Chapter 148 - 109: Frost Mammoth (2)
However, judging by the Mammoth’s oblivious reaction, it probably hadn’t done a thing.
"Come on, let’s go have a look."
"What?! That’s too dangerous! Neither Captain Yuan nor Rose can handle that Mammoth. If we go, we’ll just get in the way..."
"Hey, wait for me!"
Lin Kong headed toward the battlefield by himself. He knew his limits, though, so he didn’t attack the Mammoth. Instead, he went to find Niu Armor.
Niu Armor was also heavily wounded. He was lying under a broken tree while Lin Yan treated his injuries.
"Brother Niu, what just happened? Why did that Mammoth attack you?"
Niu Armor thought back, completely baffled. "Didn’t we split up to search for points with high Spiritual Energy?"
"I found a stone over there with some patterns carved into it. While I was examining it, that mutated creature charged over and attacked me."
"Oh, right. Is it called a Mammoth? It does look a bit like an elephant, and it’s certainly ferocious."
"Not that kind of ’ferocious’... Forget it, close enough." Lin Kong didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
"Could that stone be some kind of treasure?"
Lin Kong mulled it over and suggested, "While that Mammoth is tied up, let’s go take a look at the stone."
The four of them looked toward the fierce battle. Rose had already given up on casting "Soul Shock" on the Mammoth and had switched to close-quarters combat. However, his defense wasn’t as strong as Yuan Xiaobo’s, so he always waited for Yuan Xiaobo to draw its fire from the front. Then, he would attack from the side with a "Corruption Attack" to damage the Mammoth. Whether he landed the hit or not, he’d strike and then immediately retreat.
The Mammoth was absolutely furious, chasing after Rose with a blast of frigid air. But every time, before it could catch up, Yuan Xiaobo would intercept it.
In this game of cat and mouse, they were moving farther and farther away from the spot where Niu Armor had found the stone.
Seeing the Mammoth moving away, the other three agreed to Lin Kong’s plan.
Under the cover of Mirus’s Invisibility Magic, the four of them returned to the place where Niu Armor had been attacked.
Sure enough, they saw a large boulder. Carved all over its surface were numerous patterns that resembled a Rune Array.
"Alright, you two esteemed Legendary Druids, it’s time for you to display your profound knowledge," Lin Kong said, spreading his hands in an inviting gesture.
Mirus and Lin Yan stepped forward without hesitation and began to carefully inspect the boulder from all sides.
Mirus hovered above the boulder, stroking her chin. "It does seem to be some kind of Magic Array. I can recognize a few parts of it."
Lin Yan: "It’s definitely a Rune Array. I can identify these few as an Energy Gathering Array, this is a Transmission Law, and this is... It’s just, I can recognize too few of the arrays. I don’t know most of what’s here."
Mirus said, "How profound. If we could move this back to the territory, the research institute’s progress on Rune Arrays would speed up considerably."
Mirus and Lin Yan began discussing it among themselves as if no one else was there. However, they couldn’t figure much out, only confirming that the boulder was indeed inscribed with some type of Rune Array.
Lin Kong wasn’t idle, either. He also circled the boulder, examining the carved patterns and trying to interpret them.
His level was a bit low, and he knew too few Rune Arrays. Furthermore, the arrays on this rock had been heavily modified. As a result, he stared at it for a long time but could barely recognize any of the runes. As for the connections between the various Rune Arrays and their function within the greater Array, that was completely beyond him. He couldn’t make heads or tails of it.
But as Lin Kong continued to study it, he suddenly got a strange feeling. He felt as if he had seen this Magic Array somewhere before.
Baffled, Lin Kong circled the rock a few more times, unable to understand where this feeling was coming from.
It wasn’t until he noticed Mirus hovering in the air that he decided to try looking at the Magic Array from above.
Lin Kong leaped onto a large, nearby tree. Looking down from his new vantage point, the complete Magic Array carved on the rock gradually overlapped with an image from his memory.
"A Teleportation Array?!" Lin Kong exclaimed.
This wasn’t the same as the Arena or Battlefield Teleportation Arrays currently in their territory. It was the kind of Teleportation Array deployed in the territory during the final moments of the first phase—the one used during the great competition’s trial to summon Extraordinary Wild Monsters.
’Why is it this Teleportation Array?’ Lin Kong was stunned. He never expected to see this specific Array.
’In that case, could that Mammoth be the same Mammoth boss from back then? The one that only cared about eating?’
’It does look a lot like it, and its skills are similar too.’
The more Lin Kong thought about it, the stronger the resemblance seemed. Combined with Mirus’s confirmation that the surrounding plants shared the same origin as those in their territory, he became all but certain.
Still, it was just a theory. To be absolutely sure, he’d have to confirm it with the Mammoth itself.
But even if his theory was correct, it wouldn’t help them resolve the ongoing battle with the Mammoth.
Just then, Mirus grew tired of flying. She landed on the boulder, intending to get a closer look.
"Mirus, don’t touch that stone!" Niu Armor suddenly yelled.
Mirus looked at Niu Armor, completely confused. ’There aren’t any traps on this stone,’ she thought. ’The Array has no energy, so it can’t be activated. I’m standing right on it, and nothing’s happening.’
"Get out of there! Run!"
"What’s wrong?" Mirus flew over to Niu Armor, still not understanding what she had done wrong.
"That’s what I did! I touched this stone, and then the Mammoth suddenly appeared and attacked me. I just remembered that might be it," Niu Armor explained, already grabbing Lin Kong and Lin Yan to make a run for it.
"You probably just had bad luck," Mirus said dismissively. "The Mammoth must have been nearby, saw you touching its precious treasure, and thought you were trying to steal it. It’s so far away right now; how could it possibly know we touched the stone?"
Mirus wasn’t convinced. She hadn’t sensed any energy on the stone, so it was impossible for the Mammoth to sense that they had touched it.
RUMBLE... RUMBLE...
Just then, a frantic rumbling grew closer from the distance.
The four looked up to see the giant Mammoth, charging toward them amidst a swirl of frigid wind.
"Run!"
"See! I told you it can sense when we touch the stone!"
"Less talking, more running!" The four of them stopped bickering and sprinted away.
Fortunately, the Mammoth didn’t give chase. It seemed more concerned about the stone, standing guard beside it and warily scanning its surroundings.
After escaping, Lin Kong’s group saw that the Mammoth wasn’t pursuing them, so they took a detour to rendezvous with Yuan Xiaobo and Rose.
"Are you all okay?" Yuan Xiaobo asked, looking at the four of them nervously.
"We’re fine! We’re fast runners, hahaha!" Niu Armor said, slapping his muscular thigh.
"You were supposed to be recovering on the sidelines. Why did you go and provoke that Mammoth again?" Yuan Xiaobo grumbled, chiding them for their reckless behavior.
"We were just trying to see what that Mammoth was so worked up about!"
"Did you find anything?"
"Of course!"
"We discovered that it’s the same Mammoth that attacked our territory a few years ago!"
Yuan Xiaobo was taken aback. "Are you sure? As I recall, the territory wasn’t that strong a few years ago. Were we able to beat it?"
None of the others present had experienced that defense, so they didn’t know the details and were equally surprised.
"We didn’t beat it. But our Lord outsmarted it... In the end, the Mammoth gave up on its own."
Lin Kong chuckled and recounted the story.
"I see! In that case, this Mammoth should be fairly reasonable. Why is it so bad-tempered now?"
"The Magic Array on that rock looks like the Teleportation Array from that time," Lin Kong theorized. "My guess is, it still wants to use the array to travel to other worlds and eat its fill."
"If all it wants is to eat, maybe we should try to persuade it to join our territory. This big guy is pretty tough," Yuan Xiaobo said. He was quite interested in this Frost Mammoth; it was rare to find someone who could trade blows with him without losing ground. "If it became an ally, we could schedule fights in the arena every day."
Lin Kong thought for a moment. "I don’t know... Want to give it a shot?"