At this thought, the elephant-riding leader shouted at his underlings again, yanked his spear against the elephant's back, and charged over once more.
Luo Chong nocked an arrow, took aim at the elephant rider, and steadied his breathing. When the man was seventy meters away, he released the arrow. It struck him squarely in the right eye. With a scream, the leader fell from the elephant's back, only to be trampled by the advancing Dinophant's hind leg, his intestines squeezed out. He died a gruesome death.
The Dinophant suddenly lost its rider and felt as if it had just stepped on some soft, unknown object. It turned around in confusion—and the entire elephant immediately went haywire.
Emmm... What did I step on? When did he get under my foot...?
The utterly bewildered Dinophant had no idea what to do and actually stood motionless on the spot.
The underlings nearby were also rather confused. How did the boss suddenly die? But they did not stop charging forward.
"Counterattack! Charge over and use Spear Throwing."
Seeing that Dashu and the others had finally caught their breath, Luo Chong took advantage of the enemy's momentary daze and issued the order for a Counter-Charge.
The four of them spread out and charged toward the enemy. After advancing ten meters, they stopped and threw their spears. The two sides were now only a little over forty meters apart. The enemy hurriedly stopped to throw their spears as well, but they were still a step too slow. Dashu and the others' three spears and Luo Chong's arrow flew out first, instantly killing three more people. Now only three enemies remained alive, and they began to panic.
Luo Chong drew another arrow from his quiver and charged forward once more. The three men turned and fled in terror. The elephant rider controlled the Dinophant and turned it around as well, but then found it too slow and jumped straight from its back. Before he even landed, an arrow pierced through his chest. He ran a few more steps before collapsing face-first onto the ground.
Dashu and the other two also charged up from behind Luo Chong. Their three Stone Axes flew out with the sound of the wind and took care of the last two enemies.
At last, this jungle pursuit and guerrilla battle drew to a close. At the cost of minor injuries to Tree Stump and Mutong, Luo Chong had used his advantage in range, advanced guerrilla tactics, and the Tree Tribe's home-field advantage in the terrain to annihilate the enemy perfectly.
The three men with Dashu still could not believe it. The four of them had actually wiped out a forty-man group. Oh, right—there were also two Dinophants.
Luo Chong made a circuit around the area and looked at the two large beasts standing there in a daze. Then he issued a new order.
"Tree Stump, wait here. Mutong, go find all our people and bring them back. Dashu, come with me to finish them off."
"Finish them off? What does that mean?" Dashu asked, puzzled.
"It means killing those who weren't killed completely. Some of the enemies were injured by the Stone Axes but haven't died yet. We can't let them stay alive." Luo Chong slung his longbow onto his back, picked up the enemy leader's Bone Spear, and stabbed each of the "corpses" on the ground once more.
Dashu let out an understanding "Oh" and followed Luo Chong back along the route of the chase. They killed some of the "corpses" along the road again, recovered the Feathered Arrows, and collected the intact Stone Spears and Stone Axes.
The two unattended Dinophants, however, kept following behind Luo Chong and even let out two "oh-oh" calls.
Luo Chong stopped and turned around. One of the Dinophants came over and poked his chest with its trunk. What the hell does that mean? Can someone translate for me?
The huge beast before him stared at Luo Chong with big, adorably foolish eyes. Its long eyelashes fluttered like little fans.
But no matter how cute you are or how hard you try to act adorable, don't follow me. Luo Chong was speechless.
This was a real Dinophant. In the past, Luo Chong had only seen Dinophant skeletons in museums. This time, he had finally seen a living one.
Although Dinophants, mammoths, and woolly mammoths were all giant elephant species, the Dinophant's characteristics were especially striking. Mammoths and modern elephants looked more or less alike, except that they were larger and had longer hair.
Dinophants, however, were different. Other elephants had tusks growing from both sides of their lips, projecting forward with their tips curving upward. A Dinophant's tusks grew from its lower lip, extended downward, and then curved backward. They were also not as long as a mammoth's tusks. If they grew that long, the creature would stab itself through the chest whenever it lowered its head. Thus, this thing was extraordinarily easy to identify, making it the strangest-looking member of the elephant family.
Although these two "little fellows" were only a little over two meters tall and were still juveniles, adult Dinophants were colossal beasts measuring eight meters in length, over five meters in height, and weighing around fifteen tons. They were the sort of species that would not back down even in a head-on clash with a Tyrannosaurus rex—they simply had not lived in the same era. When one stood there, it looked like a two-story building. How much food must this thing eat in a day?
Luo Chong pushed its trunk aside and said, "Go on. You're free now. Don't follow me. Big Brother can't afford to raise you."
If you wanted to start an animal-breeding business, you had to consider the returns. If what it brought in was worth less than what it consumed, then what use was there in keeping it?
Luo Chong planned to raise rabbits to eat their meat and skin them for their pelts. Rabbits did not eat much, reproduced quickly, and did not attack people, making them extremely suitable for breeding.
He planned to raise Blue Antelope so he could use them like donkeys. They could pull carts, plow fields, and even turn a mill when harnessed to one. Their food intake was also something Luo Chong could afford.
But what were these Dinophants trying to get involved for? Use them to turn a mill? How large would the mill have to be? Use them to plow fields? Their feet would leave pits everywhere. Use them to pull carts? It would probably take a container truck on that scale to match their size. But this place was full of mountains and jungle—where was he supposed to drive such a truck?
After considering everything, Luo Chong had no intention of adopting these two "little fellows." He truly could not afford to raise them, so he ignored them and continued forward with Dashu to finish off the wounded.
They went all the way back to where the two sides had first clashed—their campsite. Yet there were only thirty-six "corpses" along the route. According to Dashu, there should have been forty people, but four were now missing, neither seen alive nor found dead. It left Luo Chong with a bad feeling, as if a target had escaped during a mission.
There was no way to search for them now, though. In such a vast Black Tree forest, if someone wanted to hide, even mobilizing ten thousand people to search might not be enough to find them.
After a whole second half of the night spent running around, Tree Stump and Mutong finally brought the main group back at daybreak. Fortunately, neither the headcount nor the supplies had decreased.
Once everyone had sat down to rest, Luo Chong had Dashu distribute the captured Stone Spears and Stone Axes. Everyone except the children now had a weapon for self-defense, and only then did he let them eat breakfast.
Breakfast was roasted rabbit. There was no water source nearby, but Mutong had somehow obtained more red Salty Tree Sap from somewhere, which replenished some salt and moisture for everyone. They also used the extra sap to wash their wounds. According to Dashu, wounds cleaned with this sap healed faster and were less likely to turn fatal.
Tsk, tsk. It seemed this stuff also had anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties. As far as Luo Chong knew, only the sap of the modern dragon blood tree had such a function. As for the ancient tree species of the prehistoric era, he really did not know many of them.
The Blue Antelope and rabbits were still eating the hay they had brought with them, all of it grass Luo Chong had bundled up by the swamp. But now two unfamiliar large fellows had come to mooch food, which made Wuda and Ximen unhappy. They could only endure it, though. They were half the others' height, and when they ate grass, they were shoved aside. They did not even dare fart, behaving as meekly as quails.
Seeing the feed that should have lasted two more meals disappear in an instant, Luo Chong nearly cursed aloud.
Before you continue