The Hero’s Ascension

When Boars Attack

The ground beneath my boots stopped rumbling and started violently bucking. It was a rhythmic, heavy pounding that rattled the teeth in my skull as half a dozen massive boars appeared from the dense treeline.

These weren’t cute little wild pigs from the nature channels back on Earth. They were the size of compact cars with thick slabs of dense muscle shifting under their coarse black bristly fur. They were living, breathing battering rams, tearing up chunks of dirt as they charged.

John dropped his wooden hammer. He scrambled backward in a pure panic, but the massive beasts didn’t even glance his way. They locked their beady black eyes onto the remaining vegetable patches and accelerated.

Liza moved before I could even begin to think about the situation. Blue lightning wrapped around her legs, and she closed the distance in a literal flash.

I stood frozen by the shattered fence, fully expecting her to carve them into bacon. She had practically dissected that toxic weasel monster back in the dark city alleys.

Instead of striking to kill, she swung the flat of her blade into the lead boar’s snout. The impact sounded exactly like a sledgehammer striking a brick wall. A blinding burst of electricity arced over the animal’s thick hide, forcing it to squeal and violently pivot away from the crops.

She was trying to save the farm without turning John’s fields into a slaughterhouse.

It was a terrible plan. Every time she shoved one minivan-sized pig off its trajectory, another one slipped right past her defensive line. Jagged tusks ripped cleanly through the wooden crates John had left behind in his haste.

I needed to do something, but my bare hands felt utterly useless.

My racing mind jumped back to the steaming bath. I remembered the raw sensation of pulling ambient mana into my chest. Raising my right hand, I called for energy, a swirling sphere of red, blistering heat snapping into existence right over my palm.

I reared my arm back to throw the volatile spell. Then I actually looked at the battlefield. The ground was heavily covered in bone-dry crops and splintered wood. If I threw this massive fireball, I wouldn’t just cook the boars. I would instantly incinerate the entire farm.

We would be cooked as well.

I forced the massive, roaring sphere back down, compressing the fire until it became a dense, concentrated bead at the very tip of my index finger. I didn’t need an explosive blast. I just needed to make them hurt enough to change their minds.

A massive boar broke free from Liza’s defensive perimeter, heading straight toward the remaining rows of root vegetables.

“Hey! Bacon-strip! Over here, you ugly bastard!”

The beast skidded to a halt, its hooves digging deep furrows into the rich soil. It slowly pivoted its massive head, pinning me with a gaze that promised total destruction. It let out a guttural snort, sending a spray of dirt into the air, and charged.

My heart hammered against my ribs, but I forced my feet to stay planted. I waited until the thunderous pounding of its hooves was almost deafening, until I could smell the rank, musky odor of its fur.

I thrust my finger forward. “Firebolt!”

A thin, blindingly bright beam of crimson heat lanced from my fingertip, striking the charging beast square in its thick, leathery shoulder. It didn’t pierce through, but the concentrated burn was enough to shatter its momentum. The boar shrieked, a high-pitched, agonizing sound, and veered hard to the left, crashing into a pile of loose dirt instead of me.

[ Fire proficiency +2% ]

[ Firebolt skill acquired! ]

“Nice shot, rookie!” Liza shouted, her voice cutting through the chaos.

She utilized another bright blue flash to blink directly above the largest boar in the pack. Bringing the hilt of her sword down like a hammer, she delivered a massive discharge of electricity that sent the alpha collapsing to its knees, twitching violently.

The remaining animals took one look at their smoking leader, then at the crackling lightning dancing around Liza, and decided the vegetables weren’t worth the trouble. Turning tail, the remaining pack scrambled backward into the safety of the dense treeline, their heavy retreating footsteps fading into the distance.

I dropped my hand, my fingers trembling slightly as the adrenaline began to clear from my system. The silence that followed was heavy, broken only by John’s heavy breathing from the porch.

[ Quest Update: Protect Farmer John’s Fields — Complete! ]

[ Return to the Guild Center to claim your rewards. ]

Liza sheathed her sword with a crisp click, the lightning fading from her gear as she turned to look at me with that familiar, goofy grin. “See? I told you they weren’t dangerous.”

I looked at the freshly scorched earth, the splintered crates, and the massive, groaning alpha boar that was only just beginning to stir and shake its head.

“Liza,” I wheezed, wiping a streak of sweat and dirt from my forehead. “Your definition of ‘not dangerous’ is absolutely terrifying.”

We both laughed until we were red in the face. I took one look at her dirt-smudged nose, she took one look at my wide, panicked eyes, and we just broke down all over again until actual tears were rolling down our cheeks.

“You’ll get used to it, Clint,” she said, letting out one last breathless giggle. “Thanks for your help. It’s much appreciated.”

She punctuated the sentence with a playful wink before walking over to finish up the paperwork with a deeply relieved Farmer John.

By the time we made it back to the residential district, the stars were already taking over the sky. We spent the evening sitting around the table, eagerly hammering out plans to visit the guild center the next morning. There was loot to pick up, a brand-new spatial storage reward to unlock, and a whole board of fresh quests waiting for us.

Our excitement came to a screeching halt when a trio of heavy, authoritative knocks echoed throughout the quiet house.

The sound was sharp and demanding. It completely killed the warmth in the room.

Liza approached the entrance cautiously. Shoving the heavy door open, her expression instantly locked up. She quickly turned back toward the kitchen, frantically waving me over with a tense hand gesture.

“What’s going on, Liza?” I asked, stepping up behind her as that familiar, heavy knot of nervousness began welling right back up inside my gut. “Who’s this guy?”

Standing just beyond threshold was a man clad in polished, high-grade armor that shimmered beneath the crystal lamplight. He didn’t look like an adventurer. He looked like an absolute wall of military efficiency.

His eyes locked onto me, cold and unblinking, as he unrolled a small piece of parchment sealed with thick crimson wax.

“Clint Voyer?” the guard announced, his voice booming into the hallway like a thunderclap. “Your presence is requested by the King.”

My stomach completely dropped.

The King? The guy living in the floating castle in the sky?

I had been in this world for less than two days, and I hadn’t even mastered a basic status panel yet. What could a literal monarch possibly want with a nobody like me?