Chapter 715 - 31: Three Against the Mammoth (Part 2)
Though we are rivals now, at least we haven’t come to blows yet. If he says these words, it would truly lead to a situation of relentless fighting——
People of the martial world, though valuing martial arts and virtue, and prioritizing honor, also repaid enmity with enmity and vengeance with vengeance, being quite narrow-minded.
Seeing the three Mammoths slightly slow down due to the long distance they had run, Chen Zhou thought to himself that it might be too late to start running far now, so he might as well go with the flow and lend these two a hand.
Besides wanting their help in taming the Great Horned Deer, Chen Zhou also wanted to take the opportunity to probe their skills, to see if they had any unique techniques.
Chinese martial arts are extensive and profound, but many traditional martial arts have been lost or declined in modern times, and no matter how good the martial art is, a bullet can take it down, hence it’s hard to rise again.
In ancient times, the "martial world" constructed by martial artists was indeed prosperous, with no shortage of extraordinary techniques.
Chen Zhou, relying on his formidable physical prowess, always advocated breaking a thousand techniques with sheer strength.
In modern life, he rarely suffered losses due to lack of top-tier skills when engaging in extreme sports.
After the challenges began, he could handle the ferocious beasts, but when confronting the ninjas, his foot was pierced.
It was just because of the urgency of time that the ninja couldn’t prepare a deadly poison, if the ninja had more preparation time, or if the ninja’s survival tools contained even a trace of venom, his life might have been forfeit long ago.
After this encounter, Chen Zhou had developed a sense of respect for the tactics of the other challengers. Since he hadn’t yet become enemies with these two, and wasn’t familiar with their backgrounds, Chen Zhou was unwilling to erupt into conflict with them.
Moreover, just by observing their ages and facial appearances, the bulging temples on their heads, calluses on their fingers, and their state of always holding a breath in their dantian, he could tell that each of them would likely surpass that Japanese ninja in individual strength.
After some consideration, he thought starting a battle now would do more harm than good, so Chen Zhou pretended to ponder, then nodded.
"Alright then, I’ll lend you my strength."
...
As the words fell, the three furious Mammoths had already closed within twenty meters, with the two female Mammoths slightly leading ahead of the male, swinging their trunks, and flaring their relatively smaller ears compared to African elephants, coming in for a charge.
Faced with the charge of the colossal beasts, Chen Zhou’s evasion method didn’t involve any technique, it was simply to run.
The saying goes, "the great way is extremely simple, returning to the original nature".
With his physique, there’s no need for any fancy techniques; just running gets the job done.
...
On the other side, the style of the two Rangers was completely different from Chen Zhou’s.
The Man in White took risks at every turn, keeping his distance from the Mammoth to about six meters, with agile movements.
Using bouncing as his main evasion tactic, the tip of his toe only grazed the ground slightly before he leaped far away, although it was an evasion, it didn’t seem panicked. His attire of white clothes even gave him an air of sophistication, resembling the swordsmen from martial arts novels Chen Zhou fantasized about during his childhood.
During his agile movements and posture changes, the Man in White had already unsheathed a long sword from his waist, aiming only at the joints between the Mammoth’s hooves.
Unfortunately, his sword wasn’t sharp enough and was too slender. The Mammoth was covered in long hair, beneath which was thick skin, and beneath the skin, there was a layer of fat. Only by penetrating the fat layer could one reach the flesh, touching the elephant’s bones was almost impossible with short ancient weapons.
Moreover, although the Man in White had excellent technique, he lacked strength. His sword may be fast and accurate, but the damage was low, even after stabbing a joint of the Mammoth four times, he had just barely pierced through the skin, and such a massive Mammoth did not even bleed much from these attacks. If it weren’t for his nimble dodging, with occasional leaps and rolls, he probably would have been crushed into paste already.
As for the Brown Armored Man, his dodging method was somewhat similar to Chen Zhou’s, but with a tad of technique added, he kept a considerable distance from the Mammoth, after all, he wielded the Bow and Arrow.
Standing nearly 1.85 meters tall, his physique was slightly different from the norm, with longer limbs. He ran much faster than ordinary people, and could even draw the bow and nock an arrow while running.
However, two legs are hard to outrun four legs. Despite the Mammoth consuming a lot of energy, giving him a slight speed advantage, he still couldn’t open up the distance by several tens of meters in a short time.
After hurriedly firing his first arrow and realizing the Mammoth was still too close, the Brown Armored Man had no choice but to keep running, holding the bow in one hand and pinching an arrow in the other, waiting for the right moment.
If the attacks from the Man in White’s long sword were ineffective, then the damage from Bow and Arrow was even less.
Unless he hit an eye, the few centimeters long arrow shafts, even if they pierced the Mammoth’s skin, wouldn’t cause much pain, only serving to further enrage the Mammoth.
But the arrow shot by a skilled archer would undoubtedly be accurate. The close range was both dangerous and an opportunity, the Brown Armored Man dodged and shot another arrow, this one flew swiftly like the wind, landing skewed at the edge of the Mammoth’s upper eyelid.
Although not dead center, the edge of the arrowhead still caused some damage to the Mammoth’s eye.
As blood stained the arrow shaft red, the Mammoth lifted its trunk high, pain propelling its speed to a whole new level, swinging its trunk horizontally with such force that it almost swept the unsuspecting Brown Armored Man along.
In a flurry, barely dodging the sweep, knowing he had completely provoked this behemoth, the Brown Armored Man dared not continue drawing his bow to seek another shot, only able to run as fast as he could without looking back, attempting to once again create some distance.
...
Each of the Man in White and the Brown Armored Man tackled a female Mammoth, leaving the largest male Mammoth for Chen Zhou.
While muttering curses inwardly, Chen Zhou had to go all out against it——
It wasn’t the situation he’d imagined of him and the three Mammoths teaming against the two; rather, it was the three of them dealing with the Mammoths.
The furious Mammoths couldn’t distinguish friend from foe, his previous prediction of "Mammoths focusing their attack on these two" couldn’t manifest at all. Now, if he were to hold back and let the male join the fray, those two would be turned into meat patties in no time.
By then, he alone would be facing three Mammoths; even if he could run, he’d be exhausted, better to exert some effort now and hope to gain some benefits from these two——
If they truly were the "righteous souls of the martial world" as they promised.
...
The two Rangers’ actions were flashy, their techniques at the max, but the damage they dealt to the Mammoths was minimal.
The idea of the Man in White killing a Mammoth with a sword was absurd unless he could exert miraculous strength, slashing deeply into the Mammoth’s flesh, or carving out large chunks with each cut; otherwise, with his repeated stabs and slashes, the Mammoth’s only fate would be to die of exhaustion.
The Brown Armored Man’s arrow shafts could indeed cause the Mammoth pain, but even if he hit both its eyes accurately, it wouldn’t cost the Mammoth its life, it would only severely reduce its attacking ability——
But a blind Mammoth with its sense of smell and hearing intact at such a close distance could still cause considerable trouble.
...
While Chen Zhou faced the biggest Mammoth, the style and situation were entirely different from the two——
His movements might lack elegance, but every step was as swift as thunder, far quicker than the Man in White’s maneuvers.
His stance of wielding the weapon was plain, yet each attack could deeply pierce the joints of the Mammoth.
The two were being chased into a sorry state, while on Chen Zhou’s side, he had already turned the male Mammoth’s hind leg into a sieve.
His long spear was stained with elephant blood and brownish elephant hair. One hind leg was badly wounded, the male Mammoth could barely stand, and running was out of the question.
To Chen Zhou, a colossal beast unable to run was nothing more than a living target, he only needed to keep moving to the side of the Mammoth, avoiding its mighty trunk and tusks to continuously draw blood from the animal.
To him, the thick elephant skin was like paper under his immense strength, almost every attack left a bloody mark on the Mammoth. Given the current scenario, within an hour, this mighty beast would fall to Chen Zhou’s spear.
He thought himself incredibly valiant, and with the other two merely needing to hold off the females; they could win this "human versus beast" showdown.
Wielding his long spear, he was contemplating chopping off the elephant trunk with a Hand Axe, Chen Zhou turned his head to see the Man in White almost driven to a desperate situation by the female Mammoth.
...
The swordsmanship and agility of the Man in White were designed to counter humans, emphasizing quick transitions, risky moves, and killing within moments.
In the martial world, his swordsmanship had won many accolades, often quickly triumphing in duels, but when it came to the Mammoth, his skills were utterly outmatched.
After maintaining a breath for prolonged use of his agility, it was now reaching the limit, his evasions grew sluggish and weak as his energy dissipated. The close distance now became King Yama’s death warrant.