Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains 179
Chapter 179
After two waves of hyena-drakes probing the defenses, the hyena-drake horde remained motionless. After waiting for an hour or two, the leaders of the other three walls gradually gathered.
“They only made two tentative attacks at the main gate and haven’t moved since. The hyena-drakes surrounding the other three sides haven’t budged either. What are they planning?” Seeing the situation, Azhang was very confused.
“The last time they attacked our tribe, they did the same—first sending hyena-drakes to break a gap in the wall before taking further action.” Axu had explained the night raid on the Salt-Water Tribe to everyone shortly after arriving, but he still couldn’t make sense of the hyena-drakes’ movements.
“Are they planning to use the old method to breach the wall again?”
“The walls are reinforced with defensive stakes. If the hyena-drakes try to smash the ice with their bodies like last time, they’ll probably be impaled,” someone reasoned. The stakes were made from the hardest wood, interspersed with exceptionally sharp iron rods. If a hyena-drake dared to charge at them with all its might, it would at least be badly injured, if not killed.
“Don’t you think…” Chen Qi remained silent for a moment as he listened to the discussion. Then, pausing, he frowned and voiced his suspicion. “These hyena-drakes… seem to have intelligence.”
Yes, intelligence. Chen Qi remembered the first time he saw hyena-drakes hunting on the plains. No matter how fierce they appeared, they were simply beasts ambushing prey to survive, much like the animals in wildlife documentaries he had seen on TV.
But the second encounter was different. The hyena-drakes had used their digging abilities to sneak in under the walls the tribe had built. Though still beast-like, they displayed cleverness and cunning. It seemed they planned their actions in advance, considering every detail from attack to retreat. Such behavior, strikingly human-like, had left a strong impression on Chen Qi.
Now, the hyena-drakes surrounding the city were less like wild animals and more like a disciplined army. Their leader acted as commander—they would not move without orders. Once commanded, even if death awaited them, they would advance relentlessly. They even learned from experience: the second group of hyena-drakes deliberately avoided traps.
Is this still the same beast Chen Qi once knew?
After hearing his analysis, everyone fell silent.
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
Seeing Chen Qi’s frown and conflicted expression, Aze reached out and grasped his tightly covered wrist. “No matter what they are, they are our enemies. That will never change.”
The hyena-drakes would die if they didn’t attack, and the beastmen would die if they didn’t resist. Nature’s selection wouldn’t allow peace just because they understood one another.
“They’re coming again,” Ake, still sitting on the battlements, interrupted the discussion.
Everyone perked up and looked outside. Another wave of hyena-drakes approached from behind. This time, there were hundreds, more than in the previous two waves, charging straight toward the city and raising clouds of snow in their wake.
The attack and defense followed the same pattern as before. Once the hyena-drakes entered the crossbow range, the beastmen guards on the front gate drew their bows and loaded arrows. As the hyena-drakes raised their heads, a hail of wooden arrows flew toward them.
But this time, the hyena-drakes were prepared. No matter how badly injured, they no longer exposed their vulnerable eyes or throats to the beastmen’s arrows. Seeing them skillfully bypass the exposed traps and near the first line of barricades, Chen Qi nodded to Aze beside him. “Ignite the barricades.”
Hearing the order, Aze, with two other females, picked up special rocket arrows and lit them from the nearby fire plate.
“Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh!” Three flaming arrows struck the first barricade accurately, followed by three more hitting adjacent stakes. The specially treated wood burned briefly before erupting into roaring flames just as the hyena-drakes reached them. The fire spread quickly from one barricade to the next, and within minutes, a ring of fire encircled the entire Qi Ze City.
The hyena-drakes, who were about to break through all the ground traps and reach the walls, froze in fear. Fire was an instinctive terror for them, ingrained in their very bones. Even with the leader’s orders, they paused. The crossbows on the wall took advantage of the moment, raining arrows down. Many hyena-drakes, trying to dodge both the projectiles and the heat, moved toward the flat snow, and inevitably, more fell into the hidden traps beneath the snow.
For the tribe’s safety, all areas beyond the barricades within archery range had already been hollowed out by the beastmen. If the hyena-drakes had dared to spread out, it would have taken half of their bodies to fill these pits.
It was unclear whether the hyena-drake leader had noticed this, but clearly, it had no intention of sacrificing so many subordinates. It seemed determined to challenge the path revealed by the fallen hyena-drakes.
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
Thanks to the flame barricades, the hyena-drakes’ attacks were halted. Although the third wave contained far more hyena-drakes, they were still struck down with bows and arrows before reaching the final barrier.
Aside from the increasing number of pits being exposed, the road that the hyena-drakes had trampled had already been stained red with their blood. From a distance, it looked like a slightly mottled path of blood.
The hyena-drake leader narrowed his eyes, staring at the wall of fire that blocked his subordinates’ path. He neither ordered them to charge through by force nor to retreat. He merely stood there silently watching until all the charging hyena-drakes were shot down by arrows.
This time, it did not order another attack. It simply stopped and confronted the beastmen on the city wall, as if it had returned to the days of standoff against the Lion-Wolf Tribe.
Until nightfall, the hyena-drake pack did not launch another attack. Azhang ordered the others to take turns resting. Although Chen Qi wanted to stay, his body was not as strong as the females’. Especially when the temperature suddenly dropped a few degrees after dark, and with the cold wind on the city wall piercing from all directions, he finally had to return to the tribe. However, before leaving, he made sure Azhang would send someone to immediately inform him if the hyena-drakes showed any signs of attacking.
Azhang naturally understood the gravity of the situation. No one knew how to make use of those traps better than Chen Qi. Even after they discussed several defensive plans again, Azhang solemnly promised that once the hyena-drakes made any move, someone would be sent to find Chen Qi. Only then did Chen Qi feel at ease and leave with Aze.
Since they might need to return to the city wall at any time, the two did not hide in the school cellar but went back home instead. Aze helped Chen Qi heat water so he could soak his frozen body. After that, Chen Qi ate something simple and lay down on the warm kang bed to rest.
This time, the hyena-drakes remained still for three full days. During that period, a snowstorm hit. The barricades had long burned down into a thin layer of black ash, now covered by snow. If not for the occasional hissing snarls of hyena-drakes coming from the pits below, and the groups of hyena-drakes in the distance that seemed to have turned into ice sculptures, Chen Qi would have thought the threat to Qi Ze City was already gone.
Around noon on the fourth day, the hyena-drake pack finally moved again—still toward the main gate, along the same path where several hyena-drakes had previously fallen into exposed traps. But this time, leading the charge were not hyena-drakes, but a herd of ironshell-drakes.
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
“Why are there ironshell-drakes?” The beastmen on the wall were stunned as they watched the armored creatures slowly emerge from behind the hyena-drakes. Their expressions grew increasingly grave.
Those who had been resting in shifts hurried back to their posts. They were even more tense than on the first day the hyena-drakes appeared, vaguely sensing that something serious was coming.
There were quite a lot of ironshell-drakes this time—roughly a hundred of them. Behind them followed a group of two to three hundred hyena-drakes.
Unlike the previous small probing attacks, it was clear that this time the hyena-drakes intended to launch a real assault.
Chen Qi glanced at the beastmen who had gathered back at the main gate since no other walls were being attacked. “This time, I’m afraid the traps won’t hold them.” The previous traps had been designed more to frighten the hyena-drakes than to kill them. Chen Qi knew the creatures were intelligent, and he had hoped they would be scared off by those annoying traps. But now, that hope was clearly gone.
With a sharp “whoosh,” a huge crossbow bolt struck the leading ironshell-drake. A crisp impact sounded, accompanied by a few sparks. The ironshell-drake staggered slightly from the sudden blow, but quickly regained its balance and continued charging forward with the group, skirting around the traps.
As expected of the dragon species with the hardest scales in this world, the crossbow bolt did nothing more than leave a dark red mark on its shell. The iron plating wasn’t even damaged, and their fragile eyes stayed lowered, revealing no weak spots at all.
The ironshell-drakes, followed by the hyena-drake pack, easily trampled over the place where the barricades had once stood and were about to charge straight toward the city wall.
“Release the arrows.”
With Chen Qi’s command, a volley of flaming arrows whistled down, hitting the unevenly placed second row of barricades. Flames burst up, accompanied by loud explosions among the ironshell-drakes. Though the thick-skinned creatures were barely hurt, the unnatural sounds truly startled them. No longer charging in neat formation, they began swerving left and right to avoid the blasts and the sharp stones scattering from the explosions. The surrounding traps were crushed one after another, and unable to tell where the pits were anymore, many of them tumbled one by one into the massive holes.
Words from the Translation Crew
Miiya: 1 of 3 for the week.
Translator: Miiya
Editor: MushroomKnight73
Proofreader: Yume
Editor stepping into the realm of MTL translating, starting with CLWP. Support this translation with a Ko-fi. Three Ko-fis will add an extra chapter from the stockpile to the next weekly release.
