Everyone hoped the Cold Beast wouldn't find the cave and would retreat.
Bang… Bang… Bang...
Perhaps their prayers had an effect, as the Cold Beast's footsteps suddenly slowed.
Not only was it no longer as violent as before, but from the sound, it seemed to be moving farther away from the cave entrance.
Everyone's hearts slightly steadied.
"It should be an accident; the Cold Beast didn't discover the cave and went back."
Only Bruce frowned deeply, feeling something wasn't quite right.
Thinking of something, Bruce suddenly lay down, pressing his ear to the ground.
After listening for less than three breaths, Bruce's face turned alarmed.
He abruptly sprang up from the ground, shouting sharply to everyone:
"Quick, scatter to the sides!"
Everyone jolted and swiftly retreated to the sides of the cave entrance.
Bang…
Almost the moment the eight of them retreated to the sides, six sharp horns broke through the cave entrance instantly.
Not only were the branches and grass used to block the entrance breached, but even the wood materials recently moved by everyone were pierced through by the sharp horns, turning into countless wood chips flying everywhere.
The fierce impact damaged the entire cave entrance.
Deadly cold air mixed with a large amount of sunlight seeped into the cave, and the eight people closest to the entrance, including Bruce, instantly had a layer of frost cover their beast skin skirts.
"Retreat inside, don't fight it here at the entrance!"
Bruce called for the others to retreat inside, but he gritted his teeth and charged forward, grabbing the Cold Beast's sharp horn.
After grabbing the horn, Bruce was almost thrown off by it.
Even as he forced himself to stabilize, the Cold Beast's violent impact made him stagger backward continuously.
Yet even so, Bruce leveraged his footwork to keep adjusting the Cold Beast's charge direction.
After retreating twenty to thirty meters, the beast's impact direction had shifted from the cave interior to the left wall.
His rush forward wasn't to wrestle with the Cold Beast.
This goat-like Cold Beast already had a stronger build than Snow Mane, and its size alone indicated it was unmanageable with his strength, which could barely match an adult Snow Mane.
He just wanted to redirect the Cold Beast's charge.
With everyone retreating inside, if the Cold Beast charged further inside with that force, no one could withstand it.
Just before hitting the left wall, Bruce pushed off it with a strong kick, released his right hand, and drew a stone axe from his waist.
He seized the moment the Cold Beast charged toward the right wall to chop at its head.
Clang...
However, the horned Cold Beast barely moved.
It just slightly tilted its head, using its horns to block Bruce's stone axe.
Not only did it block, but it also shattered the stone axe in Bruce's hand.
Seeing the handle of the stone axe remaining in his hand, Bruce almost felt numb.
"Leader, catch the axe!"
Bruce raised his hand to catch the axe thrown by Charlie, finally relaxing slightly.
Charlie, Tony, and the others had already surrounded the beast, wielding ropes.
Three on one side, four on the other, they threw the ropes and tied the Cold Beast from both sides, then pulled back with full force.
Though all seven were only at the Axeheart Realm, their combined strength was formidable.
Once the Cold Beast's body was bound and unexpectedly pulled, it nearly toppled over.
Roar...
The Cold Beast steadied itself forcefully, letting out an angry roar, echoing throughout the cave.
Realizing it couldn't break free from the ropes in their hands and locked in a stalemate with them, its anger clearly escalated rapidly.
"Keep pulling back!"
The seven of Charlie pulled the Cold Beast away, allowing Bruce to free himself from the wall.
However, he didn't turn to flee; instead, he gestured for Charlie and the others to keep pulling.
Then, with the second stone axe he had just received, he bent forward, straightened his waist, and executed a fierce, upward diagonal chop.
The head of this Cold Beast had six horns that were incredibly large and hard, making it impossible to cut through.
The layer of white mane covering its body, each strand half a meter long, almost coated its entire frame.
During the brief contact moments ago, Bruce had already sensed the hardness of those manes.
Undoubtedly, this Cold Beast's defense was even more terrifying than that of Snow Mane.
Attempting to breach its body under normal circumstances was out of the question.
Its lower jaw seemed to be the only weak point Bruce could think of.
"My strength is already nine thousand seven hundred kilograms. Combined with the Tyler Boxing technique and a weapon, I can exert more than ten thousand kilograms of force. I refuse to believe your bones are this hard!"
The stone axe Bruce swung upward carried a fierce gust, rubbing swiftly against the cold air seeping in from outside, even sparking slightly in mid-air.
The power of this axe chop was beyond imagination.
Feeling threatened, the sheep-shaped Cold Beast's struggles became increasingly frenzied, causing the seven holding the ropes to sway left and right.
Peter, who was the last of the seven to break through, was even pulled to the ground, yet he clung to the rope with gritted teeth, not letting go.
His legs braced against a raised stone on the ground, were scraped continuously until they bled profusely.
Bang...
Desperately holding onto the rope, the seven finally bought Bruce the opportunity for this axe swing.
The stone axe hit the lower jaw, producing a huge clashing sound of stone against bone, as if the air itself vibrated.
However, Bruce's face changed dramatically after the swing.
The stone axe failed to break through the beast's defense; instead, it was shattered by its jawbone, just like the axe that had struck its horn earlier.
This vile creature's jaw was as hard as its horns.
Roar...
Though the stone axe was shattered, the Cold Beast was evidently pierced with intense pain by this blow.
It howled in fury, unleashing power far surpassing before, and almost instantly, broke all the ropes, sending the seven nearby tumbling head over heels.
But it didn't stop there; after breaking free from the ropes, its first target wasn't Bruce who had just chopped it with the stone axe, but Peter instead.
Among the seven who were pulling, Peter was at the head position, pulled directly to the side of the Cold Beast when the ropes snapped, with the nearest proximity.
"Peter, get out of the way!"
Bruce rushed to the front of the Cold Beast, standing in front of Peter.
This time, not opposing it was not an option.
Gritting his teeth, Bruce braced his legs on the ground, seizing the moment to catch the charging horn of the Cold Beast.
Bruce's intent was to withstand the Cold Beast's impact.
Even if he couldn't, he'd at least save Peter; for himself, retreating or getting slightly injured was the worst that could happen.
However, his thinking was too simplistic.
After the Cold Beast's enraged impact, it was on an entirely different level than before.
Bam…
This time, the Cold Beast not only sent him flying, hitting the cave's top wall but almost severed all his ten fingers at the roots.
"Don't touch its horns; you'll get cut!"
Bruce, falling down from the mountain-top wall, looked at the cuts on his hands.
Without time to tend to the blood streaming from his hands, he casually wiped them off and shouted a warning immediately to everyone.
Unfortunately, his warning came too late.
Right after knocking him away, the Cold Beast rushed towards the crowd.
Perhaps the posture of tugging at the rope was too fierce, making the Cold Beast remember it, and its target still remained Peter.
Peter tried to retreat behind the Cold Beast, but he was too slow.
He hadn't taken more than two steps before the Cold Beast's sharp horn had already pressed against his waist.
If pierced, it was certain death.
Standing now, Bruce dashed quickly towards the Cold Beast, but he was too far away to help in any meaningful way.
The other six also attempted to stop the Cold Beast, but their strength was too weak, bouncing off before even getting close.
His fate seemed already sealed.
Detecting the perilous signal from his waist, cold sweat dripped down Peter's forehead.
Glancing sideways at the half-meter-long manes on the Cold Beast, he gritted his teeth, sidestepped, and leaped, grabbing the mane.
Ascending into the air, he astonishingly vaulted, seating himself on the beast's back.
Thud…
Of course, it wasn't smooth.
Though avoiding impalement on his waist, his shoulder was stabbed by the Cold Beast's horn.
If not for the intense survival instinct prompting him to draw his shoulder from the horn, a casual flick from the Cold Beast could have torn his body in two.
The stab through his shoulder seemed to ignite a brutal streak in Peter.
Sitting on the Cold Beast's back, he seized a stone axe and hacked fiercely at its back.
Indeed, as Bruce had surmised, the Cold Beast's defense was far more fearsome than Snow Mane.
Peter chopped dozens of times, only to sever some of the manes, leaving the skin underneath unscathed.
Yet even so, Peter did not halt the axe swings.
Blood from the wound on his shoulder stained half his body, driven by sheer toughness, fearing once he stopped, he might be immobile.
Roar...
Suddenly, for reasons unknown, the Cold Beast let out a heartrending scream.
Seated on its back, Peter was taken aback.
The Cold Beast had little reaction to his relentless chops; why this sudden wail now?
Peter reacted quickly, halting his hand and raising the axe to examine the spot he had just been hacking.
Although much of the Cold Beast's back hair had been chopped off, the manes were still long and covered a large area.
Peter used the axe to part the area he had been chopping, and his expression froze.
Underneath the mane, concealed remarkably, was a palm-sized eye, with a pure golden pupil in the center, staring at him unblinkingly, devoid of emotion.
"This is the weakness!"
Peter did not spend much time examining the eye; noticing the axe mark beside it, he immediately realized this eye was the Cold Beast's weak point.
"There's a golden eye on its back; it should be the weakness!"
Peter shouted to alert everyone, then with a grim expression, raised the stone axe toward the golden eye and swung down fiercely.
"Don't act recklessly, Peter!"
Entangled with the Cold Beast, Bruce, perceiving what Peter intended to do, immediately yelled a warning, but unfortunately, it was too late.
Snow Mane's weakness was the long tongue in its mouth, but its most dangerous part was also that tongue; Frost Wolf's weakness was its small size, yet because of its size, its speed was incredibly fast.
No creature evolves a weakness without reason.
A weakness often signifies greater danger.
Thinking he was about to succeed, Peter's pupils dilated, axe almost about to strike the fist-sized golden pupil.
But at this moment, the golden pupil suddenly emitted a dazzling light, blinding Peter's eyes.
Yet, Peter was reluctant to let this opportunity slip away, closed his left eye, used his right eye and the axe to continue aiming at the pupil without stopping.
Thud...