บท 4: The Blackened Snow Ambush
Elsewhere, Castor was visited by the village chief and some representatives of villagers who asked the four of them to stay in Helberg for a while.
Castor also said that he had to discuss it first with his three other comrades before he agreed to their request.
Long story short, the four of them deliberated and agreed to stay in Helberg for a while to guard against further attacks.
Towards the end of the afternoon, Gideon invited Victor, who was practicing using a sword with Agatha, to hunt something in the forest around Helberg while teaching Victor how to archery.
At first Victor seemed hesitant to come but finally managed to convince Gideon and then decided to accompany Gideon hunting.
"Don't put Victor in danger! I hope you'll take my word for it! Because if anything happens to him, I'll really kick your ass!" Agatha warned Gideon.
"Agatha, I will be very happy when I see you angry, because then you will look even more beautiful, but don't worry! Because I will protect Victor with all my heart and soul!", replied Gideon as if he was teasing Agatha.
As the two youngest members whose ages were not so far apart, Agatha and Gideon were often involved in quarrels, but Gideon never took it seriously, because he had understood it and considered Agatha as a tough-minded younger sister.
While passing by the front yard, Gideon and Victor bumped into Jacob who was reading a piece of paper carried by an albino owl perched on his left arm.
The owl has been the messenger throughout their adventures, and they name their little buddy as Phantom.
"Jack, Victor and I will go find something for our dinner menu later.", Gideon said to Jacob.
Before they left Jacob advised Gideon to be more careful and restrain himself from reckless actions that he did very often, especially if he took Victor with him.
Jacob was worried that the young Victor would have to get involved in a dangerous situation that he was not yet ready for.
Gideon assured Jacob not to worry about them because he would protect Victor and they would both be back as soon as possible.
The two of them left for a forest located to the south of the village where the residents used to hunt there.
It is said that the residents of Helberg rarely eat meat because the population of animals is getting scarce, instead they eat fruits from endemic plants that thrive throughout the year in Helberg, Winter Apple and Cranial Berry.
Long story short now Gideon and Victor are in the southern forest of Helberg, after a long search finally from a distance they saw a rabbit taking refuge under a tree.
Gideon immediately asked Victor to try to shoot the animal, Victor who initially hesitated was not sure that he would succeed, but very painstakingly Gideon taught Victor.
"Don't take your eyes off the target for a second, follow your instincts... now! Release your arrow!", Gideon said softly while giving Victor a signal to shoot his arrow.
The arrow hit its target, and Victor, who still couldn't believe what he had done on his first try, was stunned.
"Good job!", praised Gideon while clapping his hands together.
Amid his dissatisfaction with the results of their hunt, Gideon also invited Victor to walk northeast to head to the forest which was located east of Helberg, considering that it seemed that the forest was very shady as if it had never been touched by humans.
But Victor immediately prevented him, he said that the forest east of Helberg was a forbidden forest area which according to the stories of the residents that the forest was inhabited by a monster who guarded the place so that none of the residents in his village dared to enter there.
Hearing what the boy told Gideon laughed at him, because for him it was a funny thing if Victor thought the story would make Gideon afraid to go there just because there was a monster inhabiting it.
He also assured Victor that everything would be fine because Victor was with him who had managed to kill thousands of monsters throughout his adventures.
After a moment of consideration, Victor agreed to follow Gideon who was desperate to take him hunting to that place.
During their journey they saw so many forest-dwelling animals that seemed to live very peacefully, the natural conditions there seemed to explain that the preservation of the forest was very well preserved.
A few meters from where they were they saw a fat caribou deer that immediately caught their attention.
Gideon immediately signaled Victor to get ready to shoot the big animal.
Victor obeyed, as soon as he returned to prepare to shoot his big target, but suddenly Gideon realized that there was a danger from behind them, Gideon quickly pulled Victor's body and jumped to avoid the incoming attack.
Victor, who was surprised, accidentally released his arrow and hit one of the large tree trunks near his deer, making the animal realize their presence and run away from there.
Feeling curious Victor also asked about what really happened, Gideon pointed to the black ice crystals that were stuck to the place where they stood earlier.
Then they turned their gaze towards a cliff behind them and saw a creature that at first glance resembled an adult black horse.
The creature immediately jumped down in front of them, a monster with a body like an adult horse with a whole body filled with black rough scales that had sharp claws on its four legs, the creature could be said to have a form like a dragon but without wings.
"Oh my! It's bad! Black Snow Fendragnir!", Victor said in a panicked tone and trembling body.
Immediately Victor pulled Gideon's sleeve to run away from there, while Gideon who had previously intended to fight against the creature was finally forced to run following Victor who pulled his sleeve strongly.
"Hey Victor? Wasn't that one a land dragon? People also refer to such creatures as drakes, is that the creature you told me about inhabiting this forest?", asked Gideon who still managed to look relaxed in such a precarious situation.
"There's no time to explain about that, now we have to run away!", replied Victor who was very panicked.
The creature continued to chase the two of them to a cliff from a very steep ravine so that the two of them could no longer go anywhere.
The creature was slowly getting closer to them, the look in the creature's eyes made Victor feel so scared that his body was shaking, he no longer knew what to ask Gideon what would they do next?
Gideon casually replied that the next thing he would do was carry out the original plan of beating the creature.
He turned his back on Victor and asked him to stay behind him until he signaled Victor to move away when the opportunity arose.
The monster seemed to understand Gideon's intentions of challenging him to a fight, as it instantly turned aggressive and began to show its grinning fangs.
Gideon smiled smugly at the change in the monster's attitude, immediately pulling out a dagger and hooking it on a long chain tied around his waist. "You want to dance?! Then let's dance!", said Gideon in a challenging tone.
The monster quickly took a stance and jumped towards them to pounce, but was dodged by Gideon who somersaulted while clinging to Victor.
"Now! Take cover behind there!", Gideon ordered Victor as he pointed to a large rock a few meters away from them.
Immediately Victor ran there, immediately the creature turned its eyes to Victor, as the creature was about to chase him quickly Gideon swung his long chain which managed to shackle the legs of the monster and then pulled the creature's body until it was stuck.
"Hey big donkey! Your playmate is me!", Gideon taunted.
The fierce battle between the two was inevitable, Gideon's agility in fighting managed to overcome the speed of the monster, but it was not easy for Gideon to conquer the creature in a short time, because he had to try hard to find a gap to immobilize the monster who turned out to be stronger than what he had previously thought.
After fighting for a long time, Gideon finally saw an opportunity, immediately he slashed his chain dagger until it was wrapped around the creature's neck, then Gideon jumped and somersaulted around the creature's body.
Finally the monster managed to get entangled by the chain and made it difficult to move, as soon as Gideon shot the monster with several arrows to paralyze it and then slashed it with a sword to make the creature's body collapse.
Gideon also stepped casually approaching the helpless monster, as if not wanting to give up the creature continued to try to rebel in the chain bondage and then opened its jaws to prepare to attack Gideon with it ice spray.
Not until that happened did Gideon stomp on the monster's jaw so hard that it was stuck to the ground and then prepared to cut off the creature's head.
"Too bad! Our fun has to end now," Gideon said.
Victor unexpectedly ran towards him to block Gideon and prevent him from killing the monster.
Gideon, who was confused by what Victor had done, asked Victor why he was protecting the monster that had almost harmed them.
Victor firmly revealed that he felt that the creature actually had no intention of harming them, it was the two of them who had disturbed him by hunting in the forest.
Gideon, who felt unable to understand Victor's way of thinking, abandoned his intention to finish off the creature.
Then with a body that was still shaking with fear very carefully Victor pulled out each arrow stuck in the creature's body one by one and then helped it to break free from Gideon's long chain.
Victor also tore off one of the arms from his clothes and tied it to one of the monster's legs which was badly injured by Gideon's sword slash.
"Forgive us for disturbing and injuring you!", Victor said as he tried to carefully release the creature from the chains.
The creature only froze to see what Victor had done, the two of them left the creature still lying there and went home with only a few fruits they had picked in the southern forest earlier and a hunted animal that they had obtained earlier.
On the way back Gideon kept looking at Victor and then he smiled suddenly.
"I see Vincent's personality in you, you look a lot like him...", Gideon said with a smile.
Suddenly Victor was surprised, in his mind a question arose about how could Gideon know his father's name?
"What...?! How do you know my father's name? Do you recognize him?", asked Victor with great curiosity.
Gideon casually explained that Vincent was their old friend and the one who had sent the message for the four of them to come to Helberg.
In addition, Gideon also mentioned that Vincent was a good man and even the four of them admired him when Vincent was their comrade in arms.
Hearing what Gideon said, Victor suddenly fell silent, his face showing a very upset expression that made him clench his hands hard.
In his mind flashed how disappointed he was with his father who never returned to just see him and his mother, not even coming himself to save them both from the fateful event that had claimed his mother's life that night.
Gideon, who did not understand what was wrong with everything he had said, chose to remain silent and no longer said anything.
Slowly the sun was sinking in the western horizon, thousands of darkness slowly creeping to close the day full of unpredictability.
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