Chương 122: Chapter 119 - Great Ape

When I left for the hunt, I was not worried about the Tier-2s causing trouble for Peter. He had his badge with him. What worried me more was the condition in which I would find the camp when I returned. Still, I felt this was the perfect opportunity for them to start working together. If I could resolve even a small portion of the differences between them and make them cooperate, there would be almost no hurdles left in squad coordination.

During the hunt, I took the opportunity to teach the new recruits everything I could about wilderness survival: tracking, concealing trails, setting ambushes, identifying escape routes, and rotating watch patterns. But they were not the only ones learning. The forest terrain provided a good opportunity to work on [Unbroken Stride (UC)] and [Perceptive Instinct (UC)], while [Battlefield Command (UC)] and [Operational Cognition (A)] helped significantly when instructing the newer members of my squad.

We spent two hours hunting and training. In that time, we managed to bring down only a single boar. When we returned, thankfully, the camp was exactly as we had left it. Peter stood beneath the watchtower while the rest of the squad carried out the tasks I had assigned to them. After a quick lunch of boar meat, we rested for two hours. I allowed the squadmates to mingle among themselves while I meditated inside my tent. That was followed by formation drills and sparring.

The sparring was the most enjoyable I had experienced in a long time, mostly because I was not participating. Watching the matches from the sidelines turned out to be far more entertaining than I expected. For some reason, I found particular satisfaction in watching Peter get pummeled by Garran. There was something oddly satisfying about seeing refined, noble-style technique overwhelmed by sheer size and brute strength, blows delivered with crude form but relentless force. Of course, I could not let that show.

Still, I will give Peter credit. Although he looked slightly angry while fighting Garran, as if venting his frustration on him, he accepted his defeat gracefully and did not let it show whether it affected him or not. By the end of the sparring session, it was already evening. We conducted an exploratory sweep around the clearing with the same group I had taken on the hunt, but this time I included Varric and Kael as well. I wanted them to share their wilderness experience with the new members.

The following day, we performed almost the same routine. On the third day after killing the mammoth, Varric and I were able to complete the war hammers. They looked imposing because of the mammoth's Earth affinity. The bone had a deep brown color, while the head of the hammer was charcoal black. One side was blunt and heavy. The other tapered into a sharp, crushing edge. The hammer turned out far better than I had hoped. Rokan and Daren adapted quickly.

Breaking stone at the quarry translated surprisingly well to hammer use. Maintaining formation while wielding such a weapon still required polishing, but the hammer seemed natural in their hands. Most impressive of all was the increase in Varric's attacking power, so much so that I had to stop him from using the hammer during regular sparring sessions. I did fight him once, though, where he used the hammer while I used my new shield and spear. The match ended in a draw.

The lieutenant's shield and my excessive mana output made Varric's [Relentless Advance (A)] skill far less effective. With the war hammer added to our training, we had to stop night exploration exercises and allow Varric's team time to practice handling the weapon properly. But weapons were not the only change that day. I noticed an extra bit of effort from the Tier-2s. Until then, most of them had participated in drills only because I ordered them to.

From that day onward, almost all of them began training on their own. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. First, I saw Varric practicing by himself, familiarizing himself with the war hammer. Then Peter followed. It seemed that losing to Garran had ignited something in him. He was no longer just sharpening his analytical skills but also working on his spear technique and footwork.

That, in turn, caught the attention of the others, and soon everyone was refining their own fighting styles and skills. Another change took place on the seventh day after killing the mammoth beast. For the first seven days, the beasts that approached the clearing were either scavengers drawn by the smell of the mammoth's rotting corpse or herbivores passing through the area.

From the seventh day onward, however, we began facing active attacks from predatory beasts, as if the creatures in the surrounding region had sensed that the dominant Tier-3 of this territory was dead and the struggle to claim its land had begun. First, we were attacked by a pack of wolves. Most of them were low-tier; only two out of the eight were Tier-2. We turned it into an opportunity.

Instead of deploying the entire squad, we allowed only Varric and Garran's team to engage while the rest of us held the flanks to prevent any escape. Varric and Garran's team performed brilliantly. They sustained minimal injuries, and their coordination had become nearly flawless, requiring little to no instruction from either Peter or me. After that, the tier of beasts only increased. The fights grew tougher. Sometimes we were attacked by packs; other times, by single beasts.

Not every encounter ended in complete elimination of the threat. At times, we were forced to repel them rather than finish them off. But these encounters also provided a valuable learning opportunity for me. Even with the watchtower, we needed to remain in a constant state of vigilance. One night, because of my negligence, we almost lost a squad member. A high Tier-2 panther launched an almost perfect ambush, injuring Brakk and nearly biting through his shoulder.

If not for Barry and Varric, who were on guard duty and reacted quickly by throwing their knives, we would have lost him, and possibly more. After that incident, we moved everything within a fifty-meter radius of the tower to improve visibility and defensive coverage. We tightened our formation and adjusted our layout to reduce the risk of another predatory ambush. Nine days after the predatory beast attacks began, everyone had grown accustomed to the constant pressure, so we remained on high alert at all times.

Most of our equipment had changed as well. We used beast plates from wolves and the panther to reinforce our armor. None of us truly knew how to forge proper armor, but everyone had basic training in patching and repairs. Using that knowledge, we reinforced almost every piece we had. I also strengthened Garran's team's large shields with additional reinforcement runes. I had also increased the number of people on guard duty.

Garran, Daren, Rokan, and I patrolled around the tower and its surroundings, with Barry stationed atop the watchtower. In the center, Silas prepared meat while the others rested near the fire after the light drills we had conducted that morning. As I checked the surroundings, I suddenly heard the faint sound of a tree shifting, as if something was moving through the bushes. I tensed, but my skills detected nothing, which meant whatever it was had to be far away and outside the range of my abilities.

"I heard a noise. Everyone stay vigilant," I said in a very low voice while using [Battlefield Command (UC)] and letting my mana flow around everyone so that they could hear me. Hearing my words, everyone raised their guard, even the people sitting around the fire. Then I heard branches snapping. This time, the sound was clear. It came from the top of a tree a few hundred meters from the clearing. At first, I thought it was a bird, but when I looked, I saw only a red silhouette moving through the canopy.

It landed on top of the watchtower with a loud crash. Then I heard the sound of Barry jumping.

"EVERYONE IN FORMATION!" I took off running toward where Barry had fallen. I could see he had broken his leg in the fall, and I was afraid the beast would jump on him to finish what it had started. As I reached him, I shifted my spear into my shield hand, freeing the other, and without pausing, grabbed his arm and dragged him toward the formation, which had already formed thirty meters from the watchtower.

Once I reached the rear of the formation, I let go of Barry, who moved himself into the center as I turned around to see what we were facing. On top of the watchtower stood a copper-haired ape. Its hair looked as if it were forged from copper, and its entire body had a metallic sheen. My heart quickened as I realized my squad was about to face their second Tier-3 threat.