Chapter 71: Gartz hunt (Cleaning up)
A cold wind blew through the trees.
‘This is too cold!’
It was severely cold. Temperature readings were at -31 Fahrenheit. Joonbum was used to the severe cold since Seoul was pretty cold compared to rest of the world, but it was much colder.
‘At least I have a hand warmer!’
Joonbum shivered as he tightened his clothes. Next to him was Gazlow, the leader of the scouting group who glanced left and right on the snow-covered plain. Pree-an, Doral, Beyran, and Herde, the other scouts of the group, also checked all the sides of the plain.
“Gartz!”
A moment later, Gazlow spoke out as he spotted what they were looking for. Joonbum couldn’t see it, but there were two young Gartz moving about in the distance.
“Finally!”
“There are two! We’ll need two or three more afterward and we should be good for this year.”
“I want to return to town. I’m sick and tired of this coldness.”
“I miss sitting down in front of the stove and taking care of the arrows.”
“They will let us go home soon.”
They were happy to spot the monster they were looking for. The coldness was harsh for everyone.
“Finally!”
It was the third day after Joonbum rejoined the ranks of the warriors in the hunt. All of the warriors seemed to be very tired from not being able to find any to hunt. It was also because this winter was colder than usual.
‘It’s hard to endure the winter with just a tent.’
Thus, Joonbum brought electric heaters. It was best there was to keep the tent warm inside. He even brought more portable generators because of the heaters, but they still needed to find the Gartz. In the spring, the Ainos had to move out of the village to trade with humans, but they had nothing else to trade except for healing potions.
It was good that they finally found it.
“I’ll let them know.”
Gazlow used the walkie-talkie to inform all the warriors of their findings.
-We will prepare for the hunt. Lure it in.-
A message came directly from the base camp soon enough. It was quick since they had been waiting for such news for quite some time.
‘We just need to lure it.’
All of the Ainos at the camp began moving quickly. It was the first time after the third Gartz they captured while Joonbum was away that they found the monster. Both were young males about seventeen to eighteen feet tall. It looked like they had been kicked out from their pack as they were now considered adults and the scarce food source in the winter forced them to make a choice. If they were not hunted, they would probably live through the winter, experience various encounters with different animals or sometimes other Gartz, and they would find female Gartz from other packs to form a family. Occasionally, there were some Gartz that challenged an existing pack leader from a different group to overtake it.
“There are two. We’ll divide them up and lure them. Let’s set the bait!”
Everyone nodded as Gazlow explained the plan.
“Joonbum and Doral take the smaller one. The rest come with me to lure the big one.”
Gazlow looked at everyone.
“Don’t ever stay too close to it.”
Everyone nodded. They had been warned hundreds of times. The Gartz was the kind of monster that was never supposed to be fought head-on in close combat.
‘No human will try to fight it hand to hand.’
Joonbum had a lot of experience. He also passed the test to become an Ainos warrior. He even had confidence in himself after the incident with Jinpok. But the Gartz was still something that had to be considered an extreme danger.
‘No man would want to fight it so closely. It’s impossible to kill… actually, it is possible.’
Joonbum remembered the Browning heavy machine gun he purchased. The shell that rained fire with its armor-piercing shells would be enough to kill such a monster even in close range.
‘But that would be the only way.’
It would be possible if he used powerful modern weapons, but the Ainos did not have such weapons. Spears or arrows were no use against such a monster in close combat.
“Use your bait to lure it.”
The two Gartz seemed to move about in close proximity, but they were also a bit far from each other. Their job was to gather those two in one place.
It was an easy job since all they needed to do was pour some blood on the ground so that they would be attracted to the smell.
“This bottle is amazing,” Doral said as he opened the Thermos to pour warm water on the ground before quickly walking away. Armed with a rifle, a shotgun, and a hand grenade, Joonbum quickly followed him. The Gartz began moving as it smelled the blood in the air. It moved its head around, searching for the direction the smell was coming from and began running.
‘It’s scary.’
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The monsters did not seem to be bothered by the coldness and moved quickly. Joonbum felt his heart pounding at the sight of such a monster, but it was more like excitement than fear that caused it.
Noticing Joonbum’s rough breathing, Doral asked, “Are you excited?”
“Oh, yeah, a bit.”
“Don’t be swept by the excitement of the kill. If you get used to it and begin enjoying it, it will ruin your mind. Always keep your head cool. We’re hunting it because we need to survive.”
Joonbum nodded at the kind advice.
‘It feels like I have a brother.’
Doral was more like a friend in the beginning, but he was now like family. He was like a brother to Joonbum, and he was happy to have a such person in his life as he always envied his friends who had older brothers that looked out for them.
“Run! It noticed us!”
Joonbum began to move quickly. The Gartz that was sniffing the blood was now looking straight in the direction where Joonbum and Doral were currently moving. The monster caught their scent among the blood and began charging at them.
“Ugh!”
They ran with all their might. It was hard to run through a deep plain of snow, not to mention the monster that was closing in with enormous speed.
“Concentrate!” Doral shouted as they kept running.
“Just-just a bit… more!”
Doral seemed to be heavily breathing.
‘It’s my fault…!’
There was a white flag in the snow. Joonbum let out a huge sigh at the sight and a set of arrows flew across the sky past Joonbum and Doral. A scream from the monster echoed throughout the area.
“Ugh! I almost died.”
Joonbum laid down on the ground and Doral was searching for his breath with his head down. Gazlow, Pree-an, Beyran, and Herde were pretty much in the same state.
‘Wh-when did they get here?’
Joonbum didn’t even realize they were close as he had been running without thinking.
“Good work.”
The warriors approached and dragged them back as a group of poisoned arrows slowly started paralyzing the two monsters. The monsters let out enormous, angry roars that even shook the trees, making the snow to fall down to the ground.
It was the same hunting method Joonbum saw before, but he still couldn’t take his eyes off. It was still a mesmerizing sight.
“Here’s milk with honey.”
Joonbum was handed over some warm milk and honey.
“Thank you.”
He grabbed the cup and felt its warmth before drinking it. The milk was pretty hot, but his frozen lips could not feel how hot it was. He felt sweetness filling his mouth as he drank it away and began to relax.
“Whoaaa!”
The loud shout from the Ainos was heard as Joonbum was relaxing with the milk.
“It’s done.”
Joonbum heard Howen speak and he turned his eyes to the two Gartz that had fallen to the ground. Two Ainos warriors were stabbing their spears into their brains. The rest was the same. They gathered the blood and burned the corpses. It was over.
“It’s a feast! Start the fire!”
Everyone seemed to be happy about the successful hunt. A bonfire was started and the warriors ate away all the food that was prepared. Some even took off their clothes despite the coldness to show off their strength.
“Joonbum! Good job today! Have a drink!”
“You were so fast! I didn’t know humans could run that fast. Take my drink too!”
“N-no, I’m done…”
“C’mon! Take mine too!”
“For the scouts!”
“WOO-HAA!”
Joonbum quickly became red as he drank away all the liquor that was offered. After a while, Joonbum who had been quietly drinking, stood up.
“Heeyah! Heeyah! Drink up, drink up, drink up, drink up! It’s coming! Drink, drink, drink! Heeyah!”
People fell silent as Joonbum began singing and dancing in a weird way. He did not stop singing.
“Drink it up so you can run away after, once! Refuse it, make it a second! The golden balance…”