NABC Chapter 28 Hunt Success
Chapter 28 Hunt Success
In the hunting team that was divided into three groups, young Ge was still following the leader, Jing.
Given their leader Jingna's extensive hunting experience, they found a fresh pile of dung shortly after they separated.
Most wild animals are very careful about how they dispose of their feces, so that other animals don't have the chance to find them by looking at their feces.
However, there is one exception: the "masters of the territory." As the most powerful creatures in a certain area, they not only do not hide their excrement, but also deliberately leave it in certain places to deter other creatures from approaching.
However, such "warnings" and "hints" were clearly ineffective on the Yanshuang tribe.
After nearly an hour, a small team from the hunting party finally followed the tracks next to the dung and tracked the black bear to the vicinity of its den.
"It's a female bear, and she's acting strangely. There might be other male bears active nearby," a member of the tribe who went to scout reported back.
The period around the rainy season is the mating season for most wild animals, and many animals become very restless during this time. The female black bear was in this mating state, so it's normal for her to attract other male bears.
Besides warning other wild animals to stay away, the droppings it leaves behind may also be a signal to its own kind—I'm in heat, my physical condition is as follows, come quickly if interested.
"It would be best if more came." Chief Jing laughed heartily, not taking the huge black bear, which was a full five meters tall, seriously.
Rather than facing multiple black bears, they would rather see more black bears appear, so that the tribe will not lack food during the rainy season.
After pinpointing the black bear's location, Chief Jing quickly assigned tasks to his tribesmen.
"Ge, get ready. If things go wrong, you'll be in charge of the beast-transformation attack." Leader Jing called the young Ge aside and gave him instructions.
Young Ge nodded. He had already hung his backpack on a nearby tree so it wouldn't interfere with his fight.
The Frost Tribe is a powerful tribe with orc blood. Every member of the tribe gains the ability to transform into a beast at the age of 15 or 16, becoming an orc warrior.
However, the members of the Frostfire tribe rarely use such powerful strength. Even when hunting, they mostly use their natural physical strength, and at most, they arrange for a few tribesmen to guard them.
When faced with unforeseen circumstances that cannot be resolved, they transform into beasts to deal with problems that cannot be handled under normal circumstances.
The reason is quite heartbreaking—because the consumption of energy after transforming into a beastman is too great, the demand for food increases dramatically, and the prey caught is not enough to feed the orc warriors themselves.
Yes, that's the reason.
Take this black bear, which is over five meters tall and weighs more than ten tons, as an example. If it doesn't transform into its beast form, this one black bear would be enough to feed thousands of tribespeople for a day.
However, even with beast transformation, it's only enough to feed five orc warriors at most.
Therefore, in this situation, beastification can only be used as a last resort.
The reason why the leader Jing chose the young Ge is even simpler: because the young Ge is not yet a true adult, at most he is in a sub-adult state.
While he consumes only two-thirds the amount of food as an adult member of the tribe, young Ge's strength far surpasses that of other young tribesmen of the same age, making him extremely cost-effective.
Therefore, Chief Jing liked to keep the young Ge by his side.
The orc warriors who had gone ahead to set up the traps sent out a signal—a whistle made by blowing on special plant leaves that was extremely sharp and could travel a very long distance.
Upon receiving the signal, the other tribesmen immediately approached and surrounded the black bear in the center, which was entangled in vines.
When faced with prey that is much larger than themselves, the tribe members are accustomed to using various sturdy and tough vines to entangle the prey and control its movements.
They can not only use the vines wrapped around their prey to restrict its movement, but also use these vines to move flexibly over the prey and attack various parts of its body.
The female black bear was probably quite young, having only recently reached adulthood and being in estrus, making her extremely irritable as she struggled to tear off all the vines from her body.
However, the fact that this kind of vine can be used is naturally because it has been passed down for many years and is of good quality. The vine has a certain degree of elasticity and did not break even after being stretched to a quarter of its length.
Black bears are not creatures with particularly sharp teeth and claws. Their main aggressiveness comes from their immense strength, capable of smashing rocks with a single swipe of their claws, and their thick, tough fur that provides protection against attacks.
This caused the mother black bear to struggle harder, and the vines around her body became even tighter.
The worst part was that there was a group of annoying fur-stealing monkeys nearby—they were clearly wearing the fur of other animals—causing trouble. Every time the mother black bear tried to break free from a vine with brute force, the fur-stealing monkeys would pull on other vines, affecting her movements.
Moreover, these hair-stealing monkeys are incredibly strong. Even a female black bear weighing over ten tons cannot resist their pulling force and is pulled every time.
"Roar!" the mother black bear roared.
But contrary to its powerful voice, its struggling strength was getting weaker and weaker.
However, the tribespeople were not deceived by the illusion. The black bear had great stamina and could not possibly be exhausted in such a short time.
This female black bear may look irritable, but she's actually quite cunning. She'll even pretend to be weak to deceive the group of monkeys that are stealing her fur.
Even so, Chief Jing still signaled to everyone to launch the next attack—time waits for no one, the rainy season was imminent, they had to seize the time to hunt more prey, there was no time to spend a whole day waiting for a black bear to struggle until it was exhausted before finishing it off.
Chief Jing charged forward first, drawing the mother black bear's hatred and attention with a huge stone spear that was larger than the weapons of the other tribesmen.
Its weight alone is several times greater than that of other people's weapons.
Chief Jing leaped up and stepped onto the straightened vines of grass beside him, jogging as if walking on flat ground on the vines that were only as thick as a girl's arm.
The vine was wrapped around the mother black bear's neck. Chief Jing gripped his stone tool and went straight for the mother black bear's head.
The mother black bear clearly noticed the dangerous scene. In her eyes, this fur-stealing monkey, which was not much taller than her, exuded the aura of a top predator, and a sense of danger filled her entire nervous system.
But just then, the monkeys that had been grabbing one end of the vines on its body pulled the vines straight, holding it in place for a few seconds so it couldn't move.
How could Chief Jing miss such a good opportunity? He spun the stone spear in his hand and thrust it toward the mother black bear's right eye socket.
With a "plop," blood spurted from the mother black bear's eye socket.
"Ahhh!" The mother black bear screamed in agony. Its enormous size meant it wouldn't die easily from such a wound; the intense pain only spurred it to become even stronger.
Driven mad by the pain from her injuries, the mother black bear not only snapped several vines in one go, but also caused several tribesmen who were holding onto the vines to stagger back several steps.
But no one backed down. Even after the chieftain Jing made a successful attack, several tribesmen immediately followed up with additional attacks, leaving multiple wounds on the mother black bear.
As the tribespeople moved, red wolf-shaped totems, like tattoos, appeared on each person's body, giving them immense power to fight wild beasts.
If Jiang Luoluo were present, she would have discovered that the wolf-shaped totem on each tribesman was actually different in shape, and each one carried a vibrant vitality that seemed to be "alive," just like a real life, breathing and rising with each tribesman.
As the wounds multiplied and the bleeding increased, the mother bear struggled weaker and weaker. Even after the initial anger subsided, the pain in her body intensified, and her roars became increasingly low and feeble.
"Woo..." The mother black bear let out a long, mournful roar, then her remaining eye revealed deep resentment before she collapsed, becoming the hunting party's first prey.
Chief Jing did not let his guard down despite the successful hunt. Instead, he immediately shouted a warning to the other tribesmen, "Be careful, its last roar was strange. There may be other black bears around."
"Chief, we've found them..." Not long after the words were spoken, the tribesmen who were on guard around the area to prevent other wild animals from stealing the peaches came over, carrying two black bear cubs that looked to be only a few months old in each hand.
It doesn't look much bigger than a common rabbit.
"Isn't the black bear's mating season just beginning? How come the cubs are already so big?" one of the tribesmen asked, looking puzzled.
Most of the wild animals in the Taz Forest mate and reproduce around the rainy season. Firstly, food is plentiful during the rainy season, so there is no pressure to hunt. Secondly, the rainy season is safer because all scents are washed away, and no one can find anyone else, allowing the cubs to survive the most dangerous period.
"She's probably too young and got the timing wrong." Chief Jing glanced at the mother black bear lying on the ground. Some wild animals that haven't been taught by elders will have this problem, not knowing when they should do what.
However, the fact that this mother black bear was able to raise two cubs during the non-rainy season shows that she is quite capable.
"Then, chief, what should we do with those two?" a tribesman asked.
"When we go back later, let's find a place to release them on the way. The rainy season is coming soon, so they won't lack food." Chief Jing waved his hand casually and went over to deal with the mother black bear with the others.
These two black bear cubs don't have much meat between them, so it's better to release them than eat them. The next period is the rainy season, so the two black bear cubs don't need to worry about food and should be able to survive barring any unforeseen circumstances.
In two years, we'll have two more good prey weighing over ten tons each.
Although he lacked formal education, Chief Jing understood the principle of not draining the pond to catch all the fish, and that it was essential to leave enough room for future possibilities.