Chapter 8: [Boar Battle]
Having access to ground cover was going to be my saving grace. The boar was powerful but seemed to have very low observation skills. It didn't notice the movements in the underbrush as I crawled through. From so low to the ground, the delicate ferns were rather pretty. What gave them the blue phosphorus? I bet they got nourishment from a carpet of dead demon remains. It was hard not to be a messy eater.
As long as the demon focused its attention on killing me, It trapped me out of my domain. I hated that. The entire point of going out into the chasm was to get quick kills and retreat to safety whenever possible. Now I was stuck in combat with a demon much stronger than I was.
Its back would be the most vulnerable, but I couldn't get around to it. It was too far and I would have to circle too wide. I'd have to attack it during the charge. What a bad idea.
[Your planning has rewards. Beginners' Foresight increased in ability.]
Even the system was sure I'd take a tusk to the underbelly. My life would spill out onto the ground just like the pigmans had.
But my choices were slim.
I pulled myself out of the safety of the brush and shrieked as loud as I could muster. Anything that wanted to interrupt our battle would be welcome. The enemy of my enemy was my friend after all.
The Boar roared back in response, a deep echoing sounds much stronger than my own. I could see that it was readying a charge. The cracks between is skin widened as muscles coiled. Its breath was so hot it steamed the air of the crevasse. Short regular pants.
It was off.
I leapt to the side, doing my best to turn in the air. Before I'd even hit the ground I was preparing another leap. The boar charged on, banking into my new direction. Its forward momentum made the turn wide and as I landed I was able to launch again straight for its back.
The reward of a deep slice into its flesh was short lived. Its momentum and my own had caused me to overshoot my target.
[You have poisoned Lesser Charging Boar Beastman]
Small mercies, but I had a very big problem. The boar and I were in reach of each other. One hook from the tusk and even if the poison worked I'd never live to see it.
The boar seemed to like this idea. It rounded on me and cut its head to the side aiming the point for the open flesh of my side. I did my best to leap back, but I wasn't fast enough. It missed my core, but it caught the bony part of my arm and dragged it with a sickening pop.
[Health -8]
[You have a debilitating injury. Left shoulder Dislocated. Restorations from level up disabled until addressed.]
Pain resistance did nothing as I screamed through the white hot agony. Only the tough sinews holding my skin to the bone prevented a tear right through. The hit sent my lighter frame tumbling back towards the cliff wall.
My health was as tattered as my body, sitting in the single digits. The Boar didn't even look phased by the poison. The wound I inflicted on it earlier had torn even wider from its attack. The boar seemed to not realize. If it had poison resistance, it could already have recovered, leaving me hopeless.
It readied another charge, blood streaming over its arm like a crimson gauntlet. With the orange glow from the fissure behind it and the red of the tunnel entrances it looked like a true Demon.
It looked like my death.
As it readied its charge I weighed my options and found I had none. My left arm hung motionless, a constant piercing throb. Blood had pooled inside the arm, deep black and red bruising blossoming like a fungus. Each breath I heaved out had a soft, wet quality. The skin around the join had pulled so thin it was white.
If I even attempted to leap again the arm would tear right off.
I had no interest in dying of blood loss to my own hubris. If this was my last stand, I'd gut that pig with everything I had. I wanted its victory to be hollow. It would die before It had the pleasure of eating my corpse.
Even standing was becoming a labor as I raised myself as high as I could. I wanted it to have to look me in the eye as it charged.
Charge it did, head high and roaring towards me. The splitting gash had spread down the side of its neck onto its chest. Some tendons had even separated. Had the venom corroded them? The boar was closing the distance but time seemed so slow.
If I could time it right...
[Your observation has rewards. Beginners Observation has increased in ability.]
[Your planning has rewards. Beginners Foresight has increased in ability.]
System, I hope you were happy we were going to die together.
When I could see myself in the reflection of the beast's eyes I dropped as flat as I was able. In desperation I thrust my good arm into its path. Its momentum carried it over me, head too high to land its killing blow. My stinger raked through its belly, its own weight acting against it. The pain of moving wracked through me and I dropped my arm too early. The boar was going to live.
It screamed. A wild, high human sound. Its momentum had carried it well past me and it turned again. There would be no final attempt to survive. Both my arms hung now, shaking in exhaustion. I had little stamina left.
The boar dug deep into the ground with its front arms, neck swelling as it forced its head down. The seams of its skin coursed open. It felt no pain, I thought, only rage. It wouldn't miss again. I had misjudged everything.
It charged and I closed my eyes, a coward in my last moments. I had wanted to meet death face to face but I'd seen it eye to eye and it was terrible.
The pounding of the earth from its weight thundered through me as it came forward. Louder and louder until it culminated in a great crash.
[Fatal Damage done to Lesser Charging Boar Beastman]
[Experience Gained]
[Soul +25]
[Black Soul +1]
[Title Unlocked: Eye of Keres]
[You have gained a new level. Received 7 unspent ability points]
[You have gained a new level. Received 8 unspent ability points]
[Level recovery delayed by debilitating injury]
[Connection with Domain restored]
[Rites system unlocked]
[Status: Injured]
The poison had found its heart.
The venom had worked.
I couldn't stop the shaking as I opened my eyes to see the black and bloody corpse of the board demon. It made a heap a few feet in front of me, ground in heavy tears where its body had given up on it. It seemed more massive dead than alive. Its eyes still looked into mine, unblinking and full of rage. What a terrible existence.
Feeble from pain, exhaustion, and hunger I crawled over to the body and began to eat. The scabbed char of its outer flesh and the sweet copper of blood overwhelmed me. Its ribs collapsed under my maw and I kept tearing in deeper and deeper. Long after I was full I crunched and ground into its hard tendons, hooves and bone. I desired to have no evidence of the existence of this demon that had killed me in everything but truth.
[New Organ Available: Shattered Skin of Wrath]
Only its head remained when I had to give up in exhaustion, mad and hateful eyes still gazing back. It was like wrath alone could restore it to life. Dragging my useless arm and the severed head I made my way back to my domain. The head I set up in the far alcove of the dominion. Part of me wanted to believe it could still see, a trophy to my victory. If there was suffering after hell I had no pity.
Holding my dislocated arm to its socket, I smashed it against the wall of my domain. Each strike was a flash of white fire. I made no effort to contain my screams.
[Your suffering has rewards. Beginners Pain Resistance has increased in ability.]
Again and again I smashed against the wall, my tough hide the only thing saving me from the rough stone. Finally, with a sickening pop deep within my marrow it set into place. My skin no longer felt distended to the point of bursting. My breath came only in short bursts as I recovered from the pain.
[Debilitating injury treatment was a success. Delayed level restoration will ensue after rest in the domain.]
Exhausted and in pain, I curled up under the gaze of my dead enemy and fell to sleep.
[Your actions have brought the attention of a higher demon]
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone