Luring and Baiting
After bathing, our stress levels were significantly lowered at this point. It was at this time, that I decided to resolve the food problem.
The food shortage was an issue that flanked the whole school. It enveloped all of the survivors, and was the direct cause of more than a few conflicts. Even my group, which had pushed the issue back up until this point was also subjective to such a base need. This was made all the more apparent now, since our own supply had dwindled down in the past two days, especially with the newest addition to the group.
Although like all problems, this too had a solution.
With that in mind, I led the group deeper down the hallway. We passed through all the cardboard covered windows, until finally, we turned a corner, into where the animalistic grunts which my enhanced hearing picked up originated. By this point, Cielle’s experience these past two weeks kicked in. Her caution visibly increased, as she looked discreetly throughout the hall, quietly peering into the exposed windows and opened doorways with the utmost care. The bag which she clung to, was now open, spewing forth a collection of black sludge as tiny balls of darkness floated freely around her.
Hina, likewise, reacted the same way. While not with the same level of caution as her sister, she visibly tensed as her dead eyes scanned the horizon.
The only real lacking party member was Cher, although she at least noticed the change in everyone’s atmosphere. While flustered and somewhat panicked, she remained silent as her nervous eyes swiveled quickly from side to side. Cher’s own lack of experience would be something I needed to tackle in the future, but for now, I myself needed to focus. After all, despite the President’s prior information, this was still technically unexplored territory for me.
With trepid and cautious steps we proceeded deeper into the hallway. The animalistic noises- grunts vaguely resembling a strange mix between a bull and a pig’s could be heard. This was not only limited to me. As we drew closer, those same noises, reverberated loudly into the echo inducing hall, loud enough for even the rest of my party members to hear.
I was the first to turn the corner, fulfilling my self assigned role as the scout of the group.
Before my eyes, some great distance away, I saw an impossible spectacle. In that cramped and compact hallway that was barely 5 arm’s width wide, were dozens of gigantic, fur covered beasts. Their heavy masses, which was akin to the size of a small smart car, congregated along the halls, not leaving even an inch of space free.
At my current distance, it was a bit difficult for me to make out their specific traits or exact numbers. For the current me, the space before me looked purely like a sea of husk brown. With that problem in mind, I immediately reallocated my senses using [Sensory Remapping]. I focused in on my eyesight, and with a few seconds of effort, my vision greatly improved.
It was like a sniper’s scope had been placed directly in front of my retina, allowing me to pear at further distances with the same effectiveness of a hawk. With my enhanced vision, I could now clearly see the individual monsters which made up this sea of fur.
Upon closer inspection, the monsters we’re indeed quite feral looking. With robust, fur covered bodies, they towered a good 7 feet tall, while they were just as wide. Their hide, which ranged from a mix of dirty brown to night black, did a considerable job in hiding the swelling muscle and blubberous fat those things more than likely possessed.
Aside from their size, the creatures resembled a lot like a wild pig. With a rose colored snout, and beady eyes, if you we’re to look only at those characteristics, then you would probably also come to the same conclusion. What set this creature aside from your everyday pig we’re the protrusions that stuck out from it. A single pair of ivory tusks adorned their jawline. Those same tusks we’re about 2 feet long and looked more than capable enough of piercing a normal human stomach.
There was also a set of porcelain white horns that protruded out from its fur covered skull. Those horns were reminiscent of a rams, and looked sturdy enough to crush a brick wall into pieces.
All these contrasting, yet complimenting characteristics all came together to create one massive beast. And that massive beast, was accompanied by 50 or so of its brethren, and that was only the ones I could see. It was a wonder in itself that the floor hadn’t given out at this point.
With my eyesight enhanced, I wondered whether or not [Identify] would work from this distance. Usually, I needed to be within a certain range to activate that skill, but lately, I’ve began attributing this fact to vision. If I could see the object to a great enough extent, would [Identify] activate? Was [Identify]’s limit based on vision or distance? This question left me wondering, but I never really got a chance to test it, what with the recent events that took place.
Now would be a good opportunity though. With that in mind, in my mind’s eye, I solemnly yelled out the skill’s name with as much vigor as I could muster.
-Identify!
….
…
…
I waited for the miraculous blue panel to appear in front of me, but unsurprisingly, nothing came out. With a heavy sigh, I confirmed that [Identify] needed a certain proximity for the skill to work, and refocused in on the current predicament.
As I looked over their staggering numbers, I signaled for the rest of the group to follow. The four of us quickly retreated to a nearby classroom, while along the way, I slowly devised a plan, one that would ensure not only the killing of one of these massive beasts, but also the acquisition of its corpse.
From the information I confirmed with my own eyes, as well as from the President’s off handed information, I concluded that there were two issues that blocked the successful hunting of the horned boar monster.
One, was actually hunting the monster. Currently, I didn’t know the current extent of an individual boar’s strength. Whether or not it rivaled my own level was up for debate, but if it we’re at the very least within a 5 level range of my own, then I was confident enough that I could kill one. Add to that support fire from both Hina and Cielle, then my chances of victory would proportionately increase. The issue here was the sheer number of beasts. If I hypothetically killed one, then another would replace it. This type of cycle would continually repeat until our party exhausts itself.
The second issue was with retrieval. Even if I did successfully kill one, my actual goal may not be fulfilled. Before I would have the opportunity to retrieve the corpse, a whole slew of its brethren would be one top of it, and obstructing my path. Again, this links back to the sheer amount of monsters currently present.
In actuality, these two issues mainly stemmed from the number of boars present. Rather than their own hypothetical ability or individual strength, their greatest fail safe was their numbers. Their herd mentality was their greatest defense.
If I could find a way to separate one individual from the rest, then the problem becomes much more simpler....
With that sort of issue on my mind, I slowly rattled my mind, as the first hints of a plan began devising itself within me.
****
“T-t-t-this might be a really bad idea….” I could hear the nervous complaints coming from Miss Pitiful as she proceeded forward with each shivering step.
Currently, I was crouching down within the shadows, on top of a raised locker 12 feet above ground, as I overlooked the scene in front of me. I could see Cher slowly approaching the herd of monsters 300 feet away from me. The reason why her words came loud and clear as if she were directly whispering into my ear was because I redistributed my senses again. This time, a perfect half and half was formed with my sense of hearing and my sense of sight. My skill had risen to a level where such sense manipulation became possible, but sadly, this was the limit of my current abilities.
Well, pushing aside my own worries, I quietly observed the beginning phases of my poorly devised, “Monster Hunting” plan.
Cher continually complained, but nonetheless, her feet never stopped moving forward. She continued down the wider than average hallway towards the sea of fur. Her goal was towards one of the Boars that stood at the edge of the herd. Well, although I said edge, this particular boar was only a mere 3 feet away from its closest brethren, so the difference wasn’t all that outstanding. Nonetheless, it was the most separated boar, and thus, it gained the honor of being our first target.
If it wasn’t obvious enough at this point, Cher’s role in this plan was as bait.
In order to successfully lure in the prey, Cher needed to attract this particular boar’s attention. But this came at quite a difficulty. In order for the success of this plan, this particular boat has to notice Cher before any of the others do. It needed to give chase to Cher before the others even begin to notice Cher’s precosious existence.
With that particular goal in mind, I gave her specific instructions on how to do that. From my raised vantage point, I quietly observed with cold, serious eyes as Cher set about on what she was assigned to do.
She clung to the shadows produced by the mid afternoon light. Slowly, ever so slowly, she finally arrived at the edge of the pack while holding in a long bated breath. She was currently a mere 10 feet away, a dangerously close distance.
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While shivering feverently, she reached down into her pocket and pulled out a couple of marbles which were the remnants of my fight with the President’s group. The plan was to continually throw marbles at the separated boar until it noticed.
It was a simple, and frankly, rather stupid plan, but aside from me, Cher was the person most fit for this. This was mostly because she was the fastest out of the girls. While Cielle and Hina both mainly put points into their intelligence or wisdom, Cher had specked herself with an agility build. This was apparently due to her background with the track and field club, but I only learned this recently.
With that in mind, Cher began throwing her marbles at the boar. I expected it to take a couple of attempts, seeing as how thick its hide looked, but whether through a stroke of dumb luck, or incredible coincidence, Cher’s first marble hit the boar squarely in its right eye.
SQUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
A deafening shriek escaped its feral lungs, as it swiveled its head towards Cher’s direction. While squinting its right eye, the horned boar glared menacingly at her while it puffed a gust of air through its rose colored snout. In the face of its primal glare, Cher’s whole body froze in place.
While I could only see the back of her head from my angle, I imagined tears trickling down her face, as she made a pitiful expression.
Before any of the other boars could react, in a fit of anger and primal rage, the boar instantly rocketed forward. With heavy stomps that shook the very foundation of the third floor, the beast began closing the distance between it and Cher.
Almost simultaneously, Cher was also on her feet as she sprinted down the hallway towards my direction. Her legs pulsed as they propelled her forward, driven by her most prevalent emotion of fear.
She shot me a pleading look from my view point. Like I had presumed, tears were currently streaking down her face as they fluttered behind her, left in the dust due to Cher’s own velocity.
A few seconds later, that single pair of thundering foot steps transformed into the sound of a blood thirsty stampede. While separated by a distance of 20 feet, the rest of the herd followed behind the lead boar in their attempts to chase down the single pitiful girl.
Cher, in response to the noise, shot a quick glance over her shoulder. This subsequent action only caused her to pale even further. Unexpectedly, her already fast legs grew faster as the distance between her and I shortened.
“Hah… hahh...hahh…” She greedily panted in thick gulps of air as she ran. Her eyes we’re swirling as she began yelling at the top of her throat. “D-Do it! Do it already! Their coming damn it!”
Pleading to what appeared to be no one in particular, she continually screamed while her legs kept moving forward.
As if in response to her desperate words, a pillar of flames instantly shot out from behind the lead boar, completely separating it and the rest of the pack.
As Cher and the boar continually ran, shrinking the distance towards me, more pillars of fire rose from the ground behind them. At this point a pillar of flame appeared every 7 feet, cordoning off the halls, into sections until there were a total of four pillars of fire.
From ontop of the raised locker, I quietly observed this scene with indifferent eyes. I nodded softly to myself upon seeing the successful execution of the plan.
The Pillars of flame were the result of a pre laid trap and Hina’s own efforts.
Before she was currently being chased, 200 feet away from the boars, while Cher walked over towards the herd, I instructed her to spray a line of alcohol (leftovers from the fiasco with the wolves) so that it encompassed the whole width of the hall. She did this 4 times, each separated by a distance of 7 feet.
Hina’s role in this case was to remotely fire off some fire magic towards the lines of alcohol. She did this by hiding within a classroom directly adjacent to the hall and next to those lines of alcohol. There were no concerns of Hina being trapped in a lone classroom, while a sea of boars surrounded her, since, in the first place Hina arrived at that classroom through the air ducts, reminiscent of my own mode of travel during my fight with the werewolves.
After she had fulfilled her role, Hina would then quickly leave through the ducts before any of the remaining boars noticed her.
Now, normally, the fire produced and sustained by alcohol lacked force, but with the help of Hina’s [Pyrokinesis] skill, she was able to fan that pre-existing flame, and turn it into a raging inferno.
The first pillar of flame was the largest, and acted as the initial border that separated the rest of the herd from Cher and the Boar. Now, Boars are animalistic creatures, and hold a fear of the unknown, or in this case, fire. While these were monsters, from my previous encounters, monsters also held primal animalistic behavior of their own, so a pillar of raging flames that towered above their heads may halt them in their tracts.
The remaining pillar of flames were a precaution. Insurance, in case a few straggler boars got ahead of themselves and recklessly crossed the flames.
So far the plan was working perfectly. Cher and the lead boar were successfully separated from the others, and the rest of herd was still behind the 1st wall of flame.
“Hmmm… it’s going well enough but that Boar, it's getting pretty close to her, huh…”
I offhandedly stated while I observed the lead boar rapidly closing in on Cher. Right now, the Boar was less than two feet away from Miss Pitiful. Anymore, and Cher would probably be dead, pierced by one of those tusks of his or maybe rammed by the horns.
This was particularly troubling since she was still about 13 yards away from me. Too far for us to initiate the next phase of our plan.
While thinking this, I nonchalantly shrugged.
“Well, she’s almost on top of it, so there’s no need to worry much…”
As I casually said that, Cher’s panic stricken face grew closer before she arrived at an expanse of darkness that covered about a square area of 5 feet by 5 feet of the hallway’s grime covered floor. Without so much as a flicker of recognition, Cher ran through that puddle of darkness, sending out the occasional splash as she went through.
The Boar, who, in its current rage completely focused in on Cher, ignored the puddle of darkness and followed Cher on her current, straight forward path. Be it recklessness or over confidence, it also ran through the puddle of darkness.
Unlike Cher though, the Boar exhibited a completely different reaction. It gurgled out in a shriek of pain, as its legs momentarily buckled. It wasn’t enough to completely stop the boar in its tracks, but it did buy Cher some distance and time. Specifically, by the time it had recovered, there were 20 feet of space now separating them.
It was obvious, but the Boar experienced firsthand the pain caused by Cielle’s [Dark Gemini].
Cielle herself wasn’t at the location, rather she waited at a sort of checkpoint for Cher. the [Dark Gemini] had been laid out before hand, demonstrating once again its versatile function.
As to why Cher was able to continually run even after she traversed over the substance, it was simple really, [Dark Gemini] never made contact with her skin.
Currently, Cher was wearing a pair of dark-black men’s pants. A pair that we picked up from an old corpse in the hall. At first she was against wearing something so… unsanitary (and morally questionable), but in that brief moment, it proved to be a lifesaving pair of pants.
With the help of some rope, and left over packing tape, we sealed the ends of her pants securely enough so that no outside substance could penetrate through.
With the advantage given from the Boar’s trip up, Cher was able to continue sprinting, panting heavily along the way. Although the unexpected pain the boar received seemingly backfired as its running speed increased, driven by an incredible sense of rage. It once again rapidly began closing their gap.
Thankfully, the next stage of the plan was about to start.
12… 10…. 6….. 3…. 2….0 feet.
With that, Cher, and her chestnut red hair fluttered freely through the air as she finally passed my current location. She spared a sidelong glance upwards at my current position before she wordlessly continued running.
As if on cue, the Boar followed behind, the distance between him and I now only 5 feet away.
I cracked my neck once, as I gripped the edge of the locker. With a feral smile plastered on my face, I looked down at the boar that steamrolled its way down the hall.
“With this, it’s my turn.”
I commented dryly just as the beast ran underneath me. With its position in consideration, I boldly jumped off, barrelling straight towards its back.
In the briefest split second that I was in mid air, time seemingly stopped. It was as if everything paused. Like this instant, this current instant during this current time was something that engraved itself deep into the recesses of my memory.
Of course, all this whimsy vanished in the next instant as I firmly landed on the boar’s hide covered back with a resounding thud.
*****
Author's Note:
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