Chapter 6: The Challenge

Kai's body drew his sword, but his mind had no idea what the hell he was going to do. An attack like this seemed absurdly dangerous for a group of hunter candidates. Maybe it was a mistake, maybe it was an assassination... whatever it was, it was running toward them.

"This is impossible." Tusquo took an involuntary step backward, then glanced at the others. "We should retreat inside the barrier and await reinforcement."

"No!" Kai kept his eyes on the charging boars, but tried to call to the others. "If this challenge is about defending the city as hunters, we can't just retreat. Can the barrier even handle that big a charge?"

There wasn't much time to discuss it, so Kai was relieved to see that the Irunians didn't flee. Actually, several of them had already cupped their hands to generate new weapons. He had no time to check the details, because the boars had arrived.

Spinning knives hit them first, many glancing off but a few managing to spear boars in the eyes. Tusquo had hurled caltrops over the ground instead, which was a smart idea that didn't work. The monsters' hooves trampled directly over the spikes.

Then it was up to Kai. He thrust directly into the nearest boar's charge, its momentum driving the sword deep into its throat. That didn't stop it. The beast was shedding huge amounts of blood, but it kept pushing toward him with hate-filled eyes, its tusks shaking wildly.

But he'd expected that after the previous fight. Kai had his feet braced and strained his arms as hard as he could to swing the boar to the side. It collided with several of the others, and for just a moment Kai thought that he could fight them back.

Another boar slammed into his side, one tusk ripping through his shoulder. Kai staggered back, yanking his sword free, and swung wildly. It managed to keep any more from attacking him, but they were closing in from all sides now.

As soon as he had a second to breathe, he glanced at the others. They'd managed to blunt the charge, but only because the boars had scattered to surround them. If they didn't have their backs to the mana barrier, they would already have been completely encircled.

The boars lunged in one or two at a time, so their group could hold them off, but soon the monsters would rush in at once. Tusquo looked entirely focused on the combat, managing to knock down one or two of the beasts with well-placed blows. But it couldn't last.

"Retreat when they charge!" Kai called. "Through the barrier, then strike back!"

His warning couldn't have come a second later. Several of the boars rushed in and the group quickly retreated through the wavering wall of blue mana. The boars slammed into it like an invisible wall... which trembled at each impact.

Kai leapt back out again and managed to land a thrust directly into one of the monster's eyes. But he struggled to pull his sword back out and several of the others nearly gored him before he could retreat.

None of the boars seemed disturbed by the invisible wall. Their eyes were fixed on their prey within and they kept stabbing their tusks into the mana. Kai wasn't an expert on barriers, but he knew that they only had limited energy. Even normal arrows could eventually wear them down, much less monsters with mana of their own.

"What kind of challenge is this?" Tusquo demanded. While his allies watched the barrier nervously, he turned on Juray. "This would be a threat to fully awakened warriors!"

"I don't know." Juray had wrapped up a hand in her hair, so tightly that her fingers were white. "I've helped with the Hunter Trials for several years, and they've never given me anything this dangerous. But that might not matter. If I help you, you'll probably still be disqualified."

For the first time it occurred to Kai to check her with his new spiritual vision. He had been coping by keeping his spiritual eyes closed most of the time, so it was easy to miss things.

<

Name: Juray Phrissan

Total Power: 26

Herbalist Class: 8

Physique Level: G-1

Soul Level: 2

>

Her "Herbalist" Class seemed to offer her less strength than the others, which made sense for - no, there was no time to think about that. Juray was strong for a civilian, but she couldn't survive against so many monsters. Disqualification or not, they were on their own.

"Kai Granfian?" Tusquo didn't sound angry like before. He sounded worried.

When Kai turned back toward the barrier, he understood why: an enormous boar nearly as tall as him was pushing its way through the others. A few grunted back and it knocked them aside with a casual swing of its head. It didn't take a monster expert to see that this was the leader, and that they were going to have a major problem. Kai was no expert on monster ranks, but this one was at least a beta, which meant it was lethal for unawakened fighters. Maybe even a gamma.

The largest boar slammed against the barrier and the mana wall shuddered a lot more than the monster did.

"Our only chance is to break them apart." Tusquo cupped his hands together to form a new weapon, and it looked like he had a plan. "Kai, do you think they'll follow the largest one?"

"I can't promise," Kai said, "but probably some of them will. Monsters that are over-sized have usually absorbed extra mana and dominate others of their kind. What are you planning?"

"It'll be just like the races back home. Come on!"

Tusquo gestured to the other Irunians, revealing strange hooks in his hands. The others didn't look happy about it, but they obeyed him and moved closer to the barrier. While they created their own hooks, Tusquo turned back to him.

"Kai Granfian. We will divert them, but I do not know how successfully. You must take the opportunity to strike." He raised a hand and gave another Irunian bow. "If we are separated, it has been an honor to fight alongside you."

"Uh... you too." Kai should have bowed back, but he was way too busy watching the monsters slam into the barrier. Was the mana already dimming a bit?

In a single twisting leap, Tusquo vaulted out of the barrier and onto the largest boar's back. The steel hooks bit down into its fur - they didn't draw blood, but they seemed to dig in deep. When the boar gave an angry shake, Tusquo managed to ride it out by gripping the hooks and digging in his feet.

As soon as it realized it couldn't shake him off easily, the boar pivoted and tried to slam its back against the rocks. Tusquo barely crawled out of the way in time, struggling to stay on the boar's back. Seeing how much trouble he was in, the other Irunians rushed into action, and Kai ran with them.

He couldn't jump on top of a boar like they did, but he did manage another thrust directly into a boar's eye. A back kick from the leader nearly took his head off, but the missed strike put it into position. Kai saw his chance and took it, thrusting against the beast's leg.

His sword glanced off. This monster was a threat for veteran hunters with fully awakened Classes, far beyond mere candidates.

Fortunately, the beast charged away instead of rounding on him. Tusquo seemed to have stabbed one of his hooks into its flesh, so it was bellowing and twisting in pain. The others were staying on top of smaller boars, trying to herd them, and the rest of the monsters seemed to be following.

While the majority rushed away in a herd, a few were still attacking the barrier. Kai ran along the edge, ducking in and out to avoid their charges and striking back. He couldn't always deliver a lethal blow, but he could deal injuries to legs or faces that made the monsters retreat. Perhaps if the majority left, he could actually take out those that remained.

Just when he felt a bit of confidence, he heard a scream from outside the barrier. One of the Irunian women was flailing wildly in the air, barely holding on to one hook. As he watched, she lost her grip and went flying into the horde. She crashed into one of the boars and several others rounded on her.

Before he had time to think, Kai burst from the barrier. He managed to stab one boar through the jaw, but another got to her. She struck back wildly with a short knife, but she couldn't cut deep enough. Before Kai could catch up, the monster thrust a tusk into her side.

Her screams urged him on and Kai fought the remaining boars savagely. If his training hadn't been beaten into him, he might have died in the rush. By the time it was over, three boars lay dead and there were no others nearby. When he looked up, he saw that the horde was retreating into the distance, Tusquo and the others still struggling to redirect them.

There was no way he could catch up, and even if he did... no, that didn't matter. After checking one last time for other monsters, Kai bent down to the Irunian woman. She was still breathing, but there was a lot of blood pouring out of her side. He jammed his sword into his belt and scooped her up, carrying her back to the barrier.

"She needs more healing than a potion," Juray said nervously. "I could sustain her life long enough for someone to help, but she'll be removed from the contest. Do you think that's what she'd want?"

"I think she'll die if you don't." Kai set the Irunian down and then collapsed onto his back. He was bleeding from a lot more injuries than he'd realized and he'd probably have bruises all over. None of that seemed important when there was a horde of monsters rampaging through the reserve.

Juray bent down beside the Irunian and managed to make her swallow blue liquid from a vial. As she worked, Juray spoke to him without looking up. "Did anyone in your group have enemies?"

"You think this could be sabotage?" Kai's eyes widened as his mind had time to catch up after the violence. "Does that happen?"

"It's not supposed to, but the strongest clans can get away with bending the rules. If no warriors have shown up by the end of the day, they aren't going to help."

That was what he had been afraid of. Gunjin had told him that real-world threats were necessary for awakening a strong Class, which was why the Hunter Trials were so dangerous. In the end, it didn't matter whether the horde was sabotage or just bad luck... he needed to survive it all the same.

Thinking about it that way, Kai realized that he really only had one choice. Even if he could chase down the boars, he couldn't help Tusquo as he was now. His best chance was to use this opportunity to reach the center and awaken his Class. Kai forced himself to his feet, groaning as he discovered brand new pains.

"The challenge was supposed to be defending civilians, right?" He glanced down toward Juray. "Is there some kind of reward aside from the monster cores?"

"Not much, I'm afraid." She finished making some kind of poultice, then rummaged in her bag for something and handed him a twisted glass vial. "All I'm allowed to give you is a healing potion, as well as food and water. I'm guessing you don't have time for that?"

"Doesn't look like it." Kai took the vial and drained it immediately. The tension in his body was a lot worse than before, but it was better than pain.

"If you come back later, I can give you the rest of your reward then. Otherwise... all I can say is good luck." Juray gave him a nervous smile and then returned to her work.

As Kai stepped through the barrier, he realized just how many boar corpses had been left around it. He didn't feel like he'd landed many lethal blows, but between all of them, they had taken out almost a dozen. That was far more monster cores than he currently had, but cutting through all the boar hides to find their cores would waste too much time.

No, this was all or nothing. Kai refocused on the central hill and began sprinting to awaken his Class.