Chapter 12C: Instance Dungeon
“Today let’s aim for a pig today!” Alex said with enthusiasm. Realizing that she must take on a bigger leadership role in the party, she decided to act as such. Raising moral is one task that the party leader must do.
Everyone nodded with little notice as they were still mostly catching their breath or lost in thought. Then Al added something that made everyone excited.
“I will cook whatever you kill. Good luck,” He smiled.
Everyone perked up at the mention of food. Alex realized that her friends were perhaps all gluttons…but that would be the pot calling the kettle black as her mouth started to salivate at the idea of food as well.
The group left the entrance of the giant garden towards the outskirts to the west. That was where the pigs usually roam. It was a lightly forested area with a few trees. Very different from the prairie where the cows reside at the center of the garden. The moist forest conditions allowed a wider range of food for the pigs to forage. The pigs there were raised to be strong and independent. Compare to the cows who were more of a herding animal, the pigs were solitary. This made it easy to isolate a single pig.
After around fifteen minutes of trekking through a maze of tree roots and dirt, Alex and her friends found a lone pig digging around a tree with its curved snout. The pig was covered in a thick brown bristly fur coat. Its tusks protruded from each side of its snout. Some may call it a boar rather than a pig. It took tall at around a meter. Its powerful neck strained as it dug into the dirt. Suddenly, a small chunk of something appeared. A star flashed in the eye of the boar as it quickly devoured it.
Alex gave a signal to her friends. They had practiced it earlier. First, Ruri was to pass Kurt a spell. Hopefully, they can perform a sneak attack. If it doesn’t work, Nell was to attract the beast’s attention with her mushroom.
Ruri strained as he made a stick out of ice. It would seem he can control ice better than the other elements. Once the sharp ice spear was formed, he quickly passed it to Kurt. With his buffs activated, Kurt threw the spear with all his might. He aimed for the head, but the boar was more caution than he thought. It quickly shifted its immense body, narrowly avoiding a fatal blow. But the ice spear still penetrated its body. It frost could be seen spreading across the point of penetration. It will slow down the boar’s movement.
“Now!” Alex said.
Nell whispered a command to the large mushroom she summoned for practice. It burst out from the trees and attempted to tackle the pig. With the spear pinning it in place, the poor creature couldn’t dodge fast enough. This didn’t mean it would just give up without a fight. Boars are known for their tenacity as it struggled. With its powerful tusks, it rammed its head into the mushroom. The tusks penetrated the soft mycelium like it was a hot knife through a sponge. But the mycelium packed together densely to cushion the blow, preventing the tusk from penetrating further. The mushroom used its large thick arms to grapple the boar.
With the two of them struggling, Alex and party emerged from their hiding spot up on the branches. Ruri had recovered enough mana after using the ice spear and was already preparing the second one. Nell was constantly giving commands to the mushroom to ensure it kept the boar entangled. Kurt waited for a chance to strike, hoping he could drive the spear already penetrated in the boar to wreck more havoc. Alex was giving the mushroom a hand by casting shadow boa. The snake emerged from the shadows of the pig and wrapped around its thick legs.
The boar was properly bound now. It could barely struggle before Ruri created another ice spear. Kurt grabbed the spear with hold hands and lunged at the boar with incredible power. He used the force of the leap along with gravity to drive the spear into the trapped pig’s skull. It made a sickening crunch as the spear shattered the pig’s skull and penetrated into its tiny brain. The ice immediately wrecked any chance that the boar could retaliate. It died with an unsatisfied squeal. Kurt stood back up and looked at his hands. They were blistered from the force of the impact. The webs between his fingers were slightly bleeding. It would seem that his body isn’t fully capable of handling his full power yet. After all, it’s not like his skin is made of steel.
Alex and her friends cheered. But Alex cut their celebration short.
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“We have to move, the sound of the fight could have attracted others.”
Nell nodded and commanded the large mushroom to carry the pig carcass on its shoulders. But before they could get far, another boar came rampaging out of the bushes.
“Shit, dodge everyone!” Alex yelled.
The four split up as the boar rushed through where they stood. Thankfully, they manage to dodge the sharp tusks. But the mushroom man wasn’t so lucky. It was too slow to dodge and with Nell preoccupied with evading, it didn’t receive a command to move. It was knocked off its feet by the charging boar. The pig started to attack and gouge at the mushroom with much ferocity. Alex prepared to attack when she noticed that Ruri was clutching his ankles. Realizing that perhaps he sprained his ankle, Alex asked Kurt to provide cover.
“Kurt! Ruri is hurt, help him!”
Kurt nodded as he lends Ruri his shoulder.
Ruri felt helpless, but with the situation being so dire, he immediately accepted. With his calculative mind, he was already preparing a spell. His mana hasn’t recovered enough for him to summon two points of condensation, so only a ball of ice appeared.
Kurt grabbed the ball with his one free hand and took aim at the boar who was still busy eviscerating Nell’s mushroom.
Suddenly, Alex shouted.
“Don’t!”
Kurt quickly stopped before he threw the ball.
“Its attention is on Nell’s summon right now. If you throw the ball, it won’t do enough damage to incapacitate it. It would also attract its attention to you. With Ruri in your arms, I don’t think you can dodge at all,” Alex quickly explained.
She sighed as she turned towards Nell.
“We have to use our ace now. Nell, blow it up.”
“Got it!” Nell concentrated all her mana on the mushroom.
It started to glow brighter and brighter as Alex and her friends hobbled away from the potential blast radius. Suddenly, an earth-shattering explosion sounded behind them. The ground shook from the force, and even a nearby tree was toppled by the blast. Thankfully, Alex and her friends ducked low behind a thick root. At most, they were shaken but not harmed.
Alex peeked over to look at the carnage. A mess of flesh was now splattered on the forest floor and the surrounding trees. The original boar carcass along with the second pig was blown to smithereens. At best, they could only salvage a few pieces of meat.
Her friends frowned along with her once they saw the scene.
“Damn, I hope there enough edible meat remaining for Al to cook,” Nell spoke what was on everyone’s mind.
Without the giant mushroom’s help, they could only carry a sizable chunk of meat each as they limped out of the forest. Thankfully, the sheer force of the explosion scared away any approaching challengers as Alex and her friends finally left the forest in peace. Al was looking at them with a frown.
“Have you learned a valuable lesson today?” He asked.
“Yes…,” Alex and her friends replied.
“Before you attempt ANYTHING, always be sure of your surroundings. Never be caught off guard like that again if you want to survive in this world.”
“Yes!”
“Now hand over those chunks of meat, it should be enough to make a dish,” Al said with a smile.
Alex and her friends grinned along as they handed Al the chunks of pork.
“Funny how this meat when it was alive was called pig or boar, but after it died, it is known as pork,” Al stated.
Alex and her friends watched as he cleaned the blood from the meat, started a campfire, and began seasoning the pork chunks. Pork is different from beef, but the base seasoning is nearly the same. However, he added far more than just the usual three. Salt, pepper, granulated garlic powder, paprika, brown sugar, cumin seed, and coriander seed. The spice blend was mixed with a dollop of a yellow condiment he pulled out from his bag. It was labeled ‘Mustard.’ Al combined the spice with the yellow condiment. With amazing knife skills, he trimmed some of the excess fat off the chunks and roughly rubbed the mixture onto the pork. He added a single block of wet wood onto the roaring flame. A strong hickory smell started to fill the air. With everything prepared, he skewered the chunk on a stick as he began to rotate it over the flame.
Not a single moment was ignored as Alex, and her friends watched from the sidelines with their mouths salivating at the smell. Slowly, the pork roasted.
Al pulled out a bottle of brown sauce as he took a brush and applied it to the browned pork. It took almost two whole hours to roast, so Alex and her friends decided to practice to distract their minds. Ruri had a sprained ankle so he couldn’t really do anything physical. He still practiced his control though.
Finally, the food was done. Al called over the hardworking teens with meat in hand. He was already gorging himself with the pork ribs.
“Eat up!” He laughed.
Alex and her friends took the ribs in hand and proceeded to ravenously devour the fruits of their labor. It was totally worth the effort. The delicious, moist pork combined with the slightly sweet, slightly sour barbecue rub encapsulated all that was delicious with every single bite. They couldn’t help but suck on the bones afterward, hoping to get every last bit of meat. They ate and ate and ate until they could no longer move. Thankfully, they had more than enough meat to feed five people.
“Fight, eat, and grow strong! That is the way of a warrior,” Al stated as he watched the campfire.
Kurt nodded with understanding while Alex and Nell were walking off the food. Ruri stared at the Kurt, then at Al, then at the fire.
“The way of a warrior…,” He sighed, “Sadly, I am a mage.”
Poor Ruri didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.