"Ah..."
Xu Ning's agonized scream echoed through the cavern.
Xia Hong and the others hurriedly turned to look, and their backs instantly ran cold.
His axe had ultimately failed to come down.
Not only had it failed to strike—his right eye seemed to have been plucked out of thin air, leaving only an empty socket. Blood flowed outward from it, covering half his face in a horrifying sight.
"Keep it pinned down. I'm going to save him!"
Though Xia Hong felt a chill in his heart, he still made a snap decision. After ordering the others, he gritted his teeth, grabbed the Frost Beast's mane, and leaped onto its back.
Without hesitation, he climbed up, helped Xu Ning to his feet, and threw him down. Xia Chuan and the others immediately stepped forward to catch him.
"Chief, don't look at the eyes on its back. My left eye was closed just now, so nothing happened. Something inside seemed to crawl out and pluck out my eyeball."
Though Xu Ning had lost his right eye, his consciousness remained clear.
Before climbing down, he had not forgotten to shout out the warning.
Xia Hong took a deep breath and shifted his body in the direction the Frost Beast was struggling. He stubbornly refused to lower his head and look, stretching out only one hand to feel around on the Frost Beast's back.
Before long, Xia Hong touched the spot where the golden eye was located.
"Spread out and control its four limbs. We only need one instant. Hurry!"
Upon hearing this, Xia Chuan and the others, who had sent Xu Ning to the rear, glanced at the Frost Beast. Though their scalps crawled, they swiftly tossed aside their Stone Axes and charged forward barehanded.
The Stone Axes could not break through the Frost Beast's defenses and were useless. Keeping them in hand would only burden them and hinder their strength.
Lin Kai and Qiu Peng rushed to the Frost Beast's rear and hugged its right hind leg together.
Yue Feng and Lu Yang hugged its left hind leg.
Yuan Cheng and Xia Chuan went to the front and hugged its two forelegs, one on each side.
Roar...
The arrangement was fairly reasonable, but compared to the Frost Beast's strength, the six scattered men were clearly not enough.
The Frost Beast struggled wildly, essentially dragging all six of them on a mad sprint across the ground. The cavern was small to begin with, leaving only a few dozen meters to run back and forth. Xia Chuan, Yuan Cheng, and the others were slammed into it several times.
Nearly all six of them spat blood. Some were injured when the Frost Beast stepped on them, while others were hurt when its momentum smashed them into the walls.
Even so, none of the six let go. They continued to cling tightly to the Frost Beast's limbs, gritting their teeth solely to create that one instant of opportunity for Xia Hong.
Xia Hong had not moved at all. It was not that he did not want to—the commotion caused by the Frost Beast was simply too terrifying.
Compared with the six people clinging to its limbs below, the Frost Beast clearly felt that the man on its back posed the greater threat. Thus, whenever it crashed into the walls, it deliberately used its back and tail.
Xia Hong was also slammed several times, but his left hand remained clamped around the mane, keeping him from falling. At the same time, his right hand stayed at the spot where he had just felt the eye.
"Don't let go. Hold on a little longer. It's about to run out of strength."
Xia Hong shouted at the others, his expression gradually turning ferocious.
"I refuse to believe this wretched beast has an endless supply of strength!"
The seven of them remained locked in a death grip with the Frost Beast for more than half a minute. Whether they were trampled or slammed into something, not one of them loosened their hold.
Finally, after the Frost Beast crashed into the wall once more, it suddenly paused.
Huff...
It was panting.
Now!
Xia Hong's pupils suddenly contracted. He withdrew his right hand, pulled a short blade no more than five inches long from his waist, and aimed at the spot where his right hand had just spent so long feeling around—the location he had long since memorized. He thrust down violently.
Splurt!
"Everyone, let go and move aside!"
Knowing that he had struck home, Xia Hong immediately called out for Xia Chuan and the others to retreat.
The six men who had been clinging desperately to the Frost Beast's limbs immediately released their holds and backed away at full speed.
Roar...
As the Frost Beast let out a miserable, anguished roar, a warm current wrapped around Xia Hong's palm. The Frost Beast beneath him also began struggling even more violently.
Xia Hong was no longer afraid. Riding on the Frost Beast's back, he looked toward its golden eye.
It turned out that the thrust had been so forceful that not only had the short blade gone in—his entire hand had been plunged inside.
That warm current was the sensation of his palm immersed in blood after the eye had been pierced open.
With the golden eye on its back pierced through, the Frost Beast was clearly suffering more than mere pain. Xia Hong, riding on its back, felt it most directly.
When its eye had first been pierced, the Frost Beast had erupted with strength even more terrifying than before. Yet as time passed, its movements visibly became more distorted and sluggish, and the strength it could exert grew weaker and weaker.
Even so, Xia Hong did not dare let his guard down. He continued riding on its back, gripping its mane tightly without moving.
At last, the eye on the Frost Beast's back stopped bleeding. Its four limbs began to stagger, until it finally crashed to the ground with a thunderous boom.
Only then did Xia Hong truly breathe a sigh of relief.
He could feel at close range that the Frost Beast's life force had been completely severed.
After releasing his hand, an intense feeling of weakness surged into his heart.
"Is it dead?"
"It's really dead?"
"It's dead. Come over!"
Xia Hong's reply completely relaxed the taut nerves of Xia Chuan, Yuan Cheng, and the others.
Realizing that it was finally over, smiles appeared on everyone's faces.
"Hahahaha, we dodged it so many times before. Who would've thought it would come right to us on its own?"
"That was close. If not for the chief, the outcome would've been uncertain."
"I was holding its hind leg just now, and several times I thought I was going to be trampled to death. If I hadn't seen all of you holding on, I might not have lasted."
"Hahahahaha, same here."
Nothing united people like battle, especially a battle that concerned life and death.
Though everyone was more or less injured, with some wounds even quite serious, the way they looked at one another clearly held something more than before.
Listening to everyone joke about surviving the calamity, Xia Hong also felt much more at ease.
However, there was still one seriously injured person. He did not know how the situation was.
"Where's Xu Ning? How is Xu Ning?"
At the sound of his voice, everyone hurriedly looked toward the rear of the cavern.
"Chief, I'm fine. Have someone seal the cavern first. Many of the adults' faces have already been frozen blue, and some of the children are about to collapse."
Though Xu Ning had lost his right eye, he had remained conscious the entire time. Even as he answered Xia Hong, he did not forget to remind him to seal the entrance quickly.
Xia Hong turned toward the crowd and only then discovered that the faces of both adults and children had been frozen a livid blue. He hurriedly rose and led people to seal the cavern and start a fire.
The battle just now had actually lasted less than ten minutes from beginning to end.
Yet in those ten minutes, the ordinary people in the camp were already unable to hold out.
In fact, it was not only them who could not hold out. Once he emerged from the battle, Xia Hong himself quickly felt the cold.
Was the daytime really this terrifying?
Xia Hong had Xia Chuan and the others, whose injuries were more serious, go rest first. He led people in carrying things to seal the entrance, while Xu Ning also lay on the ground. Thus, all those who came to help were other adults from the camp.
"Chief, you're injured. Go rest first. Leave this place to us."
Xia Hong was moving things when he heard the concern from someone nearby. He turned around and revealed a faint smile. "I'm fine. I'm barely injured. Hurry up. Once the entrance is sealed, we can start a fire and spare everyone from continuing to freeze."
The others immediately showed moved expressions upon hearing this.
"Chief, this little task is nothing. Leave it to us. Don't worry!"
The middle-aged man who had told Xia Hong to rest was moved as well. He walked two steps toward Xia Hong, intending to help carry the log in his hands.
Xia Hong's eyes flickered, but he did not refuse. He immediately handed the log to him.
Unexpectedly, just as the man reached Xia Hong—
a sudden change occurred.
He abruptly thrust out his right fist, striking fiercely toward Xia Hong's head.
This sudden turn of events instantly threw everyone into panic.
Before you continue