Chapter 52 – All three
Translated by Sunyancai
“What…what’s that?” Lang Ga grabbed the long spear in his hands tightly and asked in a shaky voice, as he pointed at it with a shaky finger.
Ang and the others also swallowed down their saliva, waiting for Shao Xuan’s answer. Although they could guess what it was, the guess appeared to be too unbelievable to be true. They could not believe in their guess, and some of them even wondered if it was just a dream.
Yesterday, when they saw the chaos in that cave, many of them had prepared to face the fact that they might never see those two kids again. It was a sleepless night as they had been searching all night. At first they could see some traces of them, for example the items that they lost along the way. However, after they had entered the snowy region, it became nearly impossible for them to find any more footprints so all of the rest relied on luck.
While searching, they had long gone beyond their hunting area. They had met with another hunting group, and the other hunting group joined the search. But the longer it took, the heavier their heart grew. In this forest, it was difficult for cubs to stay alive. Humans and animals were the same at that point.
Now, seeing that Mao and Shao Xuan were both okay, Lang Ga and the others were of course happy, for that was already far better than their expectation. Only few people could escape from a Thorn Black Wind. However, with the big guy lying there, facing the ground, it was like their wildest dream!
“Is it really dead?”
“With the big hole in its head, and so much blood coming out of there, it should be dead, right?”
After poking it for a few times with the long spear, Lang Ga and the others became bolder. Like Mao’s previous behavior, they now paid no more attention to Shao Xuan and Mao, while all of them circled around the Thorn Black Wind’s dead body, poking at it as a sign to show their amazement.
“It’s the one from last time! Look at its tail, there’s still a wound.”
“Hey, look at the thick skin and the thorns…Oh, it can’t be broken off! Here, Ah-Xuan, hold my stone spear… I don’t believe I can’t break it…”
“The thorns are so hard…If Mai had chopped at the layer of thorns, perhaps its tail wouldn’t have been injured so badly…”
“Hey look at its claw! So sharp…Wow…”
“…”
Standing on the side, Shao Xuan got a headache watching these people’s behavior…
A minute ago people were shedding tears on that warm reunion, and one minute later, he and Mao were ignored.
Luckily, Lang Ga still remembered to notify the other warriors down the mountain, and sent a message with that whistle. Originally they planned to take Shao Xuan and Mao down the mountain to meet with the others, but with the dead Thorn Black Wind’s presence, they changed their mind and called the others to come up here. It would be such a waste to just leave the beast to rot here. The warriors would all be pepped up if they carried it back.
The competition between the two hunting teams was quite intense, so every time when they returned, they would brag about their prey. It would be so cool if they could bring back this big ferocious beast.
When Mai and the others arrived, Lang Ga was holding one of the Thorn Black Wind’s big claws in his arms, touching it constantly.
Similar to the others who met the Thorn Black Wind earlier, these people also had their eyes wide open, and were dumbstruck. Later, just as Shao Xuan’s predicted, they too circled around the body immediately.
“Are you hurt?” Mai came to Shao Xuan and Mao, quite relieved.
“I’m fine.” Shao Xuan moved his arms and legs, and jumped for a few times. In fact, he had broken a few ribs and an arm last night, but fortunately it was not severe and now he had recovered mostly already. Probably it was because of the totemic power.
After confirming that Shao Xuan and Mao were really fine, Mai finally relieved himself from the stress and pressure.
Since everyone was asking about their encounter, Shao Xuan briefly explained what had happened last night.
Mao was adding on from the side. He had not completely calmed down before yet, but as they at last were picked up by the group, he finally let loose and became more talkative. So Mao bragged about his experience to the crowd ceaselessly.
Shao Xuan did not tell the others the fact that he could see skeletons, and all he claimed was he had better sight at night than the others. Besides, from start to finish, a large part of it was thanks to luck.
Warriors of the other hunting group also came here with Mai. After listening to Shao Xuan’s story, they sighed, “It turned out you were the ones responsible for the noise up in the mountain last night!”
Last night, people from the other hunting team also heard the rumbling noise up in the mountain. It was just that they were far away from the sound so they did not worry about being influenced by the avalanche. Also, they did not plan to come to search the region, for basically no one would survive from such enormous momentum.
The leader from the other hunting group looked at Mai enviously, for he had foreseen the great welcome that they would receive when they returned on the Path of Glory.
It was absurd for them to just leave the Thorn Black Wind here. Like other prey, they planned to dissect it first.
According to the rules in the hunting teams. Shao Xuan should lead the dissection, for it was his prey. However, Shao Xuan now did not have the strength to do so yet, for the layer of scale of Thorn Black Wind was too thick to cut. Even though there were no scales in its stomach, it was too difficult for Shao Xuan to control the knife. So, under Mai and some other warriors’ guidance, Shao Xuan made a few cuts and Mai took it from there.
If the prey were put down by the joint efforts of warriors, the organs that got dissected should be distributed by the leader of the hunting group, and everyone would get his part. As for how people would like to trade with each other, it would be their own business. Beside from the organs, the meat would be distributed later when they get back.
But now, the Thorn Black Wind was hunted down by Shao Xuan and Mao. Even if it was more of a thing of luck, it was their prey. So all the guts belonged to Shao Xuan and Mao, while the others had to trade for it if they wanted any.
After pulling out all its guts, Mai and the other said goodbye to the other hunting group, and they began to pull the Thorn Black Wind back with joint strength.
There was a giant cave excavated near the mountaintop, where the hunting group went to yesterday. Inside the giant cave was a lot of processed game stored, for it was colder there, and the meat could be stored for a longer time. Besides, high level game like the four-fanged wild boar and the Thorn Black Wind would decay more slowly. That was also a reason why totemic warriors preferred to hunt for high level game.
Because of that, each location would have at least two caves. One was for resting, which was located near the mountainside or someplace warmer and concealed. The other was built to store food, and it would be located near the mountain top that was covered with snow all year long. After all, it would take about twenty days for each hunting trip.
After taking the Thorn Black Wind to the food-storing cave, people headed towards the mountainside, because Mai wanted to find another cave for resting. The one they had could not be used anymore.
“Mai! Ah-Xuan! Finally, you came back!” The five people staying at the former cave were thrilled to see Shao Xuan and Mao coming back, safe and sound. However, they had other things to report.
“Yesterday after you left, we heard the howling of Thorn Black Winds down the mountain. Two of them! I approached to see what was happening, and I saw those two who stopped us earlier, fighting against each other! I did not have the chance to get closer and after observing for a while, I came back.”
Mai thought about it for a while. He commanded the others to stay at the cave for now, and took some mid-level totemic warriors to head down to check it out first.
When Shao Xuan had finished eating some roasted meat, Mai came back hurriedly, with joyful expression on his face. He asked the others to come down and help.
It turned out that the two Thorn Black Winds fought brutally over the control of the territory. One was defeated and had been nearly ripped apart with only skeleton remaining. The other one was badly injured, with quite a few parts revealing the bones, and one of its hind legs was almost broken.
When Mai took the people there, that Thorn Black Wind who won was resting in the forest. The lake was a little far from the battlefield. Since it was badly injured, it probably planned to rest in the woods for a few days, before it would enter the lake.
Unexpectedly, Mai and the others took advantage of its injuries and killed it directly.
“Do you think that the first one knew that these two would have such a bloody fight when it asked for their help?” Lang Ga asked.
Shao Xuan was thinking about the same question. Perhaps that one did know what would happen when it sacrificed its territory to ask for help. If things went smoothly, it could kill the kids in the hunting group, and then wait patiently for the two down the mountain to fight each other to the death. When one was defeated and the other was weak, it would go back and take back its territory. Hence, it could not only get its revenge, it might be able to expand its land by having the other two killed.
No one knew the truth, for all three of them were dead and their bodies were dragged to the food-storing cave by the hunting group.