Chapter 56: The Hunter and the Hunted (2)
"...."
Vikir was speechless on the wolf's back.
Aiyen, riding in front of him, glanced up and down the length of his back, watching him closely.
"Did it hurt?"
"...."
"Are you angry?"
"...."
Aiyen turns his head all the way back to look at Vikir.
To which Vikir only replies bluntly.
"Look ahead."
The wolf Aiyen was driving caught on a root and lurched once.
Aiyen quickly jerked his head back to the front and drove the wolf on.
All the while, he kept glancing back to see if Vikir was bothering him.
At this point, it was hard to tell who was master and who was slave.
Eventually, as the roots disappeared and a wide open plain emerged, Aiyen slowed the wolf.
He turned back to Vikir, still on the wolf's back, and spoke.
"I had no choice. Ahun is a stubborn, relentless creature, and this was the only way to prevent his petty retribution."
"...."
"...Why aren't you talking, huh?"
At his master's continued prodding, Vikir replied shortly.
"It hurts."
And it did. The inside of his mouth is covered in crusts of blood, and it hurts just to open it.
Then. Aiyen's body flinched for a moment.
She slowly turned her head to look at Vikir.
"Does it hurt a lot?"
Aiyen looked at Vikir's neck.
The white skin was smeared with red marks from the dog collar.
"...."
Aiyen stared at the mark for a moment.
Then she bent her head toward Vikir and ran her tongue across the scar on his neck.
Vikir jerked his head back in disgust, and Aiyen, for a moment, realizing what she had done, backed away in anger.
Vikir frowned.
'Do barbarians normally lick each other's wounds?
'Animals of the dog family do.
Balak's warriors are friendly with wolves, so this behavior may be commonplace.
But Vikir was a civilized man, and it was awkward.
"Besides, licking the wound with your tongue is dangerous, as it leaves room for infection.
So Bikir was prepared to firmly refuse if Aiyen tried to lick the wound on his neck again.
However.
"...."
Aiyen doesn't say anything, just tilts her head.
For some reason, the tips of his pointed ears were colored bright red.
* * *
Like all Balak warriors, Aiyen was basically a simple person.
Her spirits were quickly lifted when Vikir returned to his usual behavior, except that he was less talkative due to his illness.
Now in a better mood, Aiyen offered Bikir a gift to apologize for her earlier slap.
"Is there anything you want from me, anything I can do for you that's within my power, just tell me one thing."
Bikir didn't hesitate to answer.
"Teach me how to shoot a bow."
"...a. Bow."
I wondered if he had something else on his mind. The answer came back a little muffled.
Aiyen looked a little disappointed at Bikir's immediate response.
"Yeah. Bow is good. Bow...."
Aiyen mumbled for a moment, then a grim smile curved his lips.
"Good. Since we're out hunting, I'll teach you how to shoot a bow, too. You're probably better with a bow than a sword anyway."
With that, Aiyen moved behind Vikir and hugged him tightly against his chest.
Aiyen's body pressed tightly against his, the weight of it pressing down on Vikir's spine.
Vikir grunted through the pain.
" ...Do I really have to learn in this position?"
"It's best to learn everything with your body. Do you have a problem with that?"
It was hard for Vikir, whose body was broken, to resist.
Then. Aiyen pulled out a spare bow and placed it in Vikir's hand.
The unfamiliar feel of it in his hand brought back memories for a moment.
Vikir was quite proficient with a bow, as part of the education of the young hounds of Ironblood Baskerville was an introduction to armory.
And the swordsmen of the Age of Destruction actually knew how to use almost every other weapon to some degree, not just swords.
Vikir had already mastered the basics of archery.
...A minor, really.
"But not enough to go out and show off.
Before his regression, he'd been pretty good with a bow, but not to the point where he could actually use it in combat.
At best, he could take down small prey that could be cleaned and eaten immediately.
But here in Balak, where all the people are masters of the art of archery, he might be able to reach new heights.
Is it the desire to take down the big prey?
Aiyen had been teaching Vikir archery since the beginning of the day.
"We'll need the help of a wolf pup for this hunt."
Aiyen was eager for this hunt.
Balak's 300 members need at least 200 kilograms of meat to survive the day.
What's more, the warriors' recent hunting performance has been poor, and there are many people in the tribe who are starving.
"Your life will be easier if you make your mark here."
At Aiyen's words, Vikir nodded.
Just then.
"...!"
Aiyen's wolf, Vakira, suddenly stopped running.
It had spotted its prey.
Aiyen bent down and grabbed a handful of dirt from where Vakira was sniffing.
A mixture of rotting sawdust and fallen leaves, moss and sand.
The soil was slightly damp, and it smelled sharp and raw.
Aiyen said with conviction.
"It must be oxbane."
Vikir knew the creature Aiyen spoke of.
<Oxbear>.
Danger Rating: A
Size: 5 meters
Found in: Ridge 7, Red and Black Mountains
-A very large bear with two huge horns.
A carnivorous bear, the strongest terrestrial predator, and a perfect killing machine, it is considered the strongest and pinnacle of the Red and Black Mountains 7th Ridge ecosystem.
It has few natural enemies, except for its own kind.
The bear carries two water buffalo horns on its head.
Its entire body is covered in thick muscle, fat, and bristly fur.
A monster I had encountered many times before during my training within the clan.
However, the ones roaming around here now must possess a different level of strength and life force than the ones that were captured in the cages inside the clan, waiting to be killed.
"This must be their territory from here on out."
Aiyen turned his head to follow the direction of the scent.
Oxbears deliberately sprayed their poisonous urine to discourage prey and warn rivals.
The scent would have sent any lesser predator running for cover, but not Aiyen, the hunting leader of the younger Balak.
Vikir, too, had the calm composure of the worn and tattered hound he had been before his regression.
Aiyen smirked at the sight.
"Not scared?"
"Not really."
"It's good to see you've got some balls for a kid from the Empire. An Oxbear is a threat to even the most experienced hunters of the Balak."
Aiyen seemed to like Vikir's demeanor all the more.
Soon, Aiyen and Vikir were facing the wind, tracking the scent.
Aiyen pursued his prey with animal instincts.
Sometimes he could smell it better than Vakira, the wolf.
Vikir, too, was skilled at tracking, but only when it came to fleeing humans.
"Good chance.
Vikir looked over his shoulder at Aiyen's skilled monster tracking.
And then.
It wasn't long before they spotted their target at the top of a rolling hillside lined with tall bushes and short shrubs.
I see a large oxbear making its way through the brush.
Two fiercely curved horns, fur far thicker and denser than I'd ever known, flesh and muscle clinging together in an impossibly tight knot.
The oxbear, which appeared to be very old, stood about eight meters tall, larger than any oxbear Vikir had seen before his regression.
"... That's enough to raise my risk rating."
When Vikir muttered that, he was done talking.
It's hard to go head-to-head with a creature of that size.
It would have been better to back off now and move on to other prey.
But Aiyen didn't back down.
"Let's go after it."
She clung to Vikir's side.
Vikir gritted his teeth against a faint ache.
"A beast of that size will be hard to beat. Apparently he's unusually strong for an oxbear."
"Fool. Who said we'd catch him?"
Vikir looked puzzled at Aiyen's comment.
She replied with a smirk.
"If there's a female bear, there's no shortage of male bears. Look."
Before she could finish, a response came from beyond the thicket.
Another oxbear had approached the previous oxbear.
Apparently, the giant oxbear that Vikir and Aiyen had first spotted was a female.
The new male oxbear was relatively small.
It was barely over four meters tall at best, and must have weighed nearly twice as much.
Could she be in heat?
As the female oxbear moves her massive body, the male oxbear sneaks up on her and sniffs her fur.
Then he starts nuzzling her chest and back.
"Okay, that's the real prey."
Aiyen grinned and pressed Vikir's chest and back against the bush.
Vikir watched the grooming of the male and female oxbears and felt the strength of Aiyen's grip on his arms.
Passasac...
Hidden in the bushes, Aiyen's body pressed closer to Vikir's.
His breath, wet and hot, brushed against his earlobe.
The skin of every inch of her body, toned and soft, pressed against Vikir's back.
The pounding of her heart against his back made him tense up like an athlete.
Naturally, Vikir could only think one thought.
"That's a lot of weight.
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