Chapter 12 – Strange Beasts (3)

At first, there was only a pair of eyes.

An instant later, another pair of eyes appeared.

Seconds later, the surroundings of the camp were full of red eyes.

Damn it!!!

Seeing the situation take a turn for the worse, Aiden stood up hurriedly a shouted towards the tent.

“LIA!!! WAKE UP!!!”

Taking a deep breath, Aiden touched his saber and walked towards the tent to guard the objects inside in the spatial pouch.

Despite the tiredness from the day, Lia woke up instantly surprised after hearing the shout and then got out from the tent. Immediately, she inhaled sharply seeing the astonishing number of red lights around.

“Prepare yourself, Lia! We are being attacked! I will try to guard everything in the pouch!”

“O-Okay!!!”

Still surprised, Lia tried to prepare her equipment only to stagger clumsily. Aiden, seeing her state, scolded her strongly.

“HURRY UP, LIA!!! They can begin to attack in any moment!!!”

“I-I’m sorry!!!”

The number of red spots in the night forest continued increasing. Aiden tried kept everything in his pouch, but halfway of it, the group of boars apparently finished their preparations because the first of the beasts stepped in the camp.

“Damn it!”

Cursing irritated, Aiden abandoned the rest of the belongings and ran towards Lia.

Perhaps because of Aiden’s scolding, Lia was able to regain the composure and prepared her snow spider’s thread timely. At the moment when the first boar walked inside the camp, Lia was already done making her preparations to face it.

Seeing Aiden running towards her, Lia calmed herself down and asked worriedly.

“Young master, what is the situation?”

Frowning his browns, Aiden observed the surroundings carefully before speaking.

“I’m not sure, but from what I can see there are at least twenty beasts in the surroundings. Also, I didn’t hear any roar before seeing them… I’m not sure how is it possible for twenty giant boars come so close at us without making any sound.”

Lia tuned pale hearing the number of enemies. Not noticing it, Aiden thought for a moment before continuing.

“I wouldn’t be so startled if they were wolves, however; but I don´t remember hearing about boars ambushing their preys silently at night.”

Looking towards Lia, Aiden saw a terrified expression on her face. Seeing her state, Aiden sighed and spoke firmly.

“Calm down, Lia! Being scared will not solve anything! Stay beside me, I will think of something!”

Breathing deeply, Lia tried her best to stay calm.

During the time when Aiden and Lia were speaking, even more boars entered the camp. Currently, seven boars were already inside and more shadows were closing to the pair.

Watching the increasing number of enemies, Aiden could not help but clench his teeth.

‘Damn it! At this rate, we will be attacked from all sides and I will be unable to protect Lia properly. They have us completely surrounded so it will be difficult to escape. We better find an adequate place to resist them or we both will end death before killing them all.”

Looking around, Aiden found a big rock not far from them. Though such rock wasn’t the ideal solution in this instant, at least it could help them to protect their backs. So, Grabbing Lia’s arm, Aiden ran towards it dragging her with him.

Three of the boars, seeing their prey running, were unable to contain themselves and began to run after them.

Hearing the sound of hooves behind him, Aiden accelerated even more to reach the rock. Then, pushing Lia behind him, Aiden faced forward with the saber in both hands.

“Stay behind me and try to help me the most you can! Don’t leave that place or I will be unable to protect you.”

Sabers, in itself, were weapons designed mainly towards offense. Compared to swords, it was harder to find a sabersmanship designed purely towards defense. Aiden’s sabersmanship, even more, was purely offensive with exception of a few parrying techniques. After all, the main saber technique Aiden practiced didn’t possess any defensive move and only consisted of attack and evasion.

Due to it, if Aiden wanted to protect Lia, he must make sure to not allow any beast to charge repeatedly against them. It is because, at the moment when he is forced to evade, Lia will be left unprotected.

Knowing it, in the moment when Aiden pushed Lia behind, he Immediately proceeded to attack. After all, only by attacking recklessly could him make sure that the boars have not any attention to spare to Lia.

At that moment, the powerful saber intent filled the surroundings. Different from the day, this time’s saber intent was even more condensed, proof that Aiden was completely concentrated in this battle.

The moment when the three boars felt the saber intent, they unconsciously paused. And seizing that brief moment of stillness, Aiden swung his saber.

The next instant, the first red flower of the night blossomed. Not understating the situation, the boars recovered almost instantly of their stiffness and continued rushing in a frenzy, only for the foremost beast fall suddenly; in its neck, a red line could be seen leaking blood.

Not pausing for a moment despite his achievement, Aiden took a step forward and attacked again this time at the second boar. The beast, feeling the danger, moved at a side to evade the attack only to see the youth twisting slightly his wrists and redirecting the attack in the direction where the boar was evading, then, the second blood flower appeared, this time accompanied with a cut severing the board completely from the waist.

Different from the first one, the second beast didn’t die instantly, instead, it bellowed painfully before its dead. The last one, hearing it, turned even more frenzied in his attack.

At this moment, the third beast was already charging against Aiden. Putting his saber forwards, Aiden inclined it slightly to the right to redirect the blow before sending all the energy possible towards his left leg and using it to kick the boar away, successfully throwing it in direction of the forest.

Having killed the two first beast and fended the third, Aiden breathed briefly before looking at his surroundings. Immediately, his breath was caught inside him.

A vast number of boars were now in the camp, looking towards them with even redder eyes. Seeing the great number of enemies, Aiden smiled bitterly.

“I think I will need your help this time Lia…”

“Un.”

Feeling Lia nodding behind him, Aiden strengthened his expression before holding the saber with even more strength the saber in his hands.

Then, taking like a signal the rise of the boar which was thrown away for Aiden before, the rest of the boars charged together.

Like a dark wave advancing toward them, the group of boars used their tusks to lunge towards the pair. Facing them, Aiden felt the weight of the saber in his hands before liberating all the saber intent currently possible for him.

Then, feeling the sharp intent in the air, Aiden pumped energy crazily around his body and flourished his saber with the stronger attack that he could currently release.

Like a powerful wave, a sharp saber move attacked the charging boars. In that instant, the leading beast of the group felt a blade cutting through their strong hide; then, a moment later, a great amount of blood exploded leaving behind the recently killed corpses of at least five boars.

However, instead of being scared from that attack, the charging boars looked even more enraged after seeing their companions fall before their eyes. Putting even more strength in their legs, the group of beasts advanced powerfully, intent in killing the enemy.

“Ha!!!”

Using the moment caused for the last attack, Aiden rotated his body transferring the greatest amount of strength possible in his arms before trusting his saber forward. Then, after piercing through a beast, Aiden put strength in his hands and swung his saber sideways, cutting through the first boar and killing another at the same time.

However, at the end of the day, the number of beasts was too great. Taking the opportunity when Aiden was attacking, another boar charged against him.

Unable of dodge so to avoid putting Lia in risk, Aiden could only try his best to use the saber to parry the boar’s attack, then taking a step back, Aiden swung his saber again.

But before his attack could hit, another boar charged to him from another side.

Crap!!!

Unable to avoid or defend in time, Aiden braced himself to receive the attack.