The boar’s hot, rabid breath buffeted Kai’s ankles as he ran, and his vision started to narrow.
I’m going to die. This thing is stronger and faster than me. I don’t have my cultivation, it’s-
[Why are you still running? Kill this thing!]
The absurdity of the confidence Kai heard in Halia’s voice instantly snapped him out of the hopeless thoughts in his mind.
“Kill it? It’s going to rip me to shreds!”
Kai continued sprinting straight down the street as an annoyed sigh echoed in his mind.
[Right, I forgot that you always ignored me when I told the others how to fight stronger beasts. Think about what advantages you have over it. That boar is stronger and faster than you, but you have me, and I’m more intelligent than it. Try to win using your strengths.]
Kai wanted to ask what Halia could know about fighting when she was the only non-combatant among the five core disciples, but he was already starting to run out of breath.
[Just kite the boar. Dodge to the side, hit it, then run again. It won’t be able to turn as fast as you, so you won’t be in any danger.]
Kai didn’t have the time to think over her plan, but turning around in any manner sounded like a death wish to him. In all the years he’d hunted beasts around the sect’s borders, he’d always taken on ones that he defeated head-on, or he’d fought in a group.
[At least stop running in a straight line! Run into one of the buildings on the side of the road or something!]
Kai finally listened, veering to the side and sprinting through an open doorway. The boar tried to follow his movements, but its momentum carried it forward, causing it to slam through the rotted wooden walls of the next building over.
Luckily the space inside was relatively clear of any obstacles, and Kai managed to keep his balance. Without pausing for even a moment, he ran further into the building, charging through two rooms before finding a second door.
A single kick sent the rotting door crashing to the ground, and Kai jumped back outside, turning toward the building the boar had crashed into. The beast was still struggling to free itself from the rubble, and had lost track of Kai.
“Die, beast!”
Kai shouted as he lunged forward, jumping through the gaping hole in the neighboring building and plunging the ruby sword just under the boar’s shoulder. The tip stopped short of the beast’s heart as it struck a rib, and Kai hurriedly backpedaled after pulling it back out.
Roar!!!
A tremendous noise shook the area around Kai, and his expression froze. The boar was still in front of him, grunting as it broke free from the house around it.
The loud roar hadn’t come from it.
[Whatever that was, it sounded like it was still a ways away… but I have a bad hunch that it’s probably a lot stronger than this boar, and it’s probably coming our way. We’re on a time limit.]
In front of Kai, the boar didn’t seem to hear the roar at all, being too lost in a rage after having been stabbed twice by Kai’s blade. It jumped out of the rubble of the wood around it, but it stumbled as it stepped down with its left leg.
Another opening!
Kai lunged in again, aiming his sword just to the side of his previous stab.
[No! Back up!]
The boar twisted, and Kai’s sword uselessly brushed against its shoulder without doing any damage. Kai hurriedly tried to pull out of the attack, but the boar swung its head toward him with surprising speed, the massive, sharp tusks headed straight for his chest.
Boom!
A flash of light lit up Kai’s surroundings the moment before the tusks could impale him, and a wave of heat washed over his face. The boar recoiled as a swirling ball of flame landed directly on its eye, but it was already too close to Kai.
Both tusks ripped through Kai’s snow white robes, and its snout slammed directly into his chest, sending him flying a few meters back. Trails of white cloth ripped from Kai’s robes, igniting as residual flames from the explosion rippled over them.
A few meters away, Kai slowly rolled onto his knees, his chest desperately heaving as he tried to draw in air.
Get up. Get up. This isn’t over, get up.
Before he’d even regained his breath, Kai pulled himself back to his feet and leveled the ruby sword at the boar. A shiver ran down his spine as he saw his opponent also back on its feet.
Two flaming trails of cloth hung from its tusks, dragging on the dusty, trampled ground as it prepared to charge him again.
Kai’s expression froze, and one of his hands reached down to feel at his chest. There was no wound, only ripped cloth.
“My robes… How dare you?!”
A thick killing intent fell over the battlefield, and the boar took a tentative step back.
Kai didn’t even wait for the boar to charge again, instead running at the beast himself. He hacked straight down at the boar’s head with his sword, and it bucked away in confusion. The foe that could only run and launch sneak attacks before was now blindly charging forward?
It was so taken-aback by the aggression that it missed what chances it had to counterattack.
The boar managed to dodge Kai’s first two wild swings, but its eye failed it on the third attack. Having just tanked an explosive fireball at melee range, the boar’s left eye failed to track Kai’s movements, and his blade sank into its side once more, right next to his previous two cuts.
The sword snuck between the boar’s ribs, stabbing deep into its heart. In the center of the essential muscle, the sword’s tip struck a tiny, condensed orb of mana. The tiny ball broke apart, then immediately tried to disperse into the boar’s body. Before even the tiniest smidgen of mana could escape, a faint ruby glow shone from the sword’s blade, and it instantly sucked in all of the energy.
This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.
A faint stream of mana ran up the blade of the sword, flowing through the runes inscribed within the sword. It continued up into the hilt, where the mana was absorbed by Kai’s hands, which were still clenched around the grip.
“I’ll kill you for ruining these.”
Kai cursed under his breath as he pulled the sword out, then drove it back into the boar’s chest. He struck four more times, not noticing-or not caring- about the lack of resistance from his enemy.
[Oi! It’s already dead, stop! Whatever roared earlier is probably coming, that fireball made a ton of noise!]
At the same time as Halia spoke, a hand pulled at Kai’s shoulder, and he spun around, ready to wield his sword again.
“Aah! Friend!”
The young man in blue robes fell to the ground as Kai’s sword nearly struck him.
“We need to get out of here before the beasts swarm, we made way too much noise!”
Kai shook his head, trying to drive away the rage that’d overtaken him for the battle. His gaze traveled down, passing over the limp body of the boar and down to his clothing. Long strips were missing from the front, and crimson blood was splattered all down the front.
Dirt and broken chunks of rotted wood dusted the bottom half of the robes, turning their once-pristine white to a dirty brown.
Enla made those robes for me...
Kai reached up and rubbed his forehead as the memories from before the ruby tokens activated replayed in his mind.
The phoenix diving down, Halia jumping in front of it… and just a second before that, Enla and the newcomer disciples disappearing under its flames… and now the only gift Kai had with him from Enla was ripped and torn.
[I’ll find a way to fix your robes. Run for now, before any other beasts show up. Make sure this guy stays with you, we can learn a lot from him.]
“Hurry, if you don’t want to end up as beast food!”
Kai shook his head, forcing away his memories and refocusing on the present. In front of him, the blue-robed man reached for his belt, then cursed under his breath before turning back toward Kai.
“I’m all out of mana, can you cast a dispersion spell?”
A what? Aren’t ‘spells’ some random thing Halia made up as a kid?
Seeing the blank expression on Kai’s face, the robed man’s face blanched.
“A dispersion spell. The one that gets rid of our scent so beasts can’t hunt us down.”
“I, uh… don’t have anything like that.”
“Then you at least have some scent gourds, right?”
Kai shook his head, and the robed man’s mouth hung open as he struggled to process Kai’s words. No dispersion spell, and no scent gourds… weren’t they just dead? Outrunning the beasts was impossible, and hiding from them was the same, if they left behind scent trails.
[I’ll try to figure something out. For now, run away and try to buy as much time as possible.]
“I guess… we split up, and hopefully one of us lives. I’m Brewan of the Hillhold Academy. If you survive-”
“I have an idea. The temple at the end of town looked untouched for years, we might be able to hide there, at least for a time. Follow me.”
After shooting one more glance at the boar’s last resting place, Kai started running back toward the temple, Brewan following by his side. As he approached, he realized that it wasn’t just a single building, like he’d thought before.
Aside from the temple and the wooden buildings attached along its side, there were also three other large buildings a short ways past the temple. All of them looked to be made from stone and brick, and hadn’t suffered as much as the surrounding wooden town to the wear of time.
“W-wait, this is an old Academy! We can’t hide here, what if there are still defensive formations active? We’ll be wiped out in an instant!”
Kai’s footsteps paused for a moment as he heard the man’s words, but he continued walking.
“Just follow me.”
Now aware that there could potentially be danger within the temple bounds, Kai retraced his steps back to the storage room he’d originally woken up in. Brewan cautiously trailed further behind, but was still following. Before he could even step in, Halia started speaking in his mind again.
[There’s a lot we need to ask this fellow, but let’s put that on hold for just a moment. The energy here is different from Qi, but I’m pretty sure I can control it the same way… this might give us a fighting chance at survival.]
“If there’s anything you can do, don’t hesitate.”
[Level up! You reached level 1! Mana +5!]
“Mana? What’s tha-”
[Testing, 1 2 3 4.]
Kai’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the tiny blue box that had suddenly appeared in his vision. He’d seen Halia make similar floating writing when he was younger, but it still felt unnerving to have it appearing in front of himself.
“Halia… what are you doing?”
All Kai got in response was soft laughter that he would describe as sounding evil.
[Fufufu… This is going to be exciting. Now, to test something else out…]
“Oi! It better be something to help us escape!”
More little blue boxes floated in the air in front of Kai.
[Kai- Lvl 1]
[Mana: 0 -> 5]
[I think I can make you stronger, too. I think it'll be pretty similar to cultivation if I put mana into your muscles, and if I keep it available, you'll be able to use it to cast spells.]
Kai didn't need to think over his options for long. Getting physically stronger was the obvious choice, especially considering that he didn't know any spells.
[Mana -4! Strength +4!]
[Let’s keep part of your mana free, and I’ll try to figure out other ways to use it.]
[Mana: 1]
A strong tingling feeling- like his entire body fell asleep- washed over Kai’s body, spreading out from where the necklace rested on his chest.
[Aha! This stuff is way easier to control than Qi! I knew Brewan was using magic, and it works just like I imagined. Try moving your hand again, you should notice a difference.]
Kai's eyes narrowed as he flexed his hand. Surprisingly, he actually did notice a difference when compared to a few moments before. He felt stronger- not by a lot, but it was definitely a noticeable amount.
It was amazing- even if it was only a small portion of what he had before, regaining the strength he had when he was a cultivator was still great- but he wasn’t sure how much it would help their current situation.
“Did you figure something out with scents, too?”
His expression started to brighten, but his eyes narrowed as he looked at the two floating boxes as they faded away.
“Good idea to save some mana, too.”
[Heh, thanks. Also… no. I spent a lot of time researching stuff at the sect, but I never paid much attention to scents. I’ll try to work something out, but our best bet might be just trying to survive until our new friend recovers enough mana to use his spell.]
As long as she doesn’t pull any of her dumb pranks, it’s probably better if I let her manage this stuff. With her help, I’ll definitely have a way better chance at surviving and getting stronger.
The two blue boxes faded away much faster as Halia spoke, disappearing as she finished speaking.
“Were you just saying something?”
Brewan’s voice sounded by the door, and Kai turned around to see him nervously poking his head into the room.
“Are you sure there are no traps in here? There’s no way a place this old should look untouched after the beast tide.”
Kai just shrugged and gestured at the space around him. He’d already run all over the room while searching for Halia, and he was still in one piece.
“If there’s something here that scares beasts, that’s good for us. We need to make a plan, though.”
Halia whispered a few questions into Kai’s mind, and he continued speaking.
“How long will it take for you to have enough mana for your dispersion spell, and how powerful are the beasts coming after us? I’m unfamiliar with the area.”
Brewan glanced down at his book, his expression grave.
“I think… about an hour. I normally save enough mana for it, but I used it on that last fireball. As for the beasts, that boar is on the stronger side of what I’ve run into. There has to be something much more powerful, though…”
Brewan’s words trailed off for a moment before he continued, in an even more fearful tone.
“A high-ranking 3rd year student from my academy went missing near here a few weeks ago. If we run into whatever caused their disappearance, we won’t even stand a chance.”