Zhang Han was intrigued that two people, only about ⅕ the weight of the beast at most, could take it down so easily. However, it did require some flawless teamwork. They had to attack it at the same time in order to block its bite and tail.
He also assumed it had to do with both of their innate prowess. But he finally understood why Vaien was so adamant from the start that he didn't want to face one head-on if he was only by himself. Otherwise, how would one deal with the tail that moved like a whip?
Kalla walked around the dead body of the goliath killer and took out a long white knife, it looked like it could be made from bone. She dug it into the leathery skin of the lizard, around its hind leg, and began sawing through.
Of course, now that they'd killed it, they were not gonna let the whole carcass go to waste. They'd take some back to use as a meal tonight.
Zhang Han was fascinated. He got on Russel and walked back out of the forest. He paused on the edge, not wanting to go forward if the time still wasn't right, but Vaien motioned with a hand at him, and he came up beside the goliath killer after picking up their luggage off the ground.
Russel was a bit unnerved, braying, but settled down after that.
Since Kalla was the one working on the carcass, Vaien came to Zhang Han's side with a smile, leaning up and into the fur of Russel. He winked at Zhang Han.
"We made it look easy, right?" it seemed like he wanted to be praised.
Zhang Han's mouth twitched. As much as he hated to do so, he had to concede with Vaien's ego this time. He closed his eyes and gave a sigh.
"Yeah. It was like you were killing a helpless predator," he admitted.
"An ambush is always one of the safest methods of attack. Goliath killers are used to being apex predators anyway, they aren't good at retaliating when their tail is immobile. It's what they always try to use first."
Zhang Han was distracted by slick cutting noises as Kalla finished sawing through the leg. Now that Zhang Han thought of it... where all three of them going to have to ride on Russel now? That was a fair amount of additional weight for the snoufle to carry.
But snoufle were sturdy and powerful beasts. They could carry heavy loads and traverse across deserts for extended periods with little water. Needed nutrition and water was partially stored in the slight hump on their backs.
In any case, everything was packed onto Russel, the remaining snoufle.
Kalla laughed as she hopped onto Russel's back. Vaien was in the front and Zhang Han in the middle, Vaien prodded the beast and flicked the reigns, and it lumbered forward at a decent pace. The snoufle was unnerved to see Fatty's corpse -as any would be- and wanted to get the heck out of there.
"I haven't eaten a goliath killer in so long…! "Zhang Han paused. Was it good?
Luckily, Vaien sitting in the front, his hands wrapped on the reigns, could predict his train of thoughts.
"Don't yap into Zhang Han's ear, Kalla. Goliath killer isn't that great of meat. It's tough and stringy from all the muscles. "
...what a disappointment, thought Zhang Han.
Everybody will be so happy to see you Vaien," blabbered Kalla, loudly and into Zhang Han's ear. She was doing the exact opposite of what she was told. "I think it'll take a week or so to make it back, though..."
Intrigued, Zhang Han asked, "Is the area Red Mane is at similar to here?"
"Hm, a little," Kalla replied. "But it's dryer, there's grassland stretched for more miles before there's any patch of forest. That's so that we don't get a lot of big predators like goliath killers right outside our walls, and it's easy to see if enemy tribes are approaching. You'll definitely like it, Zhang Han. I'll fucking make sure no one bullies you, alright?"
She swung her arms over his shoulder from behind, and the corner of Vaien's mouth twitched. He turned his head around and slapped off her hands.
"Don't be a pest!" he reprimanded.
"C'mon…" she whined, "I'm just being friendly."
He tsked. Zhang Han could clearly tell that Vaien was a little...jealous. Sure, Kalla, could be a pest, but right now it wasn't like that.
Heh. Zhang Han said, "Kalla's fine. She's not bothering me." He did it purposefully to tease Vaien.
From Vaien in front, he heard a soft hissing noise, then nothing else.
"Anyway, so," said Kalla, dismissive and Vaien's attitude, "when we get there, you just have to be careful about a few things. You don't know about the etiquette right?"
"Huh?" Zhang Han blinked. They have etiquette? "No, please enlighten me."
"So, some people that know you're with Vaien will want to challenge you to a fight. Just lower your head and say 'I am no match for you', or something along those lines. Hey, they might be a bit arrogant about it but it's better than your frail body being broken into pieces, right?"
"Yeah…"
So this was the etiquette?
"And if you're offered some alcohol or food it means that persons trying to get on your good side. Be careful, it might be drugged with aphrodisiacs though, depending on what they want. You seeeee," she giggled, "anyone can smell Vaien's scent all over you. They might want to know what was so attractive about you…"
"...." Zhang Han was at a loss for words. He felt his face heating up against his will. Fuck.
"Kalla!" Vaien snapped, his patience growing thin. "Don't make him apprehensive. We're going to be by his side, so explaining doesn't need to happen right this moment. Anyway, I swear if anyone dares get on my bad side by messing with him...I'm gonna destroy them. And you...don't test my patience, or I'll change my mind about returning!"
Hmmm. Zhang Han was still pretty apprehensive. He didn't want him showing up at Red Mane to cause such a big stir, but maybe it was unavoidable. Vaien would cause a stir on his own, anyway, he supposed.
Kalla groaned. "Yeah yeah. Whatever you say, bro."
...
The trip proceeded with relative peace. There were the usual run-ins with the occasional wild animal, but nothing that Kalla and Vaien couldn't literally rip to shreds.
Before Zhang Han knew it, it'd been three days of travel across grasslands and forests, wading through rivers. Every day the suns blazed hot overhead until sinking down into a cool and humid nighttime air.
Kalla wasn't a bad addition to their group. She was more chatty and cheerful than both Zhang Han and Vaien combined. She told Zhang Han important tidbits about Red Mane tribe.
And...although the groups were called 'tribes', that was only due to their nomadic nature and small communities. In fact, people here had originally come from space, so they knew much of the basics of science and survival and their morals were not entirely what one would call 'primitive'. Well, outside of the fact they valued strength and hunting ability a lot more than those in outer space.
But it made sense, no? After all, that was what it took to survive here. The force of nature was much stronger than on other planets where humans were the ultimate rulers.
All in all, Russel never let them down, and the experience traveling, sitting around the fire and telling stories, was much more relaxing than Zhang Han would have expected.
Finally, a border of walls spanning over a radius of several miles was on the horizon.