He got it clear in sight. This is an easy task for Oath to get rid of the boar. The boar let out a loud roar, before it's charging its attack again. Oath easily dodged its second attack. But this time, he left a scar on the boar's body. Oath swung his spear to wound the beast. It left a burnt scar on it.
The boar once again let out a loud roar. It snorts so wildly, yet still in control. Oath recognized that this boar was somehow a valor survivor of the harsh environment. To be able to grow that big, the boar has lived out a difficult life.
"You must have won every battle you picked. You are also wise to choose your war," Oath spinning his spear and struck it down.
"But this time, I am the war you can't avoid. I promise that your soul and body would be a great blessing to my people," said the young man, pretending that the beast might be able to speak.
"I'll let your body rest, in a tranquil place," Oath charged onward.
He dashed towards his target, locking his eyes. With a second, he was appearing in front of the boar's snout.
Activate Critical Pierce
The system has recognized the gesture of Oath's attack. A booster came out of the spear, and it pushed the spear in rapid acceleration. The boar was able to dodge, but still got hurt from the incoming attack.
Another mark of wound appeared. The boar knew something, from that attack alone. That this human is someone it can't fight.
The system recognized the boar now not as a foe, but as a prey. The name on it's head turning green, as it was yellow initially. The boar decided to run distancing itself from Oath.
"Don't run!" Oath activated Javelin throw.
He readied himself in throwing position. In three seconds, Oath launched yet another attack. This time a range attack. The boar prolonges his distance for about fifteen meters from the hunter. But it's not enough. The Javelin throw successfully hunting down it's target. The boar got strucked from behind. With an enormous amount of power, his back got crazily burnt because of the damage from Airi, leaving its two legs to collapse. It can't run. The HP is dropping half of it. It might still be alive, but it cannot fight anymore. It's panicking and roar for the last time.
"Let your body and soul, be the food for my people!" Oath finished the last cry from the beast. The last swing to end its life.
The Giant Boar has been defeated.
Oath approached the unalive boar. He touched it once, and open the system command. He put the meat of the boar into his inventory. A black hole has opened. The boar's humongous body quickly dematerialized and became a soft data, as it is absorbed into the hole.
"Great hunt for today. I still can keep up. Maybe I need to find another prey," Oath said to himself.
"But the gods will come today. Would it be fine for me to continue?" he quickly checked on the weather and the sun.
"Ah, figures. It's still early in the morning. The gods always come in the evening. I still have some time. I believe it's okay to be here for some time."
Oath took a glance at his reflection from the iron of his spear. He took a look at his lips again.
"Is Jisu going to be okay? Whenever the gods descended, I always took her to accompany me. I think I should go back," Oath took a step to get inside his mini-capsule. When he touched the lid, he stopped for a moment.
"But Jisu has always wanted to meet her mom. This has been what she wants, despite her father's disagreement. If I am there to stop the process, I don't know what to do."
But then again, he remembered that Jisu would have always joined him to hunt.
"Argh!" Oath is messing his hair.
"That's it, I'm going back. It's better for me to stay there on the ship. I don't want her to be taken away. I'd rather kidnap her to accompany me than to let her leave the ship."
With that said, Oath turned on his mini capsule and went back up. He picked up Alpha and Beta. These two robots have done a great job harvesting mangoes. There are 96 mangoes in his inventory.
"Nice! It's not a waste of time that I took time to program you both. Great job!" Oath flew up high to the great blue sky.
While on the way, he activates the system command to call Jisu. Through the telepathy-like communication. The system is reaching out to call. With encryption, Jisu is able to choose to accept or decline the call. There are some people who prefer it to be automatic. So whenever someone calls, they would always answer the call. But Jisu prefers privacy. This time, she rejected the call.
"What's the reason?" asked Oath.
Jisu is texting him back. A notification popped up above Oath's viewpoint.
I'm taking a bath :) I'll call you later. Why did you take off without me?! (∆_∆)
Oath laughed at the chat. He replied back.
Because you're a sleepy head.
He was patiently waiting for her reply, but Jisu didn't reply him back very soon. It took her two minutes to come up with the reply.
It's not my fault to lose sleep. You're the one who made me lose sleep, you know? How can you sleep after what happened...? This is totally your fault, good-for-nothing hunter!
Oath was giving a faint smile, imagining her expression.
"I wonder why she becomes cuter these days?"
In his mind, Oath kept on repeating the scene. What would happen if they continue it? But on the other hand, he felt so relieved they didn't.
---
Arriving on the ship, Oath received a warm welcome from the chief and the villagers.
"Welcome aboard, our bravest hunter. Thank you for always taking on this chore. I can't express my gratitude enough that a youngster like you always puts others before yourself," said the chief, nodding his head.
"Yeah, yeah. I brought a giant boar. I'll send it to the kitchen account," said Oath nonchalantly.
"Thank you, my boy. Your service will always be remembered," the chief once again nodding his head in appreciation, similar to even worshipping him.
While walking on the ship, everybody greeted him.
"Make way for the Adonis!"
"Thank you for always doing this for us!"
"Hey, Oath! Let's go to participate in the commandment. Do you want to be my partner? Please!"
"Oath, we have four people in here. We are grateful to be your partners!"
"The muscular boy, the true man, has arrived!"
"Make a way!"
Which Oath replied with a faint gesture of nodding and smiling. He does his chores not because of the compliment, but because he knows that this job has brought him tremendous joy. He likes hunting. He likes appreciating life. He likes to utilize new technology directly in the field. Those things, he likes. Wouldn't it be great if his hobbies could also have a positive impact on his community?
However, behind the mask of the Valorant warrior, there lies an introverted soul. A nerd, to be precise. He spends most of his time to learn coding languages. It is always fascinating for Oath to learn that stuff. Like when he reprogrammed Airi, or also to program Alpha and Beta. Some other times, he programmed his mini-capsule. Although he got kicked out immediately because if he messed up with the coding, their entire ship may crash out.
Oath is also transferring all the mangoes. He entered his room. It's still 9 in the morning. He decided to check on Jisu's condition, since that's the sole reason he came back to the ship.
He walked through the main hall, turned left. He walked straight and knocked on Jisu's door. A distinguished beat only known to both of them.
"Coming, head-hunter," answered the voice from inside.
Oath stood there, holding one mango.
Jisu opened the door. It slides to the right. That was like a curtain, revealing the face of her guest. She thought that she could forget and act normally. But she can feel her face turning red.
"He-hey," Jisu greeted him.
"Hey, you. I brought this, I know you like it."
"Mangoes!" Jisu shrieked excitedly.
"Unfortunately, mango. It's only one. The rest, I transferred to the ship's account. You need to control yourself when you're consuming them, you know?"
"Chill out! I get it! Come on in, tell me something new. What did you hunt this morning?" Jisu invited the man to enter her room. She picked a knife and peeled the mango.
"A boar. Do you know this giant boar that is always there in area Y?"
"Oh yeah. We saw it last week, right?"
"Yeah, I killed it. We would eat something delicious later."
"Nice," Jisu nodded her head, while laughing a little. But her expression changes.
"I'm sorry I didn't invite you to join me this morning. But there's a second batch of the hunting session. Do you want to come?" Oath spinning his finger comically.
Jisu shook her head.
"Did I make you mad?" asked Oath, began to worry.
"No. But, here's the thing, Oath," Jisu put down the half-peeled mango.
"I'm afraid that this would be our farewell."
The sentence effortlessly bothered him.
"What? Why? Do you want to go up there?"
"Oath, it's been my dream to meet my mom. You know how much I hated it when she was taken. But knowing that she would be in a better place is a joy for me. I know, that this will be my time to get called. I can't play hide and seek again with my destiny."
"But, Jisu. You do know that those who go up, never go back down!"
"I know, I know. That's why," Jisu let out a long sigh.
"I said that it's our farewell."
Silence lurking in the room.
"Then I go with you," Oath stood up. He looked intensely towards the girl before him.
"What, no, that's not it. You know you have a mission here!"
"That's not for us to decide," Oath argues.
"The gods had understood our situation. They would let you be here for another year. Same thing happened back then."
"But, we all know I can't stay here forever. Same like you, I would go there someday."
"Okay, Oath," Jisu crossing her arms.
"Do you even want to go up? To Nirvana?"
"No. You know me well, right?"
"Then, I don't want you to go up there. You do what you ought to do. Take care of our people here."
"Jisu, I ought to be next to you," Oath replied firmly.
Hearing that, Jisu averted her gaze again.
"Is that a confession?"
"I don't know," he said with a lower tone.
The silence once again lurking in the room. Jisu looked down to the floor. If even his answer is a little bit more straightforward, or even if she knows that it's pointing somewhere, maybe there's a chance for them to be together. Not only as friends. Or as partner-in-commandment. But as truly, a spouse, like her mom and dad. If only Oath gave her a straight answer like that, maybe something would change.
"Oath, I like to be with you," Jisu began to speak again.
"But I know that we need to move, to flow like a river. In this life, we have to make a call. Whether we are following the current, or against it. I am making a call to see my mom, up there. She's happy, and I'll be happy too. I know that it's never the same without you. But just like what you said, you come and visit me one day, right?" Jisu walked closely towards her childhood friend. She puts her hand on his shoulder.
"Please take care of the tribe. Their situation has gotten a lot better since you step up to be a hunter. You can't let them down. At least for now."
"Until when?"
"Until you have the second Adonis," Jisu chuckled.
Oath let out a big sigh.
"I guess, it'll be lonely without you."
"You'll be okay! Then again, we can always call each other."
"No. I think you forget, the commandment. They don't want you to have earthly connection. Including with the family, or relatives in here."
"Oh yeah, I almost forget."
"But, maybe I can make you something they cannot untied."
"Like what?"
"An invisible net for us to communicate. I recall, I ever made something like that."
Oath quickly opened his system.
A software appearing and popping out of his floating window.
"I'm transferring this to you," Oath swiped the application to her.
"What's the difference between this one and the ordinary application?"
"I can practically connected with you without any device. What you need is blood."
"Blood?"
"Yeah. Don't you know that our body produces electric energy? It can be used as an energy to send the message. It will transfer the data of your message to my box. My brain will capture the output you have ... you don't understand any of these, right?" Oath stopped explaining once he learned Jisu's confused expression.
"I don't know, Oath. It made me dizzy to listen to your system. Just show me how to use it, you nerd."
"Okay, the thing is, you can communicate with me from anywhere. Even in the worst scenario, let's say you lost your chip, you still can contact me. The faster your blood flows, the louder the message will be."
"Wow, this is truly a breakthrough! Since when you're a genius?"
"I'm always like this, you know?" Oath smirked at his friend.
"Shut up, don't be so cocky. You're just a nerd."
"Whatever you say, sleepy head."
---