-Ruufarrl-

Ruufarrl gave a deep smile that showed fangs, "A dangerous hunt is it? But of course. What are these... Hellboar?"

"Come with me and I will explain."

Conrad led them to the back of the barn, where a number of sealed storage units were kept. As he unlocked them and pulled items out, he gave Ruufarrl the information he needed.

"Wild Boar are a type of feral pig from Earth that eat dropped fruits, grubs and fungi. Riosian Ridgebacks are a local animal that is armored and uses ankle spurs to dig up and eat roots, shoots, grubs and bark from trees, loose earth and rotting logs. Hellboar are a hybrid animal of Wild Boar and Riosian Ridgebacks. Back when the colony was first founded some idiot named Frederick Rogers brought boar with him as his "farm animal of choice", getting them by the checkers who didn't know any better and simply saw them as pigs. He didn't take enough precautions and they did as boar do and broke free.

Wild pigs breed quickly, are territorial, destructive and tenacious. But to make matters worse, he'd had them genetically modified to be more resilient overall and resistant to disease in order to better survive in this new environment. When they got loose here, they scattered and multiplied. Somewhere in that mix, the impossible happened, and they somehow bred with Riosian Ridgebacks. We still aren't quite sure how exactly that happened, but the resulting demonspawn were a combination of the worst attributes from both parents. They had the feral pig's bad attitudes and aggression, with the Ridgeback's natural protections and spurs. Hellboar are larger than Ridgebacks, and slightly smaller than feral pigs. They can get to around one and a half meters in length, half a meter in height and weigh in at around 100 kilos. They have boney plates that run from their foreheads down their backs, have sharp tusks and bone spurs on their ankles. If you are going to hunt them, then you need to be sure to kill in the first hit, because they will continue to try and kill you even after receiving a mortal injury. They have no fear, no natural predators and no regard for their own safety. We consider them to be an invasive hybrid, and they are classified as a Kill On Sight animal."

He had laid out the equipment as he continued. Ruufarrl was surprised at what he saw. Armored leg, forearm, body and groin coverings, lethal looking spears with catch guards and knives designed for stabbing, a couple canisters of some sort of spray, camouflage netting, and rope. "And the bait and whatever else Greg is getting. This is not a traditional hunt. This is not simply for food or for sport, this is an extermination. The rules are different here."

Conrad pointed out the various pieces. "I don't know if we have anything that will fit you for armor, but these things will go straight for your legs and try to cut your tendons or rip into major arteries using their tusks and spurs. If they get you down they will try and gut you or rip your face and neck out. The spears are meant to dig in and stop them from a dead charge, the prongs make sure they can't just run up the spear to get you. The knives are for putting them down once wounded and pinned by a spear. Best place is just behind and under the shoulder blade, straight to the heart. Those are neutralizer spray, kills our scent, the netting is to hide while we wait, and rope is for bringing the carcasses back."

He turned and smiled at Ruufarrl, "The things we do for Bacon."

He cocked his head and nodded at this, "You still eat them? Good, it is better not to waste."

Conrad smiled and shrugged, "So do you want to try any of the armor? We have four sets; I am sure we can cobble together something functional."

"As useful as that sounds, it would be better if I did not. My footwear is already reinforced to an extent, and I would rather not have sudden restrictions to my movement if I should have need."

"Alright, that sounds fair. Just, uhh. If it looks like things are going south, climb a tree. They can't get you there, though they will try and wait you out. Mom knows what is going on, if we don't call her and aren't back before dark she will send out a rescue party."

"Understood, does this happen often?"

"Often enough. People underestimate these things all the time. Oh, I forgot. Hellboar run in groups of twenty to a hundred that we call an Infernum. Any bigger than that and they start fighting amongst themselves for resources and start splitting off in small groups. They also split off when confronted and chased. We shouldn't be facing anymore than maybe four at the most. We only saw a couple of marks, so I am thinking a mated pair that split from the group up north and are trying to find a place to settle in."

A voice sounded out from behind them, "Yeah, that was my estimation too."

Greg walked into the room carrying a bucket of bright fruits that had been mashed and mixed with something else and a long case over his shoulder. Ruufarrl furrowed his brow as he sniffed, "Ethanol!? Do you think to get them intoxicated?"

Greg laughed at this, "Not quite, it is a pungent and strong aroma, one that carries well and helps to cover our own scents. But I wouldn't mind if they just tipped over and passed out. It would certainly make our job much easier."

He turned to look at Conrad, "You ready, bud?"

"Yep, let's get suited up."

Ruufarrl stood aside as they got ready. After they had put on their armor and stowed their other items in bags Conrad issued him a spear and a knife that got clipped to his belt. They both felt odd to him. They were clearly made for another species, and he didn't feel like he could use them to their greatest effect thanks to the differences between Human and Ruulothi range of movement. But it was still good to hold a weapon again. Both of the humans clipped their knives to their belts, and Conrad picked up the two remaining spears as Greg opened his case.

Inside was a rifle the likes of which Ruufarrl had never seen, though it reminded him in shape and form of the weapons the Veteran Guard had carried. It had a small, rounded tube mounted on top that he suspected was some kind of optic, a comfortable looking stock and a modular system that the Optic and an angled hand grip was mounted to. Greg pushed a button and Ruufarrl could both hear the whine of it powering up and feel a static charge collect in the air around him. Greg checked a removeable cartridge for ammunition and nodded to himself before placing it back in the weapon, "Yup, shredders are still in there. Alright, lets get sprayed down and on the move."

They walked outside with their gear and Conrad held up one of the canisters, "Hold your breath and close your eyes when it's your turn."

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

He then sprayed down Greg with the canister and was in turn sprayed by his father. Ruufarrl did not at first fully understand the reasoning for it, Conrad had said it was neutralizing spray, but...

Suddenly his nose rebelled, and he recoiled as he snorted, trying desperately to clear his nostrils. "What... in the Fields... Between... was THAT!" he managed to croak out in between sneezes and coughs.

Conrad looked to be frozen at the crossroads between horror and hilarity, while Greg just looked on blankly holding the canister. Ruufarrl finally got the sniffles of his offended nose under control and shook himself. "How exactly does that make you harder to smell?"

Conrad looked to try and say something, but Greg spoke first. "Well, can you smell us now?"

Ruufarrl narrowed his eyes at him and started to spit out a retort, but then realized that the scent he had grown accustomed to being around so much lately had faded into the background. So much so that it was hard for him to distinguish it from the overpowering citrus and ethanol smell. He tilted his head, "Scarcely at all now."

Greg nodded knowingly, "You have to let it settle first. We aren't as sensitive to it, so it doesn't get to us as badly. Now, I hate to push this considering your reaction just now, but we need to spray you down as well. I have a suspicion that the way you smell is going to be setting off all kinds of alarm bells with the Boar. I guess, hold your breath?"

Ruufarrl grumped, but nodded and plugged his nose. It was basic hunting technique, cover your scent or pick your approach. They couldn't do the latter as they had to wait the prey out, so the former it was.

After the deed was done Greg put a cap on the bucket, turned and led them into the woods, "Alright, lets go bag us some piggies."

______________________________________________________________________________

-Conrad-

Conrad was a little nervous. This wasn't the first time that he had gone hunting for Hellboar, but it was the first time he had hunted only a couple of pigs and done it with so few people. Usually it was a large group effort coordinated by Wildlife Management to stop as many as they could from escaping a culling. But once the Infernum was destroyed, the Wildlife guys handled the rest.

"It's also the first time I have hunted with a Ruulothi. Kind of a big deal. If I embarrass myself here..."

He shook himself and focused, having his head in the clouds on a hunt was the quickest way to getting embarrassed, or injured... or killed.

It didn't take them long to find the place that the marks had been rubbed and cut into the trees, but this was the edges of the territory that was being claimed, if they wanted to find the boar with any sort of urgency, they were going to need to head deeper into the woods, beyond the obvious trails and their human scents.

This took a little more time. First, they needed to know they were in the right spot, so they had to find other rubs and digs. Once that had been done, they needed to find a suitable space to set up. A small section of the woods had a denser canopy, and thereby less undergrowth which allowed them to see if something approached.

They kept the bait covered until they had cleared out enough space for a blind and set up the camo netting. They also sprayed the netting with the neutralizer, just in case it had picked up any odd scents from storage.

Once everything was set up, Conrad took the bait out to a spot that gave his father a clear shot and dumped it out onto the ground. He quickly resealed the bucket and ran back to the blind, not wanting to be caught in the open if the animals were in the vicinity.

He and Ruufarrl stood ready with spears. Standard practice when hunting small groups of Hellboar was to have the shooter take the opening shot, hopefully outright killing their target. The boar would react violently and charge the threat, which meant it was up to the spearmen to step clear of the blind and keep the charging Hellboar off the shooter, buying them time to make a second shot or transition to a spear themselves.

It would have been far better if they had time to set up tree stands, but they did not have immediate access to any portable ones. The ground blind was going to have to do.

"Alright, everything is set up. So now for the fun part, waiting."

Conrad stole periodic glances at his companions as they waited. They all had the will to remain still and silent, but where his father was more of a classically alert still and silent, occasionally turning his head to check areas outside of his range of vision, Ruufarrl was as still as a statue with his eyes half closed and chin down towards his chest. The only movement Conrad could see was an odd rotation of his ears and a twitch of his whiskers.

“I wouldn’t dare to say that he isn’t paying attention though. He can likely hear and sense things that we can’t. What was it they say? Eliminate a sense to better use the others?”

He mentally reconciled himself and set himself to the wait. It was a chore, but thankfully not a terribly long one. They only had to wait about an hour before Ruufarrl looked up and became actively alert, indicating off to his left with his chin. A few moments later, and they could hear something rustling through the brush.

The boar didn’t come straight for the food though, they were smarter than that. They tramped about at the edges of the grove, sniffing about and looking around. They didn’t try to circumvent it, so the hunters went unnoticed, but they remained cautious. Eventually though, their hunger drove them to take the risk.

First one, then two of the squat hybrids nosed into view from between a pair of bushes. One male and one female, the male easily identified by having a double set of tusks as opposed to the single set of the female.

Despite their hunger and interest, they still approached cautiously, almost as though they thought this windfall was too good to be true. As they approached, the brush rustled again and a third pig, another female stepped out. This one didn’t seem to care about how risky the food source was, and walked straight up to it and nuzzled in.

This seemed to indicate a signal to the others, and they dropped their wariness as they too dove into the food pile, with the male being the closest to the hidden trio.

Conrad saw his father shift as he leaned into the rifle’s stock to line up the shot. Conrad forced himself to relax, so that he could move quicker as soon as the shot went out. In a spur of the moment thought, he motioned for Ruufarrl to cover his ears. Rail-rifles weren’t particularly loud, in fact they were safe enough to not need standard ear protections, but he wasn’t sure how the Ruulothi’s more sensitive ears would take the supersonic crack of the round being fired.

Ruufarrl seemed to understand and covered his ears just in time.

VVVVSSSTTT-CRACK!

His father’s rail-rifle spat out its deadly payload. The round left a faint trail of ionized particles as the remnants of magnetic surge used to launch it dissipated in flight. The round struck true, right behind the shoulder blade, and tore apart after penetrating, sending shards of the round out to ricochet through the Hellboar’s chest cavity, killing it instantly.

The male Hellboar stiffened and toppled, and then all hell broke loose.

The two females let out a squeal of fright and anger, darting away from the now dead sire before both vectoring in on the direction that the gunshot had come from, determined to bring the threat to a violent end.

Conrad and Ruufarrl stepped out of the blind and set their spears to receive them. This would be the tricky part. If either one of them missed their shot, they would get gored. But they had gone over the technique on the trail here, and where Conrad had done this before, Ruufarrl was a veteran hunter and a quick study.

Conrad’s target tried to juke him, but he was still relaxed and was ready for it. He shifted the spearpoint and waited until it lowered its head, then guided the spear in. He leaned into the impact, driving the spear home into the soft side of the boar’s neck, where the hollow of the collarbone would be on a human. He absorbed the impact as the tough but flexible metal shaft of the spear arced with the force of the impact, using his legs and arms as shock absorbers and letting his weight drop with his lean to prevent himself from toppling and prevent the back of the spear from skittering across the ground. After the impact the spear began to return to form and he wrenched the spearpoint down as he pushed up with his legs, driving the boar into the ground on its side and keeping it pinned there with his weight.

The boar’s struggles only made the wound worse, and the catch bars prevented it from getting free. He had struck vitals, and blood flowed freely, but it was going to take extra time for the boar to die, and every moment it was conscious and fighting was one that he had to focus on. Any slip, any reduction in the pinning weight would result in the boar getting free and attacking again.

He stole a quick glance at Ruufarrl and saw that he had his own boar well in hand. He appeared to have actually faded back as the boar came in and caught it in the throat with a rising spear thrust. He had it on its back and gurgling, the fight leaving his quarry faster than it was Conrad’s due to the compounded extra damage he had dealt it.

“Guess that is the difference between familiarity and raw experience. I have no idea what I was worried about.”

Conrad’s vision was suddenly blocked as his father stepped between them with his own spear. He jammed it down into Conrad’s boar, striking it through the heart and lungs, taking the fight out of it as it quickly died. He then turned and finished Ruufarrl’s off in the same manner, after making sure he had permission to do so.

Conrad smiled, “Never steal another hunter’s kill. This isn’t that kind of hunt, to Humans at least. But there is no telling if Ruufarrl wouldn’t have considered it an insult to his own prowess and skills. Glad that Dad was thinking about that.”

All told, the entire encounter, from shot to final breath, had lasted for maybe twenty seconds. They took stock of themselves and their gear. None of them had been injured, nothing had been broken, and all the hellboars had been killed.

A successful hunt, by any definition that mattered with these creatures.

At his father’s direction they began to prep the boar for transport. Using the rope, they tied a boar to two of the spears to be picked up and carried out of the woods. The others they tied up to hang from a tree. Between the three of them, they should be able to carry the boar out along with the rest of the gear and return with a sled to get the other two.

This was a technique that they used to prevent other wildlife from destroying everything while they were gone. If something showed up while they were out and did somehow manage to get the hanging pigs from the tree, they would at least have been able to salvage one of the pigs.

As they were putting the final knots on the pig they were to be taking back with them, Ruufarrl suddenly whipped around and growled a warning.

Conrad turned to follow his gaze, and found himself in the crosshairs of another male Hellboar in full charge out of the brush.