“Where did you hear it?” Civ asked while everyone clenched their spears.

  Safi closed her eyes to focus on hearing the sound. “I hear them from east and west.”

  “Which one is closer?”

  “The one in the east.”

  Civ nodded and immediately asked.

  “Do you hear multiple steps?”

  “Yes”

  “How about in the west?”

  “I’m just hearing one.”

  Civ contemplates for a moment. “Alright, we need to return to the boulder. Luk, come with me first. We need to go west.”

  Civ further detailed what the plan will be for this hunt. Everyone agrees. Civ went further west to find out if what Safi heard was what he expected, and the rest went back to the boulder and hid.

  Luk and Civ carefully trace the location. When Civ looked down, “Looks like Safi was right”.

  What they saw on the ground was a footprint from an adult boar. They only saw one pair of footprints.

  Civ holds Luk’s shoulder. “Let's find that boar.”

  Luk nodded, and they carefully traced the boar.

  A couple of steps later.

  Oink

  Oink

  The boar was ahead of them, grazing. The size of the boar was the same as the male boar they hunted last time. When it turned around, it was also a male boar.

  While crouching, Civ tapped Luk. “Luk, I want you to get the attention of the boar. Once it follows, you run!”

  Getting the experience from yesterday, Luk nodded and smiled. He moved near the boar so that he could reach it.

  Luk followed how Civ taught him about baiting the boar.

  He picked up a stone and then -

  WHOOOSSHH

  Luk threw the stone as hard as he could, and it hit the boar. In the eye again!

  SHEEEEIIIKKK

  The boar screamed in pain while it tried to find where this came from.

  Looking to his side, he heard a human running away from him.

  RREEEEEE

  The boar followed the boy while his left eye was bleeding.

  “Civ! The boar, it’s chasing me!”

  As Luk comes near Civ, Civ also runs away.

  “Run as fast as you can! We will meet at the boulder. You can do it!”

  Civ runs in a different direction, leaving Luk to get all of the attention from the boar.

  REEEEEEE

  Luk tried his best to run as fast as he could without looking back. He just focused on the tree marks Civ made to follow his track back to the boulder where the team is waiting.

  But a couple of moments later, he felt that he had already outrun the boar and might not catch it. The boar slows down, widening their gap.

  ‘This will not do.’ Luk picks up a stone and throws it at the boar.

  THUN

  The stone hits the boar’s forehead.

  SHRRRIIIEEEE

  The boar was so mad that the scream hurt Luk’s ears. But this is not the time to be scared. Luk runs again, but right now he controls his speed, bringing the boar within arm's reach.

  REEEEEEE

  Back at Civ, seeing that Luk was able to control the boar's reaction, he nodded and left him.

  “Great! Now it’s good that we have someone who can do this.” Civ felt relieved that Luk’s performance exceeded his expectations.

  “I trust the team, especially Arsh, to do the finishing blow to the boar.” Civ left Luk and went straight to the east.

  Looking at the footprints here, Civ’s eyebrows knitted.

  “Two?!” Seeing two sets of footprints but with separate places might be two reasons. Either of these pairs is for the boar’s mating, or the other one -

  But before he finished his thoughts, his ears caught a loud grunt that answered his question.

  BOOM

  BOOM

  Ahead of him, there are two male boars clashing. Using their tusk, they tried to inflict a heavy injury on each other.

  “Looks like they are fighting for the opportunity to be the breeder of the sounder.” Civ smiled.

  “Let’s wait and see first. We might have enough food for weeks.” Civ comfortably sat on the ground while waiting for the fight to end.

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  The two boars were not physically matched. The other one was smaller and looked younger compared to its competition. Even the smaller one is at a disadvantage. He is quicker compared to the older one. Using its speed to run in circles and back away if it's being suppressed.

  Based on the condition of the two, they are pretty exhausted already.

  After a few faints and misses.

  THUK

  The smaller boar manages to hit its tusks into the neck of its enemy, instantly killing it.

  GRUNT

  GRUNT

  The older boar's body tried to do a running motion, but that’s the last bit of energy it has.

  REEEEEE

  The smaller boar wins control of the sounder.

  It looked at the dead boar and started to scream again.

  *RRRRRREEEE-

  Its scream was cut off, and it started losing consciousness. The last thing it saw was a human walking toward it.

  THUD

  Civ hit the neck, instantly killing the boar. Hunting more than he expected. This will give them a massive time to learning the drying and smoking process.

  “This will give us time to focus on other things.” Hide the bigger baor in leaves and branches. He removed the organs of the smaller boar and returned to the group.

  He cannot wait to see their reactions later. He whistled his way back to the group while gathering some berries.

  Back at Luk, the boar's mouth was frothing as its anger trampled his reasoning to back off. Able to control his speed, Luks gets more confident for this hunt.

  Just a little bit more. In front of him, he saw Arsh, so he ran as fast as he could.

  When he gets past the two boulders, he sees the group waiting on the right side in spear-throwing position.

  He ran as fast as he could based on the plan, and he heard Arsh. “Now”

  SHTUN

  SHTUN

  SHTUN

  THUD

  A volley of spears rained on the boar, killing it in seconds. Seeing that the boar was not moving. Horm swiftly slashes the neck to deal the final blow.

  “It’s dead!” Horm finally said it.

  “Yes!!!” The new recruits of the hunting group exclaimed that they were able to kill the boar.

  Their hands are shaking, and tears start running down their cheeks.

  “Praise the Sun Goddess.” Kes knelt while looking at the sky.

  For the new recruits, it was nerve-wracking. They know what they do, but seeing the presence of a big boar made them second-guess. It was a good thing that Arsh, Horm, and Safi made the initial blow and gave them the courage to swing their atlatls.

  While everyone is celebrating. Arsh walked towards the exhausted Luk, who was lying on the ground. Even though he’s still trying to catch his breath, Arsh asked him.

  “Where is Civ?” Arsh looked at Luk’s eyes.

  Everyone stopped their celebration, knowing that the leader of the group was missing.

  “I-I-I don’t know. He-he we we-nt into the o-o-opp-oppsite direction.” Luk tried to speak while out of breath.

  Arsh's eyes squint and look at the gap between the two boulders. Hoping to catch a glimpse of Civ. But only trees fill her sight.

  She looked down for a moment and took a deep breath.

  “Let’s wait here. While we are waiting, start removing the organs of the boar.” All of them have the same sentiment and start butchering the boar while waiting on Civ.

  They finished butchering the boar, but Civ is still not around. They wait for a few moments.

  Pil asked Arsh, “Arsh, I think we should leave now. The more we stay here, the more it will be dangerous.”

  Arsh agrees with Pil. They really need to go back to the camp as soon as possible. They cannot endanger the group's safety.

  “Arsh, you can go now. I’ll wait for Civ.” Horm volunteered.

  Arsh was trying to reason out with Horm, but Safi called their attention.

  “I-I think I heard something. It's a sound I cannot understand.” Safi closed her eyes.

  Safi also alerted them earlier, so they were able to go to their formations, expecting the boar to come. Telling them that this is something she cannot understand, everyone held their breath.

  Arsh commanded them. “Everyone, hide behind the boulder and prepare your reserved spears.”

  The group followed their instructions without any unnecessary noise. Luk also tried his best to stand up. They silently waited.

  “It’s near us,” Safi alerted everyone.

  Whistling sound in the tune of It's a Small World

  Civ stopped for a second, seeing the organs and blood ahead, it seemed that they were able to hunt the boar. But no one is around.

  “Where is everyone? Luk?” Civ shouted.

  Hearing the voice of Civ, everyone relaxes. They simultaneously appear behind the boulder.

  “We are here Civ.” Luk appeared from behind, smiling.

  But their mouth drooped to the ground when they saw Civ, who also hunted a boar.

  Civ felt satisfied with the reaction he saw from the group. ‘Hehehehe, good thing I brought this boar first.’

  He walked towards them and put the boar he had hunted next to the boar the group had hunted.

  Checking the injuries of the boar group hunted, it looks like it died in a matter of seconds.

  He imagined the boar looked like a giant porcupine based on the stabs on its body.

  ‘The hunt today was successful.’ With this, he had a new group that could focus on hunting.

  “Everyone, you did great!” The group was happy that the Chosen One praised them.

  “Horm, come with me. We still need to get another boar.”

  “ANOTHER BOAR!” Everyone cannot hide their surprise. Hunting one for them was great. But getting two more, this is a miracle from the Goddess.

  Horm just smiled, “Sure, lead the way, my friend.”

  Horm and Civ went to collect the boar. The location was not that far from the boulder, so they were able to bring it right away. Looking at the bigger boar, everyone can’t help but ask.

  “Civ, how did you hunt these boars?” Ras asked.

  “I’ll tell you when we get back to the camp. Let's leave this place first.” Everyone agreed and started collecting their spears.

  Pil and Lowi helped in carrying the boar hunted by the group. While Civ carried the smaller one, Horm carried the biggest.

  The group happily went back to the camp, bringing meat and resources.

  At the camp. Kivrah oversees the stone knapping and other things Civ requested to do.

  When he heard the group was back, he welcomed them with the Shaman.

  But expecting that he would butcher one boar, his body stiffened.

  “Father, we’re back,” Civ’s voice awakened Kivrah in his trance.

  ‘Why did they have these boars hunted?!’ Kivrah was already used to surprises from his son. But seeing three boars in front of him, he cannot comprehend whether he is seeing it right.

  “Son, the group hunted these boar right?” Kivrah wanted to make sure.

  “Ah, these boars, they only hunted this one.” Civ pointed to the boar with many injuries.

  “How about this and this?” Kivrah pointed to the other two.

  Civ smiled ear to ear. “I hunted it. Not fully hunted it, but I’ll explain it.”

  Kivrah was jolted after hearing it.

  “Oh My Goddess!” Shaman also replied.

  Kivrah composed himself. “Alright, let’s work on the boars first. This will be a long day for us.”

  From the time they left and returned, it's only been past 4 hours. The noon is just coming.

  Civ and the group heard surprises from their tribesmen. They ignored it and started to butcher the boars as they needed to dry them as soon as possible. The longer they can dry it in the sun, the better, so they can smoke it.

  Horm and Arsh leave the hunting group and start to work on the fireplace. While Civ and the rest started to give the rations to the people.

  The butchering and cooking took 2 hours. After giving the rations, Civ leave the task of cutting the meat into smaller pieces to the rest of the hunting group. Some of the people also volunteer to help them so that the task finishes sooner.

  Looking at the dried meat, Civ is not worried about the food supply.

  With his spears and some tools, he planned to go to the river. He started looking at the ground and smiled.

  “It’s time to make use of the mud!”