Chương 15

"I am starving!" I heard Ben's voice as I got closer to the group.

"We all are" snapped Sara irritably, "I just hope this works out." Murmurs of agreement sounded out as I continued moving towards them. The group had sounded subdued on the way here, and people were easily getting irritated. Even Omar was quieter than usual, following the group in silence rather than discussing magic excitedly like he usually does. Hangry really is an appropriate term. I reached them as all eyes shifted toward me with hope.

"I found them" I said and watched as everyone's expression changed from weariness to relief to anticipation.

"Let's go get some food!" Ben exclaimed and was ready to move before Lucas grabbed his shoulder and stopped him.

"We need a plan first" he said.

"I agree" spoke Sara, "so, what's the plan?" she asked me, and I saw everyone's eyes shift toward me. I guess I'm the strategist. Huh… guess there really was a reason I was offered the Class. Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I paid attention to the matter at hand.

"Ideally, we should lure one of them away and kill it alone, but I don't think that would work with how close they all are" I spoke.

"I think we should try to get two of them to focus on Lucas and Ben, while the rest of us get one down."

"That could work, but you said they looked like walking tanks, how are we supposed to keep their attention?" asked Lucas.

"Madelline, can you hex the two of them quickly?" I asked, turning to look at her. She jumped a bit at being unexpectedly called out, but nodded timidly, "I think so…"

"Great, that would help immensely" I said.

"Yesterday, I noticed Madelline's Hex slowed the goblin down and confused it, so hexing the two boars may make it manageable for you two to handle." The group agreed and started hashing out the finer details of the plan, when a small voice spoke up, "…Um, why can't we throw a rock or something at one of them….?" Asked Madelline. The group paused at that, thinking. Eyes turned toward me, waiting for my response.

"Honestly, that could work…" I spoke. So simple. Why didn't I think of that?

We had moved closer to the boars, their snouts continuing to shift through the undergrowth. The plan had changed to trying to see if we could lure one away, at which point we would all move towards an area where there were lots of trees to take cover behind the boars' possible charges. Otherwise, my original plan to hex two while we quickly killed one would prevail, hence why the group had moved so close. I went ahead, activating stealth as a small pebble rested in my palm.

Moving as close as I could to one of the boars, while trying to be out of sight of the other two, I prepared to throw. From the goblin attack earlier, I knew Stealth would deactivate the moment I attacked, so it was imperative that I stayed out of sight of the other two boars. I raised my arm and waited for the perfect moment… now! I threw the pebble as hard as I could as thankfully it flew true and struck the boar I was aiming at right on its snout.

It gave a deep huff and shook its snout, eyes finding me right away. I turned and ran, as with a squeal I heard it charging straight towards me, moving much faster than a thing of that size had any right to. The stats increase in Agility and Dexterity came in handy, as I moved much faster and much more fluidly than before. In no time, I reached the others and went past them as Lucas stepped out and activated his Fortress skill.

I learned last night that he had received a C rating in his forest assessment and had gotten a common skill stone, giving him this skill as a reward, in addition to shield bash and taunt from his class. I turned around in time to see the boar crash straight into Lucas's tower shield, the impact sounding terrible… for the boar. Lucas hadn't moved an inch. His skill rooting him in spot admirably.

Madelline hexed the boar and Sara rushed at it and slashed, her sword moving swiftly with the skill's activation and scoring a hit on the flank. Ben also hit it with his sword, but it bounced off its skin harmlessly. The boar squealed loudly as a few droplets of blood could be seen from where Sara struck, but that was the extent of its injuries. At the same time, Omar's mana bolt struck it hard, the beast staggering to the right at the impact, its skin blackened and smoking.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Disoriented at the impact, slowed and confused due to the hex, and in pain due to Sara's and Omar's attacks, the beast nevertheless stayed on its feet and snorted, shaking its head then raising its eyes to look at us in defiance. It really is built like a tank. It started charging towards Omar, but Lucas taunted it, the boar turning tightly and moving quickly to smash into Lucas.

This time, with no skill to assist his defense, the impact made him slide a foot backwards as he barely managed to keep his balance. I activated Quick Step and moved straight at the boar, aiming for its eye. My dagger was about to reach its mark when the boar lifted its head, my dagger bouncing off its tusk harmlessly before my speed luckily carried me past its retaliatory strike, its tusks mere millimeters away from skewering me.

We all paused, breathing deeply, as the boar stood tall amongst our midst, challenging us with its stare. Its build was pure muscle and defense, and so far, we had no answer to its challenge. I think we picked the wrong fight. The boar charged at Lucas again, his taunt still working, when I had an idea that could work.

"Aim for his legs!" I shouted, as another impact rang out with Lucas hitting a shield bash at the boar, barely managing to move its head a bit. Sara, quick on the uptake, slashed its hind right leg, as Omar's mana bolt also smashed into its hind joint. Sara's sword bit deeply, this time passing its defense and Omar's hit worsened the wound as, with a squeal of pain, the leg gave way, unable to support the considerable mass of its owner.

The situation which had just about started to improve, deteriorated quickly as the boar's two friends crashed through the undergrowth and almost gored Marcus before he timely jumped behind a tree. Shit! Lucas jumped at them, taunting them both, as Ben also focused on defense.

"We'll hold these two, finish that one off first!" Lucas shouted as another impact jolted him backwards. Ben fared much worse, having a weaker Class showing its detriment immediately, as he was bowled over easily by the other boar before it, too, crashed into Lucas's tower shield. I tore my eyes off the image of Lucas struggling against two mighty opponents and focused on the first boar, which was struggling to move as its leg refused to cooperate.

"Sara, target its other leg, Omar, hit it once more, Madelline, hex those two boars as quickly as possible!" I rapidly gave off commands, moving behind Sara as she slashed its other hind leg. The boar squealed again, its cries now desperate, as another mana bolt crashed into its body, the beast finally falling to its side, unable to keep standing. I raised my dagger, Critical Sense still highlighting just its eyes, as this time my strike found its mark.

With a squelch and another cry of pain, the dagger sank into the boar's eye easily, the boar letting out a final shuddering breath and finally stilled. Now we just have to do it two more times. Breathing heavily, I took out my dagger and caught Sara's eyes as, without a word, we both moved to help our struggling friends.

I lay on the ground, absolutely spent, as I could hear Marcus move about healing Ben and Lucas. The three beasts were finally dead, and all of us were exhausted. The only sounds that could be heard were of heavy breathing and Marcus's voice whispering at Ben to stay still. We did it! This fight was on another level compared to the goblins, and it highlighted my own weakness quite clearly to me. It was obvious that I couldn't have faced off against one of these boars alone, let alone all three at once.

Soon, things like these will be easy for me, I vowed. Ding! You have levelled up! Class stats distributed. Another level, nice! I felt an intoxicating sensation as my muscles tightened and became leaner. I opened my status and immediately assigned the two free stat points to Strength to finally reach 5 in all my stats. The strength infusion made the muscles in my body contract violently, feeling denser and more explosive. The sensation faded as quickly as it came, and I admired my status.

Name: Alex Grant Race: Human Age: 24 Level: 3 Exp: 8/40 Grade: F Class: Assassin Health: 63/75 Stamina: 3/50 Mana: 115/115 Regenerations: Health: 5/min Stamina: 5/min Mana: 7/min Attributes: Strength – 5 Agility – 9 Dexterity - 5 Endurance – 5 Vitality - 5 Intelligence – 8 Wisdom – 7 Perception – 7 Free Stat Points: 0 I wonder if reaching 10 in a stat will change anything significant, I thought, eyeing Agility that was tantalizing close to that mark.

With a sigh, I closed the status screen and continued to lay there, content to just rest and let my stamina recover. The silence was broken by Omar's loud and sudden chuckle, as Lucas also let out a snort, and quickly everyone was laughing aloud at the absurdity of what we had just faced. A few moments of uncontrollable laughter later, I got up and stared at the three massive dead beasts. We had tried putting them in our Inventories, but for some reason known only to the System, it hadn't worked.

"So… how do we get them back?" I asked, getting mostly blank faces in reply. Omar, now that the promise of food was much closer, got up to his full height and raised his admittedly huge arms before saying "Don't worry, I got this!" with a huge grin. 15 minutes later, with Omar still complaining how the beast was much heavier than it looked, we broke past the trees and with a loud thud, the boar was dropped unceremoniously at our feet.

It took the combined effort of the entire group just to manage to half-drag and half-carry one of these beasts here. Breathing heavily, I raised my eyes and paused in alarm, as the sight of over a hundred hungry eyes locked onto us, and more importantly, at the boar at our feet. Uh-oh!