Terrifying Damage

Without giving it much thought, the two of them decided to engage the boss.

This might have been the first Elite Monster since the game began, but in He Gu's eyes, the Wild Boar Leader before him represented a chance to get rare equipment. He believed they could take it down easily.

It would be at least another hour before night fell completely, so the Wild Boar Leader's attributes wouldn't get any stronger during that time. That was one of the reasons they'd decided to engage it.

He Gu acted without hesitation, charging straight at the Wild Boar Leader. As he ran, he assumed the starting stance for One-Handed Straight Sword.

He Gu was nothing short of a genius. Without having taken part in the Beta Test, he'd learned in just two short days to use his skills in a variety of ways, and to their fullest potential. Wang Yang's rapid progress was largely thanks to He Gu. Even just watching him fight from the sidelines had taught Wang Yang a great deal.

On the first day, He Gu had already learned to judge distances and the direction of his sword thrusts with precision. By the second day, he could use One-Handed Straight Sword while running. Even among Beta Test players, few could likely manage that.

In the dim light, a pale blue Flash streaked across the Wild Boar Leader's massive body, trailing a long afterimage.

The One-Handed Straight Sword skill hit its mark!

A blurred red wound appeared on the Wild Boar Leader's body. Then four Health Bars appeared above its head. The hit from One-Handed Straight Sword had taken only one-tenth of the top bar.

Wang Yang, who had been following behind, ready to help, stopped dead when he saw the Health Bars above the Wild Boar Leader. It wasn't the creature's powerful defense that had startled him, but the four bars above its head.

Only players who had once challenged a Floor Boss knew what four Health Bars meant. They were the distinctive bars reserved for bosses!

Was the Wild Boar Leader before them more than just an Elite Monster? Or did all Elite Monsters in the wild have four Health Bars?

Wang Yang had no time to think it over. An angry roar sounded in his ears.

"Roar!" The sudden attack and pain sent the Wild Boar Leader into a rage, and it let out a beastly roar unlike that of an ordinary boar. Its body stiffened for a moment, but the effect quickly wore off. It spun around and glared at the culprit with blood-red eyes. Then it dug its black front hooves into the grass and charged at He Gu, who was still in Stiff Time.

Wang Yang cursed himself for being an idiot. There was no time to regret it; he could only sprint toward the Wild Boar Leader as fast as he could. But with his Agility where it was, no matter how hard he ran, he couldn't catch up to it.

Thinking that his hesitation had put He Gu in danger made Wang Yang want to slap himself.

Fortunately, two days of hunting had raised He Gu's One-Handed Straight Sword to Lv. 2, shortening the Stiff Time after using the sword skill. That small reduction gave He Gu just enough time to twist his body at the last moment and dodge the Wild Boar Leader's charge, which could have dealt Unknown damage.

Seeing that the Wild Boar Leader hadn't hit He Gu, Wang Yang breathed a sigh of relief and shouted, "I'll hold it off! Take the chance to attack!"

"Okay!" He Gu answered, but kept his eyes on the Wild Boar Leader. The four Health Bars were intimidating, but as long as its attack patterns were much like those of a Frenzied Boar, taking it down was only a matter of time.

The Wild Boar Leader couldn't understand human speech. Its red eyes brimmed with savage fury as it charged at He Gu again, its sharp tusks aimed forward.

Wang Yang ran several steps ahead of He Gu, raised his shield, and focused on the oncoming Wild Boar Leader. He held his breath, his mind utterly focused.

1 second.

0.5 seconds.

Now!

Wang Yang's pupils contracted. He turned sideways and thrust his shield forward with all his strength, driving his not-so-strong body into the two tusks jutting from the Wild Boar Leader's mouth. His bronze round shield slammed hard into its nose.

"Roar!" The Wild Boar Leader let out a piercing cry as its sensitive nose took a heavy blow. It staggered backward several steps, and its first Health Bar dropped by half. The damage from the force of the impact was clear.

He Gu didn't waste the chance. From a distance of one meter, he launched One-Handed Straight Sword again! Another blue Flash streaked past, and the Health Bar above the Wild Boar Leader dropped a little further.

After that round of attacks, the Wild Boar Leader seemed to be in such pain that it shook its head and body, crying out nonstop. Wang Yang and He Gu had plenty of time to retreat and set up for another round.

Whether it had lost its reason to anger or simply lacked a decent AI, after recovering from the pain, the Wild Boar Leader glared at Wang Yang with eyes full of rage and hatred and charged again.

Wang Yang used the same trick, accurately driving himself between the Wild Boar Leader's tusks before slamming his shield into its nose once more. Round after round, the two kept up their assault. Every so often, they even triggered a stun effect, giving He Gu and Wang Yang time for several ordinary attacks.

With Wang Yang and He Gu working together, the Wild Boar Leader's Health Bars were down to just one after twenty minutes.

He Gu's face brightened. He could almost see the Wild Boar Leader falling before them and dropping rare equipment. But Wang Yang wasn't happy at all. Everything seemed far too easy, easy enough to make him uneasy.

But there was no room for distracting thoughts in the middle of a battle. Once the stun wore off, the Wild Boar Leader charged at him again.

Wang Yang immediately pushed aside his unease, raised his shield, and faced the Wild Boar Leader. He began what was probably his umpteenth Shield Bash.

But just as he was about to charge between the Wild Boar Leader's tusks, the creature abruptly went from motion to stillness, stopping dead in its tracks.

"Damn it!" Wang Yang's heart lurched. He couldn't stop his forward momentum in time. A faint red glint flashed in the Wild Boar Leader's eyes, and its sharp tusks shot toward Wang Yang's abdomen.

Pfft!

The tusks easily pierced his thin armor and sank into his abdomen.

Wang Yang's body jolted. The powerful attack sent a wave of pain through his abdomen, making him cry out. In the upper-left corner of his vision, his HP bar was rapidly draining to the left, with no sign of stopping.

Wang Yang watched his HP keep falling. Fear of death surged from his heart to his chest, then up to his throat. Just as it was about to become a second, even more anguished scream, the Wild Boar Leader suddenly roared too and staggered backward. Its sharp tusks slipped out of Wang Yang's abdomen.

As the tusks left his abdomen, the rate at which his HP was dropping slowed. Under Wang Yang's horrified gaze, it finally stopped just beyond the red line that marked death.

6/252

Only 6 HP remained.

Death had been just one step away. Once the danger passed, Wang Yang collapsed onto the grass, extreme fear still etched on his face as he gasped for breath. Even so, he couldn't calm his wildly pounding heart.

He even thought that his heart rate in the real world must have been racing at an unimaginable speed. The moment those tusks pierced his abdomen, he'd truly thought he was going to die.

The courage he'd built up over several hours of hunting Frenzied Boars was shattered by that single thrust.

Meanwhile, to save Wang Yang, He Gu struck the Wild Boar Leader and made it retreat, then ran five meters away to draw it away from Wang Yang.

"One Health Bar left..." Cold sweat beaded across He Gu's forehead. Because they were in a party, he'd clearly seen that Wang Yang's HP had been reduced to a sliver. If He Gu had been even a little later, Wang Yang would already have turned into Fragments.

They'd taken down all four of the Wild Boar Leader's Health Bars without taking any damage, so neither of them had understood how hard it could hit. Now the Wild Boar Leader had given He Gu a shocking lesson.

One hit. Just one hit, and he might die. That realization magnified the pressure on He Gu immensely.

"As long as I don't use a skill, I won't be stuck in Stiff Time. If I can dodge its charges, I can wear it down little by little. There's an hour until nightfall. That should be enough!"

He Gu managed a strained smile as he watched the Wild Boar Leader turn to face him. A trace of regret stirred in his heart.

He'd never imagined a Lv. 2 Elite Monster could hit so hard.

Just then, the Wild Boar Leader charged at He Gu again.