Jerald sighed as he surveyed the carnage that surrounded him, he was closing in on the Boss of the Zone and already things weren’t adding up. The boar-like monsters he had been fighting, were, by his estimation around Level 15, not a problem for him maybe, but if Kyle had encountered monsters like them Digby would have to take them out himself before beating a retreat outside of the Zone.

“This can’t be good,” Jerald muttered to himself. It was far too soon for this Zone to have monsters as powerful as these ones, even if the most powerful normal monsters in a Zone had a tendency to follow the Boss around like its own private army.

He looked around with irritation, if Digby was here he could use his companion’s Inventory to hold the skins and meat of these monsters but without Digby nearby he had to leave the bodies where they lay for now.

Shaking his head at the waste he moved on each step creating a loud thudding sound due to the massive weight of his armour that either drew in more powerful monsters to their demise or scared away the weaker ones, if he wanted he could conceal his presence to a certain degree but that would mean that there would still be dangerous monsters in the area of Farholt even after the Zone faded, and if he was unlucky there could even be a monster powerful enough to form its own Zone within a few weeks which would make this entire exercise all but pointless.

That didn’t mean that traipsing about the woods in full plate was enjoyable, far from it. But his armour provided enough protection that even a Boss in the mid-30’s would have difficulty piercing through it let alone the normal monsters in this Zone which couldn’t even damage him if he removed it so far but his years as an Adventurer had taught him to never underestimate his opponents even if he had a large advantage due to his Level.

It was surprisingly easy to find the path that the Boss took, the beast was obviously massive and simply knocked over anything that stood in its way whether they be trees or monsters, pausing every now and again to devour the crushed corpses of its foes whenever it got hungry.

Most of the monsters that Jerald encountered were following the Boss and eating whatever was left of the monsters it killed. So far, he had seen monsters that resembled wolves but had long prehensile tails with stingers on the end, giant ants and other insects as well as the boars he had fought earlier.

Every now and again he heard a crashing sound as the Boss ran into yet another tree or the dying scream of its latest victim. These things combined with the rather obvious path the beast took meant that Jerald had an easy time of following it wherever it went. He wasn’t in any hurry, the more monsters the Boss killed now the less would remain in the area after he killed it and the less likely it was that a new Zone would form.

Skirting around a particularly large pile of bones he grimaced in distaste as he saw a type of giant insect known as a Plaguefly. As one might expect from the name it had once been a normal fly but now it was a hideous creature the size of a small cat and was one of the most hated monsters in existence due to its latent ability to spread disease. It wasn’t a particularly dangerous opponent, but they bred quickly and could wipe out entire towns with the diseases they spread if left alone.

Conjuring a spear to his hand he threw it at the pestilent creature as it turned to face him spraying the ground behind it with a greenish fluid. This fluid was what the monster used to distribute disease infecting anyone who touched it, which was why these monsters had to be taken out at a distance.

Noticing that it had also laid some eggs in the bone pile he also destroyed these cursing at the foul stench that erupted from them as he did so.

“Why is it that monsters are always so much more disgusting than what they were before?” Jerald grumbled to himself before moving on. This was one of the more sinister things about Mana, most of the things it touched became corrupted versions of what they were previously, even docile herbivores like rabbits became menacing carnivores that could easily bring down a normal person if they were caught off guard and would even attack members of the species they had been previously as though fuelled by some insane desire to feed on flesh.

Somewhat luckily this tendency to kill other things before they became monsters also decreased the number of monsters in new Zone because otherwise the countryside would be overwhelmed by monsters within a matter of hours.

He was getting very close to the Boss now, so he decided to let Digby know to start leading Kyle and Fi out of the forest so that they wouldn’t get caught in the Zone when it collapsed. While not particularly dangerous for someone with as much Health as Jerald, Kyle would almost certainly die if he got caught up in the collapse which would follow. Normally there was a period of an hour before the Zone ran out of Mana to sustain itself but there had been the odd one that had vanished almost instantly for no apparent reason often taking the Adventurers sent to destroy it along with it.

Hearing yet another dying scream up ahead Jerald decided that it was time to make his move. The Boss would probably let its guard down while it was eating and there was no point taking more risks than he needed to, especially considering how odd this Zone was.

As he moved he activated his Silent Steps Skill which decreased the amount of noise he made when moving by 50% which combined with one of the Bonuses from his Heavy Armour Skill which negated some of the negative effects of sneaking in Heavy Armour would hopefully allow him to get close enough to see the Boss before it heard him.

As he finally closed in on the Boss he heard the loud crunching sounds of the beast chewing on its unfortunate prey and came to a halt behind a tree peeking around it in the hopes of discovering precisely what he was dealing with.

In front of him partially hidden by the fallen trunks of trees between him and it was a boar the size of a house, covered in large scales that looked like they had razor sharp edges. Raising its head as it chewed the monster glanced around at its surroundings as debris fell from its maw revealing rows of serrated tusks.

‘That’s a big pig,’ Jerald thought to himself as the monster continued to survey its surrounding with what appeared to be a confused look on its face as though it knew someone was watching it.

Reaching into a small pouch on the back of his belt Jerald pulled out what looked like a monocle and held it up to his eye. This item was known as an Analyser and could be used to ‘see’ the information on an item or monster in place of a Companion or someone with access to the Programming School of magic.

Name

Scaled Razorback

HP

???

Level

35

Monster Type

Mana Mutant

(Tier 1 Zone Boss)

This monster is the evolved form of a Spine Hog and the spines that once covered its body have covered it completely becoming razor sharp scales. This monster has met the requirements to become a Zone Boss meaning that destroying this monster will cause the Zone to collapse.

Jerald grimaced at the sight of the Boss’ Level. A Level 35 Boss monster, even a Tier 1 Zone Boss required at least 3 Adventurers around Level 35 to bring down, naturally Jerald could handle this monster fine on his own but if a normal group of Adventurers came along thinking this was a normal new Zone where the Boss monster would likely only be around Level 20 they would likely be slaughtered. This Boss monster was a dangerous irregularity and even Jerald didn’t know what that meant other than he had to kill it now before it became even more powerful.

Unslinging his shield from his back he conjured a large lance into his right hand. His mace would work fine against the monster’s scales but when it came to Skills that were used to close in on an enemy fast, weapons like lances and spears had the best. The lance he had conjured was shaped like a simple cone shaped weapon, but the tip was as sharp as he could make it without sacrificing durability meaning if he struck the monster scales just right the attack should penetrate them easily.

When it came to weapon Skills Jerald was nearly unequalled in quantity, having developed his Class in such a way that no matter what sort of monster he ended up fighting he would always be able to use the right weapon for the situation, this had actually been original reason he had decided to unlock the Conjuration School as Digby had been annoyed by always having to pull new weapons out of his Inventory whenever they met new monsters. Jerald’s idea of using Conjuration to make constructs by controlling conjured suits of armour had only come about after they had ended up fighting against an insane Gnome who had built himself a small army of golems leading to Jerald trying to come up with a way to make an army of his own using his magic.

Stepping out from behind the tree and lowering the vicious looking weapon Jerald activated his Unstoppable Charge Skill which launched him towards the Razorback at a speed that caused a thunderclap to shake the branches of the tree he had been hiding behind and the boar’s eyes to widen as it saw a blur suddenly appear beside it as it felt a spike of pain pierce its side sending it crashing to the ground.

Jerald grinned as he saw the result of his attack, the lance had indeed penetrated right through the scale it had struck and he used his magic to manipulate the shape of the weapon adding spikes facing back towards him as he placed his foot on the monsters side and ripped it out taking not only what remained of the scale with it but a large lump of flesh.

The pig squealed in rage and pain as Jerald switched the lance out for his mace slamming it into the monsters wounded side before leaping away as the razorback retaliated by firing one of its scales at him with enough force to split a lesser man in half.

“Well that’s new,” Jerald muttered with raised eyebrows. While monsters did tend to follow certain patterns in their development, this Boss had obviously started off as a Variant of a Spine Hog, one of the monsters that he had killed on the way here. Variants could come in a variety of different types and many of them have yet to be recorded in the bestiaries that the Adventurers Guild released every year. Launching one of its scales like that didn’t seem to have hurt the razorback in any way but it did of course mean that it had another weak spot along with the scale that Jerald had destroyed with his Unstoppable Charge Skill.

Seeing as an attack like that could have badly wounded if not outright killed a tank of a similar Level to the Boss it was a very dangerous Skill and the Guild would pay well for the information that Variants like this existed.

Blood oozed from the open wound on the monster’s side as it got to its feet snorting angrily at Jerald who still had a small smile on his face. The monster was as tough as one might expect for its size and Level but judging by the way it was already favouring its wounded side after only two attacks that wasn’t going to be enough.

The giant boar snorted as it lowered its head and charged at Jerald with rage in its piggy eyes. Unfortunately for it this was probably the worst thing it could’ve used against Jerald who simply leaned into his shield and activated a Skill known as Immovable Object that increased his resistance to being knocked back and reflected any damage that would normally be blocked by his shield at anything that struck it. This Skill was considered to be both a tanks most powerful defence and most powerful offence, especially against monster opponents, if a person armed with a weapon attacked them while they were using this Skill the damage would be reflected back towards their weapon which would usually badly damage it but if a monster used an attack that required a tank to use this Skill then it was likely that they would sustain serious injuries which was precisely what happened when the boar struck Jerald’s shield .

A large portion of the attack reflected directly into the boar’s head, as the force of hitting something that wouldn’t move at great speed shot up its spine as even with the increased resistance provided by Immovable Object Jerald ended up being pushed back almost a metre before the Boss went up and over his head crashing into a tree with enough momentum remaining to smash the trunk sending splinters flying everywhere as the top half of the tree toppled to the ground.

The somewhat stunned Boss shook its head as Jerald turned towards it rolling his shoulder, not only had the Boss’ charge been powerful enough to force him backwards it had even managed to deal damage to Jerald through his shield, something even Denzel had been unable to do.

A feral grin crept across Jerald’s face as the monster struggled to its feet still slightly unsteady due to the impact. It had been a long time since Jerald had been able to truly let loose, even Denzel hadn’t quite been powerful enough to make him go all out especially after he broke down, but the thing in front of him was something that he didn’t have to hold back on because it was human or a member of one of the other intelligent races, it was just a monster.

If the guards he had fought the other day could see the way he moved now, almost seeming to teleport up to the boss with his mace cocked back for an attack they would have been horrified to see just how much he had been holding back when he had fought them. He had in fact run up to the Boss, but his high Agility Stat combined with several Skills that allowed him to increase his speed for short bursts had made it look like teleporting and his mace smashed into the side of the boar’s massive head sending it sprawling once more.

Not giving it time to get to its feet this time he leapt into the air activating another Skill that increases the weight of his mace massively pulling him back down to earth with enough force to smash the boar into the ground hard enough to form an indent and causing bloody foam to spray from its lips.

Flipping out of the manoeuvre Jerald conjured two constructs which grabbed the boar’s shoulders and held the struggling beast down as Jerald laid into it with his mace. The monster squealed as each blow rained down upon it as it struggled against the inexorable strength of the constructs holding it down digging gouges into the ground with its hooves.

Back before the System they way Jerald was killing this monster would have been considered inhumane, but Jerald knew that this monster would have had to have killed dozens of people to become a Boss so he didn’t feel even an ounce of pity towards the being that lay before him its squeals now more wheezes as it stared up at him with rage in its eyes.

Raising his mace once more he was surprised when the Boss fired two of its scales directly into his constructs destroying them instantly and allowing the enraged monster to lunge upwards at Jerald who slammed his shield into its head stopping it from ripping into his stomach with its tusks but the attack still had enough force behind it to knock him back slightly giving the razorback time to get to its feet.

The boar was looking like it was on its last legs but that didn’t mean that it didn’t have any more tricks up its metaphorical sleeves which was why Jerald was only mildly surprised when the boar started shedding its scales revealing the tough hide underneath. Its armour was only slowing it down as maces like the one Jerald was wielding were designed to kill people wearing plate armour so losing the scales would allow it to move faster while not really losing anything in exchange.

And it was indeed faster causing Jerald to go on the defensive as he avoided the sudden charge and conjured a long spear with a crossbar just beneath the blade and planted into the ground as the monster turned back towards him with its head still down. Like the boar hunters of old Jerald waited as the beast bore down on him the spear levelled at a point on the right side of its chest, as the monster impacted the spear Jerald leapt aside.

The conjured weapon shattered as the monster’s momentum sent the bladed head deep into its chest before impacting on the crossbar which was designed to stop something from reaching the person wielding it. Luckily Jerald had been aware that his conjured spear wouldn’t be able to hold up to something as large as the boar running into it full force, so he had escaped unharmed unlike the boar itself which now had a large hole in its chest.

Conjuring the lance he had used to start the fight once more Jerald activated a Skill known as Follow Through which charged up force overtime before sending the person who used it flying forwards. The lance smashed into the hole in the boar’s chest turning its heart and one of its lungs to pulp.

The giant boar shuddered one final time before it died and Jerald dispelled the lance and went to pick up his gore covered mace before conjuring a knife to cut the beast open intent on finding a clue as to why the monster had even been here at all, something that was still a mystery as he hadn’t heard any rumours that there had been a monster as powerful as this one had been nearby.

Slicing open the beasts stomach he choked slightly as the foul-smelling contents spewed out over the forest floor and he picked up a stick so that he could search through it without having to touch anything.

“Well damn,” he groaned as he fished a certain object out of the refuse. “This explains a lot.”