Boars vs Kobolds

The hit boar wheeled around, scanning the bushes with small, furious eyes. The alpha boar lifted its head, nostrils flaring as it caught Kaden's scent. Its ears twitched forward in challenge.

Perfect reaction. Kaden stifled a grimace. Now he had to make sure they chased him—not just bluff the threat away.

He stepped out from behind the root, deliberately letting the boars see him. "Hey!" he shouted, waving his arms. Come on, notice me. The boar he'd pegged with the rock squealed and tore at the ground with its hooves, anger radiating from its every bristly hair.

"Time to go." Kaden spun on his heel and bolted away, aiming back toward where he'd left the kobolds. 

Behind him, thunderous hoofbeats shattered the quiet of the forest. He risked a glance over his shoulder—big mistake. The elite boar was charging at full tilt, the rest in a tight formation behind it.

"Holy—!" Kaden lurched sideways, narrowly dodging a trunk the elite boar slammed against in blind rage. Bark flew in all directions, and the boar whirled to pursue. He darted around boulders and ducked under low branches, each misstep could be fatal if one of the boars clipped him.

The forest blurred around him as he pressed ahead, lungs burning. Have to lead them straight to the kobold clearing. 

If the boars lost sight of him or got bored, the plan would fail. If he slowed, they'd gore him from behind. The adrenaline felt like an inferno in his veins.

At last, through the breaks in the canopy, he spotted the faint glow of torches—the kobolds were still there. Their shouting and guttural chanting drifted on the air, a grim chorus Kaden recognized. His heart hammered. It was good that they were still there.

He barreled through a cluster of shrubs, snapping branches as he burst into the edges of the clearing. Immediately, half a dozen kobold heads turned, eyes narrowing at the spectacle of a battered human sprinting out of the foliage. 

Surprise rippled through them. That second stretched long enough for Kaden to keep going, skidding to one side and hurling himself away from the center.

The thunder of hooves followed him, and then the boars exploded out of the undergrowth.

A cacophony of squeals and snarls filled the clearing. Kobolds yelped in alarm, spears brandished, but the boars had momentum on their side.

The elite boar, leading the charge, slammed headlong into a pair of kobolds, sending them flying. Another boar trampled a third, who shrieked as it vanished beneath hooves. Yet another squealing boar spun around to fend off a panicked kobold's spear, smashing it with a bone-rattling impact.

Kaden moved through the chaos and confusion as he went for the prisoners lying limply on the ground. To his surprise, all three of them were now on their feet, making their escape. "That works too, I guess." 

He had expected them to be unconscious or at least too weak to stand, yet here they were, sprinting away with surprising speed.

His plan had been to rescue them himself, but it seemed they had managed to slip their bonds during the frenzy. Still, two of the kobolds had peeled off from the main cluster, chasing the three humans with vicious snarls.

Kaden quickly lifted a hand, Thorn Whip lashing out in a surge of barbed vines. One kobold let out a strangled cry as the tendrils coiled around its neck, and the other hissed in panic, toppling over. 

He finished them both with quick, ruthless efficiency—two sharp thrusts of his spear.

[Ding! You have killed a kobold warrior.]

[Ding! You have killed a kobold warrior.]

A wave of relief and faint satisfaction flared, but Kaden's focus shifted as he caught the fury in one of the freed captives' eyes. The man, bruises visible on his face and arms, turned to glare at him. "Fool!" he spat, voice dripping with contempt.

Fool? Kaden's brows rose but he ignored the reaction for the time being. However, he did stop running behind them. 

Kaden skidded to a halt, letting the three rescued captives vanish into the forest. If they had enough stamina to sprint away, he wouldn't waste energy chasing after them. 

That left him with a chaotic battlefield full of distracted kobolds and raging boars—the perfect chance to rack up kills without too much risk.

He gripped his spear, heart still pounding from the mad dash. Through the flicker of torchlight, he saw snarling kobolds hopelessly trying to fend off stampeding boars, their once-cohesive ranks torn to pieces by the frenzied herd. Bodies littered the ground—some reptilian, some porcine, all locked in a vicious death dance.

This was precisely what Kaden had set up. And now it was time for the dividends.