Log Horizon Volume 3 Prologue
The hunter stopped in his tracks, concentrating on the far-away cries of birds. While listening to the wind in the mountains, what he heard was the approaching footsteps behind him. There was nothing strange, just the footsteps of the hunter's student. "...too, too fast... huff, huff... Master you are too fast." "Catch your breath." The student complained, though he was still growing, his frail body trembled from fatigue. He was now 14, and had been training for 1 year. Compared to the hunter who had been doing this for 30 years, he was still a young hatchling. It was not the difference in body strength. In fact, if you compared pure physical abilities, this beardless youth might be stronger than this old man who was nearly 50 with graying hair... The hunter thought. In short, there was a technique in hiking. The way to shift your center of gravity, looking for stable footholds, the length of your strides, your body movements. There were techniques in all areas, not grasping them would result in unnecessary loss of stamina. The mountaintop was different from the village, it was a cruel place, not meant for humans to enter. Differing from the villages suitable for human use, man in this lush green world was just another living thing, forced to fight in the same conditions as other animals. In this cruel world, if you used up all of your strength, the only thing that awaited you would be death. Just surviving was a challenge in the deep mountains.
But this only applied to People of the Land. For Adventurers who had limitless stamina, this was not the case. The hunter saw an Adventurer younger than his student humming a song while running effortlessly up a steep hill. This incident made him realize that they were a different kind of being.
The hunter was different from the villagers, opting to live in the mountains. He was moving into his twilight years, but in his village, he had a reputation as a strong and powerful man. With his thick and powerful limbs, along with his sturdy jaw line, he had the air of an experienced master. In fact, he had never lost a drinking match or a fight with anyone before. The panting youth beside him also aspired to be a hunter because of his exploits. Being able to hunt for deer and boars to provide the village with valuable meat just by hiking up the mo
untain, this was an important profession for the cold village.
And because of this, he understood his limits.
No matter what happened, he could never win against Adventurers. They were like a hurricane or an angry storm, almost as if a dragon (which the hunter had never seen before) was compressed into the size and shape of a human being.
"Let's move."
The man said indifferently and started walking.
A groan for sympathy came from behind him, but he ignored it. He was also trained in a similar way by his master. To learn the techniques in hiking, he needed to experience it himself. If he gave up so easily, he wouldn't be able to grasp the technique. The youth's load was only half of what the hunter was carrying anyway.
Bypassing the forest, and moving towards the ridge of the mountain.
He maintained a rhythm in his steps out of habit, and appeared to be walking casually. But the hunter's eyes were always carefully scanning the vegetation. Their travel routes were not the same as the deer's and boars', but you still needed to maintain your vigilance to be a hunter.
It was summer now, and the mountain was full of life, with the bears coming out of hibernation. He wanted to avoid meeting them.
"Mas... Master, where are we going?"
"The east mountain ridge."
The mountain they were traversing was known as the Awyu mountain, a vast zone in the crescent island of Yamato. But the unnamed village the hunter lived in was surrounded by mountains. Mountains were just all around them, they would not differentiate which was which, they were all just mountains to them.
The streams with monkeys, the mountain peaks with boulders, the giant trees on the ridges... in technical terms they understood, naming places by their land marks was enough for them.
The hunter planned to reach the ridge with kite rocks, then make a detour to the streams.
But judging from the youth's condition, he might have to alter the plan. The hunter planned to stay on the mountains for a week anyway, and had made preparations to do so.
(Since we won't be accomplishing much today, I should teach him some basic skills.)
The hunter decided quietly to make just the ridge his objective for the day, and he relaxed his emotions.
Even if he did not have a strong bow like the hunter, the youth still had a working short bow. It would do him good to work on his marksmanship in the mountain for the time being. The youth seemed to be practicing in the village, but no matter how good he was there, it would be all for naught if he couldn't do that in the mountains.
Skills learned by shooting at strawman targets on the even ground was just child's play.
You had to practice on the mountain and shoot downwards into the valley, taking out prey hiding in the bushes with only its head protruding out, or it would be meaningless.
The hunter's breath was short and curt, the youth panted loudly behind him.
He hacked away the branches with his knife occasionally as he made his way up.
On the mountains, you couldn't go directly up towards your destination. The ability of man in opening up new paths in the wild was limited, if they didn't take the route they could travel on, they wouldn't be able to go anywhere. Even though they were hiking upwards, they would need to go the long away around or even walk downhill.
Amateurs might feel frustrated by the constant change in directions, and maybe lose their sense of direction. The forest enveloping the two was very deep, the untamed wild forest could even block their view of the horizon.
But the hunter used his years of experience and his keen senses to make steady progress to the ridge.
The hunter noticed the abnormality and stopped.
"Master, what is the matter?"
"Shhh..."
The hunter stopped the youth, holding out his palm towards him. He changed his casual pace and moved up to the ridge swiftly, even barging through the thick undergrowth. He reached a position where he could see the ridge of the neighboring mountain.
With the rugged mountain surface akin to a wrinkled table cloth, you couldn't gaze afar from a high vantage point, but the angle from this position was just right.
You could see the stream flowing, and the restricted upper river zone.
Beyond their view was what the hunters call 'Monkey Stream', it was one of the wider streams in this region. Including the boulder and the bank of the stream, it carved a line through the lush green mountain and split endlessly down.
"That is..."
The youth stopped midway.
Because he did not know how to describe this scene.
That was only natural, because the hunter who was 3 times his age and 30 times more experienced than him was also seeing this for the first time.
The stream bank was jam packed.
It was full of certain black, rough, and squirming beings.
It was alive.
Because the distance was too far, the number too large, it could not be seen clearly, but it was obvious that they were living things. They were not demi-humans, and they were marching in great numbers downstream. From the number, they were not only traveling down the river, but also in the surrounding forest as well hidden by the trees. He was unable to see them clearly, but the forest was probably full with a terrifying army of creatures as well.
The hunter stared at the scene as if he had lost his soul.
This was a crushing end, a sense of impending destruction.
No matter what the creatures were, the hunter was certain that there was nothing he could do to stop them.
Even if he were an Adventurer.
The army continued its march beyond the view of the hunter... a restricted zone named by the hunters as 'Seven Falls'. Their overwhelming numbers made the two of them stare at this scene for a very long time.