Chapter 808 - 18: Delay

Chapter 808: Chapter 18: Delay

The thick mammoth hooves were caked in ice and snow. As it walked, its body heat melted the snow, leaving a layer of mud on its feet.

Among these small, dark soil particles, four sharp spikes pierced deep into its flesh.

Now, blood kept seeping from its injured sole, dyeing its foot a deep red.

Seeing his companion hurt, Stone comforted the mammoth while wiping the blood away with animal skin. When he pulled out and recognized the obviously man-made wooden spike, his expression changed instantly.

"Stone!"

Stone shed his earlier silence, and started quickly speaking to Stone in their tribe’s primitive tongue.

Their actions, though rough and reckless, showed normal intelligence. They soon realized an enemy had set traps here, and began to discuss slowing their pace as they moved toward the campfire.

While advancing, both men swept their weapons through the snow, like searching for landmines.

Clearly, even though they realized there were traps, they still clung to hope that whoever lit the fire hadn’t noticed them. They continued with the original plan, creeping forward.

They didn’t even consider leaving the mammoth behind. Pushing ahead, they kept signaling for the mammoth to follow, as if its massive body was somehow invisible to others.

Lying farther away, Chen Zhou watched the mammoth step on the wooden spike and thought no matter what, they should stop advancing. He never expected their thinking to be so bizarre.

Especially when he noticed they still believed other challengers couldn’t see them and were planning a surprise attack—he found it unbelievable.

Thinking about it now, Bi Kai and Gao Yao were only ambushed by the pair because they’d been utterly careless, suffering such a heavy loss.

If they’d shown a bit more caution, they wouldn’t have ended up with one dead, one wounded.

He’d originally overestimated their skill, but realizing these two were below average, Chen Zhou became resolved to take action.

...

Considering that these low-intelligence types had survived this long, Chen Zhou figured they must excel in other areas, especially physical strength.

So, when quietly approaching to attack, he purposefully slowed and timed his crawl to match the rhythm of their steps—

A bit of wind in the night, thick animal skins on both men, and a mammoth close by—gentle crunches in the snow were nearly undetectable, especially from such a distance.

...

The flickering firelight lured greedy hunters.

Trailing beside Stone, the mammoth, hurt in the foot, could no longer fully plant its sole. It had to tiptoe forward.

Clutching his weapon tightly, Stone kept turning back to look at the injured mammoth as they moved, simmering with rage.

This immature mammoth had been in his care since birth; their bond was already much deeper than simple man-and-beast.

Mammoths, highly intelligent animals, could understand almost everything the people meant after living together for years. Whether for survival or hunting, few partners were more useful than them.

To Stone, this mammoth was family. Thinking of its injury, staring at its bloody prints in the snow, Stone’s anger barely stayed in check.

Even so, he knew not to make too much noise when approaching prey, or else they might scare it off, so he forced himself to walk slowly and quietly.

He believed he would make those who set the trap pay, just as he had succeeded in past hunts.

...

The distance narrowed—the firelight no longer hid the scene.

Stone and Stone could see clearly now: the snow was full of confused tracks, but otherwise empty. No sign of human activity, not even hides or food for rest. As if all there was, was a pile of fire.

With some confusion in his eyes, Stone lowered his head to examine the tracks in the snow.

Before he could find any clues, Stone spoke up first—

All the tracks belonged to one person.

Hearing this, Stone grew excited and quickly made his own judgment.

"He must have run!"

Stone had no comment.

While the two wrestled with the missing prey, light suddenly flared behind them, illuminating the snowy ground even more.

Stone turned in shock, discovering a second campfire burning behind them. The flames creeping slowly along the logs, though not large, sent up straight columns of blackish smoke—very conspicuous.

Before he could say "look," Stone’s face darkened.

Their experiences tonight gave both a grim sense of foreboding—

Countless tracks in the snow, prints spreading in all directions, an empty scene by the fire, and traps lurking in the snow...

From start to finish, they hadn’t caught sight of the enemy. Instead, the "prey" they were tracking had quite likely spotted them first.

No matter how foolish, even they now realized something was wrong.

"Go!"

As the brains of the team, Stone acted like the leader of a hyena pack; all major decisions followed his lead. Hearing "go," Stone immediately slapped the mammoth, directing it another way.

They were leaving, heading back into the darkness.

...

After lighting a new campfire to distract them, Chen Zhou switched positions again.

This spot was lower; no need to crawl, just crouching was enough for similar effect.