Requesting Reinforcements

Facing the charging boar's overwhelming momentum, even Ryman's palms were sweating. But drawing on his past experience, he knew he could not panic now, much less turn and run. A human could never outrun a boar; sooner or later, it would catch up, and then death would be almost unavoidable.

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

Ryman fixed his eyes tightly on the charging boar. Every muscle in his body was taut, primed to strike.

At the instant the boar reached Ryman, its one remaining eye revealed an almost human expression. Amid its savagery was the thrill of finally avenging its grudge. Yet in that very instant, the figure before it vanished, leaving only the thick tree trunk behind him.

As it turned out, the moment the boar began charging at Ryman, he had already decided to use the tree behind him to break its momentum.

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

Bang!

The tree, so thick that one person could barely wrap their arms around it, shook violently. Countless leaves drifted slowly down from above, while beneath the tree lay the fallen boar, ruining the beauty of the scene. Its entire skull had cracked open, and as it lay there, only its limbs still twitched violently.

After rolling away, Ryman did not stop to inspect the boar's condition. Seizing the opportunity, he drew the longsword at his waist and lunged at it.

He aimed the longsword at the boar's throat and killed it with a single slash. Blood sprayed everywhere. Seeing that the boar beneath him could no longer resist, Ryman collapsed to the ground as well. Though the exertion had been minimal and everything had happened in an instant, he felt as if he had walked the line between life and death, leaving him mentally exhausted.

Seeing the huge boar fall, the three sows that had been watching immediately fled into the distance with their piglets.

The others came to Ryman's side. Seeing the scene before them, they were all shaken with lingering fear. If any one of them had faced such a situation, they likely would have met a grim end.

No one had expected their arrows to fail to stop the boar's charge. Its thick hide and fat had completely absorbed the arrows' killing power. From a distance, its size had not seemed quite so astonishing, but now it looked more than a size or two larger than the sturdy Ryman.

"Are you all right, Ryman? That was truly dangerous."

"I'm fine, Lord Nord. We misjudged the situation too. We never expected this boar to be so huge. If the three sows hadn't charged alongside the big boar to protect their young, all of us might have died here."

The others broke out in cold sweat upon hearing that. Looking at the fallen boar, they saw that its head had suffered two heavy blows. Especially after the final impact, white brain matter was already leaking from its skull. Even if Ryman had not finished it off, the boar likely would have found it difficult to stand again.

Even the tree the boar had struck appeared slightly tilted, with roots on one side pushed out of the ground. This was a tree that took one person to wrap their arms around, yet it had been battered into such a state. If it had hit a person, they would probably have died on the spot.

The others could not help but admire Ryman. He had remained so calm in such a situation, and he had possessed the courage to make such a decisive choice. He truly was no ordinary man.

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

"Lord Nord, I'm afraid we don't have enough men. We can catch up to that herd now, but this big boar alone will require two or three people to guard it. We can't just leave it here."

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

There were only eight people in total. Nord and Reed had little combat ability in the mountains, so the remaining men truly were not enough to deal with the other boars. Going back for help was the best option.

"Can we capture them alive? Those piglets will be useful to me."

"Capturing them alive won't be easy. We'll have to see how things go. We should bring some ropes and be prepared."

Nord nodded. If they had enough manpower, he still wanted to capture the remaining boars and see whether they could bring them back to raise. After all, raising pigs was also a path to prosperity, and pork was so expensive now...

Ryman had three hunters carry the big boar back to the village while the rest rested where they were. Even Ryman had not expected things to become so dangerous today. Usually, there was little danger in this area, so he had not brought many people. Who would have thought his luck would be so good today that they would encounter such a large herd of boars?

But then again, when two or three people normally entered the mountains to hunt and encountered a large herd of boars, they would not dare provoke them. Ryman calmed himself and slowly waited for the villagers to arrive.

Meanwhile, the three hunters encountered no danger and returned smoothly to the village.

Since they had traveled some distance into the mountains, they approached the village from the north. They happened to pass the construction site of the manor, and the villagers working there caused an immediate stir when they saw the three hunters carrying back such an enormous boar.

"Good heavens, that's such a huge boar. It must be a Boar King, right?"

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

"The last time we caught prey that large was the giant bear Ryman hunted. I'd say this big boar was hunted by Ryman too. No one else has that kind of ability."

Colin and Abel pushed through the crowd and stepped forward to ask what had happened. Once they learned that no one had been injured, both let out a sigh of relief. They exchanged a glance, and Colin nodded at Abel before calling Marco out from the crowd.

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

"Don't worry, Village Chief."

Marco stepped out of the crowd. He had not accompanied Nord into the mountains today. First, Ryman had believed there would be no danger and that there was no need to bring too many people. Second, Ryman had asked Marco to prepare for expanding the guard force.

Marco had never imagined he would get another chance to enter the mountains. He had been discussing with Village Chief Colin the matter of young people from the village joining the guard force, and this incident happened to come up. It was the perfect opportunity to bring along the young men who intended to join and let Nord see whether they were suitable.

Seeing that Marco had already gone to gather men, Colin turned to the three hunters who had returned.

"Did Lord Nord and Ryman make any other requests?"

"Oh, right. Captain Ryman said to bring some ropes too. Lord Nord seems to want to capture the remaining boars alive."

Ropes? Capture them alive? Colin did not understand what Nord and the others were planning, but he still followed their instructions. Remembering that there was some hemp rope in his family's storehouse, he informed Steward Abel and returned home to fetch it.

Steward Abel instructed the remaining villagers to continue working. Yet even as they worked, the villagers kept glancing at the huge boar from time to time, their mouths buzzing with discussion.