The last coins clinked into Yoshiya's palm as the guild clerk stamped the parchment.
"That's all of it," Lia said with a brisk nod. "And if you're serious about the Thunder Boar King, you'd better move soon. The thing doesn't sleep for long."
Omina tightened the straps on her pack. Beside her, Kaito rolled his shoulders, looking more serious than usual. Behind them, Kenji and Akane checked their weapons, ready for the march. Five teams were gathering outside the outpost, each one a blend of veterans and hopefuls.
Lia pointed at a crude map spread over the counter. "You'll head east to the edge of Doom Forest. Watch for scorched ground and static discharges—that's its hunting range. You're to rendezvous with the other teams at the basin by nightfall. Stay sharp."
They thanked her and stepped out into the cooling dusk. No one suggested waiting for morning. The air itself smelled of iron and ozone, as though the storm already reached for them.
---
The road to Doom Forest had changed since Yoshiya last walked it. The air was heavy, damp yet sharp, a tension that prickled along his skin. Tiny blue sparks hissed along fallen branches, leaving scorched streaks in the undergrowth. Even the insects were silent.
Omina glanced at the faint glow of herbs clinging to charred stumps. Her fingers twitched toward her pouch, but she forced herself to keep pace with Kaito's long strides. "Later," she murmured.
Kenji marked a safe trail with chalk on low trunks, a system of quick slashes for archers to read. Akane moved ahead, a flicker in the dark, her daggers already glinting with condensed mana.
"We're close," Kaito said quietly. "Stay tight."
Yoshiya shifted the weight of his shield. Mana pulsed faintly under his palm. He could feel the storm building somewhere beyond the trees—a rhythm like a distant drum.
---
The first attack came without warning. Pig-shaped shadows darted between the black trunks, their eyes glowing faint yellow. Sparks snapped off their bristled hides as they lunged.
"Thunder Boarlings!" Kenji called from the rear.
Team 3 swung around the flank, Dorobo's curved blades catching one creature mid-leap while Kokoro's staff hummed with a sealing rune. Team 5 locked shields at the back to block a second rush.
The center belonged to Yoshiya's team. He braced his shield just in time to meet a charging Boarling, mana hardening the barrier as its tusks struck. A jolt ran up his arm but he held firm, twisting to shove the beast aside. Omina darted in from the opposite angle, her sword a clean silver arc. Sparks scattered like fireflies as the creature fell.
Another Boarling tried to circle them. Akane blurred past, daggers crossing in a scissor-strike, dropping it in a hiss of static. Kaito called orders, quick and clipped: "Kenji, high left—pin it!"
Arrows laced with damp cloth hissed into a third Boarling's shoulder, slowing its charge long enough for Yoshiya to slam it down. The fight lasted only moments, but every impact left the scent of burned hair and iron.
When the last creature collapsed, Omina wiped her blade on the scorched grass. "They're scouts," she muttered.
Kenji nodded grimly. "The King knows we're coming now."
---
The deeper they went, the wilder the forest became. Lightning flickered between tree trunks without clouds. The ground was cracked and blackened in circles, as if small storms had landed and then leapt away.
They paused in a narrow clearing to let the healers tend to minor burns. Yoshiya rolled his shoulder, still tingling from the shocks. Omina crouched beside a cluster of faintly glowing herbs, her fingers itching to gather them. She plucked only a few, stuffing them into her pouch with care. *Shizuka will know what to do with these,* she thought.
Akane returned from the shadows. "Tremors ahead," she whispered. "Big ones."
Kaito's jaw tightened. "It's not waiting anymore."
---
The tremors struck before they reached the basin. Two shapes the size of wagons burst from opposite sides of the trail—juvenile "Thunder Tusks," larger than any normal boar, their hides streaked with living lightning.
"Split!" Kaito barked.
Team 5's tanks locked shields against the first Tusk, sparks skittering across their armor. Team 3 and Team 4 swarmed the second, trying to snare its legs with enchanted ropes.
Yoshiya's team had to divide. Kenji scrambled up a broken trunk, loosing arrows toward weak spots at the creature's neck. Akane darted between hooves, daggers flashing. Kaito moved like a pivot, intercepting charges.
Omina's hand went instinctively to the pendant under her cloak—the untested Berserk Necklace. Shizuka's warning echoed in her head. *Not yet. Not here.* She yanked her hand back and raised her sword instead, timing her strike with Yoshiya's shield bash.
The first Tusk roared, electricity snapping from its tusks to a nearby tree, but Yoshiya's shield held. Omina slid under its flank, cutting deep into the tendon behind its leg. Kenji's arrows found its eye. The creature stumbled, squealed, and bolted into the darkness.
Across the path, the second Tusk let out a shrill cry and vanished after its sibling, leaving smoking footprints in the soil. The clearing smelled of burned moss and hot metal.
Breathing hard, Kaito wiped his blade. "They're trying to wear us down."
"And it's working," Kenji muttered, flexing his numbed fingers.
Yoshiya re-formed the line. "Move before it circles back."
---
The forest opened abruptly into a wide basin. All around, charred stumps stood like blackened pillars, the ground cracked and pale where lightning had scoured it. A faint blue haze drifted above the soil, carrying the smell of rain that never fell.
Massive hoofprints glowed faintly with residual energy across the open ground. Each one was as long as Yoshiya's arm.
The five teams spread out in the basin, checking positions, healers in the center, scouts at the rim. Dorobo twirled his blades; Kokoro murmured a spell. Omina's fingers brushed the hidden pendant again but stilled. *Not yet.*
Kenji scanned the haze. "This is where it will show itself."
A low rumble rolled through the ground, more felt than heard. Sparks leapt from stump to stump, hissing like snakes.
Then the mist split.
---
It emerged with a sound like a thunderclap.
The Thunder Boar King was three times the size of the Berserker Boar, a living storm wrapped in muscle and bristle. Its mane was a crown of crackling arcs; its tusks curved like golden lances, each glowing with a faint inner light. Its eyes were pale and full of electricity.
It took one step forward and the ground shook. Charred stones cracked under its hooves. Lightning spider-webbed out from where it stood, racing along the basin floor.
Everyone braced. Kenji nocked another arrow, knuckles white. Akane crouched low, ready to spring. Kaito's jaw clenched as he raised his sword.
Beside Yoshiya, Omina felt the pendant pulse once, faint and warm against her chest. She shut her eyes for half a heartbeat, then opened them again. Not yet.
The King lowered its massive head. Its tusks glowed brighter, humming with caged thunder.
It charged.
---
The shockwave hit before the beast itself did, a wall of sound and force that ripped leaves from the stumps and sent dust spiraling into the air. Yoshiya slammed his shield into the ground, anchoring it with mana. Sparks crawled over the metal like living snakes.
"Hold!" Kaito's voice cut through the roar.
Omina gritted her teeth, every muscle coiled. Around them, the other teams shifted, spells flaring, ropes whirling, arrows rising.
The storm had arrived, and they were inside it.