Chapter 13 – Bloody Frenzy

Crap!!!

With his saber occupied parrying the charge of a boar, Aiden was currently unable to fend the attack coming from a side. With no option but take the attack with his body, Aiden circulated all the energy in his body in an attempt to decrease the damage taken.

Seeing the boar already before him, Aiden braced himself to receive the impact, but, an instant before the boar could hit him, the beast unexpectedly tripped.

“Young Master!!!”

Hearing Lia’s cry, Aiden was able to comprehend the reason immediately and without hesitation used the chance to kill the first beast, then, taking advantage of the other boar yet being in the ground, Aiden trusted his saber once more to end its life.

“You saved me there Lia!”

Aiden used the opportunity to thank Lia before readying his saber again.

Despite the deaths of two more boars, the number of beast charging didn’t decrease; instead, the number of red points in the surroundings seemed to increase and the pressure in Aiden increased.

Without enough time to take a breath, Aiden raised the saber in his hand taking a downwards posture and attacked again taking a step towards the closer beast. Using the saber to cut the beast’s neck, Aiden stepped in the dead body and use it to impulse himself forwards, then, using the impulse to retrieve the saber and swing it, Aiden proceeded to kill another beast.

ROARRRRRRR!!!!

Seeing their enemy coming to face them, the beasts roared in unison, then, without any order, tens of tusk and hides were directed towards him.

Evading swiftly and using his saber to block the attacks unable of avoiding, Aiden retreated again returning at his original position, then, concentrating the intent of his saber, he thrust forward and ended the life of another beast.

Unexpectedly, at the moment when the beast was killed, it used its body’s weight to pull the saber toward it

Frowning slightly, Aiden hesitated for a moment before stepping heavily in the ground and pulling the saber back. However, that small delay was enough for another pair of beast attack him from two different directions.

Facing the two beasts, Aiden unhesitant attacked one of them, leaving himself open at the second’s attack.

However, at the moment when it was about to hit him, the same situation happened again.

Mysteriously, at the moment when the boar was about to hit Aiden, a strong force pulled its leg causing it to fall and giving him enough time to kill the other beast. Then, pulling his saber quickly from the body, Aiden cut the neck of the boar laying in the ground.

Lia, the responsible behind it, was currently observing the fight carefully with the purpose of helping Aiden in the right moment.

Though Lia was unable of helping directly in the fight, using her threads in the adequate moment was enough to change the course of the battle greatly. Lia’s threads were perfect to restrain and hinder foes, after all; and used in such a chaotic battlefield caused the results to be even greater.

For starting, tool spirits like Lia’s are known for possessing low attack power in the lower stages of cultivation and for being considerably difficult to cultivate. Different from weapon spirits like swords, hammers, and spears that made their owners inherently proficient in the use of certain kinds of weapons, tool spirits of the miscellaneous type like needles, mortars, and threads are normally weak in direct fights but greatly helpful in certain situations.

Of course, everything had exceptions. Though normally tool spirits of the miscellaneous type are useless in fighting, there are cases of people becoming unrivaled with them. In Aiden’s knowledge, a powerful clan in the south of continent was famous for the fighting techniques used in conjunction with their cauldron spirit.

Paying attention to the battle, Lia made sure of control the number of beasts attacking Aiden at the same time. At the moment when Aiden was unable to block an attack, Lia used her threads to hinder the attacker.

Even so, the battle continued becoming more taxing for Aiden with every minute.

At the end of the day, Aiden’s sabersmanship was mainly composed of attacks and evasion, with no much emphasis on blocking. And due to having to protect Lia, Aiden was unable to evade and had to force himself to use the few fundamental blocking techniques learned in his childhood.

But even so, Aiden saw himself receiving every time more attacks due to his inability to use his agility during this battle. Frowning deeply, Aiden knew that at the current rate they would end tired sooner or later.

Sweating profusely, Aiden took a step at the right and moved his saber to cut a charging boar, then, before the next beast could attack, a white thread tied itself in the leg and caused it to stagger, giving Aiden enough time to position himself and kill it.

Taking a deep breath, Aiden opened his mouth to speak.

“Lia, at this rate we will tire out before killing all the beast! We need to get out of this place before we are too worn out to even try it!”

With a flash of realization, Lia nodded and asked:

“Young master, you have an idea!?”

Nodding lightly, Auden answered.

“We can only try running as fast as possible while you use your threads to hinder our persecutors! Wait for my signal! When an opportunity appears, I will use all my strength to open a path outside!”

Hearing Aiden’s plan, Lia nodded seriously and prepared herself to escape at any moment.

Aiden continued battling the endless waves of giant boars, killing one after other with the help of Lia. At some point the ground began to become greasy due to the greats amount of blood falling in it, making even harder for Aiden to evade the charge of the boars.

After killing another boar with a swing of his saber, Aiden adjusted his breath to continue fighting. However, before the fight could continue, a change appeared on the battlefield.

ROARRRRRRR!!!

A terrifying roar, even stronger than the ones until now, resounded through the forest.

Hearing the roar, Aiden could not help but tighten his expression.

“Young master, that is…”

Putting a serious expression, Aiden gripped his saber with all his strength.

“Yes, that boar is at least at the peak of core-forming… No, from what I can feel, that beast is probably just one step away of breaking through to the core-fusing realm. It must be very talented to reach at such point even with the bloodline shackles.”

Lia opened her eyes wide hearing about it, then, thinking about something, she asked intrigued.

“Could it be, is it the leader of the beasts!?”

“… It’s possible, though I don’t know what method is used to control so many beasts.”

When the roar of the boar sounded, even the beasts charging toward Aiden stopped in place. Aiden was unable to understand how a boar, even being a bit stronger, was able of something like it.

Unable to find an answer, Aiden decided to concentrate in the incoming fight against it. Sharpening his senses at the maximum, Aiden spoke softly to Lia after seeing the leader appear at the edge of the camp.

“Stay alert, Lia... Perhaps it is the opportunity we were waiting.”

The new boar was almost two meters tall, with red eyes and a robust body even compared to the others. An almost unnoticeable film of light was shining around it.

That was the proof that the boar touched the door to the next level, the core-fusing stage. Even though the boar hasn’t yet formed a demonic core, the density of energy in its body was enough to form a protective film around it. Such protective film is one of the biggest advantages core-fusing lifeforms have against core-forming ones.

Not being intimidated for the boar strength, Aiden moved his body subtly to release the greatest strength possible in a blow. The boar, seeing his opponent standing defiantly, roared again and charged at an incredible speed.

Seeing the boar closing the distance in almost an instant, Aiden breathed deeply before stepping forward and brandishing his saber.

The saber drew a beautiful arc in the air and closed the distance with the boar in almost an instant. The beast, however, was a creature with a step in the core-fusing realm after all. Just before the saber could hurt it, the giant boar moved the tusks slightly and used it to stop the attack, then without even pausing, it accelerated even more.

But in that instant, the powerful saber intent appeared again. This time, the saber intent was completely concentrated in the blade of the saber and not even a bit was leaking from it.

With another step forward, Aiden and the boar passed each other.

Then, not waiting for the corpse fall, Aiden shouted.

“LIA!!! NOW!!!”

An instant later the beast fell.

Lia accelerated with all her strength, not paying attention at the stream of blood flying from the neck of the boar...

...And the rock behind her exploded.

Lia could only see a giant boar charging against her at top speed.

Then, the back of her young master appeared before her.

With a powerful thudding sound, the body of the boy was hurled unconscious at the distance.

… And a terrifying killing intent invaded the place.

“YOUNG MASTERRRRRRRR!!!”