Chapter 48

Though he hated not being right with them, TJ felt it was necessary to extend some measure of trust to the trainees who were, reluctantly, on the front lines and ready to kill. Rebekkah and Jordan, the two Disciples, stood in the middle of the group while TJ walked near them with his every nerve stretched out to the extreme. If anything appeared, he'd need to react immediately, and his Wendigo Blade stayed in his hand, just in case. They hadn't gone more than a hundred yards away from where he estimated the outer bounds of the safe zone, and there wasn't anything here. 

The possibility of a spear burying itself in someone's eye wasn't lost on him, and TJ desperately hoped nobody would die on this inaugural hunt. They'd need to kill at least ten creatures, and TJ refused to return before they did so. Just so long as they didn't encounter a wendigo. 

When he walked under a tree, the wind whispered about something overhead. TJ didn't look before he reacted, pushing both Rebekkah and Jordan underneath him just in case. As his instincts had wondered, the pukwudgies had struck at the Disciples as soon as they appeared. 

"Look up!" TJ screamed as he pointed at four shimmering silhouettes. Farid was the first to react, both his javelins flying to pierce through the legs of a pukwudgie, sending both plummeting to the ground. The other two Acolytes shot towards the other two, one missing entirely and the other lodging in the pukwudgie's eye. The body fell without ceremony while the fourth of the overhead ambushers began to flee. 

"They're not alone, I'm sure!" TJ shouted again, pointing at the two Zealots who were approaching the felled but still living monsters. Both carried large shields and turned wildly, looking for whatever was approaching. Nearly immediately, they were rewarded with the snarling attacks from three coyotes and their riders. Wordless cries of panic filled the air as the unprepared hunters were taken up in the adrenaline of battle. TJ knew he had to move, and activated his Divine Transformation. 

The nearest coyote and its rider were easy to tie up in his coils, the coyote snapping ineffectually at him as his stone-hard scales while the rider's spear barely cut through his skin. TJ knew he could easily dispatch both, but instead took his time, keeping them from doing anything other than try to hurt him. With them tied up, quite literally, he looked to the other battlefields. 

The first thing that struck him was the sound. Every fight he'd been in so far, he'd been either with Stanton or alone, and he'd found his ears wholly filled with the roaring of his rushing blood, nearly unable to hear anything else. Now, though, the panicked and untested people screamed wordlessly, their fear manifesting in unintelligible sounds of terror. More than the sounds, though, were the sights.

One of the two Zealots, Sarah, was holding her own. She'd sustained a single hit from the coyote's rider's spear in her right shoulder, the blood coursing down her arm and slicking her fingers. Her face was twisted in a grimace, but she kept her shield hoisted high to keep the coyote from reaching her body. The pukwudgie whose spear had reached her was prone on the ground, fighting to its feet while Sarah struck wardingly at it. The other, Rod, however, screamed in fear and pain as he made contact with the enemy.

Perhaps unprepared for the savagery of the assault, the Zealot had been knocked down by the coyote while the pukwudgie's spear sought for his throat, head, and chest. Rod had enough presence of mind to roll over and keep moving, trying to avoid getting immediately killed. Fortunately, the rest of the hunters went to help the struggling man, shots lancing towards the two aggressors. Farid's javelin plunged deep into the coyote's shoulder, the crescent flying up the shaft and cutting a long gash into the creature. It stumbled back, yipping in surprised pain. The move saved Rod's eye, the pukwudgie's lance cutting through the skin of his cheek instead.

With the coyote off balance, Rod scrambled to his feet while taking a much deeper stab into his back. He screamed again in rage and fear and pain before trying to smash the edge of his shield into the pukwudgie's face. The strike missed as the pukwudgie dodged to put its body against the coyote's back. Rod didn't stop, his makeshift club swinging wildly at whatever he could reach. Due to the large javelin lodged in its shoulder, the coyote was slowed enough that the club smashed painfully into its head. The thunking sound of heavy wood against bone sounded like a gong for the second round of battle and Jordan redoubled his efforts to kill his attackers. 

What the others didn't seem to realise, though, was that Sarah no longer could hold the other two back safely. The coyote's jaws found her ankle and she suppressed a scream of pain and rage as its rider's spear pushed her shield away from her body. Then, exposed, the rider threw a rock directly into her face and Sarah went down, stunned. Pukwudgie and coyote alike were ready to exploit the opening and they lunged in for the kill.

TJ released his two victims though they were still living as he rushed to protect the fallen woman. He didn't need to. A pair of sprays of water like from a hose shot into the faces of each attacker. They sputtered while Kailani, fear streaking her face, stretched one hand out to each one, the water flying from her palms. Though it disrupted the attacks and startled them, the two monsters were still effectively uninjured. That was when Jordan and Rebekkah's fist-sized stones pelted the pukwudgie. One struck a glancing blow against its shoulder while the other caromed off its head. Now that all other nine hunters were engaged in the fight, TJ leapt back to the still-living coyote and rider he'd previously trapped. 

As his coils once again found their places entangling the creatures, TJ watched as Rebekkah rushed forward and laid a hand on Sarah. Nearly immediately, the felled Zealot stood up, her eyes unfocused, but she threw herself back into the fight without hesitating longer than it took for her to blink three times. Once the hunters had truly begun working together, it wasn't long before the pukwudgies were killed and the coyotes were hobbled. While they snarled and lunged out in threatening bites, most looked unwilling to kill the more normal-looking creatures. That was, except for Sarah.

With her blood-coated fingers creaking around the wooden handle of her club, Sarah approached the coyote with her blood painting its maw. Then, after shoving its head roughly to the side with her shield, she dealt a deadly blow to the base of its skull. The crunching of bone was final, and the corpse dropped to the ground. After he gathered himself, Rod extended a hand to the others to kill the other coyote in much the same way. He seemed sick as he saw the boy lay on the ground, and though she'd led these final executions, Sarah looked rather green as well.

"There's two more." TJ reminded while the pukwudgie and coyote struggled and screeched for help and in terror. "You two Acolytes, you kill them." 

The two inexperienced people were obviously immensely uncomfortable with his command, but after barking another, "Kill them", they approached. Their run of the mill bows were drawn taught, all the way back. The glittering, ethereal arrows summoned by their Skill had TJ slightly on edge, given their lack of experience, but he figured if he kept his head back, he'd survive. It took three shots each to finally kill the two struggling, impotent monsters, and TJ noted from the kill notification that these creatures had ranged from level 2-4. Disregarding the success of the hunt, the air of the hunting party was somber and dark.

"I don't know if this will make you feel better or worse," TJ said as the eight new hunters looked uncomfortably at each other, "but good job. This isn't just me saying this, but Farid can agree. You're all alive, and you've gained experience. Who gained a level?"

Everyone but Farid and Sarah raised a hand. "Now, you're all healthy, at full resources. You've seen how much stronger you can get from a single level, so I want you to realize something: The monsters are getting these same levels too." He paused, letting his statement sink in.

"The first coyotes I fought were level 0. How many of you can say the same?" Every Acolyte and Zealot nodded in agreement. "None were level 0 here. They've gained levels, and they'll keep doing it too. They're only going to get more and more dangerous, and if you stop here, you'll let down the people around you right now. They'll get hurt if you decide to be selfish and go home right now. In two weeks, they'll die if you aren't willing to kill right now.

"Now, we have a decision. Are we going to call it quits right now and hope we can coast to safety? Or are we going to put the work in right now to make sure we can survive and protect our companions and see our families?"

He wasn't expecting nor did he receive a cheer, but everyone, from the excited Farid to the still terrified Kailani, nodded in agreement. Before they could move on, though, Sarah spoke up.

"That was scary. I thought I was doing ok because I have a higher level, but all it took was a second before they turned it around on me." Her voice quivered from the adrenaline and every other emotion she was overwhelmed with. "I can't do this alone."

"Yeah, we should each be assigned to help one of the Zealots." One of the Acolytes jumped in. As the rest of the group planned and strategized how to continue to hunt and be successful, TJ let a smile crack his face. More than getting them to higher levels, he'd wanted them to feel a bit more confident in themselves and ready to face the Tutorial. Somehow, it seemed like they were taking those steps forward.

—-

The second hunt was much less frightening than the first. Since each person had received more of an assignment and, instead of a loose group of ten people, there were effectively two squads, the initial engagement went much more smoothly than before. That paired with only two coyote riders attacking after the initial ambush allowed the hunters to gain not just experience but confidence. Shouted commands and warnings worked together, though nobody followed them especially well. Even so, the injuries sustained were significantly less serious than before and Rebekkah and Jordan quickly ensured that nobody was in serious danger.

TJ stood with a coyote corpse over each shoulder while looking out for anything else coming nearby. The exultation of victory and new levels had at least half of the party ready to continue the hunt, but TJ stopped them.

"We're doing great, and maybe we can come back out after lunch. But what are our Disciples' MP looking like?"

"28/190." Jordan supplied.

"34/220." Rebekkah echoed. Though TJ was surprised to hear the difference between them, Rebekkah did have her Occupation. Regardless, he kept speaking.

"It'll take them almost nine hours to be back at full." He didn't need to say anything else before the rest of the hunting party hurriedly gathered together to go back to town. They talked excitedly to each other about small different victories, how this one had totally saved another, and that arrow was shot just right. TJ happily walked in the back of the group, watching the freshly minted fighters make their way back to town in victory.

As they pushed through the bushes into the bounds of the town, the smell of freshly grilled meat filled the air and the hunters found that they were much hungrier than expected. Even so, they all looked at TJ before going anywhere.

"I'm not your dad. Go." He shooed them off as people, many of them older than him, hurried to the firehouse. TJ leaned against a nearby tree and sighed. Was this really what he was going to do for the next two weeks?