast counter-attack. However, even with all of their caution, it was still able to get its revenge.

Robb, who saw an opportunity to end this battle once and for all, jumped at the beast’s wide-open neck to stab it. The beast, who saw its opportunity to finally vent its anger, swiped with its gigantic club at the jumping Robb. The latter, stuck in his stabbing motion in the air, couldn’t change his course and crashed right into the beast’s attack.

The impact was strong, and Robb flew several meters in the air before his body struck a large tree. The wind flew out of his lungs and blood dropped out of his mouth. His consciousness was fading in and out of existence as his pupils went up his eye sockets.

The monster roared in rage as it was finally able to hit its fly-like prey. Even with all the wounds on its body, it painfully stood up on its legs, overshadowing some of the smaller trees.

Suddenly, an aura bubbled out of its body. It was red as blood and had a shape close in form to that of the green light that enveloped Roy and his friends when they awakened. However, the similarities ended right there. The monster’s aura was ghastly and full of bloodlust. It left goosebumps on Roy’s whole body whose instincts were screaming at him about the aura’s danger.

Without thinking for a single second, Roy jumped into action. He dashed towards the unconscious Robb, lifted him up, and ran away from the monster’s incoming attack. The instant Roy ran with Robb, the beast the tree on which the latter was laying down. The monstrous attack crushed the tree into tiny fragments and left a large crater in the ground.

Looking at this scene, Roy just kept running without daring to look back. The monster smashed and trashed the trees around it while chasing after the two. Its eyes were bloodshot and the only thing filling its mind was all the ways it was going to kill and eat its prey once it would finally catch them.

Roy ran forward while lifting Robb with his unarmed hand. Soon, the dense forest cleared and a cliff appeared in front of him. Without a single moment of hesitation, he put the grip of his sword in his mouth and gritted it tightly. He then jumped from atop the cliff. The monster, who wasn’t thinking about anything other than eating its prey also jumped after the young man.

Roy turned around after jumping the cliff and held onto a thick vine that spanned across it. The monster soon followed after him and fell straight to the ground. Its roars became whimpers of pain and the bloody aura that covered its body dimmed down before completely disappearing.

Looking at that sight, Roy sighed in relief. He looked around the cliff for a suitable rock to jump to. Thankfully, one was right next to him. Just as he was about to jump, Robb coughed and spit blood.

“Shit, what the fuck happened?”

“Good morning sweet princess,” Roy replied with a toothy grin. “Can you hold onto the vine? You’re pretty heavy.”

“Ah, yeah, sure.” Still dazed and confused, Robb held onto the vine along with Roy.

“See that rock over there, I’m gonna jump to it. Follow after me.”

Robb nodded at Roy’s instructions. Even though he had just woken up, he was able to make sense of what was happening from the surrounding context clues.

Roy jumped to the rock on the cliff and made his way down the fifteen-meter fall. Robb followed closely after him. When they reached the ground, they found the monster still laying on the ground, half unconscious. Its body was full of wounds and the ground around it was soaked in thick purple blood.

Roy’s mind was now finally calm and he looked closely at the monster’s hulking body and gigantic club. For a second, the picture of David’s crushed legs and his destroyed house flashed in his mind.

“So it was you…” Roy slowly walked toward the beast and decapitated it with cold eyes. The monster was now dead, its body resting on the grassy ground and basking in the silver light of the moon.

The beautiful sight of the dead beast enraged Roy and he plunged his sword deep into its skull. Grey matter and purple blood merged and burst out of its head and covered Roy’s pants. He then closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm his anger.

Just as he opened his eyes, floating words started appearing right in front of him.

“Congratulation, you have unlocked an achievement.”

“Are you seeing this too?”

Robb’s words confirmed Roy’s vision. The young boy looked back at the floating words and read them carefully, making sure that he did not miss anything.

“I guess these gods give us rewards when we do difficult things.” That was Roy’s conclusion after he strained his brain thinking about what achievements meant.

Robb nodded at Roy’s words before he returned to his puzzled expression. “But like… what’s this next update thing?”

Roy shrugged his shoulders. “Who knows? But I guess it shouldn’t be a bad thing if our stats go up.”

However, while the two were talking, a howl resounded from within the woods to interrupt their merry discussion.

“Awoo!”

Two red pairs of eyes slowly walked out from the darkness of the forest.