Chapter 4 - Mountain on Fire

…

'No wonder the original Yamcha did not train martial arts after a while.'

Even without considering Super Sayian, it was still downtrodden enough from the Zenkai Boost to keep Saiyans on top. Sure, the Zenkai boost got weaker after a while when the Saiyans reached power levels up to millions. But by then, humans already couldn't keep up.

"Ugh, it's so hot in here," Bulma complained, she was sweating and her clothes stuck to her body. "Or is it just me?"

As they got close to the fire mountain, the heat became unbearable inside the car as Yamcha felt like he was being cooked inside the metal car. He was driving, and Bulma, of course, was sitting next to him.

"The Dragon Balls on your radar wouldn't happen to be there, would they?" Yamcha pointed toward the mountain that had now appeared on the horizon.

"Wow! Is that a mountain on fire?!" Exclaimed Goku, surprised.

"Uwaa, so that's why it's so hot!" Bulma sighed as she opened the window, and a new wave of heat came in.

"C -C'mon, let's not go there," Oolong wiped some sweat from his brow. "In that place lives the Ox King!"

"Ox King?" Bulma looked confused.

"Some call him Demon Lord, that castle at the top of the mountain is his castle," Yamcha intervened and started explaining. "They say that he kills anyone who comes close to his territory. But Oolong is right. Getting past those flames is impossible."

Still, even as they get out of the car to check things out. Bulma looked determined to go there. She was about to say something when Yamcha noticed and interrupted her. "Anyways, let's go there since this important dragon ball is there too."

They got back in the RV van and drove. This time, the driver was Bulma. As Yamcha cautiously kept an eye out on things.

He had religiously planned things out with this encounter. But most of the times when a plan met reality, plans didn't dwell well on it.

Once, they approached close enough to some ruins, which looked abandoned and had a couple of skeletons. Yamcha got out and looked at one of the corpses, which was all bones and had a cowboy hat.

Oolong looked more fearful than ever, and his legs kept shaking as he got out of the car and looked around. Then he breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank god, the Demon Lord doesn't seem to be here."

"Goku, call your weird cloud and go check things out there," Bulma ordered him while she got closer to Yamcha and put an arm around him. "Oh, sorry, I am feeling a little lightheaded due to the heat."

The smile on Bulma's face gave away her intention. While the smile on Yamcha's face showed how uncomfortable he was. Being close to the flames was kind of hot, in the way that it made you sweat a lot. Having another body mashed against him made the heat even more unbearable.

"Flying Nimbus!" Goku called out. The yellow cloud descended from the sky, and he jumped on it.

Yamcha, always curious, used Observe on the cloud.

[Part of Nimbus Cloud (Legendary)]

[It ???? ???? ????...]

Ding!

[Observe Skill Leveled Up]

'As expected, items with a certain rarity can only be observed when the skill gets at higher levels. Game mechanics can be quite tedious. Oh well, it's not like it matters since I already knew about the Nimbus.'

While waiting around, Yamcha wondered whether he could ride the Nimbus and thought about testing it when he had some leisure time.

When heard something behind him before he saw it. The sound of air being cut by a projectile, some kind of whip? No, it was something big!

He grabbed Bulma by her waist and jumped to the side.

"Kya!" She screeched right in his ear at the sudden movement. To say that her yell was annoying would be an understatement, as it was distracting.

Yamcha could feel his heartbeat in his throat, and the blood on his body moved rapidly.

Baam!... A giant ax stabbed into the wreckage wall of the abandoned town. The walls were thick, but the giant ax easily dug through stone like jelly. That was a thrown ax, too, meaning all this had been done in one movement.

There was a difference between seeing something on TV or the phone screen and seeing it in real life. Yamcha learned that his hands were sweaty just now, and he felt like throwing up for some reason.

He was reminded once again that not even three days ago, he was just a normal guy, who the most danger to his life he ever experienced daily was if his favorite adult site videos took too long to load.

Thankfully he had Gamer's Mind… so he didn't even flinch outwardly.

"Yamcha! Are you okay?!" Yelled out Puar from the car. While Oolong had already peed his pants with a wet puddle below his feet.

'No, no, I am not! I just had an existential crisis about how I will die one-day fighting monsters like this. Wait, does this world's afterlife even work for me?'

Yamcha's heart rate calms down due to Gamer's Mind. But he couldn't help but keep thinking, how would the afterlife work for him? Would the original Yamcha come out on the other side? Maybe he would be okay but just lose the Gamer Interface?

"Yes, of course," Yamcha answered Puar, pushing Bulma behind him. The last thing he wanted was his meal ticket and future bank, to get injured. He also didn't want her to grab onto him if a fight broke out. "Ox King, nice to meet you."

"You brats! Are you here to steal my treasure?!" Yelled out the giant of a man. He wore a helmet like a Viking and looked intimidating as hell.

[Ox King - Lvl 28]

[A man who hates thieves that came to his castle. Some years ago, a great accident happened that set his castle on fire. (PL: 75)]

Also, he was many times stronger than him, and it was about the same difference in power levels that Yamcha and Vegeta had. Or maybe not… he wasn't in the best mental state right now to come up with quick math.

"Heh, you're quite calm, young man. I can see that you must have practiced some martial arts," says Ox King casually as he walks and takes out the ax that had just plummeted into a wall. "Probably one of those Monk Arts, right?"

Yamcha nodded, going along with the flow. "Thank you for the compliment, Ox King. Though I am not that good at martial arts, sadly, I never had the talent for it." He then stopped talking about himself and turned his attention to the man of the hour. "Though you look as ferocious as the rumors say."

"Heh, your compliments won't save you from your head and body detaching from each other," Ox King said, now calmer and in a better mood for some reason.

'That… was not a compliment.' Yamcha decided not to say that out loud.

Instead, as the Ox King walked toward Yamcha menacingly, Bulma hugged his back.

"I see. But we aren't thieves," Yamcha responded calmly. " We are here looking for the dragon balls, and our radar pointed at the vicinity. We were wondering if-"

Clang!

The ax was slammed into the ground, creating a big crevice. "It always seems like the sweeter someone speaks, the more they try to trick me."

From the corner of my eye, Yamcha saw Goku fly on his cloud towards them. He felt relief… and then dread. It was Goku, after all, and he isn't known as the guy that deescalates situations.

'I am so fucked.'