Three boars finished their grazing and stood alert. Their ears twitches listening to the voices around them. The oldest one stomped her leg to the ground, creating several spikes surrounding them. They all stepped back and huddled together.
Vega was surprised and stopped himself from moving. Based on the number, the boars he was looking at were the females. Most of the time, the male boar lived solitary. The oldest one creating the spell must be the matriarch in the group. It meant that wherever the matriarch stayed, the boarlets were not too far from her. One of the females stood far back from the group, closer to the bushes behind them.
When he kept his focus longer, he found two boarlets hiding and shivering behind a bush.
It was interesting to find a whole group of boars here, but then, apart from having their own magic, they can also sense a stranger approaching based on the vibrations on the earth around them. The number was a little concerning. He could probably kill two boars at most, but after losing his mana, the other boars would definitely surround him and kill him.
After he kept some distance with the previous group, Vega searched the area for some footsteps. It was difficult to find it near the forests, but from the book, most often than not, they fed on the roots while digging the ground around them. Several scratches on the tree around him and the clear hoofprints were a sign of the male leaving the group not too long ago.
He followed the hoofprints while still keeping his attention on the threat around him. Even though boars can be considered strong creatures, there are still weaker creatures hunting the boars in groups, which is even more dangerous than a single stronger creature. When he was focused on the ground before him, he felt a creeping sensation on his back. Pretending to keep looking at the ground, he opened the water pouch on his waist, creating an ice spike.
A swooshing wind shot fast behind him, and with the ice spike ready, Vega turned his body and threw it at the creature approaching him. But the spike missed, and he finally saw what the creature was.
A large blue bird hovering in midair, flapping its wings furiously. It glared at him while creating several gusts of wind around its wings. The bird tilted its head and opened its mouth, screeching. The air condensed into several huge air blades that shot toward him.
Vega cursed. He didn't think the forest was that dangerous. He leapt backward, dodging the air blades while preparing his own spells. With a wave of his hand, he launched two air blades directly at the bird's head and chest. Of course it was futile because it was also sensitive to the change in air elements around it.
Without any warning, the bird screeched louder and swooped toward him, its talon aimed toward his face. Vega was not ready, and he barely dodged the attack. Opening his pouch, he summoned water, drenching its wings. It screamed in frustration, but Vega still had a lot of things prepared.
With a whistle, Vega made the bird stop being confused for a moment and used the time to create three ice spikes hidden behind him. The problem of creating three spells together meant that he couldn't have another spell ready. After throwing one of them to the stunned bird, he lunged forward following his sword practice.
While doing so, the bird woke up from its stupor and screeched louder.
He felt the slash coming toward him and dodged it. While stretching his palm and shooting the other ice spike behind him. But the bird easily jumped, avoiding the slash. Vega whistled again to stop the bird in its place, and with that, he summoned water, drenching its face.
The bird screamed, momentarily blinded. He saw the opportunity and took it. Creating three water spears, he stabbed the bird's wings. The bird screeched in pain. The blood hole made it harder for it to hover in the air. With a thump, the bird fell to the ground. Vega took the opportunity, slashing the neck with a powerful blow of the air blade. Blood gushed out, and it stopped moving.
He stood over the dying bird, panting heavily. He had won, but it was a close call. He hadn't even hunted any boars, and his mana had already been depleted.
After cleaning the scene and putting the bird's carcass in his ring, he ran toward a tree and hid there. During his fight, he learned he was better suited to ambush than fight an enemy head-on. For once, he didn't have enough control over his spells, making most of them shoot straight toward his enemy and missing them when they successfully dodged the spell. Until he gained better control of his spell, he had to avoid fighting the enemy head-on.
After straightening his robe, Vega smoothed back his hair, and he crouched back down, looking back for the hoofprints.
Walking slowly, he finally reached the place where the hoofprints stopped. Looking around, he lost track of the boar. After several hours of walking around, he felt his leg hurt and sat back down.
While resting, he made sure to keep the sigil activated to keep any creatures from finding him. With a sad face, he took out his last magic crystal to replenish his mana and meditated. The cold sensation filled his body, and he felt the growing sensation around his belly, where his mana source absorbed the pure mana greedily.
He felt pain all over his body. Skipping the exercise and absorbing pure mana was foolish, even for an adept, but he couldn't waste any time and did the best he could because he was still stranded in the middle of a dangerous forest. Gritting his teeth and holding the pain, he absorbed the crystal that now turned grey and crumbled, devoid of mana.
After he was sure that his source was back to full, he opened his eyes and took a huge gulp from his pouch. From the nearby bushes, he heard the rustling of leaves. Alert, he summoned his barrier first to stop any magic ambushing him from behind.
A cute boarlet observed him with huge eyes while snorting. The messy mane on its back was the proof that the baby in front of him was a boy. Vega couldn't waste the opportunity and smiled sisterly before stabbing the boarlet's eye with his ice needle. The boarlet screamed, but the needle embedded deep inside its brain. It fell down and twitched after losing consciousness from the attack. After he made sure the boarlet was dead, he took it inside his ring and stood up, patting down his robe.
Deep inside, he was scared because he knew the mother or father of the boar he just killed would hunt him down.
He ran deeper into the forest, creating a zigzag pattern while drenching his footsteps with water, hoping to erase his scent. The forest grew darker, and the trees were taller, blocking the sun from reaching the ground. He looked around, feeling an ominous feeling that was growing. The sensation grew stronger and stronger the deeper he went inside the forest.
He arrived at a clearing where a cave stood ominously with its mouth wide open. The pond in front of the cave was convenient for any creature guarding the cave. Looking for a fully grown bush, he hid himself and activated his sigil. But the cave didn't have any sign of movement.
Vega tried stepping outside, approaching the clearing, while suddenly he heard a snorting sound from inside the cave. With glowing red eyes, the creatures walked slowly from the cave. Scared, he froze in his place from the growing pressure reaching him.
The boar was massive. With its long tusks, the boar snorted toward him. Its eyes grew alert, sensing a familiar scent emitting from the boy. Its baby!
Without any notice, the boar charged toward Vega with its menacing, sharp tusks. The massive frame was barreling toward him with deadly intent. The steps made the ground shake.
Vega still stood there and felt his body couldn't move from the growing pressure. When the tusks almost hit him, the tome strapped to his back glowed, stopping the attack and erasing the pressure holding him.
Shaking his head, he finally was able to move around and took out his flute while putting aside the weird phenomena from the tome. With a blow on the flute, Vega summoned a simple melody, sending the falling boar glancing around, feeling confused. But the difference in power made it easy to remove the spell.
Nothing stopped the boar from killing its prey. It quickly regained its balance, stood up, and stared at the boy. Stomping his hind legs, the boar charged while creating a spike from the earth around it, aiming toward the boy.
Vega didn't waste his time and activated the plant's sigil from Mistress Vin. Several vines grew quickly around him and stopped the spike from reaching him. With stronger control, he guided the vine to approach the boar, tying its leg, and stopping the boar in its place.
This time, Vega conjured three ice spears from his water pouch, threatening to stab the boar. The boar screeched, snorted, and summoned his own magic. The soil around it shook, cutting the vine on the leg.
Vega summoned more power, creating a huge ice spear aimed toward the board. The boar snorted and easily broke the spear with its tusks. Shaking its head, the board summoned rocks that slammed toward him but were easily broken by the guarding vines around him.
A slight pain in his abdomen signaled that his mana couldn't handle the fight for longer. He needed to finish the fight quickly, and looking at the boar standing, he knew that the spear was the only way to get through the crazy defense.
Several air blades swooshed, striking the boar quickly. Even though the air blade was not powerful enough to harm it, at least the boar lost its focus trying to dodge the air blade. Vega mixed his attack together with several whistles of illusion slashes toward the boar. With his last focus, he summoned a huge ice spear above his head and used all of his mana to spin the spear, combining it with the vibrational sequence.
The spear spun, crackling and rumbling, and turned faster. With a final blow, Vega directed the spear at the boar. With his last will, the spear shot forward, striking the boar right on its eyes and piercing its brain. The boar was screaming and finally dropped to the ground. Blood flowed from its eyes, creating a huge red pool of blood.
Panting, he stood before the board, wary of further surprises, but the boar lay motionless on the ground with its life force gone.
Breathing heavily, Vega flopped down on the ground, catching his breath. The adrenalin from the previous fight left him, and he felt sore in his abdomen. Concentrating harder inside, he found out that his mana was depleted.
Creating ice spears proved more difficult than creating ice needles. The size was too big for him to control, and luckily his strategy worked well, killing the boar.
Vega chopped off the boar's head and put its whole body inside his ring. Blood splashed on his robe, making Vega feel disgusted. His stomach grew nauseous, and he threw up his breakfast.
After the vomit and blood soaked his robe, Vega took out his water pouch and, with the only mana he had, cleaned himself with water. After drying his robe, Vega finally walked, wobbling, toward a huge tree where he was hiding.
Putting the sigil close to him Vega hoped that the sigil was enough to hide him from any creatures trying to ambush him. Without any more magic crystal, he was sure he couldn't handle any more fighting and observed the cave. The sun has already started to hide behind the horizon, creating an orange hue in the sky. He didn't have enough strength to go back to the academy, so he hoped that the cave didn't have any more danger lurking inside.
Suddenly the tome behind his back glowed bright, and he remembered that the tome had done something magical. Taking out the tome from the strap, Vega squinted his eyes, observing any change to the tome. The tome shook and jumped out of his hand, and even without any wind around it, it flipped open. He walked backward, afraid the tome would do something weird and shallow his soul like the previous encounter in the cave with Wyatt. But the tome just sat there on the ground while slowly the empty page filled itself with letters.
Vega approached the tome and read the words. "Inside!"