Julia and Cody began to climb up the hill. They discovered that the place that Samuel chose was perfect. The cliff would obscure wolves from a direct charge, from their left the stones were jaggered which would also act as a natural barrier against them.
The only place that they could use was to either go all the way across the hill or take the narrow pass where Milo and the others would be waiting for them. Either way, from their high position they would be able to see when mutated wolves made their move.
"Let's divide the field. I will take the long distance ones and you take the front." Julia mentioned. She was confident in her shooting.
" O-okay. I will try to match your rhythm." Cody was fine with it. He didn't have much confidence to begin with. They only trained for a week coupled with the fact that they were betting with another team, he was under pressure.
Noah had given them a machete to comb through the lush forest. Julia followed in front and cut a path to the top. Being the place was uncharted, there were no set path and because of the steep angles, they had some trouble getting to the top.
Noah didn't rush them, if they sprained their ankles or worse fall down, it could jeopardies the whole mission. He was just overseeing the whole mission and didn't want to step in. For now, he wanted to see how good they work together.
The radio strapped to his shoulder would lit up every minutes with coms going back on forth between the two smaller groups. He only listen to it taking mental notes of their mistakes while calmly walking behind the ground team which consisted of Milo, Jake and Tang.
After half an hour, the aerial team finally gave a go ahead sign. They could see the cave at the distance but even with scope it was hard for them to focus on their target. But they announced the general trend of the surrounding and noted few target moving around the vicinity.
Because they needed the wolves to converse in the narrow valley and also avoid a huge stampede, they asked to start with a smaller group of wolves on the right.
" Sir?"
" Don't worry about me. I will intervene if something goes wrong but for this mission, Tang is the leader so she had to decide everything."
" Oh, Julia and Cody, did you mark the path that you took?" He asked over radio. He knew they didn't because there was no mention of it.
"..."
" Just remember if something goes wrong, don't rush down and follow the protocol next time. It's your maiden mission so these things are normal." He knew there was only tiny chance of them getting ambushed which was why he wanted them to learn from their mistake.
" Yes sir." Julia cleared her mind. She already made a mistake but didn't want to delve on it. If she and Code could perform well, they might be able to please their captain.
" Tang? It's up to you now." Noah stood back with folded arms giving stage to the leader of this mission.
Tang wasn't shy with her orders. She relayed several of them before following Julia's advice to start with a smaller group. With this distance, it was hard for wolves to know where they were firing from. If they could deal with the smaller group fast they would be able to get a flow going.
Julia replied with affirmation before she and Cody locked on their target. They were lying down of a tarp with their tripods open peeking at their enemy through the scope. The first group was a total of twenty wolves lying on the grass lazing around.
It was their first time getting a good look at their target. The wolves looked bigger than any dog they saw in the village, two sharp overgrown fangs protruded out from both upper and lower jaw, their head was small with elongated neck at two antella like ears constantly monitoring their surroundings.
Unlike furry dogs there was little fur on their bodies, which was why they could see their powerful muscles when they sat down especially their hind legs, it was as big as adults thighs. The claws were also huge, among twenty, ten were young wolves who were grinding their claws on ground and trees.
The scratchings that they saw while making their way toward this territory must have come from this practice. Woods of this mountain were known for their toughness but they were able to claw through it like butter, it went to show how shrap they were.
" I will take the left one, the biggest in the group. You focus on the right one. They seem to be the elders watching over the pups." Julia said with a solemn look. Even if she acted tough on the outside, it was her first time seeing such a monster.
Normally villagers would hunt few monsters but they always dissected the meat which was why she never seen a full carcass. She head heard how scary these mutated wolves were from the hunters but looking at it from her own eyes casted a shadow in her heart if they could even defeat such an enemy.
She wasn't worried about herself but Jake, Milo and Tang were down there. They had to fight in close quarters of this monsters which was far more nerve racking them sniping them from a distance. Cody on the other hand didn't panic when he first saw these wolves.
He wanted to prove his worth and most of the risk was with the ground team, he was just a support but nonetheless he wanted to do his best. He acknowledged Julia's request and began zeroing in on his target.
" We have them in our sight." She informed over the radio again ready to shoot at moment's notice.
" Roger, fire when you are ready." Tang commanded. Unlike others, she had few run in with these mutated wolves over her time in the village hunter team.
What concerned her were the numbers, if there were one or two or even ten of them she was confident in dealing with them but over two hundred? She knew it was a matter of luck if they would be successful without Noah's help.