The Cruelty

The first twenty minutes of fighting the Wild Boar Leader had taught He Gu that it only had one attack pattern: charging. That was its trump card, but also its weakness.

Exploit that weakness, then take it down!

The thought flashed through He Gu's mind, and his expression grew serious. He planned to fight like a bullfighter, dodging and landing a blow each time. If all went well, the Wild Boar Leader wouldn't hit him, and he could slowly wear it down.

With his mind made up, He Gu stared at the charging Wild Boar Leader, judging the right distance to dodge. Then, the sight before him made his pupils shrink to pinpoints.

The Wild Boar Leader was charging from a few meters away, and its vicious tusks, jutting from its mouth, were glowing red—the same glow that appeared when someone used a sword skill.

"N-no way..." He Gu took a step back. A possibility occurred to him, and fear suddenly welled up inside him.

The Wild Boar Leader's next move confirmed the unbelievable possibility He Gu had dreaded.

It was using the One-Handed Straight Sword technique while running!

How could a monster use a skill technique that He Gu had figured out on his own?

As the fearful thought surfaced, the Wild Boar Leader shot forward like a blazing meteor streaking across the night sky, giving him no time to react. Its glowing tusks crossed the two-meter gap in an instant and pierced his chest.

A brief flash of pain made He Gu cry out as his HP plummeted. He knew that if he didn't get away from the tusks at once, he'd die. Gritting his teeth, he viciously raised his sword and plunged it into the Wild Boar Leader's right eye as he slid past.

"Roar!"

With its vulnerable eye pierced, the Wild Boar Leader thrashed its head wildly and flung He Gu several meters away, onto the grass.

At the same time, a third of its Health Bar disappeared.

But He Gu still had 10 HP after landing on the grass. If he hadn't put some of his optional level-up points into Fortitude, he'd already be dead. And if he hadn't chosen Fortitude as his second skill, his critically low HP would have left him paralyzed, with nothing to do but wait for death.

Even so, the danger remained.

There was no way out. How could he possibly kill an Elite Monster that could use the One-Handed Straight Sword while running?

He Gu got up from the grass. If his HP dropped by more than half again, he'd be paralyzed, and death would be all that awaited him. That was the one small mercy in his situation.

But right now, all he felt was despair. He glanced at Xiang Kong, lying some distance away, and a thought suddenly came to him.

He could draw the Wild Boar Leader's attention to Xiang Kong, then use the chance to escape! The selfish thought startled He Gu as soon as it came to him.

How could he think that? Only a beast would do something like that!

"Damn it! Better one of us dies than both of us!" He Gu ground out through clenched teeth. Having made his decision, he turned and ran.

But he ran in the opposite direction from Xiang Kong.

He intended to lure the Wild Boar Leader far away. At least if he died, Xiang Kong might survive.

Seeing what He Gu was doing, how could Xiang Kong fail to understand that he was sacrificing himself to keep him safe?

Wang Yang had also seen the Wild Boar Leader use the One-Handed Straight Sword while running. He, too, had been overcome with despair, but he hadn't expected He Gu to do this for someone he'd known for less than a day.

Online games had exposed Wang Yang to all kinds of players showing their true colors, as well as countless swindlers. He'd learned not to trust other players easily. Yet in a game where death was real, He Gu's actions shook him to the core.

In that moment, he forgot his fear of death. He knew that if he turned and ran without a second thought, he'd never be able to forgive himself.

Only after getting out of the Wild Boar Leader's range did Wang Yang's HP recover by a mere 10 points, but that was enough. It was enough for him to move again.

He pushed himself up from the grass and chased after the Wild Boar Leader. He hadn't run far when he saw the tusks of the monster pursuing He Gu glow red again.

"Watch out!" Seeing this, Wang Yang screamed, his eyes nearly splitting with anguish.

But it was too late. A streak of red light shot through the air like a meteor and sent He Gu flying as he ran. There was a sound like shattering glass, and Wang Yang saw He Gu, flying away with his back turned toward him, burst into fragments midair.

A living person had just died before his eyes. The bright future they'd imagined together over the past few hours vanished into nothingness along with those scattering fragments.

In the end... this was a cruel world.

Wang Yang's eyes reddened as he stared at the Wild Boar Leader, grief and hatred surging through him. He had only one thought.

Kill it, and avenge He Gu!

Anyone willing to fight over who got to use a basketball court had a bit of fire in them. But under the threat of death, that fire was suppressed. It only surfaced when something pushed them to stop caring about death.

After killing He Gu, the Wild Boar Leader immediately shifted its attention to Wang Yang. Hatred flashed in its one intact, blood-red eye, and then it charged at him.

As it ran, its sharp tusks, each as long as an adult's arm, glowed red again!

Wang Yang, however, charged straight toward the Wild Boar Leader, which was about to use Straight Stab. His anger hadn't clouded his judgment. He knew that once the One-Handed Straight Sword skill was used, its trajectory couldn't be changed and it couldn't be stopped. It would force the user forward two meters.

In other words, the Wild Boar Leader would launch its Straight Stab from two meters away. If he took advantage of that, he'd have a much better chance of blocking it.

The man and the boar charged toward each other. One blazed like a meteor; the other glimmered like a faint firefly.

A cloaked figure approaching from afar watched the scene. Beneath the brim of her hood, her clear eyes showed a trace of guilt. She almost believed that the firefly, unable to match the meteor, was about to die.

"Die!" Having judged the two-meter distance, Wang Yang's eyes suddenly widened. He let out a roar that rang across the plains and slammed his shield into empty space.

As if the scene had been carefully staged, the Wild Boar Leader used Straight Stab at the exact moment Wang Yang swung his shield, charging two meters forward and straight into it. Wang Yang still managed to drive himself into the space between its two tusks.

The effect of Guard Skill showed itself at that moment.

The skill's ability to withstand the force of the charge left Wang Yang completely unharmed. By contrast, the Wild Boar Leader's HP dropped below half, and it was knocked back a meter, leaving it stunned.

After using Guard Skill to stun the Wild Boar Leader, Wang Yang immediately assumed the starting stance for One-Handed Straight Sword. This was a rare opportunity. There was no guarantee that the Wild Boar Leader would abandon its newly learned running skill after taking a hit. If it didn't, Wang Yang would have no chance to turn things around.

Either the Wild Boar Leader died, or Wang Yang died after using his skill and falling into its recovery period.

"Die!"

With another roar, the little sword in Wang Yang's hand glowed blue. Rather than aiming to pass by the Wild Boar Leader, he targeted both its eyes, hoping to kill it with a single strike.

Thrust!

The blade plunged into the Wild Boar Leader's eyes, and the HP bar showing its remaining health slowly emptied.

Bang!

Unlike the sound effect that played when a player died, it sounded like a firecracker—a short, dull pop. The Wild Boar Leader's body suddenly burst into countless fragments.

A golden light flashed across Wang Yang, signaling that he had leveled up. Right after, a purple menu displaying a long list of items appeared before him.

At the same time, a system notification informed him that the Basic Sword Skill, One-Handed Straight Stab, had reached Lv. 2...

Wang Yang didn't react at all. He simply tilted his head toward the dim horizon, his expression blank.

This should have been a moment of triumphant celebration. All that remained was grief.

"Impressive!"

A clear, pleasant voice came from the left. Wang Yang's dim eyes turned toward it, and he saw a girl in a cloak, about 1.5 meters tall, walking toward him.

In the dimming light, the brim of her hood hid her face in shadow. Wang Yang couldn't see what she looked like and could only tell from her voice that she was a girl.

"I was worried you'd die, but I didn't expect you to take down the Wild Boar Leader all by yourself. You must be a Beta Test player. Still, as far as I know, no one at this stage has managed to kill a Wild Boar Leader without using a Beast Trap." There seemed to be a hint of lingering fear in the cloaked girl's voice, along with astonishment.

Wang Yang only looked silently at the cloaked girl, his eyes like still water.

With night approaching and the light fading, the cloaked girl hadn't noticed that anything was wrong with Wang Yang. Instead, she spoke in a slightly pleading tone. "Since you're a Beta Test player, you should know that a Wild Boar Leader only appears after a player accepts the quest, and the quest item it drops is unique. So I need the quest item the Wild Boar Leader dropped. Of course, I won't expect you to give it to me for free. I don't have a single Kael on me right now, but I swear in the name of Argo of the Rat that if you give me the quest item, I'll provide you with any information you need, free of charge."

When she finished, she looked at Wang Yang expectantly. She didn't notice that her words had caused a sharp glint to flash suddenly in his lifeless eyes.