Chapter 70 - The consequence of breaking rules

As Kaiser followed the tracks he soon decided to get a bit more serious. Activating his Sneak Skill to mask his presence he followed the boars in almost perfect silence. In the previous fight he had barely managed to get a warm up which is why he hadn't really done anything special. Additionally he had noticed that although he had a few passive abilities which aided when fighting most of his damage output had come through his use of enchanted weapons. Now that he was deprived of them he had been significantly weakened.

Displeased with his realizations he sped up and hurried after the boars and children. Although the four children had run nearly the same way back in the beginning they slowly began to curve back towards the center of the forest. Perhaps the boars had been faster than expected and forced them to turn back?

Few minutes later Kaiser began to hear them. Loud and excited grunts, loud shouts and screams could be heard. Despite all of this Kaiser took his time and remained hidden in the deep shadows of the forest. Aeolus had flown up ahead to investigate the scene in advance and had reported that the kids had climbed up a tall and sturdy tree so Kaiser was confident that he wouldn't need to hurry up and risk foolish mistakes. Slowly sneaking closer Kaiser hid on top of a few branches in the treetops close to the children, observing the situation more closely.

After walking around the tree for a bit they seemed to have settled on a strategy. Two would dig out the roots of the tree while the final one would guard the children and his companions. After they finished digging around the tree they would probably attempt to destroy the roots to make the tree fall. If Kaiser wanted to free all of the children he would first need to kill the one guarding the perimeter in order to even get to the tree. Additionally he would need to do it quickly and as silently as possible as the boars had good hearing. Luckily with his skin and hair color he had a slight advantage in this terrain

He had noticed before that killing the boars with the knife was quite difficult so as he sat on a branch he tried to look for alternative things he could use. Sadly these boars were most probably a kind of muttation that the capitol had released against the rebels decades ago. Similar to a few other species like trackerjackers and in part the jabberjays through the mockingjays they had managed to survive and established themselves in the wild. With the genetic alterations which the Capitol had made to their ancestors they had many advantages. Not only were they bigger and more resistant to attacks through tougher hide and fur but they also seemed to be much more aggressive and intelligent compared to their previous natural form. Kaiser's greatest problem in dealing with them however was their size and his lacking reach as his previous fight had shown him.

Frustrated that he hadn't bothered to make additional, normal weapons or even keep other weapons in his inventory which would have aided them immensely he began to carve away at a few branches with his knife. He had gone against the one rule that any gamer with an endless amount of inventory space and no debuffs or penalties of any sort because of that had firmly rooted and treasured inside their heart: Loot everything and leave nothing behind, everything has value and might help you in unexpected ways.

Before his disappointment in his own actions could grow any further he decided to focus on his newly created work. As he had mostly focused on the sad reality that he had forgotten to bring necessary equipment he hadn't created anything impressive. Actually he had only shaved off a large portion of a branch from the tree he was sitting on. Right now he only held the branch in his hands as it had broken off after he had put some effort in his works. This gave him an idea. Should he get a few more branches, cut them in decent shape and sharpen one end then he could use them to pierce the eyes of the boars as he could make them have a longer reach than his knife.

[Makes me feel like I'm going to hunt for vampires right after this. Maybe I should go visit Mexico?]. Chuckling softly Kaiser continued with the execution of his new plan.

About half an hour later he had finished preparing four long stakes, each as long as his forearm. He would have continued to create a few more as spares in case he missed a stab but the boars had already dug out most of the tree roots and had already managed to chew a few off. Luckily for Kaiser due to their large size they had to dig up more to reach the roots with their mouths and due their large heads they had problems in getting enough room to chew on the roots because others hindered them. This circ.u.mstance had allowed Kaiser to spend bit more time in creating an additional stake which could work as a spare. Sadly due to their large size they had managed to damage the tree so much that they were now capable to knock over the tree. The children on top had already long given up on screaming after they had resigned themselves to the situation.

Strangely the other boars hadn't reappeared by now which was really weird but Kaiser was thankful for that circ.u.mstance. Had they reappeared by now this whole operation would have gotten eve more difficult. He himself could deal with the muttations but the others would surely die. After all even though he was quite weak at the moment he had been trained by one of the greatest and strongest heroes and although everything had changed now something had remained with him from that time. But besides this greater intuition and fighting abilities he had also gained something else. It wasn't a feeling but something similar. He couldn't describe it but it didn't seem to be a bad thing. Perhaps once in a while he could act like a hero to others? As long as it wasn't an inconvenience to him of course.

Looking at his new weapons he decided. He would simply try his best. Just like he always had. No more, no less. Should he go down that path he wouldn���t be able to find fault within himself regardless of the outcome. Perhaps life was a simple as that. If you have no dreams, no goals then just imagine, decide on something you fancy and let life take care of the rest. One thing after the other, like a giant puzzle he would form his life. In the past getting stronger was the only important thing on his mind. It had served him quite well and led to a few adventures but now that he had found a few of his emotions he wanted to discover the rest.

Grinning, without giving himself a chance to think more about the situation and waste more valuable time he climbed down the tree and approached the guarding boar carefully.