531 Guard The Farm
Once Remi and her bodyguards were in position, with two on Karl’s left, guarding the side of the house, and one on his right, making sure that the escorts for the General didn’t get overrun by a single Giant Boar, Karl was ready to begin.
[Alright, it’s safe to come out now. Cara and Rae, I would like for you to stick together with Rae’s Golems. Clear the area beyond what the Minotaurs and Satyrs can see, and loot as much food as you think we might need in the future. These all appear to be Commander Rank boars, and there should be Royal Rank Cyclops with them. That means plenty of high-quality blood for Rae.
However, if you find a Monarch, inform me before you start fighting it, and I will join you.
I know that at least Rae needs the Monarch Rank blood for her personal grooming, and if it’s an edible species, it could be good for everyone’s development.] Karl instructed.
[Monarch Rank Giant Boar…] Hawk was almost drooling at the thought.
He was already looking for one, but the Boars didn’t appear to come in anything but Commander Rank. Being a spawn situation, there were no young ones with them. But it was also incredibly rare to find a Monarch Rank Cyclops. Hawk had scouted most of the way to both cities down the road now, and he had only seen three of them, two of which were at the fortress. The Overlords would take care of those in a few minutes, so there was only one that was an actual option, and even that one was over twenty kilometres away.
[We might have to wait for tomorrow’s spawn to get a good one.] He informed the others.
Karl chuckled at his depressed tone. [What makes you think that we’re going to still be here?]
[There are thousands of Commander Rank boars. They’re overrunning farms almost as fast as the farmers can flee, and the city is full of them. We did alright walking through the Hill Giant lines, but these are stronger.] He replied with pride.
It was strange to have pride in what he viewed as a food supply that he didn’t even raise himself, but Hawk’s mind worked in its own special way.
Karl could hear him mentally calculating the food supply from multiple days of harvesting the boars, and how much space he had to store them in. If he processed them and got rid of the parts that weren’t tasty, he should have enough for at least a week’s harvest in the space he dedicated to boar type animals.
Rae came out of her space, and Cara appeared on her back as the Bloodbath Spider summoned her golems in the distance.
[Forward trusty steed. We shall clear a path of destruction through the boars. Delicious, delicious, destruction.] Cara insisted.
Karl stared at the strange spectacle for a moment and then realized that Cara was much bigger than he remembered, She had gone from badger to large dog sized, and when she spread her wings for balance, she had a wingspan as wide as Rae’s standing posture.
[Are you getting close to advancing?] Karl asked her, curious about the change.
[Nope, I don’t think I’m even halfway there. I’m just getting big. I’m working on a skill to adjust my size, but mostly I think I’ve just been eating too well. I need to start exercising.]
Why she wanted to adjust her size was a mystery, but Karl suspected that it had something to do with punching Drakes in the face. She kept facing big things that didn’t respect her because she was small.
They vanished off into the darkness with a barrage of [Disintegration] and [Boulder Toss] attacks at the handful of nearby boars.
Then they were on the surprised Cyclops, whose night vision was apparently terrible because it hardly reacted until the Golem was liberating its head from its body.
Karl looked around the farm and realized that he might have miscalculated. With the dynamic duo going crazy on his side of the property, he didn’t actually have anything to do.
He could hear the others fighting, and one of the Naga Warriors had gone to assist the Satyrs, who were losing their fight with the Giant Boar.
Karl heard huge rushing feet and saw one of the massive beasts coming for his left side, where the other Naga Warriors and Remi were stationed. Then Thor was on his feet and charging at the armoured challenger. This was his yard, and nobody was just running inside.
The Cerro hit the side of the boar, and his upper horns punched through the armour plating as the beast was thrown from its feet.
A shake of Thor’s head freed his horns from the twisted metal, and a Naga Warrior rushed over to wrap the beast’s neck.
It gave him a steady base to attack from, with the side benefit of cutting off the creature’s breathing as the boar reared up to try to hit Thor with his tusks.
Thor was quick on his feet, and the charge only reached open air as Thor rammed his nose horn up into the Boar’s belly, then slammed his tail into its head with [Earthquake] charged.
The boar’s skull shattered, and blood ran down its face as it staggered. It wasn’t a lethal blow, but there was definitely brain damage behind that stunned effect. Then the Naga Warrior’s blades slid between the broken skull bones and the boar collapsed.
That one they would have to leave in the yard, as everyone would notice it going missing. But they could use it for breakfast and lunch, or leave it for the farmers, whose crops had taken a lot of damage.
Karl noticed that a Cyclops was getting close to the outlying vegetable patch, so he moved to intercept. The farmers might have lost a lot of their crop, but he could save at least a bit of it.
The two Royal Rank opponents met on the road, and Karl quickly realized that the Cyclops was almost blind. It had no depth perception, nearly tripped in the drainage ditch, and couldn’t see Karl standing 5 metres away in the dark.
That wasn’t even a fair fight.
Not that it was going to stop Karl, as five stacks of [Disintegration] on the head of his maul removed most of its torso.
He quickly dragged the body back into the pasture on the other side of the road and looked for another target.
Rae and Cara were on a rampage, and Cara had taken to the air so that she could dive bomb and maul the Boars from the air.
That was way more fun than just throwing orbs of death at them. Her [Disintegration] was a Monarch-Ranked skill, and the damage that it did to Commander Rank boars, and their makeshift armour, was devastating.
It was so much more satisfying to go for the terminal velocity dive bomb into their back.
Karl saw a group of heat signatures racing his way and prepared for battle. But as they spread out a little, he realized that it wasn’t more Cyclops, but a larger than average Minotaur and his family.
“This way, everyone. We have a Royal Rank team of guards to protect the farmyard.” He shouted, loud enough that everyone would hear him.
“Is the yard holding?” The man yelled as he turned to approach Karl directly, and not the house.
“Yeah, we’re in no danger of being overrun. We’ve got a Commander Rank Golem Mage and Royal Rank Naga Warriors among the other guards in the yard. There are clerics with us as well, if you are injured.”
“Thank you, traveller.” The big Minotaur replied, then let out a deep rumbling bellow that would echo through the distance to the other farms.
It should be a signal of some sort that it was safe to gather here, but it startled the farmers in the yard, who definitely didn’t feel safe.
“If you can fight, talk to the Red Dragon Cleric after you are fed and healed. We were selling weapons made by and for Minotaurs. They will hook you up, and you can trade them loot from your kills for the cost if you’re short on cash.” Karl informed them.
The big Minotaur smiled and patted him on the shoulder as he ran by.
“Thank you. I don’t know what happened, but it’s good to see that someone has the good sense to set proper defences.”
With the route being so safe, most groups didn’t set night guards, they just went to bed in the farmyards after dinner.