Confident, Lozar remains firm in place waiting for the impact, but when it comes, it is stronger than he expected, making him lose balance and fall to the ground.
The boar, seeing the opportunity, takes advantage to charge once more, aiming at the leather garments on the belly of the man who still tries to get up.
Almost about to take the direct impact, he manages to place the shield and protect himself once again. But to his misfortune, the shield falls from his arm, leaving him vulnerable. And in a new charge, the boar now feels the taste of victory along with the saliva that runs down the side of its mouth.
Lozar sees no other alternative than to go on the offensive, pointing the sword directly at the middle of the animal's forehead. In seconds everything was decided, a cry of savage pain was the last thing it made before falling dead with the sword embedded in the middle of its forehead. Soon the blood begins to form a pool around it among the sparse grass of the place.
"Did you manage to see?" Miriane and the students are at the top of a hill not very far away. She uses binoculars to follow all the action from there.
"Even a boar is that strong?" Sebastian asks into the air, he wears leather armor and two gauntlets also made of leather. Small metallic claws are attached to the gauntlets. A pair of binoculars is what he uses to see the scene.
"That is why the boar is about to be reclassified as a monster. Because, besides being strong, they represent real risks to the life of a human being." Miriane lets the words escape while observing from the corner first Sarah, who is lying very close and wielding a black precision rifle while watching the action through the weapon's scope. Her leather armor also stands out on her body.
Beside her, Bernardo is wearing a dark metallic armor, the visor of the helmet is open while he also watches the scene with binoculars. At his waist a long sword rests ready for action.
Iris is further back and completely hooded with a dark green cloak. At her waist the white hilt of a rapier that belongs to her shows itself timidly. She is in a centered stance, and uses nothing to observe.
"Everything all right back there?" Miriane asks into the air without turning.
"Yes, nothing abnormal." Miguel answers with his bow in one hand and the arrow in the other.
"Same here!" An extra guest, a boy named Lafral who is part of the same class as Bernardo, is in a corner, also using a bow, only longer than Miguel's, it is black and the string is silver. The arrows resting in the quiver at his waist are decorated with white feathers. His thin hair, almost shaved, and his skin as dark as chocolate stand out from the others.
While the man appreciates his feat, and even smiles waiting to be approved, another man appears coming from the middle of the cornfield.
"And would you look at that, you actually did it?" Draus, a young man, holding a submachine gun and wearing leather armor, comes out of the cornfield with slow steps.
"Did you see? It will not take long for me to earn a ring like yours." Lozar begins to clean the blood from the sword on the animal's own skin.
"Not if you keep being careless like this." Draus speaks while looking at the abandoned shield. "Do you know why even having modern weapons like this in my hand, most still use swords and shields?"
"Because of affinity?" Lozar lets the words into the air while looking from the corner of his eye at the weapon in his hand and the golden ring reflecting sunlight.
"That is a good answer, but no!" Draus walks to the shield and picks it up, then returns near the boar and places it beside the dead body. "First lesson, gunpowder is a very scarce material. Therefore, producing a lot of ammunition is unfeasible. That is why each shot must be taken with certainty that it will fulfill its objective." He pauses his explanation to crouch and run his hand over the skin among the animal's fur.
"Second lesson, projectiles always go straight and are very predictable, while darts and arrows can have curved and customized trajectories, whether through their construction, or through the archer's skill." He is already standing and takes a few steps back. "Please move away a bit."
Then Draus presses a button on the weapon in his hand and aims first at the animal, executing a single shot right into its belly. The bullet softens, dents and falls not far from there.
"Third lesson, the skin of most animals and monsters is very tough, making it impossible for a simple projectile to pierce them. That is why you must always aim at the vulnerable points, and for that it is necessary to know your prey." He turns to Lozar and continues. "Your sword is made of a very sharp and resistant metal, a weapon that must be at least grade D, certainly a blacksmith of excellence must have forged it. Not to mention that it must be very expensive."
"Indeed, I could only buy it thanks to my family's money." Lozar even looks more closely at his white-bladed sword adorned with a magical core at its base near the handle, which is made of black wood and the grip wrapped with leather.
"Boars have a very hard skull too, you know? If your sword were of a lower grade or made by a less qualified blacksmith, it would probably have broken and you would have neither weapon nor shield." Draus signals him with his hand and walks near the shield. "Your shield is another piece of the same level as the sword, probably they were bought together in the same place. Try to pierce it with your sword."
Lozar then takes a few steps forward and delivers a blow to the shield which absorbs the impact and makes the sword vibrate slightly in his hand, drawing a grunt of pain from him.
"Oroborus scales from the great forest. That shield would never be pierced by the boar's tusks. You could simply keep defending until tiring it out and take advantage of openings to pierce the eye or cut one of the legs." Draus looks at the black ring on Lozar's finger. "Come back in six months for a new evaluation, until then, try to improve your physical conditioning and knowledge."
Lozar lowers his head with a vacant gaze toward the ground.
At that moment, Draus hears a very soft noise in the middle of the cornfield.
"Last lesson, firearms were made to kill humans and not animals." He presses the button on the weapon again and assumes a stance ready to shoot while aiming at the cornfield. "Grab your shield, quickly!"
Without understanding much of what is happening, Lozar grabs his shield while beginning to feel his heart race as he notices the serious expression of the evaluator.
"More boars?" Miriane asks herself out loud while still observing.
"What?" Miguel also asks, but he does it looking directly at her. Then he walks to Sarah and takes the binoculars she is not using.
"There was supposed to be only one boar in this mission." Miguel lets the words into the air already trying to observe what is happening. "Shit!"
"There are at least six!" Sarah says in a neutral and focused tone.
"Where?" Bernardo asks her while scanning the surroundings.
"Three in the cornfield very close to them, and one more hidden in that tree to the left." Sarah answers him, making him get goosebumps when he manages to see some corn stalks moving in an artificial way.
"And two more in the forest below us." Iris adds, looking downward with a serious gaze while holding the hilt of her sword firmly.
"Six boars? That is practically a herd." Sebastian also feels his heart beat faster while in his mind thoughts race.
"They are not boars! They are mercenaries!" Miriane's words cut through the air and make hearts freeze for an instant.
"And those two over there have their eyes on us." Miguel has his fist clenched while looking at the foot of the hill among some trees.
At that moment, the words spoken by Lafral make Miguel and Miriane tremble.
"There are three more approaching from behind."