When it rains...

John spun around to see another boar much larger than the three little pigs in front of them. This one was almost as tall as John. The larger boar had much more fungus growing on it, and its skin was almost grey. Its eyes looked fierce and extremely angry. John looked up.

< Infected Boar Level 7 >

“Shit, that one is higher level than either of us, and if the small ones join, we won’t stand a chance,” John thought out loud. Not wanting to fight a losing battle, John grabbed hold of Ellie’s hand and dragged her as he broke out into a sprint.

All four boars followed after them, the smaller ones were much quicker and were able to dodge and weave between roots and underbrush much better than the larger one or either John or Ellie.

-10 HP

“Fuck!” John yelled as one of the boars gored his leg with its tiny tusks. Looking around frantically John couldn’t see any direction that would be safer to travel. As he tried thinking of a way out, he heard Ellie yelp and saw that one of the little pigs had bitten her leg and caused it to begin bleeding.

They raced through the woods, taking several more hits from the smaller boars. Luckily John and Ellie had managed to get their own hits in, but they were few and far between, and John was starting to feel the burn of running.

-43 HP

John spluttered as the larger boar impacted him from the side. He wheezed and then yelled as a loud pop rang out from his arm resetting itself. The boars all grouped together, and while they had the chance, Ellie brought out another bottled fire and tossed it at them. Squeals of pain echoed and the couple set off running again, gaining a head start thanks to the pigs being too distracted by pain and fire.

Luckily they hadn’t run into any more animals, but they could smell burning hair and hear the sound of the three smaller boars squealing as they were catching up to the couple. John saw a hole between some roots. It was big enough for the two of them, and while he knew the little ones would be able to chase them, the larger boar was too wide and wouldn’t be able to follow.

He pulled Ellie and they dove into a small tunnel that led to a larger space. John could stand up fully with at least a foot of space above him. The area was also about the size of a small room. John didn’t know what created this burrow but whatever it was, he was definitely glad it wasn’t home right now.

The three smaller boars followed them, and John could hear the sound of the larger one squealing in displeasure that it had to halt its pursuit.

Ellie pulled out a dagger, which John recognised as one of the ones the Dullahan had skewered her with. He was about to question if he gave it to her or if she just grabbed one, but the three boars demanded attention as one of them rushed towards John.

“Shit!” he exclaimed, but he quickly swiped at the boar with his sharp-clawed fingers.

23 DMG

The boar was sent backwards about a metre before it returned to the others. The three boars grunted and paced before they began running circles around the couple.

John tried to keep an eye on all three but they ran too quickly. Suddenly John heard a yelp as one of the boars broke off and charged at Ellie, stabbing into her calf, then returning to running circles.

While John was distracted, another came charging at him, but he was too late before it had stabbed him.

-12 HP

Frustrated, John decided that he would take the offensive and rushed one, slashing it across its stomach. His claws cut through the boar's flesh much easier than he had expected.

22 DMG

The boar squealed in pain, and John could hear the loud grunt from the larger boar outside, followed by a loud thud that caused dirt and dust to fall from the ceiling. John heard another one of the smaller boars squeal in pain, and when he turned saw that Ellie had also gone on the offensive. The thud came again and again.

“I think mama pig isn’t happy we are hurting her babies,” John said, concerned.

Ellie took another swing at one of the pigs. “Yeah, well, I’m not too fond of her babies hurting me either.”

John slashed at another boar barely missing on the first strike and clawing across its eye on the second.

12 DMG

Critical Hit 58 DMG Partial blindness

The boar he struck let out a loud guttural squeal before it collapsed, blood seeping out of the wounds and soaking into the dirt below it.

“Fuck yeah, that’s what I’m talking about,” John celebrated. Not a second later did he yell out in pain as one of the other boars bit into his leg.

“Maybe celebrate when we win rather than in the middle of a fight?” Ellie teased as she swung at the other boar that had rushed her, missing barely as the boar scampered backwards out of the way.

John grumbled as he lashed out at another boar, shallowly cutting into it, as it moved back at the last second.

5 DMG

’Aw, come on!’ John thought.

The pounding got louder and louder as they continued. John got ready for one of the boars to charge him, but his attention was taken by the sound of one of the remaining boars as it suddenly fell silent before it thudded on the ground with a dagger sticking out of its head.

With only one left John sprinted for it, though it proved harder to catch now as it dodged, ducked, dipped, dived and dodged out of John’s reach. After retrieving her dagger Ellie turned to help John when she heard a loud crack and the wood splinter before the larger boar squealed.

She quickly jumped into action affording John enough of a distraction for him to rip into the small pig. John let out a sigh in celebration of his first actual victory in a fight. Unfortunately, it was cut short as he heard a grunt and a loud huff. The boar had broken through and now looked at its piglets, all lifeless on the ground, torn up by either claws or blade.

Panic set in as John saw the rage behind its eyes. This time it was Ellie who had grabbed his hand and yanked him down another tunnel. They weaved through the vast tunnel system before finally seeing light which they raced towards until they were outside again.

The boar burst out from the burrow following behind them. They ran for a good deal of time before the boar managed to catch up to them. It charged, but John ripped into it, causing it to back off.

26 DMG

It was looking pretty rough, though, and John had a good feeling. He thought for a second about turning and facing it head-on, but his train of thought was cut off as he saw the boar aiming for Ellie from the other side. He managed to pull her away but unfortunately not quick enough as a tusk pushed into her back.

They continued running until they caught sight of something strange: a clearing in the forest that had a large mountain of animal corpses from which grew two giant purple morel mushrooms. “I have an idea: if we split up and run opposite ways around this thing, the boar will follow one of us and the other can be ready on the other side,” Ellie said, gipping and gagging at the smell of the rotting mound as they raced towards it.

John nodded, and they both ran opposite directions. The boar followed him. John smiled happy that it wasn’t following Ellie as she was down to a quarter of her health while he was still just over half. The smile soon faded as he came face to face with a bear equal in size to the boar chasing him.

The bear similarly had mushrooms covering its body, across its back and belly, on all of its paws, but the most noticeable was the large one covering its face, making it look similar to a clicker from The Last of Us.

John was in a tough spot. He slowed down, but with the boar on his tail, he was running out of ideas. The bear in front of him reared up, letting out a huge roar, which luckily for John scared away the boar.

Now he only had to worry about the bear, but he was certain he wouldn’t be able to get away from it. An idea popped into his head, and as he stood his ground staring down the bear, he used Move on a golfball-sized rock to smash it into the back of the bear’s head. The bear turned to look and John raced in, slashing at the bear for dear life.

Critical Hit 52 DMG

Critical Hit 54 DMG

Critical Hit 51 DMG

23 DMG

John did a quick internal celebration while backing up out of the bear's reach. He saw Ellie’s health take a hit. ’Shit! Did the boar run around to her? I need to hurry, I can’t let her get hurt,’ John thought.

-38 HP

John crashed down to the ground as the bear's paw impacted his chest. He coughed up blood and crawled backwards before getting to his feet again. John couldn’t take many hits like that. He looked around for anything that could help. He doubted he could trick the bear again; the only thing he could do would be to run and hope to reach Ellie.

He sprinted forwards, trying to give the bear a wide berth, but it lunged at him. Fortunately, he managed to jump backwards and was only lightly scratched.

-9 HP

He didn’t know what to do, and his head hurt as he tried to think of any way out of this. Suddenly a loud squeal was heard, and out of nowhere the boar impacted into the bear. Both John and the bear were caught by surprise. The bear fell backwards before shaking its head and letting out a guttural roar at the boar.

John stood for a moment; he needed to get around them but they were currently fighting, and if he got close, he would likely get into the line of fire. If he tried running away, they might both turn their attention to him.

While John’s mind focused on how to get away, he saw Ellie’s health which was getting dangerously low. ’Wait, if the boar isn’t attacking her, then something else has her!’

He decided that both animals were distracted enough, and even if they weren't, it was a chance he had to take. He turned and sprinted around the corpse mountain, watching Ellie’s health withering further and further down.

John could finally see Ellie and what was attacking her: one of the giant mushrooms was lashing out at her with barbed tendrils. She had nowhere to go; the tendrils blocked any attempt she made to escape.

John’s legs burnt as he willed himself to run faster. Suddenly one of the barbed tendrils lunged into her back and burst from her chest.

“NOOOO!” John thundered. He ran faster and faster, and caught Ellie just before she hit the ground. “Nonononononononono!” he repeated before pressing his lips against hers, casting Healing Hand with all of his mana.

Ellie’s condition didn’t change. John could taste blood as it dripped from both his and Ellie’s mouths. A river of tears ran from his eyes. “No, you can’t die, please! Ellie!” he cried, hugging her lifeless body to his own.

He couldn’t breathe. ’This can’t actually be happening, right? She’s the perfect girl, and for some reason, she likes me back, this can’t be happening!’ he thought.

He could feel her warm blood soaking him and pooling under them both. He let out a loud cry and looked up to see dozens of the same tendrils responsible for Ellie’s condition. Rage bubbled up, but he couldn’t move. All of the tendrils reared back and as every last one thrust towards him, John’s vision filled with red.

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