Chapter 27 - Boar King

"Slash!", "Slash!", "Slash!"...

"Yes!! Hahahaha!!" Zheng slashed towards a dead Roughback Boar which laid on the crimson grass beneath it.

Zheng looked like a blood-loving maniac who lusted for blood and slaughter. His slash was ripping chunks off of the boar's body. The purplish fur that once covered his hand and forearm had now made its way up to his shoulders.

"Enough!" Ivanic spoke with anger as he was already sick of Zheng's actions. This was the first time Ivanic had ever been so serious other than speaking about the protectors. Zheng paused his actions and looked towards Ivanic with a murderous look. Almost like a child whose fun and games had been ruined by his parents.

"Deactivate your skill. Now!" Ivanic once again ordered in a serious tone. Niko understood why Ivanic was saying this as Zheng's attitude was getting worse by the second.

Zheng's face turned ugly as if he was unwilling to part with the skill. If one were to analyze his eyes a bit more, one would be able to notice a purple hue within them. The skill that Zheng possessed was truly changing his body.

"Now!" Ivanic once more ordered, and both Niko and Candreva watched this scene as well as they wanted to see what happened next.

"Ugh!" Zheng deactivated his skill and a shocking scene occurred.

"Aoooooooo~" The image of a wolf appeared behind Zheng. The wolf looked like a normal wolf, however, there were purple strands of hairs around his body. The thing that stood out the most about the wolf was the fact that its eyes glowed in a purple color makes it look powerful and menacing. The wolf domineeringly howled towards the sky as Zheng stumbled to the floor as a purple aura began to escape his body.

Niko could feel a baleful aura leave the body of Zheng as his body went back to normal and no longer was it covered by fur. As Zheng began to stand up he looked around awkwardly, Ivanic gave him a look of almost asking him to explain himself immediately.

Scratching his head, Zheng began to explain, " The skill I possess… [Nails of the Corrupted Dire Wolf] possess a very scary effect that causes me to become much more bloodlust the longer I keep the skill activated… There is no limit to the amount of time that I can use the skill, however, the longer I keep the crazier I will get and the harder it will be to let go of the skill… If I take too long to let go of the skill… It will control me… I will be unable to return to my body... "

Niko was taken back. He had noticed that the effects of skills can be scary, such as the bald man for example. Although his skill was powerful when used, his hand would end up in a bloody mess. Zheng's skill was much more troublesome as it could completely take over his body, truly frightening.

"Don't use the skill for more than an hour. I've noticed that ever since we have been hunting these boars, you have been getting even more reckless. We've been here for a few hours, however, it was at the hour mark that you just became too reckless." Niko pointed out and Zheng nodded.

"Yeah… You were very manly! Very manly skill!!" Candreva showed his incapability to say more than three words as he spoke.

"We should return to the settlement. It's going to get dark soon and we have killed a good amount of them." Niko and the group had been in this forest killing boars for hours and Niko himself has risen to 84% in his EXP. Although it might seem slow, in just one day to almost level up was pretty impressive.

"Is there any danger in staying out during the nighttime?" Zheng asked in a low voice still embarrassed from before.

"Ah! Yes and no. More monsters would appear during the night times and even stronger and rare ones would appear as well, however, since we are in a rankless layer the monsters that can possibly appear aren't too strong, therefore, these monsters shouldn't be too difficult for a team to kill and the loot is usually pretty nice. However, since this is our first day we should head back." Ivanic responded.

Everyone nodded as they began to walk past many trees. The sun that seemed to be setting looked magical and beautiful, it almost made Niko question if this world truly was a flat plane.

"Ivanic, there clearly are more buildings and caves farther up the mountain, how come there doesn't seem like many people are doing up there?" Zheng asked as if the events from before were no longer in his mind.

"Oh, that! Well, only those parts of the protectors are allowed up there, people say that some of those caves and structures were stolen from others. In fact, there aren't a lot of caves and structures up there, however, no one knows what is in there." ivanic responded

"But why-" As Zheng was about to ask another question, a sudden sound was heard.

"Bang!!", "Screech!"

Everyone's head turned towards the noise. Through the trees, they could see movements of things they were unable to identify. They looked at one another and began to speak through their thoughts. And without a single sound emitted from them, they nodded to one another.

Not too far from Niko's group in the middle of a forest, three men faced a huge boar. These three men wore earth clothes and nothing special. All three men had an ugly look on their faces as they lost one member. The boar was almost the height of a human and almost two times the size of a Roughback Boar. This boar was almost Identical to a Roughback Boar, with a few differences. The horn on the forehead of this boar was about the length of a forearm. There were also two long scary looking tusks that stretched out in front of its face. One of the tusks was drenched in blood as a severed head was impaled by it. The head was still on the tusk as it wore a surprised expression. The headless body laid near the boar looked downwards as blood was still leaking from his head. There were parts of this man's body that were missing as well.

A huge man full of muscles stepped up. He wore a leather vest while the rest of his clothing was from earth. His hair was shaved, however, reminiscences of his old hair remained. His face was rectangular as it was full of masculine features as well as a few gang-related tattoos. The two behind him, a tall man and a short man, weren't anything special as they both seemed to be slightly weaker.

"First formation!" The man's raspy voice sounded as the group moved into an arrow position. They were having an intense staredown as killing intent clashed against one another.

"Go!" The leader ordered as they began their movements.

The tall man ran to one side of the boar while the short man went to the other. The tall man's hand turned into a copper-like sphere, as he moved towards the boar, however, unlike the normal Roughback Board, this boar was not clumsy and instead fast as it turned its body smacking the man away with force, making his body slam against a tree.

The short man's speed increased as the wind began to make him move much faster. A small dagger appeared on his hand and as the boar was distracted with his partner he slashed towards its side leaving a deep cut.

Feeling the pain, the boar turned its head and smacked the body of the short man as well, sending him flying, however, unlike the other man the short one seemed to have been sent flying farther and with much more force as he struck a tree leaving a dent on it as he instantly went unconscious.

The muscled man was quick as he moved towards the boar with his fists up. His fists became a strange green color as he stroked with both fists towards the boar. The boar was lucky enough to turn and defend, however, it wasn't quick enough.

"Bang!" The boar was sent backward with force. The green aura that surrounded the man's first shot forwards like a snake as it retracted after the impact. The man smiled as he felt like he held the upper hand.

The boar shook its head and prepared to charge towards the bald muscled man.

Seeing this, the man's face turned ugly, however, he was prepared to take the beast on. He was confident in his, power.

'Tuck!"

The boar pushed against the ground as it began to move towards the man. Its body turned into a malicious red flash as the muscled man once again prepared his skill and also punched towards the boar.

"Boom!" This time the collision was much more powerful than before as both powers collided. The trees swayed and the grass danced as powerful winds moved wildly. The boar, as well as the bald muscled man, was sent backward. Both of them were hurt as there were bruises on their bodies, however, when compared to a beast, if he continued on like this thing wouldn't end well for him. Naturally, beasts were much stronger when at the same level as humans.

The man's face was completely dark as he looked towards his partners who were knocked out on the side. The beast seemed much more confident now as it saw the man's condition.

'Crack!"

Sounds of twigs cracking were heard on the side as the man looks towards the noise.

Two men came from the trees, one was a skinny black-haired youth, while the other was a hairy bearded man. Both were naturally Candreva and Niko.

The bald man was hopeful as humans we're here to help. He noticed that one of the two men was young and probably very gullible, therefore he thought of something as he spoke, "Hey! You! Young hero! Help me!" He looked like a Niko.

Niko threw the man a strange look, "Hero? I didn't know I looked so much like one… Nevertheless, I'll never be one, so you might want to stop the sweet-talking.

The man forced a smile, as he once more spoke, "Help out a fellow human in need, will you?"

Niko who gazed towards the hurt boar, turned his gaze towards the man as he spoke coldly, "And what would be our benefit? We could just wait for the boar to kill you and then kill it."

The bald man's face turned dark as he knew he was in a disadvantageous position.