She casually picked up a long wooden stick nearby, preparing to use it to drive the giant cow along.
With his broad shoulders and long legs, Minho carried the calf forward, leaving deep footprints with every step.
As they passed the giant cow, it let out a loud moo and tried to rise violently to reclaim its calf.
Minho swept a cold glance toward it with his red vertical pupils.
The giant cow immediately collapsed back onto its knees in the mud with a heavy thud.
Hayoon could not help laughing helplessly.
She spoke gently to it. "Do not worry. We are taking it back to treat its injuries."
Whether the giant cow understood her or had simply been completely frightened by Minho, it did not attack again.
After a long while, when Minho had already carried the calf far away, the giant cow finally recovered enough strength to slowly stand up and follow after them.
Hayoon's eyes lit up happily. "It worked!"
The calf had no strength left, and the giant cow cooperated willingly, so guiding it afterward required almost no effort from Hayoon.
Gradually, the calf regained a little strength and even began mooing weakly to call for its mother.
Hearing those cries, the giant cow followed even more eagerly.
However, traveling on foot was far slower than moving in beast form.
A journey that had taken only a few hours in the morning ended up taking them an entire afternoon on the return trip.
By the time they reached home, the sun was already setting.
Fortunately, Hayoon had brought food with her, so they had something to eat whenever they got hungry.
Haeun had been waiting anxiously for a long time.
The ground was covered with footprints from pacing back and forth.
The moment he saw them return, he hurried over immediately.
"Sis! Minho! You finally came back! I thought something had happened to you two. I was about to go look for the chief and the others!"
Haeun looked them up and down carefully.
After confirming they were not injured, he finally let out a long sigh of relief.
Then he asked, "What are you carrying? I have never seen anything like it before."
Hayoon lifted a hand slightly. "I call them cows. Wait a moment first. We need to rest and drink some water."
Haeun immediately replied, "I will go get water! Wait here!"
Minho had already placed the calf on the ground outside the grass shed.
After following them all the way here, the giant cow seemed to understand that they truly did not intend to harm them.
It moved closer and repeatedly licked the calf's fur with its thick tongue.
Hayoon and Minho sat down and drank quite a lot of water.
Even for Minho, carrying a calf over such a long distance had left his breathing slightly uneven.
Still, he recovered faster than Hayoon.
After putting down his bowl, he said to Haeun, "I need your help with something."
Haeun immediately replied, "Minho, just say it."
"Go to the tribe and bring a few strong beastmen here."
"Alright! I will go right away!"
Haeun instantly transformed into a giant panda and ran off with heavy pounding footsteps.
After being well fed by Hayoon during this period of time, he was finally no longer just chubby.
His body had become properly sturdy, and when he ran, the flesh on his body jiggled with every step.
Not long afterward, several enormous bears came thundering back behind Haeun.
Usually, Hayoon thought Haeun's two-meter-tall figure was already huge, but now he only reached about half the height of the other beastmen.
The bears transformed into human form. Leading them was Beom, the chief's son, followed by Leeho and the others.
"Minho, Haeun said you called for us?" Beom glanced at the two unfamiliar beasts and froze for a moment before asking, "Aren't these Bubalo? Our tribe made an agreement with the others not to hunt this kind of beast."
Minho replied, "I know. I did not call you here to kill them. I need help holding down the little Bubalo so I can treat it."
Beom nodded. "True. If you wanted to kill them, you could do it alone. Whew, this little Bubalo is badly injured. Did you carry it back yourself?"
Minho gave a quiet hum and motioned for everyone to come over.
While Haeun had gone to call people, Minho had already prepared the medicinal herbs.
Leeho carefully rolled up the sleeves of his linen clothes and stood near the calf's head, firmly holding it down.
"I have not seen a Bubalo in many years. I thought they had already gone extinct around here. Yet you two found both a mother and her calf at once."
The other beastmen also took positions around the calf, pinning it down as they joined the conversation.
"Yeah. Bubalo meat is especially delicious. I only ate it a few times, but I have remembered the taste for years."
"We still have to wait another three years before Bubalo hunting is allowed again. Sigh."
"Well, people hunted too many of them before. They were almost wiped out."
Only Beom did not approach.
He transformed into his black bear beast form and kept a close watch on the mother Bubalo.
Hayoon and Haeun could not really help, so they stayed farther away.
Without warning, Minho spoke. "Hold it steady."
"Got it!" everyone answered seriously.
His expression remained calm and focused.
With swift, precise, and steady movements, he pulled out the tree branch while the calf cried out and struggled in pain.
Fresh blood splattered from the wound.
Immediately afterward, he washed the injury clean with water and quickly but carefully applied medicine to it.
He even wrapped the wound diagonally using a short woven grass mat he had prepared earlier.
"Moo... moo..."
The bleeding slowly stopped.
The calf no longer seemed to be in as much pain, and its struggling gradually settled down into weak cries.
The mother Bubalo was blocked by Beom and could not get closer, her calls filled with anxiety.