Crescent Continent is a land where dragon creatures are extinct. Not to mention the extremely rare giant dragons and the equally rare sub-dragons, even the various miscellaneous dragons and dragon lizards that are distributed in many places on the Rigal continent. Not seen here either. Regarding this unique phenomenon, the Padrosi Empire formed a group of scholars to conduct many discussions and studies, but due to the lack of cooperation from the new Beijing government, no progress has been made in this regard.
There is a proverb in the Moon Country: "There are no tigers in the mountains, but monkeys are kings." Although the animals in the proverb are slightly different, other creatures on this land are indeed more prosperous because of the absence of dragons.
People who have a little knowledge of nature will always be amazed by the ingenious biological structures in nature.
Even completely different organisms will still evolve similar structures, appearances, and ecological niches after being exposed to the same environment for a long time.
Herbivores; small omnivores that feed on insects and fruits; opportunistic scavengers that are not picky eaters, and—
Apex predator.
People who have never traveled far away will not understand why hunters need to be a team of at least two people.
People who live in peaceful civilized areas and solid houses in stone cities will probably see the biggest intruder in their lives being the ubiquitous rats.
But it's different in the wilderness.
Wild animals will stay away from human areas unless they are extremely hungry. They are afraid of those brightly lit places, even if the aroma of food is always coming from there, even if there are all weak creatures that cannot resist them.
The memory engraved in their blood makes them instinctively avoid these vengeful creatures. They have no claws or fangs, but they can hold small sharp sticks and make themselves bleed and hurt in invisible ways.
Newborn beasts understand this, just as kittens instinctively take an interest in objects such as birds or mice. This is a deep mark that flows in the blood and has become an instinct. The conflicts that arise during the establishment and expansion of human cities and villages leave indelible marks on these beasts that people always regard as brainless.
They must make it instinct to avoid humans and avoid those brightly lit places. If they can't, they have basically died under human bows and spears.
This is a delicate balance, a memory engraved in genes, so that even if the defenses of cities and villages are not so complete, wild beasts will instinctively avoid them in order to protect themselves. Therefore, generations have changed, and the newborns born after the prosperity of the city do not even know how terrifying the predators with sharp teeth and claws are.
In their eyes, these man-eating beasts are as out of reach as myths, and the bloody memories of the pioneer generation's fight with them are simply incomprehensible to the new generation.
This kind of carelessness and ignorance brings contempt. Many new generations of young people born after the steady development of cities have no fear at all when encountering wild beasts and predators in the wilderness, thinking that they are just like cities. The stray cats and dogs on the street will run away with their tails between their legs if you wave your hand to scare them.
As a result, their throats are often bitten off and their internal organs are eaten before they are even halfway through the journey.
Experienced hunters and adventurers will always keep someone on guard at night.
Even if there is no conflict with anyone and no human pursuers, there are still many creatures that they need to guard against.
Only fools would underestimate the keenness and cleverness of wild animals. The civilization of the human world has given many weak people the opportunity to make mistakes or even repeat them, but it is different in the wilderness. Making a mistake here means starvation, making a mistake means death.
The bandits could notice a team of a hundred people, but how could the more perceptive beasts in the mountains not notice it.
The smell of humans, the body odor and excrement of horses and pack cattle, the aroma of cooking food, and leftover food scraps. All of this will be as obvious to the senses of a wolf with a keen sense of smell as a lighthouse on the coast at night.
They are good at running long distances, and there are forests for them to hide along the way. When exactly these guys followed the team, even the experienced hunters of the Yi people or our sage with keen vision cannot tell clearly.
All that can be known is that when they noticed, this sizable wolf pack had already begun to stare at them in the distant forest with eyes reflecting the moonlight.
"Twenty-four, the leader is a pair." It is not difficult to confirm the basic information. Some hunters are shooters with good eyesight, but our Mr. Sage understood the situation faster than all of them, and at the same time Narumi and others were also informed.
Wolves are smart creatures. Small-scale wolf packs are generally less than 10, and this one is obviously slightly larger. This may be why they have the confidence to follow behind their group of a hundred people.
"Is the target a cow?" Although he was a city dweller through and through, Narumi was obviously not the type who knew nothing about the wilderness. He easily judged that the wolves were targeting the slow-moving and bulky pack oxen.
It's really unpleasant to have a tail hanging off. The wetland area was already difficult for a team carrying baggage, and now the addition of these hungry wolves waiting for an opportunity was simply upsetting.
But they don't have any overly efficient way to solve all this. The wolf pack is not small, and judging from the distance they maintain, it is obvious that they are still wary of them. More than a hundred meters away, under the dim moonlight, the wolves were hiding in the forest again. Those who could notice them already had excellent eyesight and were extremely vigilant.
Including the doctor lady, the oiran missionary, Galeva and the young master, more people deliberately went looking for them after hearing that there were wolves following them in the distant forest, and then they saw those furry and wriggling animals. Black shadow silhouette. If the team is composed entirely of warriors and there are no hunters or other characters who are more adapted to the wilderness, then most of them will wait until the wolves are close to notice.
Cunning, clever.
Keep a distance and be alert to human attacks, and will not approach rashly.
At the same time, he has plenty of physical strength and patience.
When they know that they are being noticed and alerted, they will not attack forcefully, but will use their long endurance to follow them, and then swarm up when someone falls behind.
"Can we just waste time with them?" The timid missionary Aggie, who was obviously frightened again, couldn't help asking. If it were up to him to decide, he would probably hope to kill all these wild wolves. .
"I didn't come so far by boat to be torn into pieces by wolves!" Aiji, who had not lived a peaceful life for a few days since landing, became a little nervous, even though he was quite timid to begin with. Small, it makes people wonder why this kind of psychological quality would choose to cross the ocean to become a missionary, but now it has really become a bit hysterical and explodes at the first touch.
"Quiet, are you still a servant of God?" Alfonso obviously lost patience with his performance. He scolded loudly, while Aggie returned to the tent dejectedly after being frightened.
"Arrange a vigil." Henry said, and Narumi nodded and began to discuss the arrangements with Temulun. Even if you fight these wolves, there will probably be no good results. They hide in the forest, are smart, and know how to cooperate with each other.
Under the darkness of night, no matter how good their bow skills were, it would be difficult for the samurai to perform well, and the complex terrain of the forest made it much more difficult to hit with bows and arrows.
A two-legged person cannot outrun a four-legged wolf. These guys also have sufficient endurance. Once they try to escape, they cannot catch up with human foot strength, and riding a horse will be hindered by complex vegetation.
Not to mention being unable to hit and catch up, once someone is left alone during the chase, these guys will definitely turn around and show their claws.
High risk, low reward, and the arrows that the samurai carry with them are limited. Although they tried to recover as much as possible after the battle with the bandits and searched some from the bandits' inventory, there are still about 10% to 20% of the arrows that are completely destroyed. Destroyed and cannot be used again.
Weapons and armor will wear out, and knives will have chips and curled edges that need to be polished. If you don't take care of it carefully and make mistakes when using it, it is common for it to break.
The physical abilities of humans and horses are also limited, and night is really not a time when humans, especially heavy units like cavalry, can act unscrupulously. And if it's daytime, these cunning wolves will probably stay farther away. Their hearing and sense of smell are very keen, and they don't rely on light and vision like humans do, and they also know how to use their strengths.
We can only choose to remain unchanged in response to all changes, use watertight prevention and vigilance, and replace the extermination with less costly manpower and material resources. When they leave the area or delay long enough, these wolves It will shift its target to hunt other prey.
As a result of the discussion, the most reasonable combination was obviously to have the Yi people's excellent hunters and samurai, as well as Ashigaru and others, set up campfire sentries nearby.
The highland they were on was close to water on one side, but the rest of the area was a gentle hillside, so at least three sentry posts had to be set up.
A small pony was placed near the bonfire for the tired people to rest temporarily. Two barbarian hunters, three samurai and two ashigaru were assigned to each sentry post. The samurai and barbarians all carried bows, while the ashigaru were on guard with spears.
They obtained some split wooden sticks about one-hand-thick and one-and-a-half meters long from the woodpile, sharpened the other end and hung candles and lanterns on them.
These wooden sticks were placed a few meters away from the campfire, and long-lasting candles were lit to expand the lighting range and detect movement early.
Moonlight is unreliable after all. When it is clear, it is indeed as bright as day, but if it is covered by clouds, you will not be able to see anything. And samurai and barbarian hunters are not sages. Without excellent vision, they need to use Other ways to complete it.
But in the final analysis, this kind of preparation is still a method that can only be used by warriors who have deep pockets and sufficient supplies. Although candles that can burn for several hours are not so expensive that ordinary people cannot afford them, most farmers will still use them carefully and sparingly. You would never use more than one at a time and just hang it outside to let it burn clean.
All in all, after having a threatening follower, the team's policy must also make some changes. This period of time will probably not be easy at night, but a little fatigue can be recovered. Once the pack oxen, supplies, or someone loses their life, it will be a greater loss.
The bonfires and candles swayed slowly, and during this night, the warriors began to further feel the excellence of the barbarian hunters.
Although they are indeed unable to compare with the samurai in terms of martial arts, ethics, and teamwork, when it comes to discussing ways to deal with wild beasts and how to stay awake during long, boring and frustrating vigils in the wilderness, they know everything about them, which makes them a companion. The warriors learned a lot.
