"A wizard?!" The cat-eared woman stared up at Ted atop the wooden barricade, her eyes wide with shock.
"Keep fighting, miss!" Ted called out with an encouraging wave of his hand.
Down in the transfigured mud pit, one of the boars was still floundering, but beside it, the towering warrior wielding the sledgehammer was in dire straits. The alpha female of the herd—a sow noticeably larger than the rest—was absolutely furious. Her thick bristles glowed a molten red, as if she were being roasted alive from the inside out, and the air around her warped with scorching heat. Pawing the compacted earth, she lowered her massive head and launched a thunderous charge directly at the bull-horned man.
Although the warrior was exceptionally strong and stood well over two metres tall, his size paled in comparison to the alpha sow. The beast looked like a runaway train engine. Taking a direct hit from that much mass would be like getting slammed by a heavy lorry doing eighty miles an hour. If the impact didn't kill him outright, it would certainly leave him half-dead.
Worse still, these supposedly mindless beasts actually understood rudimentary pack tactics. As the alpha sow charged, the other two boars flanked the warrior. Though the giant managed to crack one over the head with his runic hammer, the distraction left him with absolutely no time to dodge the alpha sow, who was now only two or three metres away.
The warrior's resolve was absolute. Gritting his teeth, he raised his massive wooden hammer high above his head, preparing to meet the two-ton beast head-on in a desperate exchange of blows.
Just then, Ted uttered a sharp, rapid incantation. A massive slab of solid earth violently erupted from the ground between the horned giant and the charging alpha sow!
The soil formed a perfectly uniform, two-metre-thick barricade, instantly cutting off the beast's path.
With a sickening crunch, the alpha sow plowed headfirst into the earthen wall. Her massive head and the entire front half of her body sunk deep into the compacted dirt. Simultaneously, the bull-horned giant's heavy hammer slammed down onto the other side of the slab, sending a massive crater of dust and debris flying.
Startled by the sudden intervention, the warrior knew a golden opportunity when he saw one. He quickly retreated several paces, refusing to give the alpha sow a chance to recover.
However, the beast wasn't getting a second chance regardless. Ted had already triggered a card from his System.
[Clay Golem (Blue)]
Suddenly, the massive block of earth liquefied, shifting and flowing as if it were alive. In the blink of an eye, it transformed into a towering, heavily muscled golem made entirely of dense clay, standing over two metres tall and just as wide.
The lower half of the golem remained anchored as a surging pool of thick mud, granting it an immovably stable base. Its upper body, however, possessed two massive arms thicker than a man's torso. The golem surged forward, directly wrapping its massive clay arms around the alpha sow's thick neck and pinning her forelegs. If the beast hadn't possessed such a ridiculously thick, short neck, the golem could have simply snapped it like a twig!
Despite avoiding a broken neck, the alpha sow was hopelessly pinned. Her head was buried deep within the golem's muddy chest cavity, her upper body entirely immobilised in a completely undignified position. Her powerful hind legs kicked and thrashed frantically, gouging deep trenches into the dirt, but she simply couldn't break free from the golem's relentless, unfeeling grip.
Seeing their leader subdued, the two smaller male boars squealed in panic. Their fiery bristles flared dangerously as they abandoned all caution, charging forward in a desperate bid to rescue her.
But the bull-horned warrior was a seasoned veteran. Stepping back into the fray, he swung his massive hammer in a series of sweeping, chaotic arcs, expertly blocking the two boars from advancing. He had struggled to hold off three of the beasts earlier, but with the alpha pinned and out of the fight, these two remaining runts had no chance of getting past him.
With a single, casually cast spell, Ted had entirely reversed the tide of battle.
At that moment, the older demi-human villagers finally arrived from the village proper. Armed with hunting knives, spears, halberds, wood-axes, and heavy pitchforks, they moved in practised groups of two and three, skillfully surrounding the remaining beasts.
While their makeshift weapons were likely insufficient to deal any fatal damage to the magically enhanced boars, their sheer numbers shifted the momentum completely. The boars, having already lost their alpha and their initial momentum, completely lost their nerve. Surrounded by a roaring, weapon-brandishing mob, the beasts panicked.
The battle had swiftly devolved into a one-sided hunt.
Ted wasted no time. Aiming his wand at the boar he had previously crippled with his Dalaran frost magic, he unleashed a rapid barrage of sharp ice projectiles. 'Ice Lance!' The frozen spikes pierced deeply into the beast. The immense heat of its molten bristles had already faded to a dull pink. Dozens of deep, fist-sized wounds opened across its flanks, the blood instantly freezing as it spilled.
Nearby, the second boar became hopelessly tangled in heavy hunting ropes thrown by the villagers. With a precise, overpowered Severing Charm, Ted cleanly shattered the creature's massive skull, ending its thrashing instantly.
The two remaining boars, already bruised and battered from the bull-horned warrior's hammer strikes, finally realised the battle was lost. Abandoning their trapped alpha without a second thought, they bolted in opposite directions, fleeing into the tree line at terrifying speeds.
'So much for sticking together,' Ted mused drily. 'The moment disaster strikes, it's every pig for himself.'
Ted watched the fleeing boars cover dozens of metres in mere seconds and decided against giving chase. While the 430 experience points they represented would have been nice, protecting the village was the actual priority.
With the immediate threat gone, the bull-horned warrior let out a long, ragged exhale. He planted the head of his heavy hammer into the dirt and leaned heavily against the handle, panting. Within seconds, his entire body was drenched in sweat.
Ted vaulted down from the three-metre-high wooden barricade, landing lightly on his feet. He quickly strode over to the Clay Golem, which was still relentlessly pinning the thrashing alpha sow.
Pressing his wand directly against the beast's thick ear, Ted winced at the sheer, unbearable heat radiating from its hide. The clay golem itself was baking, visibly steaming as the moisture was rapidly cooked out of its body. If he waited another minute or two, the golem would dry out and crack apart entirely.
Ted channelled a heavily overcharged Ray of Frost directly into the beast's ear canal.
'Always go for the vitals!' Ted thought grimly. 'Direct damage to the brain never fails.'
The alpha sow gave one final, violent thrash, her back and hind legs practically bucking into the air. Then, she collapsed heavily against the dirt, her massive body seizing in brief convulsions before falling entirely still.
Her brain had been instantly frozen and shattered.
[Ding~ Mission [Defend Deckard Mond (Green)] Completed.]
[Rewards: 300 experience points, 100 Deckard Mond reputation points, and the card [Wild Boar Charge (Green)].]
Ted gave his wand a subtle flick. An invisible Mage Hand darted forward, discreetly plucking the two glowing loot cards that dropped from the beast and depositing them directly into his inventory.
The surrounding villagers stared at Ted with open awe. They all knew wizards were incredibly powerful, but witnessing such overwhelming, casual magic firsthand was an entirely different experience. The cat-eared woman and the bull-horned warrior, both possessing actual combat experience, knew exactly what they had just seen. The sheer versatility and power of Ted's spells far exceeded what an ordinary Ministry wizard was capable of.
When word quickly spread that this monstrously powerful wizard was actually just Jerry's schoolmate, the villagers were utterly gobsmacked. 'Are all Hogwarts students this terrifying?!'
Instantly treated as an honoured guest, Ted was escorted back into the village square, surrounded by cheering adults and wide-eyed children.
"We feast tonight!" one of the elders shouted, gesturing to the massive carcasses being hauled in for butchering.
During the chaos of the "Monster Siege," Ted had quietly acquired three cards:
[Flame Enhancement (Green)]
Material Card
Grants a magical creature or magical item a fire-based enhancement.
Note: Conflicting elemental attributes may lead to enhancement failure or catastrophic damage to the target.
[Explosive (Green)]
Spell Card
Passive: Triggers a devastating explosion and violent burning upon the user's death.
Note: Can only be utilised once in a person's lifetime. Handle with extreme caution.
[Wild Boar Charge (Green)]
Spell Card
Active: Unleash a frenzied, unstoppable physical charge!
Note: Consumes an immense amount of the user's physical stamina.
Around dusk, as the sun began to dip behind the western peaks, the villagers who had joined the search party gradually returned. As had been explained earlier, they had been scouring the nearby mountains under the "supervision" of the Ministry wizards from the Demi-Human Division.
Upon returning, they were horrified to discover that their home had nearly been overrun by monstrous beasts in their absence.
"Bloody hell!" one of the hunters swore loudly. "Those Ministry tossers just told us to search the woods ourselves! We spent all day finding absolutely nothing, and meanwhile, the village was nearly wiped out! I'm not going back out there, you hear me? Not a chance!"
Many of the younger and middle-aged demi-humans shouted their furious agreement, glaring at the two twenty-something Ministry wizards who had accompanied them. The officials simply stood there, looking intensely embarrassed and offering awkward, placating smiles.
These two junior clerks had clearly been sent out here to act as political punching bags. They didn't have the authority to actually solve the problem; they were just there to absorb the villagers' complaints. The senior bureaucrats back in Whitehall certainly weren't going to drag themselves out to the freezing mountains.
Shortly after the main group arrived, Jerry and his friends emerged from the tree line. Ted had already spotted them approaching through Anzu's aerial perspective.
The team consisted of Jerry, a bull-horned boy named Gov Oasis, a dog-eared first-year named Yescha, a cat-eared girl named Caitlin, and a truly massive rat-eared youth. The newcomer was heavily muscled and looked remarkably like a towering Skaven Rat Ogre from D&D, yet he shared a strong facial resemblance to Jerry.
'Jerry mentioned he had an older cousin,' Ted recalled. 'That must be him.'
Trailing behind them were two younger rat-eared children: a girl roughly Jerry's age, and a small boy who looked no older than seven or eight.
"Ted! You're actually here!" Jerry's face lit up with pure joy as he spotted his friend. He immediately broke into a sprint. "Thank you for saving the village! I can't even imagine what would have happened if you hadn't shown up."
Jerry glanced at the three massive boar carcasses currently being butchered in the square. Even if the village's entire hunting party had been present, taking down beasts of that size without severe casualties would have been nearly impossible. They owed Ted everything.
Ted waved a hand dismissively. "It was just a coincidence, mate. Call it Merlin's guidance."
Jerry let out a bark of laughter. "Merlin's flowery underpants, more like! But thank goodness for it."
Despite frequently using his name as a mild swear word, it was a poorly kept secret that Hogwarts students didn't actually hold Merlin in any particular reverence.
Jerry quickly introduced Ted to the rest of the group. Ted wasn't particularly close with the dog-eared Yescha or the cat-eared Caitlin, though he recognised them well enough as fellow Gryffindors. Gov Oasis, however, was a different story entirely; the bull-horned boy frequently hung around with Neville, meaning Ted saw him constantly and considered him a solid mate.
The massive rat-eared youth turned out to be Jerry's older cousin, Marshal. Apparently, after arriving in this world during the Conjunction, a strange magical mutation had occurred within certain bloodlines. While the Rat-Eared Tribe was traditionally known for being short and slender, Marshal had grown up to be thicker and stronger than the average bull-horned warrior!
The other two were also family. The girl, Sherry, was Jerry's childhood friend and sweetheart, while the small boy was his younger cousin, Tuffy.
After exchanging polite greetings with the group, Ted pulled Jerry aside and approached the two flustered junior staff members from the Demi-Human Division.
"Good evening. I am Ted Epifani, a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," Ted said, his tone perfectly polite but carrying an unmistakable edge of authority. "My raven familiar tracked the two giant boars that escaped. They fled toward the southwest. I strongly suggest you inform the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures immediately. If those beasts wander into a Muggle settlement, you'll have a massive breach of the Statute of Secrecy on your hands."
Hearing a Hogwarts student invoke the Department and the Statute so casually, the two clerks paled. They hurriedly pulled out their wands to send Patronus messages to their superiors.
Stepping away from the panicking officials, Ted lowered his voice and spoke directly to Jerry. "I had Anzu follow those two pigs to the edge of the valley just to be safe. It looks like this whole mess was just a freak natural occurrence. I didn't spot anyone messing around behind the scenes."
Jerry let out a heavy sigh of relief, nodding slowly. "That's good. We've had far too much bad news lately as it is."