SS1 6.1 - A Sign of A Nest
Once we entered Sidra Forest, Ariel started the tracking right away. And as usual, tracking would take me back to two events in my life that had shaped the core of my personality.
First event was my adventure with algebra. Back in the first year of middle school, I had math teacher who held PhD in Mathematics. So, you could say he had undisputable knowledge for the job. However, as a math teacher for middle school kids who just started their journey building foundation for higher education, he was sucked beyond recognition.
When he introduced algebra to the class, all he did was writing an eight-line formula in the white board, using handwriting that resembled long lost hieroglyph, and then he said, “This is the basic principle of Algebra I recap using every bit of my knowledge. Comprehend it and I guarantee you will have easy day in algebra for the rest of your life.”
As the result, everyone in the class instantly dropped their jaws. I believed they were also cursing, ‘What the fuck is this hieroglyph teacher saying!!?’, like me. In the end, I had to study algebra on my own.
I made a lot mistake in my algebra homework and test, and ended up with a very bad score countless times. This situation pushed me to invest a massive effort to study algebra. I even studied algebra material beyond middle school curriculum. In the end, it took me eight months before I could comprehend the eight-line formula from the damnable hieroglyph teacher.
For the rest of my life, I would never forget my stubborn adventure with algebra, as in each step it gave me tons of migraine, nausea, and even tears. However, this painful experience gave me a huge self-confidence that nothing I could not master as long as I tried hard enough.
Years later, after my promotion to second lieutenant to be precise, my overflowing self-confidence gave me courage to take tracking course despite the preliminary assessment showed I didn’t have the cut to be a tracker. I even repeated the tracking course two times in row after I failed in the first and second one.
Up to this very second, I still clearly remembered it. In the first day of my first tracking course, the lead instructor said, “Read the trail using your five senses. If it’s beyond your five senses, perceive it.”
After that, all we did was 8-hours of field tracking for every single day for three whole weeks. Unfortunately, unlike algebra that no matter how complex the outer appearance, deep down it had structured pattern that would stick in my head as long as I tried to comprehend it hard enough.
As for the field tracking, no matter how many migraine, nausea, and tears I offered as payment, I never found the pattern I could use to establish an effective reading method. At the same time, my instructor kept saying to me, “Read it like how you read a story, or listens to it like how you listens music.”
However, until the end of the course I still didn’t get it, and after I failed the course for the third time, out of his frustration the lead instructor lashed out on me, “LT, why the fuck did you kept attending this course? You are spending IDF limited resource for nothing.”
After that, I never took any course in IDF just because I think it would give me a cool skill. As a matter of fact, I would never take any other course again if only the chain of command didn’t ordered me to and threatening me with, “Refusal will be translated as insubordination with big reward.”
Long short story, my conquests of algebra have given me immeasurable confidence to the point I believed I could become the second Alexander the Great if I tried hard enough, while the tracking course humbled me by slamming me back to earth face first. These two life lessons made me realize that acknowledging my own limit was as important as self-confidence. After that, I lived my life with light heart but ready to put my life on the line when it matters.
From a happy cheeky kid, to a teen with overwhelming self-confidence, to a self-over proud young man, and then ended up as a happy-go-luck dude, that was the journey of my growth so far. I hoped I didn’t become cranky old man later.
As for now, Ariel carried out the tracking beyond anything I could imagine. After gently sniffing the air a few times she said, “We have four trails. Let’s follow the closest and freshest one.”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Copy,” I expressed my agreement.
Honestly, I had no idea how Ariel’s tracking work, but I fully put my trust on her and followed her lead. Twenty minutes later, we found a clear goblin’s trails and it led us to a sentry guarding a small path.
“An orc and three goblins,” I said as I watched the sentry from behind a thick low shrub.
Ariel who lied down next to me took out her tablet and checked the map of surrounding area. Then, she said in low voice, “A sentry indicates there is a nest in the area. It seems it’s new and no one reports it to House of Hunter yet.”
I nodded and took the chance to test Ariel’s field craft. “Can you estimate the nest’s exact location?”
“Here,” Ariel lightly tapped a spot in the map. “The path guarded by sentry before us lead to this remote spot, and there is two other paths lead to this place.”
“It means, there are two other sentries we have to watch out,” I calmly said.
“That’s the minimum number.”
“How will you proceed?” I curiously asked.
“Berg, do you have means to eliminate the monster in the nest?” Ariel asked me back.
“As long as they are only orc, goblins, and Minotaur, I have an effective means to defeat them inside their nest.”
“In that case, let’s eliminate this sentry before going for the next one, and so on. If we managed to eliminate all sentries without alerting the nest, we will proceed to shut down the nest.”
“Do you suggest we don’t need to check the other sentries before making a more cohesive plan?”
“Mhm,” Ariel firmly nodded. “In case we fail to eliminate the sentry, we will retreat immediately and disappear. That way, we at least scores some kills.
On the other hands, if we carry recon to other sentries and make accidental contact, we will have to retreat empty handed.”
“You seem very confident you will be able to avoid hot pursuit in our six,” I curiously asked.
“It’s very easy for two people to disappear in a dense and lush forest, if you know the trick.”
“I see. You have lot of experience in this matter.”
“Mhm, Ariel and Big Sis always managed to carry this kind of hide and seek in the deeper area of Sidra Forest, where the monster has tracking ability far better than goblin or orc.”
“Let’s go with your suggestion then.”
“Okay,” Ariel happily replied.
Wasting no time, I and Ariel constructed the plan. Overall, we would carry out our hunt on the basis of quick get in and quick get out bite, so the hunting plan didn’t required complex preparation and thinking.
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Unlike Sherem Forest which was dark, quiet, and eerie to the brim, Sidra Forest looked more like tropical forest. The trees were heterogeneous. The highest was about 10 meter high, while the shortest was about 3 meter high. Most of all, sunlight could reach the forest floor with ease so it had lot of grass, shrub, light colored moss, and vine. The lush vegetation was hard to pass through, but at the same time it would give you a good cover when you want to approach a target silently.
The presence of birds and small animals were also abundant and easy to spot from their movement or noise. Honestly, if I didn’t see orc and goblins with my eyes, I would think I was on a hunt in an ordinary tropical forest in earth. Then, the time to carry out the murder arrived.
Krssk krssk krssk….!
Three consecutives short static noises, it meant Ariel was already in position. Wasting no time, I took aim at goblin on leftmost position form my point of view. The distance was only 65 meters, and MPX could reach it with ease, but I chose to use TRG M10.
At a distance above 50 meters, suppressed TRG M10 was the most quiet weapon system I had in my disposal. The rifle was also capable of delivering variant of 6.5x25 mm CBJ with biggest stopping power at full potential.
People around my victim wouldn’t hear anything other than the sound when the projectile hit its intended target on their chest or head, fragmented, and created a cone with the biggest diameter no less than a ping pong ball.
And so, as I already done the math before Ariel started the approach, all I had to do was make a simple final confirmation before squeezing the trigger.
Phut!
With ease the subsonic fragmenting-round hit the goblin at slightly above his right ears, and the violent jolt froze him.
Phut!
Before the first goblin fell to the ground, I had nailed the second one. Then, as the first goblin hit the ground with a light thud, commotion instantly broke out among the orc and the two remaining goblins. They looked at their two fallen comrades as their hand reached out for weapon at their waist.
At the same time, Ariel approached them from behind at a lightning speed, with shortsword in her hand. Then, a blurry flash hit the orc and the two goblins right at their nape, in a quick and agile succession. A second later, the orc and the goblins fell to their knee with wide open nape, and then tumbled to the side.
Wasting no time, Ariel moved the dead bodies to her inventory before retreating to my direction, and then jumped into behind a shrub 5 meter on my left. With a drumming heart, we then waited and vigilantly scanned the area.
Other than bird and small animals that scattered to all direction we didn’t see any movement, but I decided to wait for three whole minutes before signaling Ariel to regroup with me. She then carefully crawled to my position.
“It seems we can proceed to the next sentry,” Ariel said in low voice.
“It seems so,” I said while looking at Ariel’s childish face. ‘She maybe a kid, but she really know how to go ballistic when in a killing mode.’
After gulping down a mouthful of water, we then went to the next sentry.
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