"This is bullshit!" Fortress groaned after slamming his shield back on the stone entrance of their hidey-hole. It had received a bunch of new scratches and dents and was almost ripped out of his hands this time.

"Do you think Drop made it?" He then asked after calming back down a bit.

"Yes, he definitely made it. You know him." Cutter answered, breathing in sharply.

"Then we're at least not dying for nothing." Fortress joked in gallows humor.

"Indeed." Cutter agreed and continued applying pressure to his side.

The three locked-down hunters had almost got away themselves. However, Cutter's call to let their Scout escape and warn the village of this new threat had been the smart move. Cutter and his partners had then fought the invisible asshole with all the ferocity Ice-kin could bring up, only retreating after Fortress had crushed the thing's foot, slowing it down. Still, they couldn't get away because while they slowed down the monstrosity, it had also dealt a lot of damage. Cutter had a horrific cut on his side when a claw got through his defense and cut right through the armor, which parted like a piece of cloth.

An Ice-kin's armor was made of the cured skin of monstrosities. It was also layered and reinforced by metal plates sewn between two of those leather layers. Its thickness depended on the hunter. Scouts preferred lighter armor, while Guardians wanted as much protection as possible. This, in turn, meant that getting through this armor was extremely difficult. At least, typically. Meaning the claws of this thing were unbelievably sharp.

And worse, Cutter's sword was bent in the middle when this abnormality had used its tail like a whip, following up its claw strike. To the hunter's luck, this attack threw him back, and instead of crashing into something hard, he crashed into Silence and, therefore, was spared more wounds. However, Silence had been surprised by his boss flying full force at him and couldn’t react in time to either evade Cutter or steady himself to catch his leader. This means that after the two hunters disentangled themselves, Silence flinched when he tried to put his weight on his right foot.

While their wounds weren't fatal, they couldn't fight on, and hoping they had bought their scout enough time, ran. The monstrosity followed them, hobbling after them with its hurt foot. However, because Cutter and Silence needed Fortess' support to walk somewhat fast, the hunter team couldn't make their break away. Everything got worse when the monstrosity, hard on their heels, let out a strangely hollering sound, and only finding this little cave saved their lives because the second monstrosity attacked them from their flank. They had just made it into the cave when it crashed out of the foliage, but this one had black fur and burning red eyes instead of being almost invisible. It looked like it came right out of a nightmare. Only the three fleeing hunters' ice-cold will prevented them from vacating their bowels, when they got a look at it.

"How's your shield holding?" Cutter asked after the lengthy silence.

"Not good. I have probably one or two attacks before it breaks. It wouldn't be a problem if I could reinforce it, but this fucking thing goes completely insane if I do that, and I can't hold up the magic reinforcement endlessly." Fortress said.

"Then we need to make a decision. You know the village law. No one will come and help us, so it's do or die." Cutter sighed.

At this, the brooding Silence garbled some unintelligible words, which was the only way he could make his opinion known in this dark space. It was a testament to the hunting team's familiarity that they could understand the mute hunters' sounds.

"Are you having a fever attack?" Cutter asked, concerned.

Fortress, in turn, laughed out loud. "You know that won't happen, Silence. The Chief would not allow it."

The silent hunter rolled his eyes and then made some more noises.

"Because the kids need to do their first hunts before being allowed to do such things." Cutter said.

"Also, they have no weapons. Training weapons will only tickle this thing's hide." Fortress added.

Again, Silence garbled something.

"The Soul-boy? True, he might be allowed to go, but why should he?" Cutter asked.

The mute hunter had no answer to this question. However, Fortress got thoughtful.

"Well, he saved his friends from that gobbler. Risking his life, maybe if my daughter asked him." The guardian stated.

"You need to see it as is." Cutter said. "We are on our own, maybe and hopefully will not get us out of this predicament, so either we shit or get off the pot."

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

The mute Silence mumbled his opinion, then got as comfortable as possible, trying to keep his swollen foot still.

"Really?" Cutter asked incredulously. "You want to sit there and wait instead of killing this fucking thing and get back?"

"Well, we can hold out until tomorrow morning." Fortress mused. "Skipping another meal will not kill us. However, going out there without a plan will."

Cutter wanted to argue, then had to agree. It wasn't like him to charge something, hoping it would work out. His priority should be keeping his comrades alive. That's why he's the leader.

"You're both right." He stated. "Sorry for not keeping a calm head."

"It's fine. Sleep and recover. I will hold our position," Fortress said with a bright smile, and Cutter grinned back. Silence also voiced his opinion, making the other two men laugh out loud. All in all, the desperate situation got a bit more lively and positive.

"You know what, Silence. If you're right and my boy comes to help with the magic-wonderchild in toe, I will give you my part of the loot," Cutter said with a chuckle.

"Me too!" Fortress added, not wanting to sit out a distraction, no matter how minor it was.

The three stuck hunters then just chatted, their main topic being the growth of Cutter's and Fortress' children.

"What's the plan?" Mor whispered and got shushed by Drop, who had a strained look on his face.

After a bit, Drop whispered, "Something is strange. Look over there." Without making any big movements, he pointed to some shrubbery to the side.

The three young hunters followed his direction, but neither Mor, Jorgen nor the human could make out anything. Elly, however, saw what Drop had noticed and breathed her answer.

"Either there is a second, or this one had left once."

Drop nodded, glad to have his sentiment confirmed by another scout, young as she might be.

"However, if it had left, Cutter and the rest would have been able to get away. Except if the time frame was not long enough. Still, I think the more plausible explanation is a second one." Drop mumbled.

°That's bad. This would mean we must take out one before we get overwhelmed.° The human stated, and Mor agreed.

°However, this one was enough trouble for Drop to be sent away, so it is no pushover.°

°Yeah, and keeping attention on one invisible enemy is hard. Two? Impossible.° The human grumbled.

°Then what can we do?° Mor asked.

°Wait and trust in the experienced hunters.° The human replied.

After a few more minutes, watching Drop nodded to himself and addressed his temporary team as silently as possible.

"Elly, get up into a tree, where you have a good view of the clearing, but no magic, and stay silent."

The girl nodded and did her best to remember her mother's lessons in stealth. For Mor and Jorgen, it seemed the girl crawled back a few meters and then seemingly vanished. Jorgen had to suppress an impressed whistle at Elly's skill. Well, Mor suppressed it by reactively pressing the face of the other boy into the dirt when the human noticed the impending doom. Instead of a loud whistle, it was only a muffled groan that escaped the boy, and luckily this wasn't enough to alarm their prey.

Drop also looked in panic at the Ice-kin and slowly let out the breath he had been holding when the monstrosity didn't react to this tiny sound. Then continued to give his orders.

"Mor, I need you to work as a taunter. Can you manage it? You might need to hold the attention of two monstrosities for a moment. At least until Fortress can join you, he should be nearly unharmed." "At least I hope that." This last part Drop kept to himself.

Mor nodded while Jorgen looked at the scout expectantly.

"Jorgen, you and I will work as strikers. You keep your attention on the one right there. Its hobbling gate must be because of an injury, so it should be easier for you to handle. If there's a second, leave it to me. It shouldn't take long for Cutter and Silence to come for support. If that happens, I will join Elly for an ambush attack."

The scout took a deep breath and noticed the two boys' nervosity. Their apparent excitement outweighed any doubts, which he took as a good sign. Still, Mor and his companion had a quick discussion on how their game plan should look.

°Let's charge and try to get as close as possible to Gorn's shield.° Mor stated.

°I don't know if that's the best way. A pincer move should be more effective. Also, if we charge by it, this raptor will be between us and our team.° The human countered.

°Right, I didn’t think of that.° Mor stated.

°How about going hard and loud, really making ourselves known? The ruckus should get Gorn's attention a few seconds faster than when engaging normally.° The human proposed.

°What do you have in mind?° The Soul-boy wanted to know.

°We throw a single lightning bolt. It might dazzle the monster, make a loud noise, and, if we're really lucky, hurt this bastard.° The human answered.

°After that, we concentrate on defense until somebody can back us up.° Mor finished and agreed to the game plan.