"Take this, assholes!" Bowler yelled as four magic bolts burst out and shot towards Bigarm.
Since Bowler had made so much noise, Bigarm was ready for his attack. He brandished his sword and slashed at the incoming projectiles. Three out of the four bolts were destroyed by his slashes. The last one landed on his body and caused 14 damage.
'Magicians' spells can be defended that way?' Jack was surprised to see this. He took note of this in case he ever met a Magician as an enemy.
The girl used this chance to get to her feet and move away from the men. The men didn't pursue her. Instead, they were hostilely staring at Bowler. Bowler was not intimidated. Instead, he continued to scream at the three men as if someone had stepped on his tail.
"You bunch of degenerates! How could you treat a girl like that? There are three of you, even. Why don't you bully someone your own size? I bet you treated your mothers the same way, didn't you? No wonder the three of you were born with such ugly faces. Pig-faced shameless idiots! You must have been bred and raised in a pig-sty to be so morally rotten!"
Jack was dumbfounded and impressed at the same time hearing the stream of invective that came out of Bowler. This guy had acted rather timid and polite until now. Jack didn't expect he could explode like this just from seeing that girl getting bullied.
Bowler continued with his rebukes, which was getting more and more incoherent. His curses were getting so odd that Jack found it difficult to interpret their meaning. It was clear, though, that they were not complementary.
The men who were the target of Bowler's scolding had no chance to retort, as Bowler's rant was as quick and non-stop as rappers who didn't need to breathe air in order to speak.
The faces of the three bullies were getting darker and more enraged the longer Bowler went on.
Since they couldn't retaliate with words, one of the dagger wielding men decided to speak with his weapon instead. He threw the dagger in a very precise line heading towards Bowler's head.
After Bowler had cast his Energy Bolts, he hadn't made any more assaults against the men, other than verbal assaults. He was shocked when a dagger suddenly flew towards him. His reflexes however, were good enough that he managed to bring up Magic Shield at the last second. The dagger hit the bright shield with a harsh clanging sound, then bounced back and fell to the ground.
'That was a skillful throw,' Jack thought. 'Is it a ranger's skill as well or was the guy that good?' He needed to ask Peniel later. He was familiar with Fighter's and Magician's skills, but his understanding of the Ranger class was mostly presumption. In case he had to fight with that class again, he thought he'd better find out what they were capable of.
Bowler, meanwhile, resumed his berating, "is that all? You scum-filled assholes! Group of perverts and rapists! Do you have any abilities other than bullying and sneak attacks?" He completely ignored the fact that he had also sneak attacked them.
"You are the one that has no ability, do you know who you are talking to?!" One of the rangers finally found a chance to talk back.
"Why would I know a scumbag? I only hang out with gentlemen!" retorted Bowler.
"You…! Let me tell you, you ignorant fool! Our big bro here is Bigarm, an expert who is well known in many VR games. He is already a level 11 Fighter. Not only that, he is also a member of the famous guild, Death Associates. If you know what's good for you, you will kneel and beg for forgiveness."
The other Ranger chimed in, "How can we let him off that easy! He should at least let us beat him till we are satisfied."
Not to be outdone, his friend said, "No, no, he has to give us all his equipment and items first. Only then will we let him kneel down and let us beat him."
'Bigarm?' Jack did feel like he had heard that name before. But rather than famous, he should be described as infamous. He and his guild, Death Associates, were mostly known for their kill stealing and killing other players for their equipment. They had become many players' nightmare and most of the other guilds tried to keep their distance from them.
"Are you done, you retards?" After letting them say their piece for a while, Bowler retook control of the conversation. "If you want someone to kneel and beg, why don't you do it to each other? I bet even a dog would find it difficult to find a reason to obey you. Even animals would find it disgusting having to listen to your voices."
Bigarm did not plan to put up with this verbal abuse any longer. "No need to listen to his bullshit, I will shut his mouth. Eagle, you deal with his friend there. Ball, you take care of the girl," he commanded his two underlings, who proceeded to act as directed without hesitation.
Bigarm started taking big strides towards Bowler. Seeing the guy's approach, Bowler immediately cast Magic Bullet. The magic ball shot forward in a straight line. It would be easy for Bigarm to evade by sidestepping, but he didn't bother to. He slashed with his large sword cutting the ball in half and kept advancing without slowing down.
Intimidated by the guy's unstoppable advance, Bowler made several backsteps to maintain his distance. He used his staff's inherent energy to shoot out standard range attacks in order to halt Bigarm, but the guy continued to use his large sword to swat away Bowler's attacks. Those he failed to strike or parry only managed to deal a very little damage. Bowler turned and ran, but, as a Magician, his speed was no match for Bigarm's. Bigarm slashed at Bowler's legs and caused him to falter and fall.
Bigarm brought his large sword up high. He grinned with sadistic glee. "Let's see how your mouth saves you, eh?" He said, and let his sword plunge down.
It struck the Magic Shield which Bowler hastily conjured. Bigarm twisted his wrist and his sword went in a circular motion, smacking Bowler's staff to the side. Bereft of protection, Bowler could only watch as Bigarm's sword drove towards him again.
Before the sword arrived, a shadow swooped over and crashed onto Bigarm. Bigarm and the shadow both flew sideways and rolled on the ground a few yards before stopping. The shadow was the Ranger called Eagle.
'Why does this feel so familiar?' Bowler thought. He turned and saw Jack leisurely walking towards them.
"Go help the girl," Jack said. "I'll deal with them."
Bowler rose up, and gave the two men on the ground a cold grin.
"You are in trouble now," he said to them both, then went to help the girl.
Bigarm stood up and looked at Eagle with displeasure. "What's wrong with you?" He asked.
"He… he is very strong," Eagle said, a trace of fear in his voice. "He took away half my health with just one hit."
"What?" Bigarm was stunned. Clearly, he must have heard wrong. He looked at Jack who stood there calmly.
"You seem to be a fellow expert," Bigarm said. "What's the point of having that weak sidekick? Follow us. We can keep each other alive. When we find my brothers from Death Associates, I can vouch for you to join."
Jack smiled.
Seeing the smile, Bigarm thought that this expert was interested in his proposal. He decided to up the ante to seal the deal. "That girl over there, we can let you have the first taste. Take it as our welcome gift for you joining our group."
Jack looked at the girl. She actually held the advantage against the Ranger called Ball. With Bowler arriving to assist her, Ball was struggling to survive.
"You don't need to do anything yourself," Bigarm continued. "We will dispose of that weak friend of yours, so you don't need to have a guilty conscience. We will then subdue the girl to let you play with her."
"Will you shut up already?"
"Huh?" Bigarm thought he heard wrong.
Jack stared at him and gave him a cold smirk. "If your Death Associates' members are all as idiotic as you, I would be a moron to join them."