"What the f*ck!" Seeing that the firewood she had spent so much effort gathering was being burned up by a pack of boars, Coppelia couldn't stand it. She leaped forward, grabbed the hind leg of a boar that was lying on the ground warming itself by the fire, lifted it with her right hand, and glared fiercely at the troublemaker. "You're dinner tonight!"
The moment it was caught, the boar began to struggle violently. Upon seeing the grim, green light shining from Coppelia's eyes, its struggles grew even more fierce.
She didn't even glance at the other boars. Based on her observations during the day, these creatures would run away with the slightest scare; there was no need to worry about them.
Indeed, the other six boars scattered, but they only ran in a circle, sneaking up behind Coppelia before charging at her all at once.
Coppelia was still contemplating how to cook the struggling boar in her hand, completely unaware of the charge from behind.
The first boar crashed into Coppelia's knee, then immediately scurried away to the side.
The sudden push sent Coppelia stumbling forward. She quickly stepped out with her left foot, planting it right in the middle of the bonfire to barely maintain her balance. Her right hand still held a tight grip on the boar.
Another three boars charged at her back from three different directions.
A searing heat radiated from her left calf, but Coppelia had no time to lift her leg out of the fire. Using her left foot as a pivot, she spun counter-clockwise to face the three charging boars. She pulled her right foot back and then kicked swiftly at the bonfire, sending a shower of red-hot charcoal exploding towards the three animals.
The three boars were showered in a "rain of fire," their fur singed with black spots, yet their charge didn't slow in the slightest.
They're not even afraid of the hot coals. These are no ordinary boars!
Coppelia stepped back with her right foot into a lunge, raising her right arm behind her. As the three boars closed in, she swung the boar in her hand like a whip, its head precisely striking the heads of the three charging animals.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Three muffled sounds rang out. The action happened in an instant; the four boars were silenced completely before they could even register the pain.
The other three boars, which had been planning to charge as a group, saw the state of their four companions, turned tail, and fled into the depths of the pine forest.
Coppelia tossed the boar in her right hand aside, picked up a stone, and hurled it at the three fleeing animals. It scored a direct hit on one of their heads, sending the creature into a forward somersault before it landed on the ground and moved no more.
The remaining two boars ran to the edge of the forest and turned back, standing there craning their necks and letting out sharp squeals, as if to say: You just wait!
"Bring it on! I'll be waiting for you!" Coppelia gave the two squealing boars the middle finger.
After squealing for a while longer, the two boars ran off into the woods, shrieking as they went.
Coppelia gazed at the fat bodies of the four boars, unable to shake the question from her mind. Why were they so timid during the day, running at the slightest scare, yet so ferocious at night?
It was only then that she remembered both of her feet were still in the bonfire. She quickly jumped out to a safe spot. Looking down to inspect herself, she found that, as always, her clothes and body were completely unharmed.
"Whatever. What's done is done. Time to eat." She used a fresh pine branch to sweep the coals back into the fire pit, tidied up her simple "bed," and invited Columbina back. The hungry girl soon lay down and fell asleep.
Coppelia had originally planned to fashion some stone tools by knapping, but she didn't want to disturb Columbina's rest, and she also wanted to see if she could create a usable dagger with a Geo Construct.
With her experience in controlling Pyro and Anemo, mastering Geo was easy.
She confined the Geo Element within a thin layer the length of her palm and the width of three fingers. After setting its shape, she infused it with concentrated Geo energy. A moment later, a flat, translucent yellow gemstone appeared in her hand.
She carefully controlled the Geo Element, making the edges of the gemstone hard and sharp. And just like that, a small knife made of a Geo Construct was complete.
She tried cutting the skin of the boar meat and had to put in quite a bit of effort to break through.
"The edge looks pretty thin, but it's still not as sharp as a metal knife." Coppelia examined the Geo Construct in her hand. "Oh well, as long as it works."
Coppelia squatted to one side, cutting the boar into long strips of pork steak, roasting each piece as she cut it.
The rich, savory aroma wafted through the air, waking Columbina from her sleep. The girl sat up and asked, "Can I eat yet?"
Coppelia picked out a cooked pork steak and handed it to her. "It hasn't been marinated with any seasoning, so it might not taste that great. You'll have to make do."
"It's fine." Columbina took the strip of meat and began to nibble on it with both hands.
"Did you... get hit by a boar earlier?" Coppelia asked, unable to resist as she looked over at Columbina, who was busy eating the roasted meat while she butchered the rest of the boar.
"Um... no."
"That wasn't a very convincing answer. Are you sure?"
"I'm sure."
Coppelia suddenly couldn't help but imagine Columbina getting knocked over by a boar, but she immediately squashed the thought. Just having such an idea was rude enough. It was better to focus on the task at hand.
...
Silvery moonlight flowed into the valley, making the snow-covered landscape look like a pool of iced spring water.
She finished her work and, while waiting for Columbina to finish the remaining pork steaks, began to plan her next steps.
"The main task is to help Columbina find her lost power fragments. Since she could fall here, the fragments should have landed somewhere nearby as well."
"After this meal, the stamina she used climbing down the cliff will be replenished. Tomorrow, I'll wander around the valley with her and see if we can find any traces of the fragments."
"And then..." Coppelia's thoughts were interrupted. In the moonlight, she saw a boar emerge from the direction the other two had fled, just beyond the edge of their camp.
She immediately stood up, staring warily at the spot. The boar looked over, and upon noticing her, it let out a shriek.
A short while after the shriek, more and more boars emerged from the darkness, standing at the edge of the forest. They began to squeal and roar in unison, the noise so cacophonous that it made Coppelia's ears ache with a phantom pain.
What is this? A provocation? Taunting? Whatever it is, if they dare to charge again, I'll take them down one by one. Coppelia assumed a combat stance.
"Columbina, please charge me!" To guard against a sudden stampede, she kept her eyes fixed on the boar pack and called out to Columbina without turning around.
No sooner had she spoken than she felt a pair of slightly cold hands touch her back. Energy flowed from them and into her core.
She noticed that the pack of boars wasn't clustered tightly together. Instead, they left a path five or six meters wide in the middle, as if waiting for a massive creature to pass through.
Before long, the treetops in the distance began to shake violently, sending snow scattering in all directions.
The tremors grew closer and closer. Coppelia looked towards the forest and spotted the behemoth causing the disturbance.
The creature was blocked by a pine tree. Though it could have easily gone around, it took a few steps back and charged forward, snapping the tree in half.
Coppelia finally understood why this pack of boars was timid by day and ferocious by night. It turned out their old man, a nocturnal creature, was looking out for them.
That thing's massive body far surpassed that of an ordinary boar. Its sharp tusks glinted menacingly in the faint moonlight, and its thick fur was a mottle of black, white, and gray, covered in ice and snow.
Coppelia recognized this figure. It was the hidden boss of Dragonspine.
The Great Snowboar King!
___
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