Chapter 9: Windfall in the Hunt
From the very beginning, all the exiles were expecting something to break their dilemma, because they had long understood that if nothing special happened, they would be left with nothing but a miserable end.
It's just that they didn't expect that the miracle that responded to them would come so quickly, as if overnight, the originally depressed atmosphere had become a thing of the past, and everyone's face was full of excitement and anticipation. That strange mood filled the whole team, and it was a word that was not directly defined in the abyssal language - hope.
As the team's former interim leader, Mora knows what a great leader means to the tribe as a whole. Like Canor and Theramore, how many tribes of warriors have been swallowed up under their leadership that are not weaker than their own? The snake demons are not superstitious about individual power, just like the head of the snake demon and the conqueror, they do not have the ability to turn the tide in the face of absolute power. And she herself is the same, Mora asks herself if she can't lead the remnants of her men to break through the blockade of the pursuers and find a way out.
She didn't know how to describe the noble and mysterious Child of the Abyss.
The most common word in the Abyssal language to describe a person's intelligence is cunning, such as the betrayer who secretly colluded with other Abyssal Lords and eventually hatched a conspiracy against him.
Cunning is a compliment in the Demon language, describing a successful person like the traitor Banuma who can borrow all kinds of strength to achieve his goals by unscrupulous means. In this world of the jungle, the winner is king, and no matter how much he hates the culprit who upended the entire clan of the Conquerors, Mora has to admit that he is far from his opponent.
But Mora felt that the word cunning was no longer enough to describe the strength of His Highness André! Perhaps, as His Highness himself casually mentioned, it was a word derived from an unknown language—wisdom.
The abilities of the Children of the Abyss made the Serpent Demon realize the narrowness of his own mind. The word wisdom seems to contain a special magical power! It has allowed the entire clan to accomplish a series of feats out of nothing under the leadership of His Highness Andrew! The vessels used to heat the water are already in mass production, and under the supervision of the fire demons, the pottery can have nearly ten good products. Many of them are clay pots that can be used to stuff an entire rabbit at once...... The thought of the deliciousness of rabbit stewed mushrooms made even the snake demons, who had previously disdained this low-grade meat food, begin to relish. Not to mention the salt that can turn decay into miraculous table salt! Extracted from the gray salt lake ore rich in sand, the snake demon never knew that it was so easy to refine the salt stone that no one cared for into precious table salt!
No, that's not easy for most demons, there are no clay pots that can make water boil, and even if you know how to use charcoal to filter impurities, you can at most make salt water that is not easy to carry. The faint smell of stewed wild boar offal wafting in the air made Mora's heart shake for a while, most of the demons' five senses were very keen, and the snake demons were already attracted by the beauty of the camp from hundreds of meters away. Thanks to the scent of these wafts through the wilderness, the hunting party did not go far when they encountered two strong and cunning night wolves. This dangerous beast is taller than a cowardly demon when it lowers its body and roars, and its body is stronger than an adult horned demon, and even the snake demon will be thrown off by them due to lack of physical strength if it runs away with all its might.
Behind him were two completely dead beasts piled up on the bamboo sled, and the cowards who were pulling the bamboo sled with ropes on their backs were all sweating profusely, but these guys were not only not tired but looked extremely fanatical! Without the restraint of these cowardly demons, Mora would not have been able to slaughter these two beasts that were ready to flee when they saw that the situation was not good. And what allowed the cowardly demons to resist the culling of the beasts and form an effective encirclement, stopping these two beasts was another tool invented by His Highness Andrei - the bamboo spear.
The tip of the bamboo spear was not very sharp, after all, it was barely burned with fire, and then ground with water on a rough stone slab. The damage that such a weapon can cause in the hands of the cowardly demon is completely painless to the mad beast, but this allows the cowardly demons who are brave to block the escape and counterattack of the fierce beast many times with the cooperation of their companions, and the winged demon who has found the opportunity even swoops down from mid-air with a bamboo spear that is not sharp, and severely damages the male wolf in one fell swoop! It is foreseeable that a large number of tools equipped with such similar weapons will allow even these useless cowardly demons to participate in the hunting of large prey in the future. And this tool, which is not lethal but easy to make, is also a weapon that only qualified warriors are qualified to possess among ordinary clans!
This is the most exciting thing for these cowards! They are no longer dispensable in the tribe, they can also stand at the forefront of the hunting team like a warrior and contribute to the prosperity of the tribe!
Having such a well-equipped hunting team near the bogs meant that the tribe no longer had to worry about food! just two days of prey was enough for all the cowards to eat meat until they couldn't eat it anymore. Thinking of this, Mora couldn't help but clench her fists, which means that it may not take two years, and these cowardly demons who occupy the majority of the clan will no longer be chicken ribs and cannon fodder, and will no longer be the reserve food of the tribe! With enough food, they will all have the opportunity to advance to become real demon warriors! That is the foundation of the strength of the entire tribe, and the key to standing firm in the cruel competition of the demon world!
Looking at the various busy figures in the camp, the snake demon who raised the corners of his mouth at this moment was extremely satisfied.
As soon as he saw the initiator of all this, Mora immediately took the short knife from his niece's hand, and in three or two strokes, he cut open the strong belly of his prey, and cut off the huge heart, which was still warm.
"Your Highness, with the cooperation of all the hunters, we have slain two of our most valuable prey!" As a sign of respect, the snake demon bent down on her sturdy waist and lowered her tall body, offering the heart of the wolf to her noble tribal leader.
"Thank you for your kindness, and I'll leave the food to Livia...... Even if you give it to me, I'll arrange for her to take care of the cooking. Andrei, who was patrolling around, rejected the "folk customs" that the snake demon made him feel uncomfortable with, and the son of the abyss did not have much majesty in the eyes of his subordinates, but this won the respect of everyone, especially the cowards, from the bottom of their hearts!
Fiddling with the giant wolf the size of a calf on a bamboo prying, André stroked the beast's black messy fur and limbs thicker than his thighs. At the back of the line, the wriggling black plush on the cowardly demon managed to attract the attention of the children of the abyss.
It was three black puppies squinting and seeming to be a little photophobic, their restless writhing bodies, as if trying to break away from the unfamiliar smell of the cowardly demon's embrace, but the weak paws and upper and lower jaws did not bother the thin cowardly demon holding them much.
"This is also your gains?" asked Andre, pointing to the restless plush in the cowardly arm's arms.
Mora couldn't see whether the son of the abyss was happy or angry, but it was strange that His Highness did not care about the two Chinese New Year's Eve wolves, but became interested in the three young wolves who couldn't even walk steadily.
"Your Highness, this is a cave that we found after killing two adult wolves and following the direction and smell Chinese New Year's Eve of their escape...... The three wolf cubs were hiding in the depths of the cave, in a small place beyond the reach of our cowards, and I pulled them out with a bamboo spear. Receiving permission from the snake demon, he hugged the three young wolves and said proudly.
Carefully touching the tip of the cowardly demon bamboo spear, Andre continued to ask: "Did you hook its fluff with the tip of the hook to bring it out?"
"After grabbing their hair, they felt pain, and they slowly crawled out of it by themselves following the force of my pull. "The cowardly demon was a little surprised, as if His Highness had seen with his own eyes how he had racked his brains to complete the work, knowing that the cave was so small that even his companions did not know how he managed to get it out.
Worthy of the mysterious and powerful His Highness Andrew!
Taking over a plush puppy, André carefully examined any details that might be hidden beneath the black fluff. The restless little creature bared its harmless teeth, struggling to reject the fingers of the children of the abyss.
"Your Highness...... Seeing that the ignorant beast dared to offend the noble son of the abyss, Mora felt that this was simply an intolerable negligence on his part as a subordinate!
It wasn't until he had groped for the three puppies one by one that the Son of the Abyss said approvingly: "Well done, none of the three were injured." ”
Gently stroking the puffy head of the puppy, Andre smiled easily. The little one seemed to think that the fingers of the children of the abyss were suitable for grinding their teeth, squinting and licking with their dark eyes.
Could it be that he is hungry? Andre looked around, and finally fixed his eyes on the cowardly demon who was praised and complacent, "What's your name?" Although he really wanted to feed the three puppies himself, as a leader, Andrei felt that he should not be so "unprofessional".
"I am Lothar, Your Highness. When His Highness asked his name, the cowardly demon named Lothar couldn't stop laughing.
"You've done a good job, Lothar. After that, you still follow Mora, but the job is changed to be in charge of the three little ones full-time. I don't have to hunt or anything for the time being, and the three puppies have to report anything unusual to me. ”
"Your Highness. ”
"Now go to Livia and get the de-poisoned bamboo bowl and prepare to feed it. ”
The burden of domesticating beasts on the clan is usually something that many powerful Abyss Lords can afford, and Mora has almost never heard of a precedent for domestication of the Wasteland Night Wolf, a powerful and unruly beast!" "Your Highness, the Night Wolf is a very dangerous beast, even if it is of the same kind, it will kill each other for the sake of territory, except for its own mate, they hardly hunt with other kinds, unlike ordinary wolves, they are a proud and cold-blooded beast. ”
Andre looked at the snake demon thoughtfully, he knew that new things were always difficult for people to accept at first. Although no one dares to openly resist his orders, any negligence or accident in the execution of his orders may prevent the three fragile little ones from growing into adulthood.
"Mora, you mean they don't have the same blood as we do, and therefore they can't be domesticated?"
"Yes, Your Highness! they are beasts of the wilderness, beasts of wisdom, and no one knows if they will attack the cowards of the tribe who are far weaker than them when they grow strong enough. "The idea that the hearts of non-my race must be different are still very marketable in the original concept of the demon race.
"If you don't tell them, will they know that they are wolves and that we are demons?"
"Your Highness, this ......" The snake demon felt that His Highness's statement was close to a scoundrel, but after all, he was a son of the abyss with "wisdom", and she still didn't dare to refute Andre's words directly, "The difference between the appearance of the beast and our demon race is so obvious......
"Doesn't you look very different from the cowardly, don't the wings of the Winged Demon and your snake tail look like they can be possessed by the same species?" Andre directly interrupted the snake demon's defense, "The key is not whether the blood is close, but how you and them feel about each other. ”
"But they are savage and aggressive beasts......"
"Mora, even the same demon clan can't avoid fighting, and a huge clan and even within it are inevitably all kinds of open and secret fights, which shouldn't be a reason for us to give up raising them. ”
Although he knew that André was right, Mora felt that cannibalism between beasts and intrigue among clans were not exactly the same thing.
"The beasts fight for territory because they lack food, it's a life-and-death competition for survival, but do you think we're going to be short of food now? If Lothar raised them like their parents, you still think they're going to be sharp against him!?"
Mora looked at the three stupid creatures rolling on the grass and snuggling up to each other, and suddenly found himself speechless. Then she remembered that two days ago, she had been equally incomprehensible to His Highness's order to make tools of life. The snake demon actually had a feeling of powerlessness in his heart - His Royal Highness Andre has a "wisdom" that ordinary people can't imagine, and what His Highness said must be right, even if it seems unreasonable, it must be because there is a deep meaning hidden in it that he can't understand!