Day Later.
Once Kaoran and Stone finished the dissection, they quickly returned to the camp. Degres who also returned from his investigation was happy that the duo finally found the clue about those maniacs and immediately called the meeting. Soon the existence of the camp was proved with the help of the scouts who checked the place mentioned by Kaoran and confirmed everything told by the man that got interrogated.
Others also knew about the Blood Crow Alliance since not every team got annihilated by them and returned with the information. So when the meeting began many volunteers wanted to go fight. Unfortunately for them, Kaoran said he would take only 50 men that would be chosen by him since it was a raid done during the night where they needed to be unseen before the attack. Their tribe had about 3700 people but not everyone could fight as well as others and needed protection so the rest would need to defend the camp before they arrived. After all those 50 men will be elites of the tribe so during large-scale conflict without them they would suffer a lot.
Stone was obviously chosen as one of the fighters since he was getting stronger at a fast rate. He was already strong as an adults and only needed to fight more to be as experienced as them. Moreover, he had a margin of error and didn't need to fear most of the fatal injuries making him even more dangerous.
He also wanted to participate since this ambush would be able to give him enough merit to gain a real name. He never thought about getting one but he felt he would need it one day so why not get it sooner? Maybe the leftover merit can be used to pay part of the debt towards the tribe.
Of course, the most important reason was because one of the clans seemed to be Heares Clan who almost burned him alive. So Stone had finally a chance to avenge himself. But unless he kills their Chief and Shaman it won't be complete...
Unfortunately, those are not on his list since the Chief, Triston, was just a little weaker than Degres. Shaman should be at least as strong as him. How would Stone fight them? He is considered strong in the Valas lands but far from one of the strongest.
So in the end Stone chooses to begin with the regular members of the clan. He knew that shifting the target of revenge on someone close to the target was bad. Kaoran taught him this principle years ago. But this decision of his wasn't entirely wrong. After all, everyone in that clan was part of that atrocity done to him. It's just that Chief and Shaman were the main culprits.
It could be said that everyone in that clan is a sinner. Or at least that's what Stone thought at this moment.
As Stone was pondering about this he calmly cleaned his weapons while sitting on a big rock watching others hurry to step into the camp. Thanks to the baptism he never actually needed to make any maintenance on his weapons but Degres told him to do it anyway as it would form a good habit.
"Stone! How come you can go with them when I can't? That's not fair!" The voice which was annoying Stone for a while sounded out once again. He ignored it for some time but he couldn't anymore as the man who was talking to him started to shake him which irritated him even more.
"Stop it or I will make sure you won't be able to participate in any other fights in your life." Stone's calm yet chilling voice sounded out as he looked at Urchin with displeasure. This guy was annoying with any stupid thing and wouldn't stop. The tribe was right for giving him his nickname.
"Common Stone. You are like this only because they allowed you to go! I wanted to go too! My name would resound in the entire Frozen Tundra Valas and would be the greatest warrior!" Urchin said with an excited voice. But then he deflated once again as his imagination simply won't come true.
"Well, great warrior you must train more since you weren't chosen this time." Sweet voice sounded out with giggles as Zephyr limped to them.
"Tch. Says the one who lost her leg in the first fight!" Urchin looked at her with a dissatisfied look.
"Well, that's because I didn't have Stone by my side." Said Zephyr with a proud look. Then she ignored Urchin's complaints as she looked at Stone with a mischievous look.
"Be careful and survive. Or else all my rambling would be useless wouldn't it " She giggled once again.
"Hmph, Stone will obviously come back victoriously in one piece!" Urchin said with conviction.
"You dumbass, you just jinxed him. Why did you do that ?" Zephyr was furious as she glared at him.
"Hah?!" Soon they bickered as Stone just sat before them blankly looking at them questioning his life choices...
Soon they said goodbye to him as the evening came and the people marched out of the camp. Zephyr waived to him as she yelled at his leaving back.
"Don't forget! It isn't a sin to be a monster!" She seemed to be happy as she said this. Unfortunately for her Urchin bonked her on the head as he scolded her for her stupid crap.
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Stone furrowed his brows. He felt weirdly insulted despite knowing that Zephyr didn't have any bad intentions. In the end, he thought it was just another of her quirks and waved his hand at them so they stopped yelling.
........
There were exactly 50 men and around 40 wolves. Some people didn't have their wolf since the beginning, some lost it during the fights... It was a big number for ambush so they decided to divide into five teams and separate from each other. They will then meet together at an arranged place close to the enemy's camp. One team is led by Kaoran, another by Degres, and the other three by three elders of the tribe that Stone never talked to.
He was assigned to Degres' team as they quickly ran through the forest as quietly as ten marching men could be. This time Stone took his spear and shield expecting this would be one of the biggest skirmishes of his current life.
He would take his bow too but unfortunately, he would be then too burdened. He was taking on regular ambushes with Misty Bear a shield with a bow and quiver and even then it was hard to move around with it let around now with two meters long spear.
So his back only had holsted the shield and on his hips were his axes that didn't take much space.
Degres who was at the front together with him laughed loudly as he asked him a question.
"How about it lad? Are you nervous? Normally everyone who goes to the fights as big as this one for the first time is nervous. And it is deserved since many will probably die, haha. Right, you guys!" At the end, he roared at the others who also laughed happily.
"Yeah! Who knows maybe it will be finally our chance to become a chief of the tribe, ha ha!"
"Haha hah hah."
Everyone laughed as Stone looked at them with a dumbfounded expression. Truly a battle-maniac tribe... Thankfully despite their loud voices, they were still far from the enemy camp so they didn't need to fear being exposed making him relieved a little but he tensed as he looked at Degres.
'He won't be so loud the entire time as an idiot, right ?'
"I am not nervous." Stone curtly answered.
"Well you can heal from most injuries so it is no wonder!" Others laughed again as one said this.
........
Three days later.
Everyone was in a good mood during the way until they got to the Greythorn Forest. Then, to Stone's relief, they started to be more serious and stopped talking with each other they had before. Even the wolves were silent as they ran alongside their owners. They weren't used for riding this time as they needed to save up their energy for the fight.
They also met several scouts but those were quickly disposed of by their own scouts. Although they were already divided their number was still high so there had to be some scouts who were looking for enemy scouts that could notice them. Fortunately, there were no mishaps as they traveled throughout that forest until they reached the meeting point where they already met other teams.
"Looks like others here. We will have a rest until the sunset and then surround the camp." Said coldly Degres. When it comes to this kind of thing it is he who decides despite the Grand Shaman having higher status. Fortunately for the tribe Degres and Kaoran were never at odds making the situation easy.
A few Hours Later.
Once the rest ended everyone stood up from their position and started to move towards the enemies with grim expressions. Well, most since there were some excited men with glints in their eyes. They were prepared to die and wanted to draw as much blood as possible!
Stone progressed closely with Degres as they sneaked under the covers of the night closer to the place until they saw a dim light in the far distance. As they got closer Stone realized that it was fire from the torches and bonfires the clansmen had in the camp. He recalled that even in the Heares Village there were many torches along the way he went through.
It seemed to be some kind of tradition or something. Unfortunately for them, it was much harder to keep the fires in this cold wind blowing around making it laborious to just keep it burn. But it was to the Bakur Tribe's and any other forces' advantage since so much light would impede the eyes of those who were looking outside of the camp. On the other hand, Stone saw perfectly the layout of the part of the camp he was looking at.
Every team went towards different parts of the camp hoping to do as much damage as possible before the enemies could recover and make them panic. Just as they did with Heares Clan years ago. Attacking them during a big sacrifice they completely caught off guard everyone there and before they could recover Chief Triston already commanded a retreat.
Degres who saw that Stone didn't take any bow gave him one of his own that was strapped on his wolf called Tear.
"Here. It is disposable for a situation like this where close combat warriors do not have a place or time to store the bow. Just throw it away once you are done with it. " He said it but didn't look at Stone but into the camp.
Stone nodded to him as he tried out his borrowed bow. It was much harder to draw so he loosened it a little until it was fine. Thankfully he was skilled in this since he was using his hair as strings and made many experiments during the times he was trying it out.
Soon he took out an arrow from the borrowed quiver and aimed at his opponent. They didn't use fire arrows as they would probably snuff out before even landing in this cold.
Soon every team was prepared.
Everyone aimed with their bows and most of them already straddled their wolfs to descend upon their unsuspecting enemies waiting for the orders. The orders were given not by Degres but by Kaoran since he could use the wind to send signals from the distance.
Once Degres got the signal from the warm wind he commanded his team to fire. Everyone took a deep breath and released the arrows they had drawn beforehand.
*Swish*
Arrows were fired from five directions at the camp and covered the night sky. Clansmen who realized that there was an ambush immediately sounded the alarm by screaming loudly but most sound was cut off when the arrows embedded in their bodies. Some wanted to take cover but not many succeeded.
Stone managed to hit the neck of the man he was aiming for but wasn't happy. He was aiming for the heart but didn't predict the man's movement... But there was no time to consider this. He fired blindly in quick succession several other arrows as everyone else before throwing the bow away preparing for charge with his spear and shield he took off his back.
There were screams everywhere as mayhem began. But it was different from Stone's imagination. The clansmen he expected to be confused seemed rather furious than anything else. They were yelling like crazy and started to use their dead comrades as shields. Truly maniacs...
Soon the howling of the wolves resounded as everyone charged riding on their wolves while facing the ferocious aborigines.
The battle began to its fullest.