Chapter 107: Dinner Is Set

Chapter 107: Chapter 107: Dinner Is Set

Damp, loose black soil beneath their feet left prints with each step, and wide trunks of black trees stretched as far as the eye could see. Not a single one was free of at least one splash of fresh crimson blood, and beyond that only darkness so deep it made it impossible to tell day from night.

Shrouded in that darkness, a group of young boys and girls fought with their lives hanging by a thin thread.

"David, look out—it’s coming at you!" Allen screamed, drawing his sword from its sheath.

David’s eyes were already locked on the beast charging him: a gigantic boar over three meters tall, silver scales instead of fur. The ground shook under the sheer weight of each step as it drove its long, deathly sharp tusks straight at him.

GRRRRAAAARGH...

But David did not move. He stood there with a shocked expression as the wild boar slammed into him and shattered his image into a million pieces. Shards of glass fell onto the black soil while the beast’s head crashed into the thick trunk of a black tree past the illusion.

SKREEECH!!

No matter how heavy the beast was or how hard it struck, the century-old trees did not budge, though the impact left a deep dent in the trunk.

The beast stepped back, trying to shake off the sudden blow to its skull.

Grrrk... hsssk...

"Here you go, you bastard."

The voice came from directly above. David leaped from the thick branches and drove his sword into one of the boar’s eyes.

SKREEEEE—AAARGH!!

He meant to push the blade deeper and pierce its brain, but the beast reacted in a frenzy, swinging its head violently and thrashing David away before he could pull the sword free from the eye socket.

GRRAAAARGH!! SKREEECH!!

"Damn it."

David hit the ground hard and skidded several feet.

"These silverback boars are nothing if not tenacious." Allen was already at his side, hauling him up.

"But at least half its vision is gone. This is our chance to hit it from the blind side." David began casting. Symbols bloomed in a circle on his palm, shifting into complex arcane patterns.

The beast gathered itself to charge again, only to be struck by stone-bullet spells from several directions. Pain flooded its ruined eye; blood ran down its jaw, slid over its fang, and dripped onto the soil. The oncoming fireballs burst against its scales and vanished. The stone bullets turned to dust, leaving no mark on its armored hide.

SKREEE... GRRAAARGH!!

"Now!" David shouted.

At his signal the rest of the team stopped their offensive spells. Allen, standing right beside him, unleashed the strongest fireball he could manage straight into the beast’s snout between the tusks, then backed off. The boar shook the flames off as if they were nothing and charged the point of the last attack, David’s sword still buried in its eye.

The moment the beast came into range, David slammed his hand into the ground. Rock spikes erupted directly in front of its hooves—long, sharp, and angled. They threw the silverback off balance. Its legs folded, knees slamming into the earth and dragging as momentum hurled its massive body forward.

SKREEEEE—AAARGH!!

That opening was all the other spellcasters needed. They turned the soil beneath the thrashing beast into quicksand, trapping it in place. David stepped in, gripped the hilt still protruding from the struggling eye, and wrenched the blade free. Hot dark-red blood gushed out in strong streams.

GRRAAAARGH... HSSSK...

"Right—let’s finish this."

Allen moved up beside him. In perfect sync they drove their swords deep into both of the beast’s eyes. With nowhere to go, the trapped boar could only struggle and writhe. It shrieked, the sound echoed through the silent forest, but David and Allen showed no restraint. They kept pushing until they felt the blades punch through flesh and into brain. Only then did the shrieks die down.

SKREEEEEAAARGH—!!!! GRRAAAARGH... ghhh...

Allen and David pulled their blood-soaked blades free as the rest of the team closed in to confirm the kill.

"How’s that, Xavier? Tonight’s dinner is all set—boar meat for everyone," David said, pride clear in his voice.

"It was a clean tactic," Xavier said, stepping closer after watching from a distance. "Using the huge boar’s short legs against it to throw it off balance. And the only reliable way to deal with scaled beasts when you aren’t strong enough to break the scales is to attack the reverse scale. If they don’t have one, you go for internal damage. Eyes are the most common weak spot. You used that perfectly."

"Wow, you’re full of praise today. I’ll take it." Allen chuckled. "We worked hard."

"But I wouldn’t be so sure the dinner is all set," Xavier said.

"What do you mean?" David raised an eyebrow.

"Beasts in the Red Forest have different anatomy—especially ones this oversized. No matter how deep you drive a sword into the skull, you’ll never reach the hindbrain. It’s placed all the way back near the neck. That’s the part responsible for unconscious movement."

Chills ran through Allen and David the instant the meaning of Xavier’s words sank in. Both stood nearest the carcass. Before they could react, every sense screamed that danger was right behind them.

Making no sound at all, the silverback boar opened its huge jaws wide. Thick strands of crimson blood stretched between its fangs as it lunged to crush Allen and David together before either could turn or escape.

GRRRRAAAARGH...!

They froze in place.

Xavier vanished from their sight. A crackle of lightning flashed past them.

In the next instant the beast screamed. Bones snapped. Flesh ripped. Hot blood sprayed everywhere, soaking Allen and David’s frozen backs. The chaos was followed by an instant silence which stretched a moment too long.

Their eyes stayed fixed on the teammates in front of them and the pure horror written across those faces.

When they finally turned, they understood exactly why.

Xavier stood over the beast’s corpse. Its lower jaw had been completely torn free. A dark pool of crimson spread beneath his feet.

He turned around, not a single drop of blood on his face, calm and composed.

"Now... the dinner is all set."