Chapter 832 - 842 - Danger

Chapter 832: Chapter 842 - Danger

The bell continued ringing as Lucien and Tavian ran toward the center of the village.

People were already moving.

Whatever else could be said about the village, panic had not erased preparation.

The warning from the tax collector had been taken seriously.

Doors opened across the settlement as families emerged carrying children, blankets, water, and whatever supplies had already been prepared for emergencies.

Watchmen shouted directions from the wall while several older men moved through the roads, guiding people toward reinforced underground shelters built beneath storage houses and larger homes.

Women, children, and the elderly were directed below first.

Those capable of defending the village moved in the opposite direction.

Lucien saw Luke near the northern road with a bow over one shoulder and a long spear in hand.

Cienna appeared almost immediately afterward.

She grabbed Lucien’s arm.

"You’re coming with me."

Lucien nearly stumbled.

"Mother."

"You heard the bell."

"I did."

"Then move."

Cienna pulled him toward the nearest shelter.

Lucien resisted just enough to stop.

Her grip tightened.

He looked at her.

Fear was already showing beneath the calm expression she usually wore.

That made what he was about to say harder.

"Mother, I’m not a child anymore."

"You are my child."

Lucien had no answer to that.

Cienna tried pulling him again.

Lucien gently freed his arm.

"We trained because something like this might happen."

"Training in a field is different from whatever is coming out of that forest."

"I know."

Her expression sharpened.

Lucien continued before she could argue.

"I will stay behind the front line. I have no intention of charging into anything. Tavian and the others will be there, and Father is already helping with the defense."

Cienna stared at him.

Lucien lowered his voice.

"I can help."

For several seconds, she did not move.

Another tremor passed through the ground.

Something large crashed through the distant trees.

The people around them moved faster.

Cienna’s hesitation ended when two women came toward her and called for help with several children near the shelter entrance.

Lucien placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Please go. I’ll be careful."

"You had better be."

"I will."

It was not quite a promise that he would remain safe.

They both knew that.

Cienna looked at him for another heartbeat before allowing the women to pull her toward the shelter.

Lucien waited until she was moving with them.

Then he turned and ran.

The northern section of the village had become the gathering point.

Men were collecting bows, spears, axes, farming tools, and anything else that could serve as a weapon. Several hunters climbed the wall to join the watchmen.

Lucien found Auren first.

The coachman was fastening a leather guard around one forearm.

When he noticed Lucien, he grinned.

"We thought you would hide underground."

Tavian appeared beside him carrying several spears.

Auren looked Lucien up and down.

"It seems the mushroom finally gave you courage."

Lucien stared at him.

"We are about to be attacked and you’re still talking about the mushroom."

"It keeps morale high."

"It makes me want to stab you."

"See? You’re ready to fight."

Tavian laughed and handed Lucien a spear.

Lucien accepted it.

The weapon was simple.

Wooden shaft. Iron head. No enchantment.

Tavian had made it himself.

Lucien tested the balance.

It was good.

He looked at Tavian.

"Nice work."

Tavian’s grin widened.

"I know."

Lucien almost smiled.

Then another sound rolled from the forest.

Everyone went quiet.

It was deeper now.

Closer.

The northern trees moved.

Not from wind.

Something was forcing its way through them.

Luke climbed onto the wall beside the village chief.

"Archers ready!"

Several hunters raised their bows.

Lucien moved closer while keeping enough distance from the front.

The ground trembled again.

He could feel the vibrations through the soles of his boots.

Whatever was coming had weight.

A lot of it.

Birds burst from the forest canopy.

Then deer appeared.

They crossed the open ground outside the village at full speed, paying no attention to the humans watching from the walls.

Several rabbits followed.

A fox darted through the grass.

The animals were fleeing.

Lucien’s expression hardened.

The tax collector’s warning had been accurate.

Something was disturbing the forest.

The first boar emerged moments later.

It was enormous by ordinary standards, heavy enough that its shoulders reached the chest of a grown man. Mud covered its dark hide, and one tusk had broken near the tip.

It did not look magical.

Lucien felt no strange energy from it.

That somehow made the sight worse.

The animal was terrified.

A second boar broke through the trees behind it.

Then another.

The forest exploded into movement.

Dozens surged out.

Lucien heard several men curse.

The boars came in uneven groups, but their combined momentum made the ground shake beneath them. Some were smaller, while several were large enough to overturn a cart without slowing.

They were not hunting.

They were running.

That distinction mattered.

Lucien looked past them toward the forest.

Nothing else appeared.

Whatever had frightened them remained hidden.

For now.

The village chief shouted from the wall.

"Hold!"

Several men raised their bows prematurely.

Luke barked at them to wait.

The herd crossed more open ground.

Lucien watched the direction carefully.

At first, he expected the animals to veer around the village once they reached the fields.

They did not.

The leading boars kept coming straight toward them.

Lucien’s eyes narrowed.

That made no sense.

Boars fleeing danger should choose open paths.

The village wall was an obstacle.

They should split.

The herd did not.

The animals continued forward as though turning aside had become impossible.

A hunter loosed an arrow too early.

The shaft struck the ground several meters short.

Nobody laughed.

The herd was close enough now that Lucien could see foam around several mouths and blood along the flanks of animals that had torn themselves against branches during their flight.

Their eyes were wild.

The leading boar lowered its head.

Lucien tightened his grip on the spear.

The village chief shouted another order.

Archers released.

Arrows crossed the open ground.

Several struck.

One boar stumbled and rolled, only for the animals behind it to crash over the body without slowing.

Another took an arrow near the shoulder and continued running.

The distance collapsed rapidly.

Lucien calculated without thinking.

Speed. Mass. Wall strength.

The numbers were ugly.

The repaired wooden defenses had been designed to discourage predators and small raids.

They had never been built to absorb the charge of dozens of terrified animals moving together.

Luke seemed to reach the same conclusion.

"Brace the gate!"

Men moved immediately.

Several shoved additional beams behind the wooden doors.

Others planted spears through gaps in the wall.

Lucien looked toward the sides of the village.

The herd was wide enough that some animals would strike the wall even if the center held.

If the first impact broke a section, the rest would pour through.

Lucien’s breathing slowed.

His old instincts screamed for solutions that no longer existed.

Raise a barrier.

Fold Space.

Use Living Creation.

Release Divine Energy.

He could do none of them.

Lucien forced those thoughts away.

He had a spear, a mortal body, and several dozen villagers.

That had to be enough.

The first boar struck the outer ditch.

Its front legs collapsed into the shallow depression and its body pitched forward.

The boar behind it crashed into its side.

Several more stumbled.

Lucien’s eyes sharpened.

The ditch helped.

But not enough.

The villagers had built it to stop carts and make predators hesitate. It was too shallow and too narrow for this.

The herd behind the fallen animals simply pushed forward.

The leading group regained momentum.

"Second volley!"

Arrows flew again.

More animals fell.

Still the herd came.

The sound became overwhelming.

Hooves hammered earth.

Boars screamed.

Wood creaked as villagers braced themselves against the wall.

Lucien suddenly understood how terrifying ordinary nature could be when there was no power separating humans from it.

In his era, this would barely qualify as a threat.

Here, it could destroy an entire community.

Auren moved beside Lucien.

"That’s too many."

"I noticed."

"Any brilliant ideas?"

Lucien looked at the approaching herd.

"Ask me again when I have magic."

Auren stared at him.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Tavian pointed toward the left section of the wall.

"That side won’t hold."

Lucien followed his gaze.

The repairs there were recent.

Several supports had been replaced after Hunger’s attack, but the soil beneath them was still loose.

Three large boars were heading directly toward it.

Lucien moved before thinking.

"Tavian!"

They ran.

Auren followed.

Several villagers saw them and joined.

Lucien reached the section just as the first impact struck farther along the wall.

The entire structure shook.

Someone shouted.

A second impact followed.

The sound of splitting wood cut through everything.

Lucien planted his shoulder against one support.

Pain shot through his body.

He ignored it.

Tavian braced beside him.

Auren grabbed another beam.

"Push!"

The three boars struck.

The wall jumped.

Lucien’s feet slid backward through the dirt.

For one terrifying moment, the support bent enough that he thought it would snap.

Then several more villagers added their weight.

The beam held.

Lucien exhaled sharply.

Another crash came from the gate.

Men shouted.

One of the hinges splintered.

Luke was there, helping keep the central brace in place.

Lucien saw him between moving bodies.

For the first time since entering the past, fear cut through him without any distance.

That was Luke.

Not the Luke waiting in Lucien’s future.

This one.

The man who had carried him home from the forest.

The man who repaired roofs, waterwheels, carts, and anything else people placed in front of him.

Lucien tightened his hands around the support.

The herd continued hammering the defenses.

Then a section near the gate broke.

A boar forced its head through the opening.

A spear struck its neck.

The animal screamed and thrashed.

The damaged planks tore wider.

Another boar slammed into the same place.

The gap opened.

"Back!"

Luke shouted the warning.

Several men retreated.

The first boar pushed through.

It was wounded, terrified, and completely uncontrolled.

A hunter tried to move aside.

He was too slow.

The boar struck him with enough force to lift him from the ground.

Lucien saw the man’s body turn once before hitting the dirt.

Everyone nearby froze for a fraction of a second.

The boar continued.

Luke moved.

He shoved another villager out of the way and drove his spear toward the animal’s side.

The point entered behind the shoulder.

The boar screamed and twisted.

Its tusk caught Luke across the torso.

Lucien’s blood went cold.

Luke was thrown aside.

"Father!"

Lucien released the support and ran.

Tavian shouted after him, but Lucien barely heard.

Luke hit the ground hard.

The boar staggered several more steps before two hunters finished it with spears.

Lucien dropped beside Luke.

Blood soaked through his shirt.

For one terrible instant, the sight pulled Lucien back into memories of battles where wounds like this barely mattered.

Then reality returned.

No healing spell was coming.

No Divine Energy would close the injury.

No potion waited in his Inventory.

Luke was mortal.

Lucien pressed his hands against the wound.

"Stay still."

Luke grimaced.

"I wasn’t planning to dance."

Lucien almost laughed from sheer relief that he could still speak.

The wound was ugly, but the tusk had cut across rather than pierced deeply.

Lucien’s mind began working.

Pressure. Clean cloth. Position. Blood loss.

He shouted for Cienna before remembering she was underground.

Another villager brought cloth.

Lucien pressed it firmly against the wound.

Luke hissed.

"That hurts."

"Good."

"How is that good?"

"It means you’re alive enough to complain."

Luke gave him a weak grin.

The humor lasted only a second.

A shout rose from the gate.

Another animal had broken through.

Then another.

Lucien looked around.

The dead hunter lay several meters away.

Nobody was helping him.

Lucien knew why before he checked.

The man was already gone.

Something inside Lucien changed.

He had restrained himself for days.

He had told himself history mattered more than convenience.

He had watched inefficiencies and accepted them.

He had avoided introducing ideas that might alter the future.

Now a villager was dead.

Luke was bleeding beside him.

The wall was failing.

Lucien stared toward the shattered section.

Alanthuriel’s warning returned again.

Do as little as necessary.

Lucien finally understood something he had been avoiding.

Doing nothing was also a decision.

It could change history just as surely as interference.

If Lucien possessed knowledge that could prevent people from dying and chose not to use it, then their deaths would become part of the timeline he created through his silence.

That was not preservation.

That was cowardice disguised as caution.

Lucien looked toward Tavian.

The young blacksmith was helping hold another section of wall.

Auren was dragging an injured man away from the gate.

The village had weapons.

It had wood, iron, rope, tools, and people willing to work.

Lucien had knowledge.

That was enough to begin.

He looked back at Luke.

"Can you stand?"

"Eventually."

"Good."

Luke frowned.

"What are you thinking?"

Lucien looked toward the charging boars still emerging from the forest.

The immediate attack had to be survived first.

After that, things would change.

He had intended to search for the Origin Core eventually.

He had intended to leave the village.

Before he did, he would make sure this place could survive without him.

Lucien tightened the blood-soaked cloth around Luke’s wound and rose.

Another tremor passed beneath his feet.

The remaining herd was still coming.

This time, Lucien stopped thinking about the powers he had lost.

He looked at the village exactly as it was.

Wood. Iron. Stone. Rope. People.

The System’s accumulated knowledge waited quietly inside his mind.

Lucien picked up his spear.

If this world would not give him magic, then he would work with what it had.