Lucas moved first. He darted to the right, aiming for the tall tree. Its trunk was thick enough to give him confidence that the boar wouldn’t be able to uproot it no matter how hard it tried.

  As Lucas ran toward the tree, he spared a glance over his shoulder to check the boar and the distance between them. The beast had already given chase, the pounding of its hooves against the stone ground barely reaching his ears. Still, that one glance reassured him.

  The boar was slower than he had feared. Its movements were powerful but sluggish. Its thick, massive body provided formidable defense, but it also restricted its agility.

  Reaching the trunk, Lucas dropped both the spear and the staff. They were impossible to carry while making his way up and his Veilspace wasn’t big enough to store them inside. He jumped and tried to wrap his arms and legs around the trunk to begin climbing. That proved more difficult than he had expected. The trunk was far too wide, and his hands and feet could barely wrap around it.

  Still, his grip held.

  Lucas began making his way upward. Unfortunately, he would have to climb almost to the top before reaching the branches that promised a steadier position.

  And the boar was not willing to wait.

  Even as it neared the tree, it didn’t slow down. If anything, the snorting and pounding of hooves behind him told Lucas the beast was accelerating. When it reached the trunk, it lowered its head and slammed its snout and tusks into the tree.

  The wood trembled beneath Lucas’s hands.

  His fingers slipped and his legs lost their hold. He fell straight toward the raging boar below, which had already lifted its head to meet him.

  Still in midair, Lucas pulled his knife and drove it into the trunk of the tree.

  His palm burned. Pain shot through his shoulder and back as the blade sank deep into the wood and stopped his fall.

  Lucas grimaced and clenched his teeth but didn’t entertain pain and waste time. The boar was already stepping back, preparing for another charge.

  His left hand reached for the quiver. He needed an arrow to drive into the trunk and use as another foothold.

  When his fingers touched the arrows, he realized how few were left. He grabbed one and swung it at the tree, putting all his strength into the motion. The arrow struck the trunk, but failed to pierce it. His palm burned as it slid down the shaft, and the other end of the arrow tip cut through the side of his hand.

  It had been naive to think he could drive an arrow into solid wood so easily, but the movies he had grown up watching had shaped his expectations more than he realized.

  Lucas released the arrow immediately. The boar was already close to the tree and he needed to steady his position. He wrapped his left arm around the trunk from the other side, tightened his grip on the knife with his right hand, and pressed his face against the bark.

  The impact came a moment later.

  This time it was stronger.

  The entire tree shook violently.

  With the new point of support, Lucas managed to hold his position, but he felt the knife shift slightly in the wood. That alone told him the method was unreliable. The knife was carrying most of his weight. Without it, he wouldn’t have been able to hold himself at all.

  When the shaking stopped, Lucas resumed climbing. He moved as quickly as he could, using his legs to take some of the load whenever he drove the knife higher and pulled himself up after it.

  The higher he climbed, the stronger the tremors from the boar’s impacts felt. But the knife pierced more easily into the wood with each strike, and as the trunk narrowed his grip with his legs and left hand improved.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Reaching the branches took less than a minute, but it felt like hours to Lucas. He now sat on a thick branch, heavily panting as he hugged the tree.

  He decided to catch his breath before shooting at the boar. His aim and pulling strength would improve once his arms and shoulders relaxed a little.

  While Lucas rested, the boar did not.

  It kept charging at the tree, its snout bruised and scraped, yet it showed no signs of exhaustion.

  It shouldn’t be higher than thirty meters… maybe thirty-five at most… Lucas thought as he tried to gauge the distance and decide whether his arrows could pierce the boar’s thick skin.

  Finally, he removed the bow from his back and aimed at the beast.

  As he focused on the target, his vision zoomed and time slowed slightly. Lucas first aimed at the boar’s eye, but quickly adjusted the arrow tip toward its back.

  He wasn’t confident he could hit such a small target as the eye, and with the limited number of arrows he had left he didn’t want to risk missing. Especially when the boar was only the first trial. Two more waves would follow, and if he wasted all his arrows now, he would have nothing left against stronger enemies.

  The first arrow whistled through the air and pierced the boar’s back.

  Barely.

  The beast almost didn’t react, which proved how little damage the shot had caused.

  However, as Lucas nocked another arrow, he noticed the thin trail of blood running from the wound and sliding down the boar’s side.

  As long as he kept shooting, the small wounds would accumulate and the blood loss would slowly weaken the beast.

  He loosed another arrow. Then another. Until only two remained in the quiver and the boar looked like a hedgehog. Its hide was now completely red and it left a trail of blood whenever it moved.

  Twelve arrows remaining, including the ones in his Veilspace. That was why he hesitated.

  Ideally, he would have stayed on the tree and waited for the boar to die from blood loss, but he couldn’t. The longer he stayed, the hungrier he would become, and although sitting on the branch didn’t require much strength, it still didn’t allow him to truly rest.

  What if the next trial began the moment the boar died? What if he had no time to eat or recover?

  No. He couldn’t risk it.

  He considered climbing down and finishing the boar with the spear. The beast was already slowing down. Its stubborn attempts to knock down the tree barely shook the trunk anymore.

  Lucas slung the bow over his shoulder and prepared to climb down.

  Just then the boar stepped back to charge the tree again. But halfway through the motion it collapsed. Its legs failed and the massive body fell onto its belly. It tried to push itself back up, but its knees buckled again.

  That gave Lucas the courage he needed.

  He began descending.

  Even when he reached the ground and crouched to pick up the wooden staff, the boar remained where it had fallen, completely unmoving. Either it failed to notice him or it no longer had the strength to stand.

  Lucas approached slowly, pausing after each step while observing every flinch of the beast's muscles.

  The boar’s brown eyes were open, fixed on him. It was clearly still alive. Lucas could see the heavy rise and fall of its chest, but it made no other sound, not even a grunt of pain.

  As Lucas stepped into range, he suddenly lunged forward and thrust the staff into the boar’s side where he believed the ribs would leave the abdomen exposed.

  The tip pierced the flesh. He felt almost no resistance in his hand.

  [Successfully poisoned Boar! Strength, Dexterity, and Agility reduced by 40%. Duration: 10 seconds.]

  [Spearmanship (Beginner) proficiency increased: 2/10.]

  But the moment his attack landed, the boar countered.

  It failed to stand, yet it still managed to throw its body toward Lucas just far enough to reach him with its jaws.

  Lucas felt the beast’s teeth sink into his left forearm as the boar tore away a large chunk of flesh.

  Had Lucas hesitated, or even tried to pull the staff free, the beast would have managed another lunge. But Lucas reacted faster. He let the staff go and stepped back immediately, widening the distance. His right hand pressed over the open wound as blood poured down his arm.

  Realizing covering the wound wasn’t helping at all, he let go and quickly retrieved a health potion from his Veilspace.

  He drank it in one gulp. The burning pain came immediately as his arm steamed and shimmered green, but it almost felt pleasant compared to the throbbing in his arm.

  When the pain finally subsided and Lucas glanced at the boar, the beast was already dead.

  Only then did he notice the blue windows hovering next to him.

  [You’ve gained 125 Experience Points!]

  [You’ve leveled up!]

  [You’ve leveled up!]

  [You’ve completed the first wave condition: defeat the beast.]

  [The second wave will start in 4:59.]

  The next chapter on Thursday!

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