When it came to the Twin-Headed Boar, although it would be a problem for many Rank 2 Gu Masters, to someone like Fang Yuan he felt that he would have a 60-70% chance of being able to take it down on his own.
The reason that his estimate was so low was because of two things. One, he did not know what kind of wild gu worms it had on itself. Secondly, he did not have a full set of combat gu worms yet- most crucially he was lacking a relevant gu worm in the movement category which could've been quite helpful.
However, even with those flaws he could've brought that number up to 80-90% if he used one of his Red Steel Relic Gu, and to 100% if he used both. That would've increased his primeval essence reserves fourfold, and with just attack and defense he would've been able to brute force the fight. Were he determined to go at this alone though, he also would've bought a movement-type gu worm before embarking on this mission in case of any unforeseen contingency.
As it was, for now, he didn't have to go that far. He had team members for now, if only temporarily, meaning that it would also be useful in hiding some of his own trump cards.
"Now, the way that we're going to tackle this is quite classic," Qing Shu said. "I'll form the head of the formation, while the other two will flank the beast. Fang Yuan, since this is your first real fight against such a creature, no need to be scared, but stay towards the back. Any opening you find though, feel free to strike- but don't get too worried. This is more of an introduction to you so you get the hang of such fast-paced fights, you know?"
"Yeah, don't fret about it too much, kiddo," Yao Hong said. "Just stand back and watch the experts do it."
"Indeed, I'll even record the fight so you can view it later," Qing Mao said. He had already been quite helpful in deducing the location of the Twin-Headed Boar and hiding their own traces. It was lounging in the sun in an open field, the perfect place to ambush it. Its brethren were scattered around the area. Fang Yuan was tasked with trying to deal with them should the beast king ask for reinforcements, though they weren't sure of just how good its control over its subordinates was.
"Alright, let's go," Qing Shu said.
They emerged, though once they were twenty paces away, Qing Shu put his hands on the soil.
That was his specialty- he was a Wood Path Gu Master and could transform parts of his body into a treeman. Of course, this came with the risk that if he transformed for too long he would permanently become a tree - although Fang Yuan had not personally witnessed it, back in his old life, he was certain that more likely than not this was the cause of his death.
Vines shot through the soil before wrapping around the Twin-Headed Boar, binding it in placed. Both of its heads immediately woke up, and it snarled, though it couldn't even turn either head towards the people striking it.
Yao Hong took in a deep breath, and then let out a cloud of noxious green smoke. Poison Cloud Gu- while it was quite useful as an attacking option, it carried the major risk of the cloud turning in response to wind and the like, potentially hurting the Gu Master in question who had cast it or their allies. It was a lot like using weapons like mustard gas back on Earth, though they had been careful to be downwind from the cloud as it enveloped the Twin-Headed Boar. It began to screech in pain as the surrounding boar began to come to its aid.
Moonblades flew from Fang Yuan's and Qing Mao's hands, bisecting the ordinary boar in two in a single hit. Qing Mao was reasonably proficient with the moonblade, using a Moonglow Gu just like Fang Yuan was.
Qing Shu had transformed his arms into long branches and was whipping the Twin-Headed Boar as it screeched in pain. The poison seemed to be taken effect as it became disoriented, though it was still quite dangerous in its frenzied state.
Yao Hong's cheek's swelled up as she spat out a gobbet of green acid at the boar, melting its skin and the acid slowly making its way to its internal organs.
The boar shrieked, and a small black dot atop it jumped up and glowed, the acid slowly reducing and eventually turning into nothing as the wound began to close.
It had a healing-type gu worm!
However, Qing Shu had been expecting this, and his arms went from being long branches to being short but sharp claws. His goal now was to decapitate the Twin-Headed Boar, either that, or strike at its heart to ensure its quick and swift death in a single blow.
Fang Yuan and Qing Mao had also joined in at this point, raining Moonblades upon the beast. Fang Yuan was even able to take out one of its heads, though this only made the other head grow angrier as the stump that had been its other head began to heal and turn into stub, slowly growing back.
In a battle of attrition, the boar would have the upper hand, which was why it was crucial that they strike a killing blow now.
Yao Hong shot out another gobbet of acid, melting the skin down to its bones- the healing gu worm it had could not react in time as Qing Shu took advantage of this moment to sneak his hand inside and then rip out the boar's right lung, stomach, and heart.
It squealed in agony, but by now, it was clear that it no longer had any fight within it.
The battle was over within a matter of minutes. Fang Yuan estimated that it would've taken him at least half an hour to deal with it if he were on his lonesome.
Two specks of black jumped out from its corpse- these were the wild gu worms on its body that had abandoned it now that it was dead. If Fang Yuan was alone he potentially could've used the Spring Autumn Cicada to harvest them, but given current circumstances they only watched the two gu worms run away. He was a bit curious as to what the second gu worm was given they hadn't seen any effect from it, but it could've been something like the Black or White Boar Gu which weren't that useful in combat to the Twin-Headed Boar.
The ground was littered with the entrails of the boar, and a rancid odor was emanating not just from its corpse but because of the poisons and acid injected into it, but they had won without much difficulty. Unfortunately, this meant that parts of the corpse were not usable as they had been damaged, otherwise the bones and the meat could be used at refinement materials for various gu worms.
"Well done Fang Yuan, that was good," Qing Shu said. "We only need to tell the local Gu Master about this, and the record of you succeeding will reach the town hall."
The local Gu Master was more likely than not just Rank 1 and ill-equipped to deal with something like this.
Before they headed home back to the village though, Fang Yuan was interrupted by the system giving him a new mission.
New main mission!
Familial Ties
Description: Save Teng Ru.
Reward: Permanent 2% increase to one's aptitude.
Fang Yuan made some excuses to stay behind, saying that he wanted to take in the scenery- and though this got him odd looks none of the others said anything as Fang Yuan headed towards where this supposed Teng Ru was that the system was telling him about.