With the city of Hilsford on his back and a destination ahead, it was time to begin his journey. After letting the sheep settle down, Roth began his march. It was time to take these little ones to safety.
The well-built road makes it easier to travel on it. You have gained a [Swift] buff of +10% running speed.
Roth realized happily that the road speed bonus also applied to the sheep. Good. The trip had just been cut by a tenth.
“The I and the we have become the us of the I!” he heard among the flock. He slumped his shoulders and sighed. It looked like he would have to deal with the flock’s nonsensical poetry throughout the whole trip. Everything they said was so ethereal, and Roth couldn’t understand it no matter how hard he tried.
Roth took the lead, letting the sheep follow. Roth's strategy for the trip was simple. He would try to stick to the road as much as possible. That's where the least chances of being attacked were. The faster he got to the Green Woods, the more chance of success he’d have.
Around the city of Hilsford, the ground was mostly plain. Although the grass around the city was shorter, as they drew farther from the city, it became taller. Whenever the wind rustled the grass, Roth heard the ripples of fear in the flock’s song.
The first hurdle would undoubtedly be the wolves. They were by far the most common monsters in these prairies. After the prairie came the forests and woodlands, with their many trees and varieties of monsters.
Roth received a call. It was Drake.
"Have you left yet?"
"Yes, Drake. I wanted to give myself an extra day in case anything unexpected happens. Don't worry. I'll be back for the weekly meeting at Mario's lab."
"You'd better. Listen, I got a letter from your mom and another from your brother Danny. I'm sending it to your email."
Amidst the whirlwind of events, Roth had neglected to write to his mother for a few days. Hopefully, the trip would be uneventful enough to let him do that. "How is it going with the Raviolis?"
Drake smirked. "It isn't good practice to speak about family business."
"Well, you certainly are in character. Things are going well for you."
"Yes, but we need to talk at the weekly meeting. I also chatted with the 14th, and they should be done with their race quests today. After they become thumbers, they will try to learn their professions, and they should have more meaningful information to share."
"Good."
"I also have a big surprise for you."
"Yes? What is it?"
"You're going to love it! I promise it."
Roth felt waves of trepidation running through the flock. They started bleating and showing fear. There was something in the air that had spooked them. The song that usually was well-paced and steady became erratic and ominous.
"I have to go now, Drake. Something is going on with the sheep."
Roth hung up the call. All around, there was tall grass. He strained his ears but only heard the wind. Then, finally, another sound broke the quiet. It was the sound of a howl. Roth hadn't left the city more than 10 minutes ago, and the first wolf attack was already at his doorstep.
Slowly, gnarling and drooling wolves stepped out of the tall grass. Three had moved to their the rear, and six others were facing them.
Grassland Wolves
Lvl. 14
1100 hp
Roth tried to transmit calm and peace to the flock and felt them quiet down. He studied the pack that surrounded them. They kept shifting their focus between Roth and the sheep. They became aggressive and fierce whenever they focused on the sheep behind Roth, but hesitant and confused when they focused on Roth.
The wolves looked unsure about what to do. It was probably because of his race. On the one hand, they smelt prey. On the other hand, he smelled like an ally to them. It was time to see if his preparations would bear any fruits.
"For which den's pups do you hunt tonight?" Roth spoke up in the human tongue. The wolves stepped back as he said it. He caught the wolves exchanging looks.
The greeting that wolves used in the stories of the Fox Canon corresponded to reality! Hearing a wolf's greeting being used by a human had thrown them off.
"For which den's pups do you hunt tonight?" tried Roth again. The biggest wolf of the pack, standing right in front of him, barked a series of sounds. This was probably leader of the pack. Among the different barks, Roth could make out two of the sounds which very similar to words he knew in Foxian.
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He understood the word for 'grass' and another that sounded very similar to the word for 'cave.' Roth couldn't get enough of how the developers had managed to get such a good grasp on how the human brain learned languages. They had implemented it beautifully in AstroTerra.
He tried barking the two words he understood. "Grass? Cave?"
One of the Wolves stepped forward menacingly, and another growled. Roth could make out the word 'fox.'
Hearing the language of wolves, you find certain similarities between it and Foxian.
Progress in learning Wolfspeak: 32%.
Amazing! He was already learning the language of wolves! Different trivia flashed through Roth's mind as he tried to make sense of the information. He knew that there were human languages that shared more similarities than others.
For example, jumping from English to Chinese was very different from what would be required for English to German. After all, both English and German had a similar origin: they were Germanic languages. Therefore, by knowing English, in theory, someone already knew many of the words and grammar structures required to learn German.
Something similar was afoot here. Even though wolves and foxes were completely different animals, they were still canids or canideans, or whatever the word for creatures similar to dogs was. It wasn't surprising there would be some resemblance in their language. However, that didn’t mean that Roth could already speak the language fluently. He could only make out loose words for now.
The pack was now involved in an internal debate about what they would do about Roth and the flock of sheep. Roth noticed that compared to foxes, when wolves spoke, their snarls were heavier, and their words harsher. Foxian sounded more elegant. It was as if the foxes spoke the language of poets, and wolves spoke the language of warriors.
Roth made out the conversation between the pack members by filling in the blanks between the loose words he recognized with context and imagination.
"No prey tonight woof, bark, whimper, attack."
"Bark. Woof, woof, smell woof, clan."
After a short conversation, the big wolf came to a decision. It howled in an unmistakable command to strike. The sheep panicked, their telepathic song thrown into disarray. The harmony that brought their twenty minds together became a jumble of noise and static.
Roth had to disconnect his mind from theirs and use the skills he'd prepared to make this trip work.
Taunting Roar!
The deep rumbling sound from Roth's lungs shook the sheep into alertness and dispelled their panic. The wolves, who had been solely focused on attacking the sheep earlier, now ran towards Roth, falling for his taunting bellow.
The biggest wolf that had been the nearest, reached Roth before any of the others could. As the pack leader's jaws snapped on his arm, Roth let out a scream of pain.
-23
He could feel his flesh tear and his bone crack. He tried to tell himself it was just a game, but he was already pale and sweating.
Roth fought the urge to fight back or to spring his trap immediately. He had to make time for the other wolves to reach him. He had to get them as close as possible if he was going to make his plan succeed.
-23
-10
-16
-10
After one more bite of the big wolf and after the rest of the pack arrived, Roth finally found the right moment to act.
Screeching Terror!
The sound that came out of Roth's throat was the mix of a high-pitched woman's scream and an eagle's pained cry. The air around him trembled as the skill was enhanced by the effect of his [Polyglot] title.
The wolves' eyes, which had been red with rage and hunger, lost their aggressive edge. The wolves started whimpering and ran with their tails between their legs. They sprinted as fast as they could, terrified. While the debuff lasted, Roth reached out with his mind again toward the flock and commanded them to follow him.
Roth took out one of the consumables he had prepared for the quest.
Haste Scroll (Consumable)
Item description: The paper has been inscribed with chemical reagents that boost adrenaline production and give speed to those around you.
Item effects:
Grants +20% movement speed to all allies within a 20m radius;
Lasts 30 seconds.
The unfurlled scroll crumbled into bits as it came into contact with air. The smell released was similar to that of peppermint. The sheep now had a blue feather sign above them, signaling they had received the speed buff.
Even though it hurt to use such an expensive consumable, Roth didn't hesitate. He didn't know how long the wolves would be affected by the fear debuff of his [Screeching Terror], and he wanted to be as far away as possible from the pack when they snapped out of it.
Roth urged the sheep to move as fast as they could, while looking back over his shoulder. The wolves were beginning to recover from their panic attack. The pack leader was the first to wake, while the others awoke a second later. Roth measured the distance he'd been able to put between the wolves and the flock and sighed, relieved to see they had moved out of the wolves' aggro zone. Since he hadn’t dealt them any damage, he hadn’t built much aggro, and the pack of wolves disappeared into the tall grass.
You've interfered with the hunt of the grassland wolves.
-20 reputation with the grassland wolves.
The advantage of the [Fear] debuff over [Stun] was that [Fear] sent opponents running away from whoever scared them. That, coupled with the speed of the scroll, had enabled him to put enough distance between his flock and the wolves. Things were going well. With only a [Haste Scroll] and two skills, he overcame the first obstacle.
There would be bigger challenges down the road. If Roth couldn't even scare away the lowest-level wolves from hunting the sheep, there was no way he would make it through the whole journey. A few moments later, Roth found a stretch of road he deemed safe. He sent the mental command for the flock to stop and checked on each sheep.
All of them were accounted for. He found a sheep whose leg had been bitten by a wolf. The sheep was given a [Bleed] debuff and, as a result, was losing hp every second. The wound was also making the poor soul limp, which would affect the flock's traveling speed.
Roth took out another consumable that he had prepared for the trip.
Soothing Bandages (Consumable)
Item description: Mixture of medicinal herbs applied to a cotton bandage that makes wounds close quickly.
Item effects:
Recover 10 hp every 10 seconds for 100 seconds;
Can only be used outside of battle.
The items weren't particularly expensive for the amount of health they regenerated, costing a few coppers each. The downside was that it couldn't be used during battle. Roth applied the bandage carefully and, after ensuring every sheep was okay, resumed their march.