The snoufle's third eye allowed them 360-degree vision at all times.
It also saw the goliath killers nearing it from behind and was terrified to see the giant reptiles, as it should be. The snoufle gave a shuddering cry before it went into a waddling gallop. Zhang Han would not call their way of running graceful, closer to how an inchworm crawls over the ground.
The goliath killers shared a look with each other before splitting off from their tight-knit pod.
Two of them moved at high speeds to cut off Fatty from the front, while the other two slunk around the beast from behind. Their speed was higher than Fatty's.
The first struck at the snoufle with its barbed tail, striking her in the chest.
Fatty rolled over onto the ground.
It gave braying cries but the poison from the barbs spread quickly.
The other goliath killers caught up with it and struck her, as well. Soon Fatty became motionless on the ground. One goliath killer was larger than the others and tilted its head, checking that the prey was dead, before going in to tear away the fur from an area and sink in its teeth.
Zhang Han did not know why...but he felt shreds of sadness welling up. After all, Vaien had been right, naming these beasts had been a bad idea…
But in the end, isn't that just how things go on this planet? Lives were worth so little. Goliath killers needed to hunt to survive, it wasn't as though they were evil creatures, and the snoufle were just a common kind of herd animal, easy prey. Although it was a bit merciless to think of it this way, it was also how this planet's ecosystem had functioned for years.
Compared to Gaojun's greed, making them raid and steal from other planets, expanding their empire, at least the goliath killer hunting had a sort of necessity behind it.
Truly the cycle of life!
Fatty was soon lying in pieces, blood staining the yellow-green grass.
One of the goliath killers was interested in the luggage and saddle that had been on Fatty. After it finished eating it picked it up and shook its head like a dog as it played with it. Eventually it got bored and threw the luggage onto the ground a few feet away.
A while later, the group of beasts shuffled off back the way they came.
No...actually there was one left behind. It was standing farther back, partway concealed in the forest behind the eaten carcass of Fatty. Its scaled matched the greens in the forest, when it hunkered down he wouldn't have noticed it but the fact he'd already been watching it beforehand.
Zhang Han saw their luggage still tossed on the ground a distance away and wondered what they were going to do. It wouldn't be impossible to continue their travels without it, but much less convenient. Plus their pot of soup was still left at the fire pit out there.
No good soup should be wasted.
But why was that one goliath killer waiting around instead of going with the group? He glanced at Vaien and saw him making a face that didn't seem overly surprised.
Vaien and Kalla shared a look.
Then Vaien whispered to Zhang Han, "Goliath killers like to wait around their past kills. When scavengers come over to pick the bones, they can ambush them and get more prey."
...well, that was a smart way to get extra food. By using a carcass as a lure, huh?
Zhang Han asked, "Then that about our luggage?"
"Kalla and I can take down a goliath killer together. We've done it before."
Kalla nodded empathically, her fists clenched as she grinned as though very excited to attack the monstrous lizard and indulge in a bloody fight.
"..." Zhang Han wasn't sure he liked this idea. "I might be able to kill it in one hit with my…" he stopped himself as he saw Kalla's eyes on him.
Right, he was hiding his skill with technology from Kalla and soon would keep it a secret from all of Red Mane, too.
Vaien understood even without Zhang Han finishing his sentence. "Hm, no. There's a chance that it's sense are keen enough to dodge, and you'd have to put yourself into view to shoot."
Kalla snickered. She had little understanding and had never been the clever sort, so she assumed that Zhang Han was just making shit up.
"What, 'kill it in one hit', you say? Zhang Han, are you feeling okay?" she teased."Woozy at all, cause your head seems to be thinking unrealistic things! Haha...you're a riot."
"Shut up," hissed Vaien. He wanted to hit her on the head and knock her brain cells into gear, but that might make too much noise. He continued to explain to Zhang Han, "Goliath killers can also call their pack members from a distance away. If you mess up engaging this one in a fight, the rest will come over and we'll be screwed. Just let me and Kalla deal with it."
"..." Zhang Han sat down heavily in the grass, uncertain. He'd seen the strength of these two first hand, but compared to the goliath killers they seemed puny. His stomach was turning with worry. "Perhaps we should abandon our luggage and deal with the consequences."
Kalla scoffed, then nudged Vaien giddily, "Nah...just watch us real well, see how amazing a team we are."
"..." Zhang Han watched with a deadpan expression as Kalla and Vaien crept out of the patch of trees silently, their pupils had transitioned into slits like animals on the hunt.
Zhang Han kept next to Russel, but pulled apart a few branches to watch everything unfold. He took out his laser bow from Russle's saddle as well, readying himself to shoot at the goliath killer if anything went wrong.
At the moment the goliath killer was hunkered down in foliage next to the forest, its line of sight trained on the carcass of Fatty even as Vaien and Kalla approached it horizontally.
The two siblings stalked through the undergrowth, hunkered down.
Vaien was in the lead until Kalla split off from him, disappearing back into the forest.
Zhang Han could no longer see her, but Vaien continued forward without pause, dropping his body lower for cover until only the tip of his red hair could be seen above the undergrowth.
Zhang Han couldn't help but hold his breath until he felt light-headed, watching him grow so close to the monstrous beast. The goliath killer didn't seem to notice Vaien at all though, otherwise it would have reacted instantly. It only kept flat towards the ground, distracted by the dead snoufle.
Vaien was soon only a few meters away from it. He took five more steps, gradually, then his muscles bunched, gathering strength. He lunged out at the goliath killer in a blur of speed.
Ramming into the beast's head that was already as big as his lean frame, he wrapped his arms around its jaw. His triceps flexed as he clamped its mouth shut so that the goliath killer couldn't call for its other pack members.
Simultaneously, Kalla had also burst out from the forest behind the goliath killer, reaching over and clutching onto the beast's barbed tail with her hands. Her fingers were laced below the spike near the tip of the tail, and she couldn't let her hands slide down or she'd make contact with the lethal poison coated on it.
She held the tail taut, preventing the beast from using it to strike Vaien.
The entire body of the goliath killer was alarmed when it realized its tail was immobile. It couldn't cry out for help either and began to panic under Vaien's vice grip.
It struggled but could only quiver under the weight of Kalla and Vaien's combined force.
Vaien climbed onto its scaly back, right around its shoulders. Pulling his arms backwards, he began to try and bend the goliath killer's snout and neck backwards to snap it.
Kalla yanked on the tail once more as the beast tried to stand.
Once Vaien exerted a burst of strength, there was an audible cracking sound. The goliath killer made muffled noises as it lost the ability to breathe and the spinal cord was cut off from the brain.
It was dead within the next seconds.
Kalla was grinning, she tugged on the limp tail again with playful haughtiness before slamming it onto the ground. She'd taken great care to avoid making contact with the barb.