The next morning many people gathered to send the hunters out of the village. Ulf was excited too. He has not been allowed to take a step beyond the entrance gate for the past twelve years. He was able to sneak out from the village, beyond the wall, but only a few hundred meters. He didn't risk it, because as Ulf had found out, the same recklessness caused many deaths in the village. Now he has internal and external qi and could try to roam outside in secret, but Ulf still prefered to gain the first real experience in this world with other tribe members.
Finally, it was time to go out. Fourteen groups have assembled. Ulf said farewell to his mother and sister for a few days. He could see the lingering fear in Inga's eyes. The main indicator was the incident that happened to Bjorn when he was out for a long hunting period before the winter. Nevertheless, Ulf could do nothing. It wasn't possible to abandon the mission and even if he could, still wouldn't do it. Ulf knew that he must do anything to become stronger, even if some of them will go against his principles.
"Okay, attention everyone! it's time to move out." It was leader Njal. He was the peak leader rank hunter, the strongest among the hunters, who must leave the village. Leader Njal was just one step away from the captain rank, however, no one knew how long this one step would take.
As the groups left the village they went toward the west side, there was a valley. Njal started pointing the groups to the different sides. Soon he reached Ulf's team.
"Ursa, you take the team in the south. Most of the members in your group are young and for a few of them it's even the first time being out."
"Yes, sir."
When Njal instructed every group leader, everyone started to go on their way.
"Okay, let's go guys." Ulf started to lead the team toward the south.
The forest, which was their destination, wasn't far from the village. They just had to run only for a half-hour. However, as experienced hunters had told Ulf, the forest was so big that even if warrior-rank hunters run for the whole week, reaching the end of it would be very hard. That was why, no matter how many times the strong tribes would ride this territory, clearing it from every fatal danger was impossible. In the inner part of the forest, very strong beasts and rarely even the monster may appear.
The group had to cross several hills. One time they went between the two high grounds with woods. Ursa ordered the group to run a little slower and be very careful. As Ulf was curious about the reason, one teammate told him that, in the past, the others had come across the strong creatures here. Here was the perfect spot to ambush anyone or anything. The possibility of it was very rare, but if the strong beast suddenly attacked and they were careless, maybe half of them became injured or dead.
They reached a forest fast. Ulf has seen short territories covered by the woods till they reach the forest. He saw several groups of animals there, however, they weren't the targets right now. Ursa said that they would hunt some of them, after hunting in the forest. They needed to find the fruits, and vegetables and hunt some special animals there, which could be found only in the forest.
When the group reached a forest, it slowed down. They began to be wary of their surroundings. When Ulf was watching the trees in the forest, he was astonished. The trees were much higher here than in the woods on their way. The highest tree would be at least two hundred meters tall.
"You must be extra careful from this point. We should split up into three small teams for the next 2 days. Each team will have experienced peak warrior rank hunters. I will take the first part of the group. Broderick and Wayde will lead the other two teams. No one must go into the deep parts of the forest. We will do it once in two days when everyone gathers." Ursa instructed his group members.
Ulf was distributed in the third team, which was led by Broderick. There were six members. The first part of the group would go in the south, but not far into the forest. as the strongest Ursa would take care of that territory. The second and third parts would take south-west and south-east routes.
Broderick looked like a guy in his 30s, one of the strongest and oldest in Ursa's hunting group. He had a big wound on his right shoulder. Six men, including Ulf, went to the southeast side. Ursa had explained to them that the destinations were the spots, where the special fruits, vegetables and other things grow. The hunters chose the products, which were ripe in this period of a year and were important for the cultivation of the tribe. The winter was still at least one month away, so there were many things that could be harvested in the wild.
Ulf had eaten some of them when he was a child. Those fruits were an apple, pear, nut, berries, hawthorn and so on. Every teammate had one big bag made from animal skin to collect them and the weapons to defend.
Broderick led the team. After walking for an hour, they found the first targets - the pear trees. They saw the several separated groups of muskoxen and the giant elks on their way. They were huge from afar, about 3-4 meters tall or even higher. One beginner hunter wanted to hunt one of them down, but Broderick stopped him and reminded him of the order of Ursa.
The pear trees in front of the team were so high, maybe 80 or 90 meters and their bodies were also so thick. Ulf believed that there was some kind of connection between the trees and qi. The latter had greatly influenced wild nature too. Qi must have been the main reason why the trees were bigger and the fruits were also more useful and rich in vitamins.
Every team member climbed on the trees and started collecting the fruits. The pears weren't as beautiful as on modern earth. It was logical, there wasn't anyone to take care of them, however, it was way tastier and more beneficial to their health. Everyone has ended up gathering the pears in one hour and continuing their way.
The team has quite a good harvest, after visiting several other spots. The next target was a peach. However, they met their first big obstacle there. It was a bunch of the monkeys, specifically the Barbary macaques. Ulf remembered them because it was the only population of wild monkeys in Europe. It was clear, they had come here for the ripe peaches. There were around 15-20 monkeys on the peach trees. There may be a bigger group of them somewhere not far away.
If it was about being careful, then retreating would be a logical choice for the hunters, but not now. When the team met other wild animals, the hunters avoided them, because then they weren't targets. However, if it was about the animals, which hinder the team, then there would be only one solution, kill all of them. Also, the pride would not allow them to go back from their original destination, because of some animals. Even Broderick took out his hafted axe right away after seeing the Barbary macaques. Those animals would not retreat after seeing the humans, rather the opposite. Even if they do it would be more dangerous, soon monkeys would come back and even more in numbers.
There were many branches that covered the monkeys, so shooting arrows and killing them at a distance of 60 - 70 meters would need a very experienced archer. Maybe Ulf would be able to do it if he enhanced his eyes, but then he would be exposed in front of his teammates.
First of all, they climbed on the trees, which were far from the monkeys, not to alarm the prey. The trees in the forest had been connected by the big branches to each other, like a spider web. That fact was favourable for the hunters stealthily to approach the monkeys as cloth as possible. The Barbary macaques were making very loud sounds. It was a kind of warning system for this species, but also helpful for the Ulf's team not to be noticed, as hunters were making very little noise when they were climbing the trees.
Ulf was a little used to climbing on the trees. However, the present mission also demanded different skills. He was watching other experienced warriors and copying them by trying his max. Soon when hunters were about 20 meters away from the macaques, Broderick took out the bow and arrow and aim the monkey. Ulf and others did the same. This distance would give them the biggest chance to kill part of the monkeys with one shoot.
Ulf could see these animals so close. The macaque in front of him had a dark pink face with a pale buff and was more than one meter high. The monkey seemed to be a male and leisurely was eating the peach.
Ulf nocked the arrow and pulled the bowstring back towards him, after aiming the monkey ahead of him, he was waiting for Broderick's sigh.
shooo...
The team leader shot the arrow and Ulf did the same.
"Krak... kiaa.. kkr.."
The macaques made weird noises and 6 of them got killed. Following that, the hunters changed their weapons and started running on the branches toward the prey. The monkeys started crying, but it wasn't a problem for the hunters. The team needed to kill the macaques, without letting even one of them escape or they would have to fight the bigger groups soon.
Ulf also ran to kill another monkey, after successfully taking one of them down with the arrow. When the macaque saw his dead comrade and dashing human toward him, got afraid and started running. However, Ulf was already so close to the animal, so wouldn't let it get away. He jumped right behind the monkey and pierce the spear in the prey's skull mercilessly. After the jumping, Ulf got near to another target, which was also trying to flee. Ulf swung his weapon and decapitated it.
'Haha, be glad monkey. You are the first one, who got killed by my spear.' Thought Ulf.
Other team members also did a good job. Broderick and some other members too killed two monkeys. There weren't any of them left... or they thought like that because shortly the hunters heard the monkey's voice in the distance. When they looked, in shortly saw one macaque escaping on the peak of peach trees.
"Fast! kill it!" Broderick yelled loudly.
Everyone started climbing higher to get close. but the monkey was so fast. They even shot the arrows, but none of them hit the target.
"Shit! Let's go back, or fighting more of them will be very troublesome." Broderick was clearly very angry due to the sudden development of the fight. However, Ulf was still aiming at the target. As he was ahead of others and couldn't be seen, he decided to circulate his inner qi and use enhanced eyes.
Shuuu... The arrow reached the fleeing macaque and hit him in the neck.