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Footsteps made the ground tremble. Leaves fell from the trees one after another, shaken violently, while the smaller boars panicked and fled in different directions. The entire forest seemed to react to something approaching.
Hitaru had no idea what was about to happen. The trees were being violently shaken one after another, and he could only watch, completely stunned, unable to understand what was causing such chaos around him.
He couldn't move. He wanted to run. He wanted to not be there. Little by little, Hitaru began to hate the old man for putting him in this situation, for using him without telling him anything.
He turned his gaze toward the place where, just five minutes earlier, the old man had been standing. He was no longer there.
He was sweating.
Something was coming closer.
It was a giant boar.
Its enormous tusks, sharp like spear tips, gleamed through the undergrowth. Its swollen brown fur and its thick legs, solid like tree trunks, made Hitaru turn pale instantly. The creature was colossal.
Until the beast saw him.
It saw Hitaru on top of the tree, the very tree that had been bothering its young.
Hitaru clung with all his strength when he saw the beast charging straight toward the tree that, until that moment, had kept him safe.
A dry crack and a massive tremor echoed throughout the forest. Hitaru kept clinging to the trunk, which was now torn almost down to the roots.
The boar didn't hesitate and charged again. Hitaru barely endured the impact, but the tree wouldn't last more than two more blows.
After that and another impact, fear took hold of him. He thought about what would happen when the tree finally fell. It was then that, in the distance, he saw the old man and the others arriving, accompanied by more people.
The beast didn't notice them and charged again, causing the tree to split in half. The section where Hitaru was fell along with the trunk.
As he fell, Hitaru felt the weight of a large branch crushing his chest. No matter how much he tried to lift it and escape, he couldn't move.
By sheer luck, he was saved by the slaves, who, armed with improvised weapons and rocks, were trying to face the beast, which was nearly two meters wide and long.
Taking advantage of the situation, Hitaru didn't want to stay there to die crushed, so he tried to free himself from the weight pinning him down.
From what he was beginning to notice, the slaves had come without the necessary preparation to defeat such an incarnation of brutality.
War cries rang out from them. Although their flabby, mediocre bodies didn't make it obvious at first glance, they possessed a supernatural strength in Hitaru's eyes.
"Hey… kid, are you okay?" the old man asked worriedly, setting his improvised spear on the ground.
"How do you expect me to be okay, when you left me alone with that thing?" Hitaru snapped, feeling the weight of the branch slowly lifting off his body.
"Calm down, kid. Everything was planned beforehand. You were great bait…"
"Nothing about this is calm," Hitaru interrupted. "Let's see how you'd feel if you were in my place…"
"Settle down, boy. You're safe, and that's what matters," he finished, lifting the branch by himself.
Hitaru was stunned. An old man who surely tripled his age was carrying a branch the size of a small tree all on his own.
Even in his shock, he managed to crawl out of his would-be grave and get to his feet as best he could. Leaning on his knees, he began to watch as the slaves continued fighting the beast.
"Did you come just for me?" he asked, watching as one of the strongest men in the group, with a single blow, twisted the beast's head aside.
"Of course not, kid. We planned this since you passed out," he replied without hesitation. "Believe me, they wouldn't give anything for you."
"Ah?… I see," he said, feeling used deep inside.
But feeling that way wouldn't help him at all, so he sat down, resting his back against the branch.
"I can't go on, old man," he said, still struggling to breathe properly.
"Don't worry, kid. You're useless to us anyway. You come from Earth, and that makes you weak," he explained as he turned to pick up his spear. "Here in Mantara, thanks to mana and the way life is here, we're three times stronger than you."
Hitaru finally understood.
He understood why no one recommended going to Mantara if you weren't a bearer. He also understood why yesterday's goblin had been so strong, and above all, that if he didn't become stronger, he wouldn't survive in that world.
Hitaru stayed watching as the old man rejoined the fight.
He saw Rimic dodge a charge from the boar. The old man seized the moment while the beast was distracted and drove his spear into its eye.
The creature screamed and thrashed like a bull. Everyone pulled back, until the strongest man in the group grabbed one of the largest branches with both arms.
With brutal force, he drove it into one of the beast's sides. The creature stopped—but the slaves didn't. They all lunged at once and, with stones and clubs, finished it off.
If slaves have that kind of strength, I can't imagine what the guards are like.
I have to escape from here. I'm going to escape from here… even if I don't know how.
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Coment:
Leave your collection and a comment, so I know you liked it. That motivates me to keep writing more chapters with higher quality.
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