Chapter 144: Hogwash (1/2)

With madness in its red eyes, two long tusks protruding from its mouth and heavy hooves scrapping the dirt in preparation for a deadly charge, the wild spiny hog grunted. Air from its huge nostrils blew fallen leaves on the ground as it lowered its centre of gravity, locking its sight of Fowler.

Even though he was now a powerful lesser vampire, the hunting squad commander still froze with fear at the sight of the wild spiny hog. He would rather hunt a stag than deal with this wild hog. Thankfully, it wasn't an armoured wild hog, even if the defences of hogs, in general, were crazy.

When they were enraged, wild hogs had monstrous stamina, high defence and brutal tusks that could impale anything. When wild hogs set their sight on a target, they would not relent until they were dead or the target was dead. Even if Fowler had regeneration abilities, he did not want to suffer the fate of getting impaled by those tusks and getting bashed into a tree until the hog was out of his frenzy.

Glancing at the other skeletons, who might fare better against the hog, Fowler cursed his friends for ditching him to his devices. The meaty animal that Rino wanted was right before them, but honestly, the paralysing poison wasn't strong enough to take the hog down, even if the arrows managed to pierce through the sprint armour on its back.

Both parties took their fighting stance, and Fowler nocked three arrows, releasing them in time to the wild hog's charge at him. The lesser vampire wasted no time. He didn't want to become meat paste, so he dodged. The good thing about becoming a lesser vampire was his increased agility. If Fowler was still human, he would not be able to get out of the hog's way.

Behind him, the wild hog demolished a tree. Wood splinters fell everywhere and showered the forest ground. Fowler looked back and saw that the tree trunk was riddled with two holes where those strong tusks were and shuddered. That had to hurt if he did not dodge. It might not be fatal, but it would make him immobile.

The wild hog grunted as he struggled to free his stuck tusks from the tree. It was working, but the hog wasn't fast enough. Fowler took the opportunity to launch two more arrows in the hog's direction, aiming for the animal's behind because that was the only place uncovered by spiky thorns.

The arrows met their mark, and the wild hog squealed in pain as it dislodged itself from the tree. Fowler felt fear trickling from the top of his head as he fired rapidly more arrows aiming at any exposed part of this darned pig he could see. They were not going to take this pig back alive. It was too dangerous even if wild hogs were delicious!

Fowler fought valiantly, but the arrows in his quiver were limited. Even with enchantments, arrows could not return to their archers without a spell command. Fowler certainly did not have time to focus on calling back the arrows with some stuck onto the hog.

”A little help here!” the lesser vampire yelled at his friends playing dead. The last of his arrows were used up.

The two hunters fired arrows from the tree, but none of them landed on their target as the Fowler danced with the hog, running around trees.

”I can't hit him, boss! You're moving around too much!”

Fowler cussed. What was this hogwash?! He couldn't take such a violent animal back. There was no hope for domestication. It was kill or be killed for this fellow.

The hunting squad struggled with the wild hog, and just when they thought things couldn't get any worse, a new hog appeared. This time, it was a wild hog without tusks.

A male hog and a female hog… if Fowler wasn't in such a dire situation, he would call it his lucky day to find the meaty couple Rino wanted. However, they were out of arrows and ideas. Half the trees in this area were damaged thanks to the wild hog's continuous assault. Female hogs were less deadly because they did not have tusks. However, compared to the male hogs, they were at least three times bigger than their partners.

”Abandon mission!” Fowler decided. They had to make a run for it. Too much time was wasted dealing with these pigs, and honestly, Fowler did not care about his arrows anymore.

The skeletons ran in different directions as the wild hogs chased them down. Fowler tried to distract the large sow from going after his comrades. If anything, they should make a successful escape and call for Mutt to help. The sabre tooth wolf could tear these dumb pigs in seconds, and Fowler was the best option to stall for time.

The male hog charged from Fowler's blindspot as the lesser vampire dealt with the female hog and finally succeeded in burying its tusks into the archer's side. Fowler yelled as pain tore through him, and the hog charged towards the nearest tree to bash Fowler into it.