Day 71

I got up early and ate a quick breakfast, I had work to do, and it was getting more and more important, as looking at my ample supply of meat, I was once again getting sick of the same thing, so even though I valued finding people and civilization, and thought that I could tolerate the same thing, it turns out I'm a liar and needed some variation.

I had the basic idea for a log trap, using long ropes of leather, and a spiked log, swinging down on a medium to large creature that got stuck on a snare and triggered the falling log. It seemed simple in theory, and I admit, I got cocky. I walked about a mile away from my hut and got to cutting down a tree.

It was a quick cut, but trimming it as always was a pain, having to pile up the branches, and cut up the log. Thankfully I was still close to the river, upstream of my spot, and kept refilling my Manaphage. By midday I was done carving a large branch into a decently spiked log, it had the same diameter as a trashcan lid and was about a meter long.

I then hoisted said log up and prepared the snare trigger, a loop of leather on the ground. It was connected to the release for the log, which I had positioned directly above the snare, ready to drop straight down onto whatever got caught. , either killing it outright or incapacitating it. I'd have to check it regularly, but that shouldn't be too much a problem being a mile or so away.

I was done with the snare, and covered it carefully, before starting home. The sun was almost directly above me, so I decided to eat lunch a small lunch, of jerky, and more meat, yum. Lupe even seemed to be getting sick of the same couple of meats, eating slowly, and the emoticon above his head showed a bored face. I sighed, I guess I could start looking for those ever-elusive veggies.

I left my hut and started playing fetch with Lupe as I walked, throwing sticks for him to bring back, and wandered along the river upstream, for an hour or two, occasionally observing my surroundings. Every now and then I'd catch a glimpse of something swimming in the river, probably a fish or something. I didn't feel like making fish nets or catch baskets or whatever just yet, but I still took note that I wouldn't be alone in the waters.

I was walking for a while longer, when I saw in the distance a crowd of beasts, drinking and playing around the water. They looked like the pig-analogs, and when I studied them further with my good eye, noticing the medium-sized group, about 10-13 of them. I slowed down, and entered the woods to the side, hoping to have better cover when approaching. I passed a couple of plants that looked familiar, they were the black pepper tasting plants! Excited I plucked several leaves and kept moving. I would wash the leaves first, before eating them with some meat, maybe the double cat? It was pretty bland, a little salty.

I got closer to the group, Lupe getting down and crawling next to me, and I was crouching low, walking closer. Then I stepped on a rather loud stick. A sharp crack wrung out, and all the pigs, or boars I guess, looked at me, their tusks glistening with water. “shit” I whispered. They started oinking(?) at me, and I took a step back, trying to remember what Boris told me about wild boars. It seemed to be working, as I backed away, some turned back to the water, and eventually, only one was looking at me. A small, curious one, probably only a couple months old. It was about a foot tall, and a foot long, and started walking towards me.

I thought it was fine, for a second, when a large adult turned and looked at the little one, who was walking towards me. It then looked at me and snorted. I walked faster backward, not wanting to aggravate the adult, then, Lupe barked... fuck.

The Boar grunts and starts forward, pushing past the smaller one. It was pretty big, larger than Lupe for sure. The little one seemed to get the message and turned away, but the adult kept coming. I was not happy with this predicament, and suddenly, my left eye started working. It became very clear, and upon taking off my glasses it blurred up a little, so I got a new eye, but it was still my same prescription, at the time I didn't care, but looking back, what the fuck.

A little display appeared above its head, showing my name for it, 'angry mamma boar ' and what seemed to be a health bar, and my health bar appeared above my head, showing heart rate speeding up and such. Lupe was starting to growl more, and a couple more boars turned to look. “Lupe, shhhhhhhut up” and Lupe looked at me, head cocked to the side, a questioning emoticon above his head, “not now, Lupe,” I said through gritted teeth, I could take on these kinds of things one on one, I believed, but not a pack fight.

Lupe thankfully stopped growling and backed away with me, but it might have been too little to late, as the first one started to run. As it picked up speed, I picked up Lupe, and fucking turned and sprinted away, I knew we were fast, but I didn't want to risk it being normal speeds for here. Thankfully, it seemed like I was an exception for now, as I quickly outpaced the boar. I noticed though, the other boars weren't following, and I slowed down. I could take one, at least I'm pretty sure I could.

I came to a stop, close to the river, a tree at my back, and the boar caught up and kept charging. I jumped up and caught a branch, Lupe still nestled in my arm. The boar hit the tree hard and broke a tusk. It squealed in pain, and I dropped behind it, tossing Lupe to the side, and punched the boar in the ass with the Manaphage.

It squealed even louder, and Lupe jumped at its neck. It whipped around, smacking Lupe to the side. “oh no you fucking don't!” I grabbed its unbroken tusk and pull it straight down, shoving its face into the dirt, before cranking the tusk far forward, trying to snap it off. It pushed forward and buckled my arm with surprising strength. I stepped to the side and pulled it past me, pushing it closer to the river.

It turned around and started running at me. I tried to sidestep, but it hit me in the stomach, probably breaking a rib. I punched it in the side, willing it to shatter its side with the old wall breaking power I hadn't used in a while. I succeeded in pushing it far away, but besides that didn't seem to do much. I pulled out my dagger, and charged at it, as it turned to charge again. I infused the dagger with pure cutting power, and sliced, cutting through its front leg, and it fell to the ground. It cried in pain and tried to jump forward. I kicked its head, pushing it away, and stabbed, burying the knife in its back. I let go, and shoved my hand into its back, vibrating it at a high frequency, and cut through, and started absorbing it life force.

It was an interesting taste, at first, I couldn't tell what it was, but it tasted like watermelon. I was surprised in the moment, but kept absorbing. It already started to weaken, but still struggled against me. I shoved my hand deeper in, and grabbed a hold of a bone, and twisted. I guess it was its spine because it immediately stopped moving. Only little grunts escaped its mouth, before it stopped breathing completely. I pulled my arm away, and as the adrenaline faded, the pain of a broken rib hit me.

I collapsed on my side, and had to crawl over to Lupe, who was still on his side, panting. “shit, no, NO!” I crawled closer, and rested my hand on his side, willing him to heal. I felt the pain in my rib increase, but Lupe's breathing started to even out. I was relieved, and closed my eyes for a second, the pain in my rib starting to calm down before I passed out.