Primordial Sage: Plight of Immortality

A few months passed and many things changed. The most important one was that winter had come. The sources of food and even water thinned out making it hard for the tribe to live the same way as before. Nowadays there are ten times fewer game than months ago which resulted in a smaller ration of meat creating dissatisfaction within the tribe.

On the other hand, most of the water sources froze completely all the way. Because of that the only ways to get water was either to boil the ice or snow or eat snow outright. But the latter was done only in emergencies since eating snow could easily result in hypothermia even with the cold resistance the tribe members have.

Furthermore, the tribe was at war.

That's right. They didn't wait for too long and attacked every tribe that attacked before or had a bad relationship with them already. It may seem foolish to fight at this moment against so many enemies but the tribe members never thought that much in-depth when dealing with their enemies. They dared to touch their people so they died. Simple as that.

Of course, Kaoran thought about it as the spiritual leader. Letting enemies go could make some members of the tribe riot as the rage won't dissipate without reason. Not only that but those tribes became their immediate competitors during hunting so if they were left the Bakur Tribe would have even less food. Besides those tribes would probably attack of their own accord as before since humans are on their menu too...

So after adopting guerrilla warfare together with superior individual strength Bakur Tribe ambushed the weakened tribes and looted everything they bothered to take from the north. Of course, this will take much longer than normal head-on war but there was simply too many of the escapee and it was simply impossible to get rid of them in one strike.

Even after months, wave after wave was still coming from the north. Some of them were divided forces of the tribes that already arrived while others were new ones which delayed their escape.

During this time, Stone was actively fighting those tribes and was gathering experiences in fights, ambushes, and assassinations. Because of that, he cut off some of the Degres' training which started to have diminished results after years. Power training was still important but real fights Stone experienced were obviously much more valuable.

Of course, if there was a chance Stone went into meditation after every ambush to reflect as he did during training. This was the essence of The Way of the Body. Stone knew this and that was why he never ceased this habit which made him progress by bounds and leaps.

By contrast his time with Kaoran got slightly longer since there were many injured people and many... Corpses. Physicians are healers, who treat their patients. The quickest way to learn how to treat all kinds of illnesses, poisons, injuries, and whatnot was to know the anatomy of the body perfectly. And what better way was there than to dissect somebody to look deep into it?

In this way, Stone learned the secrets hidden in the human body and became already excellent healer. Of course, because of that he progressed in The Way of the Body too, and found out how to injure his enemies more effectively.

In this way, his fighting potential awakened which raised the approval of others. Not that Stone cared about it.

Momentally Stone, who was quickly moving through the forest, was in a state of complete concentration as he jumped from one branch of the trees to another. This was not only hard on your body but also mind as you needed to determine if the brach could bear your weight in a split second before looking for another branch.

Stone was like a ghost as he passed through the trees looking for movement on the ground. He could see from those tracks that the enemies were close so he was vigilant. Soon he saw some snow tracks that were sloppily hidden but with his superior eyesight, he could see it even from the distance at the top of the tree.

'Found you.' Stone's eyes narrowed as he determined where those men went. Then he turned around. After a few minutes, he arrived at the place he came towards and met with the rest of his team.

Since the war began most of the younger members joined the teams with adults so they won't lay down their life without reason. That's why within the team of six there was only Stone who was under 30. Because of that, Urchin, who already was rehabilitated, joined another team so they didn't meet as often as before.

"I found traces. They went towards Southwest and are 10 minutes away from here," reported Stone as soon as he got close.

"Hmm.. Good job, young Frozen Worm. Now 5 minutes rest, then let us proceed." The leader of the team, who didn't use any name and instead was called Misty Bear, commanded as the rest of the members grunted in assent.

Stone nodded to him, however, when he turned around scrunched his face in disapproval. Since he fought this month quite often, the injuries were inevitable. With injuries, others could perfectly see how strong his regeneration was. So after his exploits, most of the members choose for him his Battle name or title!

And what name was more fitting than the name of the most famous creature in the north known for its undying traits? Without Stone even knowing the entire tribe started to perceive him as a 'Frozen Worm' overnight.

But Stone wasn't really satisfied with it. Legendary or not, the fact that his title had the word 'worm' inside didn't change. Moreover, they probably chose it because they suddenly remembered there was such a creature thanks to Kaoran's divination even if most didn't believe it.

Stone didn't desire any strong-sounding title or something but this sounded a little ridiculous even to him.

'It will just bring bad luck.' Stone clicked his tongue. Just thinking that he has the title of some man-eating creature just makes him feel as if something bad will happen in the future...

Soon the five minutes passed and they went on their way. This time they didn't go on the trees as they wanted to save up their stamina. They went in that direction and tracked the group they were looking for. Once they picked up the pace they saw more and more tracks hidden to normal eyes as the group marched here.

"From here we will take off on the trees to keep hidden." Misty Bear

""Yes""

Once everyone agreed started to climb the trees. Forests around were ancient and trees tall so it was hard for normal people to climb them but the Bakur Tribe with their ability to perfectly control their bodies made it effective. Moreover Bakur Tribe's main choice of weapons which were axes was designed with spikes on the opposite side of the blade. Those were used in battles but also during climbing and breaking the ice making it extremely useful.

With it, they stuck to the trunk and could climb with ease just like squirrels. Stone jumped up and with one swing he wedged the spike in the trunk and within a second hoisted himself up where he wedged the spike of the second axe. In this way, he could climb the 15-meter-tall tree in a few seconds.

Once up they went in the same direction as before. But this time they soon found their target.

They went closer to them until they could see them clearly but far enough so they could communicate with each other without fearing being discovered.

"It seems to clan of Vrak." whispered one of the members who were knowledgeable about the tribes and clans in the Frozen Valas Tundra.

"Beware. Those bastards are like rats. They could do anything if you give them a chance. Poisoning is just the smallest problem. I heard that they piss on their weapons and coat them with their animal shit so that when they wound someone with it they would get infected. Fucking disgusting." The leader said with deep dislike.

"Ew.." Most of the members seemed unhappy with this. If not for the fact that part of their equipment was the wooden shield baptized by Cold Energy then who knows if they would be even willing to fight this kind of enemy? Depending on which type of infection you get your life could be in danger even with a healer by your side. Not to mention that nobody wants to be tainted by this kind of weapon coated by someone's piss and shit...

But even with their reluctance they needed to complete the mission. Hidden in the crowns of the trees they slowly circumvented the group that was going through the forest. The icy blue leaves fluttered in the air as Stone and others stealthily observed them.

During this time, when they fought almost every day, each person's standard equipment had a wooden shield, a bow with 30 arrows, long and short daggers, and two one-handed axes.

Obviously, it was heavily biased on the ambushes since that was the essence of guerrilla warfare. Only the shield stood out but it was mostly used to charge at the enemies at initial attack and strapped at the back when fleeing so the enemies have it harder to injure them.

This tactic was very successful and that was why they didn't plan to change it. Even now.

Misty Bear signaled for others to take out the bows and take aim. So Stone did so. Archery had been one of his hobbies for so time already and the feel of shooting had a calming feel in his mind.

In truth, he liked hunting altogether. Unfortunately, he didn't have that much time for it recently as he mostly accompanied Misty Bear in attacking the enemies. Even though that can be also called a form of 'hunting'.

Stone took a deep breath as he calmed his nerves and took the comfortable position. Shooting from the tree was much harder than from the ground so it took him time to get used to it. Once he was ready, he nocked the arrow on the string and aimed at one of the men passing below. They already allocated their targets so he didn't need to think whether they would attack the same person.

Once he extended his bow hand fully he finally drew the bowstring until it was taut. He took a deep breath and watched the enemy as he waited for the signal.

A few seconds later, Misty Bear whose hand was raised fell down. Stone at that moment exhaled and released the arrow which flew through the forest.

It wasn't the only arrow as another six flew from other sides too. Everything happened too quickly and the members of the Vrak clan didn't have time to respond.

Before they even realized what happened, seven of them were already lying down with open eyes not even realizing they were dead. They didn't expect that despite having leather armor they would still be completely pierced through.

Bakur Tribe was known for their strong bows so it was no wonder that the arrows were quicker and had more strength behind them. Since their strength was stronger than others in the surroundings they used this advantage and created bows that needed as much as twice of power to fully draw them.

Those treasured bows were now slung over the shoulder and Stone with others took out axe and shield, each in one hand as they jumped down at the enemy with the shield before them.

Vrak clan members already noticed their enemies as one of them was yelling commands. Unfortunately, his commands were not as effective since he was not the true leader of their team. The real one was already with an arrow embedded in him. While some of them panicked the others got angry at the death of their comrades, turned towards Stone's team, and started in a hurry shooting with arrows.

Unfortunately, their half-assed counter-attacks were completely blocked by their shields. Before Vrak members could do anything else Stone's team was already on the ground rolling to migitate the fall and charging at confused enemies.

Stone, who still couldn't meditate the fall from 15 meters properly, chose a different tactic.

He flew a missile while holding the shield before him until he fell at the unsuspecting barbarian breaking his skull and neck. That managed to slow Stone's fall for a second which gave him enough time to roll over the victim's body with ease.

Next, he charged with others at the remaining members of the Vrak team which seemed to be in disarray. Before they could completely recover Stone managed to slay another two of them.

Unfortunately, after that, it won't be as easy since all of them finally started responding to the situation and Stone's team lost the surprise effect.

Of course, as part of guerrilla warfare, the hit-and-run tactic was the common way to solve this problem but the Vrak clan wasn't worthy of this kind of tactic in the eyes of Misty Bear.

The only reason why they may be cautious is because of their unsightly practice.

But with a proper shield that won't be a problem. And so the slightly prolonged battle began...