Chapter 678 - 16: Beaver (Part 2)
Although it looked cumbersome, this creature was much faster than Chen Zhou expected. Once it charged out of the cave, it immediately changed direction, making pig-like grunts of threats as it rushed toward Chen Zhou.
"Damn it!"
Even a clay figurine has a bit of fire.
Seeing this creature still being so arrogant after coming out of the cave, Chen Zhou couldn’t help but laugh in anger.
While retreating in the cave, it was difficult to dodge, using his weaknesses to attack the enemy’s strengths; any wise creature would choose to temporarily avoid confrontation.
Now that they were out of the cave, with open terrain around, it continued this relentless pursuit, as if not knowing what terror stood before it in the form of the upright ape.
Chen Zhou wanted to stab this guy to death but seeing it approaching so quickly and without a decent weapon in hand, he could only dodge again.
Upon leaving the cave and seeing its full appearance, he understood this creature’s identity—
This was a type of beaver, a relative of the giant armadillo still existing on Earth. Of course, in terms of size, a giant armadillo weighing only 30 kilograms pales in comparison to its ancestors.
The largest of the beaver type is called the Star-tailed Beast, and Chen Zhou had seen Star-tailed Beast fossils in museums.
Although the beaver before him was already a huge beast, compared to the Star-tailed Beast, which could reach a height of 1.5 meters, a body length of over 3.6 meters, and weigh 1.5 tons, it seemed rather insignificant.
Even so, looking at its round and plump body, it was estimated to weigh at least over 400 kilograms, charging like a small car, it still had some momentum.
But no matter how imposing it was, in terms of agility, it was far less capable than Chen Zhou.
With one sharp turn, Chen Zhou left the beaver struggling to turn around.—
The heavy bony shell greatly enhanced its defensive capabilities, but it also created many blind spots in its vision, it could not see behind its body and could only swing its tail to attack by instinct.
While it vented the anger of having its home invaded, it changed direction, attempting to settle the score with Chen Zhou. The beaver suddenly felt a weight on its side, as if it were smacked by a peer’s tail during a fight over a mate—
That was when Chen Zhou picked up the Wooden Spear and kicked its shell from the side.
The muddy sole of Chen Zhou’s shoe caused his kick to slip and with him underestimating the beaver’s weight, the original plan to kick it over did not succeed.
Failing with one strike, he leaped back to avoid the beaver’s swinging tail; Chen Zhou did not attempt to pierce the beaver’s bone armor with the Wooden Spear.
The Wood Spear he wielded was not made of sturdy wood; he had hurriedly left it under a tree while seeking shelter from the rain last night, soaking it in water overnight, leaving the tip softened. Even dealing with ordinary beasts was challenging, and despite his incredible strength, it was impossible to break through the evolutionary defense of the beaver with the Wooden Spear, which took millions of years to perfect.
...
The beaver’s shell was tightly interconnected by thousands of regularly shaped bone plates, incredibly tough. When it lay down, the shell could cover its body and most of its limbs.
Though its head could not retract like a turtle’s, it was fortified, with an extremely thick skull. Coupling its massive size with remarkable attack power, no wild beast dared to provoke it upon maturity.
Of course, the thicker skull did enhance its defense, but it also compressed the brain’s space.
The beaver’s brain was not much larger than a nut; it had no comprehension of the massive force from Chen Zhou’s kick, nor did it realize what threat this agile figure represented.
In this woodland without its ancient enemy, the Giant Ground Sloth, no other animals could penetrate its defense. It had long developed a carefree demeanor, never needing to consider the outcomes when dealing with other animals, much less worrying about expending its energy.
Anyway, once tired, it could just lie down, no matter how others might bite; once rested and rejuvenated, it could rise and go wherever, unrestrained.
With this fearless spirit, the beaver stared through its recessed small eyes, eagerly trying to locate Chen Zhou and continue its pursuit.
However, this time, a full-powered kick from Chen Zhou was too much for it to endure.
...
Its round and plump body toppled to the side, revealing its four unevenly long and thick legs, and the vulnerable belly usually well-protected was now facing the sky.
Ooh~
Even with such a small brain, faced with this situation, the beaver instinctively sensed danger.
It cried out in panic, frantically kicking with the relatively short front legs and the longer, thicker back legs, attempting to right itself.
However, the anatomical structure evolved in the beaver predestined it as a creature extremely difficult to overturn.
After flipping over, it couldn’t extend its neck like a turtle to leverage the ground for support; its short, thick limbs could not reach the ground on either side; it could only shake its body vigorously, like a roly-poly, continually increasing the momentum to one side, gradually accumulating inertia to stand back up.
Animals strong enough to flip beavers—be they mammoths, hairy rhinoceroses, or Giant Ground Sloths—did not inhabit these woods, and massive predators like the short-faced bear had no interest in this tough-shelled ball.
This was the first time since its adulthood that the beaver had been flipped over; it had no experience handling this situation.
Expect to sway its body back upright?
If there were no other animals around, such hope might exist.
But right now, two famished, gleaming-eyed beings were standing by!
...
Without giving the beaver much time to react, after using all his strength to kick it over, Chen Zhou immediately gripped the long spear and pierced it into the beaver’s soft underbelly.
The tip of the Wooden Spear was already very blunt, even though the beaver’s belly wasn’t protected by bone armor, the process of stabbing was still incredibly strenuous.
If it weren’t for Chen Zhou’s extraordinary strength, he probably wouldn’t have been able to harm the beaver with this Wooden Spear—
Its belly’s defense was weak only in relation to its body; the thick layer of fat and tough skin was no less. An ordinary person would need to exert considerable force with a knife, let alone a blunt Wooden Spear.
In ancient times, executioners at the execution ground would use blunt knives for money, inflicting tremendous pain on the prisoners by hacking their heads off, often forcing them to endure several times the pain others would experience.
The blunt spear piercing had the same effect; the beaver could even feel the Wooden Spear slowly penetrating its body, causing its four legs to kick even more forcefully.
Its cries became more distressing: with all its might, it attempted to roll sideways, trying to get up directly.
However, Chen Zhou firmly braced against the Wooden Spear, his arm muscles bulged as he stood firm against the ground, pinning it down through the struggle.
On the other side, Paul finally found the Stone Hammer that Chen Zhou threw to the ground before retreating into the cave. He carried the hammer over to the beaver’s head.
The beaver’s small eyes opened wide with despair as it watched the other human approach, its scream coming to an abrupt halt due to overwhelming fear.
Paul gripped the hammer’s handle with both hands, glancing at Chen Zhou. Seeing Chen Zhou nod, giving him the signal, Paul swung the hammer round and smashed the beaver’s jaw.
During the entire journey assaulting the Challenger Camp, he had hardly played any positive role, venting his frustration. Once presented with a chance to demonstrate his abilities, he did his utmost despite feeling unwell.
With a crisp "bang," Paul swung with no reserve whatsoever, but unfortunately, the Stone Hammer made by Chen Zhou wasn’t sturdy enough. With one smash, the stone tied at the hammer’s end simply flew off.
Nevertheless, the beaver did take the hit solidly, its entire neck experiencing an apparent jerk, and blood began to slowly drip from its mouth.
Still softly grunting, its survival instincts were unwavering, giving it no notion of surrendering hope for life. It shrugged its head, rattled by this blow, and once again attempted to stand up.
This time, however, it didn’t wait for Chen Zhou to act; Paul swiftly ended its life.
The sharp folding military saber pierced the beaver’s skin along the gaps in its neck’s bone armor, slashing a semicircle.
The artery was severed; blood could not stop gushing out, staining the mud red.
With the beaver’s life ebbing away, Chen Zhou gradually relaxed his bracing against its body with the Wooden Spear, staring at the tightly interlocked bone armor covering the massive creature, his face brimming with uncontrollable joy—
There was now meat, Paul’s armor was available, and perhaps even kindling for a fire could be secured.