Seeing Ajax training the other trainees were surprised. They have seen him use a sword, staff and spear. Even bare handed, they wouldn't want to fight him as Ajax was a skilled and talented fighter than them and he usually doesn't hold back giving them bruises and lessons which they would remember.
They had previously seen Ajax practice with those weapons. He was quite good and it was quite different from his current clumsy display.
Timothy first started to smile, he pulled Pete and went close to Ajax. The were followed by the other two trainees. It was the first time, they saw Ajax being that clumsy with a weapon and they being young teens didn't want to lose the chance to make fun of him.
They came close to Ajax. They were watching as they chuckled slightly among themselves while they continued eating.
"Well, I guess they couldn't miss the chance to make fun of me. Teens are easy to predict in a sense," thought Ajax as he smiled internally. He continued to practice with the axe.
Though they wanted to comment, they didn't dare to. They were afraid that Ajax would probably chase after them and beat them.
It wasn't that they couldn't tolerate being beaten a bit by Ajax, but they didn't to do it before they have eaten their full. They were hungry as they hadn't eaten in the morning. Pete was the only one who ate in the morning along with Ajax. So, he was a bit better and wasn't stuffing himself like others. After seeing Ajax play with the axe for about 5 minutes, Pete decided to say something.
"You didn't use an axe much before, right?" asked Pete suddenly. Ajax stopped and calmly turned around to look at Pete. He could see the other three, silently stepping away from Pete to the side distancing themselves from him.
"You have used an axe before to fight?" asked Ajax.
"No, but my father uses it for cutting wood," said Pete.
"I doubt cutting wood would be the same as fighting beasts or humans," said Ajax.
"No, it is not. But I know for sure, that it isn't twirled around used like a sword," said Pete. "The big head at the top makes its balance much different. You need to use your whole arm to swing it. The wrist isn't strong enough if you want to control it."
"Who told you?" asked Ajax.
"The village head used to be an adventurer. He used to say that axe is the best weapon for adventurer, especially poor ones. He used to say that is easily found in many commoners houses as it is used for cutting wood and swinging it is a good exercise for arms," explained Pete.
"You tried it ever?" asked Ajax.
"No," said Pete.
"Why not?" asked Ajax.
"We have well maintained weapons and training facilities," said Pete.
"Haha," chuckled Ajax as he turned around and started to change his swing. He swung a couple of times before turning his head towards Pete.
"Want to join me?" asked Ajax. "Practice."
"I don't have an axe," said Pete.
"Use whatever you have," said Ajax. "I am bored travelling calm all day."
"What is happening? Does Ajax not get angry?" asked Glen looking at Timothy and Brad who looked as non plussed as him.
"I got beaten up once during as spar, when he corrected me and I argued. He was never this accepting of my suggestions," said Timothy looking back at Glen.
Being Ajax's roommate, it is quite often that he argued with Ajax when discussing things. It was always fine, until once he did the same during a spar. It was at that time that Ajax explained to Timothy why he was wrong while beating him repeatedly with the flat side of his sword. After that, whenever Timothy was asked to spar, he obediently listened and Ajax also gained fame for not holding back in spars.
"Maybe that is because you were wrong. I was there and he proved openly that you were wrong, while he beat you up," said Brad.
"So, if he is wrong at something, can we beat him up?" asked Glen.
"When did you see him be wrong. He even adds to what the instructors teach in the class," said Timothy.
"Ya," agreed Brad. "Also, can you even beat him."
"Ha, I would like to see that," chuckled Timothy loudly.
"If you are done eating why don't you join us," said Ajax loudly.
"No. Still eating. We are very hungry," said Timothy immediately.
"Ok, then," said Ajax. "Stay there and watch while you eat. Don't run away. I won't ask you to spar."
"Why will we run?" said Brad.
"Ya, we would love to watch you practice," sniggered Glen.
Ajax regretted asking them to join as soon as he said it aloud. He knew that they would try to move away when Timothy said that they were still hungry. So, he added a mock asking them to not run away. As he expected, Glen and Brad immediately responded and sat down continuing to eat.
Pete took out his sword and they began to spar. Ajax used his axe to mostly block his strikes. He was a good actor and began to act like he was unable to properly handle the axe while sparring with Pete. As they spared, the other three got excited seeing that Ajax was not able to dominate the fights as he usually did. They began to comment and started to cheer for Pete.
This continued for a bit more than ten minutes when a loud howl was heard. It was immediately followed by a few others howls and barking noises.
Everyone was alert and as they looked around, they could see that there was a sudden dark smoke-like fog that had fallen around them. This was clearly not natural. The sky was clear, but only around the camp there was this obstruction like fog about 10 feet high. It was clearly something induced artificially to cover their numbers and tracks.
A couple of seconds later, they could see a pack of more than 50 wolves surrounding their camp. The wolves were each 3 to 4 feet high with well-built muscles easily weighing about 200 kg. There were a few humanoid shapes scattered between them with one sitting on an especially large wolf.
The wolf was at least 5 feet high and was easily able to carry the man, who was also huge. Though the man was sitting, it was easy to notice that he was large, strong with height of more than 8 feet and about 3 feet wide. He carried a large wooden staff with a jewel at the top in his right hand and wore a crown like helmet. He was clearly the leader of this group of bandits, but was in the shadows of the fog with only his silhouette visible.
"To arms," yelled Syam.
"To the coaches. Get your weapons," said Ajax to his fellow trainees. Pete had his sword with him, but the other three were eating and left their weapons safe in the coaches.
Timothy and the rest immediately dropped their food in fear and ran towards to coaches in fear.
"Come on, the coaches are in a circle like defensive formation. There is also a trench around and we can set up a defensive perimeter," said Ajax to Pete. "We can't fight those wolves here in the open."
They quickly sprinted towards the coaches. Luckily, Ajax was already near the coaches and had the rest of his fellow trainees also congregate there. So, they were able to reach without much issue.
Along the way, he made sure to keep track of the wolves and the bandits that were running towards them.
Wolves are always fast. Four legs managed to speed up much faster than two. Moreover, these beasts need to run and hunt since they were born, unlike humans. So, their fitness and speed were much better. There were even built accelerate much faster than humans.
They ran at twice the speed of the bandits. They already were quite close to the coaches, when he started to hear the swish of the arrows. More than five of the hunters were good with a bow with each arrow finding their marks.
He could see Asha and Rashi who travelled in the same coach as him firing arrows at the incoming wolves. Their arrows were swift and aims precise. They landed their shots perfectly in the heads of those wolves. Raban was also quickly running alongside them with a spear in one hand while firing a cross bow. Though Raban was not as good as the archers, his shots were enough to distract the wolves.
The main problem wasn't the wolves, but the enemy archers. Just as they had archer, so did the enemy. Ajax noticed at least 5 archers among the enemies. These were the main problem on their side too. The veteran hunters all had storages and were adept in deflecting arrows with their weapons, but the same couldn't be said about the trainees. They were hardly able to properly run towards the coaches. It was their first time in an active battle scenario.
Luckily, they had Raban who was running alongside them. He was running towards the coaches beside them providing protection to the trainees. He was a veteran Duke stage cultivator. His techniques were enough to block and deflect any shots that would have hit them. He deflected most of them with a spear and only silently occasionally used some mana technique to deflect those shots which he couldn't reach with his spear.
"Get the spears out. Use only the spears," yelled Ajax as he saw the others reach the coaches and remove their swords from withing them.
Timothy immediately understood and started to unclasp the spears latched on the coach roof. They were group in sets of five and latched onto the coaches.
"Why? I am better with a sword," said Brad
"The wolves' claws will reach you, if you try to kill them with a sword," continued Ajax as he joined beside Timothy to help him remove them. He quickly threw a spear each to Timothy, Brad, Glen and Pete, before taking one himself.
He looked around and found Jean beside Raban and the other hunter who was dressed in Jean's armor. The man also was using a crossbow similar to Raban trying to keep the wolves at a distance.
During this time, they have also opened another set of spears and armed themselves with the spears. Two more hunters joined them near the coaches, while Syam and others directly fought the bandits.
"Stand between the coaches and thrust with your spears. Take cover beware of the arrows. Time carefully," said Raban as he stood on the roof of a coach to get a better view and began to direct the those at the coaches.
Though, they could stand in gaps between coaches and attack, it wasn't completely safe. The wolves could also climb up the coaches and get to them. So, Raban stood on top of a coach to shoot at any that tried to do so. Also, if they tried to climb up, their movement wouldn't be as fast as that on the ground allowing him to make a kill shot.
Luckily, the base of the coach was low enough that it wouldn't be possible for the wolves to crawl from beneath. So, Raban didn't bother having to look for that.
The hunters were all outnumbered by the bandits and wolves at least 3 to one, but they still held strong. Ajax could see that it wasn't their first time fighting at such odds. They were all constantly keeping track of their opponents and teammates, and were able to cooperate with one another's attacks and movement significantly to counter any attacks that came their way.
They quickly formed groups of three or two, covering each other's backs while they fought. They made quick sharp attacks and defended themselves while moving around deftly blocking the attacks from others. This wasn't something that they could learn easily. It was clear that they had trusted their peers to cover their backs as they attacked and retreated as required.
There were two strong ones who could hold on alone without forming groups. Syam and Alvarez who were team captains were clearly a step above the others in this case. They were faster and stronger.
While others formed groups and were a bit passive in their fight. These two are fighting 3 each with their spears swinging around them in swift wide arcs. It was more like a display of skill and strength than a fight when it came to these two.
While the veteran hunters though outnumbered are able to persevere with nary a hint of fear in their eyes, the new trainees were anything but steady.