Chapter 25 - During That Snowy Day

Alc recalled the days when most of his children were still young and small, and they still needed to be nurtured in how the world works and learn the required life skills over time.

So he bestowed little by little his knowledge to his children, who wanted to be hunters. He knew that not all his children wanted to be hunters, so he only focused on those willing to fight. As for Clara herself, she wanted to watch her siblings first before she decided to get the hunter training or not.

Everything went well, just as he had planned. Alcibiades noticed the strengths and weaknesses of each of his children and formulated another training program that would be more effective with patience. He was proud that some of his offspring got the talent of being a hunter and could see the bright future of them. Sometimes, Clara watched how her siblings were doing at the training ground and always brought food after training.

The days went on for Alc's family until the demons noticed the hunter's residences and launched a raid towards it during a snowy day.

It was unexpected since the hunter residences were supposed to be hidden from plain sight, located between the dense forest or the white snow that blurred almost any creature's vision to detect that Satwa people lived there. And yet, a minuscule part of the demon's army was able to find the residence.

Every last hunter fought the demon army to repel the attack as they managed to stay on par with the elite demon army. Thanks to their hunting and fighting abilities, most of them were able to kill the demons and help the others.

It goes without saying that Maya and Aslana were in charge of bringing their children and fled the hunter's residence, far away from the mayhem. Alc was helping the others to kill the invader while roaring to intimidate.

Still, to go away from the residence without warning or any preparation and supplies was quite a gamble itself. Maya and Aslana noticed that they ventured into a dangerous monster's domain as they looked around. Their priority was to run as far as they could so they didn't see that they were going in an unfavorable direction.

Apparently, they also didn't see any other refugees around them. So, it's up to Aslana and Maya for them all to survive.

Wind and snow were a bad combination for them. They also didn't have the knowledge of fire magic, so the only choice was to find a nearby rock formation that could shelter all of them. Aslana was the leader while Maya was on the back to ensure the safety of their group's rear with around five children in the middle, Clara included.

The piling snow made their steps harder than usual. Some of the children couldn't contain their emotions anymore and cried. Then, some of the others tried to console the crying ones and encouraged them to keep going. Aslana and Maya also shouted to push their children to keep moving, or everything would go south if they stopped in the middle of this windy snow. They didn't usually yell at their children, but the situation was still pretty dangerous, so they had to get going no matter what.

Until Aslana found a small cave made from the rock formation that looked like it could be a good shelter, a pack of monsters suddenly halted their way.

"The fire wolves," Aslana whispered in annoyance.

It was only natural for them to meet those monsters because they ventured into their area. Still, seeing them in front of her was the last thing that Aslana wanted to see, especially when those monsters showed their teeth with a heavy growl because they didn't like an outsider coming into their territory.

There is no way for the children to defeat this monster. So, Aslana straightened her arms to cover the children who were on her back and gained most of the monster's attention to herself.

"Watch it. Your opponent is me."

Aslana knew that once one of them charged into her group, all of the remaining packs would follow it. So, she took her chance to launch the attack herself and caught the fire wolves off guard. Only with two hits on its head and neck did Aslana kill one of the monsters.

Most of the monsters flinched and stepped back before jumping and fighting back for their fallen comrades. Even though Aslana has used her stamina just to walk from the hunter's residence to this location, she can defend herself just fine. After all, she was also a proud hunter and always watched her husband's back.

The monster's pack launched fire breaths or fireballs aimed at the female hunter. Aslana moved her body effectively to distance herself from the flaming threats, giving counter kicks and punches in return.

The children, who were frightened and felt cold at the same time, gathered behind Maya, who was their last line of defense. She was observing the tide of battle and understood well that Aslana didn't need any help for now. Once she cleared the pack of the fire wolves, they could occupy the small cave only a couple of meters from where they stood.

Still, a sheer number could slowly overwhelm those who needed more. After a while, Aslana suffered a few bruises and burns on her body, along with many fire wolves' corpses on the piling snow. She tried to reserve her stamina while calculating her next move since others were ready to attack her anytime.

Maya suddenly sensed that another pack had appeared from behind, so she quickly positioned herself to face the upcoming threats growing upon her.

The situation definitely couldn't be worse.

"Listen carefully, my children," said Maya, "when the danger comes closer, anyone who trained with your father should utilize the skills that you have learned. Don't worry, I'll protect you all, and I'll be back soon."

The children who had undergone hunter training with Alc seemed unsure if they could fight the fire wolf. But, the moment Maya dashed to kill the monster that started their attack swiftly, they realized that their parents couldn't protect them anymore. It's up to them to protect the other siblings who didn't receive any hunter training, including Clara.

Almost every child cowered in fear and cold while the ones who had trained before pushed their chest forward so that they wouldn't be overwhelmed by the pressure and the scary growls of the fire wolves. It was a small attempt that probably did not affect the outcome, but it lifted their morale for a bit.

Both Aslana and Maya put their life on the line to hold back the monsters so they couldn't reach their kids in the middle. Wounds or burns on their body didn't faze them for a bit and rather had the opposite effect–they became fiercer and stronger as their hands killed more and more monsters.

The number of the fire wolves slowly decreased until one of them slipped from Aslana without her being aware and noticed the children nearby. It growled and stormed the group of helpless individuals.

Clara shrieked, noticing both of her mothers. They quickly dashed together and hit the closest fire wolves from the children.

The other remaining monster's predatory instinct told them that the group of the huntress' children was the weak point. So they dispersed and focused on attacking Clara and her siblings even though the two mothers were in between and mercilessly killing them.

Blood stained the clean white snow, and intimidating growls echoed through the wind was the definition of Clara's hell at that time. Even though the number of monsters decreased significantly, their attacks were pretty scary to the point that some of the children ran around to get away.

"No! No! Get away from me!"

"Mommy! Help!"

"The monster is coming!"

And the fire wolves came into contact with the children. Some trained kids clumsily parried them away, and Aslana or Maya would continue the attack to kill.

It took around two hours to eliminate all of the monsters fully. Maya and Aslana tried their best to the point that they could faint at any second, and some of the children suffered wounds and burn attacks from the monster. Thankfully, they were still alive.

Alc finally caught up and witnessed how the supposed clean white canvas made from snow turned into a bloody artwork made by the piling corpses of the fire wolves. He was aware that both of his wives survived somehow with all of the wounds until the three of them noticed something unusual in the middle of the blood pool.

It was one of their children. His name is Bale and he was one of the trained children who determined to become a great hunter like his father.

Now, he lay prone on the ground motionlessly, slowly succumbing to the blood of his and the monsters.

Since then, Alc was determined to train every one of his children into a great hunter without any exception. He rather did rigorous and hard training for his children to cry rather than being killed by a monster.

The world is cruel, after all.

That's why Alcibiades strongly disagreed with Clara's way of life. Furthermore, when the Overseer came to this world and introduced a system that relied upon video making.

To be hated by his own children is far easier compared to witnessing his children lying on the ground lifelessly.

"Papa?" confirmed the lion girl, who was still clueless about why her father hugged her for a while.

"Do you remember on the snowy days when the demon ravaged our residences?" asked Alc with a low tone.

"...yes, I remember it well, Papa."

"I'm sorry that I couldn't protect you all from the danger so that you lost your sibling."

Clara didn't say anything and hugged her father back instead.

The contest made Alc realize that it was true that, as a father, he wished and would try everything to keep all of his offspring safe. But, seeing how now all of his children have gone their separate paths and are facing this cruel world all by themselves in their own way, he found out that he doesn't have to worry about them. It would be hard, indeed. But, they can do it.

Especially Clara, who walked on the path of a video creator and proved herself to face her own father without disregarding her family's safety. She managed to accumulate a big amount of gold at that, so Alc had to resort to fighting the void bull, a reckless move since he wanted to win no matter what.

But even the top hunter still has to learn about how this new world works and consider other people's feelings, especially when they have already proved themselves capable of walking on their chosen path.

Being saved by Clara hurt his pride a little. But, to witness his daughter swallow her fears and face the monstrous entity with her lack of abilities was something to behold. She even wanted to make videos again after the staff of the Town Hall announced the results of the void bull hunt.

And when Clara put all of her strength into her right hand and punched the void bull's head together with Alc was something that he wouldn't forget.

Alcibiades let go of his daughter and glanced at her. Look at how beautiful and amazing she was. He had never been so proud before, and he acknowledged Clara's achievement.

"What you have shown me in this contest is something I never experienced, Clara. You have proven yourself well that you're a worthy opponent and showed me the error of a father. You might not be a hunter, and yet you pose a challenge for me. Very well, my daughter. Very well!"

Clara didn't believe her ears at first. But, she didn't have to use her instinct skill to understand her father genuinely praised her. 

Alc smiled and patted Clara's hair. "Now, go pursue what you've wanted, my dear. I'm sure that you can achieve anything that you aimed for, after all, you're my daughter, the top hunter, Alcibiades."

"Y-Yes, Papa!"

When Angga looked at Clara's face, it was ugly as hell because it was plain to sight that she was holding her tears. But, he believed that it was a happy tears.

Aslana smiled in satisfaction, knowing that this dispute could be resolved peacefully, while Maya started getting teary. When Alc was done with Clara, he walked away to go to his wives and bring them home together.

"So, Aleid, do you ever imagine that this kind of outcome will happen when we encounter the void bull problem a few days ago?" asked Angga.

"To be honest, no. I'm thinking about something worse, and at least we have to do an emergency evacuation since someone or two are badly injured. But, apparently, that's not the case."

Angga and Aleid nodded in relief seeing Clara smiling stupidly while tears flowed on her cheeks. Even Nixie was still determining what had happened.

"But to see that kind of expression from Clara, perhaps, it's my first time," Aleid continued.

"Oh, really? I thought you two were working together for a while, so you have seen her in any situation."

"It is true that we've been working together for quite a while but it's not what you think. I'm glad that finally she can resolve something significant for herself which will do good in the future."

"Yeah. Somehow, I'm also getting happy too," said Angga while still not taking his eyes away from Clara.

"They said that happiness is sometimes contagious," replied Aleid.

And so, Angga's collaboration project with Clara concluded with the lion girl's satisfaction.