The butcher agreed to rest after his ranger suggested it. They needed a sound plan before starting their battle with one of the fiercest groups of animals in the F-Rank.
"So AoEs right off the bat or frontal attack?"
Steve asked while taking a bite of his ham and cheese sandwich. Other team members were also having their fill before their upcoming big boar hunt.
"Neither. AoE won't be effective on F-Rank boars because of how distanced they would be from each other even when travelling in a sounder. And frontal attack from a particular direction will only push the sounder to travel in the opposite direction, increasing our work."
Eren said while having his second steak. These days he would often carry heavy meals to curb his increased hunger. His team members had observed the guy who always ate scarcely, changing his food habit so drastically. But they thought that Eren's growth spurt had kicked in, increasing his appetite.
Eren had also observed that his hunger had increased. He knew the reason behind it. But he didn't mind. As long as he didn't become fat like a certain someone in their group, he didn't mind indulging in his newfound gluttony.
"So what do we do? Lay traps?"
Becky asked as she had a mouthful of veg salad. She had changed her diet as well. The salad she was eating contained herbs that were said to cleanse the mana circuits within the ranker's body.
The White Raven members knew this because Becky had made sure everyone knew about the health and ranking benefits her salad had. Still, nobody seemed interested in taking a bite of her pro-health food.
"It would have been ideal to lay traps and chip away the number of F-Rank beasts. But we don't have that much time. We need to wrap this mission as fast as we can."
Eren said and licked his fingers that were coated in the oil left behind by the steak. He had finished his second steak and was thinking of having another.
"What do you mean we don't have much time? This mission needs to be completed 6 days from now on. That is enough time for us to lay low and decrease our chances of being cornered by those damn pigs."
Becky asked Eren as she took a large bite out of her salad in frustration. She wasn't willing to face so many F-Rank wild boars at once. After all, her AoEs were her forte. And they won't do much against these animals which were spread across a large area.
"Ok. Let me correct that. I don't have time to spend 6 days on a mission of this level. Just follow my plan and we'd be back at the academy with our first ever team mission accomplished with flying colours.
Additionally, you have to keep taking on new missions in my absence. You need to return my loan amount, remember? You won't be able to do that anytime soon unless you streamline the missions you take."
Eren said with nonchalant expressions. He didn't have time to spend 6 days completing the Besanc mission. The butcher had too many things lined up to care about completing the mission with textbook perfection.
He used his loan to compel them. They were already scared of Eren charging them with crazy interest if they didn't pay him back in full soon.
Eren didn't want anyone to ask him useless questions any further and explained:
"My plan is simple. We encircle the sounder from any possible direction. Then we'll use Renita's long-range attacks to kill some of the young and unranked boars. That will enrage the adult bars and they won't try to run for a while.
We will not kill all the young boars. To protect them, some of the adult boars will stay behind the sounder. The boars assigned to attack us will come for us at once. And Since we are attacking from multiple directions, they'll also have to split up.
We'll launch our mid and close-range attacks as soon as the boars come in our vicinity. If they try to retreat after seeing they don't stand a chance against us, we'll again target their younglings. That will keep them fixated on one place. It would make our job of hunting them much easier."
Eren explained his plans while having his third steak. He was finally feeling satiated so he took his time having his meal. The butcher wanted to use the boar family's younglings as a hostage to efficiently kill them all.
Becky didn't find the idea too comforting but she didn't object. This was a Beast Sanctuary. Human values and rules aren't even worth a fart in this place. So she didn't pretend as they did in this case.
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"Bleeeeeeeh!"
"Grrrrrrrrreeeehhhhhh!"
"Dreeeeeehhhhh!"
All of a sudden, three younglings in the boar family cried in shrill tones when the bullets hit their heads. Those shrills were all they could muster before their death and their bodies fell on the lush grass beneath them.
The adult boars were busy eating the grass at this time when they heard the sound of their younglings dying out of the blue. They snorted their noses and rushed to the younglings' bodies that were lying lifeless on the ground.
They tried sniffing the younglings' mortal wounds but only found traces of foreign mana they couldn't identify. The wind bullets had been dispersed as soon as they did their job after all.
But the adult boars didn't have to track their new enemies because they showed themselves up in four different directions. The boars' eyes turned red as they observed the enemies closing in on them.
The boars assumed their roles without seemingly no communication taking place among them. Some of the F-Rank boars encircled their younglings, taking them under their protection. While others eyed the incoming enemy while scratching the earth beneath them with their hoofs.
It was clear with the boars' intentions that they were not planning to let things slide and let their enemies have their way.
Unfortunately for them, their enemies wanted them to be in such a state in the first place.
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AN: IK the onomatopoeia for young boars' dying shrills would seem weird Lol. But that's what I got.. Also, a group of boars is called a sounder.