Dead yet mud pig!

'System, link with the mud pig,' Aru commanded in his mind.

Immediately, a holographic window appeared before his face.

[Rank 1 Mud Pig (parasitised) <Spirit energy 15.0>]

The spirit energy and rank of the creature were within Aru's expectations, but the term "parasitised" displayed next to the name caught his attention.

'What does it mean? I've never seen something like that before.'

[Nemesis lifeform found.]

[Impromptu mission: Eliminate the nemesis lifeform. Reward: +1 link and the option to retrieve the spirit energy from the corpse of the nemesis lifeform.]

[Note: Mission rewards are stackable.]

'Wow, wow, wow. Let me stop you right there, system. You're acting awfully suspicious right now. What is a nemesis creature? What's with the sudden mission to kill it?'

Aru was shocked to see the subsequent pop-up windows.

Usually, the system behaved extremely passively while he interacted with it. But this time, it was taking the initiative to display missions and information he had never seen before. It was indeed suspicious.

'Nemesis would mean an arch-enemy of sorts. So, what does it mean to have an arch-enemy of the system?'

'What exactly is the parasite that infected the mud pig?'

Aru had an inkling that it would not be an average parasite for the system to call it a nemesis.

Recalling his experiences and the pieces of information he came across, Aru began to see the full picture. The abrupt chaos due to the early migration of spirit beasts, the fearfully fleeing spirit beasts, and ultimately a parasite that presumably controlled the body of a spirit beast.

When he looked at it all together, he realised that it may have been caused by the same thing.

'The answer is within the identity of the parasite,' he concluded.

Once his thought reached that point, he began to reconsider the mission of eliminating the nemesis lifeform. The reward displayed by the system was also one of the factors that changed his mind.

Suddenly, the trembling muscles of the mud pig stopped. It stood up and walked a couple of steps before falling again. This time, it looked much more stable as it walked.

Whatever the parasite may be, it was slowly gaining control over the body of the mud pig.

'I need to kill it fast before the parasite gains full control over the body of the mud pig.'

"Dal, you stay here. I'm going to kill it," Aru declared in a hurry.

Initially, he was concerned by the information that Dal had given about seeing one more tail when the mud pig fell.

Now he was not that concerned anymore. If Dal had seen anything else, it might have been related to the parasite. The parasite would have infected the mud pig and cured the injuries to take over its body.

There might not be any unknown enemies in the vicinity.

"But it's dangerous," Dal spoke fearfully.

His mind was still thinking about the time the wind wolf almost killed him when he talked.

'Danger is my middle name,' is what Aru wanted to say. But when he thought about the next question about the middle name that he would receive, he decided not to do it.

"Danger or not, we need to do something before that thing recovers."

Or else, it would be obvious what their fate would be. If the rank 1 mud pig wanted, it could even topple the tree they were on. That spelled instant death. There was no Aru and Dal was going to survive one more fall, even if there were trees down below that could break their fall.

While Dal was covered in fear, Aru immediately searched around in his supply bag. Fortunately, he was taught to take the supply bag everywhere by the tribe.

From the supply bag, he took a small bundle covered in a shabby leather cover.

'Thanks, master,' he said as he opened the leather covering to reveal a sharp knife.

It was a knife he had received as a gift from Kora. Although metals, and especially a good knife, were pricey, he had parted with it to give it to his disciple.

It was intended to be used for cutting vegetables and meat. Technically, Aru was intending to do just right that. 

Then he took the rope that Dal used to tie him up to the tree and jumped towards a nearby tree.

Swinging his arms wide, he caught the branch nearby and climbed onto the trunk.

Like a monkey, he made his way towards the tree where the mud pig was lying.

Although he had a weapon on him, he didn't intend to charge head-first at the creature that was lying down. Because he didn't know how it would react.

That's why, once he reached the tree that was right above the mud pig, he tied a rope to it and climbed down, doing his best not to get noticed by the sleeping pig nearby.

Fortunately, he was able to sneak around without alerting it.

From a nearby pile of rocks next to the tree, he selected the biggest one that he could tie onto the rope. The rock had a sharp and pointy edge and weighed almost thirty kilograms.

'Just right.'

Once the rock was secured onto the rope, Aru climbed back up the tree and pulled it up.

'Heavy.'

The rock was rather weighty, almost as much as a full Dal. By using some spirit energy, he managed to hoist it up the tree.

'Now for the final step.'

Aru was now on the tree next to the boar, about ten meters high. He moved the rock and the rope to a nearby lateral branch and positioned himself right above the mud pig.

'Sayonara, sh*t head.'

Without batting an eyelid, Aru dropped the giant stone onto the head of the mud pig. He paid special attention to turning the stone just right so that the sharp and pointy edge would fall on its head.

"THUCK."

The rock fell accurately onto the head of the mud pig.

Dal who saw this from a nearby tree was shocked by Aru's action. His eyes widened in surprise.

'You can do that?' He thought in his mind. This was a form of hunting he had never seen before.