THE BEAST HUNT (II)

The beast was huge; about twice Quinn's height. It had thick brown skin and two protruding tusks that looked sharp enough to skewer a man like he was made of paper.

It chased the bait group through the forest, breaking trunks and toppling trees in his path like they were nothing.

"Grruuhh!!" The beast grunted while attempting to use its tusk to stab a female goblin in front of it. Her eyes widened when she saw the tusk approaching, and she immediately jumped to the left to avoid the tusk at the last minute. She couldn't roll far though and had one of her legs crushed by the beast when it charged by her.

"Ahhhhh!!" she screamed while clutching her leg tightly.

One of the members of the support group - a female orc - immediately ran to her aid. She got her to her feet and helped her limp towards where the members of the support group were treating the other members of the runners that had been injured.

Back in the forest, Quinn and the other members of the Vanguard waited in the trees for the boar to come close. Once the boar was led far enough from the cave, Sal gestured his hand as a signal towards two men on the forest floor. The two men stood beside two spaced out trees that were opposite one another, with a length of thick rope tied to their trunks.

They grabbed onto the rope and stretched it between the trees till it was perfectly straight. The runners, who were still being chased by the boar, came towards the tree and slid right under it. The boar was moving too fast to stop itself though, and with a squeal, was sent rolling head over heels on the forest floor.

"Now!" Sal shouted, and the vanguard group jumped from the trees and immediately descended on the boar. They stabbed and hacked it at various places; though they mostly went for the legs, trying to prevent it from stampeding again.

Quinn landed and used his knife to stab the boar in its underbelly. He then ran in a straight line, leaving a long slash in the side of the boar. He saw Helga as she stabbed the boar in its kneecap and Sal as he used his sword to pierce the boar in the eyes.

Through all this, the boar never stopped squealing. It trashed and shook till it finally managed to roll onto its feet again. It tried to stand up but couldn't manage it and went down to its knee.

"Squuueeeeeee!!!" It screamed in agony, causing most of the members of the group to cover their ears at the volume.

They were then forced to retreat a bit when the boar started swinging its tusks blindly at anything around it, dropping trees and sending an unaware orc flying away from it. His screams could be heard for miles before he dropped about a couple hundred meters away.

Quinn stood beside Helga as they waited for the boar to tire itself out.

"It's really mad, isn't it?" He said. He watched the boar hit a tree, sending it dropping into another tree, and then another. "Really, really mad" he amended.

He waited for an answer but turned to look at her when he didn't get one.

He saw Helga looking like she was deep in thought

"Helga" He put his hand on her shoulder; and when she still didn't answer, he shook her "Helga!"

Helga started and turned to him with a questioning look

"Are you alright?" he asked

"I suppose," she replied as she shook his hand off her shoulder, "But there's something off about this. I just can't put my finger on it"

Quinn turned to look back at the boar. It didn't seem to be acting any differently from any other dying animal.

"What do you mea-"

Rumble! Rumble!!

Rumble! Rumble!!

Quinn's question was cut off when the ground began shaking. He held onto a tree by his side to prevent himself from falling over.

He looked at Helga to ask what had happened, but instead, saw that she had gone extremely pale. She stared at the direction from which the rumble came, the same direction where he could see trees being toppled at an even faster rate than when the boar had been moving through them.

"What the hell?" whispered Sal

The rumbles grew closer and closer, until finally, from out of the forest came a boar easily twice the size of the on the forest floor

"Gruuuuuhhhhh!!" it roared

"Move!!" Sal screamed at the top of his voice

Quinn prepared to do just that until he saw that Helga wasn't moving with them. She was still white like a sheet and rooted to her spot on the floor.

"Helga!" He screamed at her. But it was as though she was in another world entirely, her eyes were fixed on the new boar and her hands were shaking. She looked traumatized.

The boar was drawn towards his direction by his shout and with a grunt started charging straight towards Helga

"Helga, Helga! snap out of it!" he screamed again, but she still didn't answer him.

He saw that the boar was already getting closer and closer to crushing Helga, so he immediately abandoned all caution and ran straight towards her.

He tackled her and took them both down to the ground.

The boar passed over them and charged towards another member of the vanguard team, giving Quinn space to try snapping Helga out of her trance.

"God-dammit Helga!" Quinn made her sit up, and slapped her across the face "Snap out of it!"

"Huh" Helga blinked when she registered the pain in her cheek "W-what happened?"

"You almost got us killed, that's what happened! Now come on, we have to move"

Quinn grabbed her by the hand and began leading her deeper into the forest. He looked around and grimaced when he only saw about four of the vanguard squad were moving with them.

'The rest are probably already dead' he thought

He slowed down and hid behind a tree when he believed he had run far enough from the boar. Taking labored breaths Quinn turned to look at Helga,

"Helga, what happened out there?"

"It was nothing" She answered. Quinn watched as she took a deep breath to calm her nerves, she squeezed her sword in her hands till her knuckles were white.

"It was nothing" she repeated, and then stood up.

Quinn didn't believe her for even a second.

"What do you think you're doing?" Quinn said, standing up beside her.

"I'm going back out there."

She tried taking a step out of the cover of the trees, but Quinn grabbed onto her arm. "And what exactly do you plan on doing once you get out there!? You're not exactly in the best condition to fight.."

"Let go of me!" she screamed; dragging her hands away from his grip. "Who the hell do you think you are!? You have no right to order me around, 'Lord'!"

Quinn narrowed his eyes at her, "I'm simply trying to look out for you. That thing out there..." Quinn pointed into the forest, where the boar could be heard barreling through another cluster of trees. The scream of a man told him that another person had bitten the bullet, "...Is dangerous, Helga. We need to come up with a concrete plan of attack or retreat"

"Well, I never asked you to look out for me. I just met you today after all."

With that said, Helga made her way out of cover. Quinn cursed as he watched her weave her way through the trees and move towards the edge of the new clearing made by the beast. He didn't know why she was so adamant to attack the boar but knew she would definitely die if he didn't help her.

He made his way towards a pair of male goblins hiding behind another tree. They were from the perimeter group and seemed to have been forced to abandon their posts due to the monster.

"Give me your sword," He said to one of them

"W-what? Y-You're not going out there are you? That isn't what we signed up for. That thing is a monster!"

"I don't care what you signed up for!" He grabbed the goblin by the shirt. In the background, the roar of the boar could be heard once again "But unless you want to die here, I suggest you give me your sword. Or do you want to be the one to go out there?"

"N-No. No. Just take the sword. Take it!"

"Good"

Quinn took the sword from the goblin and quickly chased after Helga.