The first signs of being in a new territory was the thinning of underbrush. Though once that happened, it didn’t take long for Gem and June to spot a new variety of monster, deer with rocky antlers. So, of course, Gem ran right towards them.

  Those first deer ran away up on seeing the boar chasing the two.

  “Get back here! I’m a juicy freshly made character! Fight me!” And came flowing out of Gem’s mouth as they chased the fleeing herd of deer.

  June grimaces at that, “I think we might have a disturbed an area boss.”

  Gem hums for a second before nodding. “Yep! Seems to be the case, or at the very least, an above average specimen. I wonder what the normal boars look like?”

  June, “Ignore that! How are we going to get rid of the thing? Your plan was to distract it with another monster, but these deer clearly won’t do.”

  Gem laughs, “Obvious answer is obvious. If we’re being chased by an area boss, fight fire with fire! Quick! Back towards the low level area!”

  June almost stumbles, “What? Wouldn’t that fire with fire mean finding another monster like that boar? Shouldn’t we head deeper to try and find one?”

  The two hurdle a fallen log and the boar smacks into it. This sends the log flying to the side, but stuns the boar, giving them a bit more wiggle room.

  Gem, “Whew! That was something! Anyway, of course we want to go towards town. If we go even deeper into the forest, we’ll actually die. What we need to find isn’t any equally dangerous monster, but another area boss!”

  June, “I’m sure there are area bosses deeper in and if we go that way, we won’t get in trouble for leading a monster to town.”

  Gem shakes their head, “Nah! I’m not saying we go to town. I’m saying that to keep people like us out of the deeper areas, the area bosses will be on the edge like this slab of mobile bacon was.” And they point their thumb backwards at the boar.

  June can’t think of a response to that, their logic making a perverse sense. Why, of course the area boss would be on the edge! How else is it supposed to keep the noobs in check?

  Though it probably helped that the edge of the new player forest was closer than the deep forest. The boar wasn’t that far behind, after all. So they ran and the closer they got to the edge, the more they had to speed up, just to stay ahead. It was to where even Gem was running out of breath, to say nothing of June.

  But they made it! A close thing, for sure, but all that matters is the big ol’ deer with stone antlers where the tips have taken on a metallic look. A deer that wasn’t running away, but in fact running towards them.

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  June, through gasps manages to get out, “I don’t think it’s charging the boar.”

  Gem grabs her arm, “Stay on target!”

  June screams as the two monsters rush towards the pair. Then, as they’re moments away from disaster, Gem side tackles June, and the two go tumbling out of the way. It isn’t pretty, but it works.

  What doesn’t work is Gem’s plan to aggro the two bosses on each other. Oh sure, they crash bang into each other just fine. They even deal a decent amount of damage to one another, being about equal and designed for the same task.

  But it is that task that causes the problem. Whoever set them up, made that the priority over all else. So, are they mad at one another? Certainly! But they aren’t mad enough to ignore the pair of players in a heap at the base of a nearby tree.

  Gem sighs, “Well, that sucks. Time for plan C!”

  June side eyes them, “I doubt there was ever a plan A or B to begin with, let alone a C.”

  Gem laughs as they pick June up in a princess carry. “But at least we’re having fun! Whatever other game could we experience this?”

  June, “Who would want to experience thiiiii–”

  Gem jumps straight up in the air as the boar crashes into the tree right where they had been moments ago. Then they land facing backwards on its back and clamp their legs down. “Get ready for the ride of this lifetime!”

  Suffice it to say, the boar does not like this new situation. However, the deer doesn’t have a problem with how things are and goes right on the attack, which sort of short circuits the boar’s decision making. In theory, it should stay aggroed on the players.

  Except the deer had done damage to the boar and seemed to be going to attack the deer. So nevermind the baggage on its back, they could wait, it was the deer that mattered. But oh wait! Since it no longer was perma-aggroed on a player, the normal decision-making snaps back into place and the boar isn’t doing too well in the health department.

  All that adds up to Gem and June getting a first row seat to the deer chasing the boar. Well, the deer is technically chasing them and so not backing down like the boar, but it means the same thing. The boar running around randomly with the deer close behind. Never gaining on them, but not falling behind either.

  This gives the pair a chance to catch their breath. At which point June asks Gem, “So, have you run an Analysis on it?”

  Gem shrugs, “Pretty certain it’s a bit high level for me. I didn’t even bother trying to check the boar when we were in the tree.”

  June shakes her head, “No, I mean the boar. You get bonuses and penalties to your attempt. I guess that isn’t something the guide would mention to prevent new players jumping on a monster to try and ID it.”

  Gem laughs, “I resemble that remark! Anyway, let me give it a check, [Analyze]!”

  {

  Species: Hillback Boar

  Tags: [Adolescent], [DemiBoss], ???

  Level: ??

  }

  Gem frowns and snaps their fingers, “Aw shucks, it isn’t a full boss.”

  June thwacks them on the back of the head. “That’s amazing news! Be better if we got to see the things level, but now we don’t have to worry about its stat ranks counting for, like, five of the things added together. It only has the strength of two boars. Heaven forbid it was a higher tier of boss!”

  Gem laughs, “As if we could have stayed ahead of it for as long as we did if the beast was even more dangerous!

  “I wonder if I can get anything on the deer? [Analyze]!”

  {

  Tags: [DemiBoss]

  }

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