"Hurry over here, Tang, one more tree down and we're heading back!" another male beastman called from not far away.
Tang strode over. Several Snow Wolves had already chosen a giant tree as their target.
This time, Eric finally got a clear look at how they felled it. Several Snow Wolves first used their sharp claws to scratch deep gashes along the several-meter-wide trunk. One of them transformed into his beast form, got a running start from a distance, and rammed hard into the tree trunk. With a "crash," the tree came toppling down.
Simple and brutal, but effective. The strength of the Snow Wolves was measured in tons, while Eric's was at most a few hundred catties. No wonder the original owner had madly admired Max, the strongest in the tribe.
An elderly female beastman of the Snow Wolf tribe, Jessica, ran to where the treetop had fallen. She used her head to push aside the canopy and exclaimed in surprise, "There's a rabbit warren here!"
The whole group of Snow Wolves gathered around curiously, and Eric and Leo were no exception.
Under the canopy were more than a dozen gray-furred rabbits, nearly as large as domestic pigs from modern times, each and every one of them plump and fat.
"There's a live one still underground!" Feeling a slight tremor in the ground beneath her feet, Luci quickly followed the sensation underfoot to block another end of the burrow.
Cornered, the gray rabbit opened its mouth and hissed. A gray light flashed, and countless earth spikes emerged from the ground, attacking everyone.
"Ao?" Leo doubtfully pawed at a few earth spikes under his belly.
Startled, Eric quickly picked up Leo, who was suspended on them, and felt the little one's furry belly to make sure he wasn't injured before sighing in relief.
This unlucky kid. Someone as big as him didn't get hit by the spikes, yet this little one, as tiny as a kitten, just happened to get struck.
Luci gently rubbed Leo's fur with her large paw. She was very happy to see Eric and Leo getting along. Previously, Eric had really been a bit of a mess.
Her hot-tempered Max had always wanted to teach Eric a lesson for Leo's sake, but she had always stopped him.
She felt that after Eric's mother passed away, the child's personality had changed. He was extremely pitiful, still a cub himself yet already having to raise another.
Originally, she had wanted to raise both of these little ones herself, but her Max disagreed. Eric was too clingy and annoying to him; living in the same house was out of the question.
But Eric wouldn't agree to be raised by others either, so it was settled that everyone in the tribe would take turns looking after them.
"It's alright, don't worry. This is just a level-one magical beast; this spell can't hurt a cub." She lifted her large paw and flattened the earth spikes.
Eric rubbed Leo's belly. Luckily, beastmen were thick-skinned and well-fleshed. This sudden spell had startled him; modern people had never seen such things. In reality, this spell was mostly for show, to scare others.
For ordinary humans, this spell might be a bit dangerous, but to the beings on the Illusory Dream Continent, it was not even worth mentioning.
This type of gray rabbit was very suitable for the Snow Wolf cubs to eat. They were small in stature with tender meat. This kind of small prey didn't need to be handed over to the tribe for distribution; families with cubs would divide it amongst themselves on the spot.
After dealing with the rabbit hiding underground, the group of Snow Wolves returned to the tribe with a bountiful harvest.
Eric also received a large, fat, and meaty one. He carried the pig-sized rabbit on his back, a basket of sweet-smelling wild fruits in his hand, while Leo wore the mushroom pack. Leo's golden hair shimmered in the sunlight filtering through the leaves, and his small, delicate face wore a brilliant smile.
Eric was also very happy. This was great; with this rabbit to take back, he could make many brushes and wouldn't have to ask Michael for magical beast fur anymore.
Beside him, a snow wolf was carrying the large thorn beast hive. The giant hive, like a small house, looked smaller on his back. It was Tang.
In his beast form, Tang also ran a distance to the east and carried back a bamboo stalk as thick as a house pillar, tying it together with the thorn beast hive. Back home, he would chop this bamboo into sections, which were perfect for holding the thorn beast honey. The old rule still applied: families with cubs would share it equally.
Since his maternal grandparents passed away, Eric had never been cared for like this. Beastmen had long lifespans but had great difficulty reproducing, which made them extremely caring towards their cubs.
The feeling of having a family, which he hadn't had for a long time, was unexpectedly felt after coming to another world.
The two short-legged cubs walked slowly and gradually fell behind. So, Eric went to the riverbank first to clean the large rabbit and the fruits and mushrooms before heading home.
The tribespeople had already finished dividing everything. By the time Eric and Leo brought their things home, there were already two bamboo tubes filled with thorn beast honey in their room.
These two bamboo tubes were as big as water buckets, each estimated to hold fifteen to twenty catties. It was clear that because his family had two cubs, they had received a double share.
A warm feeling rose in Eric's heart. How could the original owner have had the heart to lead a beast tide to the Snow Wolf tribe? These beastmen, though blunt in their speech, were truly very good to him.
Under these circumstances, for the original owner to have raised himself and Leo to the point of malnutrition, it was clear how difficult his personality was. Eric had discovered that today, many of the Snow Wolves were secretly observing the changes in him.
Previously, he would not have brought Leo along, and he would never have accepted that rabbit.
He didn't want to be told to imitate the original owner's demeanor, and besides, he wanted to do so many things. Sigh, he'll just have to make up a story later. Beastmen are probably easy to fool, right?