"You attack from the front," Lyon ordered in a low voice, his eyes fixed on the colossal creature ahead.
The goblin nodded with a determined gleam in his eyes and, with a sudden leap, darted out of the bushes with quick, light steps, bursting through the undergrowth toward the boar. The creature, until then distracted as it rummaged through the soil with its grotesque snout, raised its head at the sound of crushed leaves.
With an aggressive, deep snort, the boar turned its body in an almost instinctive reaction. Its black eyes locked onto the small figure approaching at speed, and without hesitation, it scraped its hooves on the ground and charged in a brutal burst, advancing like a mass of muscle, scales, and tusks.
The goblin, seeing the danger closing in fast, jumped to the side at the last moment, rolling across the ground to avoid the direct impact. The boar thundered past him, frenzied, but its path was now dangerously close to the bush where the female goblin lay hidden, waiting.
And then, the moment came.
In the blink of an eye, just as the boar passed her position, the female goblin leapt with all the strength of her short legs, planting her feet on the scaly back of the creature. In midair, she raised her crude knife above her head and brought it down in a firm, ferocious strike, aiming for the monster's spine.
The blade hit hard but the sound that followed was not that of flesh being torn it was the sharp screech of metal scraping stone.
The cut didn't go through.
The boar's scales, thick as armor plates, repelled the blade with ease. The goblin's eyes widened as she realized her attack had been useless. The boar roared in fury, feeling the weight of the enemy on its back, and began to thrash wildly, arching its body and bucking uncontrollably in a maddened attempt to throw off the creature now riding it like an untamed beast.
The goblin held on tightly, one hand clutching the beast's thick neck hide, the other still holding the trembling knife, searching for a weak spot a gap in the scales, an opening, anything.
The other goblin, driven by urgency, ran with all the speed his short legs could muster, brandishing the rusty blade with a guttural cry of courage. But the boar, now in a frenzy, noticed the approach and, with a sudden twist of its massive body, delivered a devastating kick. The hind leg struck the goblin hard in the chest, hurling him like a ragdoll. The impact sent him flying several meters before crashing into the bushes, groaning in pain, completely incapacitated.
At the same moment, the female goblin, still clinging to the beast's back, was finally thrown off. The boar bucked with such brutality that she lost her grip and was flung through the air, spinning like a leaf in a storm before hitting the ground hard, the thud knocking the air from her lungs. Her knife slipped from her hands and slid across the wet grass. She tried to get up, but a jolt of pain in her ribs froze her in place at a crucial moment.
The boar didn't hesitate.
Instead of fleeing like any wild animal in danger, it turned its head, snorted in rage, and charged directly at her. Its savage eyes were fixed on the small, fallen figure as if recognizing her as the greatest threat.
Lyon, still crouched among the bushes, watched everything with his heart pounding in his chest. His gaze moved over the two fallen bodies of his improvised allies first the male goblin, unconscious among the branches, then the vulnerable female, trying and failing to crawl away.
"She's done for" he muttered, his voice hoarse and heavy with tension. "The other one won't be able to save her."
His muscles were tense. His eyes, wide. He didn't move not yet as if waiting to see the scene unfold on its own, like a powerless spectator. But then reality struck him with brutal force.
"If I lose them I'm screwed in the future." The truth hit like a sentence in his mind. He clenched his fists so tightly that his joints cracked, feeling the chill of the fragile blade in his sweaty hand.
And then he screamed not at the goblins, not at the boar. At himself.
"Fuck it! Move!"
As if the shout unlocked his body, Lyon burst from the bush with all the strength he could muster. His feet struck the ground with force, propelling him forward in a desperate sprint. The boar had no time to react. Just as it raised its front legs to trample the fallen goblin, Lyon leapt onto it, throwing all his weight toward the creature's neck.
He didn't use the knife.
Instead, he wrapped both arms around the beast's thick, scaly neck like his life depended on it and it did. With a wild motion, Lyon delivered a violent kick to the boar's front legs, trying to knock it off balance.
The result was immediate and brutal.
The boar roared, a guttural, animalistic sound that reverberated through the clearing. Its legs slipped from the unexpected blow and, in its frenzy, it stomped on Lyon's foot with absurd force. A searing pain exploded in the human's leg, as if his bone had been crushed by a warhammer.
"AHHHHH!"
Lyon's scream echoed loud, tearing from his throat. But even overwhelmed by pain, he didn't retreat. He clenched his teeth with savagery, face contorted, and channeled all his agony into raw force. With clenched fists, he began pounding the creature's skull and snout, blow after blow, until finally, his weight and the combined impacts made the boar lose balance.
In a whirlwind of strength and desperation, man and beast rolled across the ground a chaotic mass of limbs, screams, and dust, as the leaves and grass around them thrashed with violent motion.