The clansmen didn't have a chance against the first charge that was pulled out with the full power of Stone's allies. Many were directly pierced with spears or hacked with big axes without putting much resistance. Once the charge stopped instead of counter-attacking they were under the attacks of the claws and fangs of the wolves which tore them apart.
But once this first wave ended aborigines' opportunity finally came.
The ones resting inside their tents came up and with furious roars attacked the barbarians who attacked them. They were not intimidated by the big wolves or the weapons which were at first glance better than theirs. With spears and clubs made out of bones, they surrounded the wolves and started attacking. Some of them even jumped at the rider trying to get him down on the ground.
Their weapons were much weaker than the baptized weapons of the Bakur Tribe but still could somehow contend.
Stone who came in the second wave didn't use the wolves put before his chest shield when he saw that the clansmen finally responded to their ambush. And he did right as a second later arrow embedded itself in his shield. Fortunately, the archer was soon torn apart as one of the wolves jumped at him when he didn't expect it.
With a swift swing of his spear, Stone broke the spine of the arrow for better maneuverability and continued in his charge. Full of momentum he stabbed at first enemy he saw. The enemy wanted to parry but he was too late and his chest was pierced. Stone then kicked him off the spear and looked around himself. Someone ran towards him from the side so he blocked the attack with and thrusted his spear.
Before the spear could hit its target he twisted his body narrowly evading and attacking once again this time at Stone's legs which were not protected.
His weapon of choice was long bone, which Stone recognized as the human femur, used as a club, and was colored crimson just like blood.
Stone didn't have time to ponder why it was like that but he was sure that it was the reason why mere bones can damage his baptized shield.
Getting hit by it would definitively crush his leg and make him immobile for unforeseeable time so in a split second he decided what to do.
He sidestepped to the side and slammed the shield at the opponent's main arm changing the trajectory of the blow a little.
Once the blow missed he stabbed at the opponent's instep effectively pinning him to the ground. He let go of the spear and gave a quick jab to the throat of the enemy who wanted to yell in pain choking him in the process. This temporarily disabled the aborigine before him giving Stone time to take the dagger out stabbing the enemy to death.
"Phew..." Once Stone confirmed that no one wanted to attack him again he quickly took the spear out of the enemy foot and took a few deep breaths trying to stabilize his breathing.
He looked around to check the situation. In the rain of arrows they fired around 15 of the aborigines died. That didn't seem a lot but considering that many of them were hidden in tents it was a big success. Then after the frontal attack at least another 40 died.
Unfortunately, their side also took a hit and he noticed at least seven of their men on the ground in the pool of their blood. Some of the wolves also didn't make it as the Aborigines didn't fear them and slowly but surely injured them until they got too many wounds and bled out.
But that was the toll of war. It was a tragic sight full of carnage that made Stone remind of some unsightly memories so he shook his head to stop thinking about those useless things.
"Haaagh" As he fought with his disgust he heard the roar of a man he knew fully well. So he turned towards the sound and there he saw Degres fully standing on the Tear as he held one of the heads while making war cries.
This time the aborigines were truly intimidated as some of them faltered only to be chopped by the Bakur members. Stone, with the amount of the ornaments on the head, recognized that this was actually the head of the shaman of one of the clans. This was a disastrous loss for the clan and it could possibly be integrated into another clan or be eradicated and consequently sacrificed.
Unfortunately, it wasn't Heares Clan's shaman so Stone stopped to care about it as he looked at who to attack next.
Soon he saw two aborigines surrounding one man so he sprinted there to help...
........
Time passed.
During this time Stone managed to take down another three men but at the cost of injury which was hard even for him to heal. Aborigines were cunning and did everything to take down the intruders.
The battle was difficult and if he didn't have his gift then probably even lethal. The fatigue after this almost made Stone's legs buckle as he finally breathed a sigh of relief. He was unsteadily standing above his enemy's body while holding the bone pierced right in his right lung his.
*Squelch*
With force, he pulled it out and threw it away as he groaned in pain. He was breathing heavily but with difficulty as his mouth was filling with blood. He had to cough it out every few seconds until the wound on his chest closed.
But instead of relief, he realized something weird.
The wind was howling all around and gained more strength as time passed. The biting cold was penetrating everyone present as if they were naked and the fires so thoroughly maintained by the aborigines got put out one by one and nobody could stop it.
Soon they noticed from a distance how the white made out of the pure white came towards them with trees, boulders, and any other obstacles disappearing without a sound.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
"It's a snowstorm!" He heard someone from far away as he saw the falling snow brought by the wind going their way.
"Cover up!" Kaoran's voice was also heard from the distance.
Before anyone could do something the snowstorm hit them and the entire camp was shrouded by it.
Soon only the falling snow filled Stone's eyesight and entire camp lights disappeared in the snowstorm. The men he saw from the distance were nowhere to be seen....
The wind was so strong that he had to pull his legs apart to keep balance. His eyes were squinted at the stinging sensation of the snow and wind and his hearing was completely impaired thanks to the relentless roars of the wind. He couldn't even see a meter away from him making him feel a little anxious.
'Something is wrong. There was no way that snowstorm would come so quickly that even Kaoran wouldn't notice beforehand...'
He realized that it was impossible to not notice this coming snowstorm even within the heat of battle they were going through. It was simply too sudden for natural phenomena. But Stone kept his calm as he chose to go through the camp to find someone. He was expecting enemies to run out of any direction so he was cautious. In his mind, those Aborigines were too crazy to care about this.
He was listening if he heard something but the snowstorm was too loud so he could only give up...
Unfortunately during the battle most of the people distanced from each other and there was no one close to him at this moment. In the end, he could only wander as he looked around to see anyone but he only saw the corpses on the ground.
"What's this ?" Soon he noticed something weird in those bodies.
Those bodies seemed to be half-eaten as if something feasted on them. It wouldn't be important if it was just aborigines as Bakur Wolves could bite off some flesh from their opponents but even the Bakur members were afflicted.
Stone's instincts rang a bell and he knew something was wrong. He prepared himself for any attack or whatever that may come to him.
And he did right.
Soon a faint sound sounded from behind as he turned around and thrusted his spear.
The 'thing' pierced itself on the spear but didn't stop as it wanted to tear Stone apart. So the only thing he could do was to bash 'it' with his shield. Soon the struggle stopped and Stone looked at what it was.
It was a small creature, the size of a dog, with long saber-like teeth. Its fur was white, almost transparent, and it had blue eyes without pupils.
Stone immediately realized that it looked like some sort of tiger or in this case cat since it was too small. But when he tried to touch it only pain hit him.
*Shhh*
"I got burnt by the cold ?" Stone muttered himself surprised that the fur was so cold it burned him.
But he couldn't think about it as he heard another growl around him. He didn't see them but he knew they were there. This was only thanks to his excellent hearing making him worried that others wouldn't be able to defend themselves if they were also attacked.
Soon those beasts attacked and Stone could only fight back. There were many of them circling around him with excellent teamwork.
Thankfully his shield managed to keep them at bay and he killed a few of them. They were not so strong individually. They were actually as strong as regular wolves but whenever they stretched him the pain was unimaginable.
The cold he thought he was resistant to seeped deep into his bones as the surface of the wounds was layered in frostbite.
There seemed to be at least a dozen of them around him showing they attacked in packs and were very skilled in it not giving Stone any respite despite the difficult fight he had just before they showed up...
'Wait. Is it because of them that the snowstorm came or maybe the opposite ?' The creatures attacked just as the snowstorm came giving these two possible answers since those creatures are obviously creatures comfortable in the cold environment.
Unfortunately, the new information didn't give him any edge against them as he tried to fend for himself hopelessly.
During the fight against those in the front, he gets bit in his calves and buttocks giving him great pain and difficulty in standing. But if he wanted to turn around then those at the front would be at his back. It was the problem of fighting too many enemies.
But as he thought about running away he heard the squealing of the dying tigers from the distance. Tigers also noticed it and some of them turned towards that direction with growls. Some of them even went there in a hurry as they jumped at whatever there was. Stone realized that it was probably someone else attacking those creatures so he took the opportunity and killed another three of those tigers that were left behind.
Unfortunately, when he finished he heard another wailing of the tigers and in another second saw the glint from his light in the distance making him instinctively block it with his spear. That was immediately cut through as the blade hit Stone in the neck following to his chest.
It wasn't clean cut as the blade seemed to be jagged so Stone's flesh was in a horrible state and it hurt him a lot. If he didn't take a step backward making the wound superficial he would be in an even worse state...
But the problem just came.
When he finally saw the assailant his memories hidden deep in his mind resurfaced.
"Bastard..." Stone muttered to himself.
Triston, the Chief of Hearas Clan and the one who slays the wolf monster and who puts him on the stake to burn him alive. He was in the camp the entire time trying to find a way how to kill most of those barbarians who dared to attack them. Unfortunately, he wasn't even equal to Degres let alone Kaoran so he chose to kill as many of the weaker ones as possible and then flee to tell the Grand Shaman.
In that case, they would attack the Bakur Tribe and retrieve the bodies of their clan members and also the bodies of those barbarians to sacrifice them.
But suddenly this snowstorm showed up and those small tigers started to attack him. He knew that it wasn't good to stay here so he tried to get away from the snowstorm. At that moment he saw the silhouette of a man before him.
Without hesitation, he attacked intending to behead someone. Why? It could be someone from the Blood Crow Alliance right?
It didn't matter to him. If the man was Bakur barbarian then it was profit. If it wasn't one then what is the matter? In the end, their bodies still belonged to their Lord so getting to him sooner should be their honor.
But the man dodged and survived. He showed there with a ferocious expression looking at the man as he wanted to yell at the insolent barbarian before him in his language. But when he saw Stone's face his eyes widened as he realized in the beat who he was.
He knew this face. This thing that brought him failure he never forgot. He then smiled maliciously as the anger was visible in his eyes.
Triston wouldn't let this opportunity given by the Lord let go.
"Lord, guide us. Years ago you spoiled our sacrifice, you devil's spawn. Now you are calling the biting cold to destroy us? In your dream!
Before I failed to sacrifice you but now... Now even if I have to bring you back in pieces I will put your head on the altar, you scum." With a roar, he charged towards Stone.
On the way, he bisected the tiger that jumped at him from the side and attacked Stone who was still in a stupor.
Fortunately, he dodged at the last moment and blocked the short jagged blade with his shield. The block was successful but the blade was strong enough to break the wood of the shield making it almost unusable after just this one blow.
The spear was gone so he could fight only with his axes. No allies will come because of the snowstorm and he can't just run around the camp because of the sneaking tigers.
The worst thing was that the wound healed slowly as he was almost without stamina which was the energy the gift usually used for the regeneration...
Stone was in a precarious situation. Triston didn't seem to care about the camp or his own men but his eyes saw only the boy who was the spawn of the devil or even the devil himself. How else would he survive the fire of their lord? He deserved the worst death possible and showed his remorse towards their lord...