[Beast Taming Art, Beginner (711→719/1000)]
"Caw! Caw!"
The Blood Raven spread its black wings, circling in the sky.
Tang Wen asked with uncertainty, "Are you saying there are two prey?"
"Caw!"
One caw should mean confirmation, right?
He guessed and asked a few more questions, to which the Blood Raven responded.
It should be settled.
Tang Wen was pleased to be able to communicate smoothly with the Blood Raven.
He specially prepared a mixture of Mutated Beast meat paste, beast blood, and Foxtail millet.
It was a meatball the size of a malteser, medium-rare, with blood, definitely tender enough.
After eating its fill, the Blood Raven flew even more joyfully.
It frolicked in the air.
It flew towards the barren hill.
The hooves of horses and deer crushed the dehydrated and weathered stone fragments on the ground, and the south wind blew up the scattered sand and stones.
Just as they arrived at the foot of the barren hill, faint roars could be heard.
"What's this commotion?"
Tang Wen left the horse and deer in place, quietly took out the Thousand-Li Mirror, and went forward to observe.
Not far from the barren hill was a dried-up river.
By the river, dozens of Mutated Beasts were locked in fierce combat, their roars piercing, sand and stones flying.
One side was Sand Lizards, the other Black Hyena Hounds.
A rough count showed over thirty of them.
Tang Wen looked up at the sky speechlessly, "Is this what you meant by two prey?"
"Caw, caw," the Blood Raven cawed confidently, lifting its head, looking absolutely sure.
The Sand Lizards were two-meter-long gray lizards, and the Black Hyena Hounds were a third larger than the giant dogs of his previous life.
The former were slow but strong.
The latter were agile and dealt high damage.
Both were Mid-level Exotic Beasts, evenly matched in combat.
The river had dried up, plants had withered, and herbivores were hard to find.
Tang Wen understood the reason for their fight: drought had come, and the wilderness was the most affected, leaving the Mutated Beasts hungry as well.
They were probably fighting over territory and water sources.
But as he pondered, he felt strange.
Since water was so scarce, and Mutated Beasts were not ordinary beasts without intelligence.
Seeing their populations about to face significant losses, why didn't they go to the lake to hunt and survive?
Although the lake's water level was dropping rapidly, it still had countless times more water than the wilderness.
Speaking of which, the terrain around the camp was quite interesting.
It encompassed various landscapes like lakes, forests, mountains, wilderness, and swamps.
From north to south, the temperature differences were very noticeable.
In terms of elevation, the heights varied irregularly in all directions.
On Earth, mountains had snow at the top, followed by permafrost, grasslands, cold-resistant forests, and lakes at different altitudes.
The diverse terrains around the camp were likely due to altitude as well.
Awoo~
The wolf howl was faint.
Tang Wen looked into the distance but saw nothing.
The drought had arrived, and the ice cellar at home was far from full.
He was determined to take down these Mid-level Exotic Beasts below.
Even if Sand Wolves came, it wouldn't matter.
As soon as the thought arose, a wolf howl came from the distance.
Awoo!
The howl grew clearer.
The combatants by the river paused, then attacked each other with even greater ferocity.
Mutated Beasts had limited intelligence; now, driven by bloodlust, they thought not of cutting losses but of quick victory.
A foolish choice.
Tang Wen waited no longer, concealed his aura, tiptoed, and crouched, moving like a shadow towards the scene below.
Some Sand Lizards and Black Hyena Hounds noticed his presence.
But they were too engrossed in their life-and-death struggle to care about a human.
Tang Wen arrived at the south bank of the river, standing to the east, about four to five hundred meters away from the battling parties.
With a rustle, he opened the cloth bag containing stones and rummaged through it, pulling out a stack of "disc-shaped" stones, or rather, stone discs.
These stone discs had been roughly polished, uniform in thickness and size.
Anyone who picked them up would feel the urge to skip them across the water.
There were ten discs in a stack.
Tang Wen moved from east to west, approaching the battlefield.
Five hundred meters, four hundred and fifty meters, fearing to alert both sides, he walked slowly, but the distance wasn't too great.
When he counted to "559" in his mind, he was less than a hundred meters from the battlefield.
"Howl!"
The wolf's cry was like a death knell, driving the two battling groups into a frenzy, ready to finish off their opponents before fleeing.
After all, the Sand Wolf pack's territory was to the south, and they wouldn't linger by the river.
Suddenly.
A sharp, piercing screech, unlike anything ever heard before, rang out.
It was as if someone was dragging a sharp tool rapidly across a sheet of metal.
So sharp it sent shivers down one's spine!
The sound was so loud it drowned out the furious roars of both sides.
Mutated Beasts are far more sensitive than humans.
The moment the sound was heard, over thirty Sand Lizards and Black Hyena Hounds paused simultaneously.
As if under some command, they all turned their heads, their cruel red gazes fixed on Tang Wen's direction.
Then, even faster, they averted their eyes, ignoring their current opponents, and burst into a frantic dash in all directions.
But that momentary turn of their heads had already sealed their fate.
Tang Wen swiftly visualized and unleashed ten Flying Stones from five directions—high, middle, low, front, and back—sealing off their escape routes.
A series of sonic booms thundered through the air.
Flames seemed to flow in the atmosphere.
Heat waves rose by the riverside.
The stone discs tore through the bodies of the Sand Lizards and Hyena Hounds, sending chunks of flesh flying, before piercing into the next target...
In an instant, flesh and blood flew everywhere, accompanied by agonized cries.
More Sand Lizards and Black Hyena Hounds used their companions or opponents as shields.
Those who survived fled in a mad dash.
Tang Wen unleashed ten bursts in rapid succession, took a few breaths to adjust, then rushed to the riverside with his blade, delivering a final blow to each of the wailing prey.
The howls of the Sand Wolf pack grew clearer.
He didn't have time to tidy up carefully, so he turned and ran back to the barren hill, bringing his horse and two moose to the riverside.
He quickly tied the thirteen prey into pairs.
Calculating swiftly in his mind: one moose could carry four, two moose could carry eight, and the remaining three would go to the horse!
Surely, they could carry them all easily... right?
He lifted two Black Hyena Hounds and slung them over the moose's back.
The moose immediately staggered, its legs giving way, letting out a mournful cry, barely able to stay upright.
"Useless creatures."
Tang Wen cursed, then had to pull out the rainproof cloth he had prepared earlier.
He piled the prey onto the cloth and had the two moose and the horse drag it along.
"Howl!"
Before Tang Wen could cross the river, the figures of the Sand Wolves appeared to the south.
One, two... five.
Just these few?
His eyes flickered.
Five Sand Wolves, with the strength of Mid-level Exotic Beasts—could they help him transport the prey?
The next second, he abandoned the fantasy. After all, Sand Wolves were Mid-level Exotic Beasts.
One or two might be manageable, but capturing five alive was nearly impossible.
"Howl!"
More distant wolf howls echoed.
The five Sand Wolves, drawn by the scent of fresh blood, trotted closer.
At their speed, within three to five miles, Tang Wen would be caught.
"Ganging up on me, no sense of honor."
Tang Wen grabbed a pebble and hurled it, the air roaring with the force.
But the distance was too great, and in the brief time it took to fly, the Sand Wolves had already fled far away.
The Flying Stone struck the hill, a loud explosion followed, and the ground collapsed, forming deep craters.
The Sand Wolves hesitated, not daring to approach. After a while, they slowly came to the edge of the craters, lowering their heads to observe for a long time.
But in the end, they did not dare to pursue.
The effect of the Flying Stone thrown by a master far exceeded the understanding of the Sand Wolf pack.
Only after Tang Wen had moved far away with the elk and the horse did the Sand Wolf pack approach the southern bank of the river, lowering their heads to lick the remaining flesh and blood on the ground.
"Hunting is exhilarating, but transporting the meat is truly exhausting!"
Once there were no more Sand Wolves in sight behind him, he picked up his crossbow and shot an arrow into the sky.
"Whoosh!"
The Signal Arrow trailed a long tail as it streaked across the sky.
This was the signal he had agreed upon with the wilderness hunting squad.
Upon hearing the signal, the hunting
squad would send someone to assist.
"Clip-clop, clip-clop"
In less than ten minutes, the sound of hoofbeats approached.
So soon?
Impossible.
Could it be that someone was nearby?
The sound of hoofbeats grew closer.
"Help!"
"Well, it seems not."
Tang Wen's smile froze on his face. He rubbed his temples and gathered his spirits.
(End of Chapter)