Chapter 700 - 25: Fine-toothed Giant Bear
As darkness gradually consumed the earth and the firelight became more pronounced in the twilight, the wind across the plains steadily picked up.
Predators lurking near the rock face finally couldn’t suppress their desire for flesh and blood and began to move.
...
The first to set out were the Fear Wolves.
This species is similar in size to the Alaskan Wolf, with an average weight of over 60 kilograms, but unlike the Gray Wolf, they have stronger jaws, larger teeth, and more developed head muscles.
This body structure evolved to hunt the giant fauna, and their powerful bite force enables them to tackle Mammoths, Ancient Bison, and Camelids.
Like Gray Wolves, Fear Wolves also hunt in packs.
The pack of Fear Wolves coming to the mound was quite large, numbering over thirty.
It’s as if two groups of Fear Wolves had come together to form a temporary team, with one group having about twenty and the other just over ten, running in two clusters.
There weren’t many clouds in the sky, only a crescent moon and a smattering of stars.
In the black-blue tinted dried grass, the glowing eyes of the Fear Wolves could be seen; their strides were agile and light, the group swift and orderly as they approached the Camelids staying by the river—
They were the "old acquaintances" on their menu.
...
Camelids resemble one-humped camels, but their humps are much less pronounced than those of modern one-humped camels, forming only a slight rise on their backs.
Compared to modern camels, their legs were longer and their fur thicker—
This was because throughout the late Pliocene to the end of the Pleistocene, the climate in North America kept declining until the Ice Age arrived, causing them to disappear with the megafauna of the era.
In North America, Fear Wolves are the sworn enemies of Camelids, so upon detecting the wolf pack’s approach, the Camelid on guard immediately started to call out.
The piercing call rallied the other Camelids, who spontaneously formed a defensive line, with the strong adult Camelids on the outside while the sub-adults and juveniles were well-protected by their elders as they sprinted away.
The cooperative hunting Fear Wolves set one group to ambush in front while the other pursued from behind.
They initially showed a display of sprinting with all their might, scaring the Camelids into fleeing, which gradually loosened their defensive line, leaving behind an injured Camelid and two juveniles.
Taking advantage of the split formation, the Fear Wolves in ambush quickly emerged from the grass, opening their bloodthirsty jaws to block the fleeing Camelids.
Since arriving here, the Camelids had never encountered such a large group of Fear Wolves and were so frightened they lost direction, their already scattered formation breaking into several fragments fleeing in all directions.
...
Like water droplets in hot oil, the Fear Wolves’ attack stirred the other predators’ latent desire to kill.
The sight of a young Camelid pinned down, its artery torn open, its blood seeping out stirred a deep hunger for food among the herd of beasts.
They couldn’t wait any longer and let out all sorts of roars, charging towards their pre-selected targets.
Dust rose, and the sound of stampeding herbivores resembled a torrential downpour hitting the prairie, while the predators’ roars outshadowed the noise of their escape.
Breaking stalks of grass, splattering blood, screams and the threats of meat-eaters competing for food, the alarm cries of herbivores, and even the sounds of careless predators being kicked, hit, or bitten by fierce herbivores filled the air endlessly.
...
The Space-Time Administration Bureau’s prehistoric animal exhibition turned chaotic due to a rock face exposing natural rock salt and the gathering of animals.
Both carnivores and herbivores were caught up in the frenzy, with their blood boiling, joining the frenzy.
Even the three Serrated Tiger Cubs by the campfire were no exception; they seemed to have heard the call of their kind, each poking their heads to look towards the other side of the mound, trying to find the source of that familiar sound.
Chen Zhou quietly observed the little creatures, while tightly wrapping a layer of leather around the spearhead.
Unlike the random wood used for the previous spears, the wood for this spear shaft was carefully selected, hard and resilient, so he could easily flick the spearhead with his strength.
Though Chen Zhou had never studied spear techniques, he could rely on the brute force between his waist and arm to make the spearhead blossom into a deadly, shimmering flash, piercing through hide and striking vital points, ending a beast’s life.
As for Paul, his spearhead still used that military saber, but his spear shaft was longer, which he had specifically designed for safety reasons.
Paul knew he wasn’t as agile as the beasts, so he found a tree branch over four meters long to make this spear.
They say the longer the range, the greater the strength; his spear was about maximizing attack distance, ensuring he wasn’t surrounded by beasts with threats coming from all directions, allowing him to attack from outside the range of the enemy’s attack.
In terms of attack capability, it was naturally weaker, but it was more than adequate for defense by the campfire.
...
Firmly gripping his spear, to conserve strength, Paul had long since unloaded the cooking pot and other items onto the ground.
As he needed to carry too many tools, he wasn’t wearing the armor made from Beaver bone plates, but had only tied some vines to his arms, legs, and chest for increased defense.
Watching Chen Zhou wrap a short strip of pine bark around the spearhead, creating an obvious bulge in the originally uniform arc of the spear, Paul couldn’t help but ask.