Chapter Fifty-Three: The Crescent Moon Blade and the Scimitar

"Select level 21 Wild Boar Forest instance."

"Instance level selected. Enter?"

"Enter."

"Confirmed. Entering instance. Initializing instance program."

The dim, primeval forest suddenly illuminated, soon becoming as bright as day. Li Yunfei ceased channeling spiritual power to his eyes; the brightness immediately diminished again, returning to the light of dawn or dusk. This was the effect of the system: once inside an instance, even the darkest environments were rendered at least visible.

This time, he and the little fox hadn’t shrunk as much as before. Prior to entering, he had carved a mark into a nearby tree trunk. Comparing after entry, he found himself just over a foot tall, while the little fox’s shoulder height was about forty centimeters—roughly the size of a Shiba Inu. Judging by the proportions, they had shrunk by a factor of five.

In other words, the wild boars before them had grown fivefold in comparison. Ordinary adult wild boars typically stand about ninety centimeters at the shoulder, with a body length of 1.5 to 2 meters. This meant the wild boars they were about to face would have shoulders around 4.5 meters high, and bodies stretching 7.5 to 10 meters long.

That was a behemoth surpassing an elephant in size, equivalent to the Rat King boss from the level-15 Rat Den instance. One could only imagine how enormous the Wild Boar King must be—surely a prehistoric monstrosity.

Yet Li Yunfei and the little fox were unfazed. So long as the paralytic effect of the Antlion Mandible Scythe worked, they would have little trouble dealing with the wild boar monsters. If things became truly dire, he could always switch to the Destructive Eight-Spined Serpent Spear, and after clearing the instance, simply burn all the wild boar corpses together.

Having made up his mind, Li Yunfei directed the little fox to charge into the woods ahead.

They pushed through a patch of undergrowth and immediately came upon a group of gigantic wild boars sprawled haphazardly across the ground. As soon as Li Yunfei and the little fox—uninvited guests—entered, even though they made not the slightest sound, the wild boars seemed to be suddenly alarmed. They all rolled to their feet and charged at the pair without hesitation.

The smallest of these wild boars stood over two meters high and four or five meters long, while the largest approached five meters at the shoulder and just over ten meters in length. The hooves of the great wild boar monsters alone were more than two meters long. In front of them, the little fox barely reached under their bellies. Li Yunfei, mounted on her back, was barely level with the monsters’ flanks.

Though these were twice the size of the rat monsters, their method of dealing with them remained much the same.

Once again, they relied on the little fox’s speed, sweeping the scythe at her side and dashing past the wild boar monsters to slice open their bellies as she sped by. However, these boar monsters were far more dangerous than rats, for not only was their attack power greater, but their heads were also more agile.

The first time the little fox faced a boar monster, she nearly got into trouble. She charged at the lead boar monster as usual, but as she was about to collide, she suddenly leapt aside. Unexpectedly, the boar monster twisted its head with startling speed, its long snout and two crescent-shaped, knife-sharp tusks thrusting upward toward her belly.

Fortunately, the little fox was alert. She sprang up with a sudden leap, performing a forward somersault that narrowly avoided the attack.

Li Yunfei retaliated at once, the Antlion Mandible Scythe stabbing at the wild boar’s rotund belly. Luckily, the paralysis effect took hold—the wild boar stiffened, its head twisted, unable to move, forced to watch helplessly as its side was split open.

The little fox quickly learned from this. When dashing at the next line of boar monsters, she opened her mouth and spat out three scarlet fireballs, which spun around her body. With a thought, the three fireballs shot toward the heads of the three boars ahead.

Boom, boom, boom!

A chorus of miserable shrieks erupted as the heads of the three wild boar monsters were blown to a bloody pulp, swaying as if stunned by the blasts.

This time, the little fox darted smoothly between two boars. Li Yunfei, holding a scythe in each hand, gutted the monsters on either side.

"Well done, Honghong. Just like that."

Li Yunfei praised her. Since evolving into a fire fox, Honghong’s combat power had indeed grown considerably. Without this demonic foxfire, the battle would have been much more laborious.

Though the foxfire’s explosive force was close to that of artillery, it lacked the shock and fragmentation of a real shell. The demonic foxfire relied mainly on the shockwave and flames at the moment of detonation to injure its enemies, and thus its actual killing power fell short of artillery.

If he had a 152mm howitzer shell to fire at a wild boar’s head, it would likely shatter the two-meter skull outright, as the shell would breach the boar’s skull and explode inside.

Still, with the foxfire’s assistance, slaughtering this herd of wild boars posed no major problem. The fireball-like demonic foxfire seemed to have a built-in stun effect, preventing the boars from launching attacks and greatly ensuring their own safety.

The little fox darted through the wild boar herd, leaving a trail of carnage behind. By the time she was through, more than ten boar monsters lay dead.

By now, every wild boar monster in the surrounding forest had been alerted and was converging, numbering no less than two hundred. Led by the Wild Boar King—whose shoulders neared eight meters and whose body stretched fifteen or sixteen meters—they formed a group assault, a living avalanche of flesh.

To Li Yunfei and the little fox, it felt as if the earth itself was trembling. Naturally, they dared not meet the charge head-on. When the wild boars charged en masse, it was like facing a unit of heavy cavalry—without overwhelming area attacks, to fight them directly would be sheer folly.

Thus, the little fox sprinted ahead, temporarily avoiding the brunt of their assault. After running a certain distance and shaking off the wild boar herd’s pursuit, she abruptly veered to the side, circling to the herd’s flank and rear.

Once back near the herd, they would wait until the boars lost their target and dispersed, then dash out and cut through them again.

In this way, Li Yunfei and the little fox waged a guerrilla war against the wild boar herd—rushing in for a kill, then retreating, waiting for the boars to scatter before striking again.

Were this the real world, the boar herd would have long since fled. Even if they hadn’t, standing before the little fox, they likely wouldn’t have shown any hostility at all, much less fight to the bitter end.

But as monsters within the instance, their strength had increased dramatically, yet they seemed to be under some controlling force. Except for tactical retreats, monsters in the instance would never flee, but would fight Li Yunfei to the death.

Li Yunfei spent a full three or four hours in the Wild Boar Forest instance, and by the time the eastern sky was paling with the first hints of dawn, he had finally cleared it.

He leveled up to 23, while the little fox was at level 22 with 63.6% experience—guaranteed to level up in the next instance. Since in the same instance, when Li Yunfei was one level higher than the little fox, she would gain more experience than he did. At first, the little fox lagged behind Li Yunfei by 65% experience, but the gap was now steadily shrinking, less than 40% apart.

After clearing the instance, it was time to clean up the battlefield. The wild boar monsters would drop two kinds of weapons:

Boar Tusk Crescent-Moon Saber: about 2.8 meters long, blade length 66 centimeters, weight 83 catties. The head of the blade is broad and long, shaped like a crescent moon, with a bifurcated back edge. The blade is perforated with hanging tassels, and engraved with wild boar tusk motifs. The long shaft is unadorned.

Boar Tusk Curved Saber: a single-edged saber with scabbard, about 80 centimeters long, weighing 16 catties and 4 taels. The blade curves like a wild boar tusk, the back is slightly thick, the edge keenly sharp, and the scabbard is a deep black-brown throughout.