A shrill scream echoed through the valley, making my heart jolt. I hurriedly dashed out, but more screams rang out along the way. Anyone would have found it unnerving, especially with the howls of Gale Beasts mixed in. I had no idea what had happened, and midway there, I ran into Chu Ruo.
"Big Brother Xia! This is bad! Come out and take a look!" Chu Ruo and I nearly collided. She hurriedly turned around and rushed back out.
By the time I ran outside, the screams had already sounded several times. In the valley outside, the corpses of four Gale Beasts lay before me, along with those of four hunters. Some seemed to have been slapped straight down, while others bore wounds from sharp weapons. Without exception, though, they had lost their combat ability after a single blow and then been knocked down.
This looked like the result of an attack by some enormous vicious beast. Aside from the damage their armor had suffered when they tumbled down from the valley cliff, there was also damage inflicted by some colossal beast.
Qu Meng and Blue Stone were standing guard atop the distant mound of skeletal remains. They were, of course, not the injured ones, but both wore utterly bewildered expressions, clearly unaware of what had happened above the valley.
I picked up the Dragon Flute and blew it at once, summoning the Gale Dragon. Then I rapidly beat its wings and charged up to the top of the valley. But the place was already deserted. Apart from equipment scattered messily across the ground, there were only traces of a hasty battle. Besides the footprints of four Gale Beasts, there was also a footprint belonging to a vicious beast roughly twice the size of the Gale Dragon. This should have