Chapter 3: First Encounter

"Shit, that was a close call."

A man in armor curses his situation as he struggles to defend himself against the never-ending attacks coming to his direction. In front of him is a huge black bear in rampage. It's claws are so sharp which could probably cleave a human body in half.

The man is holding a huge shield with his left hand and a long sword on his right. His feet remained firm on the ground as he parries blows after blows of attacks.

No one would doubt his unmatched strength and durability if only they can see how he was able to hold himself in the battle.

"I didn't expect such high-level monsters to be here. "

"Isn't it weird? This is not their territory. So why are they here?"

There are two another figures engaged in the ensuing battle while having brief conversation.

One of them wears a leather armor and some kind of clothing that covers their face. She appears to be a woman judging by her deep but feminine voice. She wields daggers in both of her hands.

Her reflexes allows her to dodge the incoming attacks. With speed, she was able to close in and counterattack. Finally, she landed a hit on one of the monsters.

"Aerial Slash"

A girl wearing a purple pointed hat uttered those words as she wields her long wooden staff.

In the next moment, an abrupt blow of wind swept through the battlefield. Two black bears had fallen to the ground. The remaining others suffered from grievous open wounds. They are growling in pain as they succumbed to their injuries.

It appears that the girl in pointed hat is a wizard. The magic spell she used earlier is a wind-summoning spell that cut through the bodies of the monsters. She had shown proper control and stability on her magic which suggest that she is quite experienced.

"As amazing as ever, Sheena."

"Thanks."

Apparently, the woman with daggers calls the wizard girl Sheena.

"We should regroup with the others quickly."

"I know. Cover us, Elmer."

The man in armor who is called Elmer nods in response.

He charges forward against the remaining horde of black bears. One of the bears approached him raising it's claw. Unfortunately, it was met with the man's shield.

He bashed the monster with it. The beast was taken aback by the force and struggles to maintain its balance. The man did not lose this chance. With a great swing of his sword, he slayed the beast.

It fell to the ground lifelessly.

The other remaining black bears growled. They saw their comrade died. Instead of retreating, they charged forward all together.

Just then, the man moved into the side.

At the back, the wizard girl had already completed her finishing spell. A huge fireball is floating above her.

"Burn them all, [Fiery Flames]!!!"

In a blink of an eye, the huge fireball quickly swirled towards the direction of the black bears. A sound of boom was heard upon impact.

Silhouettes of once black bears were engulfed in blazing crimson fire. Their cries of agony disappeared as their bodies were reduced into nothing but ashes.

◇◇◇◇◇

"Woah, that was so intense."

A certain figure wearing a robe is sitting in a tree branch.

It was Meerus.

He was watching the whole scene unfold before his eyes. He did not expect to find humans in this forest.

He immediately strode to this place as soon as he sensed their presence.

Unfortunately for them, they haven't spotted him yet.

Meerus judged that they are no ordinary people. So he remained silent the whole time and watched them from a distance.

Based from his observation, they just battled a pack of black bears. Normally, bears don't appear in groups since they are usually solitary in nature. Otherwise, they would just spend their time killing each other for food till the last one standing.

Meerus suddenly remembered his encounter with a huge wolf.

Wolves often come in pack with an alpha leading it. They are known to be social animals in his previous world.

Unlike there, they are not as big as the ones in this world let alone the fact that they are monsters here.

Which means that whatever's in my world doesn't apply here. At least on some things.

Meerus kept his eyes on the group of humans. He scans them from head to toe.

They don't look different compared to him and to the humans in his world.

"Despite the differences in world, humanity are all the same, it seems."

There are three people in the group.

The man adorned in armor is their frontliner. Given that he's equipped with a sword and shield, his role should revolve around protecting his teammates in the backline.

On the other hand, the woman holding daggers in each hand is most likely their thief. She's agile so she must be assigned at guarding the rear.

The last one is a girl who is a magic user. She's their backliner and probably the one with the highest attack power in the group.

Suddenly, he felt something's wrong with them.

Did they found me?

Even if they do, there's nothing he should fear. After all, his plan is to ask for their help.

If they become suspicious of him, he can just simply tell them the truth with some lies to it should it become necessary.

Meerus sank deep in his thoughts.

Suddenly, a loud roar echoed throughout the forest.

◇◇◇◇◇

The ground is shaking.

"Earthquake?"

The woman thief named Evelyn muttered to herself as she felt the sudden movement in the ground.

Then, it stopped.

Not long after, they heard a loud roar from the deeper part of the forest.

"Wh-what is that?"

"A monster, perhaps."

"But, what kind of monster? I've never heard of a monster with a roar that could reach this far."

"Isn't that the direction where Haleth and Legolin went to investigate?"

This is bad.

The three of them shiver at the idea that their comrades might be in big trouble.

"Could it be..."

Evelyn uttered those words as she tries to keep her composure.

They had probably found it.

She cannot help but imagined the worst case scenario. She's praying of what she thought is wrong.

"What should we do now?"

"It's obvious. We must move quickly."

"I'll cast a spell for us."

They nod at each other.

"[Speed Boost]"

Sheena, the wizard girl, casted a spell which made their feet as light as feather.

Then, they quickly sprint into the direction where the thunderous roar came from in order to regroup with their comrades.

◇◇◇◇◇

In the deeper part of the forest, a single figure could barely follow his breath.

He wears a tattered brown cloak that seems to have went through a lot. His pale face have suffered from wounds and lips cracked.

His pointy ears which signifies that he is an elf, twitches as if to show that he's on high alert.

Actually, there is no reason for him to lower his guard especially in this dire situation.

A huge figure is reflected on his green eyes.

It is a monster with protruding fangs. A beast that stands upright and is more than three times taller than any trees in this forest. It has a long tail that could reach as far as six meters. With its big and sharp silver claws, it could cleave even a heavy steel armor like a hot knife through butter.

It has a lion head with reddish brown mane running across it's back. Its skin is yellow in color and a body with sturdy build.

The Lion King.

The wounded elf did not expect it here. In truth, they did actually know it's living in this area.

"But to think it would show up here?"

The elf muttered to himself while he kept his distance from the beast.

The Lion King is the ruler of this forest. It first appeared 200 years ago when a caravan of merchants passed through the forest along with their mercenary guards.

Due to their confidence in letting the mercenaries take charge of their safety, the merchants didn't care if they meet monsters deeper in the forest.

It never went to their minds that they would end up meeting with the king of the forest.

The Lion King.

As one would expect, their lives ended with a gruesome death. The beast did not spare anyone.

Somehow after, the story of the Lion King spread among the common folks out of nowhere and was easily accepted by the people. At some point, it became a bedtime story for naughty kids who doesn't want to sleep.

Since then, nobody dares to enter this part of the forest.

Except for a certain group of foolish adventurers.

Here comes the Golden Blade, a five-man adventurer group composed of a mage, tank, fighter, thief, and ranger.

The group works and lives for money. Hence, the name of the group, Golden Blade. Gold stands for wealth and blade for their way of doing a job.

The elf man belongs to this group. They were originally contracted to deal with the beast. All of them in the group agreed to this.

Their plan is to split into two groups so that they could find the so called ruler of the forest, the Lion King.

Their mage, thief, and defender decided to form themselves the first group. The other two will form the second group. He belong to the latter since he's the ranger in the group.

Obviously, the second group cannot be called a group if there's only the two of them. It should be called a duo or partner instead.

Speaking of partner, the elf found his comrade at the corner of his eye resting under a tree.

In reality, it's not actually resting. His partner, a dwarf, was grievously wounded.

This was because as soon as they enter this place, they immediately met the infamous Lion King.

At first, they tried to slowly approach it but then, they sensed its hostility and suddenly attacked them. They retaliated, of course. But the idea of victory never came into their minds. That was because the Lion King's strength is beyond their expectations.

They didn't expect it to be so fast and agile despite it's massive body. Perhaps, the fastest of all monsters they have encountered so far.

But, still they tried their best. His partner made a frontal assault while he provided support to him at the back. His partner wielded an axe that is powerful enough to shatter the earth. Unfortunately, the monster simply evaded his attacks and sometimes, it would parry it with its claws.

As for him, he shot countless of arrows waves after waves. But most of them were evaded. There are times he had hit it with a few arrows but it never penetrated its skin.

As soon as they realize that they were greatly outclassed, they abandoned the idea of taking it down and make a retreat instead.

However, the Lion King was never fond of slipping its prey out of his watch. The beast who was once being hunted is now the hunter.

It showed its superior prowess and let out a thunderous roar enough for the two adventurers to bend on their knees. They felt numb all over their body and was halfway paralyzed.

Then, the beast attacked at a speed that they could not follow with their eyes. The elf quickly moved out of the field as soon as he regained control to his body.

Sadly for his partner, he didn't made it in time. He was sent flying by the beast which is now the current situation here.

The elf is now the only one who was left standing. He doesn't care about what will happen to him next. He could only hope that his partner is still alive. He is praying to the gods that the others would come.

All he can do for now is to watch the beast with his eyes and be on high alert. If the Lion King were to attack him, he would just run around and buy some time until the others arrive. He will not become a ranger if he's not that fast and nimble.

"Quick everyone. I need you here."

Just as he was muttering to himself, the Lion King starts to make it's move.

In a blink of an eye, it closed the distance between itself and the elf.

The elf was surprised. It is true that he is fast and nimble. But, his reaction speed is too slow and his brain wasn't able to quickly process what just happened.

Right in front of his face, the Lion King stood. It raised its claws and for some reason, a smirk appeared to its face.

Is this really the end of me? Will I die? Here?

He already knows what would happen next. He will surely be reduced into shreds of meat given how sharp the beast's claws are.

He embraced himself hoping that it would be a quick and painless death.

In the next moment, the beast stopped in his movement as it noticed the single wound in its face.

The Lion King retreated.

The elf gasped when he noticed three figures at the corner of his eyes.

They were his comrades.

"Sorry we're late, Legolin-kun."