Victor had embarked into the perilous woods, for a while. He had attempted to shake the clingy dog off but it always found a way to get back to him. Refusing to obey his commands, hiding itself if he had gotten angry behind a tree, chased after him if he ran. It was an uphill battle and so he gave in. Accepted his fate.

I’m not turning back no matter what. Boar meat no matter what.

He hoped the dog would come out unscathed from this journey, he’d have a hard time explaining it to Faelion. However, would he explain if something did happen, how he would explain it to little Isilwyn, would be undoubtedly worse.

“Sorry, child. Your dog chose to follow me into dangerous woods, bummer.’ that would go well.

He turned towards the dog and asked it straight up.

“How will I explain this to your master's little Mutt!”

The dogs ears perked up, its head shaking around and tail wagging. It barked, short and very aggressive yips at him. As if it fully understood what he was saying and was now berating him.

It ran circles around yapping and barking, its nose suddenly picking up something in the air, like an antenna., it ran away.

It ran off west of Victor and he tailed.

“Wait!”

Its nose stuck to the ground, it was sniffing something out and moving itsbody, something was clearly amiss.

“What is it boy!”

The dog barked in front of an old tree and started digging into the earth below.

‘This had better be good.’ He thought.

He unequipped the crossbow gifted to Magnar. With his three tentacles he formed limbs akin to a shovel, a hoe and a spade. Joining in digging up whatever treasure the dog was digging in up.

Some of his shoveling ended up being very aggressive, resulting in dirt being spat in the dog's eyes. It cried out with an annoyed moan.

“Sorry.”

The dog growled at him and continued digging.

As he continued digging with his spade, it hit something, which made a ting sound, something akin to glass. A foul but chemically strong scent invaded his sense of smell. It reeked like burning diesel and the foulest of rotten meat He did his best to reduce the scent of the smell, Faro retreated, staring in anticipation for him to uncover teh mystery of the dug up treasure.

As he removed the last pieces of dirt, the object of interest became clear in his eyes. It was a flask, with the imprint of a skull on the front. Inside was a gooey and black like substance, It jiggled around. The smell had easily become ten times worse. Before he stretched out to touch the glass flask. And potentially touch a chemical hazard that might melt him or worse reduce him to an atomic state.

He cast his observation skill on it.

Skill Analysis

‘Dirty Chemical Mixture.’

Who knows what it contains or what it can do. Contains dangerous and hazardous materials. Highly volatile…

Whatever it was, it was probably best not to play around or move it around like a football. It could’ve very well have been some kind of nuclear bomb, or a pathogen to be released, an unspeakable disease he might yet use on his enemies. He wouldn’t know unless he had to use it.

He stuffed it inside his inventory and the smell had vanished along with it. Trapped in dimensional space.

His inventory space was occupied by two things now.

1.The sack with the gold coin in it.

2.The dirty chemical mixture.

He had space for one more thing, he remembered the last time he had upgraded and massively boosted his strength stat, his inventory had directly increased in size. It was something he would have to get around to.

Faro seemed appeased, by him finding the black chemical substance.

“Thank you, Faro. Did you know it was here the whole time?”

The dog simply barked, whether it was a yes or a no he wouldn’t know. They had dug a little more, but nothing else of relevance came out of it, only what resembled a femur, moldy old coins and a small bag which said lucky tooth. Except the tooth was missing.

The coins did not resemble the currency used by the people of the village. Now that he had thought about it, he didn’t even know the village name, he would have to ask when he gets back. The tooth bag held no value.

Strange set of items, maybe the tooth fairy laid its victim here. A silly thought.

Victor thought it would be a good idea to attempt to play fetch with the femur. He threw the bone into the distance, asking Faro to go get it. The dog did not, stayed far away from the femur, probably haunted.

They started moving again northwards, a few hundred meters and the forest grew eerily still. No chirping birds gliding through the sky, no critters rustling among the leaves, even the trees seemed quieter than usual. The light of the sun had darkened under the cloudy umbrella, making the forest harder to see inside of. Certain things started to blend well with the dark. There was an unnatural pressure floating around in the air. Like something was lurking about.

‘The boar.’

Despite the dark becoming an obstruction, Victor’s ‘Dark vision.’ skill happily came in a clutch. It had allowed him to see the object’s of interest in his line of sight.

He heard a low groaning moan near the general vicinity, it repeated every so few seconds, like something was in severe pain.

“You hear that Faro, can you lead me there?” Victor did his best to attempt to whisper, though his telepathic voice often sounded like a disjointed radio. Echoing and buzzing.

Faro, the ever vigilant vanguard, slowly stalked his way towards the epicenter of the event. Yipping every time he made a wrong turn and circle behind a tree every now and then. Retracing his step, then moving in a different direction. Finally settling on one.

In the distance, Victor could see a bleeding deer impaled by the thick branch of a fallen tree log, the other end of the branch sticking out, small pieces of organ matter laying on the ground. The deer was still alive. It turned its head towards Victor and Faro, making whimpering noises and trembling.

This was nasty work and no human being was involved here. The work of the albino boar perhaps.

He approached and it seemed to move towards him, calling out like a dying pet did in its last moments . It attempted to slip out, kicking its hind legs, but only severely worsening the wound. The sound of a fleshy scrape and then the blood started to pool down like a wine keg being opened.

The creature is clearly in agony and on the verge of death. Victor decided to take matters into his own hands. End it’s suffering. He re-equipped his crossbow, aimed for its head and fired a shot.

That left him with five of six bolts given. He’d need to use it wisely from here on out.

It’s moaning finally silent.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

You have defeated young deer.

You have gained 15 exp

“Rest in peace…And forgive me.”

Despite having remorse for the deer, he thought he couldn’t just leave it here. Justifying by telling himself it would be a waste of resources. And started skinning the young buck’s leg.

A small occasional nibble of raw venison in his stomach. He was beginning to crave fried food, he may have been monstrous but he was still human.

He looked at the dog for approval, who didn’t seem the slightest concerned with his activity instead peering surveying the area for whatever was at work here. Whatever killed it was probably around, he’d have to move fast.

His best attempt was botched at its worst, but the meat was separated from all the unnecessary parts. That left him with a big piece of thigh meat, he stuffed it into his inventory, filling it completely for now. It would come in handy for his unending hunger.

Victor returned his attention to the forest’s eerie atmosphere. The howling of the wind had significantly raised its tempo. He swore he heard his voice being called out by the winds.

In a blink of an eye and only for a few seconds his eyes were obscured by a naked woman’s body, greenish vines and fiery red hair.

‘The nymph.’

Was she here? Was she playing tricks on him, so he could lower his guard? Or was it simply a hallucination or an illusion caused by the forest. It couldn’t have been, it had to have been stress at work here. Looking after Faro gave a extra mile to worry about, worrying about his own life was hard enough.

The dog had started barking like she was nuts right there after, growling in one direction and then another.

Victor heard a crack of a twig in the distance. Hooves galloping with the ground. He turned it moved towards, glowing red eyes locked on him from afar. The beast was far bigger than what he had thought it was. Twice as large as a normal boar, even muscular, two giant curved tusks as big and angled like scimitars, and teeth the size of a human's finger. Its white fur was complemented by the fresh deer blood that stained it’s head.

The mad beast stopped dead in its tracks.

Readying itself for a charge, hooves digging deep into dirt scraping backwards and forwards. It drew its leg back one more time before committing to the charge. It lowered its skull and thrusted forward, Victor was going to be impaled and not by a tree trunk.

The Charging battering ram came at him, tusks flailing like twin blades being used to slash at its enemies, head shaking with each skip and bump. Foliage, rock and grass all trampled in its path, its eye set on victor’s gelatinous body.

He shot it in the face, but it didn’t relent.

You have dealt 18 damage

Four bolts left.

Not having his flaming sword with him may have been a mistake; he was not proficient in the arts of marksmanship.

He shot another dealing better damage but not significantly

You have dealt 26 damage

Three bolts left.

The Boar kept coming and was on the verge of impaling him. He shot another, hopefully the next shot would be his lucky shot.

A metallic click came from the crossbow. He tried to pull the trigger but it wouldn’t budge. It was jammed.

“OH fuck!”

The boar rammed him, sending him flying against a tree. He collided in the air stay’d there planning. But didn’t impale him.

You have suffered 20 damage. 34 hp remaining. It was still more than half.

Faro was on its back tearing and biting into it with. The dog likely forced the boar to change trajectory. The boar let out a wild squeal, he’d have expected from a pig being slaughtered.

It started violently shaking and running around in a circle like a mechanical bull attempting to throw off its rider. With violent spin, it send the dog flying through the air out of view.”

“Faro!!!”

Shit. This was not what he was expecting. He hoped the dog came out unscathed.

The Mad boar returned it’s attention towards victor, making ready for another charge. Its target this time appeared to be the tree victor stuck to .

Victor once again attempted to use the crossbow, One of the mechanisms appeared to be stuck. He hit it with his tentacle, and it let loose the arrow, narrowly missing the target. If he had known it would do that he would have aimed properly.

The boar charged again, ramming the tree. Leaves and branches fell off because of the collison and as it fell down, Victor used the momentum to slither his way to another one. He wouldn’t survive a direct hit, if he was impaled, He needed to use his mobility to stay away from its tusks.

Now limping another tree which was not as stable, Victor slowly felt himself slipping down.

The boar got into position again, its stubbornness seemed to know no bounds. But he noticed it was slower than before, either it was hurt or there was a limit to how much energy he could hold.

So wear it down then?

Victor remembered a skill he had acquired not to long ago ‘flaming smite’

The crossbow was no gladius but wondered if it had worked.

Tis time he aimed for the boars head, specifically red glowing eyes.

“Flaming smite!”

The arrow launched from his crossbow, igniting the crossbow bolt with supernatural flame. The bolt pierced the eye of the boar.

Critical Hit

You have dealt 45 damage+ 22 incendiary damage.

He had no possession of magic, and the gladuis was far away; he'd need an explanation as to this skill working with no mana.

‘Two bolts left.’

The boar staggered backwards. The arrow had done its work another and it would fall to the ground.

It turned and ran away from him.

”That’s it, You give up!”

Blinded by a literal arrow and its rage for the slimeball of man. The boar circled back and sprinted twice as fast as its previous charge, using a large rock as a ramp. It jumped from the stone, into the air, tusks aiming for Victor, it went for the tree.

Instead of evading, Victor summoned his wooden shield and hoped that the tusk did not pierce the wooden shield. It was a horrible mistake.

You have lost 25 hp

A sharp pain stinged throughout him, the tusk had impaled him. The shield broke apart. The boar fell to the ground dragging Victor down with it. Pieces of wood falling alongside them. It stood up, holding Victor like a hanging coat. It turned towards a log on the ground, one with thick branches and sprinted towards . Intending to double impale him.

“Is this what happened to the deer,”

Big mistake.

The benefits of not having a human nervous system meant that the pain he felt was minuscule he could still feel his limbs. Victor, struck out his tentacles into the nostrils of the beast, and another in its eyes.

A grotesque job.

It fell down likely to bad coordination, Victor re equipped the crossbow and fired another bolt. The boar had anticipated this, and thrashed its body to the side freeing VIctor, but readying itself to finish him off.

He had one shot left

“Flaming smite!” He shouted.But it did not ignite the bolt. He’d to get the gist of it.

In a last resort to stop the approaching juggernaut. Victor shot it in the legs, making it fall forward on its front legs. He jumped on the beast. Stuck three tentacles inside, transformed them into hands, causing the head of the boar to physically tear apart. .

Victor crushed its brain from the inside.

You have dealt 200 damage.

Mad albino boar defeated.

It had let out a final screech, and twitched like it was having an aneurysm. Finally it settled into silence.

That was it then, he would live another day. This fight to the death was worth it. No, it was rash, this was beginning to become a horrible habit but he was beginning to enjoy it.

You have gained 340 exp

Congratulations You have leveled up twice

10 Undristubrited stat points

A concern for later.

He wanted more than to bring back proof of a fight, he’d bring back the whole thing. He’d love to see Magnar’s expression.’

Right now he needs to find out where Faro is for better or for worse.

Just as he was beginning to calm down, he heard the guttural snorts and the clapping of hooves in the distance. It sounded like a rumble or a stampede. He was ready to flee.

Out of a bush, Faro came sprinting in his direction.

“Faro! Are you hurt?”

He could see no visible damage on the canine.

Victor couldn’t believe what he was saying to himself, but he was happy to see him.

“C'mon let’s get out of here! “

The dog barked with affirmative confirmation.

He removed the deer leg from his inventory and threw it in the direction of a rampaging stampede, Took the whole boar into his inventory. And sped the other way. As the pair made their way out of the forest.

Victor stared at the dog and said.

“You're a lot tougher than me aren’t you!”

Faro barked proudly, his chest puffing with pride.

As they stumbled out of the immediate open, Victor’s thoughts immediately set on Magnar. The man didn’t warn of multiple boars, nor did warn him on how it would fight. He felt as though the man had deliberately sent him after to get rid of him, he’d have to have a ‘talk’ with him.