Chapter 6. There is no calamity greater than lavish desires

Huff Huff

"This can't be happening!" I thought to myself as I ran in a panic, gasping for air. "J-just what was that. Jason...he's..."

***

[Earlier that day]

"We just arrived at the Forest of Greed, Vernon. From here on out remember what I said and stay alert. I'll teach you everything about being on the field as a guardian today." Jason told me as we exited his car.

"Here take this." he said as he tossed something towards me.

"What is this?" I asked while looking at the small diamond like object.

"It's a magic-item that's connected to my status watch. If anything happens and we get split up I'll be able to find you, just make sure not to drop it." he explained.

"Got it, so what's the plan here today?" I asked him.

"This is a D rank field that's hard for many low tier adventurers to clear. On top of that many high rank adventurers prefer not to clear lower tiered fields. Due to this, these types of fields tend to become overrun with monsters after a while. When this happens the F.C.F. will contract a notable guild much like our Lyon guild, to clear them." he explained.

"I see, so we'll just be clearing monsters from the field?" I asked.

"Precisely, while it will be pretty easy with me there, you'll have to pull your own weight. There are between one and two hundred monsters that we have to clear. Your goal is to clear at least fifty. Ah, also if a field boss appears, just lead it to me. Remember do not fight it, it'll be way above your level." he ordered me.

"Yes sir!" I say with a somewhat sarcastic salute. "What will a field boss look like?" I asked.

"You'll know when you see it. Normally they exude an awful and unbearable mana to those lower leveled than them. On top of that they usually look much bigger, sometimes more humanoid. The more humanoid it is, the stronger it usually is. Be careful." he finished explaining. "Now, let's get started. Try and stay within eyesight of me, but if we get separated don't freak out." he warned.

"Alright, I'll do my best." I replied.

From here on out, we started clearing monsters. The monsters in the Forest of Greed were the typical fantasy type monster. Some were ferocious wolves or foxes, or large malformed insects. There were also some that looked like boars with gems in their forehead, and even acidic slimes. My first opponents were a small pack of wolves. There was a clear leader which was the much larger wolf, with two small wolves following. This is my first time fighting an actual monster so I had to be extra careful. First, I imbued mana into my armor to increase my damage output, I felt it's warmth embrace me. Second, I pulled out my short-sword while I watched my prey. I formed my fingers on my right hand into the shape of a gun, and pooled mana towards my hand. I aimed my fingers towards the two smaller wolves in the back, and the moment they lined up I shot a blast that resembled lightning towards them. The two small wolves instantly fell to the ground, with their chests agape. The larger wolf immediately turned to my direction, growling, and ready to pounce. The larger wolf was a dark brown with a white underbelly. It also had large fangs, and a large blue gem adorning it's chest. The wolf began to charge mana towards it's mouth, and shot a beam of fire towards me. I dodged behind a tree, feeling the scorching fire pass me. I then dashed to the left of the tree, and charged towards the wolf. The wolf pounced towards me swiping with it's claws, and then attempted to bite towards my neck. I blocked the claws with my sword, then barely dodged it's bite. I then swung my sword towards it's neck, the swing missed by a sliver and took some fur with it. The wolf then pounced again, this time faster, and dove into my chest knocking me to the ground. I had my sword between it's teeth as it tried to bite at me and swipe at me.At this point I realized something, this wolf was not actually that strong compared to me. I assumed that it must be stronger than me due to it's size and rank, but I was sorely mistaken. At this point, I lifted my right leg and kicked with all my strength, knocking the wolf back. I then charged mana into my sword, slicing again at the wolf. This time I used mana to extend the reach of my blade, making a razer sharp edge with my mana, and sliced it's neck cleanly. The wolf looked at me while lying on the ground, blood gushing from it's neck, and the light escaping it's eyes. I dropped to the ground breathing heavily and sweating profusely. Once I gathered myself, I took out a small knife from my pack, and began removing the fur from the wolves. The small wolves didn't have anything interesting besides fur and claws, but the large wolf had a large monster core. The core was the gem that adorned it's chest, it emitted a warm mana, I quickly stored it in my pack.

"Wow, good job! Took you a bit to realize though." Jason said, as if he were watching the whole time.

"I...I was a bit confused at first." I told him. "I thought the two small wolves died a bit too easily, but didn't realize it was because they were all individually weak. I thought because of it's size I would have a much harder time." I explained.

"Yeah, it was smart to take out the small ones first. Must be your instincts. You see there are some traits that monsters have. First, monsters that travel in packs are typically weak on their own. This isn't always the case, but normally it's easy to notice. If you find a monster that is on it's own and willing to fight, it's most likely very strong." he finished explaining.

"Now le-" Jason was saying before he was hit by a sudden attack. The attack sent Jason flying head-first into a nearby tree, he immediately slumped.

"W-what just..." I said as I turned to the human-like monster staring down Jason. It had a large almost seven-foot tall build, broad shoulders, and very defined muscles. It also had horns protruding from it's head, and his hands and feet had three appendages each.

Finally it's skin was a deathly gray, and covered in scars. For some reason the monster had yet to notice me, and was staring at Jason slumped on the ground. "I have no chance." I thought to myself. I reached for my sword.

"Oi." I heard a sound escape from Jason's mouth. "I told you, right? Run, this isn't a monster you can handle." he stated as he pulled himself up. "Run to the car and call Gerard, let him know there's a B rank field boss here."

I quickly escaped, running towards the entrance to the Forest of Greed where we left the car. In the distance I could hear explosions, and what sounded like screams. "Just what is going on!" I screamed as I ran. I saw the exit enter my field of vision and picked up my pace. "Almost there, Jason... please hold on." I thought. I got to the car and began calling Gerard, due to the nature of fields it's impossible to build receptors for phones. Due to this cars are used as signal receptors at fields to make important calls. "Gerard it's an emergency!" I yelled as he picked up the phone. "J-just what was that. Jason...he's..."

"Woah, woah, woah. Calm down, tell me what happened to Jason." Gerard cut me off as I was in a panic. "There's some sort of B rank field boss in the Forest of Greed! Jason's fighting it right now and told me to call you. I don't know what to do but he needs help!" I exclaimed.

"Pfffffft!" I heard Gerard burst into a laugh over the phone. "Is that it, haha. Well, it is strange for there to be a B rank field boss, but you don't have to worry about Jason. He's strong." he said.

"W-wait but he said?" I said before I was cut off.

"Yo~" I heard Jason yell from behind me, holding the head of the monster and dragging it's corpse.

"W-huh? What? Weren't you in trouble?" I asked.

"Trouble? Hah! Nah, this little guy just caught me off guard. Felt like taking a hit from a toddler!" he joked.

"Then why did you tell me to run and call Gerard?" I asked.

"Well, I didn't have a whole lot of time to explain, but I could tell you were panicking, and I didn't want you to get caught up in our fight. I also thought Gerard would get a kick out of you panicking so why not?" he said jokingly.

"I..I see...yeah. Fuck you." I said as I pointed my middle finger at him with my arm completely extended. I then slumped to the ground and asked, "So, what now?". He tossed the corpse at me and said, "What else? let's take a small break, I need to talk to Gerard anyways."

"Alright." I replied as I grabbed some water and jumped into the car.

"Yo Gerard, I'ma call you from my watch." he said as he walked further towards the entrance.

***

[Jason's POV]

"Yeah, you were right. We can't let him go no matter what, whether it's the F.C.F. or a guild...it doesn't even have to be the Lyon guild." Jason said to Gerard. "If he ends up against us, or against humanity, we're doomed." he said.

"Jason, are you sure?" Gerard asked.

"I'm positive. He took down the D ranked field boss like it was your average monster, and the worst part is he never realized it was the boss. It's like to him it was simply an obstacle in the way, he just hasn't realized how strong he truly is." Jason stated.

"What a monster..." Gerard replied. "Well anyways, we just can't give him a reason to betray us, talk to Alexander, I'm sure your guild can offer him much more than the F.C.F. can." he told Jason.

"Got it, we'll finish up here soon and then I'll speak to him, with the field boss gone the monsters will clear quickly." He stated as he hung up the phone.

***

[Gerard POV]

Click

"Hah...Things are going to start to get interesting from here on out. Let's hope things work out okay." Gerard said while staring out of the window in his office. "I just pray we don't get the worst case scenario." he says to himself.

***

[Vernon POV]

For the past few hours we have been clearing the Forest of Greed. For some reason all of the monsters here are even weaker than the wolf pack. "I wonder if they gave this field the right rating?" I thought to myself as I finished extracting materials from my kills. As I wiped my forehead I counted the materials I had to tally up how many monsters I killed. There were twenty-three wolf hide, twelve boar tusks, and fifteen vials of slime. Apparently they use slime essence for antidotes and potions, on top of all of that I also have monster cores. The monster cores don't always drop, it turns out that it depends on the strength of the monster whether they have one or not.

"Alright, Jason I finished clearing fifty monsters!" I told him.

"Hm? Already? Good job, I just finished as well. I cleared around one hundred and twenty, if there are any more they're probably hiding but that's fine." he said. "Now that their numbers have dwindled it will be easier for lower rank Guardians to clear them. Let's head back. Oh and the Lyon guild will buy your material drops at top dollar." he stated.

"Okay! I was wondering what I would do with all of these, let's go." I replied.

We returned to Lyons and I sold my materials. I decided to use the money I received to buy a better weapon and some magic-items, but that's for another day. Jason dropped me off near the dorms at the F.C.F and told me he'd be reaching out soon about something important. With that I retired for the night, but I still couldn't shake the ominous feeling from before. I'm sure it's just my imagination.

As I drifted to sleep, I found myself back in that empty space, staring at this mysterious person.

"Yo~" they said nonchalantly.

***