In the jungle, Okabe's footsteps were light.
The long spear bobbed slightly on his shoulder with his stride, its tip glinting with a cold light in the morning sun. He chose to head toward the gentle slope on the east side of the camp.
During his exploration yesterday, he had discovered an oak forest there. The ground was scattered with chewed acorn shells, indicating the activity of small to medium-sized creatures.
Back during his special training in the mountains behind Ryōzanpaku, Shigure Kōsaka had once told him that animal activity follows laws and traces. Powerful beasts possess their own territory; mastering these laws is equivalent to mastering their lives.
At the time, he didn't understand why Shigure Kōsaka wanted to teach him these things. After all, he was a chef, not a hunter. When he had asked her about it out of curiosity, Shigure Kōsaka had only remained silent for a brief moment before telling him, with an unnatural expression, that he would have a use for it sooner or later.
Could it be she was referring to using it here? But it didn't feel quite like that...
After entering the woods, Okabe's world instantly quieted down. Birdcalls became sparse, leaving only the rustling sound of his feet on fallen leaves and the sound of his own shallow breathing. He slowed his pace, his body leaning forward slightly as his eyes scanned the ground and the surrounding tree trunks.
Fresh feces, overturned soil, broken shrubs, and hoof prints sunken into the earth—it looked a bit like traces of wild boar activity. The air was filled with the smell of damp earth and rotting leaves, and the surrounding silence was somewhat chilling.
Fortunately, his powerful strength gave him confidence. It was now early July; melons and fruits were maturing one after another, and food in the forest was becoming abundant. Under these circumstances, the fat on the animals would also be much richer.
About an hour and forty minutes later.
Okabe continued forward when he suddenly heard movement in the jungle. He immediately slowed his pace, looking through the gaps in the branches to see the creature causing the disturbance in the distance.
It wasn't the expected wild boar, but an adult raccoon dog. It wasn't large and was currently eating. Its body was covered in thick, mixed gray-brown and black fur, and the most conspicuous feature was the striking black "figure-eight" patterns on its face.
At this moment, it was holding an acorn with its front paws, chewing happily with "crunch crunch" sounds, while quite a few clean-eaten acorn shells were scattered by its feet.
"Raccoon dog, mammal of the Canidae family, Nyctereutes genus. They generally move in temporary family units. I wonder why this one is alone," Okabe thought. "Did it run out because of gluttony?"
Okabe's eyes were cold as he quickly analyzed the information of the raccoon dog before him, categorizing it as prey. Then, the long spear in his hand was aimed and flew out—a one-hit kill.
He walked over, looking at its still slightly twitching body, and sighed.
"Ephemeral Blossom Slash!"
With a soft shout, the Wu Qu Knife was unsheathed from his waist and held in Okabe's hand. Subsequently, the raccoon dog's fur was completely peeled off, ready to be processed into a warm scarf later.
"I'll leave the meat to Mito to handle. It's a pity that raccoon dog meat has a heavy, foul odor and requires a lot of spices to neutralize. I'll have to find spices next."
A look of regret flashed across Okabe's face. However, this was the wilderness after all; he couldn't afford to be picky. finding a suitable target was already quite good.
He weighed the raccoon dog in his hand. Without the fur, it was about ten catties—roughly enough to yield over a catty of fat, which would suffice for daily consumption for now.
Just as he was preparing to leave, a noise suddenly came from his side. His mind moved instantly; he placed the raccoon dog on the ground and leaped up, jumping onto the nearest large tree.
The moment after he leaped onto the trunk and used the branches and leaves to hide his figure, the bushes below were violently crashed open. A robust wild boar walked out with its head hung low, snorting heavy breaths.
Its shoulders and back were high and arched, its bristles coarse and hard. Two curved tusks on its mouth gleamed with a yellow-white luster under the light filtering through the leaves; clearly, it had followed the scent of blood.
It looked left and right, finally stopping beside the dead raccoon dog. It rudely turned the carcass over a few times with its snout, its throat emitting a satisfied "grunt," and then, without any scruples, it opened its mouth to tear and swallow large mouthfuls.
Okabe held his breath in the tree. A faint sense of surprise welled up in his heart, though his face remained expressionless. This was a male wild boar in its prime, visually estimated to weigh over two hundred catties. The muscles on its neck, back, and strong flanks bulged slightly as it ate.
It appeared very relaxed, burying its head to taste the food without regard for the surroundings. Clearly, it was the overlord of this forest; under normal circumstances, even a brown bear wouldn't easily provoke it.
"So that's how it is. Just like chumming the water for fishing, hunting also requires setting some food 'traps.' The footprints I saw coming here indeed belonged to a wild boar. This is its habitat; I just had bad luck earlier and didn't encounter it..."
Looking at the wild boar eating his prey, a sneer emerged on Okabe's face.
"Eat. Eat your fill so you can hit the road."
He didn't rush to act. Instead, he stood in the tree observing the surrounding environment to ensure that no uncontrollable situations would arise during the fight. While he pondered, the wild boar below was still feeding, the sound of tusks tearing through skin and flesh clearly audible.
Its back was facing the branch where Okabe was hiding, less than seven steps away. From this angle, the junction between the side of the neck and the shoulder blade was completely exposed. That was the position above the heart; the hide was relatively thin there, and given the boar's height, mud rarely covered that area completely. The gap between the ribs was also slightly wider.
A weak point. This was the most obvious weak point of the wild boar before him.
The wind blew from the east, rustling the leaves and carrying away what little scent Okabe had on him. He slowly took a breath, shifted his center of gravity to his left foot, and gently pushed off the trunk with his right foot. His entire person slid down silently like a falling leaf.
When he landed, his knees bent slightly, dissolving the impact force without making a sound. The wild boar's ears suddenly twitched, but its mouth didn't stop chewing. It only glanced left and right, and seeing no movement, it lowered its head to continue chewing.
Okabe had drawn close like a ghost, the spear tip glinting with a dull light in the shadows. He didn't choose to throw it. Instead, utilizing the Golden Skill "Body Control," he poured his entire body's strength into his arm.
Facing prey of this size, missing a single strike would lead to a dangerous grapple and the loss of his weapon. To be safe, Okabe decided to ambush it from behind.
Five steps. Three steps.
The wild boar finally sensed the anomaly behind it. It jerked its head up and turned, its blood-stained tusks carving an arc the instant it spun around.
But Okabe was faster. He stepped forward with his left foot, his body suddenly releasing like a fully drawn bow. The short spear stabbed diagonally upward from below, his full power concentrated at the tip of the stone blade.
Pfft!
A dull and solid sensation traveled up the spear shaft. The stone blade accurately wedged into the gap before the shoulder blade, penetrating thick hide and muscle. Under that incredibly powerful force, it sank in all the way to the handle; even a good portion of the wooden stick went in.
The wild boar let out a shrill howl.
Its massive body twisted frantically from the intense pain, its hind hooves kicking up large patches of mud and fallen leaves. Okabe decisively let go and retreated, avoiding the pair of madly thrashing tusks.
He drew the Wu Qu Knife from his waist, the blade flashing a line of cold light through the tree shadows. Because of the wound restricting it, the wild boar's turning motion became sluggish. Okabe had already circled to its rear flank, his blade slashing toward its rear leg tendons like a bolt of lightning.
The blade cut into flesh. The wild boar's hind legs went soft, and it stumbled to its knees. However, its vitality was extremely tenacious; dragging the short spear inserted in its shoulder blade, it actually used its forelimbs to power a fierce charge forward, attempting to use a mutually assured destruction tactic to ram Okabe, who was attacking it, into the air.
How could Okabe give it the chance?
His feet planted firmly on the ground. In the split second before the wild boar crashed into him, he leaped up violently, kicking off a tree trunk with both feet to borrow force. His body flipped over the pig's back in mid-air, and simultaneously, he stabbed the Wu Qu Knife downward with a reverse grip.
Chi—
The blade stabbed precisely between the cervical vertebrae, reaching straight into the spinal cord. The wild boar's entire body trembled violently; its charging momentum came to an abrupt halt. Its massive body crashed to the ground with a boom, its limbs twitching a few times before it ceased to move.
Silence returned to the forest, leaving only the thick smell of blood spreading through the air.
"Hahaha!!!"
Okabe lay back on the ground, gasping for large mouthfuls of air to calm his violently beating heart. A relaxed smile appeared on his face, which then turned into loud laughter. This wild boar would become a new milestone in their team's island life!
"But this smell of blood is really heavy. I have to process it quickly to avoid attracting more predators."
Thinking of this, Okabe couldn't care about resting and walked toward the fallen wild boar. Observing it up close, he could clearly see its bristles, coarse as steel needles, and the heavy armor of mud covering its skin formed by years of rubbing against trees.
This was the wild boar's defense method. As for those tusks, they looked particularly ferocious at close range; the tips were still hung with the raccoon dog's fur and blood filaments, looking exceptionally terrifying.
"I didn't expect that one day I would reach this level, easily killing a wild boar using only a stone spear and a kitchen knife. In my past life, this was absolutely something I wouldn't dare to think about. In the future, while training my culinary arts, I still can't forget training on the strength level."
Okabe muttered to himself with some emotion. His hands weren't idle either; now that the boar had just died, it was the best time to bleed it. If delayed too long, the texture and taste of the meat would drop drastically.
He exerted force to flip the boar onto its side so the wound faced downward, then used the Wu Qu Knife to accurately cut an opening near the bottom of the neck to help the residual blood in the boar's body flow out. Dark red blood seeped into the brown earth, quickly forming a dark stain.
"Pity there's nothing to hold this blood; it can only be wasted."
Okabe pressed on the boar's body with his hands, helping to move its limbs to promote blood flow. During this process, he pleasantly discovered that this was a sow. Compared to the foul, gamey odor of an uncastrated boar, a sow would be much better in that regard.
"It's about time to head back. I'll go find Adana later and see if she has any suitable seasonings there. I'll share some of the rendered lard with her then."
After draining the pig's blood cleanly, Okabe lifted the pig's body, hoisting it over his head. For him, whose physical constitution had long since surpassed that of ordinary people, this was a very easy task.
Through this hunt, he suddenly realized he had somewhat underestimated himself. He had thought he and the wild boar would need to battle for a long time before he could take it down, but under the dual explosion of physical fitness and adrenaline, the opponent hadn't even lasted a minute.
Deep in thought, he quickened his pace, striding toward the direction of the camp. shortly after he left, the bloody scent in the woods was still slowly spreading. Several crows had already landed on nearby branches, letting out hoarse caws. Further away, the sound of huge friction against bushes could be heard. Some creature with a massive body was being attracted by this scent of blood, cautiously approaching.
Okabe was completely unaware of this.
Coming here, he had walked cautiously for an hour and forty minutes, but the return journey was much faster; he returned to the camp in less than half an hour.
At this moment, Ikumi Mito was squatting by the stream, washing her face with the ice-cold stream water. Further away, Soma Yukihira and Takumi were bare-chested, swinging stone hoes with great effort under the morning sun. The land by the river had barely been cleared for a dozen meters.
Indeed. From setting out from the camp to returning, Okabe had used only two hours. He got up at 7:00 AM, and it was currently only 9:30 AM. There was even ample time to prepare lunch; for two novices, this progress wasn't bad.
"O-Okabe-kun?! Is that... a wild boar?!!!!!"
Hearing movement from the jungle, Ikumi Mito looked over vigilantly. Then her expression became sluggish, and a voice shocked to the extreme came from her mouth. Even Soma Yukihira and Takumi, who were tilling the land in the distance, were attracted by the commotion and couldn't help but cast their gazes over.
Subsequently, they revealed the same expression as Ikumi Mito; the scene before them was simply too astonishing. Okabe walked quickly out of the forest, shouldering an adult wild boar almost as tall as himself.
The morning light fell on his shoulders and back, which were soaked with sweat. The wild boar's massive body bobbed slightly with his steps, its tusks reflecting a heart-palpitating cold light in the rays. Mud and dark red bloodstains stained his clothes and skin, making him look primitive and fierce, like a Shura emerging from hell.
"O-Okabe, th-this... you hunted this alone?! Isn't that a bit too amazing!"
Soma Yukihira threw away his stone hoe and ran over with wide eyes, circling Okabe and the wild boar. His face was written with disbelief, and his speech became a bit stuttered, as if he were recognizing this person for the first time today.
Takumi also walked closer quickly. Looking at that wild boar which appeared ferocious even in death, his Adam's apple bobbed. He looked at Okabe as if looking at a monster.
"Yeah, had good luck."
Okabe gently placed the wild boar on the empty ground in the center of the camp, causing a muffled thud. He smiled at the three shocked people: "I just happened to encounter it eating a raccoon dog I had hunted earlier, and my sneak attack succeeded."
"This can't be explained by luck..."
Takumi Aldini crouched down, carefully examining the fatal wound on the side of the wild boar's neck, then looked at the blood-stained Wu Qu Knife at Okabe's waist and the crude stone spear on his back. His voice carried a trace of admiration: "Without modern weapons, relying solely on these... do you come from a martial arts family?!"
"You have so much blood on you, Okabe-kun."
Megumi Tadokoro looked at Okabe's blood-covered appearance and couldn't help but reveal a worried emotion.
"Don't worry, this blood is all the wild boar's. I didn't suffer a single injury; at most, my breathing is a bit heavy because I came back too fast."
Seeing the young girl's worried appearance, Okabe spoke and wanted to reach out to rub her head as comfort, but suddenly remembered his hand was full of blood and filth. So he pulled his hand back, touched his head with a slightly honest and simple manner, and twisted his body to show he was fine.
"You've worked hard. Take off your clothes later and I'll wash them for you. I found soap locust trees on the hillside; boiling them in water for a while makes them usable for washing clothes."
Seeing this scene, Megumi Tadokoro couldn't help but feel a bit of heartache, her eyes turning slightly red. She stepped forward and held Okabe's other hand, refusing to let go no matter what.
As the one with the worst culinary skills in the team, Megumi Tadokoro had a very clear definition of her own position: to secure everyone's logistics, allowing them to cook without pressure.
It just so happened that she grew up in a fishing port town. When she was little and her grandfather was still alive, he often took her climbing mountains and out to sea, telling her a lot of knowledge only used in wilderness survival. Being able to use it here now was definitely her grandfather's spirit in heaven blessing her.
Not far away, Ikumi Mito watched this scene and pursed her lips. She didn't step forward to offer comfort, but instead came to the wild boar's side, the scrutiny of a professional chef appearing in her eyes.
She reached out, pressing on the skin and flesh of different parts of the wild boar, then leaned in to sniff the scent.
"It's an adult sow, dead not long ago. The bleeding was done very quietly, so the meat quality shouldn't have been affected much. Okabe-kun, how do you plan to handle it?"
She looked up at Okabe, her green eyes shining.
"My understanding of pork lies mostly in cooking, so I brought it back to ask if you have any ideas. If you're confident, I'll hand it over to you completely to handle."
Hearing Ikumi Mito's voice, Okabe scratched his head. His understanding of pork was relatively shallow. Back when he practiced the "Ephemeral Blossom Slash" at Ryōzanpaku, he had used money-saving small creatures as material. While he certainly could dissect this pig, it would be time-consuming and laborious, and the results might not be good.
As the saying goes, there is a specialization in every field.
Ikumi Mito was a meat expert; besides beef, she also had some research on pork. Holding this thought, Okabe had brought it back to let her dismantle it.
"Last time in the Meat Research class, I was defeated by you with a pork chop dish. Because of that, I specifically studied pork for two months. I relied on my family's connections to work as a pig butcher in a slaughterhouse every day after class ended for a month, only returning after I understood every part of the pig."
"Although wild boars and domestic pigs have significant differences, if you are willing to trust me, let me handle this wild boar. I've learned all the processes from disassembly to the subsequent acid discharge. However, since there is no ideal environment for acid discharge in the natural state, I can only do my best."
Hearing Okabe's trusting words, the corners of Ikumi Mito's mouth raised slightly. Then she patted her chest and spoke, a smile of extreme confidence overflowing on her face.
Clearly, she felt very happy to be able to help.
"Meat General... truly reliable. Then I'll leave it to you, Mito."
Hearing Ikumi Mito's words, a smile also appeared on Okabe's face. He knew about her going to the slaughterhouse every day after class because she often shared knowledge in this area with him. This fellow had a near-paranoid love for meat; before it was beef, now pork was added, and in the future, there might be others.
Although the speed of growth wasn't very fast, Ikumi Mito was genuinely growing every day.
If this continued, when she grew up, she would definitely become a Special Grade Chef proficient in meat dishes, and his culinary empire would gain another great general.
____
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