Clear skies, warm sunshine and clean mountain air means most trees grow well and strong on Cloud City's peaks. A variety of thickets are tended by gardeners for a variety of purposes, from simple fragrant flower trees, groves of fruit trees or arrays of natural sun energy trees for cultivation purposes. The common feature of all these wooded areas or gardens is that they are tended and they are prevented from absorbing to much ki, Mount Wild was a different story. Demon realms were the name given to areas of Cloud City that could not be controlled, either due to their size and danger or for the difficulty to access them like the deepest parts at the heart of Cloud Cities various peaks. Mount Wild was of the former kind it was one of the largest peaks of Cloud City and the deep dense woodland had never been conquered. Shura now stood before it, the hot air of the sun bathed morning warming his blood before the expedition in the dark green gloom of the demon woods. The Free Hunters guild expedition was well prepared and looking grim. All new the dangers of a demon realm, beast type demon were only a fraction of the dangers of an area where ki was uncontrolled. Shura had learned with his lessons with Needle that plants would mutate and grow twisted, some gaining sentience, man eating trap flowers or deadly poisoned thorns the size of swords were only the most common of such plants, the very air of a demon realm would change as the fauna, flora and even geology of the area bathed and absorbed ki unrestricted. The lessons also taught the young warrior the treasures these areas provided*, medicinal plants strong in ki, the demon cores used in a wide variety of ways or various ki infused materials for weapons or tools. The dangers outweighed the gains in the mind of all members of the expedition as they adjusted straps, fiddled with weaponry or shifted the weight of their supplies. This was not a treasure hunt, this was a demon subjugation. During the time of Shura's training the guild had been scouting out the woods to determine the change in it's ecosystem, it had been rapidly apparent to the scouts that the demon realm was acting up, demon beasts were even more aggressive, even desperate and the woods seemed to be weary of something. A few days ago that something got a name, it had torn asunder 3 out of a 4 man squad of scouts. The survivor only survived long enough to limp towards other guild members to warn them: "eastern central area of Mount Wild beware the Red Demon". She had then collapsed and died from her devastating wounds. Whatever the Red Demon was it was at the least rank 4, a demon lethal to martial masters, for nothing else would annihilate the trained scouts of the guild. It was no wonder the whole of Mount Wild was in turmoil, a demon realm's ecosystem was ruled over by demon lords, the strongest demons or demon type of the realm that kept each other and the realm in general in check. They had clear defined hunting grounds and homes, in Mount Wild the Emerald king, a gigantic snake with a crest of emerald poisonous spikes, the Night Howlers. a pack of dark wolfs with bark hide lead by a savage and intelligent alpha den mother, and the Dryads, a mysterious humanoid plant group that exhibit ki powers, were the lords. A new demon would mean that none of the, until now uncontested, lords could deal with it, a new lord and it was wreaking havoc on Mount Wild. The danger was such that a task force had been put together from the various martial clans of Cloud City, the Free Hunters though were the vanguard and were setting off before the demon subjugation squad to scout and prepare a forward base.

The sun had barely moved in the sky before Gargan lifted a hand high. The guild had discussed and planned throughout the night, now was the time of action so the giant like leader of the Free Hunters simply barked "forward!" as he thrust his arm down. As Gargan stepped confidently under the gloomy canopy Shura saw Needle and other agile members dash into the trees disappearing like shadows as they nimbly moved from branch to branch. The art of tree top movement was one of the few Shura had not excelled at during training, his naturally explosive power meant that though he could move with great speed, when doing so at height using tree branches he looked more like a raging demon-baboon than the silent squirrel like movements of the scouts. Shura was one of the last to step into what seemed like complete darkness. It felt like stepping into night time the canopy was so thick and because of Mount Wild's demon realm creating an unnatural murkiness. The temperature also dropped considerably but the air was stuffier and filled with the smell of ancient woodland, a mixture of rot birthing blooming life. The young warrior was part of the rearguard, comprising of those with high senses against possible sneak attacks and some of the strongest members carrying the bulk of the supplies and equipment needed for the mission. Shura was at the center of the rearguard having proved to have excellent senses and after Gargan being the strongest of the guild. A wave of nostalgia washed over Shura as he advanced through trees, so laden was he with packs and gear he remembered the simple time of water carrying, he quickly squelched out his musings and focused on his surroundings. This was an alien world to him, he had grown up a farmer, a world of open fields, sunshine and blue sky. This was a world of menacingly close massive trees, gloom and stuffy browns and green. Sound here was not carried by the wind but seemed to be swallowed by the plants surrounding them, as if devoured by listening bark, his eyes being of little use, unaccustomed as they were to woodland dusk, he focused on the muffled sounds and the strange sweet smells around him. Around him the sounds of marching, twigs and leaves being crushes under foot, before him the vanguard breaking through especially thick brushes and low branches but as he concentrated he could also faintly hear the scuttle and scurry of the smallest of the woodland folk fleeing from the invaders. Morning passed though it was impossible for Shura to notice, sweat beaded on his brow born from a mixture of concentration, the heavy air of the forest and the effort as he kept up his ki training using the weight of his luggage as exercise.

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"Rearguard down!" Shura shouted suddenly, he had just barely heard a strange crackling of wood and when he realised it was getting closer correctly guessed that Night Howler's were on the prowl. His warning was effective, the guild members around him able to throw down their packs and dodge the attempted ambush of the demons. Shura threw himself forward to the ground, narrowly missing the snap of powerful jaws, rolled out of his luggage and turned to face his attacker in one movement. Only the eyes, beads of yellow malice, were clearly visible on the demon, wraithlike they seemed in their natural habitat as they seemed born of a mixture of wolf, gloom and wood. Even on all fours the beast's jaws were as high as the young warrior's chest, it tensed and he took the opportunity to charge at it, taking it by surprise he used that moment to land a powerful downward elbow strike to it's skull, the dark wood of it's hide cracked, the demon staggered stunned, Shura took a half step back gathering ki in his right arm and unleashed a hook that shattered his enemy's skull. Boiling in the heat of battle Shura quickly reacted to his surroundings. The rearguard was simply the first wave of attack from the Night Howlers, the low rumble that shook the ground that gave them their name resonated around the Free Hunters, the sneak attack had failed the all out rush of the ambush was ordered. First Shura helped Boulder, a luggage carrier that, pinned to the ground, was barely managing to hold unto the jaws of the demon-wolf on top of him, Shura dashed forward and smashed at the Night Howler's side with an open palm strike it lost it's strength briefly winded, time enough for Boulder to break off it's jaws, "Behind you!" he shouted pushing the corpse off of himself, Shura reacted to the leaping Night Howler behind him with a hook kick that with a crack threw the beast to the ground, not missing a beat Shura jumped forward and with an axe kick pulverized another skull. Boulder was now back up and rushed to help other guild members struggling, him and Shura thus guaranteed the safety of the victims of the botched sneak attack and as suddenly as it began the ambush ended. Shura was chocking to death a Night Howler with his arms when he suddenly felt the change in the air, another howl like an earthquake started then was cut short with a yelp, with that noise the frenzied surviving Night Howlers suddenly fled, the young warrior with a twist of his body and a low sweeping kick tripped the demon he was holding and broke it's neck as it fell. Standing back up Shura looked around and saw the other Free Hunters also getting back up, Gargan barely visible further ahead was surrounded with a small mound of dead Night Howlers he did not seem to mind the meany scratches along both his trunk like arms, all turned their attention to the sound of Needle and another scout dragging a massive Night Wolf alpha towards them, as they let it slam to the ground Needle pulled out a dagger buried deep in the monstrous creatures eye socket and swiftly returned it to it's sheath on her side.

Mount Wild's greeting to the guild ended with Gargan's roaring laughter and 2 badly wounded. After giving first aid to the wounded they gathered their luggage, several members taking the chance to give a thankful slap on Shura's back, and returned to the march to danger as Needle and the scout once again disappeared in the trees.

*There being a benefice to such danger is one of the main reasons why demon realms are not completely eradicated