Below, the boar kept charging, its fangs flashing, occasionally blocking the arrows’ trajectories, making it even harder for Sylutia to aim.

Mick gradually led the giant boar away from where Karen and Ray were; he ran nimbly along the mountain, sometimes turning to throw stones to attract the giant boar’s attention.

He stomped heavily onto the mud again, his foot slipped a little, splashing up some dirt, then he pushed off with his front foot and surged forward.

Because his focus was entirely on the boar and escaping, he didn’t notice Sylutia had already leaped into the trees on the other side.

The enraged boar snorted and kept chasing. Its massive body did not feel clumsy or slow; instead it moved like a thick spring, smashing through the woods. When its bulky flesh hit a tree it only trembled slightly, causing no real harm to the boar.

No good.

After aiming for a while, Sylutia lowered her bow. In this situation she simply couldn’t take an accurate shot — there were too many distractions and variables. Her arrow had to hit the boar’s eye precisely to be effective.

Realizing this, she leapt between branches again. Her light frame and sharp eyesight always let her find footholds, but this kind of jumping drained her energy and required the Breathing Technique to support the necessary power and speed.

Opportunities were limited; she couldn’t drag this out forever.

With that in mind, she dropped from the tree, lightly touched down on her toes, took a few steps to buffer her speed, then ran forward while drawing the bowstring, aiming at the giant boar running alongside them.

From this angle she not only avoided the boar’s fangs interfering, she could also match her speed to be roughly parallel with the boar, reducing the positional shift caused by its movement.

At this moment, Mick finally noticed Sylutia’s action. He was surprised at how agile the girl was and realized this was the crucial moment. He stopped dodging randomly and ran in a straight line, trying to make the chasing boar run straight as well.

Time felt unbearably tense. Sylutia adjusted her breathing to keep herself steady and calm, then slowly aimed her arrow at the boar running in sync.

One second... two seconds... three seconds...

On the fifth second, Sylutia found the moment. She leapt into the air, and time seemed to slow. For a brief two seconds the arrow inched toward the boar’s eye until her aim fully locked.

The bowstring loosened, the white-feathered arrow sprang forward, threading through gaps in the foliage and racing toward the giant boar in the opposite stand of trees.

A blossom of blood opened on the boar’s face. The arrow struck the boar’s fragile eyeball.

(‘Basic Archery’ proficiency +56)

The shaken shaft was soon snapped, but the arrowhead remained embedded in the boar’s eye. The wounded boar became extremely ferocious; nearly frantic, it changed direction and charged toward Sylutia. Unfortunately, missing one eye robbed it of depth perception, so it couldn’t dodge the trees well and smashed through trunk after trunk. Thick hide scraped across tree bark, sending fragments scattering.

“Roar—” it expelled long, rough white breaths, then bellowed violently.

The roar made the two nearby people’s hearts clench; the oppressive sound would likely have snapped the heart of an ordinary small animal or rabbit in an instant.

“Move!” Sylutia stowed her bow and quickly left. Mick also quickened his pace to follow.

With one eye injured, the boar’s speed slowed even as it pursued, and the two gradually widened the distance.

Ten minutes later, Sylutia finally stopped, leaning against a large tree to catch her breath, while Mick flopped down against a trunk.

Jogging and full-out sprinting consumed very different amounts of stamina; at this point both could only hope the boar wouldn’t catch up.

Remembering something, Sylutia reached into the small pouch at her waist, took out a wristband wrapped in black cloth, and put it on.

A warm vitality spread from the wristband through her body in an instant, dispelling the earlier fatigue and soreness. Even the side effects from using the Breathing Technique began to subside.

So that meant she could use the Breathing Technique for longer each day. No wonder the Blazing Sun Aspect was ranked among the top three Aspects — its function was so versatile and powerful.

About a minute later Sylutia had fully recovered; her heart rate and breathing returned to normal. If it weren’t for a few beads of sweat still on her forehead, one would barely notice her earlier panicked escape.

Mick, on the other hand, wasn’t as well off. He could only barely stand, regaining some strength. The aftereffects of using the Breathing Technique and his aching muscles still plagued him.

“Let’s go.” He knew they couldn’t stay long and walked ahead to lead Sylutia.

...

Half an hour later the two joined up with the other three; this perilous forest outing finally came to a pause.

“Let’s go back, I’m never staying out here again.” Komea raised her hand.

“Agreed.” The others had no objections; the earlier moments had been truly perilous.

The five packed up and began descending the mountain. Downhill was not as easy as the climb — their speed slowed considerably.

The journey was relatively smooth until halfway down, when several orange-furred Tili Wolves burst from the trees and appeared before the five of them.

“How come we didn’t encounter any before, but now five show up at once?” Komea couldn’t help but complain.

“Probably smelled our sweat.” Karen analyzed; when they came up they were full of energy and not sweating much.

“Uh, is that a thing?”

“Time to fight, comrades.” Karen drew her short sword first; at this distance shooting arrows was already too slow.

The five orange Tili Wolves didn’t hesitate. When Karen drew her sword they surged forward. She kicked one away and used her blade to block another’s bite, but a third couldn’t be dodged and bit her wrist, leaving her barely holding on.

The situation was urgent. Mick rushed forward, drawing his sword to intercept the wolf from behind. Ray, who should have protected Karen’s other side, couldn’t keep up with speed and could only watch the wolf run past him toward Karen’s back.

That wolf ultimately failed. Another sharp short sword thrust out and pierced its neck, eliciting a strangled whimper.

Sylutia withdrew her blade, stepped on the wolf’s body, and drove her sword through its skull, killing it instantly. She then stepped forward to help Karen deal with the remaining Tili Wolves.

Soon, through their cooperation, the five Tili Wolves were killed one after another with no chance to flee. The price was Karen’s wrist now bore a shallow bite wound.

After cleaning the wound, Sylutia carefully bandaged Karen’s wrist, and the group finally relaxed.

“That giant boar probably won’t come after us.” Karen looked back at the endless mountain forest.

“And we gained five more prey.” Mick counted the Tili Wolf carcasses on the ground and nodded with satisfaction.

After settling down, they checked their haul. Because they had fled in haste earlier, many less-important catches and foraged items had been abandoned. What remained were a small pack of lightweight herbs and the five wolf corpses.

While Karen and Mick skinned the wolves, Komea finally put some pieces together.

“Tia, you ran so fast just now. Your speed is impressive, and your swordsmanship is great!” She rattled off questions.

“Y-yes.” The girl sat on a rock with her short sword and long bow in her lap.

“I actually know the Breathing Technique and have some combat ability.” She twirled a strand of hair near her ear as she explained.

“You remember that assessment day? I was supposed to take the field.”

“But Mr. Heide told me not to, so I dropped the idea.”

“There was a chance to explain later, but I thought staying low-profile would avoid a lot of trouble, so I never told everyone.”

“Whoa, that means Tia is an all-around genius!” Komea exclaimed, voicing what the others were thinking.

No wonder she could coach me and Ray in combat techniques, Mick understood.

Maybe that’s why Tia learned archery so fast, Karen thought.

“I wouldn’t call myself all-around; it’s just that among the things we’ve learned, I’m relatively better at some.” The girl shook her head slightly; she understood the principle that there’s always someone better.

“Also, Tia is really pretty!” Komea added, pointing out something everyone had overlooked.

Because she had been running and fighting, the glasses that used to get in the way were long gone; now Sylutia could no longer hide her striking looks.

“Yay, prettiest Tia, most talented Tia, cutest Tia~” Komea circled the girl, happily admiring her.

Sylutia could only show a helpless, bashful expression and wave her hand for Komea to stop.

“All right, I get that Tia is embarrassed, hee hee.” Komea stopped.

After finishing the wolf pelts, the five set out again. The conversation on the way back revolved almost entirely around Sylutia — her background, why she hid her face back then, where she learned swordsmanship, and so on.

“Since everyone knows now, let’s set aside time to train outside the city. It will hone our real-combat skills and help Sylutia avoid other classmates’ attention.” Mick and Karen proposed.

“Outside the city? Wouldn’t that mean a long walk each time?” Komea felt daunted.

“Komea, don’t you want to train your eye technique? Like attracting small creatures in the grass with your gaze to practice.”

“Ah, that’s true. There aren’t many suitable subjects inside the city.” Komea thought it over and stopped objecting.

The three chatted as they slowly arrived at Scorchstone City.

“Finally here. This day was terrifying.”

“I need to report to the Hunter’s Guild — that giant boar was dangerous.” Karen spoke.

“Yeah, I’ll check the Adventurers’ Guild to see if there are any short tasks to practice and earn some money.” Mick thought for a moment.

There were many beasts in the mountains. Beast-type creatures that had a fully formed Aspect could be stronger than humans of the same rank. That’s because individuals who survive in such an environment are already the strongest of their pack.

These primitive beasts were once the overlords of the Fourth Era, rulers of the land. Unfortunately time passed, and their era is gone.

Aspect [Beast Fang]: The defeated Yongxing Beast, degenerate struggle and slaughter