Although there were some accidents, even the most sheltered of young Minks were able to adapt to battle very quickly after experiencing some failures so the amount of minks dropping out were not very high.
Those that had learned from their mistakes had learned how to hunt better without being injured or without having their allies injured too, those that struggled to bring down larger animals then chose to avoid the larger animals and began to hunt smaller ones.
Not every animal would be so ready to fight head on and there were some that fled so they did not always have the best opportunities to hunt but it did help to teach them how to learn how to better hide their presence before going in for the kill.
Some used their surroundings and the trees to give them a place of safety so they could hunt without being harmed.
Among them was a cat Mink which lay on top of a thick branch up in a tree lazily.
He stretched a little and fell asleep but was then later woken up by the sounds nearby.
The sounds of quick and heavy footsteps along with panting and grunts from those running and what they were chasing.
A boar with large tusks was running away from them all and used the trees to block the projectiles that were fired at it then it went deeper until it came near to the tree the cat Mink was lying on.
The cat Mink still showed a bored look on his face and closed his eyes again. 'Not interesting at all. I want to go home.'
Just as he closed his eyes to rest, the other footsteps got closer and a group appeared as it tried to block off the escape route of the boar.
It let out a scream as it avoided another attack and then circled a tree as it came back to attack one of them within the group which allowed it to pierce their side with its tusk.
It shook its body and head a little to shake off the injured Mink and lessen its load then it cleverly backed off again as it weaved between the nearby trees.
In the group was Milo and Cleo but Cleo was unable to get close enough to end the battle with her sword due to her brother.
Milo held her close and said sternly. "You have to stay by my side and protect me."
Cleo grit her teeth in anger. "Are you just going to sit back and say that after someone has been hurt?"
Milo rolled his eyes. "I am the priority not them. This way we can remove the weak ones so let them continue."
Cleo shook her head with a sad expression on her face. 'He still had not changed. No, he has only become worse.'
Cleo looked towards the many Minks which were being gored one after another but eventually she lowered her head. 'Is this how it will always be? To live as his shadow? To watch on like this.'
Although the minks did have excellent healing and recovery, there would always be limitations when they started to lose a lot of blood and were inflicted with deeper wounds or they were infected.
Cleo could see that they were slowly being worn down so the grip on her sword handle became tighter.
Another was taken down and the boar looked towards the smaller group as it saw nobody coming to back up their companions.
While it had fought hard and survived, it did still feel threatened enough to know that it could die but it also felt that the minks it fought at least gave it their all to battle while the others barely did anything.
Cleo and the boar locked eyes then she decided. 'If I leave it any longer then it can take the chance to kill those that are still down and injured."
She removed the sword from its hilt and then stepped towards it slowly as if accepting the challenge from the boar.
Behind her, Milo had a look of rage on his face as he saw her walking forward and away from him. 'She dares to defy me.. yet again?! No wait. This could be a good chance.'
Milo smirked as he watched his sister and the boar confront each other then shouted. "Let me support you."
He arrived by her side and they slowly started to wear the boar down but the boar was quick and had lots of energy to spare so it only had some small wounds inflicted on its body from Cleo's sword.
Milo attempted a couple of times to offer his aid but it seemed unnatural as he was failing to help inflict a deadly blow on the boar with the assistance of Cleo who took most of the attention of it.
Just as Cleo was about to sidestep and raised her sword to ready herself for a passing slash on the side of the boars body, she felt a push on her back and she fell forward. 'What..'
Behind her was Milo who had a look of cruelty on his face. "You should of listened to your brother as you have been told. This is your punishment."
There was smugness within his eyes as he watched his sister fall towards the boar which had gored her head on.
Milo had prepared his sword to inflict a fatal wound on the boar the moment that it hit Cleo but a change took place in the battle all of a sudden.
Just as the boar was about to hit Cleo which may result in her being heavily injured or even death, a spherical piece of metal hit the side of the head of the boar which knocked it off course.
As it made contact with the boar, a large amount of energy was released and it caused the boar to drop down dead.
A cat Mink dropped down from the tree and stretched before walking towards the boars corpse. "This is mine. If you have any problems with that then you will have to fight me for it. However can a family like yours possibly go against a family with a higher rank? Be smart."
He then turned to the brother and sister then revealed a playful smile. "Lovely and brave lady. How about you ditch this fool and come along with me? With the two of us.. we can easily finish this test. I could finish this already but we both can easily kill another one so it should not take long for us to finish and then we can rest all we want without having to worry about anything else."
He then turned to lock eyes with Milo and glared at him. "You would not mind right?"
Milo grit his teeth and tried to suppress his rage but he couldn't help but question. "Which family are you from?"
The cat mink looked towards Milo with a haughty look. "I do not have to answer you and you do not have the right to ask me."
His gaze turned slightly warmer as he turned to Cleo and stretched out his hand.. or paw. "Would the brave lady like to join me?"