These guys are fast runners; they were less than twenty meters away from my treehouse in no time.
After I fired two more shots, I realized they showed no sign of stopping; even in the face of death, they kept running forward.
Just as I was about to load another round and fire at them, I was surprised to find that these beasts weren't targeting me at all; instead, they were running away as if their lives depended on it.
As expected, they were quickly wiped out by the passive traps I set to the west, but even so, they still did not stop running forward.
At that moment, I sensed something was wrong. These wild beasts seemed to have encountered something terrible, and they were only trying to escape my trap.
By now it was broad daylight, and I could see the true appearance of these wild beasts.
This is an animal with the body of a wolf, the head of a donkey, sharp canines and claws, and is as tall as a half-grown pony.
I know a little about this animal from descriptions in some documents, but I have never seen it in person.
If I'm not mistaken, this animal should be a prehistoric creature that lived between 7 and 4.5 million years ago: the Sand Beast, also known as the Donkey-Headed Wolf.
This animal is extremely intelligent and hunts collectively like a wolf pack.
In that era when powerful creatures roamed the land, they relied on their intelligence and teamwork to fight off prey much larger than themselves, and even some ferocious beasts were on their menu.
Without comparison, it would have been better. But after seeing the fighting power of these prehistoric animals and the strength they actually demonstrated, I realized that the seriousness of the problem was underestimated by a lot.
If they have become the dominant predators in this area, then what is it that could make such a large group of sand monsters flee for their lives?
Could it be that the departure of those native beasts wasn't due to the Sand Beasts at all? Is the real mastermind someone else entirely?
Thinking about this, a chill ran down my spine. I put down my crossbow and shotgun, then climbed to the top of a tree, wanting to see what could possibly be so intimidating.
Just as I climbed the tree and looked eastward, I witnessed a scene that I will never forget.
Where I had set up the trap, a dark mass of things was moving on the bodies of the dead sand monsters. They looked to be about the size of a fist.
Because of the distance, I could only see a general outline. But I saw that the sand monsters that had passed through had turned into shiny white bones. It would take decades of knife skills to carve such a thing out.
And they were quite fast, eating as they quickly made their way towards me. Seeing this, I realized that what I thought was a king among beasts was just a bunch of gold minions.
The real threat is these enormous creatures; in terms of sheer numbers, the sand monsters don't even come close to matching the enemy's numbers.
Now I have to accept the fact that I can't beat these guys for the time being.
I could barely put up a fight against the larger sand monsters, but there were so many of those dark things, stretching for a kilometer or two. How was I supposed to fight back?
I went into the warehouse, untied all the monkeys, and then shouted to a bewildered Top, "Top, we need to get out of here right now! We absolutely can't stay here any longer!"
Top scratched his head in confusion, wondering why I had suddenly become so nervous.
After I put them down, Top thought we were going to count the pebbles again today, so he pointed to the basket of pebbles with a puzzled expression.
As soon as the other monkeys were released, they scrambled up the branches and scattered in all directions. They had been cooped up for days, and now that they had the chance to come out, they naturally wanted to have a good stroll.
I can't worry about those monkeys anymore; they're much faster at escaping danger than I am. I need to plan for myself first.
I took a basket and started stuffing it with food—dried fish, wild duck, swan, chestnuts—whatever it was, I stuffed it into my basket as much as I could.
These possessions are destined to be lost; take as much as you can. At that moment, Top didn't leave, but watched me pack up the food.
"Top, go and move all the firewood out of the shed. I'll be right down," I said to Top, who was standing next to me.
Top is quite familiar with firewood because it often helps me start fires and cook. At my command, Top obediently climbed down the tree and started carrying the firewood out of the shed.
I packed all the bullets into a wolf-skin satchel, and then took the crossbow, shotgun, blowgun, and arrows with me.
I quickly climbed down the tree and started working with Top to take all the wood out of the shed and lay it on the ground to form a long wooden barrier.
Next, I sparsely sprinkled all the cooking oil onto the dry wood and lit a torch to set the oiled wood on fire one by one.
Soon, with the help of the oil, the wood quickly caught fire, forming a blazing wall of fire along the path.
"Top, come with me, quick!" I urged, and ran in the direction the sand monsters had fled.
Top was a little confused, but trusting me, it ran with me anyway. We hadn't run very far when we heard the monkeys screaming behind us.
They leaped swiftly among the branches, more frightened than if they had encountered a leopard. I knew without a doubt what was going on; they must have run into some unknown creature.
But I can't worry about them anymore. All the arrow traps on the tree have been released. As long as they don't come down to the ground and run around, the passive traps on the ground won't hurt them.
The path I'm on now was left behind by those sand monsters when they fled for their lives. I'm so glad they triggered the traps for me ahead of me, otherwise these passive traps would have been a real problem trapping me.
As I ran, I glanced back at what was happening behind me; those things had already reached the vicinity of the fire wall.
The terrain in my area is relatively open, and this time I saw the true form of the visitors clearly. They were actually black ants the size of fists!
These are not army ants. Could they be prehistoric ants similar to army ants?
Army ants were already notorious for their brutality in our world; no animal dared to oppose them in their wake, either fleeing in time or becoming a skeleton.
These tiny ants don't even care about any large animals; they consider giants like elephants, hippos, and rhinos insignificant.
These black ants, which are many times larger than army ants, look even more formidable.
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