Chapter 649 - 3: Bloody Struggle (Part 2)
It was a male cave hyena acting as the vanguard, small and slim, with a pronounced limp in its front legs, likely from an old injury.
Its heart didn’t beat strongly, and its breathing was quicker than other cave hyenas, marking it as a rare easy target within the pack.
Chen Zhou wasn’t confident he could kill a healthy adult female cave hyena with one strike.
But if he could get close, he was ninety-nine percent confident he could pin this male cave hyena to the ground with one thrust.
The hunt hadn’t escalated into a life-and-death struggle yet, and this kind of quick kill might exert a deterrence similar to a lion dominating spotted hyenas, forcing the Hyena Queen to reconsider the value of continuing the hunt.
On the other hand, Chen Zhou left the campfire to avoid being dragged into the cave hyenas’ familiar battle rhythm.
His physical quality was exceptional, in a one-on-one situation, even the strongest female cave hyena was no match for him.
But Paul seemed just a trained soldier.
In a two-versus-sixteen situation, they couldn’t possibly overpower the hyena pack head-on, and even with a modern short military saber, Paul couldn’t avoid being devoured when facing three or four cave hyenas simultaneously.
Climbing a tree to evade was indeed a way to save oneself but too passive, he’d rather take a risky move—
The more at stake, the greater the reward.
...
The male cave hyena being targeted clearly didn’t expect the humans, who were significantly outnumbered, to dare to attack proactively.
It lowered its head, exposing its needle-like mane, baring its teeth and growling lowly—
Just waiting for the queen’s command to launch an attack without hesitation, break this human’s leg, and secure the pack’s first prey of the day.
"Chen Zhou!"
When Paul tied the military saber tightly to the front of a wooden stick and looked up, he found that Chen Zhou had already left the campfire by about 5 meters, heading alone to the grassland.
The crimson firelight only illuminated Chen Zhou’s broad back and his leopard-like taut body.
Understanding how dangerous a hungry beast pack was, Paul couldn’t help but shout Chen Zhou’s name in awkward Chinese, even though he trusted the participating returnee enough.
At that moment of Paul’s shout, Chen Zhou, outside the campfire’s boundary, charged towards his target.
Refined athletic skills combined with extraordinary physical qualities made Chen Zhou swift as the wind.
The thick military boots kicked up dust over the hard grassland, and tender short grasses were snapped off as they were trampled by the charging force.
Facing the aggressive advance of Chen Zhou, the male cave hyena instinctively chose to dodge; this was a habit formed over years of hunting—
They usually dealt with sturdy and threatening animals like wild boars, great horned deer, and hairy rhinoceros.
Do not be fooled by the fact that these herbivores often became their food, a bite from a wild boar’s tusks or a ram from the horns of a great horned deer or hairy rhinoceros could easily be life-threatening even to the strongest of them.
Cave hyenas that didn’t know how to dodge had long died in the course of hunting.
Vanguard hyenas like the male cave hyena faced more danger than the females doing the finishing work, hence they were more versed in survival strategies.
...
Grass flew, dust arose.
The male cave hyena nimbly evaded Chen Zhou’s arm’s range, but it overlooked the long spear in Chen Zhou’s hand—
It was a fang for humans to carry out execution of prey, the first step of the ladder leading humanity to the throne of dominators.
Although the material of the wooden spear wasn’t excellent, Paul had sharpened its tip sufficiently, combined with Chen Zhou’s terrifying strength, it pierced through the male cave hyena’s ribs in an instant, drove through its body, carrying the blood as it exited from the other side and embedded deep into the grassland.
Howl!
The stabbing pain in the lung provoked the male cave hyena to howl uncontrollably, it pushed and scraped with its sturdy limbs attempting to rise from the ground while swaying its head, opening its big mouth aiming to bite Chen Zhou’s shank.
However, Chen Zhou gripped the wooden spear tightly, pinning it firmly to the ground, no matter how forcefully it struggled, it found it difficult to contend with Chen Zhou’s inhuman brute strength.
The wooden spear piercing its lungs prevented the male cave hyena from normal breathing, puffing heavily, it felt gradually powerless.
Hypoxia was dragging it swiftly into death’s embrace, and the flowing blood further accelerated its journey to demise.
...
Contrary to Chen Zhou’s expectations, the male cave hyena’s tragic state didn’t exert the anticipated deterrence effect; instead, it aroused the ferocity of the other cave hyenas.
The two cave hyenas nearest to the male cave hyena, one was a robust female and the other a slightly larger male cave hyena, almost simultaneously stepped towards Chen Zhou.
The Hyena Queen and the two most gigantic female cave hyenas stood afar overseeing the situation, while the remaining ten cave hyenas launched themselves in disarray towards Paul at the campfire.
Fortunately, Paul, after crafting the spear with a knife head, had picked up a burning stick, wielding both the spear and the firebrand continuously, temporarily deterred the cave hyenas from advancing.
The situation was critical; there was simply no time for Chen Zhou to return and aid the endangered Paul—
because the two cave hyenas had already closed in on him.
...
The female cave hyena wasn’t only large but also swifter, standing upright, it reached almost 1.8 meters.
Its short, thick hind legs restricted its leaping ability, but leveraging its height advantage, it could still reach Chen Zhou’s throat when it jumped to attack—
Just as Chen Zhou suspected, benefiting from a larger physique, cave hyenas would not only attack the prey’s lower part but also switch to attacking the upper body depending on the situation.