Chapter 45: The Hunt, The Beaver Beast (Part 1)

"First is the throwing of mud," Wenlong patiently explained to Catherine, "The Beaver Beast has two ways of throwing mud. One is by using its claws to throw large chunks of mud upwards, which then fall in a parabolic arc. The other is by using its tail to scoop up soil and fling it forward. Either way, getting hit by it would be very troublesome."

"Mr. Cat, how should I avoid these two attacks?" Catherine asked.

"Simple. If the mud is thrown in a parabolic arc, you need to keep moving to make it hard for the Beaver Beast to pinpoint your position. If the mud is thrown forward, just stay at an angle to the Beaver Beast. Of course, since you use a greatsword, you can also defend yourself directly with it, meow!"

"I see." Catherine nodded, carefully memorizing Wenlong's instructions.

"Compared to throwing mud, the Beaver Beast's more troublesome ability is its burrowing. If you see the Beaver Beast start digging tunnels, the best thing to do is to stay as far away from its digging point as possible, otherwise, you might get attacked from below, meow!"

"Attacked from below..."

Although Wenlong had explained the two most threatening moves of the Beaver Beast to Catherine, she still couldn't fully imagine the real situation of fighting the Beaver Beast just by imagination.

Seeing Catherine's mind filled with thoughts of the Beaver Beast's attacks, Wenlong continued, "The two moves I just described are the more special ones. There are also some more common moves, like pouncing, rolling, and swiping, which many toothed beasts can do. The Beaver Beast can do these too, but I won't go into each one in detail. You'll see them all in action, meow."

"However..." Wenlong's tone suddenly became more serious, "There's one more thing to be especially careful about. The Beaver Beast is very intelligent and can use tools to some extent, like humans. So besides those specific moves, you also need to be wary of the Beaver Beast using objects around it as weapons. That can be very dangerous, meow."

"Really, it can do that?"

Compared to the charge of the Great Boar King, the variety of moves the Beaver Beast had made Catherine feel overwhelmed. She was starting to worry if she could correctly respond to all of the Beaver Beast's moves.

"Don't worry too much. No matter how many tricks the Beaver Beast has, it's still just a monster on the same level as the Great Boar King. Once you get used to its moves, it won't be so scary," Wenlong reassured her. "In any case, talking a thousand times is not as good as practicing once. Now, I'll take you to hunt the Beaver Beast, meow!"

"Okay!" Although she had some doubts, seeing Wenlong's confident demeanor, Catherine immediately regained her confidence.

"As long as Mr. Cat is here, everything will be fine. No, that's not right. I need to work harder and not always rely on others!" Catherine thought to herself.

Soon, Wenlong and Catherine were ready for the hunt. They wore their gear, and brought food and potions to ensure everything went smoothly. Their first destination was the place where they were attacked by the Beaver Beast the previous night. However, upon revisiting the area, they found no sign of the Beaver Beast.

"Looks like it's moved far away, meow..." Wenlong muttered to himself, carefully observing the direction and depth of the river, as if deep in thought.

"Mr. Cat... I have a question. This river is so long, how are we going to find the Beaver Beast? And you said it can dig holes. If it's hiding in a hole, won't we not be able to see it?" Catherine couldn't help but ask, seeing Wenlong in deep thought.

"It's simple," Wenlong smiled, "The Beaver Beast does have the habit of hiding in holes, but its home is very easy to recognize. In fact, it's hard not to notice, meow!"

"Is... that so?"

"Yes, come on, woman. The Beaver Beast should be downstream, meow!" Wenlong said, as if he had an idea, and started walking downstream. Throughout the journey, he continued to impart hunting knowledge to Catherine.

"A true hunter must not only learn to defeat prey but also to find it. It's embarrassing to have great skills but not be able to find prey. So, besides understanding the combat techniques of the prey, we must also understand its daily habits, meow!"

"For example, the Beaver Beast has the habit of building dams with branches and mud. Their nests are usually inside these dams..."

"Wait, Mr. Cat, did I hear that right? The Beaver Beast builds dams?" Catherine's eyes widened in surprise at this strange knowledge.

"Don't be so surprised, woman. Remember, I already said the Beaver Beast is very intelligent, meow!" Wenlong continued, "To build a dam, they use their sharp claws to knock down large trees and wedge them in the river to form the main structure. After using multiple tree trunks and branches to build the main structure of the dam, they fill the gaps with soil they dig up to ensure the dam doesn't leak easily..."

"Of course, simply piling up branches and soil isn't enough to block the river. So, the Beaver Beast uses its broad tail to repeatedly beat the sides of the dam, using the immense force of its tail to compact the soil, making the dam strong enough to hold back the river, meow."

Listening to Wenlong's explanation, Catherine, with her ears perked up, felt as if she were listening to a story, completely captivated.

"Nature's creatures are truly amazing!" Catherine marveled.

"There are many more amazing things, woman. You'll experience them in the future, but for now..." Wenlong stopped walking, as he had spotted a dam about thirty meters long and seven to eight meters wide blocking the river, turning the not-so-wide river into a small lake.

"Mr. Cat! Mr. Cat! There really is a dam here! But Mr. Cat, how did you know the dam would be downstream?" An excited Catherine, like a child eager to know how a magician pulls a dove out of a hat, was filled with curiosity and a thirst for knowledge.