Almost the exact moment that Laira and Cleo entered the woods, a loud *GONG* sound vibrated through the air, making them stumble.

Various growling sounds could be heard from near and far.

Cleo checked the announcement again, her mental wish drawing forth the System textbox.

The timer at the bottom was at 00:00, as expected.

“I think we should move further in and find shelter somewhere.” Cleo said after closing the announcement again. “Once we are somewhat safe we can think about how to proceed.”

A scream cut through the forest, not too far away.

“Y-yes let’s go.” said Laira, her face pale.

They carried on, Cleo walking in front with her spear at the ready, occasionally bending branches out of the way if the undergrowth got too thick, and Laira at the back, her hands clenched into tight fists, trying her best to not look scared. It wasn’t long before both their clothes became ragged from trying to make their way across bushes and rocks.

Though it was mostly Laira who was having issues.

“Damnit!” she cursed, ripping open a large patch of her dress on a thorny branch.

Cleo, leaning on her spear, shook her head at her sister.

“You know, you could have worn something more practical.”

“Yes, I will keep that in mind for the next time we get teleported to some sick survival game,” Laira hissed.

Cleo shrugged and then proceeded to walk ahead, her sister following shortly, if only by leaving behind parts of her clothes in the bush.

Screams, growls and other sounds of battle accompanied them as constant background noise, though no beast had yet shown itself before them. The only other participants they had seen were the ones at the start, when they had just entered the forest. Every group seemed to quickly go their own way, trying to avoid everyone and everything else.

It didn’t take them too long to chance upon some hills, breaking the monotone flatness of the forest. Cleo pointed towards them.

“Maybe we can find some shelter there. Looks like there might be some caves.”

“Thank god,” said Laira, breathing heavily, “I’m dying over here. How long have we been walking?”

“I’m not sure,” said Cleo, shrugging, “maybe an hour?”

Laira tried to summon some kind of timer or clock via her mind, but the System didn’t react at all.

“Hopefully you get a stamina buff soon, it’s only gonna get harder, ” Cleo quipped.

Laira stopped her futile attempts of summoning a clock and looked at Cleo annoyed.

“It’s gonna be fine, it’s not that bad,” she said, waving her off.

“You just said you are dying,” pointed Cleo out.

“Ugh, whatever. I’m sure by the end of the week I’ll have more endurance than you.”

Laira stuck out her tongue.

Cleo only rolled her eyes and turned around towards the hill.

“I’m basically playing babysitter here,” she muttered while starting to walk again, “for my older sister nonetheless.”

“I heard that!”

“Yeah yeah, just keep going, you can rest once we find a safe place…”

Laira mumbled something inaudible and followed her sister up the hill.

I wonder how large the area is, she thought to herself.

Is it endless? We have been walking quite long.

Also where are we going to get food? We are going to have to hunt those beasts, aren't we...

Maybe we should have joined a bigger group after all, I'm not sure we can hunt something alone.

Stuck in her own thoughts, she almost crashed into Cleo, who had suddenly stopped.

“Wha…?”

Cleo whipped her head around, her eyes wide.

“Shhh!” she hissed, barely audible.

Laira peeked around her sister, but what she saw made her freeze immediately.

In front of them, at the entrance of a small cave, was a boar.

And it was massive.

****

Jett was pretty content.

He had made his way towards the hills without any encounters, apart from another group asking him to join them. Which he simply ignored, of course.

But no beasts, which meant he didn’t even need to run.

And now he had made it to a decently sized cave. Large enough so he could hide from the weather and any passing beasts, but not big enough to attract any larger groups of shelter seeking participants. And so he lied down at the very end, put some dirt on himself for good measure and decided to nap.

He was on the brink of falling asleep, when he heard a sniffing sound.

Damn it… my shit luck is striking again.

Without turning his head, he already knew what it was.

A Copper I boar.

And yes, he had to deal with them so many times that he could tell them apart by their sniffs by now.

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

The appearance of the boar also made him frown instantly. He was honestly annoyed.

That little shit was obviously right at the entrance. If it stayed there, he wouldn’t be able to move for a long time. They were very sensitive to sound. So he had to stay perfectly still, if he didn’t want to risk getting attacked. And getting attacked by it would be a very painful death, even for him, since he was in quite the disadvantageous position here, cramped into the narrow end of the cave.

He suppressed a sigh and then closed his eyes again, trying to ignore the sounds coming from the nearby beast.

The boar obviously didn’t care much about the mental wellbeing of the regressor, it simply continued to loudly sniff and then dig in the ground, as if looking for something. Perhaps some food. Or some mana treasure. Or perhaps the most effective way to annoy Jett. Jett was pretty sure it was the latter.

Why can’t I rest in peace? Did I do something to you, Mr. boar? Did I insult your ancestors? I mean I probably did at one point, but you wouldn’t know that…

He became more and more irritated by the noisy presence of the beast.

Just when he had started to entertain the thought of letting himself get mauled to death, so he could regress and find a better sleeping spot, he heard someone speak.

A wave of relief immediately washed over him. If he heard a voice, the boar must have heard it as well. Which means he would be able to sneak away and find a better spot, while whoever made the noise distracted the beast. And then he could finally relax again.

That the unlucky participants would obviously die to the Copper I boar didn’t matter much to him.

****

The boar stopped what it was doing and looked directly at them.

The moment Laira locked eyes with it, she felt like a deer in the headlights.

Something was wrong with the boar. She could feel it. It was too strong and too… hostile. Completely unlike any animal on Earth.

Pure fear started coursing through her veins, accelerated by an ever faster beating heart.

She tried to turn around, but her body didn’t obey her.

Every cell in her body screamed at her, that she shouldn’t be here, that she should run away, fast, faster than she ever ran before.

But she simply couldn’t.

Her sister yelled something, but she couldn’t understand it. She felt arms grabbing her, but she stood like a rock.

The boar let out a loud grumble, blowing away some dust.

In the back of her mind Laira was wondering how that could generate enough force to blow away the dust on the ground, but the rest of her thoughts were just a complete mess.

Another moment passed and then the boar suddenly charged at them, faster than a beast of its size had any right to be.

It’s not heading towards me?

She hadn’t even noticed that her sister, who had given up on dragging Laira away, had moved a bit more to the front and side. Cleo was crouching while holding her spear with both hands, angled towards the beast, with the end stuck in the ground.

The boar ran headfirst into the spear, not caring about it in the slightest.

The tip brushed off the boar’s head, but still sunk into its side.

Dirt and wood splinters sprayed everywhere as the spear bent before the end got ripped out of the ground. But at least the spear tip seemed to be tightly lodged into the boar now.

Not that it changed anything.

Cleo had jumped to the side with a yelp when the boar ran into the spear, but it had still caught her with its fangs, flinging her even further. Which was probably a good thing, as the boar got carried further away from Cleo with its momentum.

But the moment of reprieve was short lived. The boar had stopped its charge and turned around to Cleo again. Who was currently crawling towards a large tree, pressing a hand against the side where the boar had hit her.

That sight finally released the spell that had taken hold of Laira.

“Hey!” she yelled. “I’m also here! Deal with me first!”

The boar turned its head, looking at Laira.

It stared at her silently for a moment, then snorted and turned back towards Cleo.

That little bitch ignored me!

Indignation got added to her previous mix of fear and panic, but the boar was already charging towards Cleo again. She didn’t have time to do anything else before it was already upon her again.

Just when Laira thought Cleo would get smashed to pieces against the tree, the boar came to an abrupt halt an arm's length in front of her, letting out a painfilled squeak. The tree shook, leaves and branches falling down everywhere.

The boar had rammed the spear, which had been stuck in its side all this time, against the tree and therefore even further into itself, stopping its charge short.

Laira was thanking every existing and non-existing deity for their luck.

Though it turned out to be premature.

The boar, who had wobbled a few steps back, with the spear deep in its body now, already charged again at Cleo. This time it managed to hit her head on, its tusks burying themselves deep into her and smashing her against the tree. Her sister let out a scream, which got cut short by her ribs getting crushed into her lungs.

The boar stepped back and her sister sled down the tree, her torso ripped open, gurgling sounds and blood coming from her mouth.

“Cleo!” Laira cried out, “No! Noooo!”

The boar finally turned towards her.

Laira saw that the spear end had almost disappeared fully into the boar, with the tip already sticking out again from the beast’s back.

Although the wound seemed to impede it somewhat, it didn’t seem to be lethal by any means. Not even close.

Just when the boar started charging towards her, she caught a glimpse of something moving at the corner of her eye. She turned her head and spotted a man slowly sneaking out of the cave and moving to the side.

“Hey! You! Help us!” she desperately cried out.

The man turned his head towards her, looked at her for a short moment, then turned back and continued to make his way away from the scene.

“Hey-”

The boar smashed into her, dragging her along for a bit before she got thrown over its back. She landed hard on the ground, while the boar once again kept running along further, thanks to its own momentum.

Her lower body felt as if someone had put it through a meat grinder, there was burning and stabbing pain everywhere.

Tears from both the loss of her sister and pain clouded her vision.

But her thoughts were still circling around the man she had spotted, who was still doing his best to silently retreat.

The man who came from the cave where they encountered the boar.

Didn’t he come from the same cave the boar was at?

Doesn’t that mean the boar was there for the man in the cave?

Then... wasn’t it his fault they ran into it?

Her thoughts started spiraling into irrational anger.

If it wasn’t for him it wouldn’t have attacked us, right?

It’s all his fault.

We distracted the boar, although it was there for him.

He is the reason we are dying.

And now he doesn’t even help us.

He is just running away.

He can get away because of us.

We die and he lives.

It’s his fault.

He gets away, we die.

She heard the boar charging towards her again.

Hot tears streamed down her face.

This is not fair.

Fury and indignation at the tragic fate of her and her sister burst out of her, making her turn towards the incoming boar.

“Why us!?” she screamed at it, “why not HIM!?”

The boar slid to a halt, turned around and shot towards the man.