In Ouro, humans grew stronger by raising their Shard count through combat, training, and surviving situations that should have led to their death. One Shard became two, two became three, and every step up meant more power and better control.
Monsters followed the same ladder, but they did not just get stronger when their Shards increased. Their bodies evolved, twisting into new forms with different instincts, tougher frames, and sometimes entirely new abilities.
That was the problem Hajin was staring at right now. A dead two-Shard boar was turning into a three-Shard monster in front of him, and if he let the change finish, this fight would get a lot worse.
It clicked fast once he saw the cracks in its body sealing while the third Shard spun faster around its tusks.
"It was already evolving before we got here," he muttered, circling to the side with his sword up, "that's why it stayed alive even after Juna tore its face open."
'Such terrible timing,' he thought, kicking off the ground while the boar lowered its head and snarled through blood. 'Out of all fights, this one decides to evolve now.'
He leaped high and brought the sword down toward its skull with both hands, putting everything into the drop. The boar raised one thick forearm and caught the blow, the blade hitting with a hard clang that stopped dead without cutting into the skin.
"Heh, figures," he said, pushing off its arm before it could grab him.
He twisted past a follow-up swipe, felt the wind of it tear by his shoulder, then slid back across the ground, putting distance between them again.
His eyes flicked to the stream panel for half a second, and a crooked grin pulled at his mouth when he saw chat exploding harder than ever. He finally got it now, people on Earth gave up information fast when he baited them the right way.
"Alright, chat," he said, breathing hard while he kept the boar in front of him. "Best donation decides how I kill this thing."
The panel jumped so fast it almost blurred.
[CringeSlayer91 donated: 20 credits]
[CringeSlayer91: break its tusks first]
[ShadowMage44 donated: 50 credits]
[ShadowMage44: cut both legs then execute it]
[JunaFanClub donated: 100 credits]
[JunaFanClub: I don't care how you kill it, just make it suffer for hurting Juna]
More donations stacked on top of each other, numbers climbing while comments turned feral.
[NewViewer_02 donated: 30 credits]
[NewViewer_02: payback for Juna]
[LurkerNoMore donated: 75 credits]
[LurkerNoMore: go for the eyes, if it can't see, you can beat it easily]
'These people are donating like idiots,' he thought, rolling his shoulder once while the boar scraped the ground and prepared to charge. 'Good for me I guess, I didn't even think that would work this well.'
He bounced on his feet, rolling his shoulders and warming up while testing the weight of the sword in his grip.
'This is the perfect chance to test my base stats without the ring,' he thought, feeling the familiar lightness in his legs and the sharp clarity in his vision.
He found it funny, honestly, how much things had changed in just a few days. 'Back then I was barely surviving against a two-Shard, running for my life and getting tossed around like a ragdoll,' he thought, a small smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth.
'And now I'm standing in front of a monster that's actively evolving, waiting for it to finish so I can cut it down.'
He crouched low, tapping the flat of his blade against his shoulder while keeping his eyes locked on the boar's face. "Come on," he said, his voice carrying just enough to cut through the heavy air. "Show me what you got."
The boar responded exactly how he expected, its hooves digging into the ground before it launched forward like a cannonball, the ground shaking with every step while its tusks aimed straight at his chest.
He met it head on and sprinting straight at the charge, the distance closing so fast that the air felt like it was compressing between them. At the last second he planted his foot and jumped, the boar's tusks passing just under his boots while he twisted mid-air and landed squarely on its back.
The monster thrashed immediately, bucking and spinning while trying to throw him off, but his legs locked around its thick neck while his free hand grabbed a handful of bristles to anchor himself.
'This thing has amazing durability,' he thought, feeling the dense muscle under his knees while the boar slammed itself against a tree trying to dislodge him. 'My sword barely scratched it, so how about this instead.'
He let go of the bristles with his right hand, pulling his arm back while mana surged into his left fist, the energy building fast and hot until his knuckles started glowing faintly.
"Let's see how tough your face is," he muttered, then drove his fist straight down into the back of its skull with a lot of force.
The impact hit like a hammer, the boar's entire body going rigid for a split second before its legs buckled. It slammed face-first into the ground, the force cracking the ground outward in a spiderweb pattern that sent dirt and rocks flying.
He jumped off before it could recover, landing a few meters away while the dust settled around the crater where its face had just been.
It lay there for a second, then its legs twitched, followed by its head slowly lifting from the cracked ground with blood and dirt caked across its snout. It shook its head then pushed itself back to its feet like nothing had happened, its three Shards still spinning steadily around its tusks.
'No way,' he thought, staring at the monster while it turned to face him again, its eyes locked onto him with the same dead intensity as before. 'I put a lot of force into that hit and it just got back up? This thing is insanely tough.'
'Alright, eyes it is,' he thought, adjusting his grip on the sword while tracking the boar's bloodied face. 'If it can't see, I can actually get some damage in.'
He shifted his weight forward, ready to move, but the boar beat him to it.
Its jaw dropped open, and instead of a roar, a dark, heavy mana started gathering in the back of its throat, glowing faintly while the air around its mouth distorted from the pressure.
Hajin froze, his brain stalling. 'Wait, what the fuck is that? Since when do boars shoot beams?'
The ground started shaking under his boots, the vibration climbing up his legs while the mana in the boar's mouth condensed into a tight, pulsing sphere.
'What kind of evolution is this thing going through?' he thought, his grip tightening on the hilt while his pulse spiked. 'This isn't normal at all.'
He didn't wait to find out, kicking off the ground and sprinting straight at it while the sphere kept growing, figuring if he could close the distance before it fired he might be able to interrupt it.
He was almost within striking range when the boar suddenly shifted its aim downward.
The blast hit the dirt right in front of it, the force kicking up a massive wall of dust and rocks that swallowed the entire clearing in a single second.
'Shit,' he thought, his momentum carrying him straight into the cloud while his vision dropped to zero. 'I can't see anything.'
He tried to stop, planting his feet, but the ground was still vibrating from the blast and the dust was not helping at all.
Something moved in the haze to his left, fast and silent.
A few seconds later, a claw slammed into his ribs before he could turn, the impact lifting him off his feet and sending him flying backward through the air.
He hit the ground on his back, a breath tearing out of his lungs in one gasp while his body slid across the dirt, coughing up blood onto his chest.
"This might be bad," he said, noticing how burring his vision was. "I think my ribs just broke."