Famu witnessed the white behemoth tear Ronan apart.
The young Crowned Heron never knew, even at the moment of his death, that the one who killed him was his own father. Within that bloated, mangled father lay power capable of destroying heaven and earth.
The white behemoth ate Ronan's Furnace Core, restoring some of its lost strength. The Furnace Core of one of its own kind was a superb tonic that could be absorbed quickly. It looked down at the ground, its dark eyes devoid of emotion. Earth Vein Energy stirred within it, and it craved the older, mightier Furnace Core on the land below. Unfortunately, after several clashes, it had realized it was no match for that Black Typhon.
Beating its wings, the white behemoth shot up into the clouds amid howling winds. It set its sights elsewhere, on prey that would be easy to catch.
Famu raised his head and tracked the white behemoth, watching the giant disappear into the clouds.
He had no intention of letting it go.
It was a great bird destined to fall.
Once the Furnace Core Energy within it ran out and the restless Earth Vein Energy subsided, its body would have no vitality left. It would plummet straight from the sky and shatter to pieces.
Famu turned and slipped into the water, swimming in the direction the white behemoth had disappeared.
The creatures of this forest were destined to be restless tonight.
The white behemoth had made this place its hunting ground, and every creature in it was firewood for sustaining its vitality.
And a shadow followed it. The Death God was on the hunt.
The moon had nearly reached its zenith.
The white behemoth knew no fatigue. Again and again, it swooped down from above the clouds, attacking the nests of other birds in the canopy. Most of these birds were large raptors similar to Crowned Herons. They built their nests in the canopy and had never imagined that a mad creature like the white behemoth would sweep across the sea of trees, killing them, smashing their eggs, and sucking out their contents.
It seemed to know that Famu was following close behind. It rarely lingered at a nest, taking to the air again after leaving a scene of devastation.
Ronan's Furnace Core had been a gift of charcoal in the snow. If it had not eaten the core before setting out, its Earth Vein activity would have dropped sharply.
Ultimately, it came down to the limitations of a Crowned Heron's glandular stomach.
No creature in the rainforest could match a Typhon's digestive ability. Only a Typhon's stomach could directly digest Earth Vein Energy condensed into a solid. A Crowned Heron's glandular stomach could not digest it in a short time; it had absorbed only a small portion, combining it with its long-dormant Furnace Core to achieve a leap forward.
After all, this body was now driven purely by its Furnace Core. With no Furnace-Core Creature's willpower to restrain it, it could burn as wildly as it pleased, never once weighing the cost.
The tug-of-war between the two sides continued into the latter half of the night.
Several howls rang out beneath the night sky. Headscar ran along the branches between the ancient trees, bringing him closer to the sky and helping him watch for the white behemoth's movements overhead.
Headscar crouched low, watching from a distance.
The behemoth was no longer content to attack the raptors in the canopy. It began diving toward the ground, smashing through branches with its body to hunt the hoofed animals resting in the grass. Their flesh was substantial, providing far more calories than those lightweight birds.
But each ascent grew harder. Dense trees and foliage blocked its flight path, and compared with the birds that flew between the trees, it was simply too large. It was suited only to flying high above, where there were no obstacles.
After catching a Backhorse, it dragged the animal into the air, but both its weight and the thick branches overhead hindered it.
Even a Crowned Heron fresh from the nest would not have made such a basic mistake. Hunting without regard for the cost, it would sooner or later be unable to get back up.
Famu crossed the dense undergrowth, climbed a gentle slope, and headed for the ridge. Earlier, Headscar had called to him from beneath a tree there, leaving claw marks behind.
The ground was wet and muddy, and Famu's scales were soon coated in mud. His gleaming black scales turned a dull gray, seeming to blend into the mud. The white behemoth in the air failed to spot him and continued its charge. With several thunderous crashes, it beat its wings and soon rose unsteadily above the canopy, a Sa Mei Longhorned Tough Boar clutched in its talons. The half-ton giant squealed and struggled ceaselessly in its grip, trying to drive its tusks into the white behemoth's belly.
The white behemoth was struggling too. It had caught a great deal of prey, but that flesh could not make up for the depletion of its Earth Vein Energy.
Every second it remained active came from Earth Vein Energy.
Famu made no sound as he climbed the slope.
But Headscar, hidden behind the curtain of leaves, knew Famu had arrived. He leaped from a branch, planted his forelegs on the white behemoth's neck, and sank his teeth into its skin. He held himself fast, and no matter how the behemoth shook its head, it could not throw him off. The ill-tempered Longhorned Tough Boar did not let this opportunity slip by. It found the right angle and drove its tusks hard into the white behemoth's soft chest and belly.
Blood streamed down, soaking the leaves.
The white behemoth shrieked again and again. It lost its balance, its body tilting.
But it was tremendously powerful and continued to rise bit by bit. Once it reached an open area, it could accelerate and spin its body to shake Headscar from its neck.
It would break the Nightmare Leopard's throat as he fell from its body.
"Hummm—"
A low vibration came from beneath a tree at its side.
It whipped its head around.
Then it saw an enormous shadow growing larger before its eyes.
It was a falling giant tree. Its trunk had snapped, and the ancient tree toppled like an enormous broom, its end sweeping the white behemoth straight to the ground.
"Rumble—" Dust billowed as the ancient tree pinned the white behemoth beneath it, its dense branches trapping it in place. Headscar jumped down from its neck, and the Longhorned Tough Boar, blood pouring from both shoulders, also escaped. Before it even reached the ground, its four short legs were paddling furiously. The moment it landed, it ran toward the jungle.
But there was another super predator here.
Two white points of light appeared in the dust, and a vibration like mountains collapsing and seas roaring swept toward it. The Longhorned Tough Boar crashed into a black city wall. Its sharp tusks could not pierce the scales, and it could only retreat, back and back again, until it saw the colossal creature emerging from the darkness.
With a simple sweep of his tail, Famu knocked the Longhorned Tough Boar unconscious.
Headscar carried the Longhorned Tough Boar into the undergrowth in his jaws. He had been busy all night and was hungry.
Famu came to where the ancient tree had fallen. The white behemoth was trapped beneath it. It wanted to stand, but it did not possess such immense strength.
It heard a vibration.
Moonlight could not penetrate the dust.
But something crawled onto its body from somewhere it could not see. Slick scales touched its skin, and its newly grown feathers and muscles felt a terrifying force tightening around them.
It also heard the "crack, crack" of its own bones breaking.