Things that go bump in the night (II)

"Argh! This is your fault!" Agnis pointed at him. "Why can't you shift out of your dragon form so this doesn't happen!"

"Can't do anything about that."

With an angry stomp, Agnis kicked the ground. "You better tell General Liam about this!"

"I'll think about it."

"There was no time to think; your presence made this quest ten times more difficult!"

"I don't believe so." Zero huffed, not liking how she accused him.

"How so? Huh? Explain!" She placed her hand on her hips.

"No time for that now." Zero snatched a boar off the ground and ate it with two bites.

"We have time; tell me what you did before I run to General Liam and tell him what you have just said!"

Zero eyes furrowed. Explaining in the middle of a fight was challenging; he had to pay attention to every little thing so Agnis wouldn't get run over when she wasn't paying attention. His claws swiped down from the left, behind Agnis, just in time before its tusk could maul her.

"Look, even if I stepped into the enemy's territory, I felt that the monsters would still have attacked, possibly even drawn out the fight under cover of the night. For me to be here and challenge the boss gives us a chance to minimize the casualties in a night battle." Zero replied curtly; his tail made a sweeping motion, causing three boars to trip and fall forward with a thud.

"By the rate we are going; we're probably going to meet every territory boss we come across. I don't know how far this territory boss' land is, but killing the boss means the monster swarms will lessen as we advance."

Agnis fired an arrow past Zero's side and into an oncoming boat. The hand-cut through the air and slammed into the rump of its butt. With a squeal, the boar stumbled but caught itself and charged forward.

"Are you serious?" She fired another at the boar, missing entirely, as the boar could move out just a hair's breadth away before the arrow could embed itself into its head. "What?!"

"Look out!" Zero's claw slammed downwards in between Agnes and the boar. With a heavy thud, a sharp pain erupted on Zero's arm, his muscles tensed, and he angrily snapped downwards, twisting his head towards the boar. His sharp teeth clamped onto its side, and he tore into its flesh.

"Zero?!" Agnis stepped back, startled. "Wha-?!

Zero didn't reply and took another hungry bite, eating the rest of the boar and leaving behind a part of its feet.

The thundering sound of beating footsteps that shook the ground could be heard heading straight toward them. The heavy beast burst out from behind a few trees with a roar. With a roarLowering its large tusk-like head, it plowed through the soldiers like a bowling ball. Elves and humans flew in the air as the giant tusk impaled itself into its enemy.

Zero was excited at the challenge that was brought before him. The monsters coming towards him were equal in size, heavy, had beady multiple red eyes, and even mammoth-like fur.

Boar Mammoth

Boss Type monster

Level: 210

Living in the open plains, the Boar Mammoth comes out to scavenge at night with its offspring. They like to dig a hole into the ground, keeping themselves cool during the day. Usually, small mounds or hills are the Boar Mammoth hidden in the ground. Even if one steps on them during the day, they awaken when the sun is completely down.

Using its large tusk, it likes to charge forward and impale its enemy. There have been countless deaths upon its tusk, making it a sinister weapon. The boar enjoys skewering its victims and flailing them around like a ragdoll. Be wary of its charge, its tusk and power can destroy a large boulder with one charge.

Depending on its strength and age, this boss can lead up to over ten to twenty thousand Wild Boars in its territory. This Boar Mammoth had lived up to four hundred fifty-five years, allowing its herd to swell up to ten thousand.

Alarmed at the message that popped up in front of him, Zero was shocked to find that there were about ten thousand of its herd invading in the middle of the night, making this fight ten times more difficult. Even still, the Boar Mammoth didn't stop its attack, it was mad at Zero's presence, and when it saw Zero, it roared with rage, challenging him once again.

Zero pulled in his breath and roared viciously back. Angered, the Boar Mammoth stomped its feet, lowered its head, and charged. With thundering footsteps, the boar attacked, picking up dust and debris. He followed after, bracing himself from the charge.

"Come on. Come on. Come on!" Zero roared. The Boar tusk made contact with Zero's claws. His feet dug into the ground, bracing himself from the impact. Skidding backward, he dug into the ground even further. His muscles bulged, his mouth opened up into a devilish glee, and he pushed back with just as much force.

They were in a stalemate, both unable to advance forward or back. But, Zero couldn't let this go any. Further, Zero knew that if he fell back, the rampage would continue, creating more damage than necessary.

"Pin the monster down!" General Liam instructed; he threw a spear at the giant boar. "Keep the smaller ones away!"

The soldiers shifted into two groups, centering around Zero. Half of them threw spears and arrows into the Boar Mammoth, trying to cut down its life force as quickly as possible. The others fanned out, working together in a group of ten to push back the Wild Boars from breaking through to help the boss. High-level earth magic split open from the ground, and vines snapped out to wrap themselves around the boar mammoth's legs. With an angry grunt, the giant boar snorted out a hot breath of air and yanked forward, pulling the vines out of the ground.

Even still, the vines continually came out from the ground, rapidly wrapping themselves around the giant boar. The magic persisted even towards the other Wild Boars, stopping them in their tracks. This allowed adventurers and soldiers to take down the boars as quickly as possible without getting injured.

Zero faces snapped forward, moving past its giant tusk and biting down on the boar's shoulder. With the thought of tasting a savory slab of sweetmeat in his mouth, Zero's stomach rumbled even louder, telling him to devour this monster in front of him. But, instead, he pulled back, taking a chunk of its meat into its throat and allowing him a delicious belly full of meat. The meat was sweet, soft, and tough, but it reminded him of bacon.

The boar cried out in pain and violently shook back and forth, trying to throw Zero off. Zero didn't allow the monster to wiggle away. Strengthening his core, he twisted his body with every ounce of strength. With a loud thud, the Boar Mammoth fell onto its side, throwing its feet into the air.

Zero took this chance and lunged forward, teeth open as he clawed and bit down onto its stomach. Blood spurted outwards, and a painful squeal followed as he continued his ravaging attack. Like a lion hunting down his prey, Zero didn't let go of his meal. Even though he was a lot weaker in level compared to the boss monster, in his dragon form, he could fight head-to-head. Luckily, the boss was not too high in level and power, or it would've made the battle more difficult.

The scene before them was like a predator eating its prey in the middle of combat, making the image of a dragon more surreal and fierce. Soldiers and adventurers knew then that the dragons in front of them were living up to the legends. Even without his wings, Zero became more dragon-like as the seconds passed. No more was he the puppy in his starting days, a dog, a giant lizard, but now a dragon in the eyes of many.

His chest swelled up and glowed red with fire and compressed the air in his throat; he pulled back and spat out multiple balls of fire. The fire rushed forward into the open wound of the enemy, sharply increasing the smell of roasted bacon.

Zero didn't let the fireballs he blew go out of control, he didn't want to start a prairie fire, and he kept his flames at a minimum. Even Sekka and Valiant were conscious of where they were, knowing that if they continually used their flames without control, the whole army could be trapped by their flames. That in itself was counterproductive, which would cause a lot of unnecessary deaths.

The soldiers swarmed in unison along with the adventurers at hand and quelled the rampaging boars, putting them down as fast and efficiently as possible. Large amounts of loot and meat were scattered on the ground, coloring the dark floor with twinkling lights of gold, silver, copper, and bronze.

Striking and tearing was the repetitive cycle that Zero had done. He would use his entire weight against the Boar Mammoth, his right claws on its neck and the left digging into its rumps. Each squeal caused a frenzy of Wild Boars to push forward in the hopes of saving their leader.

Zero blew multiple fireballs. As the Boar Mammoth let out its last dying howl, its high pitch sound even caused Zero to falter backward. With a burst of energy, the Boar Mammoth pushed up from the ground, its gut spilling all over its place, and rammed into Zero's stomach with its tusks. Zero fumbled backward and fell onto the ground with a heavy thud.

The Boar Mammoth staggered and feebly let out a couple of desperate attacks; Zero rolled his large body would allow, getting out of harm's way. The Boar Mammoth half reared up, attempting to trample him under its feet. Zero's hand drew out its claw and impaled the Boar Mammoth when it struck. Blood swept downwards, covering half of his face, especially his neck.

A large number of arrows shot through the sky and came raining down upon the Boar. Then, with a shudder, the Boar collapsed on top of Zero, burying him underneath.

"Omph!" Zero grunted. He realized that the Boar mammoth was a lot heavier than he thought. He could wiggle himself halfway out of the Boar's body without completely being able to get out.