155: Chapter 155 A Wild Boar with Two or Three Hundred HP

"Well played!"

Watching the furious Black Wild Boar charging toward him on its own initiative, Hu Gualing didn't panic; instead, he shouted out in delight.

If this wild boar had used the speed of its Charge to escape, Hu Gualing would have had no way to catch up and could only watch it flee from afar, meaning Xiao Niao would have died in vain.

However, since the wild boar not only didn't run away but actually initiated an attack on him, he couldn't let it go this time no matter what!

Hu Gualing's eyes were full of Battle Intent. Facing the wild boar charging at him, he stood motionless in place, only calling out to remind Tang Yao: "The wild boar is coming for me; pay attention and attack at the right moment later!"

"Alright."

Tang Yao agreed, feeling somewhat nervous. After seeing the wild boar kill Xiao Niao from full health in a single Charge, it would be a lie to say she wasn't nervous. However, she had just witnessed the prowess of Hu Gualing's Lazy Donkey Roll technique. The Black Wild Boar's first Charge was fast and fierce, like a large truck slamming on the accelerator, yet Hu Gualing had dodged it unscathed using the Lazy Donkey Roll. Therefore, there was no need to worry this time; she just needed to time her attack correctly.

In the blink of an eye—twenty or so, to be precise—the Black Wild Boar collided toward him. However, this time it didn't have dozens of yards of distance to build up speed. While it still looked frightening, the pressure it brought was far less than during the first Charge. Hu Gualing naturally handled it with ease. Just as the wild boar's tusks were a few dozen centimeters away and about to pierce him, he pushed off with his legs, threw his body to the right front, extended his arms to support himself on the ground, and curled his whole body into a ball. Not only did he dodge the wild boar's Charge, but he also rolled on the ground twice, brushing right against the wild boar's body. Finally, Hu Gualing reached out and actually grabbed the Black Wild Boar's hind leg tightly!

After missing its Charge again, the Black Wild Boar was already a bit dazed, and its charging speed slowed down instantly. Moreover, Hu Gualing was, after all, a Student Athlete weighing nearly two hundred pounds. As soon as his heavy weight dragged on the wild boar's hind leg, the Black Wild Boar's body came to a sudden halt. Turning its head to look back, it discovered that the big dummy had inexplicably dodged its impact again and had even grabbed its hoof. It was instantly enraged, lowering its head to jab its tusks downward to gore that annoying big dummy.

Hu Gualing, however, was completely unafraid. In his view, the wild boar was terrifying precisely because of its long-distance Charge. The potential energy accumulated from charging from far away made its pair of tusks like javelins fired from a mechanism; whether it was a human or a beast, it would pierce straight through in one go. However, in close-quarters combat, although the wild boar's strength was still quite formidable, it was at least not so unsolvable. At the very least, in terms of agility, a wild boar in close-quarters grappling was still slightly clumsy.

For example, right now, facing the tusks the Black Wild Boar was lowering to jab at him, Hu Gualing didn't even try to face it head-on. He didn't even use the [Lazy Donkey Roll] skill; relying entirely on his body's instinctive reaction, he rolled on the ground twice, causing the wild boar's tusks to plunge into the soil. He himself ended up on the left side of the wild boar, scrambled up, and landed two punches right on the wild boar's belly.

-9, -7.

Two damage numbers popped up over the wild boar's head. Instead of feeling happy after a successful attack, Hu Gualing was stunned on the spot. This damage was way too low!

These two punches weren't just random punches; he was wearing a blue-quality steel knuckle duster and using the level 5 Farmers Three Punches skill, which provided a significant bonus to damage values. Furthermore, he hadn't dared to hit the wild boar's back or neck because the bristles on those areas looked hard and sharp, like steel spikes stuck into the wild boar's body. That was why he had specifically chosen to attack the belly area, which had no stiff bristles, and even then, it only dealt single-digit damage?

Moreover, looking at the change in the health bar above the [Fearless Black Wild Boar], its total HP was at least over 200, and it was possible it was close to 300. Although Xiao Niao's arrow had taken off a chunk of its health and the resulting Bleeding status effect caused -1, -1 damage numbers to pop up on the wild boar's head from time to time, its health bar was still more than half full, at least two-thirds remaining.

Hu Gualing immediately felt immense pressure. With so much HP and such high defense, even if it stood still for him to hit, he would be exhausted. He quickly called out to Tang Yao: "Use your sword to hack at it! Its defense is too high; I can't handle it alone!"

In fact, before the wild boar had charged over, Hu Gualing had already reminded Tang Yao to watch for the right time to attack. Although Tang Yao had agreed at the time, she had forgotten all about it later while watching Hu Gualing's brilliant dodging and fighting. Only now, being reminded again, did she remember.

"Oh, oh, coming!"

Tang Yao replied, lifting her longsword to hack at the wild boar.

Since the wild boar's attention was entirely drawn by Hu Gualing, and the boar and the man were grappling in circles on the spot, Tang Yao's sword easily struck the wild boar's back, with a "ding" sound, cutting a shallow bloody mark on it.

-15.

Hu Gualing was secretly shocked looking at this damage number, which wasn't particularly high. He clearly remembered that the longsword in Tang Yao's hand had a base attack power of 13 points alone. Adding Tang Yao's own base attack power and the damage bonus from using swordsmanship, the damage should have been at least thirty or forty points. This 15 damage was just too absurd!

"Try hacking at the areas with weak defense, like the boar's head or belly!"

Hu Gualing shouted while maneuvering.

Tang Yao: "Alright."

She was just about to follow Hu Gualing's advice and try attacking other parts, but discovered that the wild boar had already raised its head and was staring at her.

It turned out that after being slashed by the sword, the Black Wild Boar had made a comparison and felt that the female human holding the sword seemed to be more of a threat than this big dummy who was like a fly. So, it immediately switched its attack target, no longer grappling with the big dummy beside it, but instead kicking off the ground with all four hooves to Charge at the female human.

Hu Gualing thought to himself, "Oh no." With Tang Yao's limited combat experience, once she was closed in on by this wild boar, she would definitely panic instantly and might even be gored to death in a few hits.

Thinking of this, Hu Gualing hurriedly launched an attack on the Black Wild Boar, hoping to lure its attention back to himself.

-7. -8. -14 (Piercing damage). -7.

Bang, bang, bang, bang—four punches, left and right, added up to over thirty points of damage, and the health bar above the wild boar's head dropped noticeably.

The Black Wild Boar's body paused, as if it hadn't expected that Hu Gualing, who had been dodging and only occasionally taking time to land a couple of punches that felt like scratching an itch, could deal such heavy damage to it.

Hu Gualing breathed a sigh of relief. Based on his past gaming experience, who a monster attacks is determined by aggro. Generally speaking, whoever deals more damage to the monster has higher aggro. Of course, there are also special skills, such as a warrior's Taunt or a healer's healing, which don't cause damage but also possess quite high aggro. Whoever has higher aggro will be prioritized by the monster.

It was precisely because of this that he had attacked the wild boar regardless of everything while its full attention was on Tang Yao. His single-hit damage wasn't high, but landing four punches in one go, with one of them triggering the piercing property of the Farmers Three Punches skill, resulted in quite substantial total damage, and the Black Wild Boar's HP instantly dropped by more than one-tenth.

And this damage was far greater than the sword slash Tang Yao had just dealt to the wild boar. Now, this Black Wild Boar's aggro should be firmly pulled back!

Hu Gualing thought to himself as he watched the wild boar pause after taking the damage, while his feet jumped backward to open up a little distance, cautiously guarding against the wild boar's attack.

But unexpectedly, the wild boar didn't turn back to attack him. Instead, after a brief pause, it let out an angry "snort" from its nostrils and charged forward!

-19! -25!

Two damage numbers popped up, one after another, over Tang Yao and the wild boar.

It was because Tang Yao had been frightened when the Black Wild Boar charged at her head-on. Due to some special reasons, she was undoubtedly a gaming expert in the eyes of Hu Gualing and Xiao Niao, but her true identity was merely a student who spent her days memorizing books and doing problems. Due to her family background, she had never even seen a live domestic pig before entering this game, let alone a wild boar with a chunk of flesh missing from its face, looking ferocious and hideous, charging at her while brandishing a pair of dozens-of-centimeters-long tusks. At the moment the wild boar charged over, Tang Yao's mind went almost completely blank. She tightly closed her eyes and, relying only on instinct, raised the Sharpness longsword in her hand toward the Black Wild Boar rushing toward her.

From Hu Gualing's perspective, he could see Tang Yao being sent flying by the wild boar, her health bar dropping by nearly a quarter in an instant. However, what surprised him was that the damage number popping up over the wild boar's head was even larger.