The Refrigerators travelled for about an hour, before reaching their destination. It wasn't very far away, they just walked quite slowly because of the snow, and their rather heavy equipment.
To reach the Jared mansion, they had to travel by a path through the forest, not being in the open for even a second. Adam used the situation and gathered a few winter mushrooms to give his uncle as a present.
The mansion was big but not huge, around double the size of Steelarms mansion in Ferston. It was a wooden building, with stone foundations reaching the lowest windows. The mansion had a big, sloped roof which shined numerous windows and stuck out a small tower, with a similar sloped, pointy roof. The colours of the roof were invisible, as piles of snow lay on the building.
A few men exited the building, after seeing the newcomers.
"Hello, I am Marty, a manager of this mansion. I suppose you are Max Steelarm's team? Am I right?" Introduced himself to the man in the middle. He was quite old, in elegant attire, at which a thick coat was thrown.
"Yes, you are right, I am Max Steelarm, leader of this team. Leader of 'Refrigerators', as we chose to name ourselves" Saying the last line, he looked sideways at Adam.
Max introduced himself as a leader not as a magician, even though mages had a higher standing than the army's Team Leaders. He had done so because as he was in service at the moment, it would be impolite and unprofessional to address himself by his personal title instead of a position in the military during work hours
"Nice to meet you, young master. Would you like to have something to drink first, or will we discuss the hunt immediately?" Asked Marty. The butler was very polite and used Max's more important title while talking to him, probably because of Max's background, or because he was just a nice person. Who knows.
"No, I would like to deal with the monsters as fast as I can." Answered Max.
"Very well, let's start with what you might encounter. In the area around the mansion, if there are some beasts, most of the time they are either Elk, Lynxes or Wolves." Started the manager. "Elks are the least concerning ones, as they are herbivores and live practically alone, sometimes in small groups. They don't attack us unprovoked, though they are the most powerful individuals, among the three. Lynxes are more dangerous, they aren't afraid of humans and attack us sometimes, but rarely seriously, most of the time they steal our food or inconvenience us in some other way. The most dangerous ones and your priority targets are wolves. They live in packs and sometimes hunt our servants who venture out into the woods when they are very hungry.
When you see the first two, there is no problem if don't take care of them, but kill all wolves you find, and other potentially dangerous animals you might encounter." Explained the butler. The organizer evidently cared about the safety of his party, which seemed to be planned in the forest, despite the snow and cold.
"Where do you think we will find them?" Asked Max.
"Wolves are mostly seen about five kilometres southward from here, but not only. Lynxes and Elks are seen all around the forest, apart from the south, too many wolves there."
"Thank you for the info, and excuse us, as we will depart immediately." Max ended the conversation and walked to the south, the rest of the team after him.
They walked quite the distance when the forest quieted, unusually so. That meant they were on a good course. In every forest, animals would cause some ruckus, they had to give off some noise every now and then. The only instances when it was this quiet were when some predators were nearby, normal animals hid, and stayed as quiet as they could, as their lives depended on it.
There were also other possibilities, such as when a huge hunt just ended, and when all animals in the vicinity were dead. Such a situation may also suggest the appearance of an apex predator.
Adam heard that such situations only happened in the deepest parts of the wilderness where high-ranking beasts run rampant. The difference is, that in those areas there were no normal animals. The most powerful beast in the area would kill and eat all other monsters and attack others with its level of power. Some people think that they do that in preparation to cross a major boundary in their realm. Some think that they just go insane. Adam himself always thought the first option was the right one, and in the light of the knowledge he recently gained, the rumours made some sense.
They walked a threaded path, guiding them among the trees and bushes covered in snow.
"Keep vigilance at all times, wolves in this part have very bright fur that blends easily in the snow." Warned Watt.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
"Right, about time. Assume your positions in the formation and get your weapons." Ordered Max.
The formation he talked about was a defensive one, which they created while travelling to the mansion.
Watt stepped out, taking the vanguard, he held his shield before himself with both hands. He still wasn't strong enough to hold it with only one arm and move fast at the same time. Because of that, when travelling he was well-defended but without the ability to counterattack.
Behind him, at his left, walked Kyll. His spear in his right hand, and a shield in the other. He looked as if he was having a stroll, as he effortlessly marched forward. Not a weird thing, as he was the only Elementary realm in the team.
On his right was Berta, with her sword unsheathed, ready in hand.
After them, Max and Monica were next in formation. They walked side to side. Monica had her bow in hand, one arrow knocked on and a few others held in her bow-wielding hand. Max's metal shard orbited them, at low altitudes so they wouldn't obstruct her in shooting.
Adam and Iler closed the formation. Iler was the furthest from the lead and was constantly checking his back in search of potential attackers. A transparent shield was hovering behind him. The shield was cast by Adam, while it wasn't the best defence, it would be priceless against a sneak attack. Adam couldn't make it follow Iler, so he made it so it hovered two metres behind himself. Iler had to be in that gap for him to be defended by it.
They walked like that for the rest of the way. Meaning, another three kilometres or so.
After a while, they found some fresh tracks in the snow, pawprints of a large number of wolves.
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Adam crouched beside Max, as they stared at the clearing before them. Their companions were hiding in the bushes behind them.
The clearing was quite small, smaller than the makeshift arena at the camp, but large enough to contain a few tents. Inside the clearing, a few holes were visible in the snow.
Wolves burrows, guarded by two of the canids, alert and ready to defend their pack staying outside and observing the surroundings.
"~How many do you think there are of them?~" Adam whispered towards his leader.
"~At least ten, I've spotted four pregnant ones, so we must expect ferociousness.~" Answered Max, also in a hushed voice.
"~Monica, come here, you guys prepare to engage.~" Whispered Max towards bush lovers. "~ I and Adam will kill these two from here, while you will watch out for any other and shoot immediately when you notice them. We start on three.~" The last sentence was directed towards Adam.
Adam cast [Icicle] a few times and combined it into a larger projectile, in appearance similar to an arrow. 'I need to make a few other attack spells, modifying icicles is so bothersome' he thought.
"~One~" Max started counting.
Adam gathered mana in his fingertips, casting [Sway], and having it on standby.
"~Two~" Monica knocked an arrow on, while one of Max's biggest shards was in front of him.
"~Three~"
Theeeew - Ice and metal flew through the air, cutting it and causing a whizzing noise to go around the area.
Ice arrow hit its target first, as it was propelled not only by Adam's mana manipulation but also by Adam's other spell - [sway]. It hit the wolf under its ear, killing it instantly. The shot itself was quite the gamble, as Adam never combined the two spells together before, but it proved to be very successful.
Metal also hit its target, but it killed in a much more gruesome way. The wolf's head was chopped off from its neck, connecting to the rest of the body only with a thin piece of skin, quite brutal I would say.
The wolves noticed the commotion and left their burrows, there were nine of them. A slight miscalculation on the team leader's part.
Watt, Kyll, Berta and Iler got out of the bush and arranged themselves in a defensive formation. With Watt and Iler in the centre, Berta and Kyll stood by their sides, defending the archer and the mages.
As they arrived before their companions, an arrow whizzed through the air, burying itself in the wolf's eye. Somehow, all the shots until now were successful, a miracle, or maybe beginner's luck.
Only eight were left to go.
The pack spotted the attackers and charged in their direction. With every intention to kill, they wouldn't just leave the murderers alone.
Another volley of projectiles flew through the air, metal ice and a wooden arrow raced against each other who would reach the wolves first.
This time, there were only two causalities. Icicle proved to be ineffective without a windy boost. Thou, it also hit its target.
Six wolves remained.
The fastest member of the pack arrived before the party, Watt moved in its way, slamming it with his shield. Berta quickly slashed at the beast with her big sword, ending its life.
Five more to go.
Two wolves attacked the other flank, Kyll took one of them on his spear, keeping it at bay thanks to two spikes near the spearhead. The beast flung around for a bit, but it stopped, after having its arteries cut by Iler's sword. The other wolf charged at the boy, and bit him on the shoulder, knocking him over. The pauldron absorbed most of the jaw's power, but not all of it. Iler let out a shriek of pain and struggled to get the beast off of him.
Another hail of projectiles hit the pack. They hit the wolves that run after the second charge, at Kyll and Iler. Two of them were removed from combat.
Three beasts left.
Kyll, seeing his partner in need, quickly took the spear from the dead wolf's body, and thrust it at the attacker with all his might. best's head popped like a watermelon, splashing blood all over Iler.
Another wolf appeared from Watt's side, sneaking past him and Berta, it headed towards Monica. Just as she was about to be crushed under the beast's charge, a transparent shield appeared before her, stopping the wolf in its tracks for a second. That second was enough for a piece of metal to fly through the dissipating remains of the shield and hit the wolf in the head, killing it.
Last one.
The final one was struggling under Watt's weight, who used his shield to smash, like a wild refrigerator slamming its prey to the ground. Its life was ended by a quick jab delivered by Berta with her two-handed sword.
"Phew..." Adam heaved a breath of relief, the first fight for today, ended.