Perhaps the food they brought was simply too enticing, or perhaps they had ventured too deep into the forest—while the group sat resting beneath the tree shade, a series of snorts and grunts echoed from the distant shrubbery, drawing steadily closer.
Such brazen, unconcealed movements were naturally caught by the five. Rising to their feet, they soon spotted a grayish-brown wild boar pushing its way out from the woods.
"Looks to be about four hundred jin." Mick licked his lips, excitement gleaming in his eyes.
"I'll handle it." He held out a hand to stop Kailun and Xilutaiya, who were readying their bows.
"All right." Xilutaiya lowered her longbow.
With their agreement, Mick drew his sword and crept forward, keeping low to avoid startling the prey prematurely.
Under the party's watchful gazes, Mick closed the distance before suddenly springing into the air. He kicked off several tree trunks in midair to build momentum, vaulting past the treacherous tangle of rocks and branches below, and plunged straight toward the boar with sword in hand.
Startled, the boar scrambled frantically to turn and flee. Its hooves slipped on the forest floor, preventing it from righting itself in time; instead, it stumbled awkwardly and lost its balance.
Seizing this perfect opening, Mick thrust his sword diagonally into the side of the boar's neck, piercing straight through its windpipe.
Attacked, the boar thrashed violently. Even Mick could not hold down the momentum of a four-hundred-jin beast and had to pull back for the moment. With its windpipe severed, the boar bled heavily along the ground, plunging deeper into the dense woods.
"It won't make it far!" Mick gave chase at a brisk run, with the others close on his heels.
Trailing the tenaciously stubborn beast through the forest, more than ten minutes passed before it finally collapsed from exhaustion.
"Phew, the thing is finally dead," Kemiya remarked, thoroughly convinced that hunting was far too exhausting.
"How are we going to haul such a huge boar back?" Xilutaiya tapped her chin with a finger, finding the task rather daunting.
"We'll have to let Mick and Lei drag it," Kailun suggested after a moment's thought. "We should probably put something underneath it to reduce the friction." Having studied basic physics recently, she now possessed a fair amount of practical knowledge.
The group walked toward the dead boar, intending to dress their kill.
"Wait, something's wrong," Xilutaiya suddenly halted.
"What's the matter, Tiya?" Kemiya asked, puzzled.
"Something bad is coming." The young girl in the black hunting skirt tightened her grip on her longbow, her gaze fixed toward one side of the forest.
Sure enough, moments after she spoke, heavy, thudding footfalls reverberated through the trees, accompanied by the violent snap and crash of splintering wood.
"What is that?" Kailun noticed the anomaly as well.
"Run!" Xilutaiya warned, urging everyone to clear out immediately.
Realizing the gravity of the danger, the group began retreating. Unfortunately, before they could get far, a colossal wild boar burst from the thicket and barged into view.
Coated in thick, bristling bristles, the gigantic boar stood as tall as the elephants in Xilutaiya's memory and weighed several tons. Two enormous tusks jutted forward, caked with dirt and crushed grass; a mere toss of its head snapped trees along its path and tore up boulders from the earth.
When the giant boar spotted the dead "little" boar lying in the clearing, its eyes turned blood-red. It let out a guttural roar, billowing scalding steam from its maw like the whistle of a steam engine.
"Oh no... that boar just now might have been its baby!" Kemiya cried in a tearful voice.
"A four-hundred-jin baby is small indeed," Mick retorted dryly.
"No point dwelling on it now. I'm the one who killed it. I'll lure it away—the rest of you run, quickly!"
"Don't! It's too dangerous for you alone. That's a Fang Beast with a condensed attribute!" Kailun stopped him.
Fang Beasts: when a wild beast condensed a first-order attribute, it was termed a Fang Beast, so named because such creatures typically possessed formidable tusks or razor-sharp teeth.
——
Race: Wild Boar (Mutated)
Status: Healthy (Enraged)
Talent:
-
Thick Hide [Good Grade]: Tough, thick outer hide. Can be coated with pine resin or mud to further bolster defense. A universal talent among porcine creatures.
Destiny Card: [Giant Wild Boar] (First-order · Beast Fang)
'Under unexpected circumstances, a wild beast of the mountains awakened the attribute power within its body, steadily growing until undergoing a complete metamorphosis into a Fang Beast.'
-
Effect [Burly Physique Lv. 2]: The attribute power of 'Beast Fang' awakened within the body, fully reinforcing bone density and muscular strength to support an immense physique. This brute force is the fading radiance of the ancient overlords of the earth.
Ability Cards: -
[Long Tusks Lv. 3] (Beast Fang): Possesses mighty tusks far surpassing ordinary beasts, capable of snapping trees and matching boulders, with the power to naturally harden and regenerate. (Most beast creatures acquire abilities centered around fangs, horns, or claws, originating from the instinctive 'Beast Fang' attribute coursing through their bloodline.) -
[Thick Bristle Hide Lv. 3] (Beast Fang): An instinct awakened from porcine bloodlines, drastically bolstering the toughness and defense of the outer hide, rendering it capable of withstanding crossbow bolts and shrugging off slashes from ordinary blades.
——
Although it was a first-order beast like the Red Wolf she had faced before, Xilutaiya could clearly feel that this giant wild boar was far more terrifying. In particular, its mountain-like frame sent rumbling tremors through the ground beneath her feet the moment it began to charge.
*This is trouble,* the girl thought to herself. She had wanted to find an opponent to hone her skills, but this wild boar was well beyond what she could handle. She doubted the short sword at her waist could even pierce its defenses; more likely, the boar would snap the blade as effortlessly as a matchstick.
"*Snort—*"
Gathering its might, the giant boar churned the soil with forehooves thicker than Xilutaiya's entire body. It lumbered forward like an imposing mountain, demolishing every tree and obstacle in its path.
The five had no choice but to dodge frantically out of its charge path, fleeing back along the trail they had come.
The good news was that they did run faster than the boar; the bad news was, not by much.
The beast's relentless, crashing stampede gave them no room to pause or catch their breath.
Grasping her longbow in one hand, Xilutaiya darted deftly through the woods, her mind racing for a solution.
Truth be told, none of them possessed the strength to match this giant boar head-on. Their only options were either to find an opening to escape entirely, or to probe for vulnerabilities and wound the creature.
Its thick hide could shrug off the vast majority of attacks; their only chance lay in targeting its eyes. Yet hitting the boar's eyes while moving at breakneck speed was no easy feat, and ordinary arrows might not even prove lethal.
Perhaps realizing that running aimlessly would lead to disaster sooner or later, Mick suddenly broke away mid-stride. He hurled stones from the ground, attempting to draw the giant boar in another direction.
"Get out of here!" he shouted.
Among them, Kemiya was already nearing exhaustion, only keeping up because Kailun was pulling her along.
With no time for thanks, Kailun nodded firmly to Mick as he rushed past, then dragged Kemiya along with all her might.
On the other side, Lei was also having a grueling time. With his massive frame and heavy build, he naturally lacked the nimbleness of the girls, especially over rugged mountain terrain. Had Mick not diverted the giant boar just now, Lei might have been the beast's first target—if for no other reason than his sheer size made him an easy mark.
Gasping for breath, Lei knew staying behind would accomplish nothing, so he could only huff and puff as he ran forward.
In the end, the only one with energy to spare to assist Mick was Xilutaiya. No longer concealing her mastery of the Breathing Method, she leapt lightly over the boulders. Rhythms pulsed through her bloodstream as unseen power surged throughout her body, granting her strength and speed far beyond her normal limits.
Kicking off a tree trunk, the young girl sprang into the air, landed on an overhead branch, and leaped a second time until her nimble figure reached the upper canopy.
At such a height, she was well out of reach of the giant boar's attacks—and finally had an opening to draw her bow and loose an arrow.
Chapter 49