Chapter 45: Defeating the Enemy with a Single Strike

No one knew how many battles had already passed.

At the heart of the basin, deep within the mist, the wild boar lay weak and exhausted atop a stone platform, snorting and gasping for breath. All around it were scattered the bones of animals, some still slick with blood—this must surely be its lair. Yet now, this ferocious and savage creature was sprawled there, the very picture of utter fatigue.

To have tired out a mutant wild boar to such a state was nothing short of a miracle upon the wasteland.

Groaning softly, the boar gazed helplessly toward a spot in the mist. In its blood-red eyes, there flickered a distinctly humanlike mix of frustration and indecision.

“Hey, you big dumb pig, I’m back again! Come out and meet your end! This time, I promise I won’t go for your family jewels—hahaha!”

A voice rang out just beyond the mist—cool, yet tinged with mischief. Judging by the volume, the speaker was less than fifty meters away.

That was well within the territory’s forbidden threshold! Damn it!

Though the mutant wild boar was worn to the bone, it could not tolerate this intrusion. With a furious yet helpless bellow, it slowly dragged itself to its feet and lumbered outside. Its intelligence was limited, but after three days and nights of ceaseless, life-and-death combat against this tiny human, even the dullest beast would have grown a little wiser.

Lecai watched the boar’s emergence with sparkling eyes, alive with a burning eagerness that sent a chill of fear through the wild beast. This little human—he was more like a mutant beast than the boar itself!

The boar tried to threaten him with a few hollow roars, glaring fiercely at Lecai’s grinning face as if warning him to leave at once.

But after so many battles, Lecai had developed a complete immunity to the boar’s intimidations. Thanks to the boar’s “measured” sparring, every time Lecai’s reserves of true energy ran low, he would escape to the safety of the mountaintop to recover, then return to challenge it anew—never tiring of the game, growing ever bolder. At first he only dodged, but soon he was striking back unexpectedly, with increasing frequency and force, and eventually even landed a vicious kick to the boar’s most vulnerable spot.

That kick had been charged with true energy!

Though the boar’s hide was thick and its flesh tough, that blow had sent its whole body into convulsions, nearly knocking it unconscious. Even now, it limped and twitched when it walked, its hind legs pressed tightly together.

Lecai’s eyes lingered wickedly on the boar’s swollen nether regions, glinting with mischief.

The boar made an excellent sparring partner; if he had any choice, Lecai truly would not wish to kill it. But his ambition lay elsewhere. These three days had rocketed his strength to new heights: his mastery of true energy had reached the threshold of true understanding. Not only had he improved in the “Unity Mind Technique” and the “Unity Step,” even his innate sensory abilities had advanced dramatically. Where once he could only vaguely sense an enemy’s weak points, now he perceived them with clarity, even judging their strength with increasing accuracy and objectivity.

Three days ago, this wild boar could have slain him in an instant, but now, Lecai felt certain he could bring it down.

The change was monumental, and today, Lecai’s goal was to kill the wild boar. The beast was of no further use to his growth. His true aim was the deeper, more terrifying presence that lingered beyond. All these days, that presence had observed the battles from afar without intervening, as if deeming Lecai unworthy. Yet this morning, Lecai had sensed a trace of fighting intent from that direction.

To challenge a stronger opponent and awaken his potential—this was Lecai’s guiding creed.

“Sorry, but although I’m grateful for your sparring these days, I have greater ambitions. All I can say is forgive me. After you’re gone, I’ll take your meat back to Zone B for others to admire—and to taste.”

As he spoke, Lecai’s mind reached into his wristwatch, and a scimitar materialized in his grasp. He gripped the hilt tightly, slowly drawing forth the rust-speckled blade.

Curiously, though the scimitar was mottled with rust, its edge shone with a cold, dazzling gleam, sharp and chilling to behold.

Sensing danger, the wild boar grew agitated, a ruthless glint flashing in its crimson eyes. It crouched low, howled a warning, then sprang with explosive force toward Lecai.

“Speed: ten meters per second. Force: three thousand Anke. Threat level: thirty percent.”

Lecai murmured, standing rooted like a stone. The wind whipped his short hair like needles, but his eyes remained bright, deep, and calm as night.

Countless tactics flashed through his mind in an instant, but he chose the simplest and most effective.

His body suddenly bent backward, spine arching low to the ground, legs anchored firmly as if rooted in earth. At the same time, his arm moved with the scimitar as if it were an extension of his own body, its trajectory calculated to perfection. The blade swept through the air with a hiss, slicing clean through.

As true energy infused the blade, it flared with brilliant light, seeming almost tangible as it flashed—then bit into the boar’s belly. That armored abdomen, which even bullets could not breach, tore like ragged cloth under the power of true energy, gaping open in a hideous wound.

Momentum carried the boar forward a dozen meters before it crashed down, shaking the earth and gouging a deep pit. Inside the crater, the beast still snorted feebly, its blood-red eyes rolling in a final effort before life fled them. Beneath it, a pool of scarlet spread as viscera spilled across the ground, painting the ashen world in blood.

Lecai’s face was pale as he straightened, wiping the blade with a lingering sense of nostalgia and confidence. “I knew it—there’s nothing you can’t cut.”

Not a single drop of blood stained the scimitar.

This was the blade his father had left him, companion of countless battles. Lecai had never doubted it, nor wondered at its uncanny sharpness. The supreme confidence he invested in the weapon seemed to have made it into a truly peerless blade.

Sheathing the sword, Lecai spared the wild boar not another glance. Only after calming his breath did he rise, eyes fixed on the heart of the mist, a spark of brilliance flashing within.

There, a silent roar was swelling. Lecai could sense a monstrous rage in that presence, as if it might ignite the sulfur-laden air itself. The oppressive force was enough to make all life tremble. Yet as Lecai faced the pressure, his body quaked, but a look of wild exultation appeared on his face.

Only by stepping into the mist did Lecai realize how vast this basin was. He walked for half an hour before reaching his destination.

And when he saw what lay ahead, his jaw nearly dropped. At last, he understood the source of the thick sulfur in the air.