“Get out of my way!!”

“No, you move!!”

“Stop pushing me!!”

“Shut up, man! You run like a duck!!”

“HAHAHAHA!! Keep up, ya old heads!”

A furious mass of flesh rapidly closed in on the terrified boar running for its life. Jenyx almost found himself pitying the poor boar who so desperately evaded its pursuers—if it weren’t for the fact that its kind was a very intrusive and voracious bunch.

(“What a mess…”) Jenyx thought.

Just a minute ago, all of the contestants were occupied with observing the boar’s movements inside the cage—all the while running countless simulations of their individual strategies for securing the wild animal. Every contestant had an eager and serious air about them. Their attitudes were quite befitting as both the challenge and the prize were no laughing matter. Once the latches were removed and it took its first step into the open, everybody tensed up. Although Vanjax boars were smaller in height when compared to the average human, their bodies were much more robust, making them evidently stronger when it came to a body-to-body clash.

*Squeeeeeee!!!*

The boar let out an ear-piercing shriek—the signal for its attack. For most of the contestants, this was a well-known fact, so they weren’t surprised in the least. Who are you going for? With the boar freed, and a surplus of targets well within its sights, the hunt had finally begun.

!?

When it meets an adversary, Vanjax boars typically rush headfirst in an attempt to ram their oppressors with their tusks and crush them with the impact. Because they behave as such, they are easily dealt with and pose little threat to most people’s way of life. Typically, that is. Contrary to their expectations, however, the Vanjax boar took off in the opposite direction with all its might, as if it had gone crazy. All eyes were glued to the beast as it ran around like a headless chicken, looking for a way out. The way it acted was so out of the norm for a Vanjax boar that everyone’s minds ground to a halt. Unfortunately for the boar, this lull only lasted for no more than a few seconds before everything reached the present state of affairs.

Brutal—that word was the most fitting way to describe the scene before him. It was like they had forgotten how to act like humans and devolved into starved animals. At that moment, it didn’t matter whether they were co-workers or friends; everyone equally received a scratch, a shove, and a fist, as the race to see who could take the boar first ensued.

!!

It didn’t take long before one of them finally managed to catch up to the beast.

“I got it!! I got it, boss! I got-- uwaaaaaah!!"

The person who clung onto the Vanjax boar’s thick hide was dragged across the dirt as it tossed and turned, violently attempting to buck off the unwanted passenger.

“Alright!”

“Hold ‘em steady!”

“Now’s our chance!”

“Don’t let go, Hokki!”

Behind the man named Hokki, words of encouragement gushed abound as he valiantly held fast on the scrambling quadruped’s back. For better or for worse, Hokki’s mind had zoned them out due to the turbulent ride he caught for himself. At the moment, he was far too occupied with his grip over anything else. The minute he loosens for even a second, he’d be flung to the ground and the boar would be running away unhindered once more.

“I can’t hold on for much longer!” Hokki shouted. His grasp on the boar was beginning to come loose. The Vanjax boar was thrashing too violently for his hands to be secure.

“Shit!” As foretold, Hokki was shaken off the boar’s body and rolled around in the dirt. Before the force had fully dissipated, he was suddenly halted. He could feel a pair of callous hands firmly on him as he heard a friendly voice from behind.

“Good job, Hokki!”

“Kiro!?”

“Look!”

Hokki’s eyes flicked to the direction Kiro was pointing to and saw multiple people closing in on the boar. His entire attention was clamped on the peculiar figure of the large man at the center of them all. Though he called it peculiar, he was not belittling him in the slightest—Although in the past, when he first saw it, he did look down on the man and his technique. Hokki knew very well what was about to come, and he was damn sure of one thing: The competition was as good as won.

Before his very eyes, the figure of the man, whose body was poised for a nosedive, zipped through everyone else at an unnatural speed. Even the Vanjax boar, who was already in motion to escape its pursuers, was unable to react to the sudden grip on its back leg and fell snout-first to the ground.

“Aidi, Gurin!”

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

“Yes, sir!!”

The two who were left behind by the large man yelled as they quickly turned their backs from the boar and veered towards the other contestants instead. As if wrought by a secret signal, they simultaneously placed themselves at an equal distance from each other and stretched both arms to their limits.

“Wha!? What are you doing!?”

“Hey, move out of the way!!”

“Y’all need to take a step back!!”

“Uwooooh!?”

With one powerful thrust from both hands, the wilder-looking one of the two sent back a handful of people tumbling on their behinds.

“You son of a… what’s your problem!?”

“Yeah, why don’t you play fair and catch that boar too!?”

“What’s so unfair with what we’re doing?” spoke the other one. Though he looked to be quite level-headed, he was no less of an imposing presence to everyone—especially to those he forced to crawl on the dirt.

“The rules are simple: Capture the boar, hold onto it until the time expires, and you win. I don’t believe ‘hindering other competitors’ to be a violation of the rules stated.”

“T-that’s…”

The argument was flawless. The rules laid out by the Marquis were as simple as could be. To catch the boar by whatever means they deem necessary—save for spell casting, that was the very crux of the competition. If they were to lay blame on anyone, only the Marquis would be a viable candidate.

“Hah! Sorry about this, but if you want to get past us, then you better give it your all, old timers!”

“Don’t let your guard down too much, Gurin.” As he spoke, Aidi adopted a lowered stance showing both palms before one's opponent.

At first glance, the competition seemed like a very harmless and casual gesture of charity by the rich aimed at providing entertainment. But the reality of the situation soon dawned on many of the competitors.

“I know, I know. It’s just… it’s been so long since I was on a battlefield—-Well, sort of, hehehe!” The man known as Gurin cracked his knuckles as an excited expression sprung on his face.

Most of the competitors consisted of men who were either farmers, fishermen, people who did odd jobs, and such. A few bruises or cuts were nothing to them if it meant gaining the chance to win a small fortune. One of the few perks of being a commoner was that they were exposed to backbreaking labor on a daily basis that it naturally made their bodies sturdy. At times, misunderstandings and commotions also ended up becoming fistfights, so there were some of them who were quite used to brawling too. Though they lived in poverty, their strong bodies were their pride and joy. It was the one thing they could boldly state that the sheltered nobles did not have. It gave them confidence; it gave them courage.

But what happens when they learn that their competition included men who were experienced in a very specific and dangerous line of work?

The answer: A tremendous blow to their determination and psyche. The two people before them; Aidi and Gurin, were known to some of the contestants as they had interacted with them before. Gurin, despite his disposition to be rude, was a loveable and helpful young man who often visited the marketplace for orders and occasionally helped out. Aidi, on the other hand, was a courteous and quiet young man who often accompanied Gurin with errands and made sure to rein him in to avoid trouble. Gurin was especially friendly with the menfolk—-who also respected him for his strength and conduct. While Aidi was beloved by the elderly men and women alike, because he was respectful and often helped mediate disputes in the neighborhood. Other than those few things, none of the people knew much about them, including the line of work the two were in. Their bodies were quite built for men who were as young as they were, so most of them assumed that the two were probably into similar forms of manual labor as them (most especially Gurin). Such fantasies were blown away in an instant.

“Screw this! These kids think they’re invincible just ‘cause they’re young! I’ll show you what happens when you mess with real adults!!”

One of the men who got pushed down by Gurin, a rather broad man with a pot belly, quickly got up and shouted at the two.

“O-oi, wait!!”

“What!? Are you afraid of this kid? Look at him! He’s so lanky and his face looks too clean! That’s the face of a brat who lived nothing but a cozy life!”

One of the men beside the pot-bellied man attempted to stop him, only to be met by a fierce shove.

“I don’t know what kind of trick he pulled earlier, but I’ll take it seriously this time! Raaaaaagh!!”

The pot-bellied man raised his fist in rage as he ran up to Gurin. There wasn’t much distance between them, so with a few steps, Gurin was already pretty much within his reach. All that was left was to plant his knuckles right at the upstart’s nose. Once he got close enough, the difference between them became apparent. Gurin was considerably lacking physically compared to him, yet he still had that carefree smile on him as if he wasn't at all worried.

“Eh?”

An inverted sky. Somehow, as he was in the middle of his punch, the world got turned upside down. What happened to me? What did he do? His back felt hot and painful. He couldn’t move and it was getting harder to breathe. Both his heart and mind were thrust in turmoil as the impossible had occurred.

“Urgh!?”

Something heavy pressed on his protruding gut. It was Gurin’s foot.

“Y’know, I was gonna let you off easy at first, but… you just had to keep talking, didn’t you?”

The pressure from Gurin steadily increased in pressure, as if he was slowly trying to crush his foe’s organs. Try as he might, the pot-bellied man couldn’t remove the foot no matter how much strength he exerted—-in fact, the pressure only grew stronger, enough to make him scream in pain.

“Just kidding. Umph!”

Gurin grabbed the pot-bellied man by the collar and threw him aside with ease. The one-armed shoulder throw earlier was enough to convince the people of his strength, but the way he threw the man who was twice his size just a second ago suggested that he may be hiding his strength still.

“Now then… anyone else?”

The silence that blanketed the contestants was drowned out by the cheers of the surrounding spectators. After such a show of force, it came as no surprise to everyone that nobody stepped forth to the challenge—-except for one person.

“Yer pretty strong, aren’t ya, mister? Ya wanna try me?” An upbeat voice called out to Gurin.

From the side, a man—no, a male adolescent leisurely approached Gurin till they were but a few inches away from one another. Judging by the smile on his face, Gurin figured it was deliberate.

“...You sure you’re up for it?”

Is it overconfidence? Perhaps youthful recklessness? No matter what you call it, the boy responded to his taunt and dared to fight him. Now, Gurin must pay his respects to the boy’s bravery by beating him within an inch of his life—-it was the only way to make people like him listen. He would know. After all, Gurin was not so dissimilar to him in the past.

“I guess we’ll see, won’t we?” Trey replied as he assumed his own stance.