Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 192 - 47: Iron-Backed Savage Bull_1

Chapter 192: Chapter 47: Iron-Backed Savage Bull_1

(263...084...458...Join the group if you’re interested, fellow book lovers. P.S. To those who are passing by, I would greatly appreciate your recommendations and support. Your encouragement is my greatest motivation. Also, feel free to share your suggestions and opinions, thank you! P.S.2: Please refer to related works for the title change.)

"Shh." Guide Elrad lay on the ground, used his hands to part the leaves in front of him, and pointed at a group of magical beasts in the clearing of the forest in the distance: "Don’t make a loud noise; we don’t want to alert them."

"Iron-Back Barbarian Bullocks." Pannis peeked through the gap beside Elrad, staring at this group of peculiar creatures from a distance.

The torrential and broad Naramia River split the forest into two halves, making the terrain on both banks markedly different. The east side of the river houses the Broken Skull Hills, purely consisting of forested hills, where dense woods sprawl over undulating hills. The west side, however, is a flat forest, with no irregularities in the terrain. This is the renowned Barbarian Bull Forest within the Shining Forest, where thousands of Iron-Back Barbarian Bullocks live within its 1,000 square kilometers of woods.

The Barbarian Bullocks, unique to the Shining Forest, resemble cows in appearance but are fundamentally unrelated to them. They have heads similar to cows and even emit cow-like calls. However, they sport sharp claws and pointed teeth, with which they cruelly tear weaker magical beasts into shreds with ease. Being omnivores that lean towards a carnivorous diet, they can rely solely on grass for up to a full year when they cannot find any prey to ensure an ample supply of energy. As such, they have unprecedented vitality. These creatures are primarily distributed across most areas of the Shining Forest, with the most substantial population located in the Barbarian Bull Forest.

Apart from using their teeth and claws for attacking, they would, when in grave danger, launch powerful thunderbolts from the sharp horns on their heads to strike enemies. However, discharging thunderbolts takes a heavy toll on the health of the bullocks, leading to a weakened state that lasts for approximately half a year. Therefore, they only resort to this measure when cornered. In fact, they are rarely driven into such circumstances, due to the incredibly durable scales covering their bodies, which provide an exceedingly high level of defense. Virtually no natural predators exist for them in the Shining Forest.

Seven days had passed since the group crossed the Naramia River. It took them seven days to cross nearly the entire Barbarian Bull Forest. Around 9 o’clock in the morning on the seventh day, the group arrived at the edge of the forest and once again encountered a group of more than ten barbarian bullocks. Throughout the journey, although they frequently ran into various numbers of barbarian bullocks, under Elrad’s guidance, they always timed their encounters for after the bullocks’ feeding times. After being fully satiated, the bullocks would busy themselves with their rest and play, completely ignoring the humans passing by not far away. However, this group of over twenty bullocks seemed extraordinary agitated. They were giving out restless roars, and their sharp claws kept scratching the ground forcefully.

"This is a sign of their attack stance." Elrad quietly explained: "Their roars are their final warnings. If the warnings are ignored, they will immediately launch an attack."

"Are they warning us?" Silver hair emerged beside Pannis. Lina craned her neck curiously watching the Iron-Back Barbarian Bullocks.

"No, they haven’t detected us yet." Pannis shook his head. Although he hadn’t seen such magical beasts before, he was familiar with most other magical beasts, so he could easily deduce the meaning behind the actions of the bullocks before him: "If they had noticed us, their reactions would already be way more extreme."

"Then who are they warning?" Vivian’s voice came from behind Pannis, while the sound of writing on paper could also be heard.

"A powerful foreign enemy." Pannis thought and answered, "But I’m not sure what it is. Elrad, do you know?"

"It should be an earth bear." Elrad said: "We are arriving at the intersection of the Barbarian Bull Forest and Earth Bear Mountain soon. I suspect that the two species of magical beasts are contesting for territory."

"Earth Bear Mountain?" Lina looked into the distance: "I can’t even see a mountain."

"Earth Bear Mountain is about a kilometer from here." Elrad replied: "It’s just obscured by the trees. You can’t see it yet, but in a few hundred meters, you should start seeing traces of the mountain."

"Are Iron-Back Barbarian Bullocks territorial?" Pannis asked with some confusion, hearing Elrad’s answer: "The previous bullocks we passed didn’t show any reactions, so I assumed they didn’t have a strong sense of territory."

"That’s because, in their eyes, we don’t pose a threat at all. Their skin and scales are highly defensive. Even if an Upper Gold Rank professional were to attack them while they stood still, it would be hard to penetrate their defenses." Elrad explained: "That’s why they ignore us. If a threatening creature appeared, they would have charged fiercely by now."

"Alright, I get it." Pannis asked: "Are territorial wars between these two magical beasts common?"

"On the contrary, it’s quite rare." Elrad said: "Earth bears are a type of magical beast that dislikes moving around. Unless they’re hunting, they seldom leave their cave dwellings on the mountain, let alone come down the mountain."

"So it’s unusual, isn’t it?" Pannis narrowed his eyes, pondering thoughtfully as he nodded: "Indeed, it’s unusual."

"Pannis," Catherine tugged at Pannis’s clothing from behind, "What are you thinking?"

"It’s similar to what you’re thinking," Pannis replied without turning around. "I’m considering, on the western side of the mountain is Raccoon Valley, if suddenly there’s a Legendary Rank human in Raccoon Valley, will the earth bears feel pressured and expand their territory to the east instead?"

"Very likely." It wasn’t a question from Pannis, but Elrad still answered, "But adding a Legendary Rank professional to Raccoon Valley?"

"No, no, this is just a wild guess." Pannis laughed, suddenly pointing to the dense forest the barbarian bulls were facing. "They should be coming from that direction, I can smell it."

Earth Bear Mountain is not a very large mountain within the Shining Forest. From a bird’s eye view, it seemed quite insignificant, but the lord occupying it, the earth bear, is unique. Aside from having all the characteristics of bears, they also excel in earth-attribute offensive magic. Their most competent Gravity Spell makes their daily hunt very easy.

"Wait, wait." Lina interrupted Elrad’s introduction, "Why are they special?"

"Because the earth bears here are among the few species that do not live in the central area of the Shining Forest, yet have a member of the Legendary Rank." Elrad glanced irritably at Lina and answered impatiently, "Within the 300 square kilometer Earth Bear Mountain, there have only been twelve earth bears in recent years. Yet among these twelve, two Legendary Rank males are included. This is a very unusual situation, hence their fame among the surrounding hunters."

"Two Legendary Rank?" Catherine’s voice became unsteady from behind, "So we have to sneak past under the supervision of those two Legendary magic beasts?"

"It’s not as dangerous as you imagine," Elrad’s voice suddenly became lower," Keep your voices down, they are indeed coming. Earth bears and iron-backed barbarian bulls have one thing in common: their hearing and vision are poor, even worse than an average humans’ but their sense of smell is exceptional, they mainly rely on their sense of smell to hunt."

"Now I understand." Catherine said, "We are sprinkled with deodorizing powder which can absorb scents, so it’s difficult for them to detect us."

"Yes, they won’t discover us easily. But we can’t entirely rely on the powder, if a scent is too strong, it can still lead to detection, especially the smell of blood. Earth bears are very sensitive to it." Elrad suddenly nudged Pannis with his shoulder, signaling with his eyes in one direction, "What’s going on over there?"

From the eastern part of the dense forest, isolated iron-backed barbarian bulls kept emerging from the bushes, increasing their numbers on the small empty ground between the forests.

"This is going to be a big battle." Pannis suppressed his urge to whistle and exclaimed in an ambiguous tone, "These territorial disputes between high-rank magical beast groups are very rare. They’re significant in terms of research on magical beast habits and characteristics. Vivian, you..."

No one answered Pannis. At this moment, Vivian was completely absorbed in her own world. She was writing a mix of various tribal characters and a large number of magic symbols. Often, a single sentence contained four or five languages. Ordinary people might not be able to read her records due to the language barrier. A few times, Vivian completely forgot about everything and wanted to approach the open space in the forest. If it hadn’t been for Lina dragging her back with all her strength, she might have run straight to the battlefield.

"Watch her closely at all times." Pannis instructed worriedly, "Don’t let her crawl out, it would mean certain death."

"Moo." Sensing something, all the barbarian bulls on the open ground suddenly stopped their movements and let out resonant calls in unison. They aligned themselves neatly into three rows, pointing their sharp horns towards the west. At the same time, there were heavy footsteps coming from the western forest. The thick shrubbery parted abruptly, revealing the hulking figure of the earth bears.

Earth bears have brown-black fur, with a total length of three to four meters from head to tail. They usually weigh between one thousand one hundred to one thousand three hundred kilograms. If they stand on their hind legs, they reach a height of more than four meters, they are truly enormous compared to humans. Despite their size, they moved extraordinarily agilely in the forest. The dense trees did not hinder their movements as they appeared in the open easily.

"Legendary." When the fifth and the last earth bear appeared from the forest, Pannis’ pupils contracted suddenly. His already low voice became even quieter, "The Legendary Rank earth bear has actually come down the mountain."

"Should we leave?" Dora tugged at Catherine’s sleeve, "The Legendary Rank has appeared, we should not stay for long. But it would be even better if they started fighting, it would be easier for us to cross Earth Bear Mountain."

"Let’s wait." Pannis turned back and said, "We are more likely to be discovered now, we’ll go when their battle reaches a peak."

The five earth bears growled and burst out one by one. There was no standoff, no hesitation. The moment the two kinds of magical beasts discovered each other, they both opened their blood-red eyes, charging towards each other.