by Dante King
It occurred to me now.
A massive boar, wider than a luxury sedan, emerged from behind the broken shelf. Its back half rippled with thick cords of muscle, its hooves digging deep into the earth as it kicked and sniffed for prey. But it was the front half that made my heart thud against my ribs. Overlapping plates of what looked like steel armor covered the boar’s head, neck, and chest, like the scales of a snake turned into metal. Two massive, vicious-looking tusks protruded from its pug-like snout, each curved like Hazel’s fighting sword.
Those tusks could gore a man to death in a single hit. I shoved Anna and Lyra backward, putting them between myself and the monster.
Jalen spared a single moment to give the creature a horror-struck look, then turned angrily to me. “Well? What are you waiting for!? Kill the beast!”
Kill the beast!? Easier said than done!
The boar raised its massive head in the direction Regina had fled, seeming to see us for the first time. A visor in the armor shielded its eyes, which were like red marbles in its huge, hoary face.
This monster wasn’t rabid. It was just pissed. How the hell had it gotten in here in the first place?
A good question—for another time.
“Anna,” I said, my voice assuming an air of command. “To me!”
She understood me perfectly. Within moments, a phantasmagoric sway of colors enveloped my girlfriend’s body, transforming her from a beautiful woman into a beautiful weapon. The scythe lay in my palm, deadly and ready for action.
“Let’s make some fucking pork,” Anna whimpered in my head. Just like every time she transformed, she sounded like she was naked with her legs spread beneath me, begging for a good, hard pounding. “I’m thinking ham steaks for dinner tonight, babe?”
“Hell yes,” I said, not caring that Lyra and Jalen had no idea who I was speaking to. The woman, Regina, had fled the warehouse by now, and I was glad for that. Another person would just get in my way.
I opened myself to the world around me, twirling the scythe between my hands. My awareness of everything sharpened: from the smell of the strange substances in the crates around us to the feeling of the hard-packed dirt beneath my feet. The boar lowered its head and charged, provoking a shriek from Lyra and a groan from Jalen—yet for me it seemed to be moving almost in slow motion.
Like a matador before a bull, I twisted at the last moment—and struck. The scythe flashed in my hands as the boar passed inches to my side, the metal striking against steel and flesh. I slashed in sideways motion, tearing from the creature’s neck most of the way down its flank.
It raced past me through the warehouse, its bulk keeping it from stopping suddenly. I was sure the beast could hit like a truck, but it steered like a bathtub—which gave me an advantage. The armored section of its body showed no damage from the scythe’s slash, but a scored line ran halfway down its flank. Black blood oozed from the wound like molasses, the cut rapidly closing on its own.
“Not bad,” I said, a smirk rising to my face.
This was fun! I’d already analyzed the beast with my enhanced senses, picking up on its weaknesses. As long as I kept those tusks out of my face and concentrated on its unarmored sides and back, I could wear it down. That single strike hadn’t done much damage, but a dozen or so with the same ferocity could easily tear it to shreds.
That’s what I thought. I believed that just because I had a Cultivator’s senses, I could see all there was to see.
The boar was about to prove me wrong.
It reared back on its hind legs, letting out a bellow that shook the nearby shelves. More products fell to the floor, unraveling or bursting, and Jalen swore for the lost revenue from each one. Shouldn’t have let a bull in your china shop, then, I thought, readying myself for the boar’s next charge.
It didn’t charge. Instead, bright red words of warning flashed across my vision:
Armored Boar Casts Boulder!
An Armored Boar, I thought, glaring at the beast. That makes sense—
It was as far as I got. The Armored Boar’s hooves dug into the earth, and a ball of dirt the size of a Chrysler ripped itself out of the floor. Roots stuck out from the sides where they’d been plucked from the ground below, with the bugs and worms in the soil hastening to escape.
The ball grew bigger in a hurry. A whizzing sound filled the air as the boulder soared through the shelves on either side of the aisle, ripping them to pieces like a bowling ball hitting a stack of pins. It was headed right for us. For me.
I threw up my hands, casting Mana Shield—
I screamed as the glowing shield of Mana snapped into place just in time. Cracks spiraled across its surface as the massive ball of dirt and rock hit it, nearly shattering it. I pulled back, sending a wave of dirt rolling over my robes. I shook it out of my hair, spitting some out of my mouth as I climbed free of the ball.
“Let me at that fucker!” Anna shrieked in my head. “Gimme that piggy blood! I’ll make bacon out of you, you piece of shit Porky Pig knockoff!”
The bloodlust was really getting to Anna. She never talked like that in real life: not being able to tear the beast apart must have been killing her. Climbing free of the boulder, I decided to go on the offensive. A long-range fight against that Boulder spell would kill me.
I made it into the adjacent aisle just as the Armored Boar charged the boulder. The ball of dirt and rock rolled away, revealing me with my scythe at the ready. This time, I wouldn’t stop at a single attack.
“Kill!” Anna roared, an orgiastic cry of need in my skull. That was exactly what I aimed to do.
The scythe flashed again and again, striking the beast on the sides and back. Every time it turned its broad head to gore me with its tusks, I was out of the way—or it got tangled on a shelf, became forced to rip the thing to shreds before it could try again. More and more of the warehouse lay trashed, yet I’d hit the beast with a dozen or more strikes without any risk to Anna or me.
There was just one problem: those strikes weren’t doing me any good. Each hit to its unarmored flank produced a cut, with more of that strangely gloopy black blood. But the slashes healed nearly as quickly as they’d come. The Armored Boar shrugged them off like minor scratches, growing more angry rather than more wounded.
I’m doing something wrong, I realized, stepping away from another swing of its tusks. I should be doing more damage than this to the creature. Why isn’t it working—
Armored Boar Casts Earthquake!
As soon as the words appeared in my vision, the ground began to shake. This was worse than the Boulder spell—it shook the whole warehouse, sending shelves tumbling to the ground in a crash. Lyra and Jalen, near the warehouse’s big double doors, had to duck and cover as expensive shipments of contraband fell to the ground all around them.
Worst of all, the Boar’s Earthquake knocked me off my feet. I went down in the dirt on my ass, the scythe slipping from my hands. It shimmered as it hit the ground, resolving into the form of Anna as the beast snuffled all over my legs.
“Get away!” I roared, gesturing to Anna. “Get the others out of here!”
Anna looked pained to do it, but she retreated. She scooted back on her ass, then rose and bolted as the Armored Boar lowered its tusks. A sigh of relief filled me as I realized the thing meant to gore me, ignoring Anna. At least she’d be okay.
As the beast lowered its head, preparing to impale me, I threw out my hands and reached for Gust.
Eric Casts Gust!
A miniature tornado erupted from my outstretched palms. It caught the Armored Boar full in the face, knocking it off-balance. It wasn’t enough to tip the thing over onto its back, but it gave me enough time to get back on my feet.
Of course, now I had no weapon. With nothing but a shield, a tornado, and the ability to make flowers bloom, nothing could stop the Armored Boar from running me down. I had to get out of there before it realized how defenseless I was.
I turned to flee.
Onl
y to come face to face with Lyra.
The proprietress of the Hungry Herb Tavern literally jumped into my arms, shimmering the moment her feet left the ground. A big, beaming smile spread across her face as she disappeared, transforming in moments into the Snake Spear. The weapon felt as if it twisted in my grip for a moment, and I heard Lyra’s voice in my head.
“I know what the problem is, young man,” she said. “You’re using the wrong element!”
I was? Anna’s powers were Wood-aspected—which, to be fair, didn’t sound like they’d do much to heavily armored foes. I’d known that even as I absorbed the knowledge from the scythe for the first time—being caught by armor was one of the weapon’s major weaknesses.
“Alright,” I growled, holding the spear point-forward as the Armored Boar regained its footing. “Let’s see how the right one does then!”
The Boar charged.
I stabbed the butt end of the spear into the ground and used it like a pole vaulter to shoot myself into the air. My legs left the ground, sailing just over the Armored Boar’s tusks as I jumped over their strike. Its beady red eyes widened in animal surprise as I passed over its head, the creature trying again and failing to slow down.
It could neither turn nor stop on a dime. Which let me climb right on top of the fucker.
I landed right at the spot where armor met flesh. My ass protested as it slammed into the sharp overlapping metal plates, but I had no time to worry about the pain. I gripped the beast’s flanks with my hips, holding on for dear life like a bull rider in a rodeo—only backward. The Armored Boar did its best to buck me, jumping up and down and kicking out with its hind legs. I held on tight, shakily pulling the Snake Spear above me with a two-handed grip.
I brought the spear down with both hands, stabbing as hard as I could. The snake’s fangs dug straight into the Armored Boar’s back, and this time black blood gushed from the wound. I tore a huge gash out of the monster’s flank—a wound which didn’t close back up.
The beast roared. I’d really pissed the thing off now!
Suddenly we were in motion. I had just enough time to see Anna and Jalen’s shocked faces as the Armored Boar charged down the aisle, lowering its head. When I was a kid, one of the rollercoasters at the local theme park had had a backward-facing train, and I’d only ever gone on it once. The feeling of riding in reverse had been too disconcerting.
As the Armored Boar charged with me on his back, those memories came rushing to my brain. I needed to turn around, before it managed to shake me somehow and stamp me to death beneath those hooves!
Another stab from the Snake Spear drew blood from the creature’s side. I used the grip as leverage to twist around, riding the Armored Boar frontwise now. The beast charged straight at a wall of the warehouse, fully maddened now by the wounds all over its body.
“Stop, boy!” I yelled, trying to hit the creature’s head with the spear. “You’re going to run right into a wall…!”
It did. And then it crashed right through.
The wall collapsed around us, sunlight streaming into the warehouse. The Armored Boar didn’t stop for a moment—it kept right on charging, barreling through the warehouse district like a bat out of hell. A terrified crowd of onlookers hurried out of the way, screaming and freaking out.
I have to stop this thing before someone gets hurt! I thought. How the hell do I bring this thing down?
Lyra answered for me. Juice dripped from the fangs of the silver snake’s head—droplets of pure, refined water.
Hydro Blast.
Like a madman at a bullfight, I crawled up the creature’s back. It ran this way and that, slamming into buildings to try and dislodge me. I felt like the kid in Shadow of the Colossus, clinging desperately to the back of a massive beast while trying to reach its weak point.
It had to be the head. The enhanced version of Spout had to be enough to crack that armor…
The Armored Boar turned around the corner, aimed squarely at the Market. There were dozens of stalls there—hundreds of pedestrians, even children playing before the fountain. If the Boar made it there, it’d be a bloodbath.
A man in Cultivator’s robes stepped out from an alleyway, fire dancing between his fingers. “Hold it steady!” he roared in a quavering voice, his short goatee quivering as he charged a spell. “I’ll burn it to a crisp!”
“No!” Lyra’s voice shrieked in my head. “It’s weak to water—fire will only piss it off more!”
I tried to scream just that, but it was already too late. The wiry man let loose a fan of flames from his fingertips, sizzling the armored head of the Boar.
It charged right through and delivered a swift kick as it passed, tossing the man like a ragdoll back into the alley. I hoped he was alright.
The Armored Boar picked up speed as it charged toward the Market. The townsfolk who’d seen the Cultivator’s fire spell finally began to move—but not quickly enough. They’d be sitting ducks before the Boar’s tusks.
Grunting with effort, I managed to stand. The Armored Boar was a surfboard beneath me—a surfboard in the roughest waves I’d ever had to weather. Somehow, in that tumult, I managed to reach for my Mana.
“Use it!” Lyra cried, her weapon’s eyes aimed at the townsfolk dead ahead. “Don’t let it hurt them!”
I grabbed the Snake Spear in both hands and brought it down—right between the Boar’s eyes.
Eric Casts Hydro Blast!
It was like Yellowstone going off upside down. A massive spray of super-charged water, almost sexual in its pressure, released from inside the snake’s mouth. The Armored Boar’s mighty head drooped, its chin smacking the ground as it halted in its tracks a few feet away from the market’s entrance. Water coursed over its armored scales, deep cracks forming in the surface as the punishing stream tore the joints between each scale right open.
The Boar roared with pain as a wave of water engulfed it. A flash flood rushed down the street, scattering passerby and knocking stalls over, but I refused to yield. More power flowed from the Spear, pushing water directly through the creature’s skull and into its brain.
Finally, after what felt like hours, the flow began to ebb. The Armored Boar lay beneath me, cold and inert, its mighty heart having given out from fighting the Hydro Blast. It slumped over and was still as I climbed down from its back, soaked to the bone.
For a few moments, the street was empty. I released my hold on the Snake Spear, watching as it transformed back into Lyra. Just like last time, she remained dry while everything around her dripped. This time, no confusion filled her features—she remembered the fight with crystal clarity.
“That was close,” she said, gauging the distance between the Armored Boar and the Market it would have destroyed. “Is everyone alright?”
Slowly, faces began to emerge from nearby alleyways. We’d destroyed quite a few stalls, and several people had been washed down the street, but no one seemed permanently hurt. Even the Cultivator I’d seen earlier staggered out of a side street, scorch marks burnt into his short goatee.
“Well done, young man,” he said, clapping me on the back. “My fire spell softened it up for you, and you delivered the finisher. Together, we are victorious!”
Together? I thought, a lopsided smile on my face. Well, whatever. He had tried to help, after all.
Cheers rang through the market as people realized the enormity of the close call we’d just prevented. People seemed especially happy to see Lyra in the middle of things, protecting them from the beast. It irritated me just a bit, but Anna and I were still considered outsiders. Lyra, on the other hand, was a fixture of the community.
“We should get back to the warehouse,” Lyra said after the fourth or fifth person came up to make sure we were alright and thank us. “I want to know what Jalen was thinking, letting a beast like that into his warehouse. That man has some explaining to do!”
He did. Also, I wanted to verify Anna was alright—and that she wasn’t mad at me for discarding he
r in the middle of battle.
Elements, I thought, comparing the scythe and the spear in my memories. Some weapons will be more powerful against certain monsters than others. I’ll have to switch between weapons—and women—in the middle of combat. Would Lyra and Anna be okay with that?
I hoped they would. Because I had no intention of using anything but the right tool for the job from now on.
And if I wanted to cover every element, I was going to need more women.
Chapter 19
As we approached Jalen’s warehouse, we heard the sound of yelling. For a moment, I tensed, hoping no one was hurt, then I recognized the speaker. It was Jalen himself—and he sounded pissed.
We entered the warehouse to find Regina on her knees, Jalen standing over her like Guildmaster Ji in a lather. Anna stood between the man and the kneeling woman, a look on her face that was angrier than I’d ever seen her before.
“You let it out!” Jalen screeched, shaking his fist. For the first time since I’d seen him, he held no bundle of leaves in his mouth—it must have fallen out during the fight. “You stupid bitch! What did you think you were doing by running away? Did you think that I wouldn’t find out—that I wouldn’t find you!”
The sight of him berating the woman in this way turned my vision red. “Stop,” I snapped, stepping into the fray. “The Armored Boar is dead. Lyra and I killed it… along with another Cultivator who stepped in and helped.” I didn’t mention that the last man hadn’t done much more than anger the beast—it no longer seemed important.
“Oh, that’s a fine thing indeed!” Jalen appeared to have forgotten bringing us here to kill the beast in the first place. “This is all your fault, Regina! Look at my warehouse! Hundreds of thousands of gil worth of merchandise—destroyed! I’ll be ruined! Destitute!”
