Chapter 27

The boar lumbered out from between the trees, its hulking frame shaking droplets of swamp water from its bristles. The creature had no idea it was being watched.

Its body was thick with muscle, every step landing with a wet, heavy thud. Dark fur clung to its sides, matted and wild. Sharp bones protruded out from along its back–a stark reminder that this was no ordinary boar. Its eyes glowed red in the night.

A sharpened bone fang—the tip of a mighty spear—emerged from the dead of darkness. The thrust of the spear cut through the sounds of night. Its movement was the first thing the boar sensed.

Its eyes widened, its head perking towards the incoming attack.

Green energy swirled around the tip of the spear, lighting up like a fire in the night.

It all happened so fast, the boar had no time to react. The blade with its toxic green energy plunged through its hide and into its flesh.

The spear pulled out leaving a leaking hole of blood in the boar. More than that, pockmarking the blackened disfigured flesh were glowing dots of bright green. Venom—spreading, corrupting, and destroying the body to which it found itself.

The boar cried out in anger and turned in the darkness to where the spear had come from.

It kicked its hooves and started to charge forward, leaning its head down so that the bones that protruded out from it could stab back at whatever was attacking him.

The boar charged into the darkness only to find empty air and patches of reeds. No enemy in sight.

Pain erupted in its back as more spear attacks plunged into its skin.

Blood drained from the boar even quicker now. The poison raced through its rapidly dying system.

It turned back around—hoping to get a bite, a slash, something against this unknown enemy.

Yet, in the end, the boar turned around only to collapse into the shallow marsh water.

Its vision faded as a man clad with the skull of a lizard stepped forth out of the darkness, holding a spear within his grip. The last thing it saw was the spear-wielding monster’s grin flash in the darkness.

* * *

Rob grinned at the messages that appeared in his retina.

He had spent the last few hours of the evening, carefully hunting across the marshland. He made sure to never go too far from the basecamp where Logan and Sally were sleeping.

He didn’t want to leave them unprotected, and he also didn’t want to venture too far in the marshland in the middle of the night. He would leave the heavy exploration for during the day.

Even with those restrictions, he had managed to accomplish quite a bit. He had discovered at least two types of monsters that lived in the marshland: Marsh Boars and Mire Leeches. He managed to kill a bunch, the culmination of which was the level up to both his class and race.

He also spent part of the evening testing out the other abilities he’d acquired from his battle with the warrior goons from earlier that night. It turned out the axe-wielding warrior had chosen a skill called Combat Breathing. It allowed one to stay calm and focused during battle.

Rob could see it being particularly useful in emergency situations, or going up against surprise encounters—moments where one’s adrenaline and sense of panic could overtake one’s ability to think clearly. It was useful, albeit a bit more reactive than what Rob wanted in his own arsenal.

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author’s preferred platform and support their work!

He then tested Kinetic Sense, which was much more useful. It was both similar and yet vastly different to Battle Instinct.

Battle Instinct showed him his enemy’s weak spots, whereas Kinetic Sense gave him a slight intuition of where the enemy might move or strike next. It was a handy skill, but Rob believed with enough training, fighting knowledge, and a high enough Perception stat, he’d be able to achieve the same thing that Kinetic Sense provided. Perhaps something even better.

The third warrior’s level 5 skill had been Adrenal Rush. Rob was curious to see how it differed from his Lizard Armor’s Instinctual Burst bonus ability, but to test the ability, it required him to lose 75% of his Health points. He figured he would wait until a healer like Sally was at hand before experimenting with that one.

Rob looked up at the night sky. The stars twinkled over the marshland.

There is beauty here on this island, Rob thought to himself. Beauty amidst the violence and bloodshed.

Rob crouched down and looted the Marsh Boar before him, gathering an assortment of bones, furs, and hides from the beast. His backpack could barely fit anymore after his evening of hunting.

It was time to take a break from killing monsters and do Rob’s next favorite thing.

Crafting.

Rob returned to the campsite and found Sally and Logan were still sleeping and resting.