Chapter 18

"Remember, the strongest weapon is ourselves. Even without special abilities, if we train our bodies and enhance our spiritual energy, we can still defeat those with special abilities. Got it?"

"Got it, Big Brother."

Sasa, a few rustling sounds came from the bushes ahead.

The leader stopped, raised his hand to signal the others, and the followers tensed up, gripping their steel knives tightly and guiding their spiritual energy to attach to the blades.

"Hmm, hmm, hmm!" A series of rapid grunts came from the bushes.

Bang! A large black object burst out of the bushes.

It had grayish-black fur with striped patterns, coarse and sparse, almost extending from its neck to its buttocks, with black hooves.

Its ears were small and pointed, pressed against its head, its snout long and sharp, its head and belly small, its legs tall and slender, its back straight and not concave, and its tail short. Sharp fangs protruded from its mouth.

This was a strong and robust wild boar, its snout and nose emitting wisps of fire with each breath.

"Spread out, don't group together. This is a beast with fire abilities." The leader's eyes were sharp as he continued, "I'll go first to test it out. You act according to the situation. This thing weighs at least 800 to 900 pounds, don't engage it head-on."

"Big Brother, be careful," the second-in-command said worriedly.

"Less talk, don't waste time on irrelevant things, focus on it," the leader said.

The wild boar stared at these strange creatures, feeling like it had seen them somewhere before.

"Yes, it remembered. It was a sunset evening, and it remembered the red sky that day, which was incredibly beautiful.

At that time, it was still young, knowing nothing about the world, only following its mother to find food every day and rolling in the mud with its siblings. That was the happiest time of its life, and it thought it would be happy like that forever.

Until that day, when it and its siblings were rolling in the mud with their mother, a huge explosion suddenly sounded, scaring them into a panic.

When they were about to seek help from their mother, they saw her lying on the ground, red liquid flowing from her body, a color a thousand times redder than the sunset.

It cried and ran away, watching its mother lying on the ground and those two-legged creatures taking away its siblings. It would never forget what happened that day.

I will knock down these creatures, I will trample them with my hooves, I will burn them with my fire." The wild boar's eyes grew redder.

The leader sensed the boar's aura growing stronger, knowing he couldn't delay any longer, and initiated the attack.

"Ha!" he shouted.

The leader rushed at the boar, making a lateral move just before contact, raising his steel knife from the right and quickly infusing it with spiritual energy, striking it heavily.

Bang! A powerful shockwave came from the steel knife, leaving a small wound on the boar.

Hmm, hmm, hmm! An angry and rapid sound came from the boar's mouth, "Damn creatures."

A basketball-sized fireball shot out of the boar's mouth. The leader leaped, narrowly avoiding the fireball, which continued flying and hit a dead tree, setting it ablaze.

"Be careful, this beast is as strong as me, at the initial stage of the second rank," the leader told his followers.

The boar charged at the leader, running like a small tank.

Bang! The leader dodged behind a large tree, and the boar crashed into it, knocking it down. Shaking its head, which was a bit dizzy, it attacked again.

Bang, bang, bang! It knocked down tree after tree, "Cunning creatures."

The leader used the complex terrain of the forest to continuously attack the boar, which was now covered in more and more wounds, its body stained with blood. Although none of the wounds were fatal, they caused it great pain.

"Third and Fourth, follow me. This beast is stronger than us, but it's not agile enough. We'll use the leader's strategy to attack it," the second-in-command said.

The second, third, and fourth were all at the peak of the first rank, just like the leader, without any special abilities. However, through training, they had gained strength far beyond that of ordinary people.

"Charge!" the leader heard his followers and said, "Be careful with your movements, don't rush in."

"Pu, pu." The boar's body was covered in small wounds, blood flowing everywhere. "Damn, cowardly creatures, only know how to run, never face me head-on."

They had been fighting for nearly half an hour, all four of them panting heavily.

"Just a little longer, it's almost done for," the leader said.

"Okay!"

The four surrounded the boar, hacking away. The boar's steps were getting slower, and the massive blood loss left it with no strength to chase anyone.

A few more minutes passed, and the boar's grunts grew weaker.

Huff, huff, huff! The four were also panting heavily, nearing their limits.

"Damn, these cowardly creatures, only know how to dodge, never face me head-on."

"Strange, something's not right," the leader thought.

Suddenly, a powerful spiritual energy fluctuation came from the boar, and basketball-sized fireballs appeared densely around it.

"Bad, it's going to use its ultimate move, retreat quickly," the leader shouted.

It was too late. The dense fireballs shot towards them, and they could only swing their steel knives to disperse them.

One after another, their spiritual energy was rapidly depleting. Finally, the last fireball was split by the leader, and they all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Be careful," the leader shouted urgently.

A large black shadow suddenly appeared in front of the fourth, ramming into him. The sharp fangs easily pierced his abdomen, lifting him high into the air, and he fell onto the grass nearby.

Who would have thought that a life so vibrant a moment ago would be gone so quietly the next?

"No!"

"Fourth!"

The second and third cried out in sorrow.

"Ah!" The leader roared in anger, rushing towards the boar. He gripped his steel knife with both hands, infusing it with all his spiritual energy, and with all his might, stabbed the boar's head. Pu, the knife pierced through.

"I won't let you have your way," the boar said, its eyes wide open, its body slowly falling to the left.

The leader released his grip on the knife, sitting on the ground, panting heavily.

...

"Big Brother, the blood won't stop! What do we do?" The second's hands were covered in blood, and no matter how hard he tried, the blood kept flowing from the fourth.

"We shouldn't have brought him," the third said, sitting next to the fourth, his blood-soaked hands covering his face.

The leader didn't turn to look at them, only clenching his fists tightly.

Time ticked by, and the fourth's life was slipping away. The once noisy forest fell into a deathly silence.

Huff, huff, huff! A breeze passed by, lifting a leaf, which drifted with the wind, its destination unknown.

At that moment, two slender fingers suddenly appeared, pinching the leaf.