HC:Pacifist | Ch. 35 - Wallowing

After the many painful rescues of his swine friends, Roth had reached a point where, although he couldn't help himself from trying to stop any battle he saw, he could often make a clean break after interrupting one. Not being attacked on all sides helped, and the truth was that Roth had excellent gaming instincts. Now that he was more in command of his faculties, he would sometimes sidestep or dodge some of the damage sent his way to avoid feeling the pain and damage to his avatar. Rescues were becoming a bit easier on his soul and body.

Conversely, Boarish was proving to be the most difficult language to learn so far. Battles were everywhere, and figuring out a language during a rescue mission wasn't easy. Roth had tried to look for a place where boars weren't being hunted and where there was enough peace for him to do his thing, but he hadn't found one yet. Even places with no players hunting the boars were within sight of battles, always sending Roth flailing his arms desperately from one battle to the next.

That's when Roth had an idea: boars loved mud, so they dug up the soil to make it loose and boggy. Players, on the other hand, avoided any mud wallows like the plague. Getting hit with a speed debuff when hunting boars was pure suicide. But just because the other players avoided the mud wallows, that didn't mean that Roth had to. So, throwing all sense of decency aside, Roth had gone to the muddiest place in the hunting fields. As soon as he entered one of the mud wallows, he got a notification that spelled death for any boar hunter.

Your feet are stuck in the mud. You've been hit by a slow debuff. Speed reduced by 25%

Roth went in deeper.

You're knee-deep in the mud. You've been hit by a slow debuff. Speed reduced by 50%

The boars in the distance didn't seem to mind his presence or even acknowledge it. Roth had wondered if wallowing in the mud would earn him some extra reputation with the boars, but that didn't seem so. Roth slowly made his way to a group of boars taking a mud bath. As it got closer, he saw that they were chatting between them. He just stood there, listening.

You start making sense of the sounds around you. Progress in learning Boarish 13%... 15%... 18%...

Roth let his subconscious and the system do the heavy lifting, and he started to think about how his character was progressing. It had been more than three weeks now in this beginner zone. Many players only stayed for three days, and they then left for a higher-level map. Could he be wrong to go about the game this way? He wasn't even level 8 yet!

Sometimes, in the middle of a language-learning commiseration session deep in the mud, Roth would hear the sounds of battle and be drawn toward them. His muscles would start moving without his mind telling them to, and he would begin moving toward the confrontation. However, because of the speed debuff, he would still be inside the mud wallow by the time battles finished. He would snap out of his daze and return deep into the mud.

The only frustrating thing was having to go back to the boars through the mud. It took forever. If only he could make himself even slower... Roth tried something; instead of standing, he sat in the mud.

You're neck-deep in the mud. You've been hit by a slow debuff. Speed reduced by 75%

That was much better. As Roth paid attention to the conversations between boars wallowing in the mud close to him, his progress bar in Boarish kept progressing. After a few dull, boring minutes, Roth checked his posts in the forums. Had anyone cracked the riddles that Count Crow had given him? As he opened the post, he thanked GradnpaBill110 from the bottom of his heart. He had done it again.

"Jason is lying dead. He has an iron bar across his back and some food lying in front of him. How did Jason meet his sad end?

Jason was a mouse.

Always in you, sometimes on you; if I surround you, I can kill you. What am I?

Water

Why is green grass like a mouse?

Because the cattle/cat will eat it.

Where once there were many, now there are none. Time has stopped ticking; the hours are done. For there is no end but also a beginning; for the darkest is now, but soon shall be thinning. What is it?

Midnight

Forward, I am an animal, but backward, I am one whom no man can ever see. What am I?"

I am a dog."

Mice. Dog. Water. The cat will eat it. Midnight. What a huge mess! It was as if the answers to the riddles made up a riddle of their own. But he couldn't ask GrandpaBill to help him with this one. He had to figure it out himself. He went back to commiseration. He was in the mud, after all.

Those players were all gaining levels and stats. And here he was, trying to learn the language of boars while trying to decode the riddle of a crow. He wasn't even getting any XP or stat points from it. It had been an hour in the mud, and he was only at 26%. At this pace, it would take hours. A notification rang, stopping Roth's thoughts in their tracks.

This mineral-rich and cool mud works wonders on your skin. Your health and vitality improve. +1 strength.

What? Was he gaining stats from sitting around doing nothing in the mud? Why weren't all those players down here with him, then? The only explanation Roth could think of was that they didn't know. After all, who would have stayed for a whole hour neck-deep in the mud? Even if they wanted, the boars, who had no speed debuff when inside the wallows, would trample them to death.

This helped him feel a bit more at ease. He would stay true to his course. He had already put a lot of effort into these quests. He would trust that it would be worth it when the time for rewards came.

After several more hours deep in the mud, Roth saw that the boar king had spawned just on the edge of his field of vision. He couldn't care less about him right now. He needed to suck all those nutrients into his skin and increase his strength. He already had gained 3 strength just from sitting around in the mud. But the boar king wasn't a regular mob. A battle against it would last much longer.

A party of nine players soon arrived and started to attack it. Roth found himself standing up and walking toward them at a snail's pace. Any other mob would have been long gone, but this was a boss. It had more health and took longer to kill.

After several minutes of seeing the hunt go on right before his eyes, Roth felt like a volcano that wanted to erupt and burn everything around him. It was so frustrating to want to get to the Boar King but not be able to. Finally, he escaped the wallows and ran toward the hunting party.

*

The ruse had worked. The Cerberus and Kraken squads had chased after DisgustingHamper and had been drawn away for long enough for the team to whittle down the boss's health. This would be a clean kill. It was an exceedingly rare event for one to hunt the boar king without competition, but things had been a bit quieter than usual around the boar hunting fields. Something about a crazy man going around and making everyone's hunts miserable.

50%... 34%... 14%

The party kept systematically targeting the Boar King with optimal DPS to finish it off as quickly as possible. The configuration they found worked best for farming bosses with noob characters was at least six wisdom-based espers who focused only on damage and two full-strength warrior players to hold down the boar and stabilize aggro.

The espers kept cycling through the [Rat Poison] skill. It was an AoE skill, but since it had poison damage and stacked, it was a very efficient way of targeting high-health mobs. They also used the [Throw Rocks] skill whenever it came off cooldown.

As for the party's warrior, he kept spamming [Taunting Shout]. Whenever the boss started to give its tell that it was about to dash toward them, he would use [Shield Bash] to draw additional aggro and interrupt the skill.

Like this, they had already brought the boss relatively low after only a few minutes. It was tougher when they were beginning their farming cycle, but they were all level 9 now, which gave them good damage to hunting the Boar King efficiently.

"Careful, it's about to go berserk," reminded SmellyShirt.

13%...11%...9%

The Boar King started huffing and puffing, and its muscles bulged. Its eyes became red with anger. He had received a buff of 10% speed and 10% damage. This was the most critical time of the hunt. Not only did the boss become the most powerful at this point, but any interference could cost them a precious drop.

Seasoned as they were, they kept methodically chipping away at the Boar King's health. Everything had gone too well. The group hoped to get a [Power Truffle] from this kill. Just as the boss was about to die, a terrifying sound flooded the battlefield.

"Squeeeeeeeal!"

"Uh? What is this?" everyone questioned in the party chat. "Look. At 8 o'clock."

A monster was headed their way. It looked like a mix of the swamp thing and the boogie man. It was all covered in mud. As it ran, pieces fell off, leaving a mud trail leading to them. They finally realized it wasn't a monster. It was a player!

“Snore, squeal, you monsters. Growl, my friend!"

"Snore. Oink!” answered the boar loudly. The commotion and the unbelievable appearance of the player drew some looks toward the party. They didn't have much time.

"Don't worry about him! Just focus on the boss. GrossScarf hold him off if he meddles with us."

The espers kept bombarding the boar while being careful not to flock together. This way, even if one of them died without the assistance of their warrior to hold down the boss, they could still keep dishing out damage.

"Squeal, handsome boar; oink, growl, my dearest friend!"

What was wrong with this guy? thought the Pegasus Warrior. As he approached, Roth turned to the boar king, and a flash of light bathed the boss.

Healing Ray!

"Damn it! Stop him. Said SmellyShirt urgently."

Healing Ray!

"Stop healing the boss! Shield Bash." The warrior took two agile steps forward, hitting the intruder with the shield.

- 4

"Hmmm? What is this? I only dealt four damage to this guy. How is it possible? He doesn't have any good gear on him."

"Just get him off of us."

The meddler was stunned for half a second and soon resumed healing the boss after the skill came off cooldown.

Healing Ray!

"Oink! Oink! Squeal. Growl! I won't leave you!"

2%... 1%...

With its dying breath, the Boar King looked toward his helper and teared up. Emotionally it bade farewell:

"Oink. Oink. Sad oink."

"I will tell her. Oink. Growl."

They finally finished the boss, and a pile of drops appeared. SmellyShirt rushed toward the pile and looked anxiously at the list. They had done it. Thank goodness they managed it. The Krakens and the Cerberus were almost here, but they were too late. Their ruse had worked. As for this moron, he had nearly ruined everything.

"What's wrong with you? What's your character's name? Tell me!" Commanded SmellyShirt. He wanted to get this guy's avatar information to put it on the guild's hit list. But he had been cautious not to cause any damage to anyone during this encounter.

The intruder looked at him for a moment and, turning tail, fled. SmellyShirt tried to run after him, but before long, Roth was already well beyond his view. How was he so fast?

*

After Roth had lost his pursuers, he went back to the mud. He looked up at one more notification signaling the Boar King's gratitude and his rescue attempt.

The Boar King is touched by your heroic assistance and effort to rescue him. He spreads the tale of your strength and heroism.

+12 reputation with all boars

Roth went back into the mud until he found a spot where he could sit down and be neck-deep in it. He began to listen to the conversations around him again.

Progress in learning Boarish: 54%, 62%, 65%

This mineral-rich and cool mud works wonders on your skin. Your health and vitality improve. +1 strength.

Progress in learning Boarish: 72%, 81%, 86%

This mineral-rich and cool mud works wonders on your skin. Your health and vitality improve. +1 strength.

Progress in learning Boarish: 98%, 99%

Congratulations. You now speak Boarish.

+100 reputation with all boars.

You are now esteemed by all boars.

You unlocked a new title: [Polyglot].

Ch. 34 - Theatrics

INDEX

Ch. 36 - Polyglot