Baka's notes: Guess who's BACK! Jeezus! It's been so long! Here's a chapter of Slayers! I am back into writing! But it will be slow because of School Projects, big ones!
Anyway, enjoy this new chapter of Slayers!
Chapter 7: First Quest
"Alright… And here we go! You're an Adventurer now." the Guild Girl smiled as she handed a Porcelain Adventurer Tag, "Oh and don't worry about not knowing how to read or write. You'd be surprised at how many known Adventurers don't know how to do either of those things." she smiled, "So for your first quest, I suggest you to join another party so they can help you with that."
"I-I see! Thank you! I'll do just that!" the young man exclaimed before leaving the desk to look for a group that would accept him.
Not far from the scene, sitting at a table with his allies, the Doom Slayer listened to the exchange and sighed.
"She sure… is professional… She said the exact… same thing… to me…"
"And she's right, there is no shame in not knowing how to read or write when you start adventuring." the young Priestess smiled, trying to sound encouraging.
"Hahaha! Don't worry, Doom Slayer, even though I am 2000 years old, I still have trouble with reading human language, their symbols are just so weird!" High Elf Archer chimed in, poking at the side of his armor, not hiding her eagerness to have something she supasses the green armored man at.
"That explains quite a lot." Dwarf Shaman added with a grin.
"And what does that mean, huh?" the elf turned toward her companion, glaring daggers.
"I'm glad you asked-"
And they were on again with their usual verbal fights, much to Lizard Priest's annoyance and the rest of the guild's entertainment.
It wasn't that embarrassing, just a bit annoying that his 'blessing' allowed him to understand other languages and read demonic scripture but not the common one from this world. The blonde girl proposed to teach him to read if he wanted. Which he accepted, they can have short session some evenings.
The mechanical steps of the local slayer approached their table, he had just finished talking to the blacksmith for armor repairs and was about to 'ask' if the others wanted to join him.
"Of course, Goblin Slayer! I'll be happy to help!" the young Priestess smiled.
"My sword is at your service, Milord Goblin Slayer…" Lizard Priest said with a bow and a strange hand gesture.
"What about you, Doomy? You're joining us?"
The Doom Slayer shook his head, much to everyone's surprise. He then explained to them that Goblin Slayer's girlfriend (when he said that, Priestess blushed) suggested to him to become an adventurer and to broaden his horizons in his search of Hell Demons and the Portal. He retrieved the small porcelain tag collar from around his neck to emphasize his point.
"Also… I need to pay you… Back for the nights… I also need… To pay for myself…" He added.
"Oh, alright then. Be careful alright?" The Dwarf Shaman said before patting the green armored man on the shoulder.
"Be safe. We're leaving." Goblin Slayer nodded and started to march towards the exit.
Priestess bowed to the Doom Slayer and quickly joined the other slayer's side. She whispered something to him, and when he answered her, she yelled.
" That's not what I meant!"
"But she is my friend. And a girl. What's wrong with people calling her my girlfriend?"
"Ugh. Forget about it…" Priestess sighed.
And with that last exchange, they left the building for another Goblin Slaying Quest.
The Marine stood up, cracked his neck and knuckles then walked to the counter to ask Guild Girl for his first quest.
"Ah, Doom Slayer. Are you ready for your first quest?" she asked with a polite smile.
He nodded, when she asked for any preferences, he said that he was looking for Quest about 'Unknown Monster or demons' and 'Monster never seen before.'
"Alright, but you should know that those kinds of quests have a high probability to be already known monsters but the client just doesn't know. " she warned as she took two papers from the pile of Quests, and handled them to the man in green.
The Doom Slayer nodded again, already prepared for this kind of results. He looked at the papers but couldn't read the language. He looked at Guild Girl.
"Ah, sorry...This quest is about a beast in the forest that scares the villagers from approaching it. And this one is about horned monsters that terrorize a small town each night, killing and stealing from them."
Hmm, none of them sounds like a demon from Hell, their behaviors do not match. If it was a demon of Hell, there would be words about fires… But again, the Imps were a bit discreet for a few days before attacking the village with the army of goblins…
Who knows. He accepted the quests.
"Is there… a Map…?"
"Oh right, I'll be right back." Guild Girl said as she left to the back room, she came back a few seconds later with a large scroll, she unrolled it on the counter.
The Slayer noticed that there was a lot of green on it.
"Alright so here's a map of the Kingdom. We're here at the Frontier, your quests are to the North near that small forest you see there." She explained, pointing at a green spot, "The town with the horned monsters attacks are right there, under the forest. And the one with the beast is actually a bit closer to where we are, right there." She pointed to a village also near a forest.
She asked if the Doom Slayer would like to keep the map but he shook his head. He pressed the red light on his chest plate and a blue light emerged from it, scanned the map and disappeared as soon as it appeared, confusing many people who witnessed this.
The map has been scanned and mini-maped.
"Hm… R-Reaching the town would take you two days on coach or five days by foot. I suggest you to first take care of the village's beast which is only three days away by foot."
The Doom Slayer shrugged and was about to leave when Guild Girl stopped him.
"Y-You're not thinking of going alone, right?! You just started adventuring, you should-" She stopped herself and blushed in embarrassment, "I'm sorry. Just a habit with Porcelain adventurers… I forgot for a second that you already have many years of experience…"
The Slayer shrugged again, he took the papers and walked towards the exit, he waved backwards to say goodbye to everyone.
He walked to the gates of the Town while reading the map, hehe, she said it would take five days, she's going to be very surprised…
Doom Slayer cracked his neck, and ran towards his destination, the furthest one, the North Forest Town. Running nonstop for days was nothing to him. He crossed Goblin Slayer's group while running and waved at them without stopping.
"Wo-What the-?! Was that him?!" High Elf Archer exclaimed.
"Yes." Goblin Slayer answered.
"Well, Doomy did say he was really fast."
"Hmm.. I wonder if he pulled a carriage, will he be faster than horses?" Lizard Priest wondered.
"..."
"Goblin Slayer. No." Priestess glared at the armored man who was clearly thinking about asking this one day.
Heh, five days she said?
He made it in nine hours.
That would be the perfect moment to fist bump someone. Too bad he was alone.
But wait! He grabbed a Doomguy Doll from his dimensional crazy pocket and fistbumped it while the familiar tune played from the doll.
He silently chuckled to himself as he put the doll back into his pocket and entered the North Forest Town.
The Town was bigger than he expected, there was pavemented roads and nice looking houses. As expected, when he walked by some people, he was stared at as if he was missing a head.
He asked for the direction to the head of the Town so he could talk about the Quest and was glad to see that the people were polite enough to answer him.
At the center of the Town was a big squared plaza with a fountain in the middle and on the right to it were many flowers, while on the left were boxes full of food, at least that's what he smelled.
The Head of the Town was a man in his forties, when he landed his eyes on the Doom Slayer he smiled brightly.
He nearly ran into the Slayer when he grabbed his hand to shake it fervently.
"A-An Adventurer! Finally! We were so worried that no one would answer our call! Yo-you look very strong! Where's your party?! Are they outside?" he exclaimed.
The Doom Slayer shook his head no.
"I'm solo... "
"W-wow! Then you must be way stronger than I thought! What's your grade? L-let me guess! Ruby? No, Silver! Gold?! "
The Slayer grabbed his tag and when the man saw the porcelain tag, his smile didn't disappear but the spark and excitement in his eyes sure did.
"I-I see... D-Doesn't matter. Please come to my house so I can explain to you the situation." the man stuttered with less excitement than before.
Doom Slayer wasn't bothered by the sudden change in expression but what he heard afterward from two townsfolk kind of ticked him off.
"Of course they send us some rookie…"
"You think it's one of those noble show off? Who have some fancy weapons and armor but have absolutely no experience in battle?"
"Meh who knows. But I would have preferred a better adventurer than some porcelain."
Doom Slayer decided to ignore them, he knew better, and would love to see their expression when he finishes this quest without any trouble.
The Chief's wife was nice to make some tea for the Slayer as her husband explained the situation. It has been going on for a couple of weeks, one day monsters they have never seen before appeared at the door of the Town and threatened the villagers to leave food each night at the plaza or they will kill one family instead. At first they didn't believe them and even challenged them that night. But as expected, the monster massacred the challengers then a family by breaking into their houses. Since then, they would leave one box of food each night, and some brave townsfolk would sometimes try to face them while protecting the food, at least like that, even if they die, there won't be another family dead the next morning. They managed to actually repel the monsters for a few nights...
But two days ago, they appeared again and warned the Chief that if they put guards again, there will be consequences, and to illustrate their point, they destroyed two houses, killing the people in it. That was the moment the Town decided it was time they asked for Adventurers' help.
"So please! Destroy those monsters and save our Town!" the Chief got on his knees in tears, "I don't know what else we can do!"
The Doom Slayer nodded, "I will… help you…"
The Marine then asked about a description of the creatures: very furry with some feathers, big and Horns. Definitely not a Demon. He then examined the destroyed house, no sign of fire, only brute force.
« Do you know… where they live…? »
« W-We think they might live in the forest but we couldn't find a-any habitation that could indicate that these m-monsters lived there... » the Chief explained and pointed at the large forest outside the Town, « B-But you can be certain that they will appear at night a bit after midnight... »
The Slayer started thinking for a bit then nodded.
« I-If you need anything to prepare yourself before they come, w-we'll do everything we can to make you comfortable before the fight. » the Chief offered but Doom Slayer just shook his head.
« No… it's alright… I'll be back… at midnight... »
« U-Uh? Wh-Where are you going? »
« I have… another mission... » was all he answered before leaving the Town, heading to the other village.
As promised, the Slayer came back around midnight the same day. His other quest was a very easy one. Turns out that the 'beast' that was terrorizing the villagers wasn't a beast at all! It was just a young boar that go lost.
It was funny when he arrived because he heard some people confusing him with Goblin Slayer, which meant the young Slayer helped this village in the past. It was less funny when they started calling him his big brother.
The reason that boar was designated as a 'unknown' creature was because no one actually dared to look inside the forest, not even once. It was the son of the Village Chief that witnessed the creature wander in the neighboring forest, having never seen a boar before, the boy confused the animal with a monster and told his mother whom believed him without question.
Pretty ridiculous.
Well at least the Doom Slayer took care of it rather quickly: after the encounter with the 'beast', he knocked out the poor animal, lifted it up and took it to some place deeper in the forest so it won't bother anyone from the village again.
It was easy and quickly over, but just to be sure he didn't make a mistake, he patrolled quickly the Forest for any actual beast, but nope. The only creature near the village was the lost boar.
The Chief apologized for the inconvenience for a job that they could have cleared out themselves if they just took the bother to check the forest for any actual threat, they filled out a paper that proves that the Slayer completed his quest and bid him goodbye when he left the village.
So here he was again. Ready to take care of the real monsters of the day.
The Town Chief was waiting for him in front of his house.
"A-Ah! I-I was wondering if you were n-never coming back!" he smiled, "Th-The Food is at the fountain… Y-Your job is to protect it and kill the monsters… A-Are you sure you don't need help?"
"I'll be fine." Was all the Doom Slayer said before heading back to the Square Plaza.
As he waited for the monsters at the fountain, the Marine was counting once again the ammunition of each of his weapons until he heard a noise coming from the road in front of him. He looked up and with the light from the moon, he managed to see what were the 'unknown monsters' in front of him.
They were bizarre, for sure. They were large creatures (at least two heads taller than the Slayer) resembling gorillas but with Owl heads. Their fur were a dark shade of grey with a lighter grey for skin while the head was covered in white and black feathers. A sharp dark beak with two dark eyes with very large eyebrows that did look like horns were their facial features.
He decided to call these creatures 'Gorowl'.
There were two Gorowls walking towards him, they looked like beasts and was wondering if he should just push them away like he did for the boar until he heard them talk in a gruffy voice.
"Hoo Hoo! Well look at those idiots! They put another guard! Hoo!"
"Hoo Hoo! Idiots! Let's kill him and take the food! Hoo!"
"You first, buddy, Hoo!" the Gorowl on the left gestured for his companion to go first.
The other one croaked in laughter before slowly knuckle-walking towards the new Adventurer, and before long it was running on all four towards him. Only a few meters away, the Gorowl jumped forward and raised a fist high to punch the Slayer.
With a joyful roar, the monster launched its fist towards the marine, but just as it was about to hit the man in green, the Doom Slayer stared right into the eyes of the Gorowl, paralysing it in fear in a fraction of seconds, mere inches away from the Slayer's visor.
The Doom Slayer took this opportunity to sidestep, grab the Gorowl's extended arm, twist and bend the arm in the wrong way with herculean strength, cracked the bone wide open and out of its prison of flesh.
The beast didn't have the time to register the pain and howl in terror as the Slayer stabbed its face three times with the pointed tip of bone poking out of its more than broken arm.
Blood gushed out of the stab wounds: one on the forehead, one on the left eye and the last one on the cheek. The Gorowl tried to say something but was choking from its own blood. The Marine finished the job by stabbing one last time the monster in the neck.
The monster fell, dead.
One down.
The Doom Slayer turned to the second Gorowl that was trembling in fear and anger.
"GRRRR I'LL KILL YOU!" the monster roared, ready to rush towards the green adventurer but froze immediately when the Slayer took one step towards the large creature.
"SKREEK!" the monster squealed and looked around for an escape.
When its eyes locked on the door on its left the Gorowl grinned. The Doom Slayer noticed that and immediately understood what it was planning, he dashed forward but quickly ducked to dodge the door that the Gorowl was staring at as the monster pulled it out of its hinges and threw it at the marine.
When the Slayer looked up, it was too late, the Gorowl entered the house. He ran after the creature, materializing his assault rifle in his hands.
A couple of screams alerted the Slayer of the monster's location. He entered the already opened room by the broken door, the large monster was reaching for a young couple to take hostage or just to kill.
With a quick aim, the Doom Slayer pulled the trigger twice and two bullets shot through the extended arm.
The Monster immediately screeched in pain and retracted its arm. The Marine used that opportunity to in turn reach forward and grab the Gorowl by the throat. Without much effort, he threw the monster back in the entrance and followed with a punch to the monster's beak that sent the large enemy flying back outside and roll on the ground, unconscious.
The Slayer walked back inside the room to make sure the couple was alright. He raised them a thumbs up to tell them that everything was okay, then left after shaking the blood off his fist. Leaving a traumatized couple frozen in fear in their bed.
The Gorowl growled as it slowly opened its eyes, it was laying on its back on the ground. Its arm was hurt and especially the head. It brought a muscular hand to its beak only to feel it broken and bloody.
Th-That monster of Adventurer will pay for this! Just he wait for the Regem to learn and he-
The Gorowl heard a fwoosh in the air and looked up only to see the Green Adventurer high in the air… coming quickly towards it with its feet forwards, aimed at the monster's belly.
Quickly understanding what was about to happen, the Gorowl tried to crawl away but it was already too late.
The Slayer landed on the monster with such violence it tore the creature in half in the landing.
Blood and gore splattered all around them. The Marine said nothing, staring down at the mess he made. Then heard some shuffling next to him. He looked down and was slightly surprised to see the monster trying to crawl away despite its state.
The cut-in-half Gorowl was in a state of shock and used what was left in strength to crawl away from the marine in a useless attempt to escape. Its eyes were transfixed to its own entrails slowly spreading out with each inch he moved away from the adventurer.
It then heard a click above its head and looked up. Eyes met cannon for the first and last time as the Slayer pulled the trigger of his shotgun and blew the Gorowl's brain into smithereens.
The Town Chief wasn't sleeping, he couldn't. The stress was like a slap each time he tried to close his eyes for more than ten seconds. He was sitting on a chair at his table, his feet trembling, his heel hitting the ground every millisecond. That thundering sound from earlier must have woken up the whole Town… Just what was going on outside?
When he heard knocks on the door he almost screamed. He immediately stood up and shakily walked towards the entrance, fearing that the Green armored Porcelain Adventurer got killed and the monsters were at his door.
"Wh-Who is it?" he asked.
"...Me…"
The Chief gladly opened the door and nearly screamed once again when he saw the Slayer with two completely destroyed head (or at least he assumed those were heads) in his hands.
"...Killed your nuisance… Also did a quick… patrol… It was only those two…"
"Th-This is amazing! N-Now there's only the King left." the man smiled.
"...King…?"
The Chief froze, then looked up at the Doom Slayer.
"I-I-I didn't tell you how many they were…?"
The Porcelain adventurer didn't answer, but the glare through his visor was all response the Chief needed to understand that he forgot about that.
"I-I'm sorry! Th-There's just one left, the leader! It never comes with its underlings! B-B-But when it will notice that they didn't come back, i-it will certainly come!"
The Slayer sighed loudly, then walked back to the Fountain, ready to count his ammunition again for a few hours.
Shortly after dawn, a big shadow covered the sun over the town. A giant flying beast was gliding towards the entrance like a predator pouncing on its prey.
The large figure landed with violence, its enormous feet left small craters around them. The monster was a Gorowl, but at least three times bigger than a normal one, it had some sort of crown made of sticks on its head and a giant leaf as a cape, which the Gorowl used to glide.
This Gorowl was much older than the other two, its lighter fur and large feathered beard showed it. The monster had its eyes fixed on the Square Plaza where a single man stood, next to him were two corpses of the King's minions.
Seething with rage, the monster stepped inside the Town, putting all its weights in its feet to make some noise.
The Gorowl yelled.
"ARE YOU THE ONE WHO KILLED MY MINIONS?!"
But the man at the other end of the avenue didn't answer.
"YOU DARE IGNORE ME?! I AM THE REGEM! I WILL DESTROY AND DEVOUR YOU!"
The Gorowl King roared as it slammed its fist on the ground.
"I WILL KILL YOU AND DESTROY THIS STUPID TOWN! YOUR THREATENING PRESENCE DOESN'T SCARE ME, HUMAN! PREPARE YOURSELF!"
The monster raised its hand and balled them into fists, then it started pounding its chest loudly, each hit echoed throughout the Town, it then let out a roar of battle twice as loud as it chest-drumming, shattering windows all around the monster.
Once the display of power was finished, the monster started advancing, but after two steps and seeing that the adventurer didn't seem impressed at all, it rushed towards the man in green armor with a roar full of rage.
The Slayer stared at the large creature coming towards him down the street. It was way bigger, almost the same size as a second generation Baron of Hell. All of its muscles were moving at the same time as it was glaring with utmost rage at him.
If it was anyone else, they probably would be extremely intimidated by the sight.
But he was the Slayer, nothing would be more intimidating than being locked in a room with a Cyberdemon and a Spider Mastermind… except maybe a second generation of each in the same room.
The point is, that Gorowl king was not impressive enough to the Doom Slayer.
So he calmly grabbed his Gauss Cannon, set it to siege mode and charged the shot to its maximum power.
The Gorowl was getting very close, it roared a threat and raised its fist high, ready to punch the adventurer into smithereens. Its white eyes glared at the man in green armor with fury, but the eyes that looked back at him were filled with rage.
The Slayer pulled the trigger and the spinning arrow of blue plasma was fired in a blinding flash of light that lasted half a second. And in this short time, the giant Gorowl's left side of its face, shoulder and half of its raised fist were gone in a bloody mess.
The monster dropped dead immediately, but with its momentum, it kept sliding towards the Doom Slayer and the fountain.
With an Olympian calm, the Marine raised his foot and stopped the corpse's advance by simply putting it down on the carcass' head.
The Square Plaza was silent, there was no more monsters. They were dead.
Mission Accomplished.
Now what should he do with all this?
The Doom Slayer was on his way back to the Frontier Guild but was a tad slower this time because he was pulling a small cart of 'loot'. The Townsfolk were very grateful for his extermination and wanted to throw a party in his honor but he wasn't interested.
However they insisted that he took the 'loot' of his kills that consisted mostly of some feathers, fur and beaks from the Gorowls, plus the 'cape' and 'crown' (which was actually coming right of the King's skull, weird) from the giant one and some meat. The Chief said that sometimes, loot from enemies, especially monsters, could either be sold for good money or be used as material for weapons.
The Slayer grabbed a feather from the cart, while they looked no different from a regular feather, they were indeed sturdier than normal and the King's were even tougher.
"Uh?"
"Doom Slayer?" he heard.
He looked down and saw Goblin Slayer's Party in front of him.
"Oh hi."
"Did you forget something at the Guild yesterday?" High Elf Archer asked.
"And what are those? Shopping?" Priestess asked in turn.
"No… It-"
"It's his loot." Goblin Slayer said, "You finished your quest?"
The Doom Slayer nodded, "Both, yes."
He was answered with silence as the party in front of him had their eyes wide open in disbelief.
"Y-You mean that you already finished two quests? The locations mustn't have been that far away, then… Our quest is still a few days away." the Lizard Priest said.
"No… I think they… were at least five days by foot… But I ran." the marine explained, he then turned towards the leader of the group, ignoring the flabbergasted expressions of the others, "Hey… I'm going to the Guild... and report, can I... join your party after that... if there's no Quests for me...?" he asked Goblin Slayer.
"I don't see a problem with that. But are you sure?"
The Doom Slayer nodded and left towards the Frontier Adventure Guild.
"I-I can't believe it! He left yesterday! YESTERDAY! And he already finished two quests?!" High Elf Archer exclaimed.
"I had no doubts that Doomy was impressive and fast but this is beyond what I imagined." The Dwarf Shaman said with a smirk while stroking his beard.
"Sh-Should we wait for him then?" Priestess asked Goblin Slayer.
"No. Goblins won't wait for us to slay them. And he can catch up to us quickly. I don't doubt it." was his answer.
"Wh-WHAAAT?! Y-You already finished your quests?!" Guild Girl yelled out in shock, making more than a few adventurers turn their attention to the scene, "B-But you left yesterday!"
"Correct… And I have… the papers to prove it…" Doom Slayer said while putting the two papers on the counter.
Guild Girl was still shocked as she looked down on the two papers in front of her, they seemed legit. She then turned to her co-worker who was nodding her head, meaning that he wasn't lying and those weren't forged.
"I-I see… W-Well congratulations for your first Quest! I'll go prepare your rewards." she put back her professional face with a smile.
Doom Slayer nodded and said that he'll come back to get them and see for new quests after he sells his loot. And then he left the Guild to look for a merchant.
She excused herself to go to the storage room and collect the money for the new adventurer. When she came back, she saw that almost all adventurers were already talking about the Doom Slayer and his unbelievable speed to finish his quests. This information will certainly spread fast across the Kingdom… A few more quests finished this quickly and it won't be a surprise to see the Doom Slayer rise up in ranks in record time…
And that made her wonder… would he be at the same level as the Hero… or higher?
Baka's notes: And here you go! I hope you enjoyed it.
While writing this chapter, I remembered all the comments and critique about Doomguy's fight with the Imps and that I nerfed him quite a lot... AND YOU'RE RIGHT!?
I wanted to make him realized that he's not alone anymore, but I can do that while keeping his badassitude in check! And with all the Doom Eternal stuff lately plus the game coming soon... I decided to rewrite that small passage where he got nerfed for nothing! So be prepared for a small change and update on Chapter 5 this month!
And after that, I'll either work on 5in1 Bride oooor a special sequel
The Slayer is a BADASS! This won't happen again... But there will be foes strong and smart enough to give him a challenge!