Ashen God
Chapter 652 - 651: Ice Age

Chapter 652: Chapter 651: Ice Age

October 27, Tuesday, the day after the Double Ninth Festival and also the third day since Zhang Yanhang had entered the Ashen World, 9:42 PM, Demonized Swamp, Swamp Area, Demonized Mammoth habitat.

Zhang Yanhang activated a teleportation and immediately returned to the core area of the Demonized Swamp, or more precisely, to a section on the border between the Lake Area and the Swamp Area.

Originally, when Zhang Yanhang had set up the plan to cleanse the Demonized Swamp, he had marked out an area of forty-five square kilometers for the Swamp Area, but according to the later scanning results, the Swamp Area actually covered no more than forty square kilometers.

In these forty square kilometers, about thirty square kilometers were occupied by the Demonized Mammoths, while the remaining ten square kilometers were the territory of the Demonized Four-eyed Wild Boars, which naturally included the area of the Demonized Four-eyed Wild Boar Queen Pei Qi.

Thus, as an early part of the fifth-stage cleansing plan, Zhang Yanhang planned to first clear out the Demonized Mammoths, and then deal with the Demonized Four-eyed Wild Boars.

Standing on the border of the Swamp Area, Zhang Yanhang quickly scanned the surroundings and soon located the nearest group of Demonized Mammoths, which was a small group of about seven or eight individuals.

Compared to the thick and soft decomposed layer of the Demonized Swamp Forest Area, and the calm, waveless surface of the Demonized Swamp Lake Area, the Swamp Area, which was meant to be like a yellow soup, somewhat thin but not thick, should also somewhat trouble Zhang Yanhang.

But the Zhang Yanhang of now was no longer the Zhang Yanhang of the past. With the ability to move freely in both liquid and solid environments, named "as flat as a pancake," he could now face lava without even blinking an eye, let alone a swamp, which was a relatively rudimentary form of solid-liquid mixture.

Moreover, the swamp didn’t only mean muddy land; there were quite a few solid lands, clear water streams, and some unknown green grass plants mixed in. With a professional filter, quite a few beautiful pictures could still be taken.

However, this had little to do with Zhang Yanhang. Although he was a computer major, had studied Photoshop, and even specifically passed a certification, he could completely claim to be a relevant practitioner.

But being able to do something and wanting to do it are indeed two different things. Just because he could code, did it mean he had to become a programmer and inevitably go bald? No, he chose to become an Awakener who would never go bald, and even if he actually did go bald, he could always use alchemy to either transplant hair or regenerate hair follicles.

After Zhang Yanhang’s feet officially stepped onto that muddy land, as expected, there seemed to be an unidentifiable upward force completely supporting his body; the thin layer of murky water in the swamp didn’t even ripple, mirroring the situation over at the Lake Area.

After quickly moving near that small group of Demonized Mammoths, Zhang Yanhang briefly observed these mammoths, and overall, they were indeed very large, with a body length of about seven meters and a height of nearly five meters.

This is not the same as the ten-meter-long Demonized Emperor Crocodile from before, although its length was significant, it lacked meaningful purpose, but here, although only seven meters long, a height of five meters made the Demonized Mammoth look incredibly robust.

Moreover, this seven meters didn’t even account for the length of the trunk, which was even longer than the mammoth’s height, easily reaching the ground, and almost as long as the body itself. Thus, if the trunk were straightened, the Demonized Mammoth could well reach a length of about ten meters.

Although both possessed lengths of about ten meters, the Demonized Mammoth stood at five meters tall, whereas the Demonized Emperor Crocodile was only a little over two meters in height, a difference of almost double. No wonder it ranked above the crocodile, but Zhang Yanhang still found it incredibly surprising that such a creature was still only a Second Tier two-star.

One could only say that perhaps its Movement Speed was holding it back. Despite its massive size and considerably thick limbs, the Demonized Mammoth was still unable to move quickly. Although the Demonized Emperor Crocodile was also quite slow, it could still easily crush the mammoth in terms of speed.

In contrast to the long trunk of the Demonized Mammoth, Zhang Yanhang found its two long tusks even more striking. The mammoth’s tusks were not like those of a modern elephant, which are thin, short, and grow downward. Instead, they were thick, large, and very long, roughly the same length as the trunk, and curved upwards in an arc.

Honestly, Zhang Yanhang felt that unless these tusks encountered a monster of similar size, or there was an internal conflict among mammoths over breeding rights, they really served more decorative than practical purpose. This might also be why the tusks of later elephants evolved to become shorter and downward-facing.

For example, with the five-meter height of the Demonized Mammoth, even if Zhang Yanhang stood in front of it and it tried to jab, even breaking its neck wouldn’t help it reach him because Zhang Yanhang’s height of 1.9 meters was simply too short. Given the arc of the tusks, even bending its head to the limit, it would need to target something almost three meters tall to make contact.

Creatures like the Demonized Emperor Crocodile could likely also easily ignore attacks from these tusks, which was quite ridiculous.

Therefore, Zhang Yanhang truly couldn’t help but think that the main enemies of these tusks were probably other adult males of its own species, similar to how moose antlers are. They pose little threat to enemies but are ferocious in fights against other moose, aptly termed "incompetent in external wars, gods in internal conflicts."

Aside from the long trunk and the giant tusks that matched Zhang Yanhang’s memories, other aspects of the Demonized Mammoth differed significantly from what he remembered.

For instance, what Zhang Yanhang remembered most was the thick brown fur covering the mammoth, but the Demonized Mammoth in front of him didn’t have much fur. Instead, its body mostly showed gray skin with dense hair still present on the top of its head and around the neck, although it wasn’t very long.

Zhang Yanhang guessed that the fur on other parts of the Demonized Mammoth had likely degenerated, and the hair on the top and around the neck might not last a few hundred years before it would degenerate as well.

Regarding why this happened, Zhang Yanhang figured that the mammoth in front of him had possibly survived the Ice Age, or was in the late stages of the Ice Age, living in a temperate environment that gradually led to the loss of its heavy fur due to environmental factors.

Additionally, one point where the Demonized Mammoth completely differed from modern elephants was in its ears. Apart from the long trunk and tusks, Zhang Yanhang also distinctly remembered the large earlobes resembling fans, which were very impressionable.

Yet, the Demonized Mammoths here had not evolved such features yet; their ears were more akin to those of normal mammals—small, slightly pointed, and hidden under the fur on their heads, barely visible from the outside.

It could be said that not only were they inconspicuous, but they were also well-concealed, a stark contrast to the noticeably large ears of contemporary elephants.

However, Zhang Yanhang could understand this development quite well, considering that the main reason modern elephants have large ears is for heat dissipation—a ridiculous concept during the Ice Age that would likely lead to immediate extinction.

Thus, precisely because of their survival needs during the Ice Age, the Demonized Mammoth’s ears evolved to be small and hidden under fur.

If modern elephants lived during the Ice Age, ignoring the heat dissipation, those thin, outsized ears exposed to the cold would likely snap off like brittle cookies, making survival exceedingly difficult.

Perhaps because Zhang Yanhang’s approach was noisy and he continued to stand still to observe the Demonized Mammoths, the small group of them unexpectedly charged at him.

Yet, unsurprisingly, they couldn’t reach him. Watching them constantly raise and then lower their heads in a continuous ’dance’ with their tusks seemed like an attempt to suffocate him by displacing all nearby air—an attack method that somewhat amused Zhang Yanhang.

Initially, Zhang Yanhang had intended to check the attribute list of the Demonized Mammoths during this time, but unexpectedly, the dishonorable creatures, failing to suffocate him with air, began using their trunks to incessantly thrash at him.

Moreover, unless he was mistaken or hallucinating, each time their trunks swung toward him, they seemed to manifest as three trunks hitting his head simultaneously—an action he suspected to be some kind of skill.

Perhaps because this skill did not significantly enhance their Attack Power, despite incessantly lashing at Zhang Yanhang’s Energy Shield, it failed to even ripple or fluctuate on the surface, essentially unable to breach his defenses.

Seeing his Shield Value remain stable and unchanged, Zhang Yanhang felt quite satisfied. It proved that the defensive power he had enhanced earlier was indeed effective, allowing him to easily disregard the skill attacks of these Second Tier two-star Demonized Creatures.

However, although the attacks were indeed harmlessly blocked, Zhang Yanhang couldn’t shake the feeling that these elephants triggered negative statuses at an unusually high rate after attacking.

Almost every attack seemed to induce a negative status, almost a hundred percent likely to cause Spiritual Suppression, and had a one-in-four chance of causing Demonization Infection, which turned Zhang Yanhang’s originally bright blue Energy Shield as black as if he’d rolled in an ink pool, resembling someone just out of an oil refinery.

Although these negative statuses were completely ineffective against Zhang Yanhang, standing there without retaliating clearly wasn’t viable.

To stop the group of Demonized Mammoths from continuing their assaults, Zhang Yanhang grabbed one of the trunks planning to spin around and fling the surrounding mammoths, but to his surprise, he could barely lift it—a clear indication that the Demonized Mammoth likely weighed more than sixteen tons.

Luckily, he had two hands. After grabbing the trunk with his right hand as well, Zhang Yanhang spun in place like throwing a hammer.

Under the effect of inertia acceleration, the massive bodies of the Demonized Mammoths formed a mini whirlwind around Zhang Yanhang, and with a series of sounds of bones cracking and muscles tearing, he flung the other mammoths besieging him.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

One after another, enormous collision sounds erupted as each of the flung Demonized Mammoths crashed into the muddy swamp, sinking partway into the marsh due to their weight and becoming temporarily immobile.

After throwing off the trunk, which was now severed at the base and continuously bleeding from the eyes, mouth, ears, nostrils, and other facial orifices, Zhang Yanhang did not pursue further. After all, he had just intended to test the combat strength of these Demonized Mammoths, and it appeared they were indeed at a Second Tier two-star level.

However, these were the mammoths that had not yet activated their Demonization Skills. Zhang Yanhang estimated that once they activated their skills, they would likely reach a combat strength comparable to a Second Tier three-star level, akin to that of a Goblin Chief Shaman Maka Baga.

Plus, with the strength advantage brought by their weight, Maka Baga might not even be able to defeat them.

Zhang Yanhang’s main purpose this time was to test out the energy consumption issues of his Death Wave Skill after being promoted to Original LV.6 stage, so after briefly testing the combat abilities of the Demonized Mammoths, he immediately activated the Death Wave Skill.

A transparent wave of energy spread rapidly from Zhang Yanhang’s body, instantly covering a six-hundred-meter radius. Within this extensive area, aside from the eight Demonized Mammoths near Zhang Yanhang, there were two other scattered mammoths nearby.

Upon activation of the Death Wave Skill, the first to be affected was naturally the Demonized Mammoth that Zhang Yanhang had just used to strike the others.

After being engulfed by the Death Wave, the mammoth’s epic tusks—which might have been intimidating to other prehistoric creatures but were merely ornamental to Zhang Yanhang—suddenly covered with fine cracks and disintegrated into tiny bone fragments that filled the air the next moment.

While some of these bone fragments deflected off Zhang Yanhang’s Energy Shield due to the angle, they failed to cause even a ripple before sliding back to the ground, their sounds fading away.