"Whine, whine..." Xiaozi was just about to cry out when Xia Chengfeng covered her mouth.
Xia Chengfeng could only turn and run if a horde of taurens charged toward him!
The tauren chieftain let out a roar after it finished consuming its opponent's head and half its body. The rest of the taurens swarmed forward and polished off the rest of the body.
Xia Chengfeng disguised the top of his head with grass and twigs while he covertly observed the situation.
After the tauren chieftain ate its fill, it dragged two male taurens into a straw hut and began to "exercise". Their exercise" eventually caused the straw hut to collapse.
Xiaozi glanced at Xia Chengfeng with a perplexed look on her face. She wanted to know what they were doing.
Xia Chengfeng covered her eyes and whispered, "Children shouldn't be looking at this!"
After the rest of the taurens finished consuming the corpse, they headed to an area of the cave and started to dig a tunnel.
Xia Chengfeng did not know from which world the taurens came from, but they appeared to be just starting to explore the Crypt World after some initial confusion.
They probably consumed their own kind because there was a lack of food.
Xia Chengfeng observed they denied a few scrawnier and weaker taurens meat, and they could only chew on grass.
"I can't take them head-on. These creatures have thick muscles and hide. I don't think my dagger can kill them easily. I'll wait for them to rest." Xia Chengfeng waited patiently for the opportunity to present itself. He waited until night.
Nighttime in the caves was when the light released by the space bubble became darker as it changed with time.
The tauren chieftain "exercised" for nearly three hours before it rested. It fell asleep immediately on its back. The two male taurens slept beside it.
Five of the lowest-ranking tauren continued to dig, and they had already dug deep into the tunnel for Xia Chengfeng could not see their bodies.
The other three tauren were resting around the cave. They were quite a distance from the tunnel.
"It's now time!" Xia Chengfeng deliberated his plan. Should he attack the tauren chieftain first? It did not seem practical. The tauren chieftain must have a high HP bar and Xia Chengfeng could not kill it quickly even if he stabbed a vital point.
He would be torn apart if the rest of the taurens charged him at that moment.
"I'll head into the tunnel and deal with the weakest taurens first!" Xia Chengfeng crawled out from his hiding spot and carefully approached the tunnel.
The taurens snored loudly when they slept. Xia Chengfeng's movements did not alert them at all.
Xia Chengfeng headed into the tunnel they had dug. He could faintly hear the sounds of the taurens burrowing through the granite wall further up.
"Xiaozi, use your lightning flames later to take down an opponent quickly!" Xia Chengfeng whispered.
Xiaozi nodded obediently. Xia Chengfeng pressed his body against the wall of the tunnel and thread forward cautiously.
The tunnel was not a straight line. The taurens had altered their path whenever they came across obstacles that they could not pick through.
Soon, Xia Chengfeng saw the shadow of a tauren.
That tauren was lying on the ground, resting. It looked like a supervisor.
"Moo?" The tauren supervisor caught a whiff of an unusual scent. It turned its head sideways to have a look but was immediately shot in the head by a poisoned arrow.
Then, a bolt of lightning flame hit it. The damage caused by the energy and flame made it lose half its health bar.
"Moo!" The tauren supervisor had insane vitality. They could not kill it quickly.
"Quick!" Xia Chengfeng immediately charged forward and stabbed the tauren in the chest. That attack ended its life.
However, the roars of the tauren had attracted the attention of the other taurens in the tunnel. They stopped digging the tunnel and turned back to investigate the situation.
Xia Chengfeng moved at full speed and charged deeper into the tunnel. The tunnel was quite narrow for the taurens, but it was comparatively spacious for him to move easily within the tunnel.
"Moo!" A tauren charged into Xia Chengfeng with an angry roar. It tried to send him flying with its horns.
Xia Chengfeng did not avoid the attack. His bow was useless at such a close distance.
A pair of sturdy horns were quickly homing in on him. "Numb!" Xia Chengfeng cried as he activated his numbing ring.
In an instant, the tauren felt its body turn numb and lost its balance. Xia Chengfeng jumped as the tauren crashed into the tunnel wall and collapsed in a daze.
Xia Chengfeng quickly pounced on the fallen beast and continuously stabbed his dagger into its eyes, neck, and other vital areas.
"Killed in ten seconds. Next!" Xia Chengfeng snarled and turned to the three other taurens he knew were rapidly approaching.
"Roar!" Xiaozi flapped her wings and unleashed another bolt of lightning flame. The attack severely injured a tauren.
The tunnel only allowed one tauren to charge at them at a time. Xia Chengfeng could easily trip them up by using the numbing ring.
These low-level taurens were not intelligent. They knew their brethren had died that way, yet did not change their attack strategy. All they did was to charge at Xia Chengfeng.
"Thump!"
"Thump!"
"Thump!" The rest of the taurens in the tunnel fell to the same ploy.
System Notification: You have killed [Violent Tauren Lv4] x5 and received 400 points battle experience. Your level has increased to Lv4.
Xia Chengfeng could feel his power increase. Unfortunately, his passive skill [Life Alchemy Array] was still at Lv3. Otherwise, he would have been able to take on the taurens head-on with his vitality and strength!
The taurens' corpses blocked off the tunnel, but Xia Chengfeng simply decomposed them.
System Notification: Obtained [Blood Vapor Essence Lv4] x5, [Soul Rock Fragment Lv4] x5, [Tauren Skeleton Lv4] x5, [Sturdy Bull Horn Lv4] x10.
The commotion in the tunnel ultimately attracted the attention of the sleeping taurens.
Three tauren warriors rushed into the tunnel. They all had tauren battle-axes in their hands.
The hooves of the taurens could be opened to form a palm. More precisely, there was a thick layer of calcified bone around their palms, and it made their hands look like hooves when clenched.
Other species of beastmen also had these characteristics.
"It'll be troublesome if they block off the tunnel!" Xia Chengfeng gave up on the idea of setting an ambush in the tunnel.
He took out his bow and arrow and shot at the heads of the taurens.
"Moo!" The tauren warriors let out a furious roar as they charged toward Xia Chengfeng. Even though these warriors looked burly and clumsy, they moved with great speed.
[Collision] was their fundamental technique. The technique increased their movement speed and durability when cast. And, when the taurens paired the technique with a weapon, the technique could even be transformed to [Charge].
Xia Chengfeng only hit two of the taurens with his poisoned arrows, mainly because he was still not very skilled in archery. Furthermore, his opponents were charging at him too quickly. He had little time and very limited space to let fly his arrows with accuracy.
The corrosive poison scorched the taurens the moment they were hit, but they did not retreat.
"Xiaozi, stall them. But conserve your energy!" Xia Chengfeng shouted.
Currently, Xiaozi could only shoot out four to five bolts of lightning flames in a battle. She had already used half her energy reserve and had to conserve the rest for the battle against the tauren chieftain.
Xiaozi already had some battle experience. She flapped her wings and managed to inflict further injury to the two tauren with a weak lightning flame. Their movement speed became notably slower.
Xia Chengfeng was not afraid of the tauren warrior leading the charge.
It bore down with its ax but Xia Chengfeng managed to avoid the attack with his speed. Then, he again employed the same tactic of using his numbing ring and stabbing the beast from behind.
Perhaps it was because he had leveled up, but the damage Xia Chengfeng inflicted on the tauren increased as the fight went on. He managed to kill the tauren after only a few seconds.
The other two injured taurens did not survive either.
"Moo!" The tauren chieftain had woken up. It charged toward the area with furious red eyes. The two other male taurens did not follow him.