Thinking that he would catch a few small animals as usual, upon hearing heavy footsteps slowly approaching this way, Rowan immediately hid himself.
A colossal black shadow blocked out half the light; Rowan silently observed this massive creature.
Its head resembled a horse, its neck was long like a giraffe's, and its body was like a bear's; the unique feature was its four broad legs, like boulders.
This was a Stone-Footed Beast; in the beastman world, it was considered a carnivorous animal of quite large size, one that even ordinary beastmen dared not deal with easily.
Rowan originally intended to wait for this big guy to finish eating and leave.
Unexpectedly, the Stone-Footed Beast's sense of smell was extremely keen; after it finished eating, it walked straight toward the large tree where Rowan was hiding.
Clutching the prey in his hand, Rowan was wondering whether to use the food to lure it away.
Today, going out, he only brought a small stone knife and a wooden spear for self-defense; a direct confrontation would certainly be disadvantageous, and Rowan never participated in battles where he did not hold the certainty of victory.
When the Stone-Footed Beast was about to get close, he used all his strength to throw the heavier prey in his hand away; the Stone-Footed Beast smelled the scent and lunged after it.
The snow on the ground was crushed into deep pits; even while running away, Rowan could feel the ground trembling.
The Stone-Footed Beast swallowed the thrown prey; sensing the scent of a fresher, more delicious prey, it quickly chased after Rowan.
Rowan was tripped by the thick layer of snow under his feet; running in the snow could not be fast at all, so he could only agilely climb up a dry tree with a thick trunk.
Trying to climb to the top of the tree, he gasped for breath a few times.
The Stone-Footed Beast circled the base of the tree, unwilling to easily give up the morsel that was about to reach its mouth, and used its robust body to continuously ram into the tree.
Chunks of snow fell from the tree, dropping heavily onto the Stone-Footed Beast; Rowan was shaken and almost lost his grip.
Rowan weighed his options for a moment, threw out all the remaining prey, then moved along the tree trunk to jump to another tree, clinging tightly to a branch.
Relying on his enhanced physique, Rowan slowly moved out of the Stone-Footed Beast's attack range.
Unexpectedly, the Stone-Footed Beast did not want to easily give up this rare meal in the snowy season, turning back to attack once more.
Rowan was annoyed by this troublesome fellow; he originally intended to spare it, yet it insisted on entangling him, seeking death.
He picked up his knife and whittled the wooden spear in his hand to make it sharper.
Finding the right moment, he jumped down from the tree, aiming for the Stone-Footed Beast's fragile throat and stabbing fiercely.
Blood sprayed out; the spear plunged deep into the throat and pinned it firmly to the ground. The Stone-Footed Beast struggled with all its might but could not escape.
Rowan panted, his hands uncontrollably trembling, clutching the stone knife to deliver a few more fatal strikes to the dying Stone-Footed Beast.
The Stone-Footed Beast's long and thick throat was mashed, its trachea severed deeply.
Rowan might not be good at hunting, but when discussing combat power, he certainly ranked at the top.
Finding the enemy's weakness and taking them down in one blow was as easy as turning over a hand for an Alpha who had tasted blood on the battlefield like him.
This time Rowan did not dare to rest for long; he assessed the Stone-Footed Beast on the ground for a moment.
On the way back, Rowan walked heavily, every step leaving a very deep mark.
Just as he came down from the back mountain, Rowan intended to use snow to bury the excess Stone-Footed Beast meat.
A large hand suddenly appeared, stopping his action of digging a snow pit. Turning around to look, he saw Leo staring at him sternly.
Been discovered.
Rowan put the blood-stained stone knife down, silently facing Leo.
"Did you think about the consequences when going hunting on your own? Omeginas in the tribe are not allowed to go out by themselves; it is very dangerous." Leo was very angry; he had just returned from hunting and intended to find Rowan, only to hear an Omegina say they had seen him walking toward the back mountain.
Initially, Leo thought Rowan just wanted to get familiar with the places where Omeginas usually were active.
Unexpectedly, what he found was an Omegina sneaking out of the back mountain to hunt, his body covered in bloodstains, and still hiding the evidence.
Outsiders who didn't know better would think their Snow Leopard tribe couldn't afford to feed an Omegina, to the point where the Omegina had to go hunting himself.
Since he had been discovered, Rowan confronted Leo directly: "I have the ability to hunt, why am I not allowed to go out?"
"I admit you are very strong, but the premise is that there must be a beastman watching over you. Why didn't you tell me?" Leo was mad enough to explode, but mostly he was heartbroken because the Omegina did not consider him a support.
"I just wanted to let loose for a bit; following everyone would affect my ability."
Leo laughed in anger; this was the first time an Omegina had disparaged a beastman right on the hunting grounds.
"Do you despise us beastmen for getting in your way? Do you know what an Omegina will face if they go out on their own?"
"I can protect my own safety, and I won't easily take risks." Rowan frowned; he was being treated as a weakling who needed supervision here again.
Seeing that Rowan had absolutely no intention of listening to advice, Leo decisively ordered: "Starting from today, I will send beastmen to strengthen the patrol; absolutely won't let you go out on your own again."
"Also, you suddenly hunting so much food is for that Silver-Winged Snake beastman, isn't it?"
The topic shifted too quickly; Rowan's expression instantly became peculiar.
Leo was still observing Rowan's expression, and he caught that fleeting look of unnaturalness.
Sure enough.
Although the scents of beastmen in the tribe were different, generally they did not differ much; only the characteristic scent of the Silver-Winged Snake beastman was too prominent in the Snow Leopard tribe.
What made him most certain were the wounds that appeared inexplicably on Rowan's body.
Leo pressed step by step: "Is that Silver-Winged Snake beastman currently in your cave?"
"What beastman? There isn't one; from start to finish, there has only been me in the cave." Rowan replied firmly, trying to extinguish Leo's suspicion.
Hmph, just what kind of bewitching potion did that Silver-Winged Snake beastman feed the Omegina? Making the Omegina protect him everywhere, and even daring to go hunting alone to feed him.
Truly losing the face of beastmen.