Vengeance Upon Fate - Chapter 4 Precipitous Misfortune

The location was half a mile deep in the southwestern portion of the city’s surrounding forests.

Kurogane covertly roamed through the woods and bushes, until he found what appeared to be a group of five field boars, which were drinking from a small pond before them.

On four legs, they stood a meter tall. They had brown, thick fur, foot-long tusks, and orange glowing eyes. Most had blackened, bushy hair patched over their heads along with fuzzy, long tails with furry tips.

For an averagely equipped adventurer who went alone, these creatures weren’t by any means an easy task. Although the quest wasn’t nearly as difficult compared to the others available at the guild, it would take a thoughtful strategy to accomplish this quest without having to abort the mission midway, even for someone experienced like Kurogane.

The pay was nice for a quest that was close by and straightforward, since some quests took place far away, requiring transportation which could take days to reach the location, let alone complete the quest.

In the world that Kurogane resided in, almost all adventurers in the world specialized in a combat class.

The base classes were eight in total – Knight, Rogue, Slayer, Battlemage, Cleric, Summoner, Archer and Pugilist. Each of them possess various abilities, passives and combat styles with two paths that could be taken when they qualified for a class enhancement.

Kurogane had the Slayer class. These were balanced fighters capable of wielding a decent variety of weapons, although most stuck to swords of assorted kinds. Being an all-around class, Slayers commonly express decent speed, offense, and defense, while having a generous arsenal of skills to contend with most situations.

Having spent years taking quest after quest, Kurogane slowly built up his experience to a point where he became a well-rounded fighter. He never let go of any of the advice and fighting techniques his mom had taught him and used it to its fullest in his times of need. He made sure he stayed in shape, and would never pass a day without some significant exercise.

As Kurogane took cover behind a bush, he began to plan out his initiating move.

“Five of them grouped together… this won’t be that simple. I can’t seem to find any others around here either, so that will help me focus at least.

He picked up a decently sized stone he found nearby and aimed it at one of the boars before precisely pelting it onto the back of one of them.

The boar that was hit turned around, shrugged the stone off its back and began walking towards Kurogane’s direction, growling angrily and seeking the whereabouts of the thrower. The other four did not seem bothered and continued drinking from the pond.

As the boar walked closer to the bushes, Kurogane suddenly appeared from above and muttered several words as he prepared to immediately land his first strike.

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Kurogane’s blade suddenly started emitting dark, shadow energy as he ambidextrously grasped and swung his sword downwards upon landing near the boar, deeply gashing it and causing the boar to bleed immensely out of its neck.

He then ascended backwards while the boar fell to the side, soon bleeding to its death.

The remaining boars turned around to see what was happening and immediately lit up in rage upon noticing that one of the members of their sounder was helplessly dying off in its last moments.

“Here it comes.”

Kurogane swung his sword to his bottom left, splatting the residing blood on his blade onto the grass as he cautiously gazed at the remaining boars.

The boars began fiercely charging towards Kurogane, but before they could make any contact with him, he jumped several feet high while doing a front flip, causing the boars to stop their rampage midway.

The boars then growled and surrounded him on all four directions as they prepared to make their next charge.

“That’s right, come at me all at once.”

The way field creatures would react was fairly predictable to Kurogane. He could assume what would go down next after making a certain move, since he had been dealing with such creatures for as long as could remember.

As the boars began charging, Kurogane jumped several feet upwards, right before they reached him, causing all four of them to collide into each other.

Kurogane, while still airborne above, began to chant his next spell.

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“…Dusk Surge!”

As Kurogane’s blade began emitting dark energy, he swung it downwards and a long, thick wave of dark energy flew straight into the boars below, the force resulting in a massive explosion.

Kurogane landed several feet away, his cloak rightfully gliding into place.

“This should be enough… shadow elemental skills cover large areas upon impact, meaning that spell should have severely worn out all of them.”

As sure as he was about his assumption, the smoke cleared, revealing the boars which were slowly turning around towards Kurogane.

However, they all had serious wounds around them. They firmly stood there, eyes boiling out of fury for no other reason but to kill, even if it were to cost their lives.

“Interesting. Their resistance hasn’t changed since my previous quests. I have to land a final blow one by one. If these strikes don’t finish them, they will become increasingly difficult to kill the longer they are left alone.”

The boars violently began charging towards him, not taking anything else into account.

“I should be able to catch them off guard once more if I use Midnight Stride. It will get me right behind them and immensely charge my next hit to deal a heavier blow.”

As the boars started close in, Kurogane chanted his next move.

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“…Midnight Stride!”

Kurogane suddenly vanished before the boars could come any closer, reappearing a few feet behind one of them instantly as they halted their charge.

Before the boars could turn themselves around, Kurogane leaped from a distance, impaling his now heavily enchanted sword into one of their necks upon landing on its back.

He then tilted his sword to the left, expanding the gash in the boar’s neck, ultimately causing it to roar in pain and helplessly fall flat on its chest, only to bleed away in agony.

Without breaking for a moment, Kurogane looked to his left and threw his sword into the forehead of a nearby boar. Before the creature could breathe any further, Kurogane was already on its head, fiercely tilting the blade upwards with both hands, instantly ending the life of that boar.

Kurogane looked to his left, followed by his right. He could see that two boars remained, as they had blocked off both directions.

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As Kurogane’s hand began emitting shadow energy, he quickly placed his palm on the floor, then dashed away right before the boars collided.
for visiting.

“..Ominous Raze!”

The ground began darkening with elemental energy in a circle, ten feet in diameter.

This occurred within the region before he moved away, until it suddenly erupted with shadow energy – both boars instantly and severely impaired into critical condition, their bodies suffering from multiple incurable wounds.

After briefly pausing and taking a deep breath, Kurogane used his wrist to wipe off a drop of sweat from his forehead.

“Five more to go.”