NOVEL NEXT Chapter 26
The last two days I got a really good feeling for imbuing my steps with earth mana to get different effects. Right now I could push myself off the earth to increase my speed, very similar to what the kobold had done, this was the thing I had best gotten a hold off, alongside that I was training to create small 3 inch deep holes or ridges by infusing mana. So far the ridges could only appear 20 feet away from where I was, this was nothing substantial but it could cause problems if used correctly.
As I was focusing on getting a small ridge to form 2 feet from where I stepped my danger sense rocked through me from my back left side so I changed my intent to a quick step and rolled out of the way as a boar charged, grazing me on my left leg as I dove.
The boar was a bit bigger than the ones I had seen before but my mana sense filled me with relief as I sensed nothing from it, yes it might be higher level but this was still a beast and not a monster.
As the boar slowed and tuned it prepared for another run up, I was ready for this one however and even with a bruise I could feel forming on my leg I was able to dodge out of the way completely, sadly the speed of the boar made him too fast and the swing I took with my sword missed by inches from his back legs as he zoomed past me. Something interesting is that danger sense didn’t flare this time, meaning it would only alert me of dangers I wasn’t aware of, this was something I would need to explore for what counted as aware of. Would me seeing the attacker count or did I also have to know his intent? This question was for another time however as the boar huffed clearly annoyed by his miss.
My hand swiftly went to my back as I rose to my feet, never once taking my eyes off the boar, going for my bow thinking that if I put some arrows into it. My hand grasped air as I realised that while training I had put my bows and axe beside a tree and now there was an angry boar half way between me and them. I inwardly cursed as I whispered out “Alzinoth” starting the healing process on my leg.
As the boar ran up for his 3rd charge I decided to try my magic, putting my foot down to rise a small ridge 2 feet in front of him. The tactic worked as the boar's front left leg met unexpected resistance and the charging beast was now sent into a sprawl. I took the opportunity and took a good swing at its back leg hoping to slow it down.
The blade hardly drew blood as it swished down on the leg, something I was definitely not expecting, marked clearly by my danger sense breaking me out of my surprise in time to dive away from the boar’s tusks as it swung for me. I inwardly cursed myself for failing to re-sharpen my blade in the last few weeks, it was on my to do list the day I was going to get back from my scouting mission but between the kobold fight and dealing with the aftermath of the poisoning I forgot to do it and it looked like it was going to cost me. I had no way to actually injure the thing so tiring it out seemed to be my only option. What would run out first it’s stamina or my mana, this wasn’t something I was willing to risk.
My next thought took me back to the increased power the kobolds weapons had when infused with magic and thought that was my way to victory. On the boars next charge I repeated my trick with the ridge, this time it seemed he was expecting it as it only slowed him down instead of sending him to the ground. The opening was there however so I infused mana into the blade trying to mimic the feeling I had when the kobold infused his weapons. Suddenly I felt like my hand held a sledgehammer not a blade and I could barely get it in motion as it threw me off balance with a boar charging at me. Dropping the blade and rolling to the side was my only choice as the boar's tusks passed far too close for my liking from my shoulder.
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How could I kill this thing, experimenting with the weight of my weapon might work but it could also get me injured but then again what other choice did I have? The wolf! If slicing was my problem then the monster wolf might have the answer I needed, after all his use of mana was constant but all it did was use wind mana to increase the sharpness of its claws.
I focused on recalling the feeling I got and then tried combining that with the application to a weapon I got from the kobold, the result was a slow drain on my mana though my mana sense informed me of a small sheen of wind mana now covering the edge of my blade. The drain was a lot smaller than what a step it would take but the cost would add up to the same in about 7 seconds of use.
As the boar went for me again it simply jumped over the small ridge I formed, barely breaking stride forcing me to spin out of the way awkwardly arching my sword to try getting it to make contact to see if there was any improvement to its sharpness. The blade cut a decent size gash into the back of the boar, clearly marked by a squeal.
With blood running down its back the boar turned back towards me with fury filled eyes. My refusal to let it simply run me over clearly upsetting it. I also felt my mana go fall to a quarter from this battle and training before it, I needed to end this in the next few charges before mana exhaustion slowed me down too much.
As the boar ran towards me this time I chose to not rise another ridge but instead form a small pit in front of it. The eyes of the boar widened as it looked at the ground in front of it expecting a ridge to form only to see it dip. It repeated its first performance and crashed head first into the ground. This time however I wasn’t about to waste my chance, as it crashed to a spot and stepped in towards it and brought my blade down on its exposed neck.
The cut was clean and a river of blood flooded out in the wake of my sword but that wasn’t enough, I was sure of it as I followed it up a long slice across its stomach hoping to bleed it out. Not wanting to take any risks I jumped away from it.
The boar swayed heavily as it got its feet under himself again, all the while blood continued to flow from his neck and I could see his insides peek out from the long gash on its stomach. The distance between us was small so it wouldn’t have a chance to pick up any speed and he knew it as it started looking around for a way to escape. This was not something I was willing to allow however as I stepped in close and swung for the eyes hoping to keep it moving and losing blood.
Our dance continued for about 20 seconds before it finally collapsed. This led me to my next question, what should I do? This boar's hide was too thick for me to have killed with my sword and if I brought it back to the caravan it would bring up some unwanted questions, but then again I also didn’t want to leave a perfectly good boar out here to spoil, especially since bringing it back would mean I could eat it.
In the end I went to pick up my bow and shot two arrows into the carcass. They would serve as pretext for how I brought it down to slice. Now came the hard part, carrying the big heavy chunk of meat towards the road, thankfully when training I ran ahead of the caravan and kept moving forwards every 20 minutes meaning I didn’t have to be chasing after it with the massive increase in weight.
“Might as well get on with it” I said to myself as I pulled out a large rough strong piece of cloth and rolled the future bacon onto it because there was no way I was lifting it off the ground and then started dragging the thing towards the trail.
As I made it to the trail I realized my fight with the boar had been longer than I thought as the wagon was already passing through.
“Back so soon?” Judy, who was walking beside our cart, called out to me. ”You usually check in every 3 hours and now you’re back in 1, did you find a rabbit to chase and he gave you the slip after a good sprint?.”
As obnoxious as her question sounded, my regular chasing of rabbits back home and heaving breath had set me up for it, the boar still being out of sight as I huffed and pushed forward with a cocky grin on my face.
“Nope I just didn’t want this to get spoiled, if you help me get it up in the cart I’ll let you have a bite” I answered back after a few steps shifting to the side to reveal the boar.