It had been a week since Doevm joined the guards. At first, he struggled to balance his duties. In the morning, he hurried to clean all the books. Something that used to be so relaxing now became a burden. He still loved doing it, but it made him late for spear practice. No matter how much he had etched the basics of the spear into his bones, it was still important to practice. He learned how to breathe properly. His punches that he thought he had mastered were now stronger than ever. He was allowed to sleep in the guards’ quarters, but he had refused because he liked to go meditate at night and sleeping with nearly a hundred people would only increase his chances of getting caught. He was adapting well, he thought, but one thing still bothered him: he was an outsider. He slowly got closer to the people in squad three, and by that he meant he bathed within twenty feet of them. He had yet to exchange a single decent conversation with them.

He tried to ask them for tips, but they shoved that responsibility to Frey. He couldn’t talk to them in their free time either, as guards spent all day training. He waited for his chance, and today, that chance came. All the guards were lined up in formation, but none of them had the safety balls around their spears. Today, they all lined up and waited for orders. They all wore chain mail armor under a thick breastplate with a rose etched on the front. Their helmet, arm guards, leg guards, and boots were all metal and worn. Doevm had received custom armor because everything was too big for him. Jameson was at the front, but he didn’t start the drill.

He walked to each squad and talked to the person at the front. No one talked, no one even whispered. Everyone stood a little straighter than usual. The spears shook slightly. Doevm had seen this before, but he still had no idea what it was. Every month this would happen, and the guards wouldn’t train for a week. He had thought it was a break, but judging by how everyone was acting, he guessed wrong. Jameson talked to everyone and bowed. Everyone bowed back.

Squad one marched out of the gates first, then squad two, and so on. They marched down the road until it forked. Some groups went right, some went left. They kept marching and splitting off from each other until it was just their squad marching down the road through a dense forest. Boots sunk into the dirt road. Unlike normal practice, everyone had an unwavering air of concentration.

“Listen up!” the person at the front said. “Jameson has given us the task of hunting down a den of Lava Boars at the eastern edge of our lord’s lands. It was reported their numbers were around five so we will use our pairs to engage each Lava Boar. Any questions?”

“Sir, I have many,” Doevm said.

The squad leader sighed, “I knew you would Worm. If you ask any stupid questions or call me sir again, we’ll increase our pace until we reach our objective.”

“Very well,” Doevm internally cursed for being hazed on the first mission. He hadn’t done anything to them yet. How was he supposed to fight beside them if they insisted on treating him as an outsider? How were they supposed to trust him? “First, what is your name?”

“Wade.” His kept his responses short. He seemed to be either angry or strange, or both.

“In general, do we get any extra compensation for a completed mission such as keeping any of the parts of the Lava Boars to sell on our own or extra pay?” Regardless if Doevm was going to be hated or not, he needed answers. He had placed, in his mind, relationships below his own life in priority. Lack of information could kill anyone.

“No, this is our duty and what we have been trained to do. We haul any parts we can back to the mansion. That was a stupid question so we will be increasing our pace.” If their pace was at a walk before, now it was at a speed walk.

The men behind Wade shot glares at Doevm, who asked another question: “Does everyone have any advice on fighting monsters such as its weak points?”

“Stab it, increase pace.” Wade’s stride increased.

“Worm, shut up.” One of the guards complained, and that’s exactly what Doevm did. They jogged the rest of the three miles until their destination was in sight. And since they wouldn’t have to run for a long time if they increased their pace, Doevm fired away with all the questions he had time to form.

“Wade, did you know that the Lava Boars are weak when stabbed in their stomach?” Doevm asked, trying to bribe Wade with information.

‘Maybe proving my usefulness works? Information is all I have to offer anyway. All of these people are veterans compared to me, at least in physical combat.’

“No, how did you know that?” Wade asked but was not shocked.

“The same reason they call me Worm,” Doevm kept cycling through various means of getting closer. “If another Boar shows up, will we get to keep that, since our mission didn’t entail us getting it.”

“You are a conniving little shit. That’s another increase in pace and a no.” Wade increased his stride.

Before everyone could complain, Doevm asked, “What happens if my equipment gets damaged or lost during the mission, will the lord give us another one?”

“Yes. Do you think he’ll let you go fight Lava Boars without a spear? Increase pace!” they were now at a full sprint, but it was just the last couple hundred feet until they made it to their destination. They all sat down and gulped down water. Wade was bigger and older than everyone in the squad. Scars ran down his arms and face. One eye had an eye-patch over it. To be a squad leader, one had to serve, and serve well for a decade. Wade was one such person. Everyone else in the squad ranged in their experience as a guard for one to three years aside from the two newest editions – Frey and Doevm. Doevm looked at everyone and guessed their stamina just by how hard they were breathing. Frey, Doevm, and Wade just needed a couple of minutes to slow their breathing, while everyone else needed twenty.

They heard a roar and an explosion follow. Everyone got to their feet and equipped their spears. “Formation one,” Wade whispered. Since the sound echoed throughout the forest, they had no idea where it came from. Formation one was a circle facing outward with everyone nearly shoulder to shoulder. They waited and hear more sounds. “Creep my way.” They moved as one. One step with eleven feet. Two steps with another eleven. Their armor slid against itself. Chain mail jingled like bells. The explosions got more frequent, allowing them to get even closer. They eventually found the den, which was a large hole going down diagonally into the earth. Lava Boars never dug their own dens, they took others’. Two Lava Boars fought each other in front.

Their name, Lava Boar, came from the large veins covering their tusks. When their heart beat, the vein bulged out. Eventually, the vein would cover them and set them on fire. This drove an adult and aging Boar mad. In this berserk state, they sought the forest’s dirt. It liked to roll around all day and cool itself. It was the size of a regular Boar, but they were still dangerous, even to humans who trained. Their tusks’ veins, upon contact with weapons, would melt said weapons. The only choice against a Lava Boar’s charge was to dodge or run away.

Two Lava Boars collided, and a tusk fell off. It melted the ground and disappeared. The Lava Boar screeched and charged again. The other Lava Boar had wounds all over it but charged with speed to match. They collided and a thud echoed in the forest. Frey tried to walk forward, but Doevm pulled him back, “Lava Boars fight for dominance in their family, and often results in death. Let them fight, it’ll be easier for us to take them down.”

Having said that, Doevm ached all over. He was staring at his prey like how he watched the guards all those years. He was ready to fight. His heartbeat was roaring like a war drum. Blood rushed to his head, but he waited. ‘I’m so close to testing my skills and using life essence for the first time in a battle,’ he thought. ‘Frey, no one wants to fight more than I do, but we must be patient.’ Doevm had unsealed his mana twenty minutes after leaving the mansion. The mission said that there were five Lava Boars, but he could sense something much deeper in the den.

It was stronger than all five of the Boars, but Doevm couldn’t tell his squad. It wasn’t because he risked exposing himself, although he still felt that, it was excitement. ‘Finally, I can fight something strong. I’m going to prove my worth to everyone and test my skills at the same time. This is truly the first lucky thing to happen to me since my reincarnation.’

Deep in the den, a single lava Boar slept. Her eyes moved under her eyelids, displaying a red light in them. Her body was twice as large as the rest of her family, and the veins on her four horns moved around like they were alive. She breathed and rocks melted. From the corner of her mana sense, she felt a threat emerge. She opened her eyes, which lit up the cave around her. She stood up and the den shook. ‘Intruder,’ she thought.