The snow rustled softly…
On the snowy field, a snowball happily rolled around.
These things formed naturally and would simply roll around in normal cases. But they'd go into attack mode whenever they sensed intruders.
The current situation was quite ironic. Jack's party hid in the snow to hunt…snow. In their midst, the wolf was especially fired up: that damn snow!!
The Nord whispered in their ears:
"Now, you want to be extra careful about these things. They can sense vibrations in an area around them. This makes it near impossible to sneak up on them." He explained.
The two listened attentively, for he was teaching them secret Nord hunting methods. Jack especially stared at him as if he was a pile of gold.
"Now, there is a trick to confuse them. You grab some snow, and then you do this." He clenched his fist hard, forcefully condensing it into ice.
Afterward, he winked at them before throwing it between them and their opponent. This sent ripples in the snowy field, the thing rolling all around in surprise.
The Nord threw more ice every other second until the living snowball stopped reacting to it. Then he gestured for them to move out.
The snowball felt the disturbance but wrongly assumed it was the same thing as earlier. That's how they managed to sneak up on it.
"Now!!" The Nord shouted.
"Woo!" (Revenge!)
— Fire!! —
The combined inferno engulfed the creature, its spirit screaming as it left its body. It had died instantly, never even triggering its roll/power-up move!
[Received Teachings! + Damage VS Snowballs!]
"That was perfect! You guys are naturals at this!" The Nord praised.
"Woo!" (Of course!)
The little wolf paraded proudly as they slowly headed toward their next target. This time they wanted to defeat some ice goblins.
They were creatures that wandered in small groups and had both long-ranged ice-throwing attacks and a deadly ice touch. Their coordination made them utterly fatal.
"Now, those ones aren't as easy to trick. They're quite smart. We'll have to be creative if we want to get to them. Do you see these little bumps?" The Nord asked.
The plain was uneven, showing small snow hills that were obviously ice goblin camouflaged outposts. Sneaking up on them would be impossible.
"Watch closely!" The Nord suddenly equipped large snowshoes before rushing forward like a madman.
He was akin to a bulldozer as he collided with one snow hill after the other, destroying the environement and goblins alike.
A few minutes later, it was a scene of destruction, blue goblin blood everywhere.
"See, this? That's how you do it! Now, let me show you how to wear snowshoes." The Nord enthusiastically said.
Before long, there was a pair ready for both Jack and Moon Moon. In his previous life, he had learned how to use them, so it was just a matter of making his current Avatar learn.
[Learned to Wear Snow Shoes!]
[Bonus Speed in Snow!]
As for the pet…
"Woo?!" (What sorcery is this?!)
The little wolf kept tumbling in place, unable to keep its balance. What kind of crazy torture device was this?! It made even standing impossible!
"Pfft— Keep going. You'll get it!" Jack encouraged the silly-looking wolf by the side.
"Sigh, I think the wolf will have to sit that one out." The Nord deplored.
"You think so? I bet Moon Moon will be fine. Ah, then again, we probably shouldn't bet, for I'd be taking advantage of you." Jack uttered with a mischievous smile.
Nords had a highly competitive personality. Now that he was contesting the man's expert opinion…
"Bet? You're on! Let's see how it fares!" The man thundered, confident.
Jack grinned, finalizing the details of their bet. As long as Moon Moon managed to hunt a single goblin alone, the Nord would actually agree to help him with one thing.
Was winning even possible? Jack approached the worried wolf, murmuring in its ears. The latter yelped in surprise as it went to work.
"Woo!" (I got this!!)
The little wolf declared, extremely motivated. It was ready to take on the world, much less a few tiny goblins.
The Nord scoffed by the side. The little thing was so unsteady that even a blind and deaf, crippled grandmother would be able to run away from it in time!
But suddenly something strange happened. The little wolf opened its mouth and then screamed super loudly! — GAOOO!!! —
"W-what?!" The Nord jerked in shock.
Jack smirked, pleased. This sound just happened to be the cry of the gigantic ice tortoise they had previously encountered, aka this level's last boss.
Moon Moon's imitation was 100% on point!
One had to know that the humongous creature was a spawn type one. Just by existing, it would create monsters around it.
As the goblins heard the cry, they instantly barricaded themselves in their holes, tightly closing any window they used to inspect the surroundings.
This way, they would avoid being targeted by some of the ice creatures the tortoise spawned….except there were none.
On the surface, there was actually only a wolf.
Moon Moon wobbled its way over to a watch bunker, looking incredibly silly. But it didn't matter, for it kept scaring the goblins underground.
— GAOOO!!! —
— GAOOO!!! —
— GAOOO!!! —
After what felt like an eternity, Moon Moon reached its target.
It slid its paw inside one of the goblin holes, and then it unleashed hell inside. The safe snow bunker was instantly turned into an oven, the goblin perishing with a scream of agony.
"W-what the actual hell?!" The Nord's eyes bulged. One could hunt like that?! He turned toward the gleeful Jack. Seriously, who was the teacher here?!
"Guess I won." Jack gloated, making a victory sign.
The Nord seemed soulless as they cleaned the remaining goblins and even went toward the following target: Ice Raptors.
They were very aggressive hunters. Their usual strategy was to attack from both the front and the back to wear down their victims.
This time the man changed his wording: The —> One
"This is one way to hunt them. You put a shield behind yourself, and then you clear the ones in front of you." Here, watch.
The Raptors weren't that big, but they were fast, and their claws and fangs were deadly sharp! Plus, their bluish ice scales were sturdy and could take a beating.
The Nord wielded a spear to impale them as they charged toward him, using their momentum against them while the shield protected him. He looked hella cool!
Then it was their time to try:
Jack and Moon Moon put themselves back to back as they spewed flames all over the place. But even then, they had a lot of trouble.
They barely managed to kill two raptors out of the nine raptor pack, sending the rest fleeing after an extremely long time.
Both fell to the ground, struggling to catch their breath. Without the frost training to resist the elements and the Igloo training to recuperate afterward, they would have perished.
"This really was a bad attempt," Jack grumbled afterward.
"Hehe, do not worry. Everyone has to start somewhere." The Nord gently comforted while inwardly rejoicing. This common-sense-defying bastard had finally hit an obstacle!
"You're not wrong. This was the start, and now it's time for version 2.0!" Jack completely agreed, giving his teacher a terrible feeling.
A few hours later…
"Muahahaha! Die, die, all of you die!!!" A youngster cackled as he pierced the skulls of incapacitated ice raptors, a despairing Nord by the side.
What the fuck was this?! This wasn't hunting: this was butchering!
In the middle of the snow, there was a fantastic barbecue. It sent a waft of an alluring, mouth-watering smell, enticing the nearby raptors.
They'd approach, carefully sending one of their own to check for danger. It would cross to the other side without any issue and feast on the gorgeous meat.
The others would get jealous and rush forward all at once, but their combined weight would break the thin ice. — CRACK! — … Next came the fall.
The creatures would land on sharpened ice spikes and get skewered. That's when the cackling youngster and wolf would show up.
It was a massacre, the creatures victims of their gluttony.
[Created an elaborated Ice Trap!]
[Is this still Igloo building?!!]
As soon as Jack was gone, he went next to the Nord, happily clasping his shoulder. "Hunting is fun, isn't it!" he remarked brightly.
"H-hunting…."
"Hunting!"
"…."
A long silence ensued, only broken by the cries of pain from the remaining raptor that Moon Moon was gleefully tormenting. The Nord finally spoke.
"Now, two more creatures remain left to hunt in this place. The first is the large snowman, and then there's the overlord of this place…."
Jack gave him a questioning glance as the Nord gulped.
"A-are you planning to hunt them too?" He asked, almost as if fearing the answer. His judgment told him the guy was nowhere strong enough yet….
"Oh? That's really tempting!…."
"?!?"
"…But it really won't be possible with my current power. It would be like tickling them with a lighter. It wouldn't be too effective, now would it?" Jack joked.
The NPC finally heaved a sigh of relief. Finally, the crazy stunts would be over! Every time he saw the youngster hunt, he felt like getting a heart attack.
"Now you'll accompany me toward my village, right? It should be in this direction!" The relieved Nord led the way, finally hoping to save his people.
Jack followed, a shadow of a smile on his face. A village full of NPC sounded just right for what he had in mind….
