Chapter 2 Boss Fight

After seeing what happened in the morning, Joshua blanked out the entire day. They did training once more and Joshua managed to level up to level 3, but his heart really wasn't in it. As they were making their trip back to the castle, Joshua regretted picking up the level 2 hearing skill. He could hear his party members whispering about him.

"Can't believe she's gone…" Amber said in a whisper.

"She tried to kill the hero, of course she'd be executed when she's caught. To think I actually respected her swordsmanship too. How despicable."

"Arthur, do you really think like that? Chelsea would never do anything like that… I think it's the hero's fault. I hear on his first day here he slept with 5 noble daughters against their will."

"Rumors are just rumors. The legendary hero will never do anything wrong. All of his actions are right." The man apparently called Arthur said. Joshua didn't know him well since he didn't really care about the 3 guys in the party, but he heard Arthur's name spoken the most. It was apparent that the other party members trusted in him. Despite Arthur's stats being less than Joshua's, it seemed that everyone admired Arthur's skill from the way they talked to him, even if they seemed skeptical about blindly following the hero.

Joshua however, despite being unable to escape the gossip behind him, just wanted to go back to his room and sleep. As they made it to the castle, Arthur, a man with short red hair and freckles, looked up at him with expectation while clad in knight armor holding a sword and shield. For a moment, Joshua thought 'Oh, so he's Arthur' as he looked back at him.

"... That's enough for today… let's rest up and continue more tomorrow." Joshua said.

"Understood!"

Even though the people here didn't understand the concept of leveling up, as their level rose, they found that their strength did indeed improve. They couldn't see their stats, but as they all leveled up, they had at least 3 more points in each of their stats.

However, there was a clear difference between regular people and Joshua. Joshua's stat differences were night and day away from everyone else. His stats at level 3 were almost the exact same as those as the strongest in the Kingdom, which were level 6! Forget about being similar strength, Arthur, his strongest party member who was now level 4 was weaker than when Joshua was level 1! Once more, none of the people in the castle even had skills except for those who had low level magic, yet most of them only had one spell while Joshua had 3 different spells at his disposal.

As Joshua went back to his room, het let out a sigh as he just went to his bed and collapsed in it. Really, thinking about all of these complications wasn't something he'd normally do, he was mainly only thinking about all of this as some sort of distraction from what happened this morning… This morning...

He shook his head, trying to find something else to do. However, he didn't want to do anything but not doing anything only made him think of the woman who died cursing his name. He quickly went through his menu. Now that he leveled up, along with the unspent skill points, he now had 11 skills points in total. He might as well use them, he thought, trying to escape the words she etched into his brain.

He quickly found an interesting skill, Mobile Casting. Unlike other level 1 skills, this one cost 3 skill points but allowed the User to move while casting. Joshua's main problem was that he couldn't move while casting a spell, otherwise it'd cancel itself. Despite the cost, it was worth the effort so he bought it. He continued to look through the ability menu but there was just so much in the menu his head was getting dizzy. Transformation, Whirling Rush, Deep Freeze, Enemy Detection. All of these spells looked inviting, yet all of them either cost 3 skill points or was the same case as Teleportation where something was stopping him from learning it.

He even found level upgrades for his hero skills, menu and appraisal, but if they gave him even more information than what he got now, he felt like he'd be incredibly overwhelmed so he chose not to do this. Besides, both of them had a 5 skill point for leveling anyways.

Joshua sighed, unable to make his mind up so he chose to get the spells Icicle Shot, Shock and Wind Shield for 1 skill point each. Icicle shot shot out a giant shard of ice, Shock had electricity fly out of the wand/staff continuously and use up mana per second and Wind Shield surrounded the user with protective wind. When he purchased Wind Shield though he got the following alert:

[Reminder, you have learned more than 5 magic spells. You can only have 5 spells equipped at one time. Please remember to change your equipped spells in preparation for the next day every day]

Joshua looked at this alert and stared at it. He couldn't use more than 5 different spells a day? He wanted to clarify what he just read but the alert went away too fast. He could probably find the information in his menu but the menu was so cluttered, navigating through it all just felt annoying. He realized that the games he played in his world had menus that were many times simpler than the one he had here.

He gave up in frustration and decided to level up his skills. Since level 2 skills cost 3 skill points, he could only level up one skill. Seeing how effective magic missile was, he decided to level that up, leaving him with 2 skill points left to figure out later. His skill list now looked like the following:

Skills:

(Hero)

Menu

Appraisal (?)

(General)

Hearing(?) Level 2

(Combat)

Throwing(?) level 3

Dodge (?) level 1

Knuckle(?) level 1

(Magic)

Mobile Casting (?) Level 1

Magic Missile (?) Level 2 E

Fireball(?) Level 1 E

Illusion (?) Level 1 E

Icicle Shot(?) Level 1 E

Wind Shield(?) Level 1 E

Shock(?) Level 1

(Trade)

Barter(?) level 1

Skill Points left: 2

Satisfied, he tried his best to go to sleep, yet the moment his mind was free his thoughts quickly went back to Chelsea. He found himself struggling to sleep as Chelsea's words echoed in his head. He's no hero, he's a criminal. Even though he looked away from her execution, he was still able to picture it perfectly in his mind. He was unable to sleep that night, as well as the next night. His party's farming of monsters had slowed down and he found himself unable to level up. As he was lacking in sleep, he was unable to think of how. Before long Jonathan sent more noble woman to Joshua and after sleeping with them he'd find that Chelsea's image didn't haunt his head and he was actually able to fall asleep.

However, even with proper sleep he was still unable to think about how to fix the lack of monsters near them. Why? Because now that he had more sleep, his thoughts always found its way back to Chelsea

Just like that, one week had passed by and despite their best efforts, Joshua's party was unable to find a single monster and had all remained the same level.

"Man… it's been boring just walking around this forest." Amber complained.

"Yes but if we can fight more monsters, we can get stronger. I find my body moves a lot more naturally in battle after killing a few." Arthur said, acknowledging that fighting monsters was worth it. From just a week or 2 of fights, they were already catching up to the strongest people in the Kingdom.

"Still… to think all we had to do to get stronger was kill monsters. Feels like all our drills are useless." One of the guys complained.

Joshua looked around, even with his level 2 hearing he could only hear his party members around or a couple of bugs. He had a bad omen about this.

The next morning as they were eating breakfast though, an alarm went off.

Bells rang left and right.

"What's going on?" Joshua turned toward Jonathan as he was eating some eggs in the royal dining room.

"... That's the alarm for when a dangerous monster is nearing the Kingdom, one which our entire Kingdom needs to focus on immediately." Jonathan replied.

The entire Kingdom's army? Joshua gulped a little before he and the rest of the troops were putting on all of their equipment. Joshua gripped his staff as they went on top of the castle walls.

The kingdom had two parts hidden behind the walls, the castle itself with its courtyard, and the village inside of it. The castle was at the very center while the village surrounded it. Joshua glanced at the eyes of the several men around him, the average level he saw was level 3, the same level he was.

He looked down as he saw what looked like a giant wolf, at least 4 stories tall. A giant wolf…

"It's probably because we kept on killing its babies…" Amber said softly with a gulp.

"Yeah, once too many babies are killed the mother wants to attack the castle itself…" Another person said.

What? Attacking the baby wolves attracts a monster THIS big? Weren't those tiny wolves the ones attacking us? Joshua had no idea how to react, but he remembered… fire magic wouldn't do anything here.

He started channeling magic into his staff before firing a magic missile at it. The missile flew straight and at this distance it had lost its accuracy but the wolf was so big that it still hit it. He looked toward the wolf's face to see it's HP value.

Orval

Level ???

Health: ???/???

All question marks? Joshua was use to seeing monster's HP values, so seeing nothing all of a sudden struck him with intense fear. What was this thing? Furthermore instead of seeing a species like every other monster, this one had a name!

"Arthur… can we even kill that thing?" Joshua couldn't help but asking.

"No idea…" Arthur said softly. "For now, I'm going to the front line."

Joshua watched as everyone except Amber who wielded a bow went down one by one. He looked around and saw only archers were posted on the wall and that those that could use magic were on the ground. Joshua wasn't exactly sure why but he glanced at Amber before going down too. If they were on the ground, there must be a reason. He suddenly cursed himself for not actually looking through the menu enough.

As he went down he glanced up at the monster, before running toward Arthur. Out of the guys, he only really knew Arthur the best so he decided to trust him with battle related information.

"Arthur, you told me earlier that wolves are resistant to fire magic. What are they weak to?"

Arthur glanced at him. "We're not really sure, but piercing type magic is generally the best. It slows them down."

Slows them down? Joshua looked up at the archers on top. Piercing type magic… but what about arrows? Wouldn't that also slow them down? He remembered that when they were hunting wolves Amber would be able to kill them in one hit with her bow.

Archers had low defense, so it was common for them to be in the back.

"It's coming!" Some one's screams stopped Joshua's thoughts as he looked up. Piercing…

Joshua looked at a knight holding a spear and ran up to him.

"Give me your spear!" Joshua shouted. The knight was perplexed but after getting an order from the hero he willingly gave it up. As Joshua held the unfamiliar weapon in his hand, he looked at the wolf coming toward them.

"Arthur, and anyone else with shields, come with me!" Joshua shouted. "We're going to run this way, you guys stay in front of me as we run!"

Joshua lead the unit away from the front of the castle, which confused the men but they listened anyway. As they ran Joshua gripped tightly on the spear, stopping in his place before throwing in a way his body was familiar. The spear was completely different from a football but as soon as his body was familiar with the action, it acted as if throwing a spear was the most natural thing his body had done. This was from his level 3 throwing spear. As he threw the spear it flew forward, spiraling past as a shockwave came out. A shockwave? Joshua wasn't strong enough to throw that hard! Regardless, the spear flew by and impaled itself into the giant wolf who was slowed down by sudden powerful attack before glancing toward the hero's direction.

The hero quickly opened the menu to see if he could learn any piercing magic.

[Warning, the user may not learn any new abilities in the midst of combat.]

Seeing this message angered Joshua but there was nothing he could do about it. He quickly went through his equipped spells.

Fireball, Icicle Shot, Magic Missile, Wind Shield, Illusion.

With those options he quickly clicked the question mark symbols next to them and read the description before landing on Icicle Shot, it did piercing damage!

He looked forward and raised his Staff before channeling the spell. He decided walking as he cast it, mobile casting going active but his movement while casting was that of a person crawling on the ground. It was still better than having any movement cancel his spells though without getting any mana back.

As the wolf came by the spell was suddenly ready and Joshua fired it, a small icicle spear shot forth and pierced the wolve's shoulder. Joshua went to cast it again.

[Warning, skill is on cooldown.]

[Warning, skill is on cooldown.]

[Warning, skill is on cooldown.] [Warning, skill is on cooldown.] [Warning, skill is on cooldown.]

This was his only piercing magic so he had to rely on it. As soon as it got out of cooldown he stopped getting the warning message as he started stepping back. The wolf however was practically right in front of them. It swung it's claw toward them but the knights blocked it with their shields. Everyone flew back except Arthur who stood up right. Just as he blocked it Joshua fired another Ice shot which launched itself at the monster's eye. Arrows started flying by them, hitting the wolves body, the archers on the castle wall got off it to try and support the hero.

"Run back!" Joshua shouted as everybody started running toward the direction of the archers. However the wolf quickly swiped its claw at the knights who didn't were struck down and were torn apart with a single attack. Suddenly it raised it's head and let out a loud howl. The sound of fast footsteps came upon them and Joshua watched as a bunch of wolves jumped out.

Wolf

Level 5

HP: 37/50

Joshua's eyes went wide as the wolves went around slaughtering many soldiers. The average soldier was level 3, but these wolves were level 5. Even the strongest soldiers were only level 6.

A Wolf came by Joshua and he backed off a bit.

[Shield Bash] Arthur ran forward and used a skill to block the wolf. Skill? Joshua never saw skills in Arthur's analysis but he didn't let it bother him, it just saved him from taking damage. Joshua quickly fired a magic missile and ended the wolves life.

An arrow flew by and hit and killed a wolf in an instant. Joshua glanced at Amber who had gotten off the wall and approached them, giving them back up. Joshua smiled at her before turning toward the Giant Wolf once more. [Icicle Shot] He casted once more, piercing it's hide as it howled in pain.

"Spears! I need another spear!" He shouted. He glanced at a Knight who looked perplexed but kept his spear, batting away wolves nearby. He didn't want to give away his weapon, it was what was protecting him at the moment! Not that it mattered, Arthur came at the Knight and forced it out of his hands before giving it to Joshua. The Knight panicked and ran away, only to be caught by wolves. Joshua looked at the quick scene with a tang of guilt before getting ready to throw it at the giant wolf. Once again, he threw the spear expertly as if he was throwing spears his whole life. It pierced the giant wolves arm and he howled before leaping toward Joshua.

[Icicle Shot] Joshua casted again, slowing down the wolves movement while using mobile casting to increase the distance by marginal amounts, before raising his staff again. [Magic Missile] He shot a magic missile shortly after to do as much damage as possible while his Icicle Shot was on cool down. He wasn't sure how long his spell cooldowns lasted but they didn't seem to last that long. However, even with all those attacks slowing down the giant wolves speed it still caught up to him and swung his claw toward Joshua.

[Shield Bash] [Wind Shield] [Piercing Shot] Three skills used by different people. Arthur used his skill to get in front of Joshua while Joshua used his spell to protect him. The arrow skill probably came from Amber. The arrow pierced the giant wolf but the wolf's attack still barreled through as it swatted both Joshua and Arthur away. Joshua groaned as his body flew, this was actually the first time he took damage in this world and boy did it hurt. His back rammed into that of a tree and it was a miracle that his bones didn't break. He opened his menu to check what his current HP and MP values were but a normal wolf came toward him and lunged toward the knocked down hero.

[Taunt] Another skill attracted the wolf away, it was from another member of Joshua's party. He suddenly wished he knew his name, but that didn't matter. Joshua got up and looked at his menu.

Health: 10/28 (+2 from level up)

Mana: 1/22 (+1 from level up)

Stamina: 8/58 (+2 from level up)

Joshua had managed to get to level 4 during this battle alone. As he glanced around he saw that the battle was in complete chaos. He needed more MP! He reached into his bag, and saw the MP bottle was somehow still in tact. It was a miracle it didn't break! He looked at it, seeing the image from night when Chelsea had given him that exact same bottle. He was the reason she died and now she was going to be the reason he lives. A pang of guilt hit him as he opened the cork and brought the bottle to his lips, gulping it down.

Mana: 25/22

[Warning, you have more mana than your body can handle, use it quickly before your body burns up.] As the warning message came Joshua felt magic coursing through his body as if going haywire. He raised his hand up.

[Your familiarity with Icicle Shot has let the spell cost 4 mana instead of 5.] [Icicle Shot] Joshua didn't read the prompt and instead fired it at the big wolf. Lots of knights were copying Joshua, throwing their spears at the monster but since they lacked the throw skill it only would bounce off the monster's hide. Not even arrows would pierce it. Yet Joshua's magic easily pierced the monster's hide.

[Magic Arrow] [Flame Spear] [Icicle Shot] [Magic Arrow] The mages in the kingdom, as few as they were, were using their magic at the beast. Some, due to having insufficient mana, had passed out from running out of mana.

"Are you okay?" Joshua turned toward Amber who was running toward him.

"Yes we- Amber look out!" Arthur started. Joshua watched as a wolf jump out of a bush and head toward Amber who was rushing toward them to check up on her party members. Joshua panicked and rushed forward.

[Your Experience from your past world and this world has allowed you to learn the skill, Rush Level 1, for free] [Rush] Joshua burst in speed. It felt like he was taking off, running with a football in his hands as he ran around Amber, holding his staff. He twisted his body and whacked the wolf away from the girl before raising his staff. [Magic Missile] With that one spell at point blank the wolf exploded. The other 2 members of Joshua's party members slowly approached them looking at the hero. The battlefield was pure chaos. Joshua looked at the giant wolf who was tearing apart the Kingdom's army with ease, but after Joshua's attacks it had noticeably slowed down.

"Try and get as many spears as possible for me." Joshua ordered. Out of all his attacks, his throwing skill did the most damage. He only hoped that the skills' cooldown was low enough for him to use one after the other. "Arthur, protect Amber. You two will circle around and get the giant ones attention. Amber, use Piercing Shot when it's off cooldown." Joshua commanded. This sort of action, it reminded him when he'd give commands to his team during a losing match. [Your Experience from your past world and this world has allowed you to learn the skill, Tactical Mind, for free]

"Roger that!" Everyone said as they started going to their orders. Arthur and Amber separated from the party while Joshua left with the rest to gather spears. "Remember guys, we're going to try to use one spear after another until the beast dies!" Joshua shouted as they ran. As they collected spears from fallen soldiers, Amber's Piercing Shot got the attention of the giant wolf, bringing it away from them. Joshua didn't hesitate using his Icicle Shot to one hit kill any wolf in their way. Although there was a cooldown, it was short enough for him to use when a trash mob had come toward them. Although these wolves were weak compared to the parent, they were still capable of killing a man with ease. Beforelong the soldiers around saw what Joshua's party was doing and with the giant wolf getting further away, they helped getting Joshua a hefty amount of spears.

"After I throw a spear, someone hand me another! We're going to kill this guy now!" Everyone around took in a breath as Joshua held the spear in his hand. Like always, his stance was sloppy but as soon as he got ready to throw his body moved on its own, getting into the proper stance for maximum distance and strength. As he threw, another shockwave shot forth, pushing people around him back as the spear pierced the wolf. It howled in pain. Joshua got another and prayed that the cooldown was short. He threw another one, the wolf only started glancing toward their direction as it howled again from another hit. He threw again, the wolf jumped forth only to be pushed back from the spear that hit it. Joshua threw and threw and threw. However, after throwing 20 spears the wolf was still standing. It looked toward them growling, before running at them full of confidence. It noticed that they were out of spears! However, Joshua glanced at his remaining MP. 4 Mana left, just enough for one last spell. He looked at the monster as it approached them fast. Without any spears or other magic casters, the beast was moving at full speed. The archers behind shot whatever arrows they had left, some piercing the wolf's skin while the majority of them bounced off. Joshua rose his staff.

Orval stopped moving with wide eyes as it started turning back. It thought that there was no more piercing attacks that could do a big amount of damage, but seeing Joshua raise his staff it realized that it should've ran earlier.

[Icicle Shot] [Congratulations, you have killed your first boss! You've been awarded 1 Skill Point]