Chapter 60. Event Raid (3)
“What!?”
“Who are they!?”
As I didn’t know Chinese, I had no idea what they were saying. The only Chinese I knew was ‘Have you eaten?’ This sentence, if said in Korea, would cause you to get a beating. 1 Even if you said you were pronouncing it wrong or that actual Chinese people wouldn’t understand, it didn’t matter. You would get beaten without doubt.
In any case, since my words couldn’t get through to them, I simply ignored the Awakened present. They weren’t worthy of my attention, as they were at a loss for what to do against the Giant Iron Boar. Soon, they wouldn’t really care about us anyways.
[KUOOOOOO!]
“The boar! Run!”
“Damn it, it’s coming here!”
As I thought, it only took a moment before the Awakened’s formation broke down. Magician-type Awakened, who had weak constitutions, would be killed in an instant if the boar got to them. As such, they were hastily running away. It didn’t look like there were any S-rank ability users on this battlefield, as no one dared to face the boar head on. Really, Guangzhou was a big city too! They should be more concerned!
With how many people they had, did they not mind ordinary civilians or weak ability users dying? There was almost no resistance against Guangzhou’s boar. There must have been a fair number of tourists too. Although the Chinese government was holding their ground for now, the international community’s voice would only get louder as time went on.
When the talk reached the point where they discussed why they refused foreign ability users offer to help, their malicious intent would be revealed fully. I didn’t understand why they did something they couldn’t handle. Sometimes, adults were surprisingly immature and simple. Yet, they were also cruel.
“Son, it’s coming.”
“I’m ready, father.”
The boar roaring out happily as it received magical attacks from all sides was finally about to reach us. As it charged forward, it felled all buildings and trees, and destroyed roads. It was almost as if an earthquake had struck. However, father cast his spider web between all the debris and grabbed on to the one end. When the Giant Boar was right in front of the threads, he sent out the strongest shockwave he could muster. I would never forget what happened afterwards.
[KUOOOOOO!]
The moment the boar was caught in the spider web, it couldn’t win against its own forward momentum. Its back legs floated up, followed by his body and front legs, while its face was leaning down. It was truly a moment where a pig (though it was upside down) flew.
I was shocked by father’s ability. Just by sending a shockwave into his spider web, he lifted a massive raid boss meant for 500 people to defeat into the air! I didn’t know whether it was his ability, his spider web, or the timing, but it was impressive nonetheless.
The boar’s legs squirmed around mid-air, but in this situation where things with wings were falling out of the sky, a wingless pig could not stay afloat.
I did not really mind the boar falling down, but I did mind the shockwave that would result from the several thousand-ton boar falling down from dozens of meters in the sky.
“Father!”
“Don’t worry. Shock Absorption!”
Immediately afterwards, the boar fell on the ground. However, the shockwave that might have caused a second disaster did not happen. Father’s armor simply made a creaking sound. It seemed the massive force took a toll on father’s body. Even so, father held on safely, which was what surprised me the most. He then let out a spirited shout.
“Shock Reflection!”
I covered my ears. A ear-shattering sound wave shook my eardrums. Father’s extra-large shockwave, which even affected his own son, shot out in a line and completely destroyed one of the boar’s hind legs. For the first time since it made its appearance, the boar received a clear blow. Not to mention, it was a fatal blow that robbed it of one of its limbs!
“Well done, father!”
[KUOOOOOOONG!]
The boar let out a hollow groan. Just its groan caused the earth to tremor and windows on faraway buildings to shatter.
‘I hope no one died from that. I mean, what idiot would stay in a building with all that’s happening?’ Thinking rather useless things, I made my move as well.
“Talaria!”
[You summoned Talaria. For the next 10 minutes, you can freely fly or walk on air. If flying, you will receive an additional 100 percent increase to your movement speed. Remaining time: 09:59:99]
I kicked off the ground. While I was soaring through the air, I called Peika and infused her into my gauntlet.
[Master, are we hunting that giant thing?]
“That’s right, Peika. Tonight’s dinner is boar pork belly!”
I accelerated and charged towards the boar. When it saw me soaring through the air towards it, it stopped crying out in pain and limped up, glaring at me in rage. Father’s excellent focus fire had already caused it to lose its ability to charge. Even so, it was still raging with spirit. It then opened its mouth wide. In the middle of charging towards him, I stopped. Thinking ‘no way,’ I hastily changed my direction just in case. Immediately afterwards, it let out a horrible screech.
[UOOOOOOOONG!]
A shockwave similar to father’s shout came out from its mouth and flashed by below my feet. When I turned around, a building was crumbling down after receiving the shockwave.
“Father, is this your disciple!?”
“Don’t say stupid things and look forward!”
Father shouted as he ran towards me. I also regathered my focus and charged towards the boar. Although it continued to shoot out shockwaves from its mouth, I had nothing to be afraid of after finding out it only flew out in a straight line. I flew even faster. My aim was its left eye.
“Haaaaap! Die!”
‘I really need to do something about my habit of shouting out.’ Murmuring in my mind, I extended my right hand forward and shot into its left eye.
[Critical Hit!]
[KUAAAAAA!]
Its blood splashed onto my armor. My gauntlet imbued with Spirit Aura continued to dig into its eye, flickering with countless lightning. However, a mysterious power prevented me from digging past a certain point in its eye. Was this the barrier I heard raid bosses possessed? Just as I was thinking that, an alert rang out.
[You mastered low-rank Spirit Mastery! The spiritual quality of all beings connected to your soul improves, increasing your affinity to them.]
[You learned mid-rank Spirit Mastery! You become more specialized in handling spiritual power. Souls connected to you by strong bonds become stronger and easier to bring forth.]
In an instant, my Spirit Aura became stronger. I poured my mana into my gauntlet and strengthened Spirit Aura. Peika, who was infused into my gauntlet, shouted.
[Thunder Bomb!]
BOOM! The lightning energy concentrated on my gauntlet exploded out, dying the scenery in front of my eyes in a radiant gold. At the same time, the boar’s unpleasant roar rang out.
[KIAAAAAAAAAAK!]
‘Even if you’re a mana-eater, it looks like you can’t eat mana transposed with elemental power. Peika really is the best!’
In an instant, Peika and I succeeded in breaking through its barrier and bursting its left eye. Even while feeling disgusted by the remains of its eye that splashed onto me, I crawled out of its eye socket.
From the shock and pain of losing its eye, the boar was raving in fury. With just three legs, it stumbled about, unable to find its balance. I, on the other hand, could fly using Talaria. Grabbing onto its hair tightly, I landed on its forehead area.
Then, a strange scene reflected into my eyes. Father was running this way while avoiding several Chinese Awakened.
“Kill them!”
“Not only are they trespassers, they’re thieves who are here to steal China’s resources!”
“Son, these crazy bastards are attacking me instead of the boar!”
They really were crazy bastards. I couldn’t give them points for their actions, but I understood where they came from. The boar had lost a leg and eye. They probably thought they could take it on as it was now. They were trying to take care of father and me who drove the boar to this state so they could claim the boar for themselves.
I was dumbfounded. It wasn’t like I could attack them… No, how did they even think to attack foreign ability users who came to help them? Why don’t they help evacuate civilians who couldn’t escape!?
Then, the boar turned to the direction where many people were gathered even as it writhed in pain. I gripped onto its hair tightly so that I wouldn’t be shaken off.
“Father, I think it’s going your way!”
“Hahahaha!”
Father continued running towards me as he laughed. Facing the boar’s charge, the Chinese Awakened gave up their chase and scattered in all directions. However, ability users that seemed high-ranked didn’t run away, but pointed stick-like things toward the boar. I liked their backbones, but were they trying to use magic?
“Fireball!”
“Flame Wave!”
“Freezing Lance!”
‘Idiots, stop using magic!’ Just when I was about to yell at them to stop, I blanked out. No matter how I looked at it, that magic… they were targeting me! My back was stinging. They were targeting me for sure! I was so dumbfounded, I couldn’t help but laugh.
These idiots! They didn’t think to help us who saved them from brink of death, and instead tried to kill us. They weren’t even human!
“Dragon Skin!”
My armor shone red. Although I didn’t get faster by three times, my defense went up by over three times. However, even after I took the trouble to strengthen my defense, their attacks didn’t even glaze me as they exploded near the boar’s nose. The enraged boar opened its mouth and threw out a shockwave.
[KUOOOONG!]
“Kuaaaak!”
“Kuk!”
The magicians weren’t able to dodge its shockwave, which traveled faster than bullets. Without even keeping their human appearance, they shattered into pieces and died.
They had to be at least B-rank ability users. I suspected they were more likely A-rank ability users, considered high-ranked amongst all ability users. They died such futile deaths. Even so, I didn’t pity them in the slightest. It was the result of them trying to kill another human being. That said, I did feel slightly unpleasant.
“That’s enough from you!”
I grabbed onto its hair one by one, using them like icepicks as I climbed its head like a mountain. When I reached the top of its head, I lay down. The boar was going completely wild, charging through the streets of Guangzhou, which no longer even had anything to be broken. Even as it staggered about without a leg, it did not fall and shook its body as it tried to send me flying. The scenery around me constantly changed. Were there still civilians who couldn’t escape? Was father fine?
Then, I caught sight of the scenery below. While Awakened gathered in one place were escaping in all directions like scattering ants, father shot out spider webs from his bracelet and stuck it to the boar’s back. He then used it like a rope to climb the boar.
‘Oh, father, your rope climbing skills are excellent! But sorry, your chance to shine is over!’ With that, I shouted.
“KUAAANG!”
[You used Orc Lord’s Warcry! All party members are cleansed of negative status effects. All party members’ attack power increases by 50 percent for the duration. All party members become super-armored, unfazed by enemy attacks.]
Then, I continued.
“Dark Thunder Explosion!”
1. ‘Have you eaten?’ is ‘ni chi fan le ma’, which in a Korean-Chinese accent, sounds like ‘you fucker’. It’s a well-known joke in Korea.