Year 1, Winter, Second Month, Third Week.
“That’s... How did... When?”
The team was speechless. They stood inside the general pavilion looking astonished at the coats. Diana was more composed and stepped forward to take the coat held by grandma Marlen, she proceeded to test it.
“Don’t just stand there, you should all test it...”
When they thought about it, it was strange that they never saw the beasts’ pelts again. Since the beginning, the team hunted 13 beasts but they never wondered what Marlen was doing with the pelts.
Apparently, she asked the other elders’ help to make coats for the team. Fortunately, the pelts were enough to make 17 coats. They also made them boots from the salamander’s scales and finished all in time for the winter’s hunt.
They already excepted to go out in the cold, the idea was awful but they didn't have another option. Although they didn't have proper clothes, the village would spare some straw covers for them. Even so, it wasn't nearly enough to protect against the cold, and that’s not even talking about their bare feet.
Fortunately, Marlen prepared this wonderful surprise. After everyone put on their coat and boots, they couldn’t help but cheer and laugh. Besides saving them from freezing, the clothes were their first private belongings.
.........
“Hurricane City Lord, can you explain, how 11 villages from the Eastern First Section ended up destroyed? What excuse can you give for failing your duties to protect the First Section? If I, the Wind Lord of Eastern Province, didn't move to kill the beast, would you let it destroy the rest of the villages and Hurricane City?”
The City Lord was prepared to answer the questions, but after experiencing the Wind Lord’s pressure he wasn’t confident anymore. He kneeled and spoke with a slightly weak voice:
“I beg your Grace's forgiveness... I ... I failed to learn about the situation before it turned into a disaster... I failed in judging a subordinate... I put my faith in the Guard's Captain, failing to see his real character. Although he was indicated by a high officer of the Royal's Guard, I should have seen his faults...”
The Wind Lord played his part by pretending to be surprised. Then, he urged the City Lord to continue explaining.
“The Captain decided to hide the situation. I only learned of the beasts once they had destroyed all the villages... He even ran away, leaving his Guards behind to be slaughtered by the beasts... Your Grace, I swear that I tried to solve the situation fast, but a lot of refugees came to Hurricane City and I had to take care of the beasts that were destroying other villages. My hands were full and I could only prioritize saving the citizens and preventing other villages' destruction... I failed my duties... Your Grace, please punish this Lord!”
The Hurricane City Lord pretended to be sorry and asked for punishment, while the Wind Lord pretended to think about it.
“So, it was like this… You misjudged a high-ranked Officer, and once you discovered his incompetence and foul dealings it was too late. Let your mistake serve as an example to all other Lords, never place blind trust in your subordinates... I am a magnificent and fair ruler, I will not, at this time, strip you of your position. Let the guilty, the traitor Captian be brought to justice and executed for failing his duties and insubordination...”
“However, you also failed your duties as the City Lord... For failing to protect the First Section of Eastern Province, I sentence you to lose all rights to the tributes for the next five years. For the following five years, my Guards and assistants will be in charge of collecting tribute from the remaining villages. You must rebuild the 11 villages during this period... Should you failed it, you will be stripped from your position!”
.........
The hunting team was leaving again, but this time nobody could afford to be out of their homes, so everyone had said their goodbyes earlier. Once again, the team left the village hoping to get back with more resources and without losing any members.
Since there was a thick layer of snow, the team moved a little slower than usual, they were using the same circular formation of three layers. Diana was very excited and eager to test her fire-enhanced sword.
Their usual path was like a sea of snow and the only seen color besides white was the brown-ish from the trees. Each step they took made a shallow hole in the snow marking their path.
Diana looked at her feet and shivered at thought of walking without the boots. Then, something far on the horizon caught her attention. Usually, Tael would hear it first and call a stop before anyone else, but today was her deputy.
Diana made a stop sign and pointed somewhere far in front of them. About 120 meters from their location, several points were moving.
The team stopped as they tried to identify the possible threats. Of course, some members try to focus on their surroundings, their training had covered situations where they were distracted by some target and got attacked by another beast.
Diana was boiling in excitement, she tightened her grip on the sword and decided to move forward to check the possible target. With another hand sign, she informed her teammates of their approach, they silently and steadily moved another 30 meters before stopping again.
The movements belonged to some beasts that resembled the grey wolves. The beasts were slightly bigger than grey wolves and had white fur, or they were too covered in snow for Diana to see any difference.
However, something in the picture made Diana excited. The wolves on sight formed a pack of 11.
The maximum number that the team had fought was five beasts, at that time they used an ambushed to even the odds against the grey wolves.
Diana started to consider the risks of engaging such a big pack. Usually, stronger beasts would be near the Forest, while the weaker could only roam far from it. If she thought about their distance from the Forest, this beast was certainly a first or second rank LT beast.
‘The wolves identified our presence… Since they’re not running they would probably attack when the distance is shorter. The upgraded archers can start shooting from a 50 meters distance, they could take down four beasts before they get to us. The defense team can tackle another four. This leaves four more beasts free to attack whoever they want. I can surely take one head-on, and the twins should be able to take another one. If Tael could hit one more beast before they engage us, it could work.’
Diana made her plan in less than one minute, she made eye contact with Tael and asked softly if he could shoot down two wolves before they engaged.
Tael nodded and answered that if they had similar abilities to the grey wolves he could. For her, it was enough, she signaled their formation to the team and they prepared to engage the target.
The battle took almost ten minutes to start. The team moved slowly towards their target, they wanted to get the beasts into the shooting range without enticing them to attack or escape.
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The best-case-scenario was for the beasts to attack only after they shot their first arrows. Fortunately, the beasts didn’t attack first. When the team got into the 50 meters range they started the attack.
The archers breathed slowly and felt the cold wind, they were positioned left to the defenders and attackers to prevent friendly-fire and lessen their worries. Usually, their first shoot was a snipping shot because they had time to prepare and their target was still.
Unfortunately, the snow was offsetting their aim, so the first shoot would be used to get more parameters for the next shoots.
Soon, the first wave of arrows flew in the direction of the white wolves. The arrows soared through the blurred snowing air and rained on the pack. Tael’s arrow flew straighter than his teammates’ and was the only one that clammed a life. Even so, another two arrows hit two wolves, one in the lower back and the other in the leg.
The pack wasn’t intimidated by the attack and ran towards the team.
Unfortunately, the wolves didn’t seem to be delayed by snow and quickly covered half of the way before the archers could draw another arrow.
Their initial estimation was to shot three arrows before engaging in a close fight. Even though they carried knives, the archers were very inefficient in close combat.
Tael was the first one to take the second shot, taking down another white wolve. He was already drawing another arrow when the other archers shot their second arrow. Their priority was to take down the wounded target before switching to another, so the archers focused on the two wounded wolves.
However, the white wolves were very good at dodging the arrows while running, so the three archers only managed to hurt them further. One wounded wolve slowed down because two arrows hit its back and paw, while the other got one arrow on its chest but didn’t slow down.
Tael didn’t waste time and shot his third arrow before the wolves could engage, the arrow didn’t kill the beast but made it slow down to the rear of the pack.
Since the wolves were within the ten meters range, the archers took two steps back while the defenders move to intercept them.
With only two killed wolves, the team was at a clear disadvantage, but fortunately, the wolves didn’t spread to the sides and only four wolves took the lead.
Since the beginning of the attack, Diana moved to the side to see where she could help more. When she saw that the wolves were concentrated at their right side, she quickly moved to intercept them in the front.
The first four leading wolves crashed with the four defenders just when they activated the shields’ Arrays. The snow made the earth defense on the shield, less effective but fortunately, the white wolves weren’t heavy and didn’t have strong momentum, so their charge was stopped by the shields.
Two wolves that were following the lead closely, changed their paths and passed through the shield/wolf engagements, heading to the three close-range attackers inside the formation.
On the right side, Diana couldn’t spare her attention because she was engaging two other wolves. When the wolves got close enough, Diana slashed her sword right-to-left aiming for the neck of the nearest wolf.
The attack was powered by the Sharpness Rune and enhanced by the fire element.
Although her elemental enhancement didn’t make her attack faster like Tael’s and sturdier like Toni’s, it made her sword attacks deadlier by increasing its damage. Also, it lowered the delay between her attacks, increasing her attacks’ frequency.
Since she took into account how easy the wolves were moving on snow, her slash made a perfect trajectory towards the wolf’s throat.
However, the wolf was very good at dodging and made an air shift that changed its path right before meeting the slash. It escaped death, but the sword cut it from the right side of its throat all the way to its back leg.
Diana quickly adjusted her sword and body to finish the crying wolf before it could attack her back. But before she could do it, the other wolf jumped towards her with its fangs prepared to destroy her left arm.
She tried to defend herself, shifting the sword position but the wolf got to her arm first. Diana pushed through the instant pain and made an upwards weak slash cutting the belly of the wolf. The wolf released her arm and jumped back trying to defend itself.
Diana was in a lot of pain. Instead of numbing her, the cold contributed to increasing her pain. Fortunately, the wolves weren’t in a better situation, her attacks seemed to cause huge damage to them, even the shallow cuts.
She bit her lower lip and moved to attack without sparing a glance at her wounds. The wolves didn’t stop either and attacked her at the same time, hew sword drew a half-circle to the left making one of the wolves retreat and quickly change its path to cut the wolf at the right.
The sword carved a deep path through the wolf’s chest right before it crashed with Diana.
Diana was smashed to the ground by the bleeding wolf making a big depression on the snowy ground. The retreated wolf quickly moved to check and attack anyone bellows its dead pack member.
When the wolf crushed on top of her, Diana felt like every bone on her body was broken, she tried to breathe but blood and fur were getting into her nose and mouth. The wolf was too heavy and she couldn’t move it.
Then, she felt something sucking the air near her left ear. The surviving wolf was trying to finish her.
While Diana was fighting, the two wolves that passed through the defenders jumped to attack the boy that stood beside the twins. The boy was holding his new enhanced long knife but didn’t react on time. One of the wolves was aiming for his leading hand while the other jumped higher to claim his throat.
The boy tried to use his left to protect his throat from the sharp fangs. Unfortunately, he felt a strong pain coming from his right hand, the pain was so strong that he dropped his knife.
He disregarded the pain in his arm and continue to move around to keep the other wolf from biting his neck.
‘This is it, I’m going to die.’ He reflexively thought while the jumping beast was getting closer to his neck.
Samia was fast. When she saw the wolves passing through the defense in the middle, she quickly moved from the left side to tackle the wolves in the middle.
Unfortunately, the wolves too were fast. One wolf successfully attacked the hand of her teammate before she could get to him, but she wouldn’t allow them to take his life.
Samia signaled her sister and jumped to cut the wolf aiming for the boy’s throat. Before the wolf could bit his target’s neck, she cut its chest and made it give up on the attack, jumping back in pain.
At this time, an arrow arrived at the head of the wolf that was bitting the boy’s hand, claiming its life. Tael was the only archer confident enough to take a shot so near to other team members.
The wounded wolf bared its fangs showing its anger, but Samia stood unfazed waiting for the chance to attack the wolf again. She fainted an attack to get its attention, while Sania appeared from the side and didn’t hesitate to bury her dagger on the wolf’s head.
While the sisters were struggling with the wolves that passed through, the defenders weren’t having an easier time. Contrary to what they expected the wolves that crashed in their shields didn’t become too disoriented from the impact and quickly recouped their attacking posture.
When the defender’s attention was drawn by the passing wolves, the wolves attacked them again.
For Toni, switching on and off his Arrays had become easy and instinctive but the other defenders were less experienced. One of the defenders on his left side didn’t put back his defense fast enough to receive the second charge and got pushed to the ground by the beast.
Toni knew that his teammates on the back would be occupied with the beasts that passed, so it was up to him to help the defender.
He used all his strength to push the wolf back, then he positioned himself slightly above the wolf and pressed it. The wolf got smashed into the snowy ground. Toni didn’t dwell on his enemy situation and quickly moved to engage the wolf on his left.
The defender was desperately fighting off the wolf on top of him. He had his back to the ground and he was using his foot to kick off the wolf. But the wolf wasn’t ready to give up on its prey, he furiously bit the boy’s leg painting all snow around them in red.
The boy wasn’t used to crying, but the pain and fear of losing his leg filled his eyes with tears while he was cursing the wolf. Fortunately, Toni got to him before his leg was bitten off.
The wolf cried from the pound Toni gave him and tried changing targets, but Sania was already on them. She finished the wolf before it could do more damage.
Toni looked at the defender on his right side and the wolf attacking him was already down. He sighed in relief and moved to help the defender that was holding the first wounded wolves ten meters in front of his current position.
‘He did well in holding these wolves back. Even wounded, if they had passed through us they could have caused a lot of damage.’
Toni thought approving his teammate's actions.
This whole time, Karl stayed back holding his knife ready to fend off any attackers. When the team took down the wolves held by the last defender, he quickly went in direction of a small hill formed by two fallen wolves.
He couldn't see Diana and had a bad premonition.
“Diana! Diana!... Diana, are you there? Are you ok?”
Karl yelled while he tried to push away the bodies of the fallen wolves.
When he pushed the wolf on the top, he found Diana half-buried on the snow, she was holding her sword diagonally on top of her body, the tip of the sword was trusted inside a wolf’s mouth.
When the wolf tried to finish Diana, she used her last burst of energy to thrust the sword into his sniffing head.
Diana was brought conscious by the scared screaming Karl. She opened her eyes with great difficulty and saw that Karl was calling her desperately.
She noticed that his eyes were red and watered, she was in a lot of pain but relieved that she could now breathe.