The Boarer Forest itself lives to its reputation, with many types of boar residing in this forest. Adventurers Guild must conduct a monthly inspection to understand each boar's territories and its pattern.
Since the forest has a total area of up to five days with carriage between one side after another, merchants often detour to avoid being attacked by the boars. However, to venture through the forest, at least two A-Rank parties must be present in anticipation of King Boar's presence.
The training continues until day six, and they plan to leave the Boarthog forest to return home after one more night.
The surplus they have for six days of training results of hunting is three Boarthog, a Raboar, and a Greed Boar.
"This sure will be troublesome when we get back."
"Is there something wrong, brother?"
"It's just that…"
Looking at the haul they've managed to get during six days of training, the amount of the boar they catch is worth celebrating by the townsfolk.
"W-well… With this much haul, I don't think mom would be worrying about meat for a while."
"We could just take some and sell the rest."
"I think we would leave that to father."
Each size of the boars can be up to two meters, which can supply the mansion for a week. But, if they can use it as a local barbeque in the town, then this should be sufficient.
The night before leaving the forest, the Lexington Family rest as they are preparing to return to Shills tomorrow morning.
They sleep in each tent, as their guards remain up even though the tent was made from a mixture of Sage Ore and materials commonly used to construct a tent.
"!?"
Kurt woke up, looking around as he felt anxious. He can sense something ominous nearby as if something bad were to happen.
"This presence…. No. INTERCEPTION!"
Before even Kurt yells, Yuki, Klendiana, and Reynes hastily woke up due to the spirits alerting them and transforming the tent to blend in with the soil before dispersing. Since the tent is made of Sage Ore, the Lexington Family can transform it by pouring magic power into it.
OINK! OINK!
They've heard the horde of the boar approaching and charging through the camp. Yuki sense something dangerous is approaching their base camp.
Reynes can see a giant boar, which its size is almost as big as an elephant, staring at its underling. Its size alone is worthy of being called a King Boar, and it is every merchant's nightmare. Once King Boar mobilizes, it would be difficult to outrun it due to muscular legs.
Talking through spirit as a mediator, Yuki devises a plan.
"Defeating that King Boar is going to be very difficult."
"What's the weakness, mother?"
"Same for most of the boar, its skull. But, its head is well-protected."
Crippling the King Boar is just getting more challenging. As Yuki was about to chant a spell with the spirit's assistance, King Boar casts a rock throw.
"W-what!?"
Yuki quickly dodges it, and Klendiana appraises its status.
King Boar's skills list was B Rank Magic Perception, two A Ranks for Charged Attack and Fortification, S Rank Earth Mastery, three A Ranks Enhancement, such as Offense, Defense, and Speed, and C Rank Night Vision.
The guild list King Boar as an S Rank threat and requires an S Rank party with a minimum of S Rank fortification. If there were a support class in the party, the Defense enhancement must be at A Rank for a minimum to complement A Rank Fortification.
"Mother! They're charging at us!"
A Raboar is charging to the tree where Yuki is perching, and a Greed Boar violently shake the tree where Klendiana is.
"W-whoa!"
Kurt nocked the arrow and scored a Greed Boar with a headshot. Reynes jumps down from the tree, with his sword piercing the Boarthog's head.
OINK!
Enraged, King Boar charges towards Reynes as he struggles to pull the sword out from the Boarthog's skull.
"D-damn it!"
Using spare Sage steel that he stores inside dimensional storage for anticipation, he quickly forms it into a shield with earth enhancement.
CRASH!
"Uwooo!"
Since the shield he made is only augmented with earth enhancement, Reynes have to take the burden of other elemental anticipation.
"GAAHH!"
Reynes crashes after the impact sends him to break five trees, impacting himself into a large tree.
"Reynes!"
"Ugh…"
Reynes is still breathing, but he sustains heavy damage from the impact.
"Don't mess with the Lexington Family!"
"K-Klendiana… Don't use...."
Reynes was about to warn Klendiana when her power surged as the staff glowed brightly. The elemental balls form around her, as her body is coated with elemental sparks.
"[Limit Break!!] [Third Release All Attributes!!]"
Klendiana and Reynes have learned [Limit Break] to use their power beyond their limit. Reynes is on his way to mastering the [Second Release], but Klendiana is close to mastering [Third Release] to unleash a higher power.
Shina warns them that using Release during [Limit Break] at any category at a prolonged time would cause a huge strain on the user's body. If the users use Release without using [Limit Break], the power output would be restricted as [Limit Break] serve as releasing your limitation or going beyond a hundred percent.
"If you are not used to [Limit Break] at a higher degree, you could sustain more injuries than what you thought. Get used to it first before increasing it steadily."
Klendiana hasn't fully mastered [Third Release], especially all attributes, since it boosts all of her attributes by three hundred percent, including the injury she received once the [Limit Break] effect dissipates.
"Klendiana! Cease it! You will fall into their plan if you use it right now!"
"But, father! Brother is injured!"
"These King Boar live to its reputation. You will fall to its cunning if you use your full power now!"
"Ah!"
Now that she remembered the lesson she received from Kurt, Yuki, and Shina about monsters, some monsters have good intelligence. Klendiana almost blinds herself to power that could have more casualties.
She canceled the [Limit Break] and [Third Release]. Since she hadn't used any power from it, there were no side effects.
"Alright. Reynes is down, and we need to draw the King Boar away from us."
"Oh, Spirits of the Earth…"
King Boar notices as Yuki begins asking for the Earth's Spirits for assistance. It summons Greed Boar and Boarthog to attack Yuki and cast some earth spells to contest her magic.
The Boarthog and Greed Boar attack with higher ferocity, as if King Boar is buffing both boars to enhance their physical attributes.
Yuki was forced to dodge it before the preparation was complete, but she dodged it with making some earth walls thick enough to stun the Greed Boar.
"The spirits are not ready to trap those boars."
"Father! We have to lure them to the open area!"
"We have a very few for that. Where do you want to lure them?"
"To where I can change the soil into mud."
"Good idea. I will carry Reynes. We can't go back since we can't risk having these boars getting out from the forest."
Fighting King Boar with Yuki and Klendiana would be very difficult, even though both Kurt and Yuki were rated as SS Rank adventurers. The King Boar they fight could be close to SS Rank since its status is problematic.
If Yuki's analysis is correct, four parties of S Rank were required to subjugate King Boar. Two parties party would attack the King Boar, and the rest keep the minions off from its bay.
"Reynes, how long can you recuperate?"
"Fifteen minutes. The damage is… more painful than I thought."
Reynes focuses on recovery, as the damage he sustained is more than what he could expect. He was grateful that the entire Lexington Family had managed to create clothes with Sage Ore as base ingredients.
With constant regeneration, Reynes has to manage his magic power so he can save it for fighting King Boar.
As soon as the Lexington Family arrives at the open field, Klendiana slowly adds water to the soil. When raining, the soil around the Boar Forest turns into mud, which serves as a haven for the boars to dip in.
"O, Spirits of Water, lend me your strength."
Klendiana uses her staff to strengthen the water effect. The staff sprays the water on the ground, slowly forming it into the mud. As they keep running, the water slowly mixes with the soil as King Boar, and its underlings enter the field, realizing that their path was impeded by mud.
The Lexington Family knew the risk of fighting in the mud, but they would use their advantage when it came to Sage Ore. They would put that to use to defeat King Boar.