CHAPTER 73: CHAPTER 68: BLOOD AND STEEL

Location: Dark Forest - Mid Ring | Doha (Lower Realm)

Time: Day 432, Late Afternoon

The mist clung to everything like wet silk, turning the world soft and grey. Perfect.

Jayde crouched beside a massive ashwood trunk, her enhanced blade humming faintly as Ember Qi flowed through the runic channels etched along its fuller. The blade’s edge gleamed despite the dim light filtering through the canopy—self-sharpening runes doing their work, molecular edges singing with barely contained power.

The forest smelled like rot and rain. Old leaves decomposing into black mush, mushrooms blooming in the shadows, something dead and sweet somewhere upwind. She’d learned to love that smell. Meant the predators were eating well. Meant they weren’t hungry enough to hunt her.

Target acquired. Duskroot boar, approximately four hundred meters northeast. Flamewrought-tier threat confirmed.

(It’s huge. Really, really huge.)

Through the mist, she could make out the creature’s bulk moving between the trees. Six feet at the shoulder, easily eight hundred pounds of muscle and tusks, and a bad attitude. Its hide was the color of old bark, mottled with patches that seemed to shift and blur in the failing light—natural camouflage that would’ve made it nearly invisible to anyone without Heat Sense active.

The boar’s tusks curved upward like yellowed scimitars, each one thick as her forearm and sharp enough to punch through her armor like parchment. Its eyes glowed ember-red in the gloom, intelligent and predatory, scanning for threats.

Behavioral analysis: Omnivore with territorial aggression patterns. Primary weapons—tusks for goring, hooves for trampling. Secondary—thick hide resistant to piercing attacks, enhanced speed despite mass.

She’d been tracking it for two hours, learning its patterns, waiting for the perfect moment. The boar favored a particular route through the underbrush—a natural game trail that wound between two massive boulders before opening into a small clearing carpeted with soft moss.

That’s where she’d kill it.

The trap was already set. Three Runeinfused wire snares positioned at ankle height, their activation runes keyed to her Crucible Core’s signature. One touch of Ember Qi and they’d contract with enough force to slice through steel—or boar hide. The wires themselves were nearly invisible, coated with a light-bending substance she’d bartered for at the Nexus Exchange.

Tactical assessment: Prey funneled into kill zone, mobility restricted, overwhelming force applied to center mass.

(Just like the old man’s journals said. Use the terrain. Make them come to you.)

The boar was moving now, massive hooves squelching in the damp earth, following the exact path she’d predicted. Each step made this wet sucking sound that she felt more than heard—vibrations traveling through the ground, up through her boots, settling in her chest. Thirty meters. Twenty. Its massive head swung from side to side, nostrils flaring as it tested the air.

Could it smell her? Probably not. She’d rubbed herself down with ashwood sap and muddy leaves before setting the trap. Smelled like the forest. Tasted like it too, actually, which was gross but effective.

Fifteen meters from the wires.

Jayde’s grip tightened on her blade’s leather-wrapped handle, the enhanced steel thrumming with anticipation. Her armor’s reinforcement array hummed to life, distributed impact systems spreading protective energy across the runic formations etched into the leather. She could feel the Qi flowing through the channels, warm and steady, like blood but brighter.

Ten meters.

The boar stepped into the kill zone.

Execute.

She triggered the snares.

The wires sang as they contracted, three metallic notes harmonizing in deadly perfection. The first caught the boar’s front left leg just above the hoof—blood sprayed in a crimson fan, droplets catching the grey light like tiny rubies before spattering across moss and ferns. The second missed by inches as the creature lurched sideways, but the third found its mark on the rear right leg.

The boar’s scream shattered the misty silence—part rage, part pain, entirely primal. It stumbled, massive weight crashing into the moss with a wet thud that she felt through the soles of her boots.

But it wasn’t down.

Target wounded but operational. Threat level remains critical.

The creature rolled to its feet with impossible grace for something so massive, ember eyes blazing with fury. Blood streamed down its legs, leaving dark trails in the grey moss, but its tusks were steady as it swung its head toward her hiding spot.

(It knows where I am.)

Of course it does. Enhanced senses. Should have anticipated—

The boar charged.

Eight hundred pounds of muscle and bone and fury came thundering through the undergrowth like a living battering ram. Branches splintered with sharp cracks that echoed through the trees. Ferns exploded into green confetti. The ground shook with each massive hoofbeat, a rhythm like war drums, getting closer, closer, too close—

Jayde rolled left, her enhanced blade singing as it left its sheath in one fluid motion—a rising diagonal from left hip to right shoulder that caught the afternoon light and threw it back in silver fragments. The steel whispered through empty air as the boar’s momentum carried it past her position. She could feel the displaced air on her face, hot and rank with the creature’s breath.

She landed in a combat crouch, blade held in a high guard, weight balanced on the balls of her feet. The moss beneath her boots was slick with moisture, treacherous footing that demanded perfect balance.

Range: four meters. Closing rapidly.

The boar spun with shocking agility, hooves carving deep gouges in the soft earth. Its eyes never left her face. Blood dripped from its wounds, pattering softly on fallen leaves like a crimson rain. Plink. Plink. Plink.

(It’s angry. Really angry.)

Wounded prey is the most dangerous. Maintain distance. Wait for—

It charged again.

This time, she was ready. Instead of dodging sideways, she dove forward and down—a flat pancake dive that took her sliding beneath the creature’s massive bulk on her stomach, tasting copper dust and damp earth and her own fear. Her blade swept up in a vicious gutting stroke, the enhanced edge slicing through hide and muscle with a wet thock like an axe biting into green wood.

Hot blood showered down on her, soaking through her armor, filling her mouth with the taste of iron and rage and something else, something bitter and wild. The boar’s scream was deafening at this range, a sound that seemed to vibrate in her bones, in her teeth, in the back of her skull.

She rolled to her feet behind the creature, blade dripping crimson, just as it spun to face her again. The gash along its belly was deep but not fatal—these Mid-Ring beasts were built to take punishment. She could see muscle tissue, pink and glistening, and something that might’ve been intestine, but the hide was so thick, so tough—

Target damaged but combat-effective. Recommend sustained pressure tactics.

(It’s bleeding bad, though. We just need to—)

The boar’s charge this time was different. Not a straight rush but a weaving, serpentine approach that made targeting impossible. Its massive hooves churned the ground into a churned mess of mud and shredded vegetation. Left, right, left again, never giving her a clean angle.

Smart. Too smart.

Jayde backpedaled, her enhanced agility letting her stay just ahead of the tusks. But the creature was learning too—each swipe of its massive head came closer to finding flesh. She could hear the tusks cutting air, that whistle-hiss sound that meant death by inches.

She needed higher ground.

A massive ashwood trunk loomed to her left, its bark scarred and rough, perfect for climbing. Without conscious thought, she launched herself upward in a parkour-style wall-run—one step, two, three steps up the vertical bark before pushing off into a spinning aerial attack.

The world slowed as she descended. She could see individual droplets of boar blood hanging in the misty air like tiny garnets. The creature’s eyes tracking her movement. The exact angle needed to drive her blade between the thick neck vertebrae.

Window of opportunity: point-seven seconds. Strike zone: third cervical vertebra, inferior approach.

Time snapped back to normal speed.

Her blade met the boar’s spine with a sound like breaking bells. The enhanced steel punched through hide and muscle and bone, the runic channels flaring white-hot as Ember Qi flooded through the weapon. Sparks fountained where metal met calcium, and she felt the jarring impact race up her arm like lightning, numbing her fingers, making her shoulder scream.

But the angle was wrong. Instead of severing the spine, her blade caught in the thick neck muscle, trapped by the creature’s thrashing.

(No. No, no, no—)

The boar reared up on its hind legs, massive weight threatening to crush her against its chest. She could smell its breath—hot and rank with old blood and half-digested vegetation. See the foam gathering at the corners of its mouth, white and pink and flecked with red. Feel the heat radiating from its massive body, like standing too close to a forge.

[Weapon compromised. Tactical withdrawal recommended.]

(No! We’re too close!)

She twisted the blade viciously, feeling the runic edge carve deeper furrows in the creature’s neck. Blood sprayed in arterial spurts, painting the moss in abstract crimson patterns. The boar’s struggles grew more frantic, its massive hooves seeking purchase on her armor.

The reinforcement array flared to life as one hoof connected with her ribs. The distributed impact system spread the force across multiple runic points, but she still felt bones creak under the assault. Her breath exploded out in a painful whoosh. Tasted copper. Tasted blood.

[Armor holding. Multiple minor injuries detected. Recommend—]

Jayde ignored the tome advice, letting go of her blade—still lodged in the boar’s neck—she rolled sideways as the creature crashed back to all fours. Her hands found purchase on a fist-sized stone, smooth and heavy with moisture. Perfect weight. Perfect size.

The boar turned toward her, crimson foam dripping from its tusks, her blade jutting from its neck like a steel flower. It was weakening—she could see it in the slight tremor in its legs, the way its head drooped lower with each breath, the dimming of those ember-red eyes.

But it wasn’t done yet.

Target is entering the final phase. Maximum aggression expected. Cornered prey protocol: overwhelming force, zero restraint.

(One more. Just one more charge and—)

The creature’s final charge was pure desperation—a headlong rush that left bloody hoofprints in its wake. No tactics, no cunning, just raw animal fury seeking to take her with it. She could hear it wheezing, a wet rattling sound that spoke of punctured lungs and internal bleeding.

Jayde sidestepped at the last possible second, using the boar’s momentum against it. As the massive head swept past, she brought the stone down with both hands against the pommel of her trapped blade.

The impact drove the weapon deeper, the enhanced edge finally finding something vital. The boar’s legs folded like a house of cards, its massive weight hitting the moss with a wet thud that shook the trees. Birds scattered from the canopy, wings beating against the mist.

For a moment, silence. Then the creature’s labored breathing, growing shallower with each rise and fall of its barrel chest.

Jayde sank to her knees beside it, one hand pressed against her aching ribs. Her armor was painted crimson, steam rising where hot blood met cool mist. Her blade protruded from the boar’s neck at an odd angle, the runic channels still glowing faintly with residual Qi.

Target neutralized. Mission parameters achieved.

(We did it. We actually did it.)

The boar’s breathing stopped.

***

She sat in the gathering dusk beside her kill, methodically cleaning blood from her fingernails with a thin dagger. The mist had thickened as the sun failed, turning the world into a study in grey and shadow.

Her ribs ached with each breath—probably cracked, but the reinforcement array had prevented serious damage. Her left shoulder throbbed where the creature’s hoof had clipped her. Minor injuries, all of them. The kind that would heal in a few days with proper rest and maybe some red blossom lotus paste if she could find any.

(That hurt. Like, really hurt.)

Post-combat assessment: Tactical objectives achieved with acceptable casualties. Performance within expected parameters.

(Acceptable casualties? We nearly got flattened!)

Risk was calculated and manageable. Target elimination confirms combat readiness for Mid-Ring threats.

The boar’s hide would fetch good merits at the Nexus Exchange—Flamewrought-tier leather was always in demand. The tusks could be carved into rune focuses or weapons. Even the blood had alchemical value if properly preserved. She’d need to work fast, though. Already the blood was congealing, going tacky in the cool air.

But more than that, she’d proven something to herself. The traps had worked exactly as planned. The terrain advantage had been decisive. Her Federation tactical training, combined with proper equipment and preparation, could overcome raw physical power.

Even when things went sideways—and they had, oh they definitely had—she’d adapted. Improvised. Survived.

Next objective: Establish a consistent hunting pattern. Mid-Ring threats are now viable targets.

(Maybe next time we find something smaller?)

Negative. Progression requires escalating challenges. Comfort zones are counterproductive.

She laughed, the sound echoing strangely in the misty forest. Same old Federation logic. Never satisfied, always pushing forward. Always wanting more, better, faster, stronger.

But she had to admit—it felt good to win.

The darkness was settling in earnest now, and she had work to do. Butchering a creature this size would take hours, and she wanted to be back at her shelter before full night fell. The Mid-Ring at night was a different place. Darker. Meaner. Full of things that didn’t need eyes to hunt.

Jayde pulled her blade free from the boar’s neck with a wet sucking sound and set to work. The enhanced edge made the job easier—slicing through tough hide like it was silk, parting muscle cleanly. She’d gotten good at this. Field dressing. Harvesting. Waste not, want not.

In the distance, something howled—long and mournful and hungry.

The Mid-Ring was full of things that hunted in the dark.

But tonight, she’d proven she could hunt back.