Darting forward as he brought the longsword down on an aether warthog, slicing through its head, he pivoted, dodging to the side as a cow-sized warthog charged at him from his flanks.
He twisted his grip, stabbing directly into the sides of the aether warthog. Using his left hand to grab at the sword alongside his right, he dragged the sword through the beast's belly, cutting through flesh and gut.
Whipping his head to the side as he saw the hulking Herculean boar charging at him with hatred—
He quickly drew his sword from the now-dead aether warthog before leaping backwards, then rolling into the woods, dodging the trees as he tried to put distance between himself and the increasing charge of the boar.
But the boar smashed through trees as if they were paper, edging closer, and just as its tusks were about to bore into Rael's back—
He leapt toward a huge tree in front. Using his feet, he pivoted his body; he backflipped, landing behind the aether boar as it smashed through the huge oak tree.
While being shocked at how it easily brushed the tree aside, he quickly swung the sword in a horizontal strike, sending forth another red arc that slammed into the hind legs of the boar, cutting deeper into its left leg as it grunted in rage and agony.
Seeing he'd landed a fatal blow, Rael turned towards the last cow-sized warthog. Looking at his reserves:
2.4%
He dashed towards it as it charged for him as well. Rael planted his sword on the ground, grabbing at his back as he pulled the battle axe, gripping it in both hands, then leapt, bringing it down on the warthog's head, smashing through its skull as a wet crunch splashed blood across his face.
Looking at his reserves, he was glad he'd only managed to use 0.3%, leaving him with just 2.1%, what he felt should be enough to face the Herculean boar. But a loud grunt turned his attention to the boar as he saw it sprint into the woods, running for its dear life.
"Wait… what?" Rael was shocked, as he'd expected it to be rageful, not cowardly.
Quickly picking up his sword, he chased after the boar that was ramming its way through the trees regardless of its bleeding leg.
Rael quickly caught up with the beast, as its ramming of the trees slowed it down. He positioned himself behind the boar as he swung the sword, sending a red arc that landed perfectly on its left hind leg, precisely on the wound he'd caused earlier, causing an even more fatal blow that sliced through the boar's bone, making it stumble and fall, skidding through the forest floor as it smashed through trees, bringing up dust and splinters of wood.
It grunted in pain as it immediately tried to rise to its feet, but Rael quickly reached it, panting and brandishing the battle axe above the head of the boar.
It thrashed around, trying to smack its tusk into Rael.
Rael stepped back a bit, looking at the fear in the huge boar's eyes.
"The law of this world, huh."
He brought down the axe on its thick skull—
Bang.
Hardly slicing through its hide, he sighed as he used the last bit of his aether, finally embedding the axe deep into the beast's skull.
He looked at it and the trail of shattered trees. Before strapping the sword onto his waist, he held the axe still.
Looking at the surroundings and making sure there wasn't anything watching, he breathed a sigh after being certain it was just him and the huge carcass of the boar.
Sitting as he lay his back on the thick hide of the Herculean boar—
"Don't blame me and don't hate me, it's a necessity for me to survive. Blame this world and whoever the fuck rules over it," he whispered, either to himself or the boar carcass.
Looking at the quest log, he frowned just as quick:
Tier 2 Quest: Clear the Surrounding Area
Status: Incomplete (11%)
Objective: Remove immediate threats and cleanse your claimed land.
Reward: Low-Class Inscription Manuscript — [Boundary Ward Sigil]
"How many immediate fucking threats are there?" Rael screamed.
"Well, whatever. Not like there's a choice anyway."
He rose to his feet, quickly climbing onto a tree and chose to rest there and refill his aether reserves. After all, he would need the strength to pull this fat pig back home. He definitely wasn't going to waste such delicious meat, though aether beast meat can be poisonous—but that's if one was unawakened or the beast was of a much higher rank.
What pained Rael was that the spices left from the Rosil Guild were finished, so he'd have to eat plain beef.
"The life of a nomad, huh," he sighed as he closed his eyes.
…
Four hours after, Rael opened his eyes, glancing at his aether reserves:
9.2%
"That should do."
Leaping down from the tree, he went to the boar's carcass as he crouched and grabbed at its right leg and pulled it towards the direction of the shattered trees, only for him to realize how heavy the boar was. He couldn't help but praise his bad luck—it hadn't managed to slam into him. Who knows if he'd be boar dung by now?
It took him half the night to go back and forth and drag the rest of the warthogs as well. He definitely wasn't wasting any. And to his surprise and understanding, it seems beasts kept territories, because he'd noticed even with the scent of blood along his trail from the carcasses, no other beast had shown.
Though he was complaining, he preferred to rest and begin the hunt by morning, since it was already midnight—just a few hours before dawn; he could tell through the trajectory of the moon.
But while he was at it, he'd crossed a muddy patch and there he'd noticed some footprints—lots of footprints, ones that seemed fresh.
Not human footprints though—they were too small to be that. Besides, they were bare footprints with only four toes.
He had some guesses on what those could be.