Side Chapter 2: The Alpha’s Last Battle

Black-haired Girl’s POV:

I woke up fairly early and caught sight of Dust’s sleeping figure, his snores had intensified in the night and served to further my frustration before he suddenly went silent, his eyebrows knitting together. After this, I stared at him with a complex expression and fell asleep.

I retrieved a sandwich from my leather bag and silently ate. Even after eating, Dust still hadn’t woken up, so I decided to just leave him. I walked through the forest and stumbled upon a trail of destroyed trees. Many had been knocked over and it looked like a massive creature had destroyed this portion of the forest.

The sun had just barely risen, so it was still pretty dark. I cautiously followed the trail of broken trees and took note of the heavy hoof-prints that littered the ground. I ran my hand across a partially destroyed tree with a third of its trunk missing.

A thought crossed my mind, ‘This is probably that tusk boar’s mate…’

It’s bad to leave something like this alone, if this animal sees another human right now, it would probably go berserk and wreak havoc around the area. If this thing entered any of the villages nearby…

I shook my head, removing the thought from my mind. I sped up my pace, and eventually found the reason for the forest’s destruction and confirming my earlier suspicion.

There, only a few dozen meters away, was an Alpha Tusk Boar. It’s height easily surpassed two meters and it’s length spread to a terrifying six meters.

I put my back against a standing tree and observed it from afar, the mammal was currently ramming against still-standing trees in the vicinity, madly squealing in rage and crushing pieces of tree under its powerful legs.

The boar continued to rampage on as I slowly inched forward, hiding behind trees and shrubbery for cover. My plan to sneakily put it down was going well until I was only five meters away from it.

Its body tensed up and it started sniffing the air, slowly moving its head toward my direction and releasing no small amount of bloodlust. My breathing was calm as I slowly walked out from behind a tree, fully exposing myself.

Upon seeing me, a human, the boar gave an infuriated roar and gathered power in its abnormally strong leg muscles. Its eyes narrowed and its body suddenly blurred, traversing the distance that separated us within less than a second. I jumped to avoid it’s tusks and landed on its back. The boar gave an enraged shriek and ran forward, ramming it’s side into trees and trying to shake me off.

I tightly held on to the bristles located on its back with one hand and with difficulty, pulled out my sword. I raised my arm up and slashed downwards, wounding the boar, but only leaving a shallow one as my positioning and the tough hide it was born with canceled out most of my strike’s power.

It continued to rampage about, until we arrived at a goblin village. The sentries stationed at the walls were startled as the walls they were standing on were shorter than the massive boar that was now headed in their direction.

A goblin the looked like the leader yelled out some orders and the surrounding green-skins picked up bows and aimed at me and the boar.

They planned to fire at us. My eyes slightly widened at the realization, I brought my sword close, preparing to parry any arrows that headed towards me.

The goblin leader pointed at us, yelling a command as the guards on the wall unleashed a volley of arrows. Most of the arrows bounced off the boar’s hide, but some managed to pierce through and cause it some pain, serving to only make its anger worse. The arrows headed towards me were parried with a bit of difficulty due to the boar that I rode on wildly flailing it’s head around.

*BOOM*

A large boom resounded out as the boar crashed straight through the wooden walls and caused havoc inside, destroying houses and indiscriminately slaughtering anything that moved. The goblins went into a sloppy formation with the chieftain at the back and prepared for battle.

The boar seemed to forget about me for a moment as it stared at the goblins. It gave a challenging roar and rushed the goblins, breaking through the front liners in a single swipe of its massive tusks. The goblins that managed to avoid were stomped and crushed beneath its hooves, turned into meat paste.

Within minutes, most of the goblins in the village had been killed, the survivors running away. The previously peaceful village was destroyed and the walls had numerous holes in them, large sections of the wall even collapsed altogether.

The tusk boar had taken its rampage outside, still trying to get me off its back. By now, we were already a fair distance away from the goblin village.

The Alpha Tusk Boar was now breathing heavily and it’s movements had already slowed by a noticeable amount. I still held on the top of its back, grasping some of the bristles that grew out of its back tightly.

The boar finally decided to get rid of me for good.

It jumped.

It rose a few meters in the air and twisted its body, moving so that the back that held me would be the first to hit the ground.

I only had a few moments, but I managed to kick off it’s back before I got crushed and fell on the ground below, rolling and coming to a rough halt. I began to stand up with a serious expression on my face.

Reaching towards my right hand, I removed a simple metal ring from my index finger. As the ring slipped out of my fingers, the temperature lowered drastically as I let out a large amount of my… ice-element mana.

The ground beneath my feet was soon covered in a thin layer of ice that slowly spread out, completely freezing the grass in the ground below. A blanket of white covered the area in a two meter radius of me. A small breath that turned to white mist left my lips as I felt the feeling of using my magic again, ‘What a waste, I planned to lessen my reliance on magic for this trip too…’

The Alpha Tusk Boar started shivering the sudden temperature drop, but the fire in its eyes hadn’t faded at all. It gave a resolute snort and prepared to charge at me once again.

A sigh left my lips as I pointed my sword at the boar. The cold air moved along with my sword, blasting towards the boar in the form of a violent gale and forming small ice crystals all over its body.

The boar’s brown fur now had a tint of white and the fatigue it displayed showed that it was on its last ropes.

It charged forward with the last of its power and displayed speed and strength more terrifying than the beginning of the fight. As the boar approached, I lightly stepped to the side with speed faster than I’ve ever displayed in front of others before and touched the side of its body as it passed me.

The place I touched was marked with a rune so cold it released large amounts of cold vapor. The boar’s charge continued for a few more meters before…

*BOOM!*

The rune I placed exploded, releasing all the compressed mana and sending the boar flying to the side. The place where the rune detonated was now a mess of shredded flesh, spikes of ice randomly jutting out from the skin surrounding the initial explosion.

The boar lay collapsed on its side and breathed heavy breaths. I walked up to the boar, my cloak trailed behind me as I did so until I arrived in front of it. I looked at it in the eyes and saw hatred.

‘I’m sorry…’ I offered a short apology to the boar in my mind before I brought my blade down, the force of the swing made the snow on the ground disperse outwards and making the surrounding wind dance wildly. I closed my eyes and put the ring back on, feeling the mana that was at my control recede and lie dormant.

I turned around and left, leaving behind the frozen remains of the boar I fought against.

-\o/-

Black-haired Girl’s POV:

I returned to the town of Aharne in a somber mood. My sword-fighting skills had declined due to my heavy reliance on magic. The power was intoxicating and I often found myself succumb to the temptation.

Upon entering the city, I noticed many were gathered in the square were the results were produced. My curiosity was piqued, ‘I wonder how that guy did…’ I thought to myself as I walked toward the square.

The event proceeded on normally and the winner was announced. A small debate took place as Hank tried to deny Dust’s claims and take the first place for himself. I was also shocked at the amount of goblin ears Dust managed to gather.

‘Unless… No, he can’t possibly be that lucky... Can he?’

I saw him receive his award with a grin on his face and sighed to myself. I turned around left, headed towards the inn where I decided to spend the night.

-\o/-

Black-haired Girl’s POV:

As always, I woke up early. I had been like this since childhood, and it was a constant headache for my parents when I woke up even earlier than they did. I left the inn and noticed that clouds covered most of the sky.

‘Will it rain today, I wonder?’ I mused and left the town.

I left the gate and followed the road, headed for the nearest city to claim my reward for that tusk boar commission. My movements paused however, as I heard a voice come from within the forest.

“Kid… No, Dust… Did you honestly think that I’d hand over the fruit of all my labors over the years to you? Just like that?” I heard a familiar voice and a bad premonition hovered over my thoughts.

‘Something’s not right…’

I identified the direction the sound came from and cautiously walked forward. From the cover of the trees, I saw Hank throw a punch at Dust, only to have it blocked by Dust’s arm.

“Heh… You had some skill after all!” Hank said and kicked Dust in the abdomen, sending him flying. Dust rolled for a few meters and stood up with difficulty, drawing his sword and speaking, “This is how it is, huh?”

Hank looked at him like an insect to be squashed and spoke in a tone of arrogance,

“You’re too weak! So in this life, you’ll only be stepped on by the strong!” As he said this, Dust attacked but was completely dominated by Hank, ending up sprawled across the dirt with a bleeding nose. Hank raised his sword, intending to finish off Dust. Those words he just spoke…

…Those were the same words I heard at that dreadful day… The same words.

The exact same words those bastards spoke..!

My vision went dark and fury consumed my being, I stopped thinking logically and became a blur, cutting off Hank’s left arm with a single swift slice.

“Aaaaahhhh!!!!!” He screamed like a pig and only continued to stoke the flames of my anger.

“Scum… will always be scum..!” I said in utter disgust, a cold feeling started spreading within the insides of my chest.

Hank looked at me with bloodshot eyes and screamed, “Bitch! I’ll fucking kill you!!” As he said this, his two friends attacked me at the same time, from two different sides. My anger reached its peak and put me in a state of calmness.

I became a blur once again and stabbed his first friend’s neck, twisting my body and bisecting the other in an instant and finally beheading Hank in a single, swift stroke of my blade.

Dust stared at me like an idiot for a few moments before I spoke,

“Are you just going to lie down there forever?” I ask him, to which he responds by struggling to stand up. As I said this, I thought about what I just did…

I… just killed someone. I originally expected that I would show a stronger reaction, but probably because of the despicable acts these three just committed, I felt calm. At this, a complicated expression appeared on my face.

“I guess I owe you one again, huh?” Dust said, clutching his bruised stomach in pain and speaking in a dejected tone.

He really was in a sorry state, I felt a bit of sympathy and replied in a soft tone,

“…You don’t have to pay me back.” I said and began walking towards my destination, thoughts dark.

‘Even if they were despicable… Why am I not feeling anything? Am I a monster?’ I started to feel sad as I remembered the events of that day…

I walked down the road in a somber mood until Dust caught up to me smiling like an idiot, walking as if he was just taking a stroll around the forest.

‘I just want to be alone…’ I sighed mentally and looked at Dust.

“…What are you doing?” I ask him, and he gave me a look that seemed to say ‘are you an idiot?’ and replied matter-of-factly, “I’m headed to the city.”

His expression made irritation start to build up within me and I spoke in a cold tone,

“…Stop following me.”

He keeps walking like he didn’t hear anything and the corners of my eye twitched in annoyance. Still looking at the road, he spoke, “…What was your name again?”

‘This… This person…’ I started to feel a headache coming, so I remained silent, hoping that he’d leave me alone after a bit.

“Hey~ I still don’t know your name, you know?” He waved his hands in an attention-grabbing manner and smiled brightly at me. ‘Is he mocking me on purpose!?’ I started to feel my anger rising.

‘Why won’t you just leave me alone!?’ I mentally screamed in frustration.

“Why won’t you tell me your name? I’ll understand if it’s a bad name, you know?” He kept talking and the sound of his voice crawled its way into my ears.

‘Please stop...’

“I’m a very understanding person, you know?”

‘…..’

His face brightens and it felt like a light bulb popped into existence above his head for a short moment.

“…It’s Bertha isn’t it?”

‘What..?’

“Your name’s Bertha isn’t it!?”

At his words, something inside me snapped, and I… laughed. A small, relieved laugh escaped my lips and the horrible thoughts I had before slowly faded away. To this, Dust froze looked at me with his mouth hanging open, a genuine look of shock on his face.

I smiled for the first time in a long time and said, “My name’s Lilith. What are you standing around there for? Aren’t we headed to the city?” As I said this, I wiped off the moisture in the corners of my eyes.

Dust blinked and dumbly looked at me, “Y-Yeah…”

‘Maybe having him along isn’t so bad after all…’

He caught up to me and the two of us started walking forward, wondering what lied on the road ahead…

Chapter End.

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Author’s Note:

Hello everybody! I hoped you liked the chapter. What do you think of Lilith’s character? This chapter marks the end of the first arc! Tell me your opinions and hand out some tips on how I could improve my story; this is my first one after all.

Finally, I’ll just tell you all that starting from now, side chapters will only come out occasionally. Every 5-10 chapters or so. Also, this chapter just marks the beginning of their friendship. Nothing too special. Thanks again for all the support!

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