Chapter 544: Attack
Chapter 544
Attack
Shao Xuan's group of five chased after it. When Duo Kang and the other three saw the green-faced fanged beast, they had hesitated for a moment, and because of the slight hesitation, they had fallen far behind.
The prey ahead was speeding up and it ignored the trees and the grass. The thick grass and the trees around did not slow it down at all. On one hand, it seemed to be able to run above the grass. On the other, it seemed as if it was very familiar with the area. No matter how or where it ran, it was already clear where it was going, like fish in water.
Shao Xuan who was behind it couldn't see its hooves clearly because they were moving too fast. He could only see the wave-like grass below it being disturbed as it passed by. Every time the grass moved, it looked like waves sent from the ocean, giving the beast the speed it needed to rapidly escape.
In the sky, Gu La and the others from the Hui tribe followed the figure tightly after they heard Shao Xuan's signal.
Although the forest was covered with branches that blocked out the view from above, there were still some gaps through which Gu La could still see the running figure. Even if Gu La couldn't see it, the great mountain eagle's eyes were so sharp that they were locked onto the escaping target.
However, the prey seemed to have sensed the presence of those in the sky. It started to run towards denser parts of the forest instead of open grounds.
Shao Xuan and the other four could not stop it, and the people in the sky could only try their best to keep up. They couldn't catch it right away, so they could only watch it run towards taller and denser woods.
"Screech—"
The mountain eagle in the sky suddenly called out unhappily. After the prey rushed into denser woods, it could no longer hunt after it.
As it lost its target in its field of vision, the eagle circled in the sky and didn't know where to go.
Gu La cursed slightly and signalled the giant mountain eagle to descend. He hopped down from its back and entered the forest with the other four Flaming Horns who had just caught up. There were three people from the Hui tribe still keeping watch from above. If they saw anything, they would send a signal to those below.
The only person who was missing was Shao Xuan because he was the only one who caught up to the prey.
Although he also hopped on top of the branches, Shao Xuan still managed to keep up, but the distance between him and the others grew farther and farther apart. They had lost their target. None of them was in a good mood.
"Was that the green-faced fanged beast just now?" Gula asked.
"If Shao Xuan said it was, then it must've been. But I never thought it could run on top of grass?!" Duo Kang was panting. This was almost as difficult as catching the robbers. They had been distracted even for a second, and they'd lost their chance. It was just that slight moment! They shouldn't have hesitated!
"Run on the top of grass?!" Gu La was observing from above, so he couldn't tell clearly what was happening below. When he descended, the figure had already escaped into the distance. When he heard Duo Kang's words, he was extremely shocked. He had only seen winged creatures that had the ability to fly above the grass. How did the green-faced fanged beast have such an ability?
Duo Kang and the others didn't know too much either. All they saw was a vague blurry figure. They couldn't see clearly what it actually looked like. They only knew a bit more than Gu La.
But now was not the time to talk.
"Let's split up!"
It was such a large forest, and there were no traces. There was no way they could search after it, so they could only split up to find it.
'Let's hope Shao Xuan caught up with the green-faced fanged beast,' the four people thought.
Shao Xuan was able to catch up with the robbers last time. This time, hopefully, he was able to catch up with the green-faced fanged beast.
Shao Xuan did keep up, but this was not the same grounds the Flaming Horns were familiar with. The green-faced fanged beast had an advantage because it was more familiar with the geography here. All he could do now was keep up before he could find an opportunity to signal the others.
While he was catching up, Shao Xuan had no time to leave markings on the trees for the others to catch up. The figure in front was too tricky. If he was not careful, he might've run into a tree.
In the dense forest, the two figures sped in tandem. Sometimes the change of direction was very sudden but Shao Xuan still managed to leave a footprint or break a branch. But it didn't happen too often, so there were not many chances for him to leave traces behind for the others to keep up.
There was a worm beast sleeping amidst the grass below. When Shao Xuan jumped down from the branches, he stepped on the beast, causing its segmented body to lurch up in fright.
The angry beast looked around after it recovered but Shao Xuan had already disappeared.
They ran out of a mountain, passed through a valley, and came to another mountain. Then they ran out of another mountain again.
The figure in front still seemed to be running tirelessly and showed no signs of slowing down.
Right when Shao Xuan thought it would be a much longer hunt, the figure in front suddenly stopped as if it stepped on brakes.
Shao Xuan didn't dare approach it immediately when it suddenly stopped. He didn't know enough about the beast yet to be able to predict its movements, and he didn't know how they attacked. He kept a safe distance and stayed cautious after knowing that his opponent could easily kill a beast that was much larger than itself.
Previously, all he cared about was catching up with the beast, and nothing else, but as he stopped, he realized that this beast seemed a little fat. No, it wasn't fat. It seemed like it ate too much.
It had four short and wide hooves, a round belly, and its body was covered in green stripes. The colour of the stripes were slightly different, and there was no pattern in the stripes. Its face looked like a cow or a goat, but there was an obvious difference. Its jaw was slightly wider with fangs that grew diagonally upward from both sides. One fang was long and sharp, while the other was cut short like it was broken off before.
There was only one fang, so the beast that was killed the other day was probably killed by this beast.
It looked fiercely into Shao Xuan's eyes, without any fear at all. It didn't roar and only glared with a gloomy silence.
Huff—
It was the sound of air being blown out. Its breath was like a heated thick fog. From not far away, the green-faced fanged beast flared its huge nostrils as it exhaled in anger. In its wide mouth, there were no sharp teeth at all. These were the teeth of a herbivore, not a carnivore.
Shao Xuan recalled what Gongjia Heng once described to him, "It had a green face and very thick skin. It moved around in the mountains and was very fierce in nature. It liked to attack other beasts and ate only grass."
Although he hunted many prey on his hunts with the hunting team, there were many beasts that looked similar to this one, but when Shao Xuan first saw them, he knew they weren't it. However, when he first saw this beast, he knew right away that this was it!
This green-faced fanged beast probably knew that he had thrown off the others and there were no eagles flying in the sky nearby. There was only Shao Xuan. It felt like it was no longer in danger. So now it decided to face Shao Xuan and fight. Its two eyes lit up in a fierce deadly glare. It lowered its head and aimed its fang at its target, ready to attack.
There was no other superfluous action, it just kicked its thick and short hooves backwards and plunged forward. Its bulky body jumped up easily and rushed in Shao Xuan's direction. It was the same offensive nature Shao Xuan saw in his dream.
Facing the fangs that had easily pierced a hole in the bone plate of a giant beast, Shao Xuan knew he had to be careful. He had already sounded the wooden whistle. It was like a bird's chirp. He wasn't sure when Duo Kang and the others could rush over, but before they came, he had to deal with it all by himself.