Jay started to bark orders as if this were in an end-game raid.
“Ken, hold behind us. Jenny, heal him. He’s gonna need it. Taylee, we’re going to harass the other boars while the merchant has their attention.”
Jay didn’t wait to see Ken’s opinion, even though he knew it would likely be indignation at being ordered around, focusing to start his first Wild Strike attack at range.
Ken reacted quickly instead of questioning orders. The Scoundrel stepped to the boars flanking the party, planting himself face-to-face with three of them in order to block their path.
Jay knew the situation wasn’t great. He stepped into the group of boars, landing a heavy slash on the side of one in the middle. He effortlessly slid through the group, dodging blows while putting up enough of a fight to keep their attention. From the other side, he wheeled to face them again, now in a better position to let them charge him without risking the others. It wouldn’t be an easy fight, since the boars out-leveled him by several levels; he was lucky to have a healer.
Jay and Taylor Lynn peppered the boars surrounding the merchant with crossbow bolts and long-range ice attacks. The ones they missed seemed wholly uninterested in them, focused on the wagon and the man with the halberd. The boars that were struck, however, snorted in rage as they searched the air for where the blows were coming from. Even as more boars started to head in their direction, there was a benefit in pulling some of the pressure off the merchant. One of the boars fell halfway between them as Jay landed an Aimed Shot. No benefit from the debuff, but eliminating enemies was worth it.
One down, nine to go from the herd surrounding the wagon.
Ken felt a surge of power as one of Jenny’s abilities boosted his stats. He glanced at his left arm to see a tag emanating energy. The tag was marked with impressive looking runes and hummed audibly with magic. As Jenny sent out blasts of energy from her staff, he sent a series of slashes into the nearest boar, bringing one of the three straight to the ground.
“Jenny, careful! Make sure not to grab their attention,” Ken yelled to his sister as he repositioned to strike the next one.
Taylor Lynn landed a particularly nasty icicle in the face of a boar hunting her and Jay. The frost-nosed boar slumped. Jay continued his volleys, along with Taylor Lynn, biding his time in order to keep picking them off at a distance.
Suddenly, a frightened cry rang out. Ken’s warning was too late. One of the boars started to chase after Jenny, as the other stepped in to block his path after them.
His strongest attack was on cooldown, so he was forced into an all-out melee with the boar. His first slash was caught by a tusk. He tried to retaliate by knocking the boar over with another ability, but it failed against the quadruped.
He heard Jenny’s grunt of pain as she tripped over a wayward root while trying to sprint away.
Taylor Lynn and Jay brought down another boar, pride evident on both of their faces at their well-coordinated volleys. The merchant managed to kill one of the boars, as well, thinning the herd to six. Jay was starting to feel like the tables were turning when he noticed Jenny on the ground.
He whirled to help her, drawing his dagger into his off-hand. It was awkward to fight with the crossbow in one hand, but there was no choice.
Ken was still fending off a flurry of attacks from his monster when the stray boar caught Jenny on the ground and struck her hard in the side. The whole party watched her HP drop, horrified.
Every successful party knew: keep your healer safe and away from the enemies. No one else possessed healing abilities, as far as Jay knew. He charged his Wild Strike again as he chased after the stray boar. He would hope she was well enough to heal herself.
Taylor Lynn, now on her own, realized with terror: three of the remaining boars were preparing to charge directly at her, drawn by the commotion.
She didn’t want to run, which would put the others in the line of fire, so she activated a charged-up spell. She called on one of her lesser used abilities to overcharge the magic. She needed to save it for specific moments, because the ability took a long time to recharge.
The overcharged blast instantly sent one of the boars tumbling. She could avoid one more, but the third one was going to hit her.
Jay’s next Wild Strike nearly took the boar attacking Jenny out in one strike, since he was attacking from the backside. A very angry, very injured boar turned on him, but that was the desired effect.
Jenny scurried back to her feet to survey the battlefield.
Jay effortlessly dodged the boar’s next attack. It was wounded and his speed was insane. He felt something swipe him from behind, dealing a little damage.
Taylor Lynn was completely bowled over by the last boar’s charge. With an audible grunt of pain, she stood up and looked for her party, ready to regroup.
Ken finished the boar chasing after Jay, circling over to Jenny while keeping an eye on the remaining two boars at their peripheral.
Everyone, excepting Taylor Lynn, migrated back to one area, closing ranks and re-assessing the situation. Jenny, noticing that everyone in her party needed healing, started to chant, holding another tag in her hand. Intricate lines filled the tag as she cast. She repeated the process, tagging each of her allies, to deploy minor healing to everyone she could reach.
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“Forget the merchant for now,” Jay called out as the healing surged through his body. Re-holstering his dagger, he felt the leaves crunch under his boots as he sped towards Taylor Lynn. He cleared the short distance in only a second. He was fast.
Jay and Ken quickly got the attention of the remaining two boars, which made them easier to finish off, crossbow, ice magic, and scimitar working together.
At the wagon, the merchant had climbed to the top of the carriage. The three surviving boars seemed uncertain about how to handle the split targets, at least for now.
Jay gestured for Ken to follow him. He led the pair into position where they would be able to protect the casters. As the two of them moved forward, matching tempo, magic and tags began to flow over their heads.
The three boars didn’t take note of the melee fighters until the party was within twenty yards. As the front line crept forward, the boars whirled and did the unexpected. All three of them charged as a unit.
Holding strong, Jay decided not to step out of the way. He wanted to protect the others, so he ate the charge, dropping his crossbow and bracing his dagger to return the favor. The dagger landed a strike, but the head-on charge was more powerful than he expected. His health tumbled to dangerous levels as he slumped down. The boar stood over him, stamping its hooves against the dirt. It seemed like the animal was trying to intimidate him.
Somehow, Cuddles the Strogian squirrel was still nestled on his shoulder, even with Jay laying in the dirt. The boar came in for a charge to finish him off, but Cuddles woke up, and he had a different idea.
The squirrel’s glowing red eyes surged with deadly energy as the boar was blasted with powerful eye beams. The boar was pushed backwards and Jay charged an Aimed Shot with his dagger to end it. He attacked in time to avoid certain respawn, as the boar crumpled inches from him.
The rest of the party were much better off as they mopped up the final two boars. Ken made a smarter choice, evading the boars with minimal dodges, keeping the boars in his orbit. When in his orbit, they weren’t chasing the mages. The boars became increasingly frustrated as Ken danced around them. He created the perfect opportunity for Jenny and Taylor Lynn to blast them to death.
“Here,” Jenny said, slapping Jay in the arm with another tag. It stung a little, but he could feel the surge of revitalization as the ability cured his nearly empty HP bar.
“Thanks,” Jay responded, as a system alert pulled his attention.
System Message: 600 Experience Gained. You have reached Level 6.
“Thank you kindly,” the merchant said with a stiff bow.
Jay dusted himself off, nearly knocking off his own cape, while Taylor Lynn marched over. She stopped uncomfortably close to him. “Where did ‘Taylee’ come from, and what can I do to make sure it never, ever happens again?” The merchant was offended his gracious apology was interrupted, but with further grace, remained quiet.
“Well, I gue–,” Jay cut himself off, looking very awkward, “you know, ‘Taylor Lynn’ is really long for tenuous situations.” He was trying to be serious, but he couldn’t tell if the fury on Taylor Lynn’s face was hilarious or frightening.
“True,” she allowed, paying a serious mind to consider the problem. “I hate it. Let’s go with Tay next time. It’s not good either, but at least it doesn’t make me want to run screaming.”
“Taylee is cute,” Jenny admitted. She raised her hands in mock surrender at the glare she received in return. Jenny then took the time to post healing tags on Ken and Taylor Lynn as the group let the merchant resume his speech.
“As I was saying,” the merchant began, dripping in sass, “I really appreciate your assistance. These wagons are regularly attacked by monsters, but these boars are particularly aggressive. I keep telling the proprietor to hire guards, but alas.”
“Is your proprietor named Nora?” Taylor Lynn asked.
“Actually, yes!” the merchant said. “Nora is delightful, isn’t she? Minus the guards bit, mind you. If you talk to her, make sure you put in a good word about those guards. I’d really like to make it back to my family.”
“I guess we’re your guards!” Jenny exclaimed brightly. Her smile shone and the positivity was infectious.
“No offense, but we actually need to go over our post battle meeting,” Jay said. He crossed his arms, daring the merchant to get in his way of proper party management.
“Dude, we’re level six,” Taylor Lynn protested.
“Perfect practice makes perfect,” Jay shot back.
“Yeah?” Ken cut in sarcastically. “Leave me out of it.”
He started to walk off from the party, inspecting the loot from the boars laying around. Jenny’s eyes shot between her brother and the others, but she ultimately decided to follow after Ken. She left with a skip.
“Don’t you need to log these marked boar things?” Taylor Lynn asked as the rest of the party went about looting.
Jay nodded. He had completely forgotten about it, but monsters were money. He could use the money to pay living expenses. He wouldn’t be able to pick up a part-time job while dedicating himself to the game.
Jay activated the Catalog ability on one of the boars lying around the wagon. The ability activated, sending the data for Marked Boar directly to his Bestiary. As the ability worked, white lines traced across the boar, as if it was trying to draw the character model. As he watched, elements of the boar were highlighted. He could see weak points in the joints. The snout and eyes also looked like easy targets.
He wasn’t actually able to create Bestiaries yet, even though the game interface implied certain aspects. Jay wrote it off as not being a high enough level. Either way, the money was the most important thing for him. And Sarah. He turned back to Taylor Lynn and found her joining the looting with the boars closer to the wagon.
“Any interesting loot?” Jay asked.
“Honestly, not really. There’s hide, one snout – which it says is an alchemy ingredient – and a couple tusks. Looks like they can be used in creating weapons.”
“I don’t suppose you have any interest in creating me weapons?” Jay prompted, raising his eyebrows repeatedly.
“You wish,” she snorted. “I’m definitely getting enchanting or something like that.”
“Sorry to interrupt again,” the merchant said, “But would you be able to do something about that?” He looked nervous. Jay didn’t follow his pointing, because the pop-up message grabbed his attention instead.
System Message: Strained Shipments quest updated! Defeat the Big Bad Boar and his singular to receive increased rewards. Boars Killed: 12/20. Big Bad Boar: 0/1.
Jay issued his order: “Spend your new points. Now.”
When he didn’t get a response, he realized that Ken and Jenny were still far away from him. Louder and more desperate, he called out: “Ken! Jenny! We have a problem!”