The party of four traveled away from the glacial fortress, resting by night and taking turns keeping watch. The only one spared of the night watch was Elly, which was counterintuitive, but everyone agreed that she needed to be well-rested so she could stay attentive during the day. Of course, Elly didn't complain and used her nightly respite to sleep closely snuggled to Jorgen.

The travel was quite eventless, which disturbed Jorgen and Elly, who were used to more frequent monstrosity encounters from the Snow-village. However, unbeknownst to them, they were still inside the cordon where the glacial fortress hunters were culling regularly. Only after having traveled a week's distance from the fortress did the team cross the unmarked border and enter the wild proper. Elly was the first to notice the signs, as after three more days, she found the first tracks of a small monstrosity and called for a quick team discussion.

"It's a small one," Elly told them. What do you want to do? Should we pursue it or leave it and concentrate on finding Jorgen's target?"

"I'm for going after it, " Titania said. At least then, we will have completed the minimum requirement to pass our hunt."

"It might inflict damage on us, so I want to ignore it and keep looking," Jorgen stated.

Elly looked at Mor, making him the tiebreaker, and the Soul-kin took his time deciding and discussing the situation with his human counterpart.

°What do you think?° He asked.

°Let's go after it.° The human said.

°You say that because you want to fight something, right?° Mor grumbled.

°No. There are many good reasons to hunt it.° The human lied.

°Like what?° Mor asked. °Getting some hands-on practice with this new team instead of training fights?°

°That!° The human exclaimed. °Also, it takes the pressure off you all by fulfilling the requirements quickly. Meaning you don't have to rush into a fight with a howly thingy to complete your first hunt on time.°

°Like Titania said.° Mor stated.

°Yup.° The human confirmed.

°However, I agree with you. Even if you just want to fight. The practice will be worth the risk, and if we can't take down a weaker monstrosity without getting hurt, a howler will kill us. Having the pressure from clearing the first hunt gone is also good. This means we can run if things get bad without failing because of hubris.° Mor mused.

°Then let's a go!° The human exclaimed.

"Let's go after it," Mor told the Ice-kin team. "We can use the practice."

"But what if we get hurt," Jorgen complained.

"Then we are no match for a howler, at least from what we have learned of those," Mor said, and Elly nodded.

"He's right." She said.

"Fine." Jorgen sighed.

The decission made, the team got back in formation, and Elly took the lead. She followed the tracks with careful attention to her surroundings, just as Lize had taught her. Lize had told her daughter that getting too focused on the tracks ahead of you is the fastest way to get ambushed by something trailing you. The others were also attentive, and Mor, with his human companion, was almost as perceptive as Elly with her scout training. Still, she wanted to do her job right.

They were walking along as quietly as possible but couldn't beat out the daylight, and with night and darkness looming, Elly decided to stop for the night. Her mother had told her multiple times that a good scout knows when to pick a fight and when to wait, which was the same lesson Gorn and Cutter had told the two boys. Fighting a monstrosity at night was a surefire way to get hurt or die and should only be done if there was no other option left.

With Elly's recommendation, they lit no fire, instead eating cold rations, and set up their camp under an overhang they had found. The stone ceiling protected them from discovery and left only one possible direction of attack. However, they still seemed to have some distance from the roaming monstrosity, as the night stayed eventless, leading to an early morning start.

They kept tracking the monstrosity until Elly suddenly stopped the group, shushing them into silence and motioning them to stand by. The girl then snuck on ahead, vanishing into the treetops, only to reappear half an hour later, dropping down next to Jorgen, who flinched in surprise.

"I saw it." She whispered. "I never saw something like that."

"What does it look like?" Titania asked quietly.

"It's small, about hip height for me, walking on four legs. It has a sort of bone armor protecting its body." Elly stated.

"Sounds like a bulwark crawler," Titania said. "Those things are a pain to fight because their shell is almost invincible against any attacks. You have to bait its heads."

"Heads?" Jorgen asked.

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"Yes, it has three of them, and you need to cut off all three," Titania explained.

°Cool, it sounds like a tortoise hydra thing.° The human said.

°I'm not even asking you to explain it.° Mor sighed.

"Okay, what else?" Elly asked. "Are there any attacks, or is it just a hard nut to crack?"

"It has a poisonous bite, and its spit burns like hell. It's also deceptively fast, and with the shell and fur in forest colors, it is great at hiding itself." Titania continued.

"Forest colors?" Elly asked, and the other girl nodded.

"Then we're dealing with a mutation. This one is orange." Elly informed them.

°Boo ya! Fire hydra tortoise.° The human said excitedly.

°Why fire?° Mor asked.

°It's the rule! If something is orange, it has fire powers. Video game logic one-o-one.° The human explained.

°You're not making any sense again.° Mor said.

"How do we want to do this?" Jorgen asked, looking at Titania.

"Why are you looking at me?" She asked.

"You are our guardian, so you make the first move. Also, you seem to know most of that thing." Jorgen said.

"I see. Okay. Then we do it like my village handles those things. We rush it and cut off its heads before it can react, " she explained to the others' unconvinced gazes.

"Let's not do that," Elly said.

"Why?" Titania asked.

"Because that is no plan. An opening surprise attack is a good idea, though. Jorgen and Mor, you two try your best to get some early hits while Ania and I get into a position to support you. I don't know how effective my arrows will be against such an opponent, though." Elly stated.

"If you keep watch so we won't get ambushed by another monstrosity, it will be enough," Jorgen said with a smile, and Mor nodded.

"Then, after our first attack, Titania grabs the attention while Jorgen and I keep up the pressure. If baiting out its heads is the main goal of victory, we need to trick it into biting at us." Mor picked up Elly's plan.

"It's simple enough," Jorgen said.

"I still don't see the difference in what I said," Titania stated, then shrugged.

Everyone got ready, and at a nod from Elly, they enacted the plan. The tortoise-like monstrosity turned around at the attackers at surprising speed. Mor and Jorgen charged with enhanced strength, targeting a different head, each with their weapons. Jorgens sword cut the air in a low hum, while Mor's metal rod had grown an ax-head made of ice. However, the tortoise reacted instantly and retracted all three of its feline heads into the shell, evading both strikes. Mor and Jorgen reacted instantly and retreated just in time to avoid the high-pressure water beam shooting out from the front opening of the orange-red monstrosity.

°Water?!° The human complained. °What does that thing think it is? A fucking hydrant.°

There was a short pause while Mor dodged another beam of pressured water, giving him no time to answer.

°Oh god.° The human exclaimed, exasperated. °It's a hydrant hydra. That's so stupid!°

°Could you stop complaining and FUCK°Mor growled, pulling up a stone wall to save himself from a third attack. °Fucking help!°

°On it, boss, let's turn up the heat.° The human agreed.

While Mor tried to avoid getting a hole blown into his body, Jorgen adjusted his attacks, aiming for the legs. He got one good cut in before those were also retracted into the shell. However, he was not discouraged and instead thrust his weapon into the space where the legs had vanished, successfully inflicting damage.

Titania deployed her big shield, a guardian's most important piece of equipment. However, she preferred a spear as a weapon instead of a hammer like Gorn. Titania closed the distance, thrust her spear into the front opening, where the beams of water had erupted, and was rewarded with a shriek of pain from the monstrosity.

However, the tortoise had some more tricks up its shell because just as Jorgen set up another thrusting attack, a stream of high-powered air shot out from the leg holes. Luckily for the hunters, Jorgen's first attack seemed to have disabled one of them, making the tortoise spin in place instead of shooting off. However, it still made attacking it harder, as lining up on the weak points became almost impossible.

Almost being the operative word, as Mor quickly adapted, his rod started vibrating at a high-frequency pitch, and with the human taking over movement, Mor jumped up high. He was lining up a downward crash, wanting to crush and weaken the shell. The rod crunched down and penetrated the shell, with Mor's weight behind the strike, making the monstrosity stop spinning because of the pain and loss of concentration.

Mor grinned in apparent victory when an orange glow started emitting between the plates of the shell. The human reacted quickly and jumped, retreating Mor's body from the danger zone just in time to evade the spouts of flame erupting from the tortoise's back.

°Ok that burning hydrant hydra tortoise is awesome. It's like an elemental fun bag.° The human stated.

Elly had watched their surroundings because the high magic output of the combat might attract other monstrosities, but when Mor provided such an enticing target, she took the shot. Her training paid off as the arrow stuck itself into the freshly created hole, and Mor capitalized on it to her delight. His weapon formed the head of an icy hammer and drove the arrow into the monstrosity's body like a nail. It shrieked in pain, the heads coming out in a frenzy, snapping at Titania's shield. However, it was the last mistake the tortoise would make, as Titania's spear pierced the leftmost head, while the other two were cut off in a swift motion from Jorgen's sword strike.

The monstrosity slumped to the ground, instantly dead, and a long, quiet moment dragged over the combatants. Mor was the first to speak up again.

"Anyone hurt?" He asked.

"No." Came the unanimous answer.

They took a quick break as Elly ensured they were still safe and congratulated each other on a well-done fight.

"I don't know if that is good enough for a howler," Mor said.

"We know," Elly said. "But it was well done, so at least we can try."

"Yes, you didn't even go full power," Jorgen said, and Mor nodded.

"Neither did you."

"I wanted to slowly ramp up, to see how much power I need," Jorgen confessed, and Mor nodded in agreement.

"Then let's get some proof so we can at least finish up our test, no matter what happens with our extra quest," Titania said, smiling from the win.

They broke out a few splinters of the still-warm shell, and Jorgen decided to take one of the heads as a trophy. This would be enough to prove their successful hunt, and with the first win in the bag, they decided to continue on. The new consensus was, "Why be satisfied with the minimum when you can get home as the best?"