Chapter 25 Elven Druids

"Is this the legendary magical beast? But why is it being hunted by the Wild Boar Men? It doesn't seem to have much combat power..."

Looking at the giant marmot that was surrounded, Leo felt suspicious.

The front hooves of the four wild boars pawed at the ground, grunting, yet they didn't really dare to charge forward. And several Wild Boar Men stood far away, raising crossbows to load and shoot.

However, the marmot's panic wasn't feigned. It covered its head with its front paws, covering its eyes, and mainly focused on not putting up a fight.

The powerful crossbow bolts struck its forehead and then bounced off like pieces of chalk, not even able to knock off a single hair.

Leo was drooling so much that he couldn't help but take out a short spear, ready to "do justice".

Marmots are docile by nature, herbivores, and easy to tame!

In fact, the Wild Boar Men hunting the marmot were even more frustrated than the hunted marmot. Their powerful crossbows could easily shoot and kill wild wolves, snow leopards, and other beasts, and could also seriously injure brown bears, but they couldn't penetrate the defenses of this marmot.

And in close quarters combat, they were completely overpowered. Even a six or seven-hundred-pound one-horned wild boar couldn't move the massive body of the other party, let alone the Wild Boar Men.

With a casual swipe of the giant marmot's claws, a two-hundred-pound Wild Boar Man could be sent flying five meters away, so they simply didn't dare to get close.

But this marmot was really irritating. The antler cassava (a special kind of cassava) planted by the Wild Boar Men on the back mountain was the food for the entire tribe to survive the winter, but this marmot ate it all up in just a few days.

Then it dug a two-mile-long stone tunnel from the opposite side of the cliff just to steal the stored grain in the Wild Boar Men's granary cave.

If you hit it, it would run away, whining and looking extremely aggrieved.

After a few days, it would forget the pain and come back to steal food once more.

The only fortunate thing was that this marmot was too timid and could be said to have almost no aggressiveness.

A Wild Boar Man put down the weapon in his hand, took out a torch and flint, and was going to use fire to teach the impervious marmot a lesson.

Just then, a sharp whooshing sound rang out. A short spear flew out of the forest and accurately pierced its thick neck. The sharp spearhead jutted out from the other side of its neck.

The Wild Boar Man, with a tenacious vitality like that of a wild boar, was also powerless in the face of such a fatal injury. It threw away the torch and flint, covered the bleeding wound with one hand, and tried to yank out the javelin with the other hand.

This movement lasted only one second, and the Wild Boar Man staggered and fell to the ground, twitching as it died.

The remaining three Wild Boar Men were startled and quickly hid behind the big trees, poking out their pig snouts and looking around.

One of the Wild Boar Men made a "yue yue" sound to the one-horned wild boar he had tamed and then pointed in the direction from which the javelin had come.

This one-horned wild boar, which was even larger and more hideous than an ordinary wild boar, immediately charged into the forest where Leo was, sniffing around.

After sniffing a few times, as if it had caught a scent, it then started tracking along one side of the forest.

The Wild Boar Man who was carefully observing his pet to find the enemy saw that his one-horned wild boar actually turned back towards him while walking and immediately became vigilant. His sturdy body quickly shrank back behind the big tree.

It was a pity that it was too late. Another short spear flew from more than twenty meters above and pinned the Wild Boar Man's foot, which he hadn't retracted in time, to the ground.

The Wild Boar Man let out a shrill scream like a pig being slaughtered, raised his hand and shot a crossbow bolt, then forcefully yanked out the short spear and scurried backwards clumsily.

The giant marmot that was being surrounded also noticed the commotion here. It seemed to have found a sense of security and immediately became "fierce". It let out a growl in a cute yet fierce babyish voice, flailing its sharp and curved front paws wildly in the air, forcing the three one-horned wild boars that were surrounding it to retreat continuously.

Caught between the two attacks, the Wild Boar Men panicked. The remaining two Wild Boar Men didn't hesitate any further. One supported the injured companion, and the other dragged the corpse of the dead companion and quickly disappeared into the forest.

Only after the Wild Boar Men disappeared into the forest did Leo climb down from the tree. He greeted the marmot that had "escaped death" with a smile, "Hello there!"

The upright giant marmot bared its big front teeth, then as if it suddenly thought of something, it shouted in panic, "Run!"

After saying that, it took off running. Before Leo could react, the sound of one-horned wild boars came again from the direction the Wild Boar Men had left.

Over a dozen one-horned wild boars squeezed out of the forest, followed by an even larger number of Wild Boar Men crossbowmen.

When he looked back again, the giant marmot had already disappeared into the forest at full speed.

Running all the way to the bank of the Anzerno River and leaving the Wild Boar Men far behind, Leo finally heaved a sigh of relief and slowed down his pace.

There were still two short and thick crossbow bolts stuck in the leather - covered shield on his back. During the previous encounter, the Wild Boar Men launched a rain of arrows from dozens of meters away. Fortunately, they were in the forest. If it were in an open area, a round shield with a diameter of seventy centimeters wouldn't have been able to protect Leo's entire body.

Even so, the sound of the arrows slicing through the air and hitting the trees still made Leo's hair stand on end, and he didn't even dare to turn around and look.

Growing up foraging in the forest since childhood, he had been chased by brown bears and wild boars. Running away was his forte.

He could cross mountains and traverse ridges as if strolling on flat ground. He was truly talented.

Once they ran out of the Wild Boar Men's command range, these stupid creatures quickly slowed down and became indecisive. Then Leo gradually increased the distance and finally managed to break away from the battle.

Sitting on a rock by the river, catching his breath for a while, Leo scanned the surroundings with his eyes. Soon, he saw the giant marmot drinking water with its head down not far upstream.

"Hello there," Leo walked over. To avoid frightening it, he greeted from afar, "My name is Leo. I'm a human."

The giant marmot stood up on its hind legs and curiously sized him up. Then it spoke in a babyish voice with an inherent cute quality, "My name is Freya. I'm an elven druid."

The upright marmot was over three meters tall. Under its short and thick fur was all thick fat, which trembled as it moved.

Leo bravely stepped closer and looked up at this huge creature.

Goodness, it was as big as a sedan. Its weight must be almost two tons, right?

Since it wasn't a magical beast, Leo was a bit disappointed and pursed his lips, "An elf? Do all you elves look like this?"

As is well - known, druids can't be caught as pets, so their rarity is halved.

A flash of irritation appeared in the marmot's eyes. It turned its body ninety degrees and plopped onto the ground, not looking at Leo.

It grumbled, "I'm an elven druid. This is my giant bear form!"

"Are you sure it's a giant bear?" Leo asked in disbelief.

"I! Am! A Giant Bear!" Freya repeated viciously, enunciating each word.

"Alright, an elf druid in giant bear form, where's your home? Do you want me to send you back?" Leo of course didn't want to anger her and quickly tried to ingratiate himself.

Hearing this, Freya struggled to raise her head and looked at the distant waterfall. With a desolate expression, she said, "I can't go back."

Under Leo's gaze, the marmot seemed to want to say something but held back, as if she didn't want to bring it up.

Was it some sad and unutterable past?

Sure enough, the backstories of the NPCs are usually quite tragic.

Leo stood on his tiptoes and stroked the smooth fur on Freya's back, comforting her, "Then come to my place! I'll treat you to something delicious!"

Whether she was an elf, a giant bear, or a talking marmot, he'd lure her back first!

Freya suddenly spun around, as agile as a mouse, her eyes glinting.

"What delicious food?!"