Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse

Chapter 54: Chapter 54: Wolf King and the Brown Bear

Xu Xin watched the Wolf King eating under the tree, hesitating for a moment.

Xu Xin’s goal was to keep the Wolf King as his mount, so his first unexpected shot definitely should be aimed at the Wolf King, but he had also seen the power of the heavy crossbow, which could pierce through a tree; what if it directly killed the Wolf King...

His [Intermediate Mount Contract] could indeed heal injuries, but if it was dead or missing limbs, it probably wouldn’t be healed.

The Wolf King had already slowed down its eating speed, and Xu Xin gritted his teeth: ”Forget it, I can’t just watch it finish eating and walk away. Strike first, if it dies, find another one!”

With this thought, Xu Xin aimed the heavy crossbow at the back of the eating Wolf King, slightly adjusting the direction to reduce the possibility of the Wolf King being killed instantly.

”Yelp!”

Just as he took a deep breath and was about to pull the lever to release the crossbow arrow, Keke suddenly called out, tugging at Xu Xin’s clothes and pointing in a direction with its little paw.

”What’s wrong?” Xu Xin paused his actions.

A few wolves on the outskirts of the pack suddenly howled, with the howling sounding piercing, as if warning of something.

Even the Wolf King, who was eating, stopped and lifted its head.

Xu Xin looked in that direction, then drew a sharp breath: ”Hiss—”

From the shadows of the jungle, a huge figure slowly emerged.

A big guy. Truly a big guy!

Brown fur, a robust body, with limbs as thick as pillars, making it seem unthinkable to fight it. That enormous body was slowly moving towards the wolves’ prey.

The surrounding wolves swiftly made way for this giant.

A brown bear! The largest terrestrial carnivore!

Adult male brown bears in the jungle have no natural enemies except humans, making them the undisputed overlords of the forest, the top predators!

Xu Xin didn’t expect that this wolf pack had actually attracted the forest overlord.

The brown bear’s gigantic and sturdy body made even Xu Xin, who had seen underground monsters, feel a bit intimidated. After all, those monsters were thousands of meters away, not very clear, but this forest overlord was only dozens of meters away.

This giant had an enormous build, with a weight clearly over a thousand kilograms, truly weighing tons. The black bear Xu Xin had previously defeated seemed like a newborn baby next to this big guy.

The largest terrestrial carnivore on Earth, the Kodiak bear, could reach over eleven hundred kilograms, and Xu Xin felt this big guy was definitely no less than the brown bears on Earth, maybe even larger!

Xu Xin even doubted if his heavy crossbow flew over, it might be swatted away by its paw.

He dared not make a sound because he knew brown bears could climb trees, and not slowly either. He only had one heavy crossbow, which, being fixed to the outer wall, couldn’t cover all directions around the treehouse, especially towards the tree trunk.

”The range of the heavy crossbow can’t cover the inner positions beneath the treehouse.” Xu Xin felt the limitations of the heavy crossbow were quite significant.

Fortunately, both the brown bear and the wolf pack were currently within the attack range of the heavy crossbow.

”Let’s observe the situation first. Oh, Wolf King, don’t court death. You’re nothing in front of this big guy. If you die, who will be my mount...” Xu Xin muttered to himself.

Even though the wolf pack was numerous, they had no good solution against the brown bear, as brown bears stealing food from the wolf pack and even toying with them was a common sight on Earth.

At this point, the brown bear had already approached the prey hunted by the wolf pack, completely ignoring the Wolf King.

Before the brown bear got close, the Wolf King started growling with bared fangs. As the leader of the pack, it naturally had to protect the prey hunted by the pack, ensuring its pack could eat, even if facing the forest overlord.

However, the brown bear completely ignored the Wolf King’s warnings, stepped forward, and started to eat the pack’s prey.

Perhaps feeling its authority challenged, the Wolf King began attacking the brown bear actively! It growled, bared its teeth at the brown bear, and reached out with its claws to scratch the bear.

The brown bear only tugged at the deer’s corpse to the side, lazily using its claws to tussle with the Wolf King.

”No!” Xu Xin became anxious watching from above, ”Do you have a death wish?”

The gap between the Wolf King and this brown bear was like a forty-pound child and a two-hundred-pound muscular man; the other wolves could barely match a twenty or thirty-pound child, and even if they all swarmed, they would be swatted away by the bear.

”Yelp!” Keke lay by the window, watching with keen interest.

Wolves fighting a bear, this scene was very familiar to Xu Xin. During the previous beast riot, this was the scene below his treehouse, but that was just a black bear, not comparable to a brown bear.

A wolf and a bear started to tussle, and the other wolves were already scared away, not wanting to face this big fellow.

The Wolf King kept tussling with the brown bear, attacking aggressively, trying to reclaim the prey from the bear’s mouth.

But the brown bear, be it in strength or skill, was far superior to the Wolf King, completely seeing through its attacks, even rolling on the deer’s corpse, toying with the Wolf King.

The brown bear’s fluffy body, paired with what seemed to be a smiling expression, made Xu Xin find this big guy somewhat cute.

Suddenly, Xu Xin felt continuing like this might not be a bad thing.

”If this Wolf King is seriously injured in its confrontation with the brown bear, the wolf pack wouldn’t continue following an incapacitated Wolf King. They usually leave and choose a new king through fights. With the bear having this deer as food, it shouldn’t be interested in the Wolf King, and then it would be the best time for me to contract this Wolf King!”

Having figured this out, Xu Xin relaxed, continuing to watch this battle with no real suspense.

The brown bear still lay sideways on the prey, exposing its belly to the Wolf King, blinking at it with a completely fearless demeanor, akin to a smirking expression and a fluffy face unique to bears, somewhat appearing adorable.

”Predators indeed love to toy with their prey and weaker beings.”

The Wolf King, knowing it wasn’t a match for the brown bear, started circling, pulling, seeking the bear’s weak spot, trying to launch a deadly strike.

Seizing the right moment, the Wolf King suddenly leapt, launching a powerful attack on the brown bear!

As the Wolf King attacked, the brown bear suddenly stood upright and swatted its neck with a paw!

A screech resounded as the Wolf King was slapped away, landing not far off, struggling ceaselessly, with scratches beneath its neck bleeding continuously.

”Indeed, sigh, why bother? Just continue hunting other prey.” Xu Xin shook his head watching the struggling and whimpering Wolf King on the ground.

The distant wolves, not daring to approach, didn’t rush forward due to the Wolf King’s injury but rather faded away more timidly.

The brown bear also ignored the gravely injured Wolf King, focusing on enjoying the delicacy it had obtained.

Xu Xin looked at the fallen Wolf King.

The strongest wolf in the pack, its silver-gray fur now bloodstained, lay struggling on the ground.

It finally managed to stand, no longer approaching but instead moved away from the brown bear, collapsing under a poplar tree.

The distant wolf pack indeed didn’t care for the injured and immobile Wolf King, all turning and running away.

The Wolf King’s body trembled uncontrollably from injury; abandoned by its pack, it might only die here.

It heard the sound of human footsteps, using the last bit of strength to lift its head and look.

In front of it stood a person, smiling at it.

”Do you want to survive? Then make a contract with me.”

PS: This Chapter’s content was inspired by a documentary I watched quite some time ago, a documentary about wolves. It documented the journey of a pregnant female wolf leaving the pack after the Wolf King’s death, raising her pups alone. The Wolf King was slapped to death by a brown bear in front of the pack at the beginning, and the bear indeed rolled on the prey, toying with the pack, an invincible scene indeed =_=