Now finished observing his new form, he looked around and realized that a group of brown brutish boars had surrounded him. They had sharp twin tusks that protruded from their face and a light coat of fur.
In the center was likely their leader, the only second degree beast of them all–much larger, much hairier, and with bigger tusks.
He had heard that beasts seldom roamed this area of the forest but it seems his awakening had caused quite the commotion.
But it just so happens that this would be a perfect opportunity to test his powers.
He had just awoken and was desperately hungry after all; a good meal had just walked up.
The boar leader stomped his hooves on the ground and let out a low growl signalling his lackeys to go test the waters. And immediately, two smaller boards charged at Rain.
Front, left, right
They would approach them in that order.
So, right when the first board was about to reach him, he dodged to the right of the oafish boar, letting out a slash that sent it flying into the second one.
The boar let out a squeal of pain as it went flying, its wound freezing up in black ice as it rolled onto its buddy.
Tough
He had underestimated the toughness of the boar's hide. The plan was to kill that boar in one slash but it seems they were more resistant to his attributes than he anticipated.
But there was no time to dwell as the third board was still charging at him.
Still in the middle of his initial movement, it seemed he had no place to go. But before he was impaled by those shiny white horns, he released an upward slash with his other hand, stopping the boar and ripping its face with icy thorns.
The boar staggered back. In a fit of panic, it tried to open its mouth but instead of opening there was only the crunching sound of ice as its lower jaw detached from its face, shattering into pieces on the grass.
While the boar was stunned, Rain quickly dashed back up and pierced the boar's head with his talons. It died before it could release its final squeal.
He wanted to turn around and finish the other two boars, but when he turned, the only thing that met him was an onslaught of five more boards charging at him.
The leader, still, stood and watched, waiting for the perfect moment to end its prey.
Rain, seeing the situation immediately began to run towards the dense forest.
Even though the boars were weaker than he was, he knew the leader was just trying to exhaust him before finishing him off.
They would overcome quality with quantity.
He was just nearing the edge of the denser side of the forest when he felt a vehement force approaching him.
The boar leader saw his plan and charged at him from the side in full force.
It was much faster than he had anticipated; it struck like thunder. And it was only with his supernatural senses did he barely avoid it.
However, the shockwaves from the charge still shook his innards.
It was strong, but it was blunt, dumb, and very one dimensional in its attacking patterns. One could evince that this boar leader had grown so strong purely due to its strength and speed that caught people off-guard.
Letting the boar continue to charge past him in its momentum, he quickly entered the forest as the smaller first grade boars chased hot on his tail.
The boars, with their stubby limbs and plump bodies, struggled to overcome the natural obstacles in their way, allowing the pale devil to outrun them.
But still, as a matter of their mindlessness, they chased him, spreading out slightly.
And just as one boar was about to hop a trunk, an ice needle struck light lightning, pinning it frozen against a nearby tree.
It was dead.
The next one came soon after hearing its comrade's squeal, falling to the same fate.
Two down, however many more to go.
He was breathing heavier now, and he wanted to rest, but despite the brutishness of the boars, they weren't entirely vegetables as they had figured out his location.
The smaller foliage and trees stood no obstacle to the second grade boar leader; the sound of its tremulous hoove-steps rang out behind him over the snapping of trees.
It was closing in on him.
He made a ninety degree turn to the left, continuing that way.
A few boars realized sooner than the rest and followed in suit, only to be left with icicles in their heads.
The numbers were dropping but it would only take one mistake for it all to come crashing down.
A few paces behind him he had spotted another boar seemingly lost and alone.
It was the perfect target as were the others he had killed.
He leaped, but as he accelerated, he realized that something was awry.
There were no earthshaking steps anymore.
There were no cracking of branches or falling of leaves.
He looked around–nothing.
He tried to stop his momentum but it was too late.
All the previously missing noises came back in a cacophony as the towering boar leader crashed through a tree, barreling straight at him.
Rain put his arms but it was no use.
The boar leader collided into his body, sending him flying through innumerable trees as debris began to fill up the air.
"Kagh, ahk," he coughed out a mouthful of blood.
His organs were likely damaged, and some of his ribs had broken for sure.
It hurt like hell, but luckily nothing incapacitating was hurt or else he was a dead man.
The boar leader could be heard sprinting through the collapsed trees straight at Rain, but he wasn't such easy prey.
He had always been the hunter, and that wouldn't change today.
Slipping away through the dust, he took out another straggling boar before closing in the leader.
It had lost.
But Rain was on a timer. He can't continue to exert his body at full force lest he wished to incur more internal injuries.
He needed to finish this fast.
So, from the side, he dropped down from a tree and slashed the boar leader's eyes.
Its hide was tough, but the main purpose of his attack had been accomplished: to blind it.
With icicles blinding its sight, it thrashed around in a frenzy, destroying any tree unlucky enough to end up in its outrage.
He knew it wouldn't be long before it shook the ice off, so quickly, he jumped on top of its fur covered back and dug his mana infused claws deep down into its skin, pumping as much mana into its system as he could.
Now, a dark, icy spot began to spread along the boar leader's back like cracking glass.
In pain, it tried to roll onto the ground to get this devil off of him, but sensing it, Rain returned to another tree.
The boar's movements had slowed significantly now.
It was weakening.
In a final desperate attempt to survive, the boar slammed headfirst into a tree, breaking the black icicles off its face, then turning to shoot off at Rain.
It came fast despite its weakened state.
It was enraged now and it had charged with that anger.
But Rain had anticipated this and stepped to the side, creating a slanted barrier of dark ice to redirect the force of its charge.
He had learned from watching all of the spars between Myra and Syme. Every time Syme would slash simply and Myra, she would disperse her swing into the air, leaving her open to a counterattack.
And the concept had worked perfectly and applied differently.
The boar slid helplessly against the forest floor, slowly succumbing to its wounds.
It tried to get back up, but before it could, a black ice spear sank deep into its skull, ending its life.