Chapter 48 – Either you die, or I die
Translated by Sunyancai
Shao Xuan could feel their stalker getting closer and closer, probably it understood that its stalking ability didn’t work in this environment, and severely restricted him. So it pulled all stops loose and decided to go for the kill. After all, it was no good to stall like that.
The Thorn Black Wind used all its strength to chase after them, with its eyes fixed on their backs, catching up. Its every step pierced through the thick snow, nailing down on the frozen ground, and creating loud bangs.
Hearing the approaching footsteps, Mao felt a chill in his heart, and almost tripped on a loose stone.
Even though Shao Xuan and Mao both speeded up, and the annoying environment slowed it down a lot, but after all, it was a “Black Wind” with the title “killer of the mountains”. At his full speed, it was impossible for Shao Xuan and Mao to outrun him.
Shao Xuan felt an icy chill run down his spine. His hair stood up on end because of the cold wind and the chilly feeling, and it was as if his whole body was soaked in icy water.
“Split up!” Shao Xuan shouted.
Shao Xuan and Mao split up to evade the huge figure.
Without Shao Xuan’s lead, Mao would never be able to survive under such circumstances. Faced with the night and the snow, he could barely see the giant figure. He had no confidence in whether he could still live if that Thorn Black Wind slashed its paws towards him.
However, it seemed that the Thorn Black Wind also sensed that Shao Xuan was the most annoying one of the two, so after it failed to catch them both, it turned its head towards Shao Xuan. Kicking off with its hind legs, which created a gust of wind and snow blowing towards Mao, the Thorn Black Wind shot towards Shao Xuan.
It knew that as long as Shao Xuan was eliminated, the other little guy would be easy.
Shao Xuan leaped over a layer of snow, and quickly he pulled out a short spear from his back. And just before he was about to land, he twisted his body, he tossed out the short spear using the centrifugal strength of the turn, aiming at the Thorn Black Wind’s eye.
The short spear flew towards the Thorn Black Wind’s eye like a bullet. Even though it failed to dodge the spear, but the beast managed to react quickly, it shifted its head to the side a bit and closed his eyes, having his hard-scaled eyelids cover them.
The short spear did not pierce into its eye, but only stuck the corner of its eye. With the hard scales shielding the eye, the spear did not go in deep, but the sharp stone spearhead still slightly pierced through the corner of its eye. Its eye was hurt and there was blood flowing out.
With its eye injured, the Thorn Black Wind was furious as well as shocked. It did not expect this little thing could actually hurt it so quickly!
Shao Xuan could not see the blood by its eyes, for now all he saw was a giant skeleton. Earlier he tossed aiming at the eyeholes in the Thorn Black Wind’s skull, but apparently, it failed to pierce through.
Although he could not see the eyes of that Thorn Black Wind, Shao Xuan could still feel the increasingly ferocious glare from its eyes.
In order to share the pressure on Shao Xuan’s end, Mao estimated the position of Thorn Black Wind based on the sound and tossed a spear towards its direction. It was a shame that the thick scales and the thorns on its back together formed a terrible protective armor, which could not be easily broken by a stone spear.
It only had a few relatively vulnerable spots on its head and on part of its tail. The spot that Mai hit before was on its tail, where there was no thick layer of thorns. So only a single layer of scales could definitely not withstand the full force of a totemic warrior.
The Thorn Black Wind ignored Mao completely and focused on Shao Xuan. Its tail waved and slammed on the ground out of anger, which created loud banging noises. It sounded like it was striking on a cement floor, and the only difference was that snowflakes and smashed stones were flying all over the place.
After avoiding a claw, Shao Xuan pulled out his tooth sabre to shield himself from the sharp claw swinging from his side.
Screetch…
The sound of the sharp claw hitting and scratching the tooth sabre.
The sharp claw which could easily smash the stones in that cave now only left some shallow traces on the tooth sabre.
The sabre was not much damaged, but Shao Xuan felt throbbing pain on his whole arm, as if it was broken into pieces.
There was no time for Shao Xuan to examine his wounded arm. With exploding strength from his calf muscles, he left his spot to avoid close range combat with the Thorn Black Wind. But the Thorn Black Wind was not called the killer of the forest for nothing. It swung its tail towards Shao Xuan at the same time he wanted to dodge, as if it already anticipated Shao Xuan’s reaction.
Having just landed, Shao Xuan was not able to evade in time, and all he could do was grasp his tooth sabre and put it in front of his chest, to avoid being stabbed by the thorns on the Thorn Black Wind’s tail.
Bang!
Shao Xuan was blown away by that violent strength, and he couldn’t help but step back some distance after he landed. The blood in his chest churned because of that strike. If the Thorn Black Wind wasn’t weakened by the environment, and if it didn’t suffer from being severely limited in his movement, Shao Xuan would have been smashed into oblivion already.
Since he came into this world, it was Shao Xuan’s first time being in such a dangerous situation.
He was already mentally prepared for hunting being dangerous, however, he did not expect to meet such a persistent and ferocious beast in his first hunting mission.
Whether in physical strength or speed, Shao Xuan and Mao together could not overpower the weakened Thorn Black Wind.
It was a matter of survival, either you die or I die.
The only short spear he still had, had been tossed. Originally, Shao Xuan brought three short spears with him, but two of them were used during their escape. Now, Shao Xuan had only the tooth sabre that old Ke gave him, and three spearheads he had in his animal skin bag.
Mao never stopped creating trouble for the Thorn Black Wind, but with his limited power, he was not taken seriously by that Thorn Black Wind. When he left the cave together with Shao Xuan, he brought seven short spears, among which five of them had been already tossed, and the sixth almost hit the Thorn Black Wind’s eye!
At that time, finally, the Thorn Black Wind looked at Mao’s direction.
Now!
This might be the only chance they get!
At that time, Shao Xuan poured out ferocious killing intent from his eyes. Forcing out all his totemic power, raising his power to the peak, Shao Xuan pushed off with his feet explosively.
However, he did not rush out in a straight path, instead, he used the spear that was stuck on the ground to alter his path.
When The Thorn Black Wind heard the sound and turned its head at Shao Xuan’s direction, it slashed out its claw towards him. However, it did not expect Shao Xuan to the change directions of his attack in the middle. Before it could come back to its senses, Shao Xuan had already evaded its sharp claw.
Perhaps Shao Xuan wasn’t a strong as the mid-level totemic warrior Mai, but with the help of that tooth sabre, and using all his strength, he managed to pierce through the most vulnerable spot on the Thorn Black Wind’s head!
The tooth sabre pierced through its head and went straight into its skull.
Even though he chose the most vulnerable spot, even though Shao Xuan used all his strength, that tooth sabre did not completely pierce into its skull, and two thirds of the sabre could still be seen. If it was Mai who stabbed, of course the sabre would be fully buried inside, and perhaps that Thorn Black Wind would’ve died in the blink of an eye. However, it was Shao Xuan, who had only been awakened for about a month’s time.
Even so, that strike managed to give the Thorn Black Wind an injury it couldn’t ignore.
Shao Xuan wanted to push it in further, and and give it more damage, but the Thorn Black Wind was already swiping its claw. Shao Xuan could not even pull out the sabre, for the sabre was tightly embedded in its skull. There was no time for another move, but he had to dodge as soon as possible.
And even though Shao Xuan got scratched on his back, luckily he got away in time, and the wound was not deep nor lethal. If he had hesitated for even a moment, he would’ve been doomed.
A loud roar pierced the region, and all the snowflakes around trembled because of that roar.
The Thorn Black Wind began to roar because of the severe injury in his head. It intended to pull out the sabre with its claw, but unfortunately the sabre was stabbing at a very delicate spot, and even the slightest touch would cause it unbearable pain. Its claws were useless and it was impossible for it to pull out the sabre quickly. Instead, every movement caused it to endure bursts of extreme pain which almost made it faint.