“It sounds to me like this dude needs to go down,” Neil said. Grayfang was right all along.
“Yes,” Averil agreed. “But I will not risk the lives of my boars. They are under my protection.”
“You don’t need to rely on just them. I can help,” Neil said. “I’m a Skinwalker, just like you.”
Averil considered this for a moment. “You may not be enough. Not unless…”
“Unless what? If there’s anything I can do to help, I’ll do it!”
“There exists a boon which I can pass on to you that will allow you to combine the best parts of your human form and your chosen Wild Aspect.”
“Then give it to me. I can handle it!” Neil said.
A new ability that combined the best parts of both forms? That sounded powerful!
“Are you absolutely sure?” Averil said.
“What’s the downside?”
“Some Skinwalkers may look down on you for straddling the line between man and beast, instead of choosing to stay either side of it.”
“If I’m doing it for the good of the Everwood, there should be no problem.”
“Mm, perhaps,” Averil said. “Very well, I will share this boon with you.”
She extended a hand towards Neil and walked towards him. Eyes closed, she placed her hand on his chest. At first, nothing happened, then a surge of energy flowed through Neil’s body. It felt like an electric shock, but one that came with a wave of pleasure and comfort.
A notification appeared at the bottom of his view.
You have received the ability Were-Form!
Neil focused on the new ability.
Were-Form
Target: Self
Duration: 15 minutes
Cooldown: 4 hours
Assume a powerful form that combines your current Wild Aspect with a humanoid form. This allows you to use all equipment normally used by your human form, while also accessing all abilities of your current Wild Aspect.
“Whoa, that is amazing!” Neil said.
“Do you wish to bond with one of my boars?” Averil asked. “Your wolf form is powerful, but a boar is hardier and just as deadly.”
Neil had to think about that for a moment. If he chose another Wild Aspect now, then he would need to give up his wolf form until he re-learned it. But if the boar’s aspect was going to give him greater defensive ability while retaining his offensive capabilities, there was really no downside.
Neil nodded. “I’ll take the aspect of the boar!”
Averil whistled. “Brokentusk, to me!”
A hog trotted out of the pack. It almost rivaled Averil’s boar form in size. He only had a tusk on one side of his snout. The other tusk was a jagged stump, which just added to his formidable presence.
Neil reached his hand out towards Brokentusk and activated Wild Aspect.
The boar’s mind bled over into his. Images of digging for roots, of competing with other males for mating rights, and of standing watch over the piglets flooded Neil’s head.
New Wild Aspect learned: Wild Boar
Neil focused on the Wild Boar section to see what his Wild Aspect screen had to say about it.
Wild Aspect: Wild Boar
This Wild Aspect can be used for both tanking and damage-dealing. This form works well for solo adventuring, as well as working as part of a team. As the Wild Aspect grows stronger, the Skinwalker will be able to sniff out rare and valuable buried resources, as well as intimidate their foes.
Level 1
Then, Neil had a look at his new Wild Boar-related abilities to see what he had to work with.
Headbutt
Rank: Novice
15 damage
Single Target
Headbutt your enemy for moderate damage. Small chance to knock your enemy to the ground.
Trample
Rank: Novice
30 damage
Single Target
Trample a prone enemy for heavy damage.
Pig Squeal
Rank: Novice
Radius – 10 yards
Terrify all enemies within a 10-yard radius to interrupt their attacks and stun them for 1 second.
Gore
Rank: Novice
30 Bleeding damage over 5 seconds
Single Target
Pierce your enemy’s skin with your tusks, causing them to bleed damage over time.
Thick Hide
Rank: Novice
Passive
Reduce all incoming damage by 5%. Higher ranks increase damage reduction.
Most of them were quite similar to his low-level wolf attacks, but with slight pig-themed variations. The damage reduction bonus given to him by Thick Hide was awesome, though. Plus, it increased his damage reduction at higher skill ranks? That would be something to invest some time in!
“Are you ready to depart?” Averil asked.
“I’m ready to go hog-wild,” Neil said with a grin.
Averil chuckled once, then shifted back into her boar form. Neil activated Skinwalk and shifted into boar form too. It was quick and mostly painless this time, except for the dull ache that accompanied the enormous tusks bursting forth from his lower jaw.
‘Well done,’ Averil said.
‘Thanks,’ Neil said and was happy to see that his Wild Speech ability now worked immediately. He didn’t need to reach Level 2 with Wild Aspect: Wild Boar to be able to communicate.
The rest of the passel were speaking to each other about how they were going to finish this fight once and for all. No longer would their children be preyed upon by this butcher.
Averil led the column of hogs back towards the cabin in the woods. She still limped, but with Neil’s strength added to theirs, they would be able to triumph.
A quest notification popped up as Neil trotted behind Averil.
Quest updated: Whole Hog
After finding out the truth, you have agreed to help the Skinwalker Averil to kill Mack Nabb and saved the trapped piglets.
Kill Mack Nabb
Reward: 300 experience points
Chapter Seven - The Butcher
Neil and Averil were too late to save all the piglets. Mack already had two piglets strung up on thick ropes in his front yard when they reached the edge of the forest. One of the piglets was opened from neck to tail. Its innards were spread all over the ground where they’d landed, and Mack kneeled next to them. He gazed down at the entrails with a look of concentration on his face.
‘What’s he doing?’ Neil asked.
‘Exactly what I said before,’ Averil said testily. ‘He’s a haruspex. He sees the future in the way a sacrificial animal’s entrails land when he guts them. Then, the maggots whisper futures to him as they rot.’
‘Those are our children!’ one of the boars behind them said.
‘I know,’ Averil said. ‘This ends today.’
Mack pulled a huge knife from his belt and stood. He walked towards the next piglet.
There was no time to lose!
Neil rushed out of the forest towards Mack and activated his Were-Form ability as he ran. The shift was more subtle than changing between forms. Neil’s hooves on his front legs split apart and became fingers. The hooves on his back legs remained as he rose to two legs. The tusks growing from his snout remained as he thundered towards Mack.
His flowing robes reappeared, as did the sword on his belt. Just like the Were-Form ability said, Neil now had access to his gear and the abilities of his wild boar aspect!
Mack’s eyes went wide as he watched the change. Averil shifted into her were-form next to Neil. Mack’s eyes flicked from Averil to Neil and back.
“Back for round two, are you?” Mack yelled. “Just because you’ve got some fancy new tricks doesn’t mean you’re going to win! You know what happens now!”
Mack lifted his arms in a summoning gesture, and the sound of hooves on stone sounded from inside the log cabin behind him. Hogs squealed behind him as Averil’s boars formed a defensive perimeter at
the edge of the forest.
A herd of swine came running out of the log cabin, but these were not the pure swine of Averil’s passel. These were unholy patchwork abominations, stitched together from pieces of boar and humans, rotting as they loped towards us. A cloud of flies followed them. Maggots writhed between the loose stitches of rotting flesh.
Averil let forth a pig squeal, which stopped the marauding patchwork horrors in their tracks for a second. Averil lowered her head and plowed through the undead creations. Neil focused on Mack as the rest of Averil’s passel joined the fray.
Two large male boars protected a group of piglets hiding at the edge of the forest.
Neil lowered his head as he thundered towards Mack and activated his Gore ability.
One of Neil’s tusks sunk deep into the meat of Mack’s guts, but it wasn’t enough to put him down for good. Mack didn’t have his axe with him, but that wicked knife was still in his hand. It sunk into Neil’s shoulder up to the hilt.
Neil screamed in piggish agony.
The knife scraped along a bone as it tore his flesh.
He balled his hands into fists and pummeled Mack with all of his wild strength. Under that flurry of blows, Mack had to retreat. He tried to pull the knife out of Neil’s shoulder, but it was caught on the bone. Mack abandoned the knife to turn away from Neil, which was just the opening he needed.
Neil tried to ignore the pain in his shoulder as he lowered his head and charged Mack. His Headbutt connected, and Mack fell flat on his face. Neil immediately activated Trample.
His hooves slammed down onto Mack’s back. Bones broke under the furious assault, and Mack called out desperately for help.
“My children, destroy this abomination!”
“Abomination?” Neil tried to say, but it came out halfway between speech and a pig squeal.
Calling Neil an abomination while actual rotten human-slash-pig patchwork horrors attacked was a bit rich. But the effect was impossible to ignore. The horrors ignored Averil and swarmed towards Neil in a last-ditch kamikaze rush.
The first one slammed into Neil and pushed him off Mack. The second one made Neil stumble, and the third forced Neil to his knees.
He tore at the patchwork horrors, whose cadaver flesh was soft and wet from the advanced decay. The ends of their fingers had rotted away, exposing the sharp bones of their fingers beneath. Those fingers tore at Neil’s hairy were-boar flesh, and despite the defensive bonus he got, they still managed to do quite a lot of damage.
That was until thirty to fifty not-feral hogs all joined the fight and turned the tide against Mack and his undead abominations.
Tusks sunk into rotting flesh. Hogs squealed in pain and the glorious filth of combat. Limbs flew as haphazard stitches were torn from grave-white flesh. The corpses of both undead abomination and wild boars stacked up, but there was one corpse left to make.
Once Mack Nabb was dead, this would all be over.
Once the pressure of the undead pig-pile lifted, Neil hurled himself back to his feet and took aim at the retreating form of Mack Nabb. Neil stamped one hoofed foot before charging Mack. He activated Headbutt, and one of his tusks sunk into the butcher’s back. Blood flowed, and Mack was once again forced to the ground.
Neil let forth an almighty pig squeal as he activated Trample. More bones crunched and broke under the barrage of hooves on his back. Mack tried to flip over onto his back, and Neil let him. He stood over the butcher and activated Gore.
Neil’s tusks disappeared into Mack’s stomach. With one savage jerk of his head, Neil tore a gash from Mack’s crotch to his nipple. Blood flowed over Neil’s face as he wheeled backward. Mack got back to his feet, and as he did, the force of gravity forced his intestines to spill out onto the ground.
Mack died as he tried to shovel the wayward organs back into himself.
You have defeated Mack Nabb!
You have gained 100 experience points!
Averil joined Neil’s side and spat a wad of bloody spit down at Mack. She shifted back into her nude human form as her were-boar ability wore off. “What future do you see in your own entrails, butcher? All I see is death.”
The reanimated human-boar corpses lay dead across the battlefield. Killing Mack severed whatever tenuous connection they still had to this realm.
Neil’s were-boar form wore off and returned him back to human form as well.
A notification appeared in the bottom of his view.
Quest completed: Whole Hog
You have gained 300 experience points!
You have reached Level 3!
You have gained one primary attribute point to distribute!
You now have seven primary attribute points to distribute.
A group of boars ran into the cabin. It sounded like a stampede in there, but they left the cabin a few minutes later with a whole group of little piglets in tow.
Averil put a hand on Neil’s shoulder and smiled at him softly. “You’ve saved my new family. Is there any way I can ever repay you?”
Neil smiled as he motioned back towards the log cabin. “Once I fix this place up, you can come back and visit.”
“It’s a deal,” Averil said. “I’ll even take on my human form again.”
“I’ll get find a spare robe for you, then.”
“What, you disapprove of my natural figure?”
Neil swallowed. “No, I like your natural figure. Quite a lot, actually.” His eyes flicked down and let them linger on her well-muscled curves for a little longer than was decent.
Averil offered him a wry smile. “I wouldn’t mind seeing your natural figure either. There’s more than one way to go hog-wild. I’ll be back in a few days, and we can revisit this conversation then.” Then, she shifted back into her boar form.
Neil watched her rejoin her passel and disappear back into the forest. Then he turned towards the log cabin – his log cabin. It smelled like death, but it was nothing a little air and a few fresh flowers couldn’t fix.
He had his very own home in the woods now, and it was time to really make it his own.
A Word from The Author
Thank you so much for reading Thirty to Fifty Feral Hogs! This is a standalone short story set in the Crematoria Online universe.
If you read a lot of LitRPG and GameLit, you probably already know that reviews can make or break series. If this is your first, then welcome to the club! We're glad to have you. LitRPG is a fantastic, vibrant genre full of passionate authors who create worlds full of adventure just for you.
I would love to write more Crematoria, but to do that I need your help. Spreading the word about Crematoria by sharing a review on Amazon or Goodreads and letting all your other LitRPG-loving friends know about it can help me fund the next book. I would also love to convert Crematoria into audiobooks, ideally so I have audiobooks that can launch at the same time as the eBooks. But that takes both time and money.
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There are also a bunch of excellent LitRPG and GameLit groups on Facebook, and you’ll find me there too if you want to get in touch.
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Thanks for rea
ding,
Matthew J. Barbeler
11/08/2019
Other books in the Crematoria Online universe:
Rise of the Crimson Order
Thirty to Fifty Feral Hogs Page 4