RD 2 Ch 16 (Patreon)

Chapter 16

I slicked my sweaty hair back as I stood up from collecting more gold coins. The cyclops were now level 11 and continuing to grow stronger.

By the time they hit level twenty, I estimated the rest of the group would start struggling to take on packs bigger than three and need time to recover between groups.

Checking my level, I noted I was level thirteen now. I’d been able to out pace the cyclops leveling, but five stats a level did not keep up with their one hundred stats a level.

Taking out a sandwich I ate as I walked, I looked for the boss that was supposed to be in this forest, but I was more than happy to cut down some cyclops.

A deep snort drew my attention and I crouched low, still chewing my sandwich as the forest opened up to show a boar the size of an elephant with an extra pair of tusks going the wrong way.

[Erymanthian Boar Boss S

Level 15

Strength: 654

Agility: 321

Vitality: 626

Intelligence: 98

Spirit:142

Skills:

Endurance S

Gore S

Charge S

Sharp Tusks S

Enrage S]

Apparently it was going to be a decent day. I quickly finished my sandwich. The boss looked tough as nails, but I had some confidence in wearing it down. That seemed to be my class specialty.

The big boar huffed at the ground before using a big hoof and raking away some soil, not that there was anything there.

Pulling out my new S rank sword and shield, I rose slowly from my crouch.

The boss spun and charged in the same breath.

I wasn’t going to take the hit head on and rolled out of the way. The shorter sword made maneuvering easier.

As the boss whirled back around I was already on my feet and charging it with my shield forward.

Its four wicked tusks were the main danger, and my focus was on keeping my shield between me and them.

The boar only had to throw its head to the side. I took the tusk on the shield, sliding back a foot as my sword came out over the edge of the shield scoring the beast’s snout.

The sword didn’t pierce as much as I’d hoped, but any damage was something.

I stepped back as it tried to catch my shield with its tusks. The last thing I needed was losing the shield.

The few steps were enough for the boar to try another charge.

Crimson Shield sprang up. The boar plowed through it, but the ability slowed the beast enough for me to side step and drag the sword along its side.

It let out a guttural squeal and tried to get me with its tusks, but instead I got a tree between me and it.

The boar’s tusks punched right through the tree like it was made of tofu before ripping it out of the ground by the roots and swinging its head.

I was caught off guard by its sudden increase in reach and crossed my arms to blunt the impact as the tree branches swung into me.

Its strength was enough to lift me off my feet and send me crashing to the ground a dozen feet away before the boar broke the section its tusk was stuck into a second later and charged me.

“You wanna fight dirty? Fine. I’ll fight dirty.” Rather than get out of the way, I put away the sword and grabbed two of the tusks as the charge hit me.

It picked me up and rammed me into a tree, cracking the timber on my back as I struggled to keep the tusks from running through me.

Blood trickled down my hand where I held it back.

I kept holding it off, waiting for the blood to reach the beast’s skull before activating Sanguine Locking.

A short timer appeared. The S ranked boss would break it in just seconds.

I had just enough time for me to take the blood and quickly scribble out inscriptions on the tusk to dry it out and make it more brittle.

“Suck that.” I dropped the shield’s metal rim on the tusk and snapped it in half.

The boar squealed and gored me good across the chest.

Twisting, I wasn’t done. I let the lower set impale my legs so I could hold on better as I made the same inscription on the other upper tusk before pulling while twisting my core as best as I could.

After straining for a long moment, it snapped too.

The boar thrashed enough to toss me from the lower set of tusks and into the dirt.

My legs had two gaping holes, gushing blood.

That didn’t bother me though. I’d had worse. I gritted my teeth and rolled as it charged once again.

My sword appeared back in my hand as I got back onto my feet, ignoring the pain as Regeneration continued to put me back together. “Come on piggy piggy. Two less tusks really makes you seem like a cute pet.”

Obviously it couldn’t understand me, but it was cathartic to taunt the monster.

It roared and charged me again, its feet thundering across the forest.

I was slower with my legs healing and dropped to the ground, grabbing its lower tusks as it came for me, pulling its head down further before stabbing my sword into the ground and digging my feet in.

The beast’s tusks went low enough to catch the ground and dragged its head under its body, flipping the boar end over end as it rolled and splayed out on the ground.

“Sucker.” I got to my feet before it and charged.

This thing had an enrage, so it was important that I disarm it as much as I could before that kicked in.

I inscribed the brittle rune on another tusk and tried to break it with a swift kick. Ultimately, I failed to break that one, but I’d have more chances.

Making some space as it wiggled back to its feet, I breathed while Regeneration continued to heal the holes in my legs and stomach. “Petty, man. All I did was break off a few tusks, why you gotta go and tear up my legs so badly? Well, at least you didn’t go for the balls. No one wants to deal with that, even if they’d heal.”

The boar snorted and righted itself. There was a tinge of red bleeding into its pupils, and I knew it was close to enraging.

Sword and shield back up, I got ready. With the two upper tusks broken, I could reduce how much area I had to defend.

My shoes had plenty of my blood that had dribbled down my leg and I traced an inscription in the ground. B rank Bloodink provided me plenty of options. Simple ones were still going to be the easiest for me to draw with a foot.

The boar limped a step forward, its eyes glowing a brighter red as Enrage activated. The whole creature swelled as its muscles fought to rise to the surface and the elephant sized boar grew several more feet. It roared as it charged even faster.

I stomped on the inscription on the ground, turning it into a surface as slick as smooth ice.

The charging boar had its front feet slip out from under it on the first step and quickly tried to correct by pushing hard with its back feet. Watching it go from a charging, powerful beast into a slipping, uncoordinated mess was amusing, but I needed to focus.

I braced my sword against my shield, ducking low and hiding behind the shield.

The boar overshot its charge and I was low enough for my sword to stab into the space between its front two legs. A moment later, its full weight crashed into me.

I slid back doing my best to dig my shoes into the ground and drive the sword deeper into the boar.

The arm holding the shield gave out with a wet snap of my bones and I used my shoulder to give a final push before flattening out and getting out from under the boar as it continued forward.

It squealed an unholy cacophony of pain as I got to my feet and grit my teeth as I did my best to set my arm so Regeneration could work its magic.

There was a wet suck as the bone pulled back into my skin and I huffed to keep my mind clear while I worked through it.

“Holy fuck.” Nyx’s voice made me look up.

All of the others were watching from not far away.

I rolled my neck and then squared my shoulder as I flicked out another blade of blood. My S ranked sword was currently buried deep in the boar’s chest. “Stay back. This is my fight.”

“You look like shit.” Nyx argued, drawing her bow.

“I’m fine. Regeneration is doing its job well enough. Besides, the thing is almost dead.”

The boar thrashed trying to dislodge the sword, but it only succeeded in damaging itself further. The boar realized that after a moment and turned back to me.

My shield arm was still healing and wouldn’t be able to put up a good shot for this next round. I switched the shield to the same hand as the sword, realizing that all I had to do was drive that sword home deeper and it would go down.

“Are you sure you don’t need help?” Zane asked.

“No. This is fun!” I roared a laugh and this time I didn’t wait for the boar, rushing forward with my own Charge.

The boar matched me and we raced at each other like two meteors.

My shield came up as I ducked low.

The boar’s tusks scraped the ground blocking me from getting around its huge head and I had to change my weapon on the fly, dropping the blade of blood and pulling out the femur at the last second.

I took the boar’s tusks straight on my shield in front of my chest while my injured arm swung like a pendulum with the force of both of our charges meeting.

The femur swung hard with a crack as it hammered the sword deeper into the boss.

The enraged red eyes went wide before the red faded from them and it promptly fell over for the dungeon to absorb it.

“Fuck me.” My recently broken arm dangled. I’d reinjured it. Meanwhile, the other had dislocated from that charge. I looked between the limbs, considering using a tree to help shove it back into place.

“You okay?” Nyx asked.

“Come pop my shoulder back in. This one.” I nodded to the left arm.

“What about the other?” Nyx stepped out, her hair turning into snakes at the end as they looked in every direction.

I noted that her hair had grown long again. “Not going to be able to keep your hair short are you?”

“This arm?” She had the right one. “I’m not sure how to do this.”

“I’ll do it. I’ll pull away. You just need to pull back as hard as you can.” I spoke between my teeth as I prepared myself, and then I twisted sharply. The shoulder popped back into place with a burst of pain that only made my eye twitch.

“The other?” Nyx asked, her snakes had their tongues out as if that would help them.

“Compound fracture.” I said. “It’ll heal in a minute.” Using the best of my two arms, I straightened the bone. My long practice with Regeneration taught me it was best at what it did if you lined everything up for it.

“That was badass.” Rylan came out of the bushes and moved over towards the loot.

“Don’t touch his loot!” Zane said in a rush. “Are you fucking serious man?”

“What? That necklace looks badass.” Rylan knelt by it.

“It’s Heros Clan rules.” Another warned Rylan. “You touch loot that’s rightfully his and he can kill you.”

The man stopped midway to the necklace and quickly retracted his hand like a snake had bitten him. “Why didn’t anyone tell me this?”

“Because it’s common sense.” Nyx said. “Unless of course you want to fight Bran over that necklace?”

Rylan gave me once over and stepped back carefully. “Didn’t touch it.”

“It’s okay. I don’t think I’d kill you. I’d probably just break both your legs and leave you to learn how to fight without them. It’s a hard lesson the first time.” I laughed.

None of them laughed.

“It’s a joke.” I offered.

“A very morbid one.” Nyx added. “Bran, you kicked this thing’s butt. We were all watching.”

I rubbed my nose. “Oh. Really? I was just having a little fun. If there had been something stronger I wouldn’t have played around so much.”

Nyx’s eye twitched.

“Borrson’s are just different.” Someone whispered loud enough for me to hear.

It was good that my father’s clan gave me some latitude to muck around inside the instance.

There was a white flashing that began amid the group.

“Zane. The orb is activating!” One of them called out.

“Wonderful.” Zane turned around to face the crystal orb as the other member of the group held it up for him.