Side Story 11 - Good Boys, Bad Mice, New Friends (Patreon)

The mighty beast battled with the valiant human. A wrestle between two opponents, the fight appearing to be equally matched.

Their objective was the mighty artifact. The beast held it within its maw, struggling to keep it in its possession. Meanwhile, the human used both his hands to try and obtain the sacred item. Yet the beast refused to relent.

Finally, the human used a feint, making the beast believe he had surrendered. For but a moment, the mighty beast relaxed, allowing the valiant human to take away the artifact. He cheered in triumph as the beast roared in defeat.

But then the human did something untold… he threw away the sacred item - the beast, not hesitating to rush after it.

--

Howard watched Benny and Ollie play fetch as his son threw the stick. He knew the dog allowed his son to win every time, and the two looked no different than before the initiation. The only real change was that the stick was thrown far further, and the dog moved impossibly fast to retrieve it.

It was about a day since they arrived back on Earth and were reunited with their dog. Howard had to admit that he was scared shitless the first time he felt the aura of the mighty beast, but over the last 24 or so hours, he had gotten used to it.

He still found himself using Identify on the dog from time to time, just to confirm it wasn’t his mind playing tricks on him.

[Golden Argosian - ???]

It was impossible to deny that their dog had… changed. It looked the same, acted the same, but the aura it gave off was not something a golden retriever should be able to. The dog had learned to not give off that passive aura over the last day, perhaps noticing that it irked Howard and, to a far lesser extent, Benny.

His son took it all in strides and was just happy to have his dog back. It was his best friend and dog, after all.

Howard had felt bad for a long time after his wife died. He still had to manage and maintain the farm and didn’t have time to spend as much time with his son as he would have liked. It wasn’t like there were any neighbors or anything else nearby either.

It was fine during school season as Benny could spend his time with his school friends, but when he was on break or during the extended holiday, he got… lonely. His wife had died when his son was only five, and it had been hard for both of them, not that Howard had allowed it to show. He was of the old generation where men didn’t show their emotions outwardly. He had never cried in front of his son but tried to be the stoic role model that ensured him everything would be okay.

To combat the loneliness of his son, he got the idea of getting a pet. It would help Benny have a companion and teach him about responsibilities. The large farm was also a great place for a dog. A few kilometers away, one of the neighbors had just had puppies back then, and Howard got one of them.

Ollie had been a real sweetheart from day one. Always loving and energetic, and they both adored the puppy that quickly grew up to be a large healthy golden retriever that never truly lost its playfulness. His son played with Ollie every day, and Howard knew that he let the dog do too much – the couch or beds never off-limits.

He was family.

When Howard returned with his son from the tutorial and saw the dog – or more accurately felt it – he feared for the worst. Yet their little puppy jumped at them as if nothing had changed. But Ollie had changed.

Howard had learned a bit about beasts and levels in his tutorial and discovered the abyss that was the divide between E and D-grade. Even now, he severely doubted if their dog was truly such a powerful entity. It was Ollie; after all, what could their dog possibly be capable of?

--

Dad and Benny had come home!

Ollie had been a bit worried because they took so long, but he was super happy when they finally made it. Benny had grown a bit, and dad looked better than ever! He even played with Ollie a few times, and he didn’t say "owie" when he bent his back too fast anymore!

They had played a lot, but dad had decided to leave their home. Ollie didn’t understand why at first… it was home, wasn’t it? He was very confused, and so was Benny. But dad explained why, and Ollie finally understood.

”Aren’t we home wherever we have each other?” Dad had said. He was so smart; Ollie had never thought of that! So as long as he was with his family, he was home!

So they left. Ollie didn’t leave the big house that was no longer home anymore that often, and when he did, he didn’t like it. He remembered the last time he was taken to the evil human. His tummy was oofing, so dad had taken him to her, and she had done nasty things.

She had stabbed him with this weapon that didn’t really hurt but still felt uncomfortable. She had done a bunch of stuff and made him eat bad food for the next many days! His tummy did get right after that, but she was still an evil woman!

But at least they were walking and not taking the moving metal box. Dad had forgotten it or something as it was nowhere to be found. Well, Ollie didn’t see any other moving metal boxes, so maybe all the humans had finally gotten smart and stopped using them. Ollie had never liked the moving boxes…

It had only been a day since they left, and while Benny and dad were moving pretty slow, that was totally fine with Ollie! It meant he had more time to play, have fun with them, and make sure no baddies could get close!

Yet some baddies still dared get close. An angry group of evil munchers came towards them, all of them just smally ones. Usually, Ollie didn’t bother with the smallies, but today he was with family! The munchers were real nasty when they began munching, and he didn’t want Benny or dad to get scared, so he protected them.

He barked as hard as he could, and it made them all disappear and leave them alone! Benny said: ”wow!” and dad looked at him a bit weird, but he wasn’t mad. Ollie didn’t do anything wrong… did he?

--

Howard stood, frozen to the spot. He spotted them after Ollie perked his ears and looked towards the horizon. A minute later, after standing there confused, he also saw what had caught the golden retriever’s attention.

A horde of what looked like wood mice were running towards them… except they were too damn large. Nearly as big as Ollie himself, and there were so, so many of them. More than a thousand of the creatures ran across the dry grassland, kicking up dust.

He identified one of them and was appalled.

[Woodland Mouse – lvl 35]

It was one level higher than himself… it was quite the dampener on his ego, even if he knew he was stronger than these beasts individually. The issue was that… he doubted he could handle even a handful of them. A dozen would eat him whole without being able to fight back. A thousand? There wouldn’t even be bones left.

Howard had prepared to pick up his son and try and run when Ollie ran towards the mice. First, the dog sneered, but the mice seemed undeterred. A few at the front did briefly stop, but the groupthink and swarm-mentality were stronger than their fear.

Ollie obviously didn’t like this, and then he attacked.

The fluffy dog that had been playing catch with his son half an hour ago released an aura that sent shivers into the depths of Howard’s soul. The air shimmered as the dog leaned forward and opened its mouth.

”BARK!”

For but a moment, the man felt like the entire world shook. The sound of the bark echoed in his entire body. It wasn’t just a sound but a magic attack far above anything the poor man could comprehend.

The air itself distorted in front of the dog as a mighty wave of pure destructive force was released. With a width of more than ten meters, the pillar of destructive energy carved itself into the swarm of mice – leaving not even a single droplet of blood remaining of any it hit.

Soil, rock, and everything else was kicked up, as everything just exploded. The mice were sent flying everywhere, scattered by a beast far mightier than themselves. Their groupthink soon dispersed as it was every mouse for itself.

They scattered like the wind, fleeing. Within a few minutes, Howard couldn’t see any of them.

The only sign of their existence was a giant scar in the landscape. Like a giant blade had carved into the land, the scar was only a few meters deep but stretched more than two kilometers ahead of the dog.

”Woof!” he slowly turned his head as he saw the beast that had just unleashed utter destruction upon the world be scratched under its ear as Benny exclaimed loudly: ”That was so awesome!”

Howard could only just stand there and wonder… will this really be okay?

He felt like his son was currently petting a walking nuclear missile… and in some ways, he wasn’t wrong as the dog could reduce them both to smithereens at a moment’s notice.

Oh well… Ollie is a good boy, so it should be okay.

--

The three of them continued their journey, sticking to the old road. A road that, by the way, was a lot longer than it was before. Like someone had grabbed it on both sides and stretched it out. But at least it appeared to lead somewhere, as only two days after leaving their old house; they saw a sign of civilization in the distance.

It was only an old gas station, but what is more important was the medium-sized motel attached to it. Even more, significantly again were the walls surrounding the entire motel. The only reason they could even spot that it was a gas station was the big metal mast that had once held advertisements. Well, there were still some advertisements, and Howard had to admit that the motel prices were a bit expensive, even if the included breakfast was godly.

In retrospect, perhaps the man should have thought a bit more about how to approach the settlement, but his happiness at finally getting a chance to meet other humans overpowered him. He hurried his son and dog to follow down the hill, practically running towards the wall while yelling.

Unsurprisingly he instantly got their attention, and equally, unsurprisingly, they were all scared utterly shitless.

--

Dominic was a strong man who only did things strong men did. He went to the gym, consumed more protein than any adult male should, and lifted those weights like no one else. Salads were for girls, and he only ate meat. After the system, he had even begun eating raw meat because that was a lot more manly than cooking it first. Cooking was only for girls, after all.

His dad had always told him that being a manly man was the most important thing where was. The old man was very manly himself, teaching Dominic everything important a man had to know.

The day he entered the tutorial, he did it like a man. His screen numbers were agreeing he was a strong man with 10 in strength right from the start! Far higher than any of the others. He only had 3 in that intelligence and 2 in the wisdom one, which was bullshit because he was totally wise enough to know that they didn’t matter as they didn’t let him hit stuff harder.

And like a man, he went in there and just started swinging. He kept smashing stuff with the big hammer he found and was the strongest in his entire tutorial. Well, other people could make him not win and sometimes even lose, but they were all cheating by doing weird stuff that wasn’t very manly.

He was super strong and did all the good things his old man had taught him. Strong men had to protect the weak, and strong men had to make sure everyone felt safe in their home. Dominic had been on a road trip with his friend when they entered the tutorial and had stopped at a small motel to sleep for the night.

That is also where they ended up after the tutorial ended. Dominic’s friend was a lot smarter than him and quickly spoke to the motel owner, who had also made it out of the tutorial. They agreed on hunkering down and fortify the motel for the time being, as it was still only a day or so since the tutorial ended. So Dominic did that. His friend could make the ground go up, so his friend quickly made walls, and they all felt a bit safer.

During the first two days, some enemies came by and a family who had walked there. The family joined their small settlement, while Dominic happily went out to meet any enemies. He took his big hammer and began smashing. He liked how the ground crunched whenever he smashed really hard, and the stupid beasts were sent flying with every swing.

He was a human at level 47 in his race. He had been behind a lot initially because he only knew how to smash stuff, but his friend had told him also to learn a profession for the levels. At first, he wondered how being a weightlifter was any different from smashing stuff, but his friend had told him to ”pursue what he really wanted to do.”

So Dominic began singing whenever he smashed stuff, and even the odd number and word system recognized him as a really good singer!

At the moment they were 27 people in the motel. They were a small happy community, and the owner was super good at cooking, so it was kind of awesome.

It was just another usual day when one of those girls with a bow began yelling. Something about people and a beast or something: Dominic didn’t really listen; he just jumped up and swung his hammer over his shoulder.

If they were bad guys, he would show them how strong and manly he was! And if they were good guys… he would show them how strong and manly he was anyway!

--

Ollie could smell so many humans ahead in the house with the big sign! Dad and Benny were also super excited that they were getting new friends, and Ollie understood that. He had been super lonely without any friends for so long, and who didn’t like making new friends?

Dad did look a tiny bit worried and made sure Benny was safe. Ollie didn’t understand why, as no one smelled strong anywhere close to them. Dad was super strong, so why would he be worried? Had Ollie missed something?

Ollie remembered all the times he was exploring with dad while wearing his exploration collar. Many times, Ollie had seen something he really wanted to explore or met another one of his kind that he wanted to make friends with, but every time dad had held him back.

He was so strong! No matter how much Ollie tried to drag, he couldn’t get away. So if dad was worried… should Ollie be worried? No matter what, Ollie would make sure to protect them! He would be a bad boy if dad needed to protect them!

So Ollie went a bit ahead to make sure everything was safe. A man jumped over the wall and landed with a crash, scaring Benny as he yelped. He scare Benny!

--

Dominic jumped over the wall, his hammer at the ready as he showed off his manliness. He was only wearing pants and was showing off his awesome muscles and the manliest beard a manly man could have.

He landed with a crash, sending dust and rocks flying. He heard his friend and some others yell something behind him, but he didn’t hear it. He was going to show the newcomers how manly he was and-

Dominic suddenly felt his entire body shiver as he froze. He looked ahead and saw a surprised and wary man, a scared kid, and… a monster.

--

Howard watched the half-naked man land, and just as he looked like he was about to open his mouth, he froze. He stood there for two or three seconds, staring at them before he jumped again, straight back over the wall he had just come from.

What the hell?

5 days later

Dominic still hadn’t left his motel room for the last five days, his girlfriend the only one able to speak to him. He kept mumbling about how the monster was going to eat him. His girlfriend – a nice young woman named Jess – had tried to calm him down and make him come out and had some success. She had convinced him to at least try something, and he had looked out his window once, with Ollie instantly throwing him an angry glance, still mad at the man for scaring Benny. He hadn’t looked out his window since.

Howard had struggled a bit with convincing the group of people at the settlement that Ollie was a good boy that wasn’t going to accidentally kill them all by barking too loud – because Howard was absolutely convinced the little oddball could do that.

He leaned back in the lawn chair as he watched Benny and a girl only a year or so older than himself play with Ollie outside the wall. Beside him was an older man smoking a pipe as they both enjoyed the scene - both with a cold beer in hand.

Well, I guess things ain’t that bad.