After a month of brutal training at the peak of Slash Mountain, the siblings were no longer the same. Their bodies had reached Diamond Meat, and their muscles had advanced to Steel Muscle. Every step they took radiated power.
They were ready to be tested—not by each other, but by the wild.
"We've gotten too used to each other's moves," Asier said, strapping his modified club to his back. "If we want to keep progressing, we need real opponents—ones we can't predict."
Nika nodded. "Slash Mountain's lower levels are too tame. No threats, no beasts. That's why we came here. According to Song Village records, the higher we climb, the stronger the beasts."
Ilargia flipped through a weathered notebook. "The ruler of this mountain is a Thousand Beasts Emperor Windy Boar. Its strength rivals a Semi-Elemental Realm master. If we value our lives, we stay away from the summit."
"Our target," Nika added, "is a Hundred Beasts King Windy Boar. There are only three on the mountain, each commanding a hundred Windy Boars. Their strength is comparable to the Brain Training Stage. We've just stepped into Muscle Training, but if we fight smart—we can win."
Asier's expression darkened. "A Hundred Beasts King isn't just strong—it's smart. You don't command a hundred beasts without cunning. We underestimate it, and we die."
Ilargia vanished into the treeline using her Night Phantom ability. Moments later, she reappeared like a ripple of shadow.
"Ten Windy Boars ahead. Isolated pack."
"Not enough for a King," Asier said. "But a good test run. Nika, you take them solo. Ilargia and I will observe and analyze."
"Just ten?" Nika cracked his knuckles, hefting his spiked club. "Won't even need my ability."
The Windy Boars charged—towering, four-meter-tall beasts with light-green fur and gleaming forty-centimeter tusks. Born with strength equal to Meat Training fighters, they were ferocious.
But Nika was worse.
He tore through them like a hammer through glass—his movements precise, brutal, efficient. In under two minutes, the forest was silent.
Ilargia whistled. "He tanked a hit and only got scratched. Our bodies are finally hard enough."
Asier nodded. "We could each probably take twenty-five solo. Forty if pushed. Any more, and we risk injury."
"We're close to the King's territory," Nika said, sweat glistening as his eyes scanned the forest. "Let's keep moving."
They followed deeper trails—trampled trees, tusk marks, and broken rocks leading to a massive clearing.
At its center stood a beast twice the size of the others.
The Hundred Beasts King.
Around it, dozens of Windy Boars milled like soldiers awaiting orders—an organized army of monsters. Their power ranged from Meat Training to Bone Training Stage.
"We can't take them all at once," Nika said. "We need to thin the herd."
Asier activated his Soul Reading, his eyes turning milky white.
[The King plans to send thirty boars to challenge another King. Perfect.]
He relayed the intel and led them to a narrow forest path—the perfect ambush spot.
Ilargia lured a pack of eight boars toward them.
From the trees, Asier whispered: "Now."
The trio dropped like hawks.
Ilargia's voice rang out: "Watch the one with longer tusks!"
It stood out—sixty-centimeter tusks. A Bone Training Stage beast.
The battle was intense. Blows cracked bones, tusks split bark, and the siblings moved in perfect sync.
Five minutes later, the clearing was silent.
"That long-tusked one was a beast," Nika said between breaths. "Took all three of us to kill it."
Ilargia nodded. "They're strong, but slow. Still, we can't afford mistakes."
"We'll rest," Asier said, cleaning his club. "Then hit the next cave. Two long-tusked boars inside. We need to strike hard before they wake."
Inside the cave. Two giants slept, their snores rumbling like thunder.
"I'll crush the left one's skull. You two jump in after that," Ilargia whispered, fading into shadow.
Nika activated Strengthening Sunlight. Radiant power surged through his body as his muscles thickened and gleamed.
"Let's go."
Ilargia struck first—her club, now embedded with nails, smashed down with a sickening crunch.
The boar screamed in agony. Nails punctured its skull. Before it could rise, Nika and Asier struck—one blow shattered organs, the other collapsed the already-damaged skull.
Half its brain destroyed, the beast collapsed.
The second boar charged.
Nika intercepted it, using both hands to block the impact with his club. His innate ability flared as he struggled to hold ground.
Asier slammed its side, but it shrugged off the hit and flung him away. Its tusks disarmed Nika—and then came the blow.
One tusk pierced Nika's chest.
Blood sprayed. He gasped, falling to a knee.
Before the boar could finish him, its left eye exploded.
Asier, bleeding and panting, had thrown a nail with pinpoint precision—straight into the eye, piercing into its brain.
At the same time, Ilargia emerged from beneath the beast, her club smashing its chest in a killing blow.
Blood coated her. Her breathing was ragged. But she stood tall.
Nika staggered to retrieve his club.
Together, they finished the job.
"That thing was nearly as strong as the King," Nika groaned, clutching his wound. "If it had been in the final battle…"
"We'd be dead," Asier said. "Let's heal. Then we end this."
Midnight.
The dark forest echoed with battle cries and monstrous roars.
Asier launched nails from treetop cover, dancing from branch to branch as he kept the Hundred Beasts King distracted. His only thought:
[Ten minutes. That's all I can give them.]
The beast roared, dodging with intelligence no normal animal possessed. Its tusks cracked trees and gouged the earth as it countered Asier's strikes with brutal precision.
Then, from the shadows—Ilargia and Nika appeared, bloodied but alive.
"Cleared my side," Ilargia panted, her eyes cold and sharp.
"One got away, but it's wounded. Won't make it far," Nika added, gripping his club tightly.
Asier narrowed his eyes, glancing at the King.
"Good. But this thing's no ordinary beast. I've hit it multiple times—and it's still going strong."
He turned back to them.
"This is it. We go all out."