After accurately hitting the animal, it started to fall from the top of the tree, until reaching the group.
"Hoho, Ulf, very good job man! What a shock."
"Good one boy. Saved us from the annoying problem "
The teammates were astonished and happy because of Ulf's perfect shot. Now they would not have to leave this place hurriedly in fear of several hundred macaques coming to see them.
"Good shot Ulf. I didn't know you were such a good archer." Broderick also praised Ulf. He seemed to be glad too.
"Haha, thanks, guys. I was just lucky. It doesn't mean that I can hit every time from that far." Ulf was trying to show that he was embarrassed and also give some excuse about his 'fortunate shot'.
"Luck is also needed to hit the fast-moving target that far when the environment is against you too, but it's still proof of your good archer skills." Broderick kind of expressed his agreement with Ulf's words.
They didn't have much time for chit, so continued work and started collecting the peaches. The team went to see other places and gathered the fruits as well. They didn't meet any peril. Broderick with another hunter from the team went hunting the deer for everyone to eat. The members of the Hadda tribe had a big appetite. Ulf himself became a big lover of meat.
They had to eat it raw, to not attract the strong creatures by the smell. It was tiring for a jaw but needed only some time to get used to it. Ulf had started not to be picky in the ancient world about the food from his childhood. The human bodies here were already accustomed to the same routine too.
There were many different kinds of animals around them, but they wouldn't bother as long as others didn't have any intention to attack or hinder them. After a few hours, it was already a night. Nothing could be seen and it was also getting colder. They have been working and fighting for a whole day, so the tiredness was a logical outcome too.
They had the bags, which had already become fairly heavy. They began to search for a good place to rest before the sun would rise again. The group found it soon. It was a big tree with a huge hole. The diameter of this tree could even reach 15 meters (49 ft), it would be the thickest tree on the earth. The entrance in the hole was about 1.5 (4,9 ft)meters in width and a bit more in height, but inside was way much bigger. It was around 20-25 (65 - 82) meters high in the tree and would be better to defend if the other creatures came to visit out of nowhere. The hunters helped each other to take the bags into the hole one by one.
"Okay, boys. One day has passed. Now we need other methods to work more effectively for the next day. Our bags are already bothersome when we are climbing on the tree. That's why I think it would be better to gather all those collected fruits in the bags. Today's harvest will be enough to fill at least one or two big-size bags. One or two of us will have to carry them, of course, we will replace each other from time to time. When we reach the places for collecting the fruits, One will also have to stay behind and defend those bags. Does everyone agree?" Broderick gave a long speech to his teammates and asked for approval of his suggestion.
Ulf looked around, no one was against this idea, so he also nodded his head.
"Then let's rest. However, we will need the night guards to be secure from the unwelcome guest. I will be the first one, second will be ..."
Ulf would be 4th in a row. There were just some animal and bird noises far away from them, so he fell asleep fast. After a few hours, Ulf was woken up by someone calling his name.
"Ulf wake up, Ulf." He heard a stern voice and took the spear in his hand to act swiftly. However, only saw one of his teammates Bo, who was half-kneed in front of him.
"Calm down man, I just want to tell you that it was your turn to guard. "
"Hah?.. Oh, right... You can sleep then." Answered half-asleep Ulf.
'Sh@t, he has a really scary voice. I was ready to cut you down man.'
Ulf sat on the side of the hall, where he couldn't be seen from outside, but he was able to observe the surroundings well instead. After looking at the hunters, all of them were deeply asleep. He decided to check what was happening outside, so chose to use an enhancement on the eyes and ears. This method was cheating. Maybe it wasn't as good as that day, but still, see everything well in 200 hundred meters. As for hearing, even a little noise wouldn't go unnoticed.
For some time he couldn't see or hear anything noteworthy. After one hour of waiting, something interesting happened. At first, he could only faintly hear sounds from the deeper part of the forest. They were so hard to catch, because of the very long distance.
'The sounds must be the roars of very strong creatures. I have a hope that they won't come near.' However, it wasn't like Ulf himself wasn't interested in seeing those creatures. He was extremely motivated by those beasts or monsters and could feel that his power was still not sufficient. Ulf would like to use his full power against them, due to the reason that he can't do it in the village.
Soon Ulf's time for the guard has passed. He went to wake up the next hunter. She was Gerd, one of two girls in the group. After transferring the night duty to her, he continued to sleep.
When it was time for sunrise, everyone woke up. Two hunters went once again to hunt a big animal and came back with a large bison. Unfortunately, Broderick didn't choose Ulf this time either. After the whole group was full, they went to work.
The work has progressed without any difficulty. In the afternoon, It was Ulf's turn to guard already two filled big-size bags. The others started gathering different kinds of berries, which were spread to a very large territory. Broderick instructed them not to go so far, in order to reach them in time if needed. It was only the surface level of the forest so they could risk going around two hundred meters away.
Ulf had his spear and was fulfilling his duty. However, I soon heard some voices. He could sense some movements behind the big bushes. Ulf took out the bow and arrow and was waiting for anything to appear or come out. Then he heard the sound of the collision...
Bam, Bam...
And something or someone falls on the ground.
"Aaah... noo... hah, hah..." Ulf heard the groan of a man, but it didn't sound like any of his teammates.
He got the spear, instead of a bow and moved near to the place where the moaning was coming from. Ulf saw a middle-aged man, lying on the ground with his back on the tree, who had animal skin cloth and the same height as him. The man seemed to be wounded on the right side of the abdomen because there was blood on him.
"Please... help me... I was ambushed by someone... hah, hah..." The middle-aged man was struggling to speak.
Ulf hadn't taken his hand away from the spear, but also was trying to create the picture like he was letting his guard down. This man was a stranger, but Ulf could understand his speech. He hasn't met people from the other tribes, so didn't know what kind of language barrier there was between the humans here.
"Who are you? what do you want here?" Ulf asked.
"I am from one... hah... one of the tribes on the west side... Please help me" Stranger explained.
"From the west? It's weirder. As I know it's not your hunting ground here." Ulf was showing his interest.
"Haah... yes... I was chased."
"By whom, or where did they go?" Ulf got a bit near to a middle-aged man.
"They... ah... They..."
When Ulf was expecting to hear the old man's response, suddenly he was alerted. The spiritual energy was warning him and the whole body felt the coming of great danger.
'It's an arrow!!' thought Ulf.
He didn't have time to look where it was coming from, just barely was able to jump behind. The arrow that had passed in front of him was so fast that Ulf could only see a little shadow of it.
Ulf looked in the direction where the arrow had come from. It was another man, with the same type of animal skin as the wounded one in front of him. He was on the tree and aiming at the Ulf again. All of sudden the man, who was supposed to be wounded, took out the bone knife and jumped toward the Ulf. It wasn't an unforeseen circumstance for Ulf, but what he didn't expect was that the 'wounded' man was a peak rank warrior. The man pointed the knife at Ulf's heart and wanted to stab him. Nevertheless, Ulf still avoided it, turned around and bounced on the left side.
"Haha, you have a good reflex, young man to be able to avoid that arrow and my ambush." Middle-aged man was a bit angry that his plane didn't work.
"However you are just a beginner stage warrior, so let me kill you painlessly." He was expecting to see a scared expression on Ulf's face but got a different one.
"Haa... man... It was a surprise. You almost got me there." Ulf had a strangely calm look.
"Shish... playing like you are strong... just die boy, till your companions come back." The middle-aged man used enhancement on his legs and appeared next to Ulf and intended to cut his throat.
'No time to hesitate anymore. Let's see then...' thought Ulf.
Ulf mobilized inner and external qi together. A huge amount of pressure broke out and spread in his body. When the knife was just a few centimetres away from him, Ulf disappeared and emerged one meter away from his original position.
"What... this pressure and speed... only leader rank... no, no possible, you are just a child!" He was stupefied and suddenly started trembling.
'Wounded' man was stunned. However, he still didn't give up on his goal and tried several times to stab or make Ulf give an opening for the archer on the tree.
"You gave me a chance to use my real power, old man, so don't give up yet." Ulf started to feel thrilled. He had finally a chance to see his power and test against the real enemy. That was why he didn't call teammates.
At the same time, the second hunter on the tree wasn't just resting. He has been shooting arrows at Ulf.
'It's even better. Feeling of how near death is... .' Ulf wanted to smile at the same time as he was avoiding the arrows and desired to toy with his opponents longer but controlled himself.
"Sh@t, emotions almost got over me. It must be the influence of the tribe's bloodline." Ulf had discovered about his body unintentionally.
"What... are you speaking about?" The middle-aged man asked with a pale face.
"Just said goodbye to you." Answered Ulf with a serious face.
"Oh, no ple..."
He didn't even have a chance to finish the sentence, as Ulf used all qi in his hands and pierced the opponent's throat in one millisecond. A large amount of blood gushed out from his wound and mouth.
"Too late for pleading!"
After the first opponent was defeated, Ulf looked where the archer should have been. Though all he saw was that the second hunter was running away as fast as he could.
"Now let's find out why you would target me." After killing the first man in this world, the excitement still got over him. Ulf felt like his blood was boiling, even smiled and started to follow the running archer as fast as he could.