"Ah…"
Peter's piercing scream echoed throughout the cave.
Bruce and the others quickly turned to look, feeling a sudden chill down their spines.
His axe ultimately failed to strike down.
Not only did it not come down, it seemed as if his right eye was pulled out by some unseen force, leaving only a hollow socket, with blood flowing out, an incredibly gruesome sight.
"You guys hold it down, I'll rescue him!"
Despite the chill in his heart, Bruce quickly made a decision, ordered everyone, and with a determined pull, grabbed the Cold Beast's mane and leapt onto its back.
Without hesitation, he reached for Peter, and threw him downwards, where Charlie and the others immediately caught him.
"Leader, don't look at the eye on its back.
My left eye was closed just now, and it seems something came out and snatched my eyeball."
Although Peter had lost his right eye, his consciousness remained clear.
Before descending, he shouted out loud to warn them.
Bruce took a deep breath, moved in the direction the Cold Beast was struggling towards, and dared not lower his head to look.
Instead, he stretched out his hand to feel around on the Cold Beast's back.
Not long after, Bruce felt the location of the golden eye.
"Disperse and control its four limbs, just for a moment—quickly!"
Hearing Bruce, Charlie and the others looked at the Cold Beast, despite their fear, quickly discarded their stone axes, and rushed forward empty-handed.
The stone axes couldn't break through the Cold Beast's defenses, they were useless, and holding onto them would only be a burden, hindering their strength.
Jordan and Clint rushed to the Cold Beast's rear, both grabbing its right hind leg.
Clark and Nick grabbed the left hind leg.
Tony and Charlie went to the front, grabbing a front leg each.
Roar…
The distribution seemed reasonable, but compared to the Cold Beast's strength, the six of them were clearly not enough.
The Cold Beast struggled madly, dragging the six across the ground in a crazed run.
The cave was already small, just a few dozen meters from front to back, and Charlie and Tony were slammed repeatedly.
The six of them were all vomiting blood—either trampled by the Cold Beast or slammed against the walls from the impact.
Even so, the six refused to let go, stubbornly clinging to the Cold Beast's limbs, gritting their teeth to create just that fleeting opportunity for Bruce.
Bruce hadn't moved—not that he didn't want to, but the Cold Beast's commotion was too terrifying.
Compared to the six clutching its limbs below, the Cold Beast clearly deemed the man on its back a greater threat, so whenever it hit a wall, it would deliberately use its back and tail.
Bruce was also slammed multiple times, but his left hand clutched the mane steadfastly, not allowing himself to fall, while his right hand remained at the eye's position he had just touched.
"Don't let go, just hold on a bit longer, it's about to lose strength."
Bruce shouted to the group, his face growing fierce.
"I refuse to believe this beast has unlimited strength!"
The seven of them steadfastly contended with the Cold Beast for over half a minute, refusing to let go no matter how many times they were trampled or slammed.
Finally, after once again hitting the wall, the Cold Beast suddenly hesitated.
Exhale…
It panted.
The moment was now.
Bruce's pupils narrowed sharply, retrieving his right hand and drawing out a short dagger no more than five inches long from his waist, thrusting it fiercely into the position he had spent so long memorizing.
Squelch.
"Let go, everyone move aside!"
Knowing he had succeeded, Bruce immediately shouted for Charlie and the others to back away.
The six clinging tightly to the Cold Beast's limbs instantly let go and retreated sharply.
Roar…
With the Cold Beast's pained wailing, a warm stream enveloped Bruce's hand as it started to thrash even more violently beneath him.
By now, Bruce was no longer afraid, riding on the Cold Beast's back, watching its golden eye.
As it turned out, he had thrust the dagger too forcefully—not only did the short blade go in, but even his hand plunged inside.
The warm stream was the feeling of his hand submerged in blood after the eye was pierced.
Having its golden eye on its back pierced was clearly more than just a matter of pain for the Cold Beast.
For Bruce, who was riding its back, the sensation was most direct.
In the moment the eye was first pierced, though the Cold Beast burst forth with a more terrifying power than before, as time passed, its movements started distorting and slowing, and the strength it could muster grew weaker and weaker.
Even so, Bruce dared not be careless, still straddling its back, clutching its mane firmly.
Finally, when the eye on the Cold Beast's back stopped bleeding, its limbs became unsteady until it collapsed with a thud.
Only at this moment did Bruce truly relax.
He could feel up close that the Cold Beast's vitality had completely faded.
After letting go, a strong sense of exhaustion immediately overwhelmed him.
"Dead?"
"Really dead?"
"It's dead, everyone come over!"
Bruce's response allowed Charlie, Yuan Charlie, and the others to completely relax their tense minds.
Realizing it was finally over, smiles appeared on everyone's faces.
"Hahaha, after dodging it so many times before, didn't expect it to come to us."
"That was close. Without the leader, the outcome wouldn't be certain."
"I was holding its hind leg just now, several times felt I'd be stomped to death. If it weren't for seeing you all holding on, I might not have lasted."
"Hahaha, same here."
Nothing binds people like a fight for survival.
Although everyone was more or less wounded, some severely, the way they looked at each other clearly showed something more than before.
Listening to their lighthearted banter post-crisis, Bruce felt much more at ease.
However, there was still the severely injured one; he wasn't sure of his condition.
"Where's Peter? How is Peter?"
Hearing the concern, everyone quickly looked toward the back of the cave.
"Leader, I'm fine. Have someone seal the cave first; many adults' faces are already turning frosty blue, and some children are barely hanging on."
Despite losing his right eye, Peter remained conscious, responding to Bruce while reminding him to quickly seal the entrance.
Bruce turned to look at the crowd, realizing only then that the faces of adults and children alike were frozen blue.
He quickly got up to lead the effort to seal the entrance and start a fire.
The battle lasted less than ten minutes.
Yet in those ten minutes, the ordinary people in the camp had already reached their limits.
In fact, it wasn't just them; even Bruce, after stepping away from the fight, quickly felt the cold.
The day was indeed terrifying!
Bruce let the more seriously injured Charlie and others rest first, while he led the group to block the entrance.
Peter lay on the ground, so those helping were other adults from the camp.
"Leader, you're injured. Please rest; we'll handle this."
Bruce was carrying things when he heard the concern, turned, and gave a slight smile, saying, "I'm fine, hardly injured at all. Let's hurry. Once the entrance is sealed, we can start a fire and keep everyone warm."
The others chimed in, faces showing gratitude.
"Leader, we can handle such a small task; don't worry!"
The middle-aged man who had asked Bruce to rest was also moved.
He stepped toward Bruce, wanting to help carry the wood he held.
Bruce's eyes flickered slightly but he didn't refuse, handing over the wood instantly.
Unexpectedly, just as the man reached Bruce.
A sudden change occurred.
He abruptly swung his right fist fiercely at Bruce's head.
This sudden development sent all into a panic.
No one thought Bruce would get injured, because the one who ambushed him was an ordinary person.
Even if that middle-aged man was very close, it couldn't change the fact that he was just an ordinary person.
He had no cultivation, and even though Bruce had just finished fighting the Cold Beast, with injuries on him and signs of exhaustion, it was still the same.
The Axeheart Realm doesn't just mean being able to go out and chop wood.
The enhancement of Basic Strength means that the physical constitution far exceeds that of ordinary people.
The reason everyone was panicked was, firstly, due to the urgent situation, and secondly, because they didn't expect it.
Why did an ordinary middle-aged man in the camp attack Bruce?
Bang…
However, when Bruce raised his hand and caught the middle-aged man's fist, stepping back over ten meters, everyone's face in the camp immediately changed.
Bruce was the strongest person in the camp at the moment.
Even if that wasn't mentioned, the strength he showed while fighting the Cold Beast was seen by everyone.
To be able to punch him over ten meters.
How could it possibly be an ordinary person?
"I recognize him, isn't that Conan?"
"How could it be him, it's fake."
"Fake?"
---
There were only a little over a hundred people in Harper, and they basically all knew each other.
It wasn't long before someone recognized the middle-aged man and called out his name.
But even quicker, everyone immediately realized that the person wasn't Conan.
"You actually guarded against me, you little thing, quite cautious!"
That Conan spoke again, but this time, the voice sounded like wood being rubbed together, both harsh and unpleasant, making one feel repulsed from within.
Bruce shook his sore hand, lifted his head to look at the middle-aged man, and there wasn't much surprise on his face, instead, he displayed a cold smile.
"I said, how did that Cold Beast suddenly come to this hillside? Turns out you drove it here, didn't dare show yourself, brought a Cold Beast over, what a waste of your skills."
Charlie, Tony, and four others had already arrived here, surrounding the middle-aged man, their faces vigilant.
After hearing the strange sound from the middle-aged man, the six of them were in no doubt that the figure before them was not a person at all, but the Mimicking Monster from Redwood Ridge that brought them great disaster three months ago.
"Hehehehe, I originally thought it could solve you guys, who knew this wicked creature was too weak, still had to take some effort from me, those six are basically done, and how much strength do you have left, all your over hundred lives are mine, hahaha…"
The middle-aged man's laughter was eerie and twisted, just like during that previous massacre at the camp, as if the Mimicking Monster had a special penchant for killing people.
Although Bruce was staring at the middle-aged man in front, his peripheral vision was constantly scanning the surroundings, and the middle-aged man made him even more assured of the previous suspicion.
The Mimicking Monster was indeed controlling these imposters from behind.
He himself had never shown up.
It was only that the opponent seemed to have been scared off by his fire last time.
This time not only letting the Cold Beast come first as a vanguard but also mixing into the camp as people amidst the chaos, trying to deal with him through ambush.
Perhaps that punch just confirmed how little strength Bruce had left, making the Mimicking Monster's laugh more rampant, surveying the over hundred people in the camp, with a gradually emerging bloodthirsty gleam in its eyes.
"Don't be too happy just yet, take a look at your own palm."
Bruce's slightly mocking voice made the Mimicking Monster's laugh pause.
Somewhat puzzled, it lowered its head to look at its palm, only then discovering the section that hit Bruce had unknowingly gotten smeared with a layer of yellow oil stain.
"Trying to deceive me? What crap…ah…"
The Mimicking Monster looked puzzled, thinking Bruce was posturing, but before it could finish its words, the oil stain mysteriously caught fire just like it did in the cave last time, emitting sharp and painful screams of anguish.
"Ah…ah…again this fire…ah…"
Bruce, sitting on the ground, slightly breathed a sigh of relief.
Over these past few days, the Iron Melting Furnace only produced one batch of Solidified Fire Oil.