Alex guided the Arosaurer deeper into the disturbed earth. A low, rhythmic rumble echoed through the trees ahead—not Wardens, but something heavier. The ground trembled.
“I think we found them,” he murmured.
He edged the Zoid forward, using a fallen giant’s trunk as cover. Peering over it, he saw them.
Five Thorn-Tusk Boars. Four were massive, their tusks like curved stone spikes. The fifth was a monster, twice the size of the others, its hide thick and knotted like ancient bark. Its tusks were longer, sharper.
Rhian’s whisper was tight. “They look scary.”
Alex’s eyes scanned the group. “There were more than I thought.”
Rhian leaned forward. “What are you going to do?”
“Already have a plan. Grab onto something. Things are going to be rough.”
He pushed the throttle forward. The Arosaurer surged from behind the trunk, its engines roaring. The boars turned, their snorts turning into startled squeals.
Alex aimed not for the herd, but for the lone, monstrous leader standing slightly apart.
The Arosaurer lunged, its jaws snapping open. Twin arcs of crackling blue energy erupted from its fangs.
"ELECTRON BITE FANG!"
The discharge hit the solitary giant boar square in the side. The energy pulsed through its thick hide, muscles spasming. It stumbled, collapsed, and didn't rise again.
The remaining four boars froze for a second, then their heads swiveled. Their eyes fixed on the blue machine. The air filled with their furious, guttural snorts.
Alex leaned back in his seat, a small smirk on his lips.
"Got their attention."
The three smaller boars charged. Their tusks tore up the earth as they barreled toward the Arosaurer.
"ROOOOARRR!"
Rhian gripped the console.
"Why did you do that?!"
"We couldn't face all five at once," Alex said, turning the Zoid away. "Not with the big one there. Now we face four."
The Arosaurer’s legs dug in, and it sprinted away from the clearing, weaving between trees. The boars thundered after it, a wall of angry muscle and tusks.
"HRRRRNN! HRRRRNN!"
Rhian watched them gain ground. "Now they're mad!"
Alex glanced at the closing distance on his screen. He pushed the throttle further.
"According to plan."
Alex’s fingers danced across the console, activating the targeting grid. The forest wasn’t just trees; it was a battlefield with features. He’d studied the mineral deposits in this sector for years.
“Rhian, hold tight. This is going to be loud.”
He swung the Arosaurer around a thick cluster of ironwood trees, putting distance between them and the three charging boars. His eyes locked onto a specific patch of ground ahead—a shimmering, unstable deposit of crystallized sulfur and potassium nitrate. Common here. Highly volatile.
The boars were relentless, closing the gap.
“GRRROOOOAAAARRR!”
Alex fired.
The Arosaurer’s ballistic autocannons spat a burst of high-caliber rounds. They didn’t aim for the boars. They aimed for the glittering patch of earth thirty meters ahead.
The shots struck.
A chain of detonations erupted. The ground heaved, vomiting a plume of fiery orange dust and shattered rock. The shockwave rippled out, knocking the lead boar sideways. It stumbled, tusks gouging the dirt.
Rhian gasped, her hands white on the console edge. “You’re shooting the ground?”
“Unstable deposits. Triggers a localized blast. Cheap, effective.”
The second boar, smarter or just luckier, veered around the blast zone. It came in low, tusks aimed for the Arosaurer’s left forward leg.
Alex saw it. He tried to pivot.
Not fast enough.
The tusk slammed into the joint housing. A metallic shriek echoed through the cockpit. The impact jarred the whole machine, throwing Alex and Rhian against their seats. Status lights flickered amber on the left leg actuator.
“Minor hydraulic pressure drop,” Alex muttered, his hands already moving to compensate. “Stabilizing.”
Rhian’s voice was thin. “Minor? It felt like the whole world shook.”
“It’s fine. The housing absorbed most of it.”
He pushed the Zoid forward again, its gait now slightly uneven. The two remaining boars regrouped, snorting in fury. They split, one charging from the left, the other from the right, aiming to pin him.
Alex’s mind calculated the vectors. Left boar, twelve meters. Right boar, fifteen. Closing speed, high.
He didn’t turn. He didn’t run.
He jumped.
The Arosaurer’s powerful legs coiled and released, launching the machine upward in a short, arc. The two boars thundered beneath it, their paths converging perfectly where the Zoid had just been.
They collided.
“SKREEEEE!”
The sound was a horrible crunch of bone and a squeal of pure pain. Tusks snapped. Both beasts collapsed into a tangled heap, writhing.
The Arosaurer landed, its weight shaking the earth. Alex didn’t wait. He turned the machine toward the boar that had rammed him—the one still standing, now alone.
“Finish it.”
The Zoid lunged. Its jaws closed around the boar’s neck. A crunch, a final gurgling cry, and then silence.
“HRRRRNN…!”
The beast slumped. Alex released it, the Arosaurer’s head lifting with a satisfied, mechanical growl.
“GRRRRRRR…”
Three boars left. Two were injured from the collision, struggling to rise. The third, the one that had avoided the blast, stood back, watching with wary, hateful eyes.
Rhian breathed out, a long, shaky sigh. “Okay. Okay. That was… that was something.”
“Efficient.”
“Your ‘efficient’ feels like my heart trying to escape my chest.”
“It’ll calm down. Just breathe.”
He was about to formulate the next move. How to isolate the uninjured one, use the terrain again. But the cockpit radar chimed a sharp, urgent tone—a new contact. High speed. Closing fast.
Alex’s eyes snapped to the screen. The signature was huge, moving too quickly for any boar.
Before he could react, it was there.
A shape burst from the deeper forest shadows. It was sleek, low, and built for velocity. A Liger-type Titan. Its fur was a dark, mottled grey, and its eyes burned with a cold, predatory intelligence.
It ignored the Arosaurer. It ignored the two wounded boars.
It targeted the uninjured, watching boar—the one that had been the herd’s leader.
The Liger moved like a blur. One pounce, a swipe of claws that seemed to tear the air itself. The boar’s head was separated from its body before it could even squeal.
“GRRAAAAAWWWR!”
The Liger stood over the corpse, raised its head, and roared. The sound was deep, ancient, and filled the clearing with a pressure that made the air feel thick.
“ROOOOOOOOARR!”
The two remaining boars froze. Rhian froze. Alex felt his own breath stall.
The aura around the Liger was palpable—a dense, cold menace. It felt like moving a muscle would invite instant death. The Titan lowered its head and began to feed, tearing into the boar’s carcass with methodical, terrifying calm.
Rhian’s whisper was barely audible. “Alex… what is that?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’ve never seen it?”
“In five years, I’ve never seen anything like that.”
They watched, motionless, as the Liger ate. It didn’t glance at them. It didn’t seem to care. But the feeling didn’t lift. It was a stare from the edge of the world, and they were pinned in it.
The two wounded boars began to shuffle backward, their injured legs dragging. They made no sound. They just wanted to be away.
The Liger finished a mouthful, lifted its gaze, and looked directly at the Arosaurer.
Its eyes were not angry. They were calculating.
Alex’s hand hovered over the throttle. Every instinct screamed to run. But running might provoke it. Standing still might be safer.
He didn’t know.
The Liger took one slow step toward them. Then it stopped. It seemed to consider the blue machine, the strange metal thing that wasn’t prey, wasn’t Titan, wasn’t anything it recognized.
Then it turned away. It walked back to the carcass, resumed its meal.
The pressure eased, just a fraction. The cold sweat on Alex’s back stayed.
Advance chapters on my p@tR$0n/Najicablitz. Use code D2BE8 for 50% off until June 12.
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter