Weapon
While the boar was jumping uncontrollably, Ryu was static in his position, usually, a fighter would take advantage of the moment of the distraction of his foe, but Ryu's legs refused to obey him. He used the vanishing raindrop steps skill another time, his legs were fatigued before now that he used it for the fifth time now it evolved from a sore muscular discomfort to excruciating pain, all the muscles on his legs were rigid if he uses this move one more time there is a risk of tearing the muscle's fiber.
Ryu looked at the boar's side and saw blood flowing down, he thought for a while and retracted his sword, a long silver spear with a tip leaf-shaped appeared in his hand in its place. Ryu had two weapons in his ring: the sword he got from his mother and this spear he got from his father, out of the two, the sword was much superior in rank but the spear was not bad at all.
In the flow of his battle, Ryu saw that the boar had trouble dealing with his dodges and had weakness on stab attacks. Thus he came with the idea of using the spear, this way he can use it to create space and use it to make more wounds on the boar, he was unable to make a deep lethal cut so he would have to go with many small cuts to build enough damage.
The iron skin boar recollected his composture and prepared to attack again, from the sounds it was making it was clear that the boar was pissed. The boar was preparing to charge, Ryu pointed the spear to the boar's eyes, blocking the path.
The boar was not stupid to advance towards the spear's tip, it has been wounded for the first time in its life today and was not willing to repeat the experience. With the path blocked the boar stepped to the side trying to get around the spear, Ryu saw a gap and sent the spear forward hitting the boar close to the neck. This stab barely managed to pierce the boar's skin, this attack was not carrying the same force as the one with the sword.
Because Ryu didn't have a spear mastery skill the martial skill could not take advantage of the spear, so this last hit was just Ryu sticking the spear forward and not a martial technique carrying a profound comprehension of combat movements. Swap weapons again to take the sword was not a good option, the safety provided by the spear was essential for the present Ryu, he would have to go with these clumsy spear movements until a spear technique decides to appear.
It was lucky that this boar didn't have much combat experience, despite the long life it never had to fight too much, it was the sole ruler of this entire region. The few other beasts that could rival it were unable to pass by its tough skin, so it never had faced an opponent that could harm it, consequently, it never developed fighting experience.
The boar tried to evade the spear's tip to get closer, it have a strong defense but its attack variations were lacking, it had no way to cross the spear's shaft distance. These minutes of hesitation with the boar walking in circles to evade the spear and Ryu pushing forward pocking the bear were extremely precious, not only because it allowed Ryu to get used to the spear but also to buy time to recover his legs.
In a short amount of time, Ryu's leg muscles would not recover completely, but, they recovered sufficiently enough to move. Eventually, the boar get frustrated to get pocked at the sides while he couldn't get closer to its foe when it got used to Ryu's light stabs it decided to reduce the distance the most brutal way, the boar aligned its body, lowered its head and charged forward, accepting another stab on its forefront.
But, instead of backing from pain, the boar continued to press forward pushing the spear using raw strength, the beast bet everything on its thick skin. Ryu tightened his grip on the spear trying to maintain his position, but the boar was too strong and he was pushed back until Ryu gave up his position retracted the spear, and dodge to the side evading an attack.
The boar didn't miss the opportunity it created using force, it quickly made a turn launching head attack one after the other, desperately jumping after Ryu to prevent him from opening distance to block way with the spear. The lethal dance resumed, Ryu dodging to the sides using every chance to stab the boar, but these stab attacks made in the short distance were even less effective than it was previously.
With the fight lingering, the danger was increasing for Ryu, each dodge he made was slower than the previous, every step he made was shorter, the boar was getting tired too but it has the upper hand, every subsequent attack the boar made was getting closer.
<
Under the pressure of the battle, the spear skill appeared to save Ryu, at the same time that the screen with a notification appeared a refreshing sensation revolved in his head, bringing spear combat technique to his mind.
Ryu sucked the spear's head on the ground behind him while assuming a position which he stood aside from the boar, his right shoulder closer while his left shoulder far. He made a body rotation over his left foot creating distance from the boar, meanwhile, the spear went forward tearing the ground like it was made of water, at the final of the movement the spear raised sending earth up like a splash of water, it was a movement that borrows the nature of the water.
The earth splash went to the boar's direction and the beast halted on its spot, it paused not because it was afraid of the earth causing damage, but because had to close its eyes to protect them, preventing a speck of dust from entering its eyes, causing a moment of blindness.
Ryu used this opportunity to step back creating space, he had the martial skill he was lacking before, the only thing he had to do is create an opportunity to deliver a fatal blow.
Ryu and the Iron Skin Boar facing each other, they were both exhausted, it was just a matter of a few blows until the battle finds its end, the first to fall from exhaustion is the loser.
Meanwhile, the team led by Leoric reached the fighting site, under his leadership they started to encircle the place approaching to rescue the kid, he didn't bother to get his bow ready, Leoric knew that it was useless against this beast. he was watching the battle at some distance cursing himself for being weak, if he was strong enough to provide any help in this fight they could kill the legendary beast that has been threatening the village for so long, it was a unique chance to face the beast so tired.
Leoric could only cheer and pray Ryu could kill the beast alone, he was not just watching the battle passively, he was preparing to intervene and extract Ryu if things went wrong.