Depthless Hunger

Kai stared at the charging mass of tusks and muscle the size of a wagon and wished he had a bigger sword. The weapon that the Irunians had created for him was still undamaged, but it was not going to be enough. Not for the Direboar.

As he began to retreat, Kai tried to look at the monster with his spiritual vision one more time. Nothing but a muddle of symbols that made it clear the boar was a monster instead of intelligent creature. He had a vague sense that it was rather powerful, enough that he wasn't going to take it head on. Beyond that, he would need to use his instincts. And those instincts told him that standing directly in front of that thing's charge would be suicide.

He needed a better arena to fight it, and in the monster reserve, he didn't have many options. All he saw in range was a region of clustered rocks and a small cluster of trees. Not the rocks - the Direboar could probably charge over them. That left the forest.

Though he managed to reach the first trees before the monster caught up, it wasn't far behind. Kai slipped behind a tree, then ducked and crawled around a small bush to another location.

Less than a minute later the Direboar leveled the tree with a single swipe of its enormous head. Its pointed hooves tore apart the ground where he had been not long ago. Realizing he wasn't there, the Direboar stabbed through the fallen trunk with both tusks and hurled it deeper into the trees. The points of its horns pierced the old wood like it was paper.

From his hiding place, Kai tried not to breathe. It was a damn good thing he hadn't tried to hide behind one of the nearest trees and ambush the monster immediately. Now the Direboar was stomping around the grove searching for him, giving him a little more time to prepare.

First he got a better look at the creature. There were several metal hooks still hanging in its fur, and an Irunian sword had been thrust deep into its neck. One leg was matted with blood and someone had managed to burn part of its flank. None of that seemed to slow the monster down in the slightest.

Kai figured he only had one thing going for him: he wouldn't have to deal with any other monsters. He spotted several of the twisted monkeys, but they fled from the Direboar. One that was too slow was trampled, then the beast bent down to eat its corpse. While it was occupied with its meal, Kai crept further away and began preparing.

Once again, the optional survival training he'd taken on was going to be essential. Kai saw a few vines that could be turned into trip ropes and discarded the idea almost immediately: the boar was charged with so much mana that it would probably tear straight through. A pit trap might have worked, if he had a day to prepare. But there were plenty of branches, and he'd already tested them as spears.

Keeping an ear open for the Direboar's rampages, Kai carefully found several appropriate branches and turned them into sharpened stakes. There wasn't enough time for a large pit, but maybe an alternative would work...

If he'd had hours, Kai might have been able to set up a perfect trap. Part of him had been hoping that his Laborer Class would somehow make the work easier. Unfortunately, he was only partially done when the Direboar began to leave the small forest. It had been grunting and snorting through the trees for some time, pursuing his scent, but apparently it was giving up. Since he stood no chance out in the wasteland, Kai decided that he needed to make the attempt now.

He got into position, swallowed his last mana seedling, hefted a wooden spear he hadn't had time to finish, and yelled, "Hey ugly!"

Instantly the boar whirled in his direction. Its eyes actually burned with mana, and it shot mana-flecked spittle in all directions as it roared. Kai hurled his spear as hard as he could, aiming for its open mouth, but it closed its jaws as it charged. The dull tip glanced off the thick fur, just as he'd feared.

The earth itself seemed to shake as the Direboar charged directly at him. Suddenly his plan didn't seem so smart, and holding his ground in front of it felt incredibly stupid. Too late now: Kai drew his sword and held it by his shoulder in thrusting position.

Several paces from his position, the Direboar's hooves smashed through the hastily covered pit. It stumbled forward only a step into the shallow pit... directly into the sharpened stakes. The beast's momentum rammed it straight into the points, and some of them drove into its stomach. As it roared in pain, Kai thrust forward with all his strength.

It wasn't enough.

Before he could strike the Direboar's face, it shook wildly, one tusk knocking his sword aside. He barely kept his grip on it and struck back against the nearest tusk. His cut only chipped it, but he tried again. While the Direboar was impaled on the stakes, it couldn't charge at him, giving him a chance to dodge and strike back. He managed to land a few jarring blows to its tusks and even opened a small cut on its face.

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For just a few blows, Kai thought that he might be able to go toe-to-toe with the Direboar. Then it pushed through his stake trap and Kai had only a split second to realize. Not long enough.

The next thing he knew, he was spread painfully against a tree trunk. He hadn't been impaled on a tusk, but being struck by the boar's head felt like a building had kicked him. All that saved him was the fact that the blow had sent him flying some distance away.

With a snort the Direboar powered through the rest of his attempted trap. Some of the stakes snapped and a few dangled from the beast's chest. It was losing a lot of blood, but he had a feeling that wouldn't stop it. His sword lay on the ground just in front of the Direboar... it stomped contemptuously and the metal actually bent in the middle. After a frenzy of grunting and stomping, the sword was too damaged to ever be used again.

Kai stared into the creature's eyes and wondered if he was going to die. There hadn't been time to set up another trap, so all he had was a few more spears at another location. Any second now, it was going to charge directly at him. If one of those razor sharp tusks struck him in the head or heart, he doubted he'd live long enough for any of the judges to save him.

Before it could charge, Kai bolted for his remaining spears. Well, he staggered. The impact seemed to have re-opened many of the wounds on his chest that had been cut by wind, and he felt like all his internal organs had been replaced by bruises. He was fighting on pure willpower now.

He barely managed to reach his spears before the Direboar caught up. After hurling the first, Kai leapt to the side to escape the charge. The monster whirled on him quickly, just not quite quickly enough. Kai thrust his second spear into the boar's side where its armored hair had been burned away and felt the spear drive deep.

And then snap. He stumbled forward, directly into the boar's maw as it turned. Pure instinct made him jerk his head aside and avoid the tusk going for his eye. The beast merely tossed its head and tried to impale him again with the other tusk.

Kai grabbed both. He hadn't planned to, and he felt like an idiot a second later, but it had happened automatically. With his hands wrapped around the tips, he could try to wrestle with the monster. It couldn't see him well, since he was so close, and so it began to push aggressively to trample him.

As he had been at the start of the Hunter Trials, Kai would have been dead. Even with all the strength he'd gained, he struggled just to keep the Direboar from throwing him aside. He needed to retreat with every step or it would flatten him, so it was pushing him back through the forest rapidly. Soon his arms would give out or he'd stumble and then he'd be impaled.

When the Direboar roared, Kai roared back. He stared back into the face of the monster, ready to fight to the end... and then he saw the cracks.

One of the Direboar's tusks was severely damaged mid-way down its length. His repeated blows during the battle had chipped away a few pieces, and now it looked like it might give way. Kai didn't feel any weakness when he strained against it, but he didn't see any other choice.

Letting go of the left tusk, Kai slammed his free hand into the side of the tusk and wrenched as hard as he could. The Direboar whirled to impale him... and its tusk broke with a resounding crack.

Spinning the tusk in his hands, Kai thrust it directly into the beast's throat. The sharpened point pierced the armored hair with ease and the beast's charge drove it deep. Almost immediately Kai was half-buried in the beast's putrid fur, his hands burning from the tusk's jerking movements.

He had nothing left. If the Direboar had survived even that, he was dead.

Slowly the enormous body slumped forward, half-pinning him to the ground. Blood was beginning to gush from the wound now, and the ground was muddy with the gore from its torso. It all burned with foul mana, but Kai was too exhausted to escape from underneath it. By the time he managed to pull himself out, he was coated in the blood.

Had he actually done it? Kai stared at the corpse in disbelief. He wanted to retrieve the monster core, but he'd lost his sword and his hands ached.

"That's it for you, kid." One of the scarred veterans stepped from a portal and grabbed him by the arm. "We need to treat you before the toxicity takes hold."

"Toxicity?" Kai resisted on instinct. Going into the portal meant ending the Hunter Trials early. It meant giving up. "What... what's the...?"

"You don't want monster blood on you ever, and especially not in open wounds. Come back. You'll get credit for killing it, but you can't stay like this."

"No... keep going..." Kai used what little strength he was regaining to pull away. "Feel fine..."

"That's absurd, you..." The hunter trailed off and frowned at him. "Did you actually resist the toxicity? Your training has been extreme for a candidate, so..."

He stood back and watched Kai as if expecting him to collapse any moment. Kai couldn't pretend that he felt well, but as he got further from that vicious encounter, he felt further from death. Wiping away the blood hurt worse than anything during the fight: the shallow wounds caught with every movement and sent pain shooting through him.

Eventually the warrior departed with a shake of his head. Kai stared at the Direboar corpse for a little while before using a few of the wooden spears to try to get deeper. If the monster core had been lodged in the center of the beast's mass, he almost didn't want it.

Fortunately, he found the core not far from the place the tusk had pierced and was able to pull it out. His arm was covered in blood again, but he held his largest core yet. When he tried to pull free the tusk to use as a weapon, it proved to be stuck firm in the Direboar's skull. That wasn't coming out.

Once he felt better, he'd make some more weapons from the trees. For the time being, Kai sat on the corpse and let himself recover a little. Should have stockpiled potions. He wasn't near death, but he ached all over and his hands were still numb.

"There you are!"

Exhausted as he was, Kai hadn't sensed anyone approaching. He looked up just in time to see Fhazi and his goons entering the forest. Fhazi frowned at the Direboar and then turned to shake a finger at him.

"You stole my kill. You're going to pay for that."