Chapter 285 – Re: Treats

Day 20 

Earlier

*WOOSH! BOOM!*

"ARRGGGHHHH!!!" John screamed, his luck failing him again as he caught the fireball right in the face when he tried to peek out from behind the tree he was hiding behind. He was already cycling his healing magic, his wounds closing almost immediately and preventing any scarring, but the spell had burnt every hair off his head and forced him to eat into his finite mana reserves.

He had never encountered another spellcaster who was ready for him before, but it made him feel like he was charging a machinegun nest. Alone. Naked.  

Hell, with my Divine Shield, I would be happy running towards a machine gun. This woman... I don't know how she dispelled it, but I can't rely on being invincible for thirty seconds anymore.

He moved away from the mage who was throwing fire at him, moving deeper into the woods before he was surrounded by her allies. His mind was racing, trying to figure out how to get out of this mess he found himself in. 

For the last two days, and dozens of fights with monsters he couldn't avoid, he had pushed further north through the woods towards human lands. Grak and Jih seemed to have the devil's own luck, narrowly escaping him several times, as monster after monster burst forth from the woods every time he thought he finally cornered them. 

John didn't complain, just killed the monster, then started to chase them down again. Killed the monster, then picked his way around the waterfall they used to get away from him. It happened enough that John was beginning to wonder if they were the heroes of a story, and he was their villain. He would chuckle darkly at the thought, then begin his stalk anew, closing the noose tighter on them.

He thought he had them just before dawn, but Grak showed his true nature and slashed Jih's hamstring before running away from the river they were trying to get a drink from. The man screamed at Grak's betrayal, then soiled himself as John towered over him, his deathly black spear lying on his throat.

John shook his head, but made sure Jih burned properly for his sins before continuing the chase, leaving another smoking corpse impaled on a spear of darkness, its face contorted in pain. 

While he was being cold and methodical on the outside, inside of his body his rage was billowing, his sword's power flowing through him nearly unchecked. He wanted this hobgoblin's blood, to burn its soul, to remove the stain from this world and all others. 

He chased. He harried. He threw magic and skills at Grak when he was close enough, but as if gods were directing him, he avoided it all and escaped. John finally had enough of it.

ALEC! If you two are fucking around up there, fucking stop it and let me kill this bastard!

{It's not us, Johnny Lawman. Don't complain to us about how inept you are at hunting! Now be a good sport and chase that hobgoblin down. I've got good odds on you getting your man next time, so stop complaining and get back out there!}

Are you seriously gambling with the God of Fate over me catching a rapist? 

{It's what we do, John. Why are you so surprised?}

John growled, then picked up the trail again and loped off after Grak. He didn't believe for a moment that they were not directing Grak's movements, making him wonder why they were being so hands-on with the guy. If he had any further doubts that some unseen hand was guiding Grak, they were dispelled an hour later.

He had treed the hobgoblin, the rapist climbing higher and higher up the massive cedar, somehow avoiding the lightning and water John was hurling up at him, the ball of darkness hardly seeming to slow him. Once he was out of range, John started to slam the huge trunk with decay-imbued kicks, intending to drop him from over a hundred feet up. That was when a giant vulture grabbed him and carried him off, flying further North. 

John sighed and started to race after the bird, knowing full well that Grak was going to get out of this yet again. 

That led him to his current predicament. Grak had found allies, and had already poisoned them against him. 

Around thirty hobgoblins and goblins were chasing him, the hunter becoming the hunted. It didn't take much of a leap of logic for John to realize this was the returning hunting party, and that Grak probably told them that he was their enemy. He tried to talk with them, but a tall male hobgoblin threw a spear at him before he could even get a word out, and then ordered the hunting party to attack him. He charged their lines, intent on killing their leader and asserting his dominance over these goblins in an overwhelming show of power.

That is when he learned they had a mage that could strip his Divine Shield, forcing him to cycle his wind magic and escape before he could end their leader or draw Grak's blood. He only caught a glimpse of the mage before escaping, but he burned her image into his mind. The white-haired, green-eyed mage was slim like Mi was, with a bored expression on her face as she tossed fireballs at him. She was wearing a nondescript grey dress, a black shawl over her shoulders, and a brown toque pulled down low enough on her head to cover her ears and eyebrows. 

He tried to lock a Waterball on her head, but his anchoring was unravelled moments after he finished the spell, forcing him to run before he was slammed with more fire.  

He had run West a few miles, hoping to get a breather and think about what to do now. However, a few moments after he stopped, the sounds of his pursuers reached his ears, the goblins calling out to each other as they got closer to him.

Activating his new skills of Mental Mapping and Sense Area, he could tell that the bulk of them were to the East, but were spreading a wide net of goblins to the North and South of him, somehow gaining on him despite cycling his wind magic to move much faster than any normal human could sprint. 

He had tried to charge the smaller groups to pick them apart, but would quickly find his Divine Shield dispelled, and fireballs raining down on him. He had no idea how much mana she had, but she didn't seem to be too worried about conserving any of it. 

That led him to this running retreat, trying to pick off a few goblins on the edges before fading back into the trees. He was still much faster than them, but they were experienced hunters, and he had fewer and fewer openings to snipe at their numbers before the mage countered him. 

That wasn't to say he was completely impotent. He was chipping at their numbers, with a goblin's neck snapped by a well-placed kick, or another goblin's chest caved in by a ki-imbued fist. He couldn't use Gae Derg any longer, needing to ration his remaining mana, so he relied on short bouts of extreme violence before running away, narrowly avoiding both the figurative and literal nets they were throwing at him. 

His path crossed with a purple-haired hobgoblin woman who was wielding an old but well-maintained sword. He broke her ankle after tripping her with a Dig hole, and then crushed her wrist when he disarmed her a moment later. He was about to slash her throat with her own weapon when the fireballs rained down on him again, forcing him to leave her alive.  

She kind of reminds me of Saeko... if Saeko were a hobgoblin anyway. I bet she has a beautiful body under that leather armour... DAMN IT! Not the frigging time!

Little John was raging along with him, the little bastard giving him the urge to breed with the two female hobgoblins, which was only eclipsed by his need to survive. He kept shoving those feelings deep down, but between the days of running and fighting, he was exhausted and that primal urge kept resurfacing. 

Now armed, he kept nicking at their flanks, then pulled back further, forcing them to continue the chase. He had to give their leader some credit; he was adapting to John's tactics, shifting his forces to keep John boxed in on three sides, nearly cutting him off from escape.

A small part of John just wanted to fade away now and return to the village, but he wanted to bloody these hunters before he made the break South. He actually wanted to kill or capture that mage, denying the hunters her powers when they came up against his village. The problem was, she had a significant range advantage on him, her spells easily shooting several hundred feet. His longest-ranged ones could barely make a hundred feet. 

He had tried to lay an ambush for her, but apparently she was ready for him, and he ended up eating that fireball. The pain was excruciating, and if he hadn't already been cycling healing magic, he wasn't sure he would have been able to cast any spells to fix himself up. Switching back to Wind, he ran, narrowly avoiding the clamping jaws of the goblin pincer attack. 

John played these cat-and-mouse games for hours, killing about seven of the goblins in that time and wounding even more. He almost killed Grak, the hobgoblin supporting one of the groups that was trying to surround him, but was foiled again by that mage and their leader, who collapsed his force on him.

Using Grak as bait? I didn't expect that. This guy might be a hobgoblin, but he isn't a complete moron. 

The sun was going down, but they showed no signs of giving up on him. He was tired and hungry, his mind starting to slip a bit as he had burned out nearly three-quarters of his mana and was still no closer to taking out that mage. 

I need to talk with Jaina and see if she can teach me how to duel against a mage. She would probably be laughing at me right now, telling me I already had the solution but I'm too tired to see it. 

He finally gave up on trying to blood them even more and retreated, pushing further to the northwest to try and put some distance between them. He thought he had made good on his escape, his Mental Map and Sense Area telling him he was clear. He continued to run, making an obvious trail through the woods, planning on doubling back and circling to the South once he had extended the gap between them even further. 

With the immediacy of danger over with, his adrenaline wore off, and his mind started to drift. Memories came unbidden to his mind, of his time back on Earth and this new life he was now living. Spectres of people he knew floated around him, most just hovering beside him for a few moments then vanishing, while others would say a few words before disappearing.

"John-San, don't worry about the condom, I'm more than happy to have your child," Shizuka whispered.

"John, I know you're having issues, but I don't care. I love you." Jaina murmured.

"My Danna, did you forget about us? We didn't forget about you. Please help us." Lucy said, with Rei and Mia floating beside her.

"Pervert." A white-haired, yellow-eyed girl muttered, draping herself around his shoulders.

"He isn't a pervert; he just has a lot of love to give," Niki said, the white-haired neko flicking the nose of Koneko. "I miss you too, Master. Come back soon." She added before they both disappeared.

"I'm still waiting, John. Please, I know I made a mistake, but I'm not ready to join my ancestors under The World Tree yet." Ash. 

"I thought I trained you better than this. Get back here soon so I can kick your ass back into shape." Rumi said, pecking his cheek before dissipating.

"You seemed to have taken my words to heart. I hope you have enough love remaining for me, John-Sama," Nanaella said, walking alongside him. 

"Always, Darlin'. You're going to be my first wife after all." He replied, trying to grasp Nanaella and give her a hug, but he couldn't quite reach her. He really missed her; he really missed all of the women he left behind as he travelled the omniverse. 

"Mmm... Darlin'? You haven't called me that before. I can't wait until you return and call me that for real."

"What is happening? Are you really here? And Terra? You're here too?" He mumbled, stumbling towards the Bearfolk woman in front of him.

"Who knows?" Nanaella said with a head tilt and a cute little smile on her face. Her expression grew serious then, dosing his mind with cold water. "However, you need to wake up now. That isn't Terra you're about to hug."

"Huh?" He said, her reply snapping him back to reality as he ran into something big. Something big, red, and furry. 

The big red furry something spun around and roared, exposing a maw full of razor-sharp teeth and a glowing gullet full of bright orange flames.