Cassian generated an ice structure—the size of a cushion, dense and solid like frozen crystal—between her and the charging boar.
CRASH.
The boar shattered it like fragile glass, fragments exploding in all directions, glittering briefly before melting on the damp grass.
But it had been enough. Cassian rolled to the side, feeling the air vibrate as the charge missed by inches, leaving a trail of churned earth in its wake.
It’s like facing a mini tank, she thought.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the wolf—still being chased by the bone-helmeted creature—get slammed again, rolling pathetically through the tall, dew-soaked grass.
We’re in the same tough spot, buddy. I feel for you, she mused.
The boar turned, pawing the ground with its massive hooves, kicking up clumps of black soil. Then it charged again.
Cassian waited. Waited. Now.
She jumped.
Over the boar, her blonde hair flowing behind her like a rippling banner in the cool night wind.
She landed gracefully, turning around.
The boar stared at her, clearly surprised, its porcine eyes narrowed in an almost comical expression. How did this weird elf just jump over me?
It charged again, more furious, its muscles bunching under its thick skin.
Cassian jumped again, landing with a light exhale.
The boar stopped, its porcine eyes showing something like confusion, its nostrils flaring as it sniffed the air.
Okay. New plan.
It backed up, building momentum. Lots of momentum, its hooves pounding the ground like a war drum.
Then it charged at full speed, the earth shaking under its weight.
Cassian was starting to get used to the rhythm, her breathing steady despite the growing fatigue. I can do this. I can impale it.
She focused her mana, forming a sharp ice spear that shot up from the ground—right in the boar’s path.
The boar saw it. Veered slightly, dodging just in time.
Shit.
Second spear, rising like a frozen needle. Third, longer and sharper.
The boar dodged them all, pivoting with surprising agility.
It’s not fast enough. And predicting the movements of a target this quick is…
And the farther away, the more mana it consumes.
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SLAM.
The wolf was thrown into the air for the umpteenth time, landing in a thorny bush with a crack of branches.
Poor guy, she thought with a grimace.
Cassian looked away for a fraction of a second—glancing toward the grave.
And froze.
Two boars. Two more boars, their snouts actively rooting through the freshly churned soil, kicking up clouds of dirt.
“NO!”
She ran toward them, abandoning the first boar, her feet pounding the grass with urgency.
One of the two fled immediately, vanishing into the shadows. The other—braver or stupider—charged straight at her.
Perfect.
Cassian formed an ice spear right in front of her. Short. Fast.
The boar, too confident in its charge, didn’t see it in time, its momentum carrying it inexorably forward.
SCHLICK.
The tip pierced its chest with a wet sound, the momentum impaling it fully on the spear that cracked under the weight.
It collapsed, twitching once before going still, its breath fading in a rattle.
Cassian smiled faintly, wiping a bead of sweat from her forehead. It works. I’m getting better at generating them quickly.
The best would be if they don’t see them at all until it’s too late.
She turned back to the first boar—still there, pawing the ground.
Then she saw.
In the distance. At the edge of the clearing.
A group. A group of boars. Easily a dozen.
Her smile vanished instantly.
“Why are there so many?!”
---
Morning arrived with golden light filtering through the branches of the massive tree.
The beautiful woman returned, walking lightly along the path.
Then she stopped short.
What she saw… wasn’t a grave.
It was a battlefield.
Churned earth everywhere. Shards of broken ice scattered. Blood—lots of blood—staining the grass. And bodies. Several boar carcasses lay in twisted positions.
“What the…”
Cassian appeared, walking slowly, dragging her feet. Her face was pale with exhaustion.
“It wasn’t robbers,” she said in a monotone voice. “It was boars. I managed to scare them off.”
The woman blinked. “Boars?”
“Yeah. Lots of boars.” Cassian yawned. “Like, really a lot.”
The woman rushed to her grandfather’s grave.
And screamed.
The grave was gutted. Completely. The soil torn away, dug deep. And inside…
Boar shit. Lots of shit. Accompanied by partially gnawed bones.
“NO!” The woman fell to her knees. “NO NO NO! GRANDPA!”
She turned to Cassian, her face twisted in horror. “WHAT HAPPENED?! WHY IS MY GRANDPA IN THIS STATE?!”
Cassian scratched her head, uncomfortable. “I did my best. But there were really too many. They were… determined.”
“DETERMINED?!”
“Listen,” Cassian tried to sound comforting, “at least your grandpa can serve as top-quality fertilizer for the tree he loved so much. It’s… ecological?”
The woman’s face turned red. “YOU… YOU… INCOMPETENT! USELESS!”
“Useless? That’s a bit much…”
“GET OUT OF HERE! NOW!”
---
“I failed the quest.”
Cassian was sitting on the edge of a small stone bridge spanning a stream. Lena and Lucia were beside her, exchanging perplexed looks.
“My client wasn’t satisfied,” Cassian continued in a flat voice. “I didn’t get paid. She called me an incompetent useless. And other joyful insults to hear.”
Lena frowned. “Wait. According to your account, you fought like… a horde of boars all night?”
“Yeah.”
“And you killed several?”
“Yeah.”
“But you still failed?”
“They ate the corpse.” Cassian shrugged. “Hard to call that a success.”
Lucia and Lena looked at each other.
“This doesn’t make any sense,” Lucia murmured. “The way this quest unfolded is… weird.”
Cassian yawned widely, her eyes half-closing. “I’m too sleepy. I didn’t sleep all night. It was way too hectic.”
“You should go back and rest,” Lucia suggested.
“Yeah. Good idea.”
---
Elsewhere in the city, three guards stood in front of a makeshift wooden barrier.
“No one passes!” one of them shouted to a group of curious civilians. “This is a crime scene!”
Behind the barrier, an entire neighborhood was cordoned off. Other guards patrolled the streets, their faces pale and tense.
Inside, it was carnage.
Bodies lay everywhere. In the streets. Against walls. Through broken windows. Blood stained the cobblestones, forming pools that gleamed sinisterly in the sun.
A younger guard leaned against a wall, vomiting violently.
“You okay, kid?” asked an older guard.
“It’s… it’s too much.” The young one wiped his mouth. “First time I’ve seen something like this.”
“The Rollo gang,” the older guard murmured, eyeing a body cleanly sliced in two. “They suffered a devastating attack. The main members were eliminated.”
“Even Rollo?”
“Especially Rollo. We found his head ten meters from his body.”
The young guard paled even more.
“The suspect or suspects haven’t been found yet,” the older guard continued. “The investigation is ongoing full force. But whoever it is…” He looked at the bodies. “…they’re efficient.”
At the barrier, the civilians murmured nervously.
“What exactly happened?” asked an elderly woman.
The guard at the barrier sighed. “A massacre. That’s all we can say for now.”
“Is this common?” A merchant looked terrified. “This city is supposed to be quiet!”
“It’s not,” the guard assured. “This is… unusual.”
But some civilians didn’t seem scared. Some seemed… relieved?
“The Rollo gang caused too many problems,” murmured a man. “They extorted merchants. Beat people up.”
“Yeah,” added another. “Good riddance.”
“You think it was a rival group?”
“Or a vigilante?”
“Or just someone really pissed off.”
The guards had no answers.
---
In a dark alley, far from prying eyes, Hiro walked slowly.
His sword dragged behind him, the metal scraping against the cobblestones with a grating sound.
Scraaape. Scraaape. Scraaape.
In front of him, a man crawled desperately, leaving a trail of blood behind.
“Please…” The man coughed, blood splattering the ground. “Mercy…”
Hiro stopped, looking at the man with a cold gaze. Detached. Like observing an insect.
“Scum like you,” he said calmly, “swarm like the plague.”
“I… I’ll do anything…”
“You’ve done enough.”
Hiro raised his sword, the blade gleaming faintly in the shadows.
