From the perspective of the natural food chain, humans are not very powerful predators.
Without a huge body, a strong mouth and sharp claws, even the body structure cannot be called strong and reliable at all.
The speed is average and difficult to compare with various mammal creatures. The body structure is even more lacking, and its epidermal defense capabilities are difficult to compare with reptiles and more advanced dragons.
However, even so, long before the birth of real civilization, humans had already occupied a position in the upper reaches of the food chain.
This aspect is naturally related to the fact that walking upright frees the hands to use tools and obtain a higher and wider field of vision. But on the other hand, there is a powerful ability that many people forget about themselves as living beings that also plays a crucial role.
Predators in nature can be roughly divided into two types: ambush types and pursuit types.
Taking mammals as an example, cats are mostly ambush predators, good at lurking close to their prey and then relying on their powerful explosive power to reach extremely high speeds to kill them in a short period of time; while canines are mostly pursuit predators. By chasing for a long time, the prey consumes its physical energy and then easily kills it.
And humans.
It is the ceiling for pursuit predators.
In ancient times, when civilization was not yet born, human beings were able to hunt in groups and tire out huge beasts to death. This terrifying endurance can still be seen even in today's era of prosperous civilization-many merchants and ordinary infantry can carry them. Walking long distances with a load that is nearly half of your body weight.
People with marching experience also know that although infantry and cavalry will be separated when sprinting, the infantry can often keep up with the horses during the march. Although horses have greater weight-bearing capacity and are larger, they need more rest. Humans, on the other hand, can trek for extremely long periods of time and still have plenty of physical energy.
This biological endurance is one of the reasons why humans can now spread all over the world - and it raises this question.
Can it go further?
If we manage to use some means, while retaining the extremely strong endurance of the human species to travel long distances, we can add some characteristics of other advanced predators.
Created creatures, or monsters.
Can it be as literal as it appears.
Is it something that is completely "eternal to death"?
——My eyes can’t keep up at all.
Can't think.
If you think about it, it will be too late.
It can only be left to the weapons in hand and the physical reactions developed over many years.
The horses were panicking, and even a noble unicorn like Medea was visibly uneasy.
They were, of course, under siege.
Even if they hid their aura, even if they controlled the use of magic, those things still discovered them.
In other words, after they killed all the nearby creatures, the rest of the group's intrusion was naturally noticed.
Henry wanted to avoid them, but even an unladen horse couldn't outrun them, let alone a fully loaded carriage.
With high mobility and endurance, unless they have wings and can fly, they are completely unable to escape from the areas where these things move.
"Shura Martial God"
Ghouls who retain their human form are the product of being contaminated by accident. Uncontrollable transformations have occurred under the erosion of filth accumulated over hundreds of millions of years, but the appearance of the creature itself has generally been retained.
Weird, out of place - at least without any value in the biological chain of this world.
But they are still living things.
And as long as it is a living thing, it will evolve.
The oldest ones that have survived the longest have gradually evolved into more special shapes in the unpredictable environment. They retain the strong endurance of humans, but at that time the swordsmen of Placia would call them Driven by the power of gifts, it gradually twists and stretches to develop other characteristics.
The Luoan girl glanced at the ghoul on the ground that was cut in two by Henry's sword.
The doctor's abundant curiosity and knowledge made her aware of the danger of the ghoul the moment she saw it: "The shape of the shoulder blades and clavicle is completely different from that of humans. The upper limbs are elongated, and the muscles are stronger and the range of motion of the shoulders is It's also bigger. The fingers have lengthened and become thicker, and the middle finger has been transformed into a sharp claw like a short knife. It turns out that in order to keep the claws sharp, it walks on the knuckles, so the footprints are like a punch."
"The snout has lengthened to become more like a wolf, and there is a protective carapace that wraps the entire head? Or is it an extension of the skull? But what about the eyes, are they used to capture targets through hearing?" There was a hint of excitement in her tone, but More of a nervousness.
Because no one except the sage captured the moment when the ghoul attacked, not even the ghost warriors.
During the vigilant action, they were suddenly attacked. After Henry drew his sword and killed the ghoul cleanly with a cassock, everyone immediately stopped moving forward.
Teruyuki gave an order, and the strong ghost warriors forcibly lifted the heavy carriage and used it as a temporary bunker. They leaned against a big tree surrounded by seven people. The ghost warriors used their strong bodies and armor as a cover. layer of protection. The samurai and ashigaru grabbed short spears and filled the protective holes with Rigar and his party.
Lao Qiao, Ogami and two Ashigaru held bows and stepped on the high point, but the woods in the central part of Crescent Continent had a lot of broad-leaved vegetation. Even in winter, the leaves had almost fallen off and the dense dead branches still blocked the view.
The gray creatures under the gloomy winter sun can only be detected at a considerable distance.
With their eyes looking in all directions and their ears listening in all directions, they still felt unsure.
The dense forest is full of thick branches, and humans would only stagger like an old man in the dark when moving in this environment. Yet many woodland falcons can still swoop through them at high speeds and accurately grab targets on the ground with their talons.
This is a reaction speed that far exceeds the limit of human beings. For creatures that can move freely through such complex terrain, in their eyes, even the most elite swordsman's movements will be as slow as slow motion.
The first ghoul dies at the sword of blue-eyed Henry, and the sage has no reservations about empowering magic from the start - but there's more to it.
And when the second ghoul fell, even though they thought their formation was close to airtight, the young missionaries who had survived a year of ups and downs still could not escape death.
Hooking on the tree trunk, he turned around like a common ape in Crescent Continent. Because they had seen traces on the tree earlier and the sage had warned them, they prepared for an attack from above. But when the warriors pointed their big bows at it, thinking that the monster in the air was unavoidable, its seemingly narrow but strong and powerful hind limbs kicked off the tree trunk to change direction in the air, directly dodging this round of 4 An arrow.
The ghoul in the air attracted attention, while the other four on the ground, running and jumping like cheetahs, approached quickly, leaving the sages, ghost warriors, other warriors and Rigal mercenaries on the first line of defense at a loss. Distraction.
Too slow, too late.
The warriors froze for only a moment. They thought the bow and arrow could hit, but when they missed, their first reaction was to draw the arrow and shoot again. Only Lao Qiao threw away his big bow and tried to draw his sword, but the ghoul had shrunk and fell straight down.
It did not fall towards the warriors who were armed to the teeth, but rushed towards the protected people in the center of the formation.
The powerful claws were no weaker than any sharp sword, and its reaction ability and muscle control far beyond that of humans allowed it to accurately cut the missionary's throat at the moment it fell at high speed.
Blood surged, and he couldn't even scream.
The others held weapons but huddled together. Mira, who was standing next to Henry on the outside, turned around and stabbed out the short spear in her hand, because she knew her teacher was there so she didn't need to worry in the front, but this blow didn't hit anything. .
One blow escaped and a life was taken away without any damage. The four ghouls in front, which originally seemed to be attacking from all directions at the same time, immediately retracted or jumped to the side to hide their figures after the middle one left.
"Spread out!" Narumi took a moment to react. They were too tight for safety reasons, which made their own people restrained for fear of accidental injury.
The expanded formation gave them more space to operate, although the security became thinner.
Lure enemies and coordinate actions to target weak targets. If there were too many people on the front line returning to defense, would the four in front take the opportunity to attack? After the successful attack, they retreated without fighting.
——Can these things reach this level? It was like fighting a highly skilled human strategist.
They were sweating profusely. Even though they thought they had raised their vigilance to the extreme, they probably still underestimated these things when they heard that they were "ghouls".
They cleared up the Luoan girl's knowledge of enemies like "ghouls" who she had fought against several times, but it seemed that every time she faced them, there was something slightly different.
Henry lowered his sword and listened quietly to the movement in the forest.
Even he didn't have many fights with these things.
The old missionary held the head of the young man who was still staring at death. The gap in his throat was huge, and he died in a short time.
He made prayer gestures and muttered prayers such as "Bless your believers to come to you". His subtle murmurs made the warriors who wanted a quiet environment to catch the movements of the ghouls a little impatient, but Kazuto's good upbringing made them choose not to criticize.
Now is really not a good time to argue, even though everyone is under great pressure.
There were 6 of them in total. The first one attacked rashly and was directly killed by Henry with a sword, while the remaining 5 fought back and killed a non-combatant in the team.
The wind blew through the almost leafless forest, and the dead branches made a "rattling" sound.
"When we attack easy targets, they are more like animals." Ling said in the defense array.
'But what about the eyes? Mira suddenly recalled the characteristics of the corpse that Ling had described before - it was unlike the ghouls she had encountered in the past, and had completely lost its human characteristics. The elongated snout and thicker teeth are like the characteristics of a wolf or a dog, but the entire nose to forehead is protected by an entire insect-like carapace - how does this thing know the location of its enemy?
She was still thinking when she saw her teacher undoing the belt buckle of the brigandine plate armor.
"Sir?" This operation forced Narumi to ask.
"It's the heartbeat." Henry removed the armor in three strokes and then threw it on the ground.
"Maybe there are breathing and secretions." He opened his clothes and fanned them a few times, and then Mira watched his eyes light up and suddenly dim - strengthening magic will strengthen everything, including blood.
This is why they attack the young missionary. As almost the most timid person in the team, he must have sent out some kind of message to attract these things.
— and Henry is going to try to use himself as bait.
The blood flowed faster, and the skin exposed to the cold air shivered after removing the armor. All this is very similar to the reaction of biological creatures when they are afraid.
The sound of "dong dong" running sounded from every corner. Those things did use fear as a beacon.
The samurai and ghosts naturally understood what to do.
They can't compare with them in terms of reaction speed, but what if they know the route of action of these guys?
Henry walked straight out. The place he was in was an open space, and the nearest tree was a few meters away.
"Follow your instructions." Teruyuki said rarely, and she took a stance with the thick hardwood blunt instrument in her hand.
"Now." "Bang -" The dimmed eyes lit up again in an instant, along with the strengthening runes all over his body. The fallen leaves on the ground were stirred up by the air waves. The moment the ghoul landed, he rushed forward to avoid the first attack.
"Smash!" Three small tree-thick ghost gold sticks that fell at almost the same time directly smashed the ghoul into a meat pie. Its thick facial carapace easily shattered like an egg shell.
"Qiang——" With a ray of blue light, Kramer split the front paw of the second ghoul, causing it to fall to the ground unbalanced.
"Prepare, release!" The warriors were able to regain their glory. Although they only shot the ghoul injured by Henry, being able to kill one was better than doing nothing.
"Again!" A round of 4 arrows, and the powerful big bow nailed it to the ground. However, this ghoul seemed to have a stronger body than the other fatter ghouls. It was still shaking and struggling. It wanted to get up, so the warriors added two more rounds until it was motionless.
The remaining ghosts and Rigar's group approached further. They wanted to take down the remaining two ghouls, but in just this moment, after losing two of their kind, they turned around and ran away.
The great god drew up his bow, but after looking at the ghoul jumping up and down for a long time, he was not confident that he could hit it, so he had to slowly let go.
"He just ran away..." This was another performance of a ghoul that did not match the past encounters. These things were too much like beasts, too much like wolves.
But things don't seem to end there.
If this is some kind of apex predator that evolved based on humans, it also retains the original characteristics of humans.
So.
It's not just endurance that makes humans superior as creatures.
"This is it." Ling looked at the ghoul that was stabbed like a hedgehog by 16 arrows. For a moment without anyone watching, its belly deflated, and at the break in the body, there were grape-like branches at the end. Tissue with weird and disgusting sarcomas spilled out.
"It's an egg." Ms. Doctor was silent for a while and then said this. Henry's actions were more direct. He crushed the ghoul eggs, and the contents that overflowed were similar to the egg whites and yolks of eggs, but they were weird in color and had a strong fishy smell.
"Can ghouls breed?" the young master, dripping with cold sweat, asked.
And a more important question is.
If possible.
Is there going to be more of this stuff here?
"What on earth are the feudal lords thinking? It's already dangerous enough. If such monsters are allowed to spread across the land of the Moon Country." Narumi didn't finish his words. Kazuto's implicitness made him never think of himself. The tragic results of the speculation were spoken out, as if this might not have happened.
"It was not sent by them, although that is not entirely correct." But Henry rejected his point of view.
"These are ghouls native to the deeper realms. They are existences that lingered in the world after being polluted in the long past but gradually adapted to the changes. Just like the dragons we encountered before, they all just escaped from it accidentally. "The sage, who put on his armor again, still spoke calmly.
"Although all this is indeed the result of the lords praying for taboos, it does not mean that they can control it."
"The night is subject to no being but the Lord of Night."
"But they won't realize it until it's too late."
"People have always been like this." Henry said with his back to the group of people.
"It's time for us to get on our way."
