Cole stared the boar down. He was filled with confidence, despite knowing this wasn't a game. Glancing at the Beacon on his arm for a moment, he shook his head, snorting. He wasn’t about to face that embarrassment.

There was a flash of purple. A Speed rune hung over Cole’s shoulder. The ability was quickly becoming his opener. He dashed back, clutching the two spears in his right hand. Cole wanted to have a space to think, however the boar didn’t seem as eager to rush him as the Direwolf had been. It merely stared at him, snorting steam out of its nostrils and keeping its distance.

Strange.

Cole eyed the spears in his hand once more. He supposed this would be a good chance to test their effectiveness. If they were truly useless, he’d resign himself to getting an actual weapon.

He dropped one of the spears, hefting the other into a throwing position. He’d been awful at javelin in school, but maybe with some supernatural help…

Another flash of light, and Cole’s throwing arm began to glow purple. He felt his muscles strengthen, tendons and ligaments becoming tougher, able to take more stress. An eye on his target, he breathed in, couched the spear, and flung it forward.

A once living slender branch, bathed in fire to harden its exterior, was now a weapon used for a single purpose.

The spear rocketed across the clearing, flying true towards its target.

Suddenly, a blaze of fire. It vanished.

Cole’s mouth dropped. “My spear!”

The boar had opened its mouth, revealing a fiery furnace that had roared out in response to Cole’s opening attack. In an instant, half of his weaponry was gone. The monster, which Cole now knew to be a Infernal Boar, was pawing the ground once more, the flame of its belly now shooting out of its snout.

What was an Infernal Boar doing here anyway? They weren’t native to Vestria, having been introduced to the VRMMO that had placed portals to the Infernal dimension in hidden dungeons as part of the ‘King of Hell’ DLC. Unless something had significantly changed in the last hundred or so years there was absolutely no reason for it to be roaming a random forest on the Artesian/Vestrian border.

Wait.

Something had significantly changed. The Gates. With portals that opened to other dimensions, anything was possible.

Cole looked at the Beacon once more. Was this a serious enough issue to call in Godrick about?

If it was just a lone Infernal Boar, that would be ok. There was no proof that this wasn’t just an isolated incident, one portal to the Infernal dimension dropping a single boar in the forest.

Cole was wrenched back to the forest clearing as a snort from the boar scorched the grass in front of it. He’d finish this himself.

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Cole picked up his other spear and sprinted off to the side, hoping to take advantage of the Infernal Boar’s slow turning speed. He raised the weapon, veering back in to strike directly into the monster’s hide.

The spear jammed into the boar’s side, causing a squeal of pain. A blast of heat forced Cole to pull back, taking his spear with him. Blood dripped from the wound he’d left, sizzling as it hit the earth, scorching the grass once more.

The Infernal Boar was enraged, every angry noise sending flames shooting out of its nose. It was a miracle the forest hadn’t been set ablaze at this point. Cole needed to keep this fight in the clearing, unless he wanted to have a carbon footprint in this world as well.

Cole hefted the spear once more, ready to try his darting attack once more. If he drove the spear in with his shoulder, he should be able to do much more damage. He dashed out once more, leaping back in to drive the spear into the hide of the boar. The Infernal Boar squealed even louder as he drove it deep into its neck.

A blast of heat emanated once more, and Cole went to wrench his spear back out, but the boar suddenly twisted away from him. The young man was dragged onto the ground while clutching the wood, which refused to come free. His arm pressed into the steaming hot hide of the boar, and he couldn’t stop the scream from ripping past his lips.

Frantically trying to get away, Cole formed the old Runic Blast, which knocked the Infernal Boar further away from him. As it flew across the clearing, his last spear snapped, leaving one end stuck in the neck of the beast, and the useless handle still in his right hand.

Cole stared at the piece of wood in his hand, which was so charred it was practically useless. He threw it onto the ground, stomping it to ensure he didn’t set himself on fire.

The Infernal Boar was panting, wheezing out laboured breaths. The spear, although now broken, had obviously done some serious damage. It would probably die if he left it, but there was no chance that Cole was going to take that risk.

He breathed in slowly, preparing himself for his next attack.

As the Infernal Boar lumbered towards him, snorting out twin jets of flame from each nostril, Cole’s hands moved in sync, mirroring each other’s motions. Divine light began to shine through from another world, as he traced golden runes in the air.

The young man felt his face turn hot as the boar came closer and closer, but he couldn’t move now. He wanted to turn away from the scorching heat, but he had to wait.

The Infernal Boar came within two metres of Cole, and he exhaled, releasing the breath he’d been holding as he completed the twin Hallowed Blasts.

*CR-CRACK*

Golden light flared out in front of him. The monster didn’t even have time to squeal as its whole front half was bathed in divine energy.

When the light faded, all that was left of the Infernal Boar was a pile of ash and its scorched hind legs. The pleasant smell of bacon wafted through the air. Cole stamped out the smoking ashes with his boots, but paused as he felt them strike something. He kicked his feet, revealing two tusks and a red, glowing gem. He put the tusks to the side, staring at the Red gem. It was a minor Infernal Heart, a rare drop for this type of enemy.

While they were quite commonplace in the VR world after the ‘King of Hell’ expansion, they would be quite rare in a place like Artesia. He pocketed it, eager to sell it when he got back to the village. Craftsmen could use it to create machinery powered by magic, and blacksmiths found good use for them as a far more efficient fuel source than coal.

After making sure no bushfires would be started in his name, Cole continued his journey, noting that the sun was not even at its peak in the sky. He washed himself off in a small pond, wishing he could use the Infernal Heart to boil the water. Unfortunately the skillset he now had didn’t allow him to harness the item’s true potential.

After some more time spent strolling through the forest, Cole came to a hill, similar to the one he had descended on his way to Venture. He resolved to climb it for some sightseeing, before heading back to the village in time for his scheduled training session.

As Cole made his way up the hill, he started to sweat. Apparently the sun was shining in full force today, so he stripped off his shirt, tying the sleeves around his neck to prevent serious skin damage.

When he was almost at the top, Cole turned back, searching for Venture. He found the river first, and by following that with his eyes he could sight the village in the distance. It was amazing how far one could travel in a short time aided by Runic Speed.

Cole headed to the peak of the hill, curious to see what lay on the other side. The heat grew stronger as he did so, but he simply wrote it off as being closer to the sun.

The other side of the hill didn’t have a smooth path down, instead having multiple jagged cliffs that would be treacherous to try and scale.

But the dangerous terrain wasn’t the reason Cole stopped in his tracks.

A huge tear in the fabric of space lay at the bottom of the last cliff, edges tinged a bloody red. The trees at the edges of the portal were burned black.

That’s a Gate. Cole thought, They look exactly like the ones created by the Instant Portal technique! Indeed, it had to be a Gate, because when Cole looked down, he could see a huge group of monsters, congregating around the scorched earth, joined by more and more every second. Through the Gate, he could see enormous shadows, straining to break through into this plane.

Worse yet, Cole could see 3 bodies being trampled by the horde of monsters, charred beyond recognition. It seemed an adventuring party had tried in vain to end this disaster, paying the ultimate price for their bravery. He didn’t want to join them.

Cole tore the Beacon off his arm, ripping it in two.