Heading north

A new day began with the sun peeping over the horizon. As time passed, the snowfall gradually intensified.

All those within the camp had packed their supplies and divided into two groups, prepared to depart. The winter hunt had proven futile, and lingering there held no purpose.

The larger group, comprising the majority of the people, set off towards the village, while the a much smaller group headed northward.

Aru found himself in the latter group headed northward.

"Are we really going to hunt the demons?"

"Why else would we go north when the cold wave is approaching."

"Hey, don't speak like that to me. What's with your condescending attitude, Moru?" 

"Then stop asking stupid questions. You were informed beforehand that we were going north to hunt demons, right? Why are you asking about that again?"

"Just cause."

"Just cause your stupid head…"

"MORU, Don't cross the line."

"What if I do?"

"I will beat your ass so that you would never cross it again."

"Try me, you brute." The person named Moru said as he looked at the muscular bald person beside him. 

"Cut it out you two. And Nom, stop talking." Das had to intervene to stop the argument between Nom and Moru. 

'Neither of them were smart.' Aru silently commented in his mind watching them quarrel. 

He was currently travelling with a group of five warriors towards the north. 

The group of warriors consisted of Das, Nom, Moru, Vir and the female warrior Tia. Das was the sword user. Nom and Moru were the hot-headed hammer and spear users. Vir, the dagger user along with Tia, the archer, were the silent type.

Das was the strongest and thus leader of the group. The other four were also rank 3 warriors, just like Das, but were slightly weaker than him in strength. 

They were the elite of the Boulder tribe. Few of the strongest people in the entire tribe. Each one of them was a warrior who had condensed their spirit, like the chief. 

'However, they're not particularly bright,' Aru silently noted in his mind.

Aru stayed closely behind Vir and Tia as they walked through the layer of fresh snow. He concluded that it would be the safest place after getting to know their personalities a little better.

"Aru, can you keep up?" Tia suddenly turned to ask him.

"Yes," Aru nodded.

Although his feet sank a little deeper into the fresh powdery snow, it was not enough to prevent him from walking steadily.

Tia nodded and focused ahead.

Currently, Tia was the one finding the path for the group. She was a skilled tracker, and her job was to locate the tracks of the animals around them.

Suddenly, Tia raised her hand.

Immediately, the group of five stopped. Aru also halted and began to observe.

Tia pointed to a spot ahead where she could see fresh animal tracks and blood.

Quietly, they began to follow the tracks.

Though Moru and Nom joked and quarrelled along the way, they became serious once Tia pointed out the tracks.

'They're not that stupid,' Aru corrected his opinion of them.

Once they saw the tracks, everyone knew which animals it belonged to. 

'Wide and round showing four toe-like imprints. The footprints were deeply imprinted on the ground due to the creature being heavy. They could only be made by stone mammoths.'

Aru instantly recognised the footprint left by the stone mammoths. But there were smaller footprints alongside the mammoths. 

'Something was chasing the mammoth,' Aru whispered. 

"HRAAAANMP…" Suddenly, an odd sound came from the direction of the tracks.

It was a loud trumpeting sound that was made when a stone mammoth felt threatened.

*Howl*

*Howl*

Then, the howling sound of wolves echoed.

'It's similar to the howl of wind wolves. But why are they chasing a stone mammoth? It makes no sense. A rank 2 creature chasing after a rank 4 stone mammoth. Even if there was a pack of wolves, the mammoth could easily overpower them.'

'Something's wrong.'

As soon as Aru's group heard the howl nearby, they quickened their pace. Along the way, they began to see more blood mixed in the snow.

Aru was beginning to fall behind the warrior, so, Nom grabbed him and placed him on his shoulder as they ran forward.

As an adult man, he could only bear the discomfort of sitting on someone's shoulders for now as he gazed at the reflective bald head of Nom.

*HOWL*

They reached their destination within seconds.

Four wind wolves surrounded the stone mammoth, attacking wildly. Their eyes gleamed with hunger as they darted around the mammoth, unleashing wind cutters whenever it became careless.

Wind cutter was an elemental attack the wind wolves could use. This attack erupts a sharp blade-like gust of wind from the mouth of the wolves towards their prey.

The stone mammoth's thick hide began to sustain injury and bleed as the wind cutters one after another landed on it. 

Even then, the stone mammoth stood there without moving.

For a second, no one could understand what it was doing. When attacks like that were coming at it, even if it was a rank 4 spirit beast, it should put some effort into dodging, right?

"Aru, do you sense demons?" 

Das suddenly asked from Aru's side.

Aru immediately remembered his reason for accepting this mission. His sole job was to identify the demons before the warriors went into battle.

"Wait a second," Aru said, beginning to scan the beasts he could see with his system.

"1, 2, 3, 4." All the wind wolves were demons.

Immediately, the system notified him of the mission to eliminate the nemesis creatures.

"All the wind wolves are demons, but the stone mammoth is not. However, there's a problem."

"What?" asked one of the warriors.

"All of the wind wolves are rank 3 in strength."

"How could that be possible? It's rare for a wind wolf to break its limit and grow to rank 3. How could there be three of them at the same time?" Nom questioned.

"You can sense their strength too?" Moru was amazed.

Now he understood why the chief had asked to take the child along with them.

"And there is a baby mammoth between the legs of the big stone mammoth. It's protecting its child, that's why it's not dodging the attacks."