After getting fresh and taking a bath, Hob and Friz got ready and went downstairs, where they saw Amy and Geld already waiting for them at the reception. Dell, who seemed to be on duty at the reception today, was also there.
Hob and Friz nodded at Amy and Geld, who seemed to be checking out their new weapons. Geld was repeatedly folding and unfolding a spear that looked almost the same length as him when unfolded, and Amy was practicing the reloading action and getting familiar with her crossbow.
"Hey Dell, it seems like you made some impressive weapons for our friends here," Hob said, pointing at the weapons Amy and Geld were holding.
"Well, that's a given, but since they were made in a hurry, I'm not sure how they'll perform in actual battle. Though I think there shouldn't be a problem as I did all the necessary tests and they performed fairly well. As for the armor you two wanted, here they are," Dell said, pointing to the two armor stands sporting their armor.
On the two armor stands, one had a menacing black brigandine armor, and the other had blue fabric armor with metal plates in vital areas.
"They look really good," Friz said, looking at her armor.
"Well, it was hard to make new armor within a day, so I modified the already available ones to suit your needs. But don't worry, they will provide the necessary protection and not hinder your movement either," Dell said, assuring Friz and Hob of the quality of the armor.
"That's good to hear," Hob said, nodding at Dell.
After that, Hob and Friz both went inside Dell's forging room one by one and came out wearing their armor respectively.
Wearing the armor, Hob looked like a knight clad in fearsome armor ready to decimate his enemies, while Friz gave off the presence of an agile hunter.
Soon, Amy, Geld, Hob, and Friz were standing outside the building in front of a long caravan. The group went forward looking for Commander Arihant and found him giving directions to some people, who went on to do the tasks they were assigned.
"We're here, Commander. What are we supposed to do now?" Hob asked Arihant.
"Nothing much. The caravan is made up of motorized vehicles and there isn't much for everyone to do except for paying attention to the safety of yourself and those around you. But since it's your first time traveling around, I'll have the four of you assigned to my vehicle so that you get to know what's going on during a journey in the wild," Commander Arihant said to them with a mischievous smile.
"Yes, Commander," the four of them said in unison as a chill crawled down their spines from the smile Arihant gave them.
After around an hour, the caravan finally moved with over ten vehicles in a row. It turned out these vehicles were made especially for moving in the wild, so they didn't have much trouble moving through most types of terrain.
After around half an hour of traveling, they came across their first obstacle: a pack of mutated lions.
"Now, now, look at who came to visit us—the mutated lions. Normally, we would've avoided them because of how troublesome they are, but since we have over ten vehicles and more than enough people to take care of them, we will take them down. You four as well—I hope you can take down at least one considering your performance in the hunt previously," Arihant said, patting their shoulders before going out to command the caravan's defense.
The four of them looked at each other and nodded, then moved out of the vehicle. They saw 3-meter-tall lions walking over from a distance of over half a kilometer. Just a glance at the giant lions made them gasp.
"This is gonna be troublesome," Geld said, looking into the distance.
Everyone took a deep breath of morning air and began to observe everything around them. Amy took out her spyglass and started looking around for possible ambushes while Hob, Friz, and Geld began observing their allies, who seemed to be laying down retractable traps all around the vehicles. These traps wouldn't do much damage but would help slow the lions down.
"Guys, the commander might have underestimated the problem. The pride in the front isn't the only one we have. There are three of them around us, with two of them laying in ambush on both sides of the vehicle. We need to inform the commander quickly," Amy said in a low voice while gulping down her saliva.
The faces of Geld, Hob, and Friz turned pale when they heard this, as it meant what they thought would be a simple fight would now be a fight for survival.
"I'll go tell the commander," Friz said and ran off in the direction Arihant was.
"Geld, let's help with deploying more traps, and Amy, you keep an eye on the prides. We need to know their movements at all times," Hob said and began to lay down the traps with Geld.
Almost two vehicles behind where the group was, Friz finally reached Arihant. Seeing how fast Friz was coming towards him, Arihant dropped a conversation he was having about the strategy for the battle and turned to face Friz with a questioning gaze.
"There isn't only one pride in the front, Commander. We have two more on each side of us. Amy just spotted them with her spyglass," Friz said, taking deep breaths.
Arihant's face darkened but a second later turned into one of amusement. "You did well bringing the news, and Amy also did well spotting the threats. But we don't have much time before the battle starts. Thankfully, the pride in front only has six combatants. The rest are cubs, and they won't bring them into the battle as they're their future. I think the ones on the side will be the same. We cannot change the strategy at such short notice. Take this and give it to Hob. Tell him if he can put its muzzle through the nose of one of them and press the trigger, he'll earn a kill. Though do tell him not to be too greedy. As for the rest, tell the others to do their best and Amy to move to my position as fast as she can," Arihant said while handing a revolver to Friz.
"But how can we get that close to them? They're over 3 meters tall," Friz tried to deny the risky task on Hob's behalf and return the revolver.
"I am not telling him to do it by putting his life on the line. It is for saving himself in case he ends up cornered. He's wearing brigandine armor. Although it won't hinder his movements much, it's better to be prepared. Now go fast; the pride in front is about to reach us," Arihant said in an ordering voice.
"Yes, Commander," Friz said and finally ran back towards Hob and the others.
Meanwhile, Arihant told the vice commander to relay a special order to everyone in the caravan.
Returning to the group, Friz relayed the command Arihant gave and handed the revolver to Hob.
"Don't be too rash," Friz said as she handed him the revolver.
"I treasure my life more than you think," Hob assured Friz as he put the revolver into his belt on the armor, as he had no better choice.
As all this was happening, the pride in front finally arrived next to the caravan. They scattered in order to surround the vehicles, with two lions staying at the front while two circled to each side of the vehicles.
Seconds passed in tense silence as the lions moved around the vehicles, observing them while the humans prepared to fight for survival.
Soon, the first lion in the front dashed towards the vehicles. Hob, who was at the front with Geld, prepared himself for a blow. But before the blow came, the lion triggered a trap they had laid down earlier. As if unaffected by the trap, it continued to rush forward and swiped at Hob with one of its claws. Knowing that his mass wouldn't be enough to take this strike, Hob ducked while putting his shield in front of himself. The claw scraped across the shield, not landing much of the impact force on Hob.
At that moment, all the lions rushed forward, and the scene grew chaotic. Hob, who was already fighting a lion, saw another one coming towards him and cursed under his breath. But before the lion could reach him, a bolas flew out from behind and landed on the lion's neck, completely failing to entangle its legs and instead wrapping around its neck without causing any harm at the moment.
"Well, at least he tried," Hob thought to himself and circled around the lion he was fighting to put it between himself and the second lion.
Meanwhile, the second lion, annoyed by the bolas, decided to attack Geld.
"Oh, crap," Geld thought to himself as he saw the second lion coming his way.
As Geld was cursing his luck and the lion was about to reach him, an arrow flew from behind Geld and landed in the left eye of the lion. The lion stopped in its tracks and roared in pain.
"I owe you one for this, Amy," Geld shouted and moved towards the left side of the lion with his spear, attempting to stay in its blind spot and lashing out with his spear from time to time.
But Hob wasn't having such a great time. He had already retreated to the second vehicle while fighting the lion, which seemed intent on taking him down. While Hob managed to land a few strikes with his chained morning star, its effects weren't too pronounced, so Hob adopted another strategy. Instead of using the flail to strike randomly, he was now trying to aim his strikes at the same spot, and it seemed to be working, albeit slowly, a little too slowly.