"Let get started, shall we?" Levi said aloud. To a casual, or any observer for the matter, it would seem as though he was talking to himself. Truthfully speaking, it was not all that strange of an occurence as it was not uncommon for fighters to mutter certain words of encouragement to themselves in preparation for combat.
Perhaps, that was what he was doing. Of course, simply readying himself mentally would be the most plausible explanation for the situation. But that could not be the case now, could it?
There were more than a few loop holes wth the earlier line of reasoning. One of which was Levi's peculiar choice of words. It was as though he was speaking to someone else besides himself. And from the words he used, it could not be just anyone. It was most likely a comrade or ally of his, and a fairly trusted one at that.
But then, one would be forced to ask...
Who?
How?
Where?
These were the kind of questions which any normal person who bore witness to the scene would have.The questions would trouble their minds like a plague, and if the curiosity was not doused soon, then uncertainty would be birthed.
The emergence of doubt would of course be closely followed suit by fear. And as expected, Swift was no exception to this rule.
Levi's seemingly rhetorical question troubled him so and he could not help the growing suspicion that Levi had finally lost his mind due to the fear of such a dreadful situation. Though if this truly was the situation, then he really could not be blamed.
After all, he may have the mind of a pessimistic middle aged man, but the fact remained that he was in the body of a mere twelve year old boy. Even if he was a lot more powerful for his age, his mind was still that of a twelve year old.
Or so Swift thought.....
*FWOOOSH!*
*BOOM*
A sound akin to that of the air itself ripping apart was heard, followed by that of a minor explosion as Levi had taken off with so much force that the ground on which he previously stood on broke apart. Debris and dust flew up from the shattered earth as Levi burst forward with tremendous speeds that almost made Swift cough out blood from mere shock.
Without a single regard for the mental, and even physical, wellbeing of the wolf that was undoubtedly watching him, Levi chargd forward—straight at the tremor boars who responded in kind. His face donned an excited smile as the peculiarity of the stuation had appealed to his inner battle freak.
Moving at velocities that sent shivers down Swift's spine, Levi closed the gap between himself and the Tremor boars at an alarming pace. But what he did next, even the experienced hurricane wolf would have never expected it.
Levi turned tail.
One could only imagine the surprise that Swift must have had, seeing Levi charge forward with so much vigor, only for him to suddenly turn back and start running away like a coward. Even the Tremor boars seemed a bit shaken by the human's actions, as their expressions gave them away. But then, Levi did yet another unexpected thing.
*CRACK!*
It was the sound of wood snapping. Levi had just used a single blow to destroy the lower parts of a tree's stem, toppling the organism and allowing it to fall unhindered right behind him before placing his hand on it for a few short moments then continuing his...retreat?
The mere fact that the human was able to toople such a large tree in a single attack, which he had most likely done in his stride, frightened the wolf quite a bit. And accompanied by the surprise from earlier, as well as the mild confusion that was conjured as a result of Levi's following actions, Swift's expresson had contorted into a very wierd visage.
It was a testament to how shaken he had been as a result of Levi's sudden actions, but apparently, Levi was not done just yet.
*CRACK!*
*CRACK!*
*CRACK!*
*CRACK!*
In less than a minute later, Levi had toppled a total of five trees with barely any effort. He had allowed three of said trees to litter, and convieniently block the path behind him, while he had lifted a relatively small tree onto his shoulders like some sort of veteran lumber jack.
It was even more puzzling as each time he toppled a tree, he would not fail to make contact with the victim of his destruction before moving to the next, an action which greatly confused all observers every single time.
After hoisting the Medium sized tree up his shoulder, Levi suddenly halted his movements before turning around once again to face his oncoming adversaries with a confident grin plastered on his face. His actions garnered a lot of shocked and confused expressions from the creatures around him, but he said nothing and just grinned mischivously at the tremor boars. Or more accurately, the soon to be victims of his dubios plan.
The Tremor boars felt a wave of unease wash over them as they gazed upon Levi's face and the expression plastered on it. But that did not last very long as they were forced to temporarily supress their fear, in order to overcome the challenge that had been placed before them.
'The felled trees!' A realization suddenly came over Swift as he was finally understood Levi's plan. He reprimanded himself for failing to see the writing on the wall till now, but he could not help but marvel at it.
He had felled numerous large trees in a straight path, and considering that the Tremor boars were bound by their inherent tendencies, they would not be able to go around the obvious trap. The obstacles in their path would deal a fatal blow to their charge, and would at the very least slow them down to a more preferrable velocity.
It was quite the unorthodox and simple plan, but efficient nonetheles!
As Swift pondered about the inticasies of Levi's plan, the Tremor boars had hasitly cast the first stage of fusion magic—aura—in an attempt to shield themselves from what was to come. A yellowish earthern aura sprang up from their skin as their already black skin grew even darker and visibly hardened, gaining an extra level of thickness that would beef up their defences and even their offense.
'That's right! They still have magic, so the effectiveness of the plan should have crumbled instnatly. The tremor boars would easily trample Levi's plan as they would barely sustain any damage to themselves and their collective momentum.....or so it would seem.' Swift said inwardly as he glanced in Levi's direction.
Due to his position, he could only observe Levi's back. But Swift was more than cetain that the human's smile had widened at this point.
Surprisenly or not, the hurricane wolf was right on the money.
*CRASH!!*
*CRACK!!*
*CRACK!*
More cracking noises resounded as the Tremor boars collided with the conviniently placed obstacles.Their powerful hoofs smashed into the not-so-normal wood of the trees, causing it to crack and eventually break as more beasts charged through.
Shards of wood flew in all directions, assaulting the horde from all directons. But they had the first stage of fusion magic active. Albeit hastily cast, their aura was supposed to provide ample protection against the onslaught of wooden sharpnels, so then.....
...why?
Why did it seem like the exact opposite was happening?
Why were the Tremor boars suffering the most damage, when the situation was supposed to be in their favour?
The answer to that was simple, yet very easy to overlook. And considering the peculiarity of Levi's abilities, the opponents would most likely not have expected it at all.
'He enhanced the wood....just like he did back then...' Swift thought as a moment from back when Levi had first fought Swift surfaced in his mind.
The bout had occured in the morning, and he had not yet left the den that day so he was able to witness the fight. He recalled a moment that most would have forgotten by now. It was also the first attack that Levi had landed on the leader—Raja.
The sitation was similar, only that back then he had used a rock instead.
Then, Levi had somehow used a rock to knock the wolf off of his feet! The entire thing had been very perplexing for him back then as he could not understand the unnatural phenomenom in the slightest.
Raja had fallen.....bacause of a rock? It was unbelievable! Totally inconcievable!
But now, after observing Levi and his fights for so long, he had come to be aware of the fact that the human had a very special ability that did not quite align with the knowledge he had about mana. But he did not inquire further since Raja had also chosen to leave the kid be.
Though it was not like he could make Levi answer the question anyway. So he had no choice but to deal with his ignorance and accept things as they were.
The powerful wood weakened the boars' limbs significantly and the wooden sharpnels pierced even their magically augumented limbs, dealing them damage significantly and greatly hampering their previously staggering momentum so much that it came to a grinding halt.
Seeing as his plan had worked perfectly, Levi's smile widened so much that it nearly reached his ears, and then something that could be considered an extremely rare occuence happened....
Levi did something that only a small number of eople had ever seen him do in both his lives. In fact, the number of witnesses could not have been up to two digits, and it was not an exaggeration!
Levi.....laughed?