"We need to go foraging" Gargan's words fell heavy on the assembled guild members.
It was now evening, in the clearing the guild had made to make the forward camp the air was cool under a bright moon. The march to get here had taken it's toll on the guild, though not on the scale of the Night Howlers the frequent assailants had left more and more wounded. Worst still a swarm of Black Jade beetles*, that should not have been in this part of the demon realm, had forced the scouts patrolling around the expedition to fall back, many had fallen victim to the demon-insects' venomous bites, though fortunately no one died as Needle had insisted in preparing ample amounts of healing supplies, the poisoned needed to be carried whilst they fought the venom. Gargan had lead a group of warriors armed with torches and lanterns to cause a diversion that allowed the exhausted and weakened guild to arrive at their destination. This however meant that the building of the forward camp was further delayed as Gargan's group had been seriously wounded from the continuous onslaught of attracted demons. The priority for all able bodied guild members was to erect a hospital tent to safeguard and accelerate healing of the injured and envenomed. Shura had carried more than anyone, fought more fiercely and endured the longest. As soon as he had helped clear an area of trees he had sat to meditate and recuperate. In fact he hadn't only needed to regain his stamina and breath, he had been circulating the ki withing him. He had been bitten by the Black Jade beetles when they attacked and from that moment, instead of paralysis, his ki had started to overheat. He could feel it sitting in meditation, burning throughout his body but instead of hurting him he instinctively new that it was healing him. His ki had flared up to fight the venom of the demon insects and after it was done with that started raging against his other cuts, bruises and tears. His body repaired the inferno blazing within him had reduced to it's usual heat and the kickback of this rapid healing engulfed him suddenly and he lost consciousness from exhaustion. He had awoken refreshed several hours later, a cool breeze from the moonlight sky above him invigorating him.
"Just in time kid" Gargan had said laying a friendly hand on his shoulder "you did real good out there, you deserve a rest I was going to leave you there if you didn't wake"
Shura had simply nodded with a warm smile to his master and followed to join the meeting.
"We need to go foraging, our supplies were used up more than expected getting here and we now know that this is no longer Night Howler only territory, the clans will probably not have much anti-venom or other necessities to fight other demons. Needle will lead a small group, Shura you go too they'll need your polyvalence we only have enough man power tonight to send another couple of volunteers."
"Guildmaster I volunteer" Boulder exclaimed with a bow and a wink towards Shura
"Guildmaster I volunteer" also bowing Sting, a scout Shura knew only in passing, exclaimed.
Though dwarfed compared to Gargan's size, Boulder was a bull of a man in comparison Sting was a needle of a man, both had short brown hair. One had muscles bulging through loose fitting and comfortable clothes, the other wore bandages wrapped around him under a dark brown tunic as well as dark brown mask and cloak, the apparel of a scout. Joining them Shura stepped forward and bowed as did Needle.
"Free Hunter Guild at ease! Continue work on the forward camp ! Priority to the erection of a perimeter wall and tending the wounded !" Gargan barked with a wave to all other assembled
"Obey the guildmaster!" with that answer all the other members of the guild departed to work on the camp, leaving the 4 figures and Gargan alone.
With a nod and a grunt Gargan invited the foraging team to come closer to a makeshift table made from the stump of one of the massive trees felled to make the clearing. On it was a map of Mount Wild's demon realm woods.
"Needle" Gargan simply said with a nod to the head scout.
"Yes guildmaster," Needle answered stepping around the table to face the other three, "as you know we are now here setting up the forward camp. This should be Night Howler territory which we believed would be the less troublesome of the Demon Lord grounds to deal with. However everything seems to be in chaos in the forest, though this does not change the general plan of preparing for the arrival of the demon subjugation group we need to go here, further east to an area previously used for the collection of Spring Dew grass. We will travel in pairs, Sting and I as the vanguard in the treetops, Shura and Boulder you will have to keep up as best you can on the ground. Stealth and speed will be our best allies but at least two sacks of the medicinal herb need collecting if we want to be able to deal with the new demand. Any questions ? Seems not, let's go then!"
With that Needle took the lead and the group departed to the east of the clearing, "Brother Shura I'll be repaying your help against those Night Howlers" Boulder said giving Shura a friendly one armed bear hug.
"As delightful as new friendships are," interjected Needle as they took their first steps back between the trees, "silence until absolutely necessary". The two scouts left in their usual light footed fleeting manner. Shura deftly followed the dashing shadows in the branches from the ground, Bould with a grunt gritted his teeth and followed too. They knew they had about a half hour trip to get to the area of the Spring Dew grass, Shura focused his senses on following Needle and Sting he trusted them to warn of any danger and losing time by losing them would be disastrous for the mission. If he was starting to regret joining the foraging team Boulder showed nothing of it, he was not used to such agile running, weaving around inumerable tree trunks and darting through underbrush at a near sprint, however he followed Shura close nonetheless, pushing through occasional stumbles with sheer determination. The struggling ex-rearguard nearly slammed into Shura's back when the latter suddenly stopped. Shura put a finger to his lips and motioned Boulder to quietly follow him. Shura had sensed that the scouts had stopped ahead, they must have found something that wasn't an immediate threat as they had not given any warnings. Creeping forward Shura and Boulder soon saw what had immobilised Needle and Sting. The forest in front of them seemed to glow, no brushes or undergrowth grew for a stretch beyond sight, instead pale luminescent grass grew lushly on the ground and partially creeping up the tree trunks, in fact the cold blue luminescence was radiating from beads of ki dew along the grey stalks of the plant. They had found the Spring Dew grass and though beautiful to behold, like a shimmering lake of clear water in winter, the truly stunning sight were the Long Fangs. Long Fangs were a type of demon shrieking-ape, named after their abnormally long and sharp canines, none were ever found to be more than lower second rank demons but definitely not in this part of the demon realm and certainly not using baskets to collect herbs!
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Needle quietly dropped down behind Shura and Boulder, "Sting and I will keep to the high ground and support with ranged attacks, you two charge in. Be careful they have a strange glow in the eyes" without a sound she disappeared back up a tree. Shura adjusted his handwraps and the free Dragon gauntlets whilst Boulder cracked his neck muscles, they tensed their bodies and with a nod to each other sprang into a charge. The onslaught was swift and terrible, Shura's explosive power merged with the element of surprise allowed him to bring down demon after demon with singular precise and deadly blows to each, Boulder simply grabbed any demon out of Shura's reach crushing them with his muscular might, Needle and Sting took out any too far ahead of the charging duo with thrown weapons and ranged martial arts.
"This was too easy" Shura spoke out, his senses on high alert, around him dead Long Fangs layed amongst the Spring Dew grass next to spilled baskets. The handful of surviving demons too far from the guild members had fled, which was the beginning of Shura's unease as the majority of demons Long Fangs included fought blindly in rage. The eyes Needle had mentioned had indeed been unnerving, now in death the eyes were dark and cold but they had glimmered with an unnatural red glow. Boulder who was about to celebrate and cheer for everyone's work stopped in his tracks hearing the tenseness in Shura's voice.
"Grab some baskets and go!" Needle and Sting had landed on the forest floor, like them Shura and Boulder grabbed a couple of baskets each and rushed away from the gentle glow of Spring Dew back towards the forward base.
"What's going on?" exclaimed Boulder
"We're not sure, which is why we are running. We got the herbs that's the most important for now." Shura replied, allowing Needle to concentrate on running ahead, the two scouts were struggling impeded by the basket now strapped to their backs. Suddenly Shura new what was worrying him most, the Long Fangs' shrieks and holler had never died down completely, in fact they were now growing louder and more numerous.
"We're being chased!" Shura warned.
Heads down, teeth gritted the foragers plowed through the wood as fast as they could but there was no outrunning the Long Fang stampede for Boulder before getting to the camp.
"Boulder thake these too!" Shura quickly propped his two baskets on top of his bulky guild companion, "I'll keep them busy for a while get to the camp safely, Needle and Sting will warn them ahead of you!"
With that Shura turned and dashed towards the hollering. Before long he was facing the Long Fangs, in the branches above flocked ape-demons similar to those defeated in the herb garden of Spring Dew grass, on the ground were larger demons, rank 2 demons, unlike the smaller Long Fangs these had pupils completely taken over by the red glow, they also carried various weapons made of demon bone. The young bearer of the gauntlets of the free dragon did not hesitate a second, with a shout he gathered his ki in a charge and smashed into the closest knit band of Long Fang warriors**. The impact and surprise of this sudden one man ambush gave Shura the opportunity to deal lethal blows to the neck and heart of 4 demons. The hollers around him turned to shrieks of wrath and the Long Fang surrounded him, weapons at the ready there would no longer be any chance of sneak attacks, it was Shura's turn to be subject of an onslaught, the rank 1 demons had dart like weapons and other projectiles to throw at him, whilst the all around him the rank 2 were a frenzied tornado of fang, weapon and claw. Shura focused on two defensive stances, during the volleys of projectiles he would focus on his ki in movement and his hands, dodging and deflecting the missiles back towards his assaillants with a Fleeting Willow stance, during the onslaught of the Long Fang warriors he could only close his limbs close crouching slightly in a turtle stance focusing all ki on strengthening his muscles to survive the powerful blows. The demons as bizarre as they were compared to what Shura had learned were still demons, they were hurting themselves in their uncontrolled blood frenzy, but they were overwhelming Shura. Slowly but surely Shura's fiery ki was waning, his skin was torn, cut and broken all over. Two, three, four demons fell from trees killed by their own deflected missiles. Five, six ,seven Long Fang warriors were crushed or rendered unconscious by ill-controlled blows from the frenzied mass. Yet still the blows came, the projectiles were shot and Shura's wounds got worse as his ki was consumed. He stumbled and fell to a knee protecting his face with his arms during one assault of thrown weapons. Shura tensed expecting a sudden rush from the rank 2 Long Fangs at this sudden show of weakness, instead the demon-apes all stopped attacking, their howls now became more guttural and followed the beat of a rhythm, as if chanting. A section of the ring of demons around Shura parted, through the gap walked in a massive Long Fang twice the size of even the rank 2, it's fur rather than the dirty white usual of the species was fet black tipped with red, his eyes were completely red with a sinister glow and on his face and other parts of his body not covered in fur not covered in the bristly fur red veins could be seen. It stomped towards the hunched form of Shura, towering above the young human warrior it raised both it's powerful arms.
"No you don't demon, that's my apprentice!" Shouted a much reassuring voice, "Good job keepin' em busy kid, FREE HUNTER'S GUILD CHARGE!"
* About the size of a hand the Black Jade beetle is a demon insect with a black exoskeleton and translucent jade green wings, their mandibles, also green, contain a strong paralytic venom.
** Warriors because they were nearly twice the size of the rank 1 Long Fang and because Shura had never heard of any demon wielding weaponry, no matter how primitive. Not because they were of a martial artist warrior's level. They were above.