Among the branches of the Bone Race, there were many different creatures. Their commonality was their hard, well-developed skeletons.
Creatures like the Bone Lizards were relatively manageable, as the bone coverage on their bodies wasn't complete.
Upon closer observation, one would notice many gaps in the bone exterior of the Bone Lizards.
Apart from their skeletal structure, another common trait was their scarcity of meat.
Setting aside the hardness of the Bone Lizard's skeleton and its hunting rank, the edible meat from one was only about five pounds… precisely what Law had extracted.
In other words, after painstakingly killing a Bone Lizard, one still had to find a way to break through its hard skeletal protection, only to obtain around five pounds of meat from its large body.
It was a case of "more effort than reward."
Thus, as prey, Bone Lizards were extremely unsatisfactory. If not for their tendency to actively attack other creatures, the Slu Tribe would never provoke them during hunts.
In this encounter, the Slu Tribe had lost hundreds of companions. If the hunt had been bountiful, it wouldn't have been just about mitigating losses… it could have even meant gains outweighing the sacrifices, giving value to their companions' deaths.
But unfortunately, the trophies littering the ground were Bone Lizards.
The surviving Slu Tribe's members didn't show overt despair, but deep down, they felt a deep sense of worthlessness, as their companions' sacrifices had been in vain.
Therefore, when Law effortlessly extracted the meat, it completely shocked them.
The scene fell silent for a moment. Almost simultaneously, the Slu tribe members dismounted their White Silkworms and bowed deeply to Law.
They didn't speak or make any requests, knowing the language barrier existed. But their bow was a request in action.
Seeing this, not only Law but also Biscuit and Tonpa were stunned.
As outsiders, they didn't understand the Slu Tribe's survival principles, nor did they grasp what Law's act of extracting meat meant to the tribe.
On the rocky ground lay the bodies of hundreds of Slu Tribe's members and White Silkworms.
Even if they couldn't take the food, they had means to transport their companions' bodies using the White Silkworms' silk. But they didn't.
Because the Slu Tribe had no burial culture. They believed that after death, bodies should 'decompose' in the underground caves.
This so-called decomposition meant being consumed by the creatures of the underground caves.
One could interpret this as a form of feedback, akin to becoming fertilizer for the underground ecosystem.
This was one of the Slu Tribe's survival principles. Another was avoiding meaningless killing and refusing to endure meaningless sacrifices.
To the surviving Slu Tribe's members, the battle with the Bone Lizard horde was a meaningless slaughter, and the hundreds of companions lying dead represented a meaningless sacrifice.
However, Law had the ability to change this. So, they bowed to request his help in extracting the deserved trophies, ensuring the slaughter wouldn't be meaningless and giving value to their companions' sacrifices.
Bruna extended her tentacles, reestablishing the communication bridge between Law and Slufin.
At that moment, Slufin raised his head, tears streaming down his face.
His reaction wasn't excessive at all. The harshness of their survival environment was something outsiders like Law and his group could never truly comprehend.
The piece of meat in his hand, weighing about five pounds and with a texture and chewiness that weren't particularly great, was as vital as water in a desert to Slufin and his companions.
Law didn't ask the bowing Slu Tribe's members to rise. Instead, he worked as quickly as possible to extract the spine meat from each Bone Lizard's carcass.
Slowly, the Slu Tribe's members raised their heads, stood up, and silently collected the meat Law had carved out. Biscuit and Tonpa also pitched in to help.
Silently, the Slu Tribe's members' gratitude toward Law continued to grow.
At this moment, the Slu Tribe had no idea just how much help these outsiders they had stumbled upon would bring them in the future.
Before long, each White Silkworm was loaded with a sufficient amount of meat, making it a truly fruitful return. The gloom that had hung over the group eased slightly.
Every Slu Tribe's member excitedly thanked Law. Even though he couldn't understand their words, he grasped their meaning well enough.
Law never expected that such a small effort on his part could be of such great help to the members of the Slu Tribe.
Afterward, the group hurriedly departed for their settlement.
The Slu Tribe had unique legs and eyes… large areas of white with small black pupils.
They possessed night vision and were unafraid of bright light.
Law's group lacked night vision, and after consuming a significant amount of Aura in the battle with the Bone Lizards, they retracted the luminous algae, cutting off the continuous Aura output, and switched to flashlights.
The team left the area.
About fifteen minutes later, pairs of golden eyes appeared in the darkness. They belonged to canine-like creatures with entirely crimson bodies.
Their size followed the Dark Continent's style, quite large and robust, twice the size of the White Silkworms.
The red dogs had long, curved limbs, elongated necks, protruding golden eyes without pupils, over a dozen bony spikes on their backs, and long, lizard-like tails also covered in bony spikes, resembling intimidating clubs.
The body structure of these unknown canines shared a high similarity with the Bone Lizards… both belonged to the Bone Race.
About a hundred Bone Dogs emerged from the darkness in a pack.
They ignored the Slu Tribe's members' corpses and began feasting on the bone-covered Bone Lizards littering the ground.
Just then, the sound of flapping wings echoed. Large bats with enormous mouths flew in from a certain direction, diving straight toward the human corpses and the plump, meaty White Silkworms on the ground.
The giant-mouthed bats were stealing food, yet the hundred Bone Dogs didn't attack them.
Surprisingly, the two groups coexisted harmoniously, perhaps because the Bone Dogs had no interest in the Slu Tribe's corpses or the White Silkworms.
Both sides were feeding. The peaceful atmosphere lasted only about ten seconds before being shattered by faint whistling sounds.
From the darkness, ten bone spikes wrapped in a faint white light shot through the air, impaling the giant-mouthed bats against the rocky ground and walls.
These bats seemed to lack ultrasonic abilities, or perhaps the bone spikes were too fast.
They flapped frantically into the air but were still pierced by bone spikes shooting from the darkness, dying instantly.
In less than a minute, all the giant-mouthed bats were dead.
"Heh."
A feminine-sounding laugh echoed.
Following the sound, a petite figure came into view. It had a pair of bone wings on its back, folded and still, and below them a slender, segmented tail resembling ribs.
The figure slowly walked to the Slu Tribe's members' corpses, extended a hand with long, sharp nails, pierced a corpse's chest, and dug out a bloody heart.
It brought the heart to its face and began nibbling on it.
In the darkness, a pair of golden eyes with vertical pupils gleamed, filled with a sense of delight.