Elder Cultivator

The group of four tracked down several more oversized beasts over the next few hours, with half of them being slain by Anton before reaching anyone. He let several get closer, injured, both to limit his energy usage and to give the others a chance to test their skills against the beasts. None of the other three had trouble taking down a beast alone. There was a slightly more eventful encounter with a pair of wolves- one of which snuck up from behind the group while they were focused on one in front- but Hoyt chopped straight through the neck of the creature as it attacked from the rear.

Anton scratched his chin after they placed the bodies in the magic bag they had been loaned. “I’m not sure whether this is a large quantity of wild beasts or a small number. A normal forest might not sustain this sort of population but…” he shook his head. They were also traveling faster than he was used to, covering more area, “... it doesn’t seem like a worrisome overflow, even as we are moving inward slightly. They said to expect more packs.”

Hoyt nodded, “I’d expect the elders knew what they were talking about. We just don’t seem to be finding them.”

Anton slung his bow over his shoulder. It wasn’t good for long term carrying like that, but it left his hands free for a bit. “Perhaps I might spot something.” Though the forest was filled with familiar trees, the sizes were larger than he was used to. Fortunately, they also had larger handholds and footholds, once he could get up the trunk. He climbed his way to the top, glad he had reached so far in the body tempering process. To get the best angle he had to walk out on a branch, but it was easily able to hold his weight. Hawk Eyes Archery had techniques to enhance the eyes, and he focused on the most distance he could. There were actually several beasts in sight, though determining if they were regular animals or the larger ones was difficult. Even so, he found himself surprised that they hadn’t run into more. It seemed the creatures had been avoiding them. “It seems I must have missed some tracks. Strange, for how large these things are.” Anton pointed into the distance, “There appears to be a pack of wolves up ahead. Six or seven of them, maybe. I think we can cut off their movements.” He looked down at the group, “It’s quite a bit more than one or two. Some of us will have to defend against several at a time. Though if it’s more than two, the others can help them out quickly. Is that alright?”

“Should be easy,” Catarina said. “If we can get in front, I can set up a simple formation.”

“I should be able to handle two easily enough,” Timothy agreed.

Hoyt also had no complaints, so Anton led the group in the direction he had determined the wolf pack would be going. “They should come from the north there. There’s enough cover here for us to hide. The wind is from the same direction they’re in, so they won’t smell us until… maybe ten or twenty meters out.” Anton wasn’t sure how much size would change their sense of smell.

Catarina nodded, then took out her sword and chopped through a bush. She tossed a bundle of its leaves over to the side.

“Weren’t we supposed to use that as cover…?” Timothy asked.

“It’s fine,” she said, “Plenty left.” Catarina started walking around, occasionally dragging her feet through the leaves. Anton watched her with interest. Some of what she did certainly involved her own energy, but some of it seemed random. “How much longer?” Catarina asked.

“Maybe… three or four minutes.” Anton responded, ”Though they might have changed course.”

Catarina nodded again, carefully laying a stick on the ground and moving behind the bushes with them. “Don’t shoot until they pass the stick.”

The stick in question was merely ten meters away, a short sprint for either cultivators or beasts of any size. That was much closer than Anton was comfortable with starting to shoot, but Anton knew there should be a good reason for it… and with the wolves approaching it was better to keep quiet instead of asking. Soon enough he could hear them moving through the brush, and he spotted them between the trees around the same time. The wolves moved closer… and closer… eight of them in total, one more than he had seen. The wolf in the lead was slightly larger, and while Anton expected it to notice them… it moved past the aforementioned stick without reacting. He didn’t know if he was supposed to wait for all of them to pass the stick, and he decided he couldn’t wait. He drew his bow, Spirit Arrow flying with all the force he could muster towards the wolf. It managed to react sufficiently to redirect the arrow to its side instead of its chest, but it couldn’t avoid being wounded. The wolf immediately sprang into action, leaping towards Anton after a short burst to build up speed. Thousand Arrows had methods to shoot quickly, and he managed to form the next Spirit Arrow and release it while still having time to jump to the side.

Everything else sprang into action at the same time, Timothy moving around to one side in an attempt to draw some of the wolves towards him, while Hoyt moved directly towards the pack with Catarina. Hoyt warded off two wolves with back and forth motion of his axe, looking for a good opening. Catarina sprang into action directly, slashing along the side of one of the wolves and continuing past, between that and another wolf. They tried to turn to snap at her, but they ended up running into each other instead. There was no real damage from the collision, but it slowed them down sufficiently for her to be safely out of reach.

Three of the wolves focused in on Timothy, who was off by himself. He held his shield at the ready, keeping it towards one wolf circling around while another was in front of him. He did his best to keep a tree behind him as well. It wasn’t possible to maintain that position forever, but when the wolf behind him sprang towards his leg, he was ready. He had a good enough sense of his surroundings to turn himself away, stepping back to the side as he slashed out with his sword. He only struck a glancing blow on the wolf, but with the aid of his energy he cut a gash into its side. His dodge also placed his shield mostly in the direction of the remaining wolves, so that they couldn’t take advantage of the moment.

Anton was vaguely aware of everything else that was going on, but he was busy handling his own problem. He was facing just one wolf, but it was somewhat larger. However, if he let himself be intimidated by a single wolf, becoming a cultivator would have been for nothing. It wasn’t a question of whether he could kill it, but how efficiently he could do so. Even with Thousand Arrows for speed, the distance was a bit too close to comfortably shoot his bow. Instead, Anton pulled out his hand axe while holding his bow in the other hand, swiping at the wolf to make it back away. Anton didn’t want to draw out his fight too much, but the wolf was losing blood from two wounds. As he maneuvered around, the wolf slipped on a root- something Anton presumed was related to the effects of the formation Catarina had established- and Anton chopped forward, swinging his axe deep into the neck of the beast. It took some energy to pull it back out and Anton took a ready stance, but the wound was deep enough that the wolf collapsed a moment later.

Taking his bow back in both hands, Anton was able to begin opening fire on the remaining wolves, starting with those around Timothy who was the lowest cultivation- and against the most enemies. He interspersed physical arrows with uses of Spirit Arrows, because he didn’t have enough energy to keep up an endless amount of Spirit Arrows. Standard arrows supported by his energy were good enough most of the time, and he needed to last the rest of the fight and preserve himself for future battles as well. His first shot stuck in the leg of one of the wolves, sending it limping back. Timothy took advantage of the opening to shove one wolf away with his shield and slash at the one he had wounded before, killing it. It was only a few moments before the other two were finished- and by that point Catarina and Hoyt had just finished killing the ones around them.

The group had a few wounds, and Anton noticed his gambeson had a gash down the front, even after being supported with energy. It seemed the somewhat enhanced beasts had sharper claws as well. The group took some time to bind their wounds, and to recover energy. Fatigue still built up, but half an hour later they were near peak condition and ready to move on. Anton once again climbed a tree to search for the best targets. “There’s another group over there. They seem to be fighting serpents. They seem to be holding their own but...”

“We should go help,” Timothy said. “Even if they are doing well, the tides of battle can change.”

Catarina nodded. “Elders said so.”

Hoyt smiled, “It’s not like they can complain if we don’t intend to take the proof of the kill.”

Anton quickly climbed down. “Around this way should be the fastest. We should probably hurry… just in case.”