The moment Arjun stepped into the clearing, the Level 3 Iron-Tusk Boar noticed them.
Its massive head snapped around, blood dripping from its metal tusk. The monster let out a roar so loud it made the trees tremble.
"Everyone who can still move—fall in behind us!" Arjun shouted.
Some of the survivors reacted instantly. Others froze, eyes empty, hands slick with blood that wasn't theirs.
The boar charged.
"Divya—slow it!" Arjun yelled.
Divya raised her staff, teeth clenched as mana surged through her arms.
"Mana ball!"
A dense mass of mana slammed into the boar's front leg. The impact didn't stop it—but it staggered the monster just enough to throw off its balance.
The tusk tore through the ground where Arjun had been standing a heartbeat earlier.
"Too fast!" Raya warned.
"Frenzy!" Raya roared.
Red light exploded around his body as he smashed into the boar's flank. His sword carved into the thick hide—but the recoil sent a violent shock through his arms.
"Damn—this thing's hide is like armor!"
The boar twisted violently.
Its shoulder slammed into Raya's chest, launching him backward like a broken kite.
Raya hit the ground hard, coughing blood.
"Raya!" Rita screamed.
She raised her staff immediately.
"Minor Heal!"
A soft glow wrapped around Raya's torso, slowing the bleeding—but not enough to fully restore him.
"I'm still standing! Focus on others," Raya growled, forcing himself up.
Tim appeared behind the boar, daggers flashing.
Slash.
Slash.
Blood sprayed—but the monster reacted instantly.
A hoof caught Tim mid-movement.
CRACK.
Tim crashed into the dirt, rolling several times before stopping.
"I'm—fine," he lied, struggling to breathe as pain exploded through his ribs.
"Koushik!" Arjun shouted.
"On it!"
Koushik fired.
The bolt struck the boar's knee—
—but the bolt shattered.
"What the hell?!" Koushik gasped.
The boar charged at him next.
Rohit fired.
BOOM.
His shot tore into the boar's leg. Bone splintered. The monster screamed and stumbled—but didn't fall.
Instead, it swung its tusk wildly.
A survivor wasn't fast enough.
The tusk impaled him through the chest.
He didn't even scream.
Blood sprayed across the clearing as the body was flung aside.
Rita froze for half a second.
Then forced herself to move.
"Minor Heal—Minor Heal!"
Her voice cracked as she ran between the wounded, hands shaking, mana draining fast.
"Arjun!" Divya shouted. "It's lining up for another charge!"
"I can see it!"
The boar lowered its head and charged straight at him.
Arjun stepped in.
Steel met metal.
The impact exploded through his arms.
Pain ripped through his shoulder as he was thrown backward, boots carving deep lines into the ground.
He barely stayed on his feet.
"…Too strong," Arjun muttered.
His hands trembled.
"Divya aim for its head!" he shouted.
Divya nodded, eyes blazing.
She poured everything she had left into one spell.
"Mana Compression!"
The blast slammed into the boar's skull, snapping its head sideways.
The monster staggered.
"That's our chance!" Tim yelled, forcing himself up.
Everyone moved at once.
Rohit fired his enhanced round straight into the boar's mouth.
Divya followed with another spell, collapsing its balance.
Tim plunged his dagger into an exposed artery.
Raya roared and brought his sword down with everything Frenzy had left to give.
The blade sank deep.
The Iron-Tusk Boar let out one final, broken scream—
Then collapsed.
The ground shook as its massive body hit the earth.
Silence followed.
Not victory.
Just exhaustion.
Bodies lay scattered across the clearing.
Some breathing.
Some horrifyingly still.
Rita dropped to her knees, sobbing quietly as she healed whoever still had a pulse.
Divya leaned heavily on her staff, blood running down her arm. "…I'm almost out of mana."
Tim pressed a hand to his ribs, breathing shallowly. "…I think something's broken."
Raya planted his sword into the dirt to keep himself upright. "But… it's dead."
Everyone looked around.
At the corpses.
At the survivors who would never forget this moment.
Arjun his own blood-soaked hands.
"…We won," he said quietly.
No one celebrated.
Because this time, survival had been paid for in blood.
The forest fell quiet in a way that felt wrong.
Not peaceful—empty.
The Iron-Tusk Boar lay motionless among shattered trees, its massive body collapsed in a pool of dark blood. One metal tusk had snapped during the fight, the broken edge buried deep in the soil like a grave marker. Leaves were trampled into the mud, slick and red, sticking to boots, clothes, skin.
No one celebrated.
People stood where they had stopped fighting, chests heaving, weapons hanging loosely from numb fingers. A man sank to his knees beside the boar and let out a broken laugh. Another survivor leaned against a tree, pressing both hands into a torn abdomen, whispering prayers through clenched teeth.
A quiet sob spread through the clearing.
Arjun couldn't move.
His sword trembled in his grip, the blade chipped and stained. His arms burned, his ribs screamed, but none of that mattered. His eyes were fixed on the bodies scattered across the ground—people who had been shouting only minutes ago, now silent and still.
Raya wiped blood from his cheek with the back of his hand. "It's… over, right?"
Tim swallowed hard. He didn't answer. He was staring at a boy barely older than him, eyes glassy, chest crushed inward.
Divya stepped closer to Arjun. Her sleeves were torn, her hands shaking from mana exhaustion. When she saw his face, she froze.
His breathing was shallow.
A survivor approached them—a man with a bent spear and a shattered arm hanging uselessly at his side. He bowed deeply despite the pain.
"Thank you," he said hoarsely. "If you hadn't come, we'd all be dead."
More people followed. Some bowed. Some murmured thanks. A few simply nodded, eyes hollow with exhaustion and relief.
Then a woman forced her way forward.
Her clothes were soaked in blood—some of it not hers. Her eyes burned as she stared at Arjun.
"You came late," she said.
The words struck harder than the boar's tusk.
"My brother was still alive when the beast charged again," she continued, voice cracking. "If you'd arrived sooner—"
Divya stepped forward. "We ran the moment we heard the screams."
The woman laughed, sharp and broken. "And yet he's dead."
No one argued.
She turned away and collapsed beside a body, sobbing openly, her hands clutching at unmoving flesh.
Arjun's chest tightened. His fingers curled until the leather of his grip creaked. The smell of blood—thick and metallic—suddenly became unbearable.
He staggered away, dropped to one knee, and vomited. His body shook violently as his stomach emptied onto the forest floor.
So this is a real battle, he thought.
Not training. Not monsters in isolation.
People died. Even when you won.
Rita moved through the clearing, silent and relentless, casting Minor Heal again and again—enough to stop bleeding, enough to keep the wounded breathing. When she reached Arjun, she placed a hand on his shoulder.
"You're injured."
"I don't care," he whispered.
She met his eyes. "You will. Later."
Divya stood beside him, voice low. "We survived. That's all this was."
Arjun looked at the dead one last time.
His hands were still shaking.
There was no triumph. No relief.
Only survivors—some grateful, some angry—and the heavy, inescapable truth that strength could not save everyone.