Chapter 2
The group spotted the grizzly bear through the thick bushes. It wasn’t uncommon for hunters to lose their lives in their attempts to take down these fearsome beasts.
Creak.
Urich drew his bow with a substantial force. The two extra layers of wood on his bow and the bowstring made of multiple twisted strands made his bow more than twice as thick as the average one.
“Hmph.”
As he pulled the bowstring with every fiber of muscle in his entire body, the veins in Urich’s arms bulged prominently and his face turned blood red from clenching his teeth.
Twang!
The enormous tension from the bow sent the arrow ripping through the cold mountain air with a sharp hissing sound.
Thuck.
Urich's arrow was buried deep inside the grizzly bear’s neck. But even a wound this deep wasn’t nearly enough to bring down a bear like this.
“Shoot it!” The arrows rained on the grizzly bear at Urich’s command. The bear simultaneously let out its beastly roar and charged toward the young warriors.
“Spears up!” The warriors scattered to surround the bear with their long hunting spears. “Stab it!”
Their strategy was to utilize the blind spots created by the bear targeting a single warrior at a time. The targeted warrior would draw its attention while the ones in its blind spots delivered the blows. The bear thus began accumulating spear wounds.
“Oh, come on, guys, you’re damaging the hide! Go for the head, we only need one big blow!” Urich shouted at the other warriors as he swiftly dodged the bear’s heavy swipe.
“You really think that’s as easy as you’re making it sound?”
“Fine, I’ll do it myself,” Urich retorted as he casually launched his spear at the bear’s head, which was easily parried by the bear. But Urich wasn’t bothered by this. Even though the bow and arrow and spear were a hunter’s basic weapons, he strongly favored the double battle axes. For him, nothing beat running at his target with an axe in each hand.
Ting.
Urich pulled out a pair of battle axes from his belt.
“Hmph.”
Urich drew in a large breath to fill his lungs with as much fresh air as possible as he prepared for a moment of all-out effort, a frenzy of movements that would not allow him even a second to breathe.
‘Right front paw.’ Urich was now in a state of absolute focus. His eyes remained wide open and locked on what lay in front of him. Nothing was breaking his focus—not even dirt getting in his eyes.
Woosh!
The bear’s inaccurate swipe was only enough to touch Urich’s hair as he closed the distance between the two of them.
‘Left front paw.’ Urich was seeing through every one of the bear’s attacks. ‘I can see its attacks. I just have to stay calm, then I can dodge them all.’ He rendered yet another attack useless with an acrobatic somersault that was almost too graceful for a warrior. The bear only managed to skim his chest with its rugged claws.
‘It’s my turn now.’ The thrill of the fight made Urich grin with excitement. He had just played a game of life or death to get to a position where he could go for a direct blow on the grizzly bear’s throat.
Slash!
Urich buried his axes deep inside the bear’s throat. He then proceeded to rip out the axes, shredding the flesh and leaving a wide gap in its throat. The beast’s blood sprayed out like a fountain.
“Back off, it’s about to collapse,” Urich said to his fellow warriors as he stepped away from the stumbling bear. Everyone present could feel the confidence exuding from Urich’s voice. The bear soon fell at their feet.
Swoosh!
Urich swung his axes to shake off the blood and flesh stuck on the blades.
‘Does this guy have no fear of death?’ The warriors found themselves left speechless by what they had just witnessed. Running at an adult grizzly bear with only a pair of axes wasn’t something that a sane man could do. What was even crazier was that Urich was successful. It just didn’t make sense.
“Yeah, you are definitely our next chief, Urich,” proclaimed one of the warriors.
“Enough of that nonsense,” Urich retorted. “Flay it and grab as much meat as you can. We’ll leave the rest around for the animals.”
Urich took a seat on a rock with disinterest. His shoulders were still tense from the battle and his stimulated muscles were steaming from the intense exertion.
“This would be the hunt of a lifetime for anyone else—a bragging right for years and years. This guy just made it look so easy.”
The young warriors all looked at Urich with awe, respect, and envy. But Urich was never one to boast. He would just smile while casually doing the things that others couldn’t dream of doing.
“It’s hot,” Urich said as he fixed his disheveled hair. He looked up at the snow-capped peaks of the Sky Mountains. 'We came all the way up here, but we haven’t even ascended half of it.'
What could possibly be beyond these mountains? Was it really the world of the spirits? When people finally left their mortal coil, would they all find themselves on the other side of the mountains? Urich had a strong desire to see for himself what was beyond the white mountain tops.
Rustle~
The grass was moving.
Urich’s alert eyes caught the movement in the grass. His pupils contracted to pick out what was causing the rustle, then he detected a shiny object and immediately ducked.
“Duck!” Urich shouted to his fellow warriors—but the shiny object was quicker than his words.
Thwip!
Arrows ripped through the air toward the young warriors and they quickly dropped to the ground to find cover. Urich grabbed a fallen warrior and dragged him behind the cover of a tree.
“God damnit, who is it? Is it another tribe?”
“Get your bows out! We have to shoot back!” the warriors rapidly responded and quickly shot their arrows in the direction of the attack.
‘These arrowheads are sharp and refined. I’ve never seen an arrowhead this sophisticated,’ Urich thought as he pulled out one of the arrows from the ground. The enemies were ruthlessly attacking from the higher ground. Urich and his warriors were undoubtedly at a massive disadvantage. ‘The range of their attack is much greater than ours, and they even have the higher ground.’
On top of their disadvantage, the unexpected ambush had already inflicted serious injuries to two of the warriors and had left them with severe bleeding.
Creak—
Urich gritted his teeth as rage consumed his head. His eyes reflected his anger and murderous intent.
‘I brought us up here. I have to take responsibility for this,’ Urich thought as he assessed the number of warriors who could still move properly.
“Grab our injured brothers and go. I’ll hold them here.”
“Absolutely not, we’re not leaving you here. We’re brothers, Urich,” Vald, one of Urich's loyal warriors, proclaimed with conviction.
“Shut up, I’m better off without you guys. Besides, I fight better alone anyway. Saving the lives of our brothers is as important as dying together, so go before I crack open your dumb head, Vald.”
Vald knew that Urich had already made up his mind. He showed a bitter grin. “You better not die, Urich.”
“The old shaman did say that I was going to become a great warrior. There’s no chance I’ll die here, not today. I am Urich, the slayer of thirty men!” Urich proclaimed as he charged, holding the hide of the bear over himself as cover. The arrows were piercing the hide but weren’t able to get to Urich.
Meanwhile, the other warriors rushed back down the mountain with their injured comrades. Urich took another look at his warriors to make sure they were on their way down safely.
Woosh!
Urich launched his long spear in the direction of the enemies. His rather rash attack caught them by surprise, halting their attacks for a moment. Urich took this chance to ditch the bear hide and draw in a long breath, preparing for a counterattack.
Cling!
Urich drew his axes and charged at the enemies, using the tall trees as cover to swiftly dodge the arrows raining down on him.
‘There you are.’
Urich’s thighs were pumped as hard as a rock. He charged ahead in big leaps, almost as if he was flying through the woods. He closed down the distance in the blink of an eye and sprayed a handful of stones at the enemies.
Swoosh!
“Argh!”
“Ahhhh!”
The enemies screamed at the stone shower and Urich was able to pick them out amidst the bushes.
‘I’ve never seen outfits like this.’ Urich was finally able to see the oddly dressed men. Unlike the nearly naked tribesmen, these men had only their hands and faces peeking out of their clothes. They were covered from head to toe in cloth as if they were embarrassed about showing their skin.
‘They’re from the other side of the mountains!’ Urich’s instinct screamed that these men were not from the same place as him. They were people from beyond the Sky Mountains.
The enemies were yelling at Urich, but he wasn’t able to understand their words as they were speaking a different language. It didn’t matter anyway, as Urich had already made up his mind on what he was going to do with them. ‘You’ve laid your hands on my brothers. You will all die.’
Urich circled the enemies while swinging his axes. The enemies scurried away from Urich as if he was a lion that had jumped into a herd of deer.
“What, you can’t fight without your bow and arrows? Cowards!” Urich roared at the scattering men. But then, from among them, something moved toward him.
Creak. Creak.
A man in full golden plate armor rose from the grass. He was waiting for the barbarian to come into his proximity.
“Sir Fordgal!” exclaimed one of the enemies.
“Good thing I had this armor on just in case.” Fordgal, the man in golden armor, drew his sword and shield to stand in front of Urich.
‘What is that fighting stance…and that armor?’ Urich was stunned by the amount of metal these men had at their disposal. Back at his tribe, there wasn’t enough iron to forge into weapons, let alone a whole armor set. Their armor was made of layered animal hides.
Fordgal tossed his shield backward.
“You must keep your shield, Sir Fordgal!” one of the enemies exclaimed with concern.
“It’s the axe of a barbarian. It’s not getting through my full plate armor.” Fordgal stood up to Urich with a strong sense of confidence.
“I don’t know what is happening right now, but ditching your shield? You’re that confident in your armor, huh?” Urich muttered as he spun his axes. Neither could understand the words coming out of their opponent’s mouth.
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