Esdeath dragged the blue-skinned giant ox down the mountain.
This naturally attracted the attention of quite a few people, but after noticing that Esdeath could drag the mountain-like giant ox all by herself, no one dared to mess with her.
Just like that, after walking for three full days, Esdeath finally dragged the incomplete carcass of the giant ox back to the tribe, braving the wind and snow.
Whenever she got hungry, she would cut meat from the ox to eat; over the three days, she had eaten a full hundred catties of meat.
It had to be said, this beef tasted light and juicy; even simple roasting made it taste incredibly delicious.
In particular, the flesh and blood of a Danger Beast could nourish the body and strengthen one’s constitution; having eaten this beef, Esdeath felt her physique had grown even stronger.
Since winter was approaching, the weather was already cold, so even after being dragged for three days, the giant ox’s carcass had not rotted.
“My goodness, what is that?”
The weather was cold, and the guards watching the tribe’s entrance were feeling lazy, warming themselves by the fire, rubbing their hands together, and playing cards with their companions.
Just as it was his companion’s turn to play a card, the other person suddenly looked ahead, mouth agape in shock, their movements freezing.
“It’s your turn to play!
What are you spacing out for?”
This guard saw the mountain-like giant Danger Beast from afar.
His first thought was shock at seeing a Danger Beast, then he realized that this Danger Beast was lying on its side, tied up with rope, and immediately understood that it had become prey that had been hunted.
“Look!
Someone hunted a Danger Beast!”
His companion, however, didn’t buy it: “The festival is almost here, and people are hunting Danger Beasts every day.
What’s there to look at?
You’re definitely just trying to trick me into looking so you can cheat and swap cards.”
“Oh, just look and you’ll see.”
The guard threw his cards down, stopped playing altogether, and ran over excitedly to take a look.
At this point, his companion also put down his cards and turned around, then let out a similar exclamation: “My god, this is a Level 1 Danger Beast, the Mad-Blood Giant Ox!”
“The Mad-Blood Giant Ox lives on the highlands; I’ve seen one before.”
No matter how much they slashed with swords or burned it with fire, this type of ox could not be harmed.
They had also once wanted to hunt it, but couldn’t even break its skin, and in the end, they could only return in defeat.
In front of the mountain-like giant ox, a blue-haired figure slowly became clear.
“It’s Esdeath!”
“Esdeath hunted the Mad-Blood Giant Ox!”
The commotion of dragging the giant ox alerted everyone in the tribe, and everyone curiously and surprisingly gathered around to watch.
“Boss Esdeath!” Ibia and the other two also ran over excitedly.
“This guy is huge!”
Esdeath dropped the rope and wiped her hands: “I said I was going to hunt the strongest Danger Beast.”
“We’ve never seen one this big before.”
The three little followers all had their mouths open in an O-shape, curiously touching the giant ox.
The tribespeople whispered to each other, exclaiming: “Esdeath is just too strong.”
Esdeath went to her father’s side and boasted: “Look, this is the Danger Beast I hunted!”
Alei was just as shocked as the tribespeople; he knew Esdeath was progressing rapidly, but he hadn’t expected her to have grown at such an astonishing speed to this extent.
“Good, good, Esdeath…” Alei was overjoyed, “It won’t be many years before you, Esdeath, will be able to surpass me.”
Esdeath said: “Father, share the meat of this ox with everyone; there’s too much, I can’t finish it alone.”
“Good, this is what you brought down, so of course you get to decide.” Alei said approvingly.
Esdeath was increasingly able to think like a leader.
“Everyone, Esdeath has decided to share the meat of this Mad-Blood Giant Ox with all of you.
Let’s all enjoy it together tonight.”
“Oh!”
“Yeah!”
The tribespeople cheered.
The flesh and blood of Danger Beasts often contain very rich blood energy and nutrients, which can strengthen one’s physique.
It is precisely because they continuously hunt and eat the meat of Danger Beasts that the people of their tribe are so much stronger than ordinary people.
And the flesh and blood of a Level 1 Danger Beast is extremely rare; many people might not even get to eat it once in their entire lives.
The mountain-like amount of meat was enough for them to eat their fill.
This Mad-Blood Giant Ox would serve perfectly as a sacrificial gift for the Holy Sacrifice Festival.
Esdeath’s act of hunting the Mad-Blood Giant Ox and generously sharing it with the tribe made many of the tribespeople secretly acknowledge her in their hearts.
Some people were happy about this, while others were worried.
The Barutesu Tribe believes in the truth that the strong rule supreme, so they do not inherit titles like the Empire; instead, the strongest person in the tribe becomes the leader.
But if the leader’s children are also very capable and qualified to inherit, that is another matter entirely.
“Esdeath, you are now able to stand on your own.
I have decided to appoint you as the captain of the Seventh Hunting Team, leading the young people of your age within the tribe.”
Alei also intended to nurture Esdeath.
Esdeath was very young, and it was only a matter of time before she surpassed him in the future.
However, to be a leader of a group, one needs more than just strength.
After the Holy Sacrifice Festival, the tribe entered a state of tense preparation for winter food.
“Everyone listen, we are about to formally enter winter.
When that time comes, heavy snow will block the mountains, and it will be very difficult to find prey.
Therefore, we must hunt enough prey to survive the winter within two weeks.”
Alei was giving instructions to the captains of the Hunting Teams.
Esdeath was the youngest among them, but no one dared to look down on her.
The scene of her dragging back the Mad-Blood Giant Ox alone the day before the Holy Sacrifice Festival was still etched in everyone’s minds.
Esdeath gained twenty young subordinates; these people ranged from fourteen or fifteen to eighteen or nineteen years old.
In order to increase hunting efficiency, every Hunting Team had fixed hunting areas and directions.
Before Esdeath became a captain, the nearby areas that were easy to hunt in had all been distributed among the six teams.
As the newly appointed Seventh Captain, Esdeath could not go to the areas they hunted in and had to head to more distant and remote places.
As a newly appointed captain, this was undoubtedly a test for Esdeath.
Moreover, if she didn’t bring back any decent prey, she would definitely be mocked in the evening and her ability to lead would be questioned.
Every evening was the time for the Hunting Teams to return, and also the time for each team to compete over who had hunted the most Danger Beasts.
Although everyone might not say anything given that she was newly appointed, the feeling still wasn’t good.
After all, those in the Hunting Teams knew the inside story, but others didn’t know about the division of hunting areas.
Other tribespeople would only think that everyone else had hunted prey, while she hadn’t caught anything.
These young people who had come over from other Hunting Teams knew clearly what was going on, so they didn’t hold much hope for their harvest today.
Esdeath was strong, but being strong in combat and hunting were two different things.
In matters of hunting, it had always been the case that the older and more experienced one was, the better they were, and the better they were at finding prey.
In the Barutesu Tribe, who didn’t have the strength to trade a few blows with a Danger Beast?
The hard part was finding the Danger Beast.
Furthermore, all the places around where it was easy to hunt Danger Beasts were taken by other teams; their own team could only go and pick up what others had left behind.
Some young people were even dissatisfied with being assigned under Esdeath’s command.
One had to know that everyone’s fixed daily ration was proportional to the Danger Beasts hunted.
With less harvest, the food and supplies one received would also be less.