GRRRR... The Flesh-Splitting Beast let out a low growl. It stomped its foot against the ground, preparing to retreat.

It was a little hungry, but there were clearly a lot of humans facing it, and its sixth sense told it this group was dangerous.

Just as it prepared to retreat, a shriek suddenly echoed from the sky behind it.

A shadow fell across its face. The Flesh-Splitting Beast looked up just in time to see a giant bird sweep past overhead.

The sharp talons nearly grazed the side of its face.

"ROAR!"

The Flesh-Splitting Beast reared up, beating its chest and letting out a furious roar in an attempt to intimidate its opponent.

’Then it saw one of the humans opposite it take a short tree branch from their back?’

Then they threw the branch.

A sharp pain shot through its abdomen. The Flesh-Splitting Beast looked down to see the object that looked like a sharpened branch sticking out of its stomach.

The intense pain created two conflicting thoughts in its mind. Its animal instinct screamed at it, ’I’m hurt! Run!’

But its predator’s instinct was devouring what little reason it had left. It wanted to tear these humans to shreds!

Tear them to bloody pieces!

"ROAR!!!"

The Flesh-Splitting Beast dropped to all fours and charged frantically at the humans.

’I’ll attack these humans, make them scared, and then I can find a chance to escape.’

It had always worked before. In its experience, those two-legged dinosaurs were like a swarm of flies. As long as it could swat a few of them down, the rest wouldn’t dare keep chasing it.

But as it charged, the two-legged humans before it didn’t show fear, nor did they retreat. Instead, they drove the long things they held into the ground.

’These things are so thin, like the dead branches in the Gobi Desert. They think they can stop me with *these*?’

The Flesh-Splitting Beast’s expression grew more savage.

A human in its path suddenly flung a handful of powder and dust. Its vision was obscured, and it instinctively tried to stop.

But its momentum carried it forward, slamming it into the branches. Pain!

The intense pain made its muscles contract instinctively. Propelled by its momentum, it was unable to brake and tumbled to the ground, but another Long Spear followed immediately.

A sharp pain pierced its chest.

A Long Spear was already buried deep in its heart.

...

SQUELCH. Du Yu pulled out his Long Spear and calmly looked at the fallen Flesh-Splitting Beast. The moment the spear formation had been set—five Long Spears planted in the earth at a forty-five-degree angle to receive the beast’s charge—the outcome had been decided.

The pain would make the opponent halt voluntarily.

Once its charging speed dropped and it lost the advantage of its momentum, the rest could be left to the Long Spears.

Breaking through its defense and hitting a vital organ was merely a matter of one spear or two.

Behind them, the spectators from the Alliance Association and the Student Union stared in silence at the fallen Flesh-Splitting Beast.

It seemed as though the nine of them had taken down such a massive beast without expending much effort at all.

It looked simple.

Eyes: Got it.

Brain: Actually, that looks kind of hard.

A flicker of apprehension crossed Zou Jianghe’s eyes.

Luo Gang watched Cao Biansheng’s back with a sense of relief. When the Flesh-Splitting Beast charged, Cao Biansheng had stood in the center of the formation. The team’s former standout "hero" had become part of the "whole."

This was a good thing, because being a hero was dangerous.

This way, Cao Biansheng would be safer. He wouldn’t have to take risks every single time.

This was also the first time he had been able to directly witness and appreciate this team’s performance during a hunt.

From the group at the rear, someone shouted in a high-pitched, strained voice, "Badass!"

A great roar of cheers followed.

Soon, people came over to help butcher the carcass—skinning it, cutting the meat, and removing the tendons...

Then, a smaller group broke off and continued forward to scout the water source to the south.

Qi Xiang came over and threw an arm around Cao Biansheng’s shoulder. "Damn, Old Cao, you guys were incredible just now! I was sweating bullets for you when that beast charged over. Weren’t you scared at all?"

Cao Biansheng replied nonchalantly, "It was a piece of cake."

Qin Ziwu’s gaze was knowing. ’There he goes again,’ he thought. ’The kid was clearly still trembling a moment ago.’

With the successful hunt, the "Flesh-Splitting Beast" objective was now 1/5 complete.

Before long, the Flesh-Splitting Beast’s body had been completely butchered. The hide, meat, tendons, and bones were separated and packed away.

"Chairman, two of the Long Spear shafts are cracked," Wang Yun said, a little worried. He handed his own Long Spear to Qin Ziwen for inspection. A tiny crack had appeared on the Zhe Wood shaft. Although the crack was fine, it was quite long.

It ran almost a third of the way up the shaft.

The other was Yuan Ming’s. His was made of Mulberry Wood, and its shaft was in even worse shape—it had basically become a pair of "Nunchaku."

Qin Ziwen reassured them, "It’s normal for shafts to get damaged when hunting such large prey. Once you all get stronger, I’ll have you all fitted with solid iron shafts."

Afterward, the main party arrived at the water source in the southern part of the Eastern Canyon.

It was a low-lying depression filled with water, as if a fissure had opened in the earth, allowing groundwater to seep out and form a long, narrow pool on the surface.

The area around the pool was covered in a mess of footprints, suggesting that many animals regularly came here to drink.

Everyone began working near the pool. They started moving stones to build up the surrounding area, planning to enclose the pool and create terrain that would be advantageous for them.

"Chairman Qin, we’ve found one of your targets," Luo Gang said, approaching Qin Ziwen. Some of his students had just spotted a dinosaur while scouting the area.

The dinosaur was quite large, standing nearly two meters tall with a body length of four to five meters. It looked like a smaller version of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

"This target’s weight should meet your requirements. Based on its appearance, it’s likely some kind of Raptor from the Dromaeosauridae family."

Qin Ziwen asked, "What is Dromaeosauridae?"

Luo Gang explained, "The Single Claw Dragons you captured belong to the Dromaeosauridae family. Their most striking feature is a sickle-shaped claw on their second toe, and they have bird-like feathers. The smaller ones are about the size of a Single Claw Dragon, just a few kilograms, but the larger ones can weigh one or two tons."

’This is probably the same kind of dinosaur I heard in the Great Rift Valley that day,’ Qin Ziwen thought.

He then got the target’s specific location from Luo Gang.

"Du Yu, we’ve found your target."

A flicker of excitement appeared in Du Yu’s eyes. He composed himself and said in a low voice, "Understood."

"Stay safe. Your life is the top priority," Qin Ziwen said, patting him on the shoulder.

「In a side passage of the Eastern Canyon, within a sunken and relatively spacious subterranean fissure.」 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

A Desert Raptor was savoring its food—a smaller member of its own kind.

Suddenly, it seemed to hear a noise. It raised its head, its vertical pupils contracting into thin slits.

It slowly straightened its body, its slender tail lashing against the nearby rock like a whip.

...

...