A blizzard swept across the land.
The snow here was nothing like soft, downy feathers. It came down as sharp shards of ice that could flay exposed skin.
Traveling in weather like this was suicide. The Hunters had no choice but to suspend their tracking and dig a snow shelter in the lee of a mountain hollow, where they waited for the blizzard to pass.
Altaïr unrolled the map he carried. A charcoal line traced the route the Elderfrost Gammoth had taken over the past few days, with precise notes marking its resting places, travel speed, and other details.
White vapor streamed from his mouth. His gauntlet, caked with snow and ice and stiff from the cold, tapped a point on the map.
"The Elderfrost Gammoth has maintained a remarkably consistent pace and daily travel distance. At its current speed and heading, it will enter the frozen coniferous forest where the Grimclaw Tigrex is roaming within two days."
He then pulled out a second map.
This was the map Sajji had rushed over on Hakucho to deliver just before the blizzard struck. "This is the Grimclaw Tigrex's route. What do you all think?"
Haifa took a sip from her waterskin and glanced at the map. "It's all over the place, like a headless chicken."
"Hmm... According to Clawdia, unlike the single-minded Elderfrost Gammoth, the Grimclaw Tigrex seems to have a general destination. It wanders through the surrounding area while slowly working its way in that direction.
"Along the way, it kills almost every large creature it encounters, whether it is a defenseless Aptonoth or Popo, or another large Monster near the top of the food chain..."
"We found a Blangonga corpse not long ago, meow. It had been torn to pieces, meow," Sajji added. Snow and ice clung to his fur from head to toe, making him look like a snowman.
"A Blangonga?" Karin's brow furrowed. "It wasn't killed for food or as a challenge, but purely for the sake of killing?"
The Hunters fell silent for a moment.
Even these seasoned High Rank Hunters felt a chill at the thought of such unbridled savagery.
The blizzard did not last long. As the howling winds subsided, the Hunters crawled out of their snow shelter one after another.
Isis pulled off her cold-weather coat and shook it vigorously a few times. "It's already getting dark. Shouldn't we head back to camp and rest?"
Karin studied the map, her head beginning to ache.
The camp was a considerable distance away. Even by sled, the one-way journey took several hours. They might spend more time traveling back and forth than they would resting.
But not returning was not an option. To travel light and fast, they had carried only limited supplies, nowhere near enough to last another two days in this frozen wilderness. They had to resupply.
"Let's go. This should be our last chance to rest and reorganize." As the team leader, Karin gave the order.
The group immediately began preparing for the return trip to camp.
Sajji deployed his glider again and quickly took off with Hakucho's help.
He still had to retrieve Clawdia, who had been tracking the Grimclaw Tigrex. With her short coat, she would freeze solid if she stayed out in the ice and snow any longer.
However, the Hunters had barely set out when Sajji, who should already have been far away, unexpectedly circled back and landed in front of them in a panic.
Before Altaïr and the others could ask what was wrong, he cried, "Something's wrong, meow! I spotted the Elderfrost on the way, and it's sped up, meow! It isn't plodding along like before. It's running, meow! Really fast, meow!"
"That thing can run?" Haifa blurted out.
Including the days since Altaïr's group arrived, she had been tracking the Elderfrost for nearly a month. It moved so slowly that watching it made her want to yawn, and it covered almost the exact same short distance each day.
When Sajji used the word "running" to describe the Elderfrost, she could not even picture it at first.
"We're only a few dozen kilometers from the coniferous forest where the Grimclaw Tigrex is," Karin said, looking in the direction the Gammoth had gone.
"The blizzard probably carried the Grimclaw Tigrex's scent and the smell of blood. A Gammoth has an exceptionally keen sense of smell; the Elderfrost must have caught both."
Altaïr continued, "That fits our earlier theory. The Elderfrost knew the Grimclaw Tigrex was coming, so it left the Furahiya Mountains ahead of time and came out onto this snowfield to 'greet' it. Now that it has pinpointed its enemy's location by scent, it has no reason to take its time anymore."
Isis's eyes widened. "You mean it's charging over to fight the Grimclaw Tigrex? Then shouldn't we go after it?"
Karin did not decide immediately. Instead, she looked to Sajji for confirmation. "Sajji, exactly how fast is the Elderfrost moving right now?"
"It should be moving at more than twenty kilometers per hour, maybe close to thirty, meow!"
"Seriously? That thing barely covered thirty kilometers in an entire day before, right?" Haifa exclaimed.
Karin's expression turned grave. "At that pace, it could reach the coniferous forest where the Grimclaw Tigrex is within three hours. A creature of that size won't make a quiet entrance at a run. Given the Grimclaw Tigrex's temperament, once it realizes a powerful enemy is approaching, it will most likely head straight toward it. The battle could begin very soon. We need to follow and gather accurate firsthand intelligence."
"We hadn't planned on traveling through the night, so our supplies are running low," Morgan warned. "Especially our Hot Drinks. The temperature will drop even further tonight. If we run out, hypothermia could leave us unable to move, or we could even freeze to death."
"There's more vegetation near the coniferous forest, meow. I spotted some chili peppers. If we gather them, they should tide us over for a while, meow," Sajji offered.
Haifa stared at him in disbelief. "They're going to clash in two or three hours, and you think we have time to gather chili peppers and make more Hot Drinks?"
"Chili peppers... I have an idea." Karin paused for two seconds, then spoke quickly. "First, we'll use the sleds to catch up. Once we reach the coniferous forest, we'll pool our remaining Hot Drinks. Haifa and I will carry them, leave the sleds behind, and pick up the pace to catch the Elderfrost. We'll confirm whether it engages the Grimclaw Tigrex and record the outcome.
"The rest of you will gather chili peppers, Honey, and other supplies at the edge of the coniferous forest. We'll find a way to make it through the night."
The Hunters exchanged glances.
If they returned to camp now, it would mean abandoning the quest.
Claims that the Elderfrost would "most likely" fight the Grimclaw Tigrex and "probably" leave both of them wounded were only conjecture. Anything they had not witnessed with their own eyes could not be included in the report.
Who would die? Who would be gravely injured, and how badly? Where would they go after breaking off the fight? All of this had to be confirmed.
The Grimclaw Tigrex and the Elderfrost were both Monsters of extreme danger. Vague or inaccurate intelligence could cause the Guild to misjudge the situation, with unpredictable consequences.
Yet continuing the quest meant their supplies could not sustain all five of them traveling together.
Food was less of a concern; going hungry for a day or two would not be a serious problem. But out on a snowfield where temperatures plunged to tens of degrees below zero and another blizzard could strike at any moment, they could not afford to run out of Hot Drinks. They would freeze to death...
Their only option seemed to be concentrating the supplies in the hands of a few, who would continue the mission while the others gathered the materials they needed to survive.
After a brief discussion, all the Hunters agreed.
Altaïr spoke up. "I have no objection to the rest of the plan, but I disagree with who should continue the quest.
"I believe I am better suited than Teacher Haifa to accompany Teacher Karin on the surveillance mission."
"You brat..." Haifa glared at him and clenched her fists.
Karin raised a hand to stop her partner, then looked directly into Altaïr's eyes. "Why?"
"It's simple. Teacher Haifa uses a Great Sword and is only suited to head-on combat. If something unexpected happens, she can't even run fast enough to escape..."
"That's nonsense!" Haifa cut him off with an angry shout.
She glared at the Tyrant Blade [Heaven Swallower] strapped to Altaïr's back, a weapon that did not look any lighter than a Great Sword, and retorted, "You're a Long Sword user. Are you really that much faster than me?"
"I can activate Demon Mode."
"You..."