Requesting Reinforcements

Facing the charging might of the massive boar, even Ryman found his palms sweating. But drawing on past experience, he knew he couldn't panic now, much less turn and flee—a man's speed was no match for a boar's, and he'd be caught sooner or later, likely meeting his end then.

His only chance was to use the terrain to halt the boar's charge, then deal with it slowly.

Ryman's eyes locked onto the charging boar, every muscle in his body taut, coiled and ready.

In that instant when the boar reached him, its remaining eye revealed a hint of human-like emotion, as if cruelty mingled with the thrill of imminent vengeance. But just then, the figure before it vanished, leaving only the thick tree trunk behind.

It turned out that from the moment the boar charged at him, Ryman had decided to use the tree behind him to break the boar's momentum.

At the critical moment, Ryman ducked low, pushed off with his legs, and rolled to the right. The boar, unable to stop its charge, slammed headfirst into the tree.

Boom!

The tree, thick as a man's embrace, shook violently as countless leaves drifted slowly down from above. Beneath it lay the fallen boar, shattering the peaceful scene—its skull cracked open, only its limbs twitching fiercely on the ground.

After rolling over, Ryman didn't bother checking the boar's condition. Seizing the opportunity, he drew the longsword at his waist and lunged at it.

The blade aimed for the boar's neck—a single cut to the throat, blood spraying everywhere. Seeing the boar beneath him unable to fight back, Ryman collapsed to the ground. Though the exertion was minimal, the whole exchange happening in an instant, he felt as if he'd walked the line between life and death, his mind and body exhausted.

The three sows, who had been watching from a distance, saw the big boar fall and immediately fled with their piglets into the distance.

The others gathered around Ryman, looking at the scene with lingering fear. Any one of them, faced with such a situation, would likely have come to a bad end.

No one had expected that their arrows couldn't stop the boar's charge. Its thick hide and fat completely neutralized the arrowheads' lethality, and from afar, the boar hadn't seemed so massive—now it looked at least a couple of sizes larger than the burly Ryman.

"Are you alright, Ryman? That was a close call."

"I'm fine, Lord Nord. We misjudged the situation too. I didn't expect this boar to be so huge. If the three sows hadn't charged with the big boar to protect their young, we all might have ended up here."

Hearing this, everyone broke out in a cold sweat. Looking at the fallen boar, its head had taken two heavy blows, especially the last one—white brain matter was already oozing out. Even if Ryman hadn't finished it off, the big boar probably couldn't have gotten up again.

Even the tree the boar had hit seemed tilted, its roots on one side protruding from the ground. A tree that took a man to wrap his arms around, smashed like this—if it had hit a person, they'd have died on the spot.

Everyone couldn't help but admire Ryman. Keeping such a cool head in that situation, and having the courage to make such a decisive move—truly extraordinary.

"Ryman, can we still chase the remaining boars?"

"Lord Nord, with just our numbers, it's probably not enough. We could catch up to them now, but this big boar needs two or three people to watch, and we can't leave it here."

"Then send two or three men to carry the big boar back to the village and call for reinforcements. We'll wait here."

There were only eight people on site. Nord and Reed had no combat ability in the woods, so the rest couldn't handle the remaining boars. Calling for backup was the best choice.

"Can we catch them alive? I still have use for those piglets."

"Catching them alive won't be easy. We'll have to see how it goes. Better bring some rope and be prepared."

Nord nodded. If they had enough hands, he'd still like to catch the remaining boars and see if they could be brought back to raise. After all, pig farming was a path to wealth, and pork was so expensive these days...

Ryman had three hunters carry the big boar back to the village. The rest stayed to rest. Even Ryman hadn't expected today to be so dangerous. Usually, there was no real threat around here, so he hadn't brought many people. He never thought his luck would be so good—or bad—as to run into a whole herd of boars.

But then again, on normal days, if two or three men went hunting and met a big herd, they wouldn't dare provoke them. Ryman calmed himself and waited for the villagers to arrive.

Meanwhile, the three hunters encountered no danger and made it back to the village smoothly.

Since they'd gone some distance into the mountains, they returned from the north side of the village, passing right by the manor construction site. The working villagers saw the three hunters carrying such a huge boar back and immediately erupted in excitement.

"Wow, a boar this big—must be a Boar King, right?"

"With that much boar meat, I could eat for half a month."

"The last time someone caught prey this big was when Ryman hunted the Giant Bear. I bet this big boar was Ryman's kill too—no one else has the skill."

Colin and Abel pushed through the crowd, stepped forward, and asked about the situation. Learning that no one was hurt, they both breathed a sigh of relief. They exchanged a glance, Colin nodded at Abel, and called Marco out from the crowd.

"Marco, go to the village and gather the rest of Lord Nord's guards. Also, call up some of the strong young men from the village and lead them into the mountains to help Ryman."

"Got it, Chief."

Marco stepped out of the crowd. He hadn't followed Nord into the mountains today—first, because Ryman thought there was no danger and didn't need too many people, and second, because Ryman had asked Marco to prepare for expanding the guard.

Marco never expected he'd still get a chance to go into the mountains. He'd been discussing with Chief Colin about young villagers joining the guard when this happened. Perfect timing—he could bring the young men who were planning to enlist and let Nord see if they were suitable.

Watching Marco go to gather people, Colin turned to the three returning hunters.

"Does Lord Nord or Ryman have any other requests?"

"Oh, right, Captain Ryman said to bring some rope. Lord Nord seems to want to catch the remaining boars alive."

Rope? Catch them alive? Colin didn't understand what Nord was planning, but he followed their instructions. Remembering he had some hemp rope in his own warehouse, he told Steward Abel and headed home to get it.

Steward Abel instructed the remaining villagers to continue working. As they worked, they kept glancing at the big boar, chattering away.