This forest was much larger than she had expected. Auris had probably been running in the South - encrypted Forest for about an hour. During this period, they also passed by several slopes with good terrain, but it didn't stop at any of them.
Seraphina sat on the wolf's back and suddenly had the feeling of being dragged around to look at houses. Auris couldn't talk, but it had high requirements for the living environment.
Finally, they stopped on a small sunny slope. The trees here were relatively sparse. There was a huge centuries - old tofu - fruit tree at the back, and in front of the tree was a small flat grassland.
Seraphina walked around like a house - viewing tenant. To her surprise, she found a gurgling brook not far away, which converged into a small pool at the bottom of the slope.
"Auris, this place is wonderful!" Seraphina happily rushed over and hugged its wolf's head. "There are so many fruits on the tree. I can make a net to catch them all. There's also a water source nearby. It will be much more convenient for washing."
She looked at the grassland with lush vegetation. "I can build a small house so that we won't be afraid of rain. We'll have a home." We will have a home.
Auris squeezed over and rubbed against her. Its eyes, like green crystals, seemed to be speaking. It happily circled around Seraphina. Obviously, her expression of love also made it very happy.
"Thank you, Auris." Seraphina stroked its furry ears and couldn't help kissing it on the forehead. This is my patron saint. We are also a family.
The timber in the southern dense forest was a bit different from that in the Sovo Dense Forest. Compared with the dense tall arbors in the north, there were more fruit trees like the tofu tree. Seraphina thought this was great, which meant that she had more chances to pick fruits.
It was now late autumn and early winter, still the harvest season. She should take advantage of the opportunity to store food for the winter. Moreover, if more types of useful trees could be found, her life would be better.
Auris dug a shallow pit under the big tree, on the leeward side of the slope. She guessed that it wanted to make a'sleeping nest' like last night. But Seraphina wasn't satisfied with that.
That kind of nest was neither wind - proof nor heat - insulating. Once it rained, it would turn into a puddle. If the winter here was colder, relying only on Auris's heat would be disadvantageous for both of them.
So she planned the open space under the tree. She wanted to build a simple thatched cottage.
Seraphina had always been very handy in the past. However, making a house out of plasticine and building a real house with branches were completely different things.
The timber she could use was limited. The branches of the tofu tree were relatively brittle compared with those of other arbors. Seraphina tried to pick up a relatively sharp stone by the brook and used it to make a groove on the branch. Then she tied the stone to the branch to make a simple stone axe. This way, the axe blade had a recoil and was more stable to use.
"Ha!" She swung the stone axe hard, but only made a shallow dent on the tree trunk. After working like a tortoise for the whole afternoon, she only got four small trees with a diameter of about five or six centimeters.
"Huhu" Seraphina collapsed on the ground, panting. Women's strength was still too small. Although she worked out, she wasn't much better than ordinary people. The physical labor in the afternoon had almost drained her strength.
Several birds landed on the slope not far in front of her, pecking at something. Because of the fire she had built, they didn't approach the tofu tree. Seraphina watched for a while. She probably knew how much the creatures in this world feared fire. That was why Auris was so relieved to leave her alone.
After resting for a while, Seraphina put the four small trees she had cut down into the fire to roast. Roasting the bottom of the trees with fire would make them carbonized, easier to sharpen, and stronger.
She selected an open space under the roots of a tree and then inserted the four sharpened stakes into the soil. After treading them firmly, they became the most basic four - corner frame of her house.
"Good. At least I've taken the first step." She wiped the sweat off her face and felt a great sense of accomplishment when looking at the four bare stakes in front of her.
Just as she was about to continue cutting trees, Seraphina suddenly heard the sound of something stepping on the grass nearby. She hadn't been disturbed all day. The sheep would take the initiative to avoid when they smelled the smoke of the fire. So what kind of animals were there that weren't afraid of fire?
She didn't go out to patrol. Instead, she grasped the rough stone axe in her hand and hid behind the fire. Suddenly, several fast - running shadows flashed through the shadowy forest. Their fur was brown.
Seraphina almost screamed because she saw those shadows seemed to be human - shaped.
"Wuwu" Those animals made low whines like hunting dogs. They lingered near this small slope. Because they were so fast, Seraphina couldn't catch their figures at all. In a hurry, she added all the firewood she had collected to the fire to make it burn more vigorously.
"Auris will be back soon. There's Auris's smell and the fire here. They won't dare to come over easily."
Seraphina thought so and forced herself to calm down. She took out the longest branch from the fire and waved it in her hand to scare them. This did have some effect. Those animals made shorter and more urgent calls and didn't come forward.
Time passed by second by second. Cold sweat broke out on her body. Those things hidden in the woods were so agile. She had just caught a shadow, and it disappeared immediately. But after several times, she also saw what they looked like.
They were much smaller than the giant wolf clan. Judging from their appearance, they were probably a similar mutated species to the carnivorous fish - men.
They were also half - human and half - beast monsters. But they had four limbs and walked on all fours. Their heads and faces were a bit like those of canines. They had brown fur on their backs and tails behind them.
If Seraphina felt disgusted when she saw the carnivorous fish - men, then these half - human and half - beast animals in front of her made her terrified. Did real humans really exist?
In her ears, she heard more and more intensive barking. They were discussing. Compared with the giant wolves, they were obviously more organized carnivores.
Seraphina almost admired herself for being able to think calmly at this time. She gasped for breath. Actions like hitting stones and waving torches were just to scare those monsters, but they didn't leave.
"Wuwuwuwu" Suddenly, a jackal - dog - like humanoid came out from behind the tree. When Seraphina saw it suddenly, she almost fainted. In the sunlight, their appearance made her even more terrified. She guessed that if she hadn't seen the carnivorous fish - men, this kind of humanoid would have scared her to death.
With the lead of the first one, more and more jackal - dog - like humanoids began to approach her. Seraphina was going crazy. She started to try to climb the tree. Those humanoids got excited when they saw her action and barked at her around the outer circle of the fire.
She hugged the tree trunk tightly. At this moment, her mind was blank. One second felt longer than a year.
"Aoow!" Suddenly, she finally heard the familiar wolf howl. A gray - black giant wolf rushed over, breaking countless branches and leaves. Seraphina suddenly cried out, "Auris!"
It ran very fast and arrived on the slope in the blink of an eye. She had never seen it look so fierce. Its long hair all stood on end. It opened its mouth wide and roared, showing its sharp wolf teeth in its gaping jaws.
It just stood under her tree, confronting those jackal - dog - like humanoids. When the humanoids on the opposite side heard the noise, they retreated and gathered together. They weren't afraid of the giant wolf.
She saw Auris firmly gripping the ground with its four limbs to gather strength. Then, in the blink of an eye, it suddenly rushed out. Seraphina was stunned. She saw that it easily bit an arm of a jackal - dog - like humanoid and tore it in half. Its sharp claws could instantly seriously wound a humanoid. Compared with the human - like jackal - dog - like humanoids, it had absolute suppressing power.
But at this moment, Auris was fighting against ten of them alone. She saw that its gray fur was stained with blood. It was injured. No matter how powerful a beast was, it couldn't withstand the siege of so many opponents. The flexible limbs and sharp claws and teeth of those jackal - dog - like humanoids gradually put it at a disadvantage.
Seraphina watched this fight in the carnivorous chain of the north - south forest. For a moment, she even wanted to jump down to help it. But she couldn't. She would become a burden to Auris.
"Aoow!" Auris roared. There were already several corpses of jackal - dog - like humanoids under its feet. They began to be afraid and had the thought of retreating. Seraphina's heart was in her throat. She saw that Auris's hind leg was bleeding continuously. If the stalemate continued, it would lose.
Just when she thought the situation would continue to be unfavorable, another wolf howl appeared. A huge black wolf suddenly jumped out of the jungle and bit a jackal - dog - like humanoid standing on the periphery.
"Ao!" Auris regrouped. With the help of its giant wolf clan companion, the battle situation became one - sided. They gradually turned a close - fought battle into a one - sided slaughter.
A few jackal - dog - like humanoids ran away, and her small slope regained its tranquility. "Auris!" Seraphina immediately threw herself into the giant wolf's arms. It kept rubbing against her. The sharp teeth that were harvesting lives just now only made gentle huffing sounds at this moment.
The other black wolf came over curiously to take a look at them. But it was also obviously afraid of the vigorously burning fire. It didn't take long before it turned around and ran away. The black wolf dragged away a few of the jackal - dog - like humanoids lying on the ground. The rest should be for Auris.
Seraphina buried her head in Auris's warm fur. Only when she smelled the blood did she suddenly remember, "You're injured!" She looked anxiously at the nearly ten - centimeter - long tear on its hind leg. "There's no medicine, no needle and thread. What should we do?"
Auris turned its head to look, and then pushed her to the fire. It made her sit next to it. It didn't even let her go to fetch water behind the slope. It turned its head and licked the blood on its leg.
She thought it would go to pick some hemostatic herbs to eat, but it didn't. As if it was afraid of something, Auris just lay on the ground next to her to rest. Its snoring sound was louder than usual, as if telling her not to worry.
Seraphina stroked its head. She didn't know how to help it. She could only feed it the tofu fruits at hand. Auris didn't refuse and swallowed several at a time. It licked her hand and put its big head on her lap and closed its eyes.
Seraphina looked at the battlefield under the tree not far away. There were blood and corpses all over the ground. She hadn't seen such animals in the Sovo Forest. Maybe they were natives of the South - encrypted Forest and were exactly the hostile competitors of the Sovo Giant Wolves. Because of the large number of migrating wolf packs, they had snatched their food, which made the jackal - dog - like humanoids madly attack her with Auris's smell.
Whether it was the fish - men or the jackal - dog - like humanoids, perhaps this was still a primitive world that hadn't evolved humans yet. But one of them would eventually become the ancestor of the new human civilization.
However, Auris and the others were still in completely animal forms and were doomed to be eliminated.