Kaian screamed at the suspicious cracking sounds coming from the tree.
“With this thickness, it was supposed to withstand ten hits…!”
Grills, the survival expert and author of ⟪Challenge the Wild Monsters⟫, had definitely written that in his book.
Of course, the book also mentioned that it varied depending on how much mana the Obsidian Boar had absorbed.
‘Still! Isn’t this too much?! Only three hits?’
At that moment, Eldarin’s words came to Kaian’s mind.
It was when he had been happily chattering about his rapidly recovering body.
—It means the mana of Eldergrove is that abundant. Always be grateful to mana.
Kaian slammed his forehead against the tree.
‘Idiot! It was obvious.’
There were plenty of fields in the empire as well.
But he had never heard of any place having healing effects like the Golden Plains.
Therefore, just as he had gained recovery ability from the Golden Plains, it was reasonable to assume that the Obsidian Boar had absorbed much more mana than one found in ordinary volcanic regions.
With his forehead still pressed against the tree, Kaian sighed.
‘Stay calm.’
The uneasy cracking sounds from the tree continued.
One more hit, and it was obvious the tree would fall.
The Obsidian Boar seemed to understand that as well.
It backed away farther than before.
‘…The next attack will be the last.’
To steady his mind, Kaian deliberately spoke aloud.
“Whew. Yeah. Let’s do this. Let’s try.”
He took out the cane hanging from his shoulder.
It was the same cane Eldarin had given him when he first started working in the fields.
The difference from then was that one end now had a sharply sharpened stone blade instead of a handle.
Kaian had made it as a weapon to use if he encountered a monster.
‘I made it so I could use it if things went bad, but I hoped things wouldn’t actually go bad… I guess I have no choice.’
He pointed the improvised spear at the Obsidian Boar and shouted.
“Sorry, Piggy! But I have to live a long time!”
His voice cracked, as if he had not completely shaken off his fear.
‘Damn it, I’m making it obvious that I’m scared.’
Kaian cleared his throat and shouted again, louder.
“My dream is to live a long and healthy life!”
“Furrrr!”
Longevity and health.
It was a word Kaian had first discovered while searching through the books in Eldarin’s study.
After looking up its meaning in the dictionary, Kaian immediately realized.
This was the perfect phrase to use as his life goal.
Living a long time alone was not enough.
He had to live long, healthy, and happily.
Including the years his father, mother, and two brothers should have lived, perhaps at least 600 years.
‘For that, I need to heal my inner world, learn magic, and get revenge.’
On top of that, being a hero was a profession filled with danger.
There would be many things to prepare for and many things to study.
That was right.
He still had many things left to do.
‘But if I lose to this pig now, how unfair would that be? Even after death, I won’t escape the flames.’
Having strengthened his resolve, Kaian jumped down from a suitable height to the ground.
—Tap!
Pain shot through his swollen legs from running and walking all day.
But.
‘Ah, it’s happening again.’
A strange smile kept leaking from his lips.
His heart pounded so hard it felt like it would burst out.
—Thump! Thump! Thump!
‘Calm down. Cool your head. Remember what Eldarin said. Don’t let yourself be consumed by fire.’
The Obsidian Boar was stomping its feet, preparing to charge.
—Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!
“Furrrr!”
Kaian also controlled his breathing and prepared for the attack.
‘Mr. Grills, I’ll trust you one more time. Just don’t make me fail to survive…!’
The Obsidian Boar shook its snout powerfully, then charged toward Kaian.
—RUMBLEEEEE!
Kaian lowered his stance as much as possible and aimed the spear tip at the Obsidian Boar.
Then he firmly placed the bottom of the spear between the ground and the tree.
‘It’s a monster that absorbed fire mana, but its original form is still a boar.’
Meaning it had evolved within the traits of a boar.
According to Grills’ book, wild boars had strong forward momentum, making it difficult for them to change direction while charging.
And despite their hard backs, their bellies were covered only by soft skin.
‘So charge! Faster! Harder!’
—RUMBLE!
Kaian endured until he thought he was about to be struck and killed.
Then he quickly rolled to the side.
—Whoosh!
By the narrowest margin, the stone blade pierced the Obsidian Boar’s belly.
—SQUELCH!
“Gweeeeeh!”
The charging speed, the impact force, and the support of the ground and tree allowed the spear to easily pierce the Obsidian Boar’s belly.
—CRUNCH!
—THUD…!
“Gweeeeeh! Gweh!”
The Obsidian Boar fell onto its side and cried out in pain.
Kaian stared blankly as blood mixed with its rough breathing.
“I did it. I’m alive….”
Reality slowly returned.
Only then did he finally calm his pounding heart and breathe while sitting down.
“Gweh… gweh….”
The Obsidian Boar’s cries were weaker than before.
If left like this, it would not last long.
Kaian forced himself to turn away.
‘…I don’t want to see that kind of thing yet.’
He had already killed people before.
But that had happened while he could not properly remember.
Kaian brushed dirt off his ruined clothes and stood up.
He thought of several excuses to leave.
‘I don’t know how to butcher it, so I can’t use it as food. Even if I could, I don’t have time. Leaving it here is the best option.’
Even so, Kaian could not easily leave.
His gaze kept returning to the Obsidian Boar’s wound.
‘I have to leave it.’
He knew.
He knew that.
But—
“Frrrk! Frrr!”
“Ugh….”
Kaian grabbed his hair in frustration.
The creature’s pitiful eyes kept appearing in his mind.
If he left it like this, it would probably even appear in his dreams.
“Ah! Fine! I understand!”
In the end, he decided to follow what his heart told him.
Kaian quickly opened his backpack and took out a sealed jar.
When he opened the lid, a deep blue color from indigo and the cool scent of mint spread out.
It was Cobalt Poultice, a medicine he made according to the recipe written in ⟪The Wisdom of Ordinary Civilization Era Humans⟫.
Seeing its precious appearance, Kaian squeezed his eyes shut.
“Damn… I barely have enough for myself!”
Cobalt Poultice was made by mixing indigo, mint, aloe, and other ingredients.
It had an excellent evaporative cooling effect.
Apparently, people before the age of magical civilization used this medicine to pass through volcanic regions.
‘Nowadays, you can just use heat-resistance magic or wear equipment enchanted with cooling magic….’
But Kaian was still no different from an ordinary civilization-era human.
‘If I don’t have teeth, I’ll have to live with gums.’
All the ingredients needed to make Cobalt Poultice had been taken from Eldarin’s greenhouse.
Since Eldarin herself had ordered him to obtain Flame Veil, he believed it would probably be fine.
Probably….
‘Still, let’s try not to get caught. Yeah.’
Kaian had painstakingly made the medicine.
And now he was about to give it to the Obsidian Boar.
“I really am crazy.”
He carefully moved toward the Obsidian Boar’s head.
Then he scooped a handful of Cobalt Poultice.
According to the book, Cobalt Poultice had another effect besides evaporative cooling.
It could calm the aggressive nature of fire mana.
“Don’t worry, Piggy. It won’t hurt. Stay still.”
The Obsidian Boar flinched while lying down, watching Kaian cautiously.
But soon it realized it could not move and relaxed its body.
Its breathing was rapid and rough.
Kaian carefully placed the Cobalt Poultice on the bridge of the Obsidian Boar’s nose.
Soon, the medicine’s blue color seeped into the red skin, and white steam rose.
—SIZZLE….
“How is it? Cool, right? Are you calming down?”
“Frrrrr….”
Only then did the boar seem to understand that Kaian was not trying to harm it.
Hearing its calmer cry, Kaian finally sighed in relief.
“You’ve had it rough too.”
The Obsidian Boar was a monster that grew stronger the more fire mana it absorbed.
However, that same fire mana also increased its aggression.
In the ordinary civilization era, when people could not artificially control the balance of the five types of mana, monsters suffering from mana hunger sometimes descended into human settlements.
The Obsidian Boar was especially destructive when it appeared.
That was because mana hunger combined with the aggression of fire mana.
People of that era, unable to use magic, used Cobalt Poultice to calm the fierce Obsidian Boars….
That was what the author of ⟪The Wisdom of Ordinary Civilization Era Humans⟫ wrote.
‘Well… unfortunately, it did absolutely nothing for the flames in my inner world.’
Kaian confirmed that the Obsidian Boar’s breathing had become calmer and gently stroked its coarse fur.
“Controlling it isn’t easy, is it?”
“Frrrrr….”
“They say fire is like that. Eldarin says it has the nature of spreading and dividing. So when you contain fire, your original form changes. There’s a lot of that inside me too. I was injured, so I can fix it. But for you, it’s an inherent trait. What can you do? Right?”
Fortunately, Piggy’s condition continued to calm down.
Only then did Kaian take out his dagger and cut away the wooden shaft of the spear.
“Don’t pull it out. You might really die.”
He also applied the recovery medicine he had brought around the place where the spear had entered.
This was also made from herbs obtained from Eldarin’s greenhouse.
It was said to be effective enough to reconnect broken bones.
Of course, since the recipe came from ⟪The Wisdom of Ordinary Civilization Era Humans⟫, it was based on humans.
Kaian continued stroking the Obsidian Boar’s fur and spoke.
“I don’t know if it will work on you too. But endure a little longer. When I return, I’ll ask Eldarin to treat you. So you have to hope that I survive too, okay? That’s better for you!”
“Gwehk.”
Judging by the dissatisfied cry, it seemed the creature was asking why he was calling himself its older brother.
Kaian answered with a laugh.
“Hey, that’s simple. I told you. I’m going to live a long and healthy life.”
He intended to somehow stubbornly live to 600 years old.
By then, most animals and people would naturally be younger than him.
“So eventually I’ll be your older brother anyway. Then there’s no problem treating me like one now, right?”
It was a ridiculous argument.
But the Obsidian Boar seemed willing to accept it.
The creature relaxed its body and began resting comfortably.
Seeing that, Kaian felt a little more at ease.
He added new firewood to the weakening campfire and sat leaning against the tree.
Through the fire, the Obsidian Boar’s eyes seemed to shine like obsidian.
‘It might actually be… pretty.’
Kaian cautiously asked the Obsidian Boar.
“Hey… do you eat bread too?”
“Frrk.”
“Right? I think it said you’re omnivorous.”
Kaian smiled and took out his lunchbox from his bag.
For a moment, he wondered if it was strange to feel sympathy with a creature after personally stabbing it with a spear.
But—
‘Whatever.’
He broke the bread into pieces and slowly fed it to the Obsidian Boar.
“This is something I made myself. You should be grateful, okay?”
“Frrr. Frrk.”
In case it was thirsty, he also poured some ginger tea into its mouth.
“They say it helps restore energy.”
Even while injured, the Obsidian Boar happily ate everything given to it.
In the end, after feeding the entire half portion of bread to the Obsidian Boar, Kaian shouted.
“Ahhh! Now I can’t rest!”
He had no choice but to put his backpack on again.
The Obsidian Boar was a monster that lived in volcanic regions.
Following the tracks it left behind would make finding Ignis Mons Volcano much easier.
“Piggy. I’ll find the herb quickly and bring Eldarin back! Wait for me!”
“Frrrk.”
Kaian held the torch and slowly walked forward while examining the ground.
For some reason, he felt like the darkness tonight was lighter than usual.
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