Chapter 35- Rhinoceros Subjugation (2)

Luckily, they weren't attacked in their sleep. The other team was also fine, they had only come across the occasional beast that bravely challenged them. They hadn't yet stumbled onto traces of the Rhinoceros, so they continued to explore the forest.

Maxwell's group asked the village chief for information on the attacks. Nobody remembered which side it charged at them from since they were all filled with panic and fear. They did get to know the last house to be destroyed.

"Let's see the wreckage, we can find a direction to search in based on the damage." Mira directed the group.

"It looks like it stopped after tearing through the house and then it turned around." Jeffrey commented, based on the scattered wood and other debris.

"It could've gone anywhere from here."

"No, Serena you're wrong. We can leave out many places because of the terrain and obstacles." Mira said, while analyzing their surroundings for the most probably directions it could travel.

"It could've gone there, next to that house, or slightly away from the side it came from." Maxwell said, while pointing out the 2 locations that he had deduced from their combined observations.

"You're quite good at this Maxwell." Jeffrey commented while patting him on his back.

"Thanks. There are still more places. That side, towards the unused field and uhh…"

"That is all of them. You're faster than me at tracking its direction." Mira applauded his work.

"Okay, you both take one direction each, be careful. Me and Maxwell will take this path." Mira directed the group to do their work.

"Got it. I'll run if I feel any tremors." Jeffrey yelled as he went towards his direction.

The ground was dry since it was summer so they would have no luck finding footprints. The forest on the outskirts of the village was not that dense from being slowly chopped away at, so they would have to head further inside to search for any destruction caused by the Rhinoceros.

The direction Maxwell and Mira headed down was clear enough for a large animal to travel through.

"How old are you?" Mira asked suddenly, catching Maxwell off guard.

"Huh, oh. 14."

"You're quite tall for a 14-year-old."

"I had a growth spurt while cultivating."

"That shouldn't be possible, cultivating slows down the aging of our bodies."

"It didn't affect the aging of my body."

"That's weird. Okay get ready. There are traces of qi from the Rhinoceros."

'I couldn't sense that at all, I guess Spiritual Sense loses to Divine Sense in terms of sensitivity by a large gap.'

'Yuck what's that smell?' Mira yelled while holding her nose shut.

"It seems to be dung, it's not that bad, dragon dung is much worse."

"Where did you even find dragon dung? Dragon dung is rare, in the first place dragons don't leave it in the open. They rarely even need to excrete. They are noble creatures, so they dispose of it sanitarily."

"I bought it with some help from some acquaintances."

They came across a giant pile of dung. Flies were already circling it and it seemed quite fresh.

"It might be resting nearby, this isn't more than an hour old. Let's get everyone here."

They ran back to the village while contacting the other group with the talisman. Mira got the other 2 to return with her divine sense. They left some markers on the way back to return faster.

After an hour, everyone had gathered up at the village.

"We stumbled upon fresh Rhino dung, it should be nearby, and it might be resting. This is the perfect opportunity to attack it if it's asleep." Mira informed everyone else of the situation.

"Okay, everyone take your position. Don't spread your divine sense, we can't alert it. We have to find it the hard way." Arnold commanded and took the lead.

They took their formations and they delved into the woods once more. Everyone was anxious and their eyes were peeled for any sign of their enemy.

*crack*

Everyone jumped slightly at the sound of a stick breaking in the tense atmosphere.

"Relax, it's only a stick I broke." Arnold announced, comforting everyone.

"I can smell the dung now." Daniel spoke as the foul smell reached everyone's noses. Everyone closed their noses and continued to move forward in a synchronized movement. They reached the dung that was now quite dry, and they chose a direction with an easy to traverse area, based on their estimate of the Rhinoceros' size. They started to stumble upon many different traces of the Rhino. There were some footprints in areas with soft soil, there were trampled shrubs and eaten plants with giant bite marks.

They didn't feel any thuds or tremors in the ground, so they were sure it was asleep somewhere. They carefully walked, with each step taken delicately to not create too much noise.

They had no luck and they started to sweat with the heat getting to them. After enduring the smell for over 30 minutes, they got used to it and they unplugged their noses.

"We aren't near any other beast's territories, right?"

"No, we should be fine here."

After a whole hour of being unable to find the Rhinoceros, they took a break. They hadn't used qi to keep themselves hidden and it had taken a toll on their body as they were all used to performing tiring activities with their qi.

Maxwell was perfectly fine, with his years of venturing through forests without qi. Currently, he couldn't control his qi enough to hide it perfectly if he used it, so he kept off using it like everyone else.

"We have to find it quickly before it wakes up. It doesn't need to rest long with its level."

"Don't get impatient, we will find it soon." Arnold said, while examining their surroundings.

"We won't have a good time fighting in such close quarters."

"Neither will the Rhinoceros, it will have a much harder time with its size, and it can't maneuver as well with such less room." Daniel pointed out.

"We can make it hit some trees and rocks."

"You can lure it into doing that."

"Everyone, get up now. This much fatigue won't remain once we use our qi."

"Ugh, my legs still hurt." Jeffrey complained.

"Don't be a wimp, this much pain won't be anything compared to getting hit by the Rhinoceros if you stop paying attention."

He trudged along behind Arnold and Maxwell, complaining about the pain. Everyone else quietly followed.

The group came to a stop as Arnold gave them a hand signal and they all gathered quietly next to him, hidden by the plants. They saw a pond overlooked by a towering cliff that was a hundred meters above them.

Next to the pond, lay a Magnificent Beast, the color of the earth around it. It's tough brown skin, glistened under the sun like marble. It's 2 horns were dazzling in appearance, but they were sure to be extremely deadly. The front horn was 4 meters in length while the other, shorter one behind it was a meter in length. Both horns were extremely smooth. They were perfectly in shape with not a hint of damage on them.

*Snort*

The Rhinoceros let out a large amount of air from its huge nostrils, flinging mucus everywhere on the ground. Saliva dripped out of its open mouth. It was sleeping in a crouched position with its four limbs being bent beneath its large figure.

'That's very huge. It's around 50 percent larger than we guessed it to be.'

Everyone went into their battle positions and kept a watch on the sleeping beast as Maxwell set up formations around them to hold it in place once it walked onto it. He set up traps in every direction except towards the cliff.

They were sure it was deep in sleep based on its lack of movement, so they approached it trying to find a weak spot in its thick armor.

Arnold took soft steps and cautiously went near it with metal knuckles on his fists. He was going to hurt one of its legs so that it couldn't chase after them easily or quickly. Maxwell activated all the formations and everyone surrounded the Rhino, leaving 10 meters of space in between the Rhinoceros and them.

The Rhinoceros suddenly tensed up its muscles. It had woken up.

"Run back! Quickly." Maxwell shouted at Arnold who hadn't noticed it.

The Rhinoceros swung its head straight at Arnold, it's horns aimed at his chest. He hadn't used qi yet, so he was much slower. He couldn't dodge out of the way of the attack and he was flung into a boulder.

The boulder cracked under the force and the air was knocked out of Arnold's lungs.

"Don't break formation, we have to continue attacking." Mira yelled at everyone.

They all used their qi and strength filled their body. The Rhinoceros turned towards Kara, who was the closest to it currently. It started kicking up dust in anger, ready to charge.