Hearing Matthew's voice, some of the teenage boys working below didn't react right away, while others didn't care at all.
Everything had been fine just a moment ago, so why the sudden call to evacuate?
Delank reacted the fastest. He immediately dropped his hoe and roared at the dazed boys, “Don't just stand there! Listen to Matthew! Run back to the village, quick!”
He held absolute authority here.
The other boys finally snapped out of it. They might have resisted Matthew's words—after all, they were of similar age, so why should they do whatever he said? But Delank was different. He was a genuine authority figure.
However, just as everyone scrambled to their feet and before they could run far, the bushes at the forest edge behind them shook violently!
“Snort—!”
Accompanied by a heavy, panicked, and irritable squeal, a sturdy, grayish-brown figure suddenly burst from behind the bushes! Its bristles stood on end, caked in mud and leaves, and two tusks gleamed with a cold light!
A wild boar!
This wild boar was not small, looking to weigh at least two hundred pounds. At this moment, it was clearly startled. Red-eyed and panting heavily, it didn't charge the crowd immediately. Instead, it spun in place, its hooves scraping the ground anxiously as if hesitating on which direction to take.
“A boar! It's a wild boar!” one boy shrieked, his face turning pale instantly.
Delank also gasped, but he remained relatively calm. While shielding the boys as they retreated, he looked anxiously at Matthew on the earthen slope. “Matthew! Don't do anything reckless! Just distract it or scare it away!”
Matthew, however, was delighted!
This thing had no intelligence and a massive body! It was a living target! On top of that, if he killed it, the harvest would be quite bountiful!
With this thought, he immediately scrambled up the nearest tree.
Thanks to his surging Strength and Agility, he used both hands and feet to quickly scale a lush, leafy tree. Squatting steadily on a thick branch, he had an excellent, commanding view.
He then prepared to draw an arrow from his already meager quiver—none of which were his homemade ones—and notched it to his bow.
At this very moment.
Below, the wild boar seemed to have finally chosen a direction. With a low grunt, it made a move to charge toward Delank and the retreating boys.
One of the teenage boys lagging at the very back heard the heavy thuds of hooves and the coarse panting drawing closer. Turning his head in terror, his eyes locked directly onto the boar's crimson eyes!
“It's over!”
Only this despairing thought remained in his mind, his scream caught in his throat.
At this critical juncture—
“Swish—!”
A crude, blunt-tipped arrow tore through the air, shooting down from the side and striking the boar's thick shoulder blade with precision!
“Thud!”
The arrow bounced off, but the pain caused the boar's charge to falter slightly. Letting out an even more furious roar, it violently whipped its head around. Its crimson gaze instantly shifted from the boy right in front of it, locking onto the figure in the tree who dared to provoke it.
Matthew!
“Squeal—!”
The wild boar squealed in rage, abandoning its easily obtainable “prey” without hesitation. It pivoted, charging like a frenzied battering ram straight toward the tree Matthew was in!
“Bam!!”
The thick trunk shook violently, and leaves showered down.
The boy who had just escaped death collapsed to the ground, panting heavily. His face was as white as paper, and cold sweat instantly drenched his back.
He looked up at the steady figure drawing his bow in the tree, his eyes filled with lingering fear and unbelievable gratitude.
Delank seized the opportunity to rush over, dragging him up and growling, “Aidan, don't just stand there! Run! Run back to the village!”
The other boys also scrambled and crawled, fleeing toward the village as fast as their legs could carry them, not daring to delay for even a second.
Once everyone had gone, Matthew held his breath, waiting for the perfect opportunity!
He loosed several arrows in quick succession!
“Swish!” “Swish!” “Swish!”
Thanks to the clear vision brought by his 【Basic Archery】 reaching the “Basic” rank, combined with his current arm strength, the arrows' flight speed and impact force far surpassed before.
Several arrows struck the exact same spot consecutively.
Under such close range, driven by immense power and precise, repetitive strikes, the sharp arrows actually forced their way through the relatively weak hide and muscle of the boar's throat. They embedded themselves deeply, with the tip of the final arrow even poking out slightly from the other side!
“Squeal—!!!”
The wild boar let out an extremely shrill squeal. It tried to charge the tree once more, but its limbs no longer obeyed. With a loud crash, it collapsed onto its side, letting out a few final, sputtering snorts mixed with bloody foam before quickly falling silent.
Matthew did not climb down immediately. Remaining vigilant, he shot another arrow into the boar's eye to ensure it was completely dead.
Only when the boar's struggling stopped entirely and its breath faded did Matthew slowly exhale a breath of turbid air and slide down from the tree.
He walked over to the boar's carcass, looking at its throat, which was nearly pierced through by the arrows, and the rapidly expanding pool of blood on the ground...
“This wild boar is strange, too. Wild boars from my previous life were never this thick-skinned.”
After all, with his current Strength, a full-force swing of his sword was enough to chop a small notch into a tree!
Yet, a single arrow couldn't even penetrate this wild boar's body.
“Is this what comes out of the Shadow Forest?”
But surprise aside, the harvest was indeed substantial!
This wild boar was heavily built, weighing at least two hundred pounds. Its meat, hide, and even those two intact tusks were hard currency anywhere!
After a brief thought, Matthew crouched down and drew the shortsword from his waist.
Using the tip of the blade, he carefully pried and chiseled, avoiding any areas that might cause damage. After spending some effort, he finally managed to extract the two thick, curved, sharp tusks with their roots intact.
They felt heavy in his hand, hard and cold to the touch, with natural ridges on the surface.
“Harvesting the most valuable parts first is always the right call!”
Before long, a flurry of hurried footsteps echoed from the direction of the village.
It was Instructor Calm. He arrived even faster than Matthew had anticipated; from Matthew's warning to the end of the fight, barely ten minutes had passed.
Clearly, the moment Delank and the others made it back to the village, they had immediately notified Instructor Calm.
Instructor Calm strode over. His eyes first swept quickly over the scene: the massive boar carcass on the ground, the throat wound that was nearly shot through, the scattered arrows, and the pair of blood-stained tusks in Matthew's hands.
His gaze lingered on Matthew for a moment. After confirming he was completely unharmed, he nodded slightly.
The few able-bodied men following behind him, among whom were Fabian and Reynard, stared at the massive boar carcass and then at Matthew. They couldn't help but gasp, their faces filled with shock and disbelief.
“Such a huge wild boar...”
“Matthew took it down all by himself?”
“This wound... was made by an arrow? It's this deep?!”
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