Volume 1: Awakening Chapter 7: Rabid Dog Disaster
It is more the cunning of the mad dog Kaplan than the violent and brutal nature of the beast that has put us in great crisis.
Although this giant dog was strong, it rarely attacked us head-on, but repeatedly used the trees in the forest to bounce back and forth, and used rapid aerial turns to create trouble in places where our defenses were weak. Its tactics achieved amazing results. Except for Niu Baiwan's first successful sneak attack, we had never caused him any real threatening damage; and under its fierce and strange attacks, soon, all three of us were already covered in wounds.
"We can't go on like this!" I used my shield to protect my vitals while taking the opportunity to observe the surrounding situation. To our left was a relatively open clearing in the forest. In the southwest corner of the clearing, there were several level 5 wild dogs lurking. However, my experience over the past period of time told me that as long as I kept a good distance, no matter how fierce the battle was, I would not alarm them.
"Run over there!" I made up my mind, turned around, pushed Xiange Yayi behind me, pointed at the empty space and yelled at him. Although he was the highest level among us, as an elf ranger, Xiange Yayi's physique was much weaker than ours, and he could only wear light leather armor, which made him our weakest link in defense.
Xiange Yayi responded and ran over there quickly. Seeing the prey trying to escape, the mad dog Kaplan roared and rushed over to intercept it, but was blocked by me and Niu Baiwan.
Seeing that our elf comrades had temporarily escaped from the trap, Niu Baiwan used War Trample in time - when it comes to escape, this big guy who brings shame to the race is quite experienced - while the tough beast could not run at full speed, we also retreated backwards in time, all the way to the northeast side of the open space.
The mad dog Kaplan followed us closely. This ferocious beast had a strong physical strength that could not be matched by his kind. In just a few breaths, he almost caught up with us. If we had not been prepared, it would have definitely scattered the three of us in an instant.
It turns out that we chose the right battlefield. In this relatively open area, there are not many trees for the mad dog to rely on for turning and jumping. Although it is still fierce and strong, its powerful impact and extremely sharp claws still produce huge destructive power. But in our favor, its actions are no longer mysterious and strange, but it attacks forcefully along a straight line that can be traced, which means that we can take more effective defense against its attack line and make our counterattack possible.
"Bang!" I used the "Block" skill to block the attack of the mad dog Kaplan, and stabbed him with my long sword, causing 25 points of damage. This weak damage could not pose a real threat to it, and it was even less than the life I lost from the shock of resisting its impact. But the important thing is that I slowed down its violent collision momentum, and bought my companions a chance to counterattack.
As soon as the mad dog Kaplan landed, Niu Baiwan's big wooden stake swept over in time. In a hurry, the agile wild dog turned over to avoid the vitals, but its back was hit hard by the stake. This not-so-light injury made it ferocious, and it barked wildly and bit Niu Baiwan's neck. The slightly slow-moving minotaur had no time to turn around and dodge, and was about to be bitten by it...
A sharp arrow was shot almost at the body, like a poisonous snake tongue, directly towards the belly of the mad dog. This insidious arrow not only forced the beast back, saving the minotaur warrior from serious damage, but also reduced the life of the mad dog Kaplan by 67 points. When the huge beast roared angrily, the elf ranger Xiange Yayi was standing behind us, drawing his bow and arrow, ready to meet the next round of attack.
Although we just met, although the three of us are still clumsy novices, and although we only complete some simple hunting tasks together, the cooperation experience over this period of time has still created some subtle tacit understandings between the three of us and formed some simple cooperation. For example, now, I rely on the defensive power of shield and armor to block the attack of the mad dog and try to slow it down; Niu Baiwan shares less defensive pressure, but takes on more attack tasks; our presence provides strong protection for Xian Ge Yayi, and also enables him to get as close to the prey as possible, and display his clumsy but powerful shooting skills. I think he may be the ranger who is closest to the prey in history. He almost uses the bow and arrow as a dagger, stabbing his prey like an assassin.
This was just a very crude formation between the three of us, and there were always some mistakes from time to time, but it achieved good results when facing an opponent like the mad dog Kaplan. Attack, be repelled, attack again, be repelled again... After repeating this process three or four times, the life of the mad dog Kaplan had been reduced by three quarters, while we were always safe under the support of Niu Baiwan's powerful life potion.
"Try harder, it's almost dying!" Seeing the silver-furred wild dog leader retreating step by step, I couldn't help but shout excitedly.
"Be careful, don't be impatient. The founding father taught us: The revolution has not yet succeeded, comrades still need to work hard." Within a distance of three steps, Xian Ge Yayi's archery skills are very trustworthy. Not only has the shooting accuracy been greatly improved, but the damage caused is also much higher than that of his peers of similar level - but this is mainly because they rarely have the opportunity to let the enemy get so close to them like him. He shot an arrow into the hind leg of the mad dog Kaplan, and then said to me. Although his literary words seemed to be a reminder, his smug tone was as if he had already shot the opponent to death with one arrow.
Just when we thought we had won and could celebrate our victory in advance, the rabid dog Kaplan suddenly stopped attacking us. It took a few steps back, stared at us fiercely, and then suddenly howled to the sky. Its voice was wild and shrill, revealing a hint of eerie coldness, which made people shudder.
"Is this the howl of a wolf or a dog? It sounds creepy..." Hearing this shrill howl, Niu Baiwan couldn't help but shudder, shrinking his neck and said, "...I have a bad feeling..."
"Compared to its bloodline..." Xiange Yayi frowned and said worriedly, "...I suddenly feel that we have been overlooking a more important issue..."
"What's the problem?" I asked puzzledly.
"Why is it called the 'leader'?" At this point, Xiange Yayi's face suddenly turned pale.
This is a crucial question, and, as it happens, we just learned the answer to it.
Under the call of the mad dog Kaplan, the wild dogs roaming around gradually gathered together. I roughly counted them and found that there were about fourteen or fifteen of them. These beasts, which were on average level five or six, gathered around the silver-white wild dog leader, looking at us with ill intentions.
It turns out that the so-called "leader" means someone who can summon and command his subordinates.
At this time, Kaplan stopped howling and barked at the wild dogs around him as if giving an order. Immediately, the wild dogs rushed towards us, howling.
The three of us were stunned at first, then we looked at each other in tacit understanding, and then shouted in unison:
“Run!”
The three dog killers, who were of different heights and weights, turned around and ran away at the same time. I think if someone was watching at this time, they should have seen a very spectacular scene. The three unfortunate guys who were fleeing in panic dragged a long string of ferocious wild dogs, raising a thick cloud of dust, and everywhere they passed, there was blood all over the road.
"They are getting closer and closer!" Niu Baiwan looked back and immediately screamed in fear.
"Nonsense, wild dogs run faster than us," I replied.
"Why the hell do I have to be chased and bitten every time I'm with you?"
"Huh... Nonsense, you were the one who attracted those hens that chased you the first time!"
"I should have listened to me earlier and not provoked this big guy. Will everything be fine soon?"
"I don't know who was there who saw that this big guy was easy to deal with and was shouting happily that he wanted to beat it to death!" Xian Ge Yayi curled his lips in disdain.
"I was just boosting morale! You...you wait for me, I... huh...I can't run fast!"
"Then you should stay and make a table of roasted whole beef for the wild dogs. Once they are full, they won't care about us anymore!"
"Ah, you two inhuman guys..."
"I am an elf, not a human. You can save your words for him... Oh..."
As an elf, Xiange Yayi should have been the most agile among us, but his poor eyesight limited his speed. The forest was originally full of trees and lush branches, and the branches that crossed the road became his biggest enemy. The trees in the forest did not give him special treatment just because he was a favorite of the goddess of nature, Nachnia. He ran all the way, screaming "Ouch" and "Ugh" all the time. His handsome face was covered with countless bloodstains by the rough branches, and he looked the most embarrassed among us.
After turning a corner, the pack of wild dogs that were chasing us were less than four steps away from us. At this time, Xian Ge Ya Yi suddenly tripped over a thick tree root that crossed the road, and fell headfirst into a large tree hole beside her.
When we heard his cry and wanted to turn over to save him, it was too late. A group of wild dogs immediately surrounded the tree hole. At this time, a particularly wild howl came from behind. Where the howl passed, the wild dogs that were originally barking immediately quieted down. The ferocious wild dogs temporarily restrained their greed for food and lay on the ground quietly and fearfully. After the howl, the silver-white fur mad dog Kaplan slowly walked out of the wild dog pack and walked to the tree hole.
The leader of the wild dogs stared with bloodshot eyes and looked into the tree hole. Then he seemed to suddenly become angry, growled a few times in dissatisfaction, circled the tree hole a few times, and barked anxiously at the wild dogs beside him.
"What is it doing?" Thankfully, the wild dogs' attention to Xian Ge Ya Yi gave us plenty of time. We ran to a safe place and bandaged our wounds. I lay in a pile of bushes and observed, and asked in confusion, "It doesn't look very happy."
“Who knows, maybe it’s not very satisfied with the picnic it just got…” Niu Baiwan carefully showed half of his head from behind a very thick tree trunk, “…maybe the lean elf’s physique doesn’t quite meet the wild dogs’ aesthetic standards for food, with too many bones to hurt teeth, not a pound of meat on the body, and easy to get stuck in teeth…” As he spoke, he looked at his sturdy body, and then said self-deprecatingly: “If I were there, its appetite might be better…”
To be honest, Niu Baiwan's attitude at this moment was difficult for me to understand: there was no doubt that his courage was not commensurate with his body size, and I even suspected that the timidity and cowardice of the entire Minotaur race were concentrated in him alone; but when we had just been through a dangerous situation and almost lost our lives, and even I was so scared that my legs were weak, he was still in the mood to joke about his own life, as if the life-threatening danger just now was just a game.
Similarly, for a man like him who fears fighting, he is still willing to risk his life to stay here and pay attention to the fate of our elf comrades, which seems to be a manifestation of his loyalty and righteousness; but he does not show any concern or worry about Xian Ge Yayi at all, but leisurely enjoys the tragedy that is about to happen, which seems to prove his cold-bloodedness and cruelty.
These completely contradictory qualities appeared simultaneously in this horned alien warrior, making this big guy with a weak personality but also a warm heart seem to be born with an extremely optimistic attitude towards life - or rather an extreme indifference. He had no feelings about death, neither avoiding nor fearing it.
Can you imagine that a person can be afraid of pain, itching, falling, getting hurt, bleeding, fighting, and opponents, but not afraid of "death" - I originally thought that the dead land of death, which symbolizes the eternal extinction, is the only thing worth being afraid of in this world.
Not only him, but also Xian Ge Ya Yi is like this. In fact, almost every "sky traveler" I have seen is like this. Whether it is the passionate and bold northern barbarians, or the cold and indifferent high elves; whether it is the friendly and lively mountain dwarves, or the cold and lonely blue-skinned trolls; as long as they have the ability to travel through the turbulence of time and space and become natural plane travelers, they don't seem to take death too seriously. The sentence they often hang on the edge is: fight them, the worst that can happen is that you die and start over!
Die and start over again?
This doesn't seem like the death I know.
I guess this is also the biggest difference between me and them: traveling through the planes in the endless sky may enable these talented people to understand the meaning of soul power more deeply, which enables them to face death more calmly than me - whether it is their own death or the death of others.
Perhaps death is not such a serious matter for Niu Baiwan and Xian Ge Yayi, but losing a partner who once fought side by side with me still makes me sad and heartbroken. However, what makes me ecstatic is that this scene seems not to happen.
Coincidentally, the tree hole itself was very narrow, and there were two fallen tree trunks across the hole, so the actual hole exposed to the outside was only a very narrow spot. Under normal circumstances, it would be difficult for a person or a wild dog to pass through this narrow hole. It was the strong inertia of the sudden fall that forced Xiange Yayi into the hole, which could not but be said to be his luck.
Now, the mad dog Kaplan and the beasts he summoned were trapped outside the cave by this narrow gap. The silver-white giant dog patrolled the cave entrance twice, and scratched the huge tree blocking the cave entrance with its claws, but it did not dig a way for it to enter the tree hole smoothly.
"Xiange Yayi, are you okay?" I shouted from a distance towards the tree hole.
"Hahahaha..." The resurrected elf ranger let out an annoyingly arrogant laugh, "...Don't worry, I'm fine, very good! Hahaha, they can't come in..." It sounded like he was in a very good situation now, and in a good mood, which was very different from his mentality when he fell into the tree hole and screamed in despair just now.
The mad dog Kaplan lay at the entrance of the tree hole, stretched out his sharp claws and tried hard to dig into the hole. But it seemed that he always fell short by just a little bit. We heard the lucky elf ranger in the cave constantly provoking: "Come and catch me, come and bite me, come and eat me, haha, you can't catch me, you can't catch me, you can't catch me..."
It turns out that even the elves, who are known for their calmness and composure, can be carried away by luck. Finally, the overly excited Xian Ge Ya Yi did something stupid that shocked everyone. He took off his pants skillfully, showing his white buttocks to the mad dog Kaplan at the entrance of the cave, and twisted them left and right in a particularly ostentatious way - this was originally a traditional custom of the wild people in the Northwest Highlands when they were provoking their opponents.
Unfortunately, he forgot one thing: the space inside the tree hole was not very big, and when he performed the buttocks-lifting ceremony, his body inevitably moved a little closer to the hole.
The mad dog Kaplan did not miss this opportunity. It seized the best opportunity, leaped forward, and swung its right paw vigorously...
"Ah..." As expected, a shrill scream came from the tree hole.
"Hey..." Seeing this, I asked loudly with some concern - but mostly with amusement, "Are you okay?"
"Oh... I'm still... fine." After a while, Xian Ge Ya Yi hummed and answered us. He covered his butt with his right hand, and his cheeks were red, not sure whether it was because of injury or shyness. After this ordeal, it seemed that he would never again have the idea of teasing those who were besieging him outside the tree hole.
Through the hole in the tree, we saw him pointing upwards. "This tree is hollow inside..." he told us, "...there seems to be stairs inside, I'll climb up and take a look."
As he said this, he climbed up with his hands and feet, and disappeared from the tree hole. Soon, he came out of a tree hole at the top of the big tree, with . The wild dogs waiting under the tree saw his shadow and roared at him angrily.
Even in the tree hole, facing dozens of ferocious beasts, our elf companion maintained his vigorous vitality and unyielding fighting spirit, and even suffered from excessive excitement. The strange thing is that as soon as he climbed out of the tree hole, he completely changed his appearance: he clung to the tree trunk, stretched his head out tremblingly, and then immediately retracted his head, clung to the tree trunk tightly with both hands, and his face turned very pale.
At this time, we hadn't realized that Xian Ge Ya Yi was behaving abnormally. Niu Baiwan and I shouted, "Xian Ge Ya Yi, stand on the tree and shoot arrows. Shoot these wild dogs to death. Shoot them to death!"
Strangely, Xian Ge Ya Yi looked even more panicked than when he was chased by wild dogs just now. His lips trembled, and his hand holding the bow was so nervous that it almost cramped. He took out an arrow with his left hand and tried to put it on the bowstring clumsily, but unexpectedly a light breeze blew, frightening him so much that he screamed, dropped the arrow, and hugged the tree trunk tightly again.
"You idiot, what are you doing there?" Niu Baiwan, who was standing nearby, couldn't bear to watch it anymore and shouted helplessly and angrily.
"I..." Xiange Yayi's voice was almost tearful, "I'm scared, I... I have acrophobia..."
It was the first time I knew that there was such a symptom in the world: when an unlucky guy was at a high place, he would feel dizzy, have cold hands and feet, nausea and vomiting, and in severe cases he might even faint.
Now, the unfortunate fellow was standing on the tree, his whole body covered with bran. Under the tree, a group of hungry wild dogs were squatting together, looking up greedily, with no intention of leaving, as if they were expecting a sumptuous dinner to fall from the sky.
And seeing that Xian Ge Yayi is almost fainting now, I feel that these beasts are not completely hopeless in their hope of getting something for nothing.
At this moment, an idea suddenly occurred to me, and I shouted loudly:
“I have an idea!”
