Chapter 146: Hunting the Koala Elephant

Following the massive footprints, Feng Xue soon caught sight of a gigantic creature about five meters tall. Though the term "gigantic" might sound a bit comical when used by a well-traveled transmigrator, that was the only thought in Feng Xue's mind at the moment.

Unlike its slightly cartoonish appearance in the game, the koalaphant radiated a heavy, primordial aura, reminiscent of an ancient beast descended directly from the dawn of time.

Feng Xue trusted his intuition implicitly. In the game, a koalaphant dealt fifty points of damage, which for a game character represented at least a quarter to a third of their health. However, Feng Xue dared not apply game logic blindly to reality, because he doubted that the characters from the original work—who possessed no combat capabilities aside from mastering black technology—could withstand a single transcendental-level blow!

And the pressure currently emitted by the koalaphant far exceeded that of the pigmen Feng Xue had encountered previously.

Silently, Feng Xue activated his Nightmare Halo. The four-winged feathered serpent manifested behind him, letting out a silent roar as invisible ripples began to emanate outward. Sensing something amiss, the koalaphant started scraping the earth with its front legs. Before long, it grew increasingly agitated, pacing back and forth in place and occasionally launching attacks in random directions. A pine tree as thick as a man's embrace was snapped in half by a single strike.

Evidently, the koalaphant's SANity value had plummeted to a critical threshold. He only wondered whether native creatures of this kind would also suffer attacks from shadow monsters when their SANity hit rock bottom.

Wisely choosing not to immediately meddle with the frenzied elephant, Feng Xue stepped aside and began sawing at the trunk of the pine tree the koalaphant had just broken.

In truth, Feng Xue had been living quite a hard life. Terrified of treeguards, he dared not chop down trees; terrified of Krampus, he dared not kill pigs. Even slaughtering a mere rabbit (which generated the least guilt among all sin-inducing creatures in Don't Starve) to satisfy his cravings required spacing the kills three days apart.

Previously, he had always eaten directly with his hands, but now that he finally had this pine tree, shouldn't he hurry up and carve a few more plates and chopsticks?

By the time Feng Xue finished making three plates and a pair of chopsticks, the koalaphant's rampage had finally ceased. Its massive trunk blew heavy puffs of air; koalaphants possessed no mouths, breathing, eating, and drinking entirely through their trunks. Thus, the two protrusions beside its trunk were not tusks at all, but merely bony horns identical to the four on its forehead—though, of course, horns and tusks were practically the same thing anyway.

"It seems native species won't be attacked by shadow monsters even when their SANity drops..." Feng Xue muttered to himself. Carefully storing the plates and chopsticks away, he turned and walked toward the koalaphant.

He knew very well that without shadow monsters assisting, wearing the koalaphant down to this state was already the absolute limit. If he dragged it out any longer and the beast recovered its stamina, the situation would become far more troublesome.

Without attempting to close the distance, Feng Xue conjured the Short Bow: Feast in his hand. An arrow constructed of spiritual particles materialized. Unlike his usual Holy Arrows, this time, as Feng Xue formed the arrow, the four-winged feathered serpent behind him seemed to stir. A single feather transformed into spiritual particles and merged into the arrow, coating the Holy Arrow in an eerie, unnatural yellow hue.

Feng Xue's eyes lit up. He had originally assumed that the "Twelve Plagues" attached to the twelve-colored feathers could only be utilized after the Gourmet Demon materialized, but he had not expected them to be capable of binding to his soul particles now. This effectively granted him several brand-new tactical options.

Drawing the bow like a full moon, Feng Xue loosed the yellow arrow, which streaked forward like a ray of light and struck straight into the koalaphant's body. Accompanied by a bizarre roar, the koalaphant began to struggle as it attempted to flee.

The animals in the Don't Starve world possessed genuine intelligence; not only could they surround targets, trade, and fight in teams, but they would even flee when their stamina ran low!

How could Feng Xue let it escape like that? He drew his bow once more, the string instantly pulled to its absolute limit. As a translucent feather drifted down, the entire arrow became as crystal-clear and translucent as if carved from pure crystal.

With an ordinary bow, shooting at full draw as frequently as Feng Xue did would likely ruin the bowstring in no time (which was why anyone depicted drawing a bow like a full moon clearly understood nothing about archery; good strings were hard to come by, and true master bows minimized full draws to protect the string). Yet the spirit bow in Feng Xue's hand was constructed entirely of soul particles; no matter how tautly it was drawn, it would restore itself as good as new upon the next manifestation.

With almost no aiming motion, Feng Xue flicked his wrist, and the transparent arrow snapped forward. Before the eye could process it, the arrow had already embedded itself in the koalaphant's hind leg.

The next moment, the arrow seemingly transformed into a seed, shooting out countless translucent tentacles that bound the koalaphant tightly.

True to its reputation as a creature that reached hero-tier through sheer strength alone, however, the koalaphant—even after exhausting most of its stamina—struggled violently. As its massive body twisted and thrashed, the translucent tentacles threatened to snap!

Feng Xue quickly pursued, condensing another arrow in his hand. By this point, a significant portion of Feng Xue's soul particles had been depleted. Yet if he failed to put the beast down now, firing a fourth arrow in the near future would prove difficult.

He did not hesitate. After slightly adjusting his stance, an orange feather drifted onto the arrow, and instantly, a dangerous orange gleam plunged directly into the koalaphant's left eye!

With a squelch, the orange-red arrow stubbornly breached the koalaphant's eyelid and pierced deep into its massive left eye. Yet that was not the end; amid the koalaphant's piercing shrieks, a violent explosion erupted instantly, the sharply elevated intracranial pressure turning the beast's brain into absolute mush.

Only then did Feng Xue step forward. True to the biology of the Don't Starve world, even with its brain destroyed, the koalaphant's heart continued to beat. It took roughly ten minutes before it finally fell completely silent.

"Thank you for offering your life to provide me with a feast!" Feng Xue pressed his palms together, offering genuine, heartfelt gratitude.

Hoisting the multi-ton koalaphant onto his shoulders, Feng Xue began the slow trek back to his campsite.

He could hardly wait to cook this colossal creature!

After all, the game's description of the koalaphant explicitly included the label: "A gourmet delight!"

Returning to the camp, Feng Xue felt an increasing dissatisfaction with his crude facilities. At this point, the magic he had diligently practiced came in handy—

"Command: Low Temperature, Command: Dehydration!" With two verbal spells cast, the underground cave originally intended for use as a water pool suddenly grew cold and dry. By simply laying a layer of waterproof covering over the top, it would serve as an excellent grain and meat storage cellar.

Fortunately, it was still early spring, and the climate was not yet hot. In an environment like this, the meat could be preserved for at least half a month.