Chapter 73 You’re From Hadrakin, Right?
Ikaris mentally braced himself for the worst. At the speed this boar was charging he would crash into them in less than a second.
He had already tried to use his passive See-Through Vision and Heart-Puncturing abilities, but they had no effect. He didn't dare use his Divine Spark to cast those two spells for fear of collapsing from exhaustion at the most critical moment.
Just as he had made up his mind to ditch his village on the first day and evacuate his first batch of villagers through the Transportation Portal, Anaphiel stepped forth, standing between Ikaris and the black boar.
Upon catching sight of her, the boar jerked back, its eyes red with fury dimming for a split second. The beauty in black mustered a heart-warming smile, nearly causing them to forget the darkness and viciousness of mankind.
She slowly raised her dainty hand towards the Magical Beast, but just as she was about to stroke its snout, the monster snarled with contempt and violently rammed into her belly. The creature reared up and sent the young woman careening through the air.
Ikaris and the others gaped in horror, transfixed on the spot. She looked so confident, so collected. Had they been wrong?
When their shaken minds were in turmoil, doubting whether they could survive, they heard an angry snort overhead that echoed across the plain. Anaphiel was now hovering in the air, a pair of majestic black wings spread across her back and obscuring the sun.
Black clouds gathered around her, swirling and blending with her dress. An oppressive aura covered the plain and the blue sky darkened noticeably as if they were in the middle of a solar eclipse.
Ikaris, Malia and the other villagers were knocked to the ground, their skin pallid as that of a bloodless corpse, a feeling of weakness and dread assailing both their bodies and their minds. Just to lift his chin and look up took all of the boy's strength.
While Ikaris was resisting the psychological influence of this dark aura quite well, the others were cowering on the ground, shrieking in terror as they clutched their heads with both hands or pulled their hair out. The villager Kellam did not scream, but his lips were quivering with fear and he was obviously not totally immune.
The black boar did not escape unscathed either. Although it was still standing on its four legs, they were visibly wobbly and it was tottering back and forth, finding it increasingly difficult to stay awake. However, the glint of fierceness in its red eyes was intact, blazing brighter than ever. It had withstood the Fear Spell.
"Just a Rank 4 Magical Beast and you're already so arrogant and unruly. Since you've come this far there's no need to go back." She declared in a voice as freezing as the coldest blizzard. "Die."
She pointed her finger at the unwilling creature and the mass of black smoke around it converged in front of it, forming a orb of black light the size of a bowling ball. The sphere suddenly compressed, emitting a loud bang, and then it was gone.
There was no sound of explosion, no sound of impact. The black energy orb shot through the boar's forehead and disappeared inside. Immediately afterwards, Ikaris heard with his acute hearing the powerful heartbeat of the beast slow down, then grind to a halt.
Sensing its inevitable death, the black boar sniffed the air one last time and detecting the much hated smell that brought it here, it gave one last resentful, hate-filled look at Ikaris before the red glow in its eyes died down completely. The electrical activity in his brain ceased and it collapsed to the ground with a thud.
A fearsome Rank 4 Magical Beast had been killed in a blink, effortlessly. All the survivors breathed a sigh of relief and Anaphiel floated to the ground, having already resumed her normal appearance as a black-robed lethal babe.
The boy froze as he felt the monster's loathing and realized what had happened. This huge boar was only there to avenge its family.
Ezrog cautiously approached the huge boar and kicked it to make sure the creature was dead. At his dumbfounded face his little brain clearly couldn't accept the sorcery that had just happened before his eyes.
"Ezrog doesn't like woman in black. Unfair magic." The Oni grumbled in a guttural voice brimming with conviction.
Yet as soon as Anaphiel glared at him, he shut up and looked at his feet. She walked past him oblivious, moving to inspect the dead boar.
Although she had killed this Magical Beast effortlessly, by the sheen of sweat on her forehead Ikaris and the other observant villagers understood that it had not been as easy as she wished them to believe. She had been run into by a several ton pig, rushing at the speed of a speeding car.
Ikaris and Malia expected her to lay claim to the creature she had personally hunted, but she caught them off guard when she suggested that they leave the island.
"A Rank 4 Magical Beast is not something you and your village can handle." She said crudely. "It's already praiseworthy that the previous Lord survived for over a month in such a hostile land. Don't make the same mistake."
Just like the day before, Magnus had dropped off the radar after Anaphiel's arrival. He seemed to be exceedingly wary of her, but in the meantime Ikaris couldn't count on him to make his decision. In the end, he chose to persevere.
"I'm taking the risk of staying here." He replied nervously. "That boar... that was my mistake. I killed his family this morning thinking I was hunting some easy game."
Anaphiel's emerald eyes widened slightly in surprise, but she accepted his explanation with the same regal calmness. She swept her gaze over each of the villagers, lingering briefly on Ezrog, Kellam and Malia.
After that, without a word she headed for the Transportation Portal. Ikaris wondered confusedly what she was going to do with the boar, but Ellie beat him to it,
"What about the monster?" She stuttered timidly.
Anaphiel paused, and as she looked back at the student, her features subtly softened, and she replied stiffly,
"Too cumbersome to carry. I'll leave it with you guys."
As she said this, she thought of something and a long knife with a serrated metallic blue blade appeared in her hand. She flung it in a brisk motion at Ikaris' feet, the knife planting itself to the hilt in the grass between his legs.
"The tools provided by the Welcome Pack are not capable of butchering such a Magical Beast. Use its fur and skin to make yourself some tents or clothes. As for its meat, it will stay fresh for several months and a small amount will keep you full for a long time. However, it is better to store it in a safe place as soon as possible to avoid attracting other predators. And please, do it before nightfall. You definitely don't want to have an undead Giant Boar coming back to life a couple of feet from the village."
Ellie and the other villagers shuddered with fear at her last remark. The blond girl knew what she was talking about, while the others were hung up on the word undead. The urge to skin that monster immediately began to itch.
"Thank you Anaphiel." Ikaris replied somberly, also eager to get started.
The young woman in black gave him a faint smile with a knowing look that made his heart miss a beat, and then she walked back to the Portal. When she already had one foot in the vortex, she turned around again and announced with a commiserating expression,
"Oh I forgot... I also came for another reason. You're from Hadrakin, right? We received confirmation this morning that Hadrakin had fallen in the dead of night."