CHAPTER 252: CENTER OF CARNAGE

A squeal that partly resembled a howl echoed through the afternoon skies, making a few lower-ranked arcane beasts in the area flinch and flee.

That was the sound of a beast very few wanted to f*ck around with.

"Liora, Loki, to your positions!" Hal said as he unhesitatingly stood in front of a ten-foot-tall boar with maroon fur and blood-red tusks.

It hoofed at the dirt while red smoke billowed out of its nostrils.

In the next moment, the Bloodberserker Boar charged forward, shockingly faster than even the sprint speed of the Iberian Cliffscalers he recently fought.

The beast was like a massive, red cannonball, shooting at him with the intent to break every bone and tear every muscle in his body apart.

The hairs on Hal’s body stood on end as he hurriedly [Licht Step]ped away, barely making it out of the range of the boar’s tusks.

He would’ve undoubtedly died or been on his final few breaths if he had taken that head-on.

That spine-chilling charge didn’t seem like something even a creature as tough as the A-ranked Cragstalker would be willing to take.

Still, Hal wasn’t fazed by the close call, fully knowing this was his chance to counterattack.

He fired a [Piercing Light] and tried to slow the beast down by erecting a [Reinforced Earthen Wall] in its path, but the former didn’t completely pierce through to the other side of the Bloodberserker Boar, while the latter was destroyed quite easily.

"Tch." Hal clicked his tongue in annoyance.

But he wasn’t convinced that this boar would be a difficult fight, especially since he had the [Epic]-tier [Winter’s Grasp].

The beast turned and continued its charge, becoming even faster, but a mere snap of Hal’s fingers made it tremble and slow down, blood trickling down its snout.

Liora didn’t understand what happened, but she was sure her comrade did something, and she didn’t let the chance go to waste.

She peppered the Bloodberserker Boar with Glow Needles and Piercing Lights, both making it quite deep into the massive creature’s body.

It certainly did quite a bit of damage.

But not enough to affect the beast’s movements.

It was rather evident, however, that the Bloodberserker Boar could only take the beating, as all three of its opponents could easily dodge its attacks.

There was a time it almost managed to kill Hal after its blood went berserk and refused the effects of [Winter’s Grasp], but aside from that, it was a one-sided beatdown.

Today was simply the beast’s unlucky day, encountering enemies who were both fast and could deal damage to it.

A boar-type monster, although hardy, strong, and fast, would ultimately always be limited by its mobility and limited attack patterns.

If their charge was consistently dodged, then there’s nothing it could do.

The trio eventually secured their base of operations.

They also butchered the boar’s carcass.

Although the meat was putrid, it was nutritious and extremely tasty when prepared correctly.

They just had to drain it of blood and wash the meat well.

On the other hand, its hide would serve as a good flooring for their accommodation, although like the meat, they had to wash it well.

It was quite the struggle doing the renovations due to the strong smell of the creature.

The trio could only dedicate their entire afternoon to the matter.

They would be staying here for quite some time, after all.

By nighttime, they had a cozy area to themselves.

Hal had secured their perimeter by putting down elemental traps and smearing the Bloodberserker Boar’s blood in a loose circle to ward off potential invaders.

They at least don’t have to worry about the weaker ones bothering them.

And so, the night was pretty peaceful for the trio.

They roasted meat, chatted with each other, bathed themselves, and went to sleep, the cold nightly breeze of the savannah limited perfectly by the size of the burrow’s entrance.

Loki loved such nights very much.

The next morning, they left their base of operations, returning to the central region once more.

The plan was to lurk around the area, observe the power dynamics between the tribes, clans, prides, and packs of creatures there.

But their main agenda was to steal as many monster cores as they could from the corpses lying around and harvest a few specific eye parts from specific monsters and beasts that could only be found in the central region.

Of course, if monsters hunted them, then they would fight back, but aside from that, they would only be driving them away.

They could immediately hear sounds of fighting long before they even arrived.

It seemed that the central region was truly a warzone filled with free stuff, though one would have to risk one’s life to obtain the scattered rewards.

If one wasn’t careful, one might end up among the lootables.

Hal stored the manatech hoverboard back in the system’s inventory before flying up into a Baobab tree’s high branch with Liora in his arms.

The pupper joined them in only two jumps, using an [Earthen Pillar] his master had summoned as a springboard.

The three then observed the chaos from a high vantage point.

Chases were going on in scattered locations, and there were lots of warring tribes, most of which had at least fifty to sixty members of C- to B-ranked monsters.

It seemed that they were fighting for territory.

However, contrary to expectations, the battles aren’t as brutal as they seemed.

While there were casualties, the encounters usually stopped after a few.

The losing party would immediately retreat to fight another day.

Some even willingly gave up their territory, perhaps thinking they could oust a different tribe or clan out of theirs in exchange.

There was no need to go all out today, as they could always return tomorrow and reclaim what was theirs.

That was Hal’s observation.

Still, there weren’t only two tribes fighting, but dozens. Corpses were still aplenty. However, they weren’t as free as he expected them to be.

They would have to adapt, establish themselves, perhaps engage in a battle of intimidation, or outright fight to the death like the inhabitants of the savannah.