Chapter 153: Altar

Our Apartment Complex Transmigrated… Again

The bottom of the fissure.

Everyone chased along the direction the Mononykus had fled. Up ahead, one Mononykus, perhaps due to a leg injury or some illness, ran with a strange, awkward gait, its speed noticeably slower than its kin.

Just as it was about to be caught and impaled by Du Yu's spear, Qin Ziwen stopped Du Yu. "Let it run."

The footsteps of the Mononykus ahead had already faded into the distance; these creatures' burst speed was even faster than imagined.

After running past a corner, the Mononykus in front suddenly veered left and disappeared from everyone's sight.

Qin Ziwen stopped and looked in the direction where the creature had vanished.

There, surprisingly, was another branching side path jutting out.

The side path wasn't very wide, perhaps only allowing one or two people to walk side-by-side. Any beast of slightly larger build would be unable to pass through.

"Captain, should we go in?"

"Let's go." After a moment's thought, Qin Ziwen decided to follow. This side path shouldn't be long. When photographed from the sky, there were no obvious branches; a long side path would have been quite noticeable.

Following the Mononykus's direction, the terrain gradually rose. Years of wind and sand had piled thick layers of sand at the bottom of this narrow fissure branch.

Treading on the sand as they ascended, they turned two corners, and the view ahead suddenly opened up.

They had reached the surface. Looking back, they were on the opposite side of the fissure.

The limping Mononykus ran toward the back slope of a nearby rocky hill.

"That should be the place." Qin Ziwen led everyone to follow. "Be careful. If it's a nest, these Mononykus might not run anymore."

Hearing Qin Ziwen's words, everyone except the already-prepared Du Yu and a few others tightened their grips on their weapons, adjusted their backpacks and gear, and readied themselves for battle.

"Ss-gah!" From the crest of the back slope, a Mononykus stood up and issued a warning cry at the approaching humans.

At the sound, from behind the slope, a dense swarm of nearly thirty to forty Mononykus immediately charged out.

This group of Mononykus varied in size. The large ones were over a meter long, while the small ones were less than a meter.

Seeing its companions rush out, the limping Mononykus that was about to return to its nest was stunned.

The largest among them, a head taller than the others, strode over. With a flick of its tail, it directly knocked the limping Mononykus to the ground.

It let out an angry cry at the fallen creature.

Then, it led the numerous Mononykus to surround the humans.

"Gah!" "Gah!"

The many Mononykus emitted a cacophony of noisy cries, forming a circle around them.

"Let's observe first." Qin Ziwen led everyone to retreat, intending to circle around and first get a look at the Mononykus nest behind the sand dune.

Seeing the humans retreat, the Mononykus, who had initially just stayed in place, became excited and eagerly gave chase.

"Hmm?"

Qin Ziwen stopped.

He looked at the Mononykus in surprise. Why were these things acting like dogs, bullying the weak and fearing the strong?

Narrowing his eyes, he said, "Then we won't retreat anymore. Let's kill them."

Everyone raised their long spears and charged toward the surrounding Mononykus.

"Ss-gah!"

The few Mononykus at the front charged the fastest.

Qin Ziwen thrust down with his fork. Feeling it took little effort, he directly pierced the Mononykus's abdominal cavity and lifted it up.

Then, he slammed it to the ground and smoothly pulled out the Three-Pronged Fork.

The Mononykus lying on the ground spurted blood from its chest, its body twitching.

To the right front, another Mononykus ran swiftly, its hard beak pecking toward Qin Ziwen's chest.

A long spear extended from behind. Qin Ziwu raised his spear, hooked the Mononykus, and with a shake of his arm—feeling like he was lifting a charging goose—let out a low roar and flipped the Mononykus onto the ground.

"Ss-gah!" A noisy cry came from the left. The Mononykus leader's sharp claw kicked Yuan Ming in the side.

His jacket was instantly torn.

Yuan Dajun swung his spiked club, smashing it onto the leader's neck.

He directly knocked it to the ground. The leader's neck twisted into an unnatural angle, clearly not surviving.

After two or three waves of charges, only five Mononykus remained on the field. They let out a few fearful cries from a distance, then turned and fled without looking back, not even daring to return to their nest.

After these Mononykus fled, Yuan Ming's cry of pain came from the side.

"Ouch, damn! That thing's kick really hurts, ah—"

After a quick check, Yuan Ming was the most severely injured. His side had been kicked by the large Mononykus leader. Not only was his clothes torn, but his skin was also bloody, leaving three quite deep claw marks.

Yuan Dajun took alcohol from his backpack and was applying it to disinfect the wound.

"Fortunately, your clothes blocked some of it." Zhao Pu observed for a moment. "It's just a flesh wound, didn't reach the internal organs. If you have antibiotics, you can take some."

"Thank you, Doctor Zhao. How should we bandage this?" Yuan Dajun was a bit flustered. Zhao Pu took over and helped bandage the wound properly.

Wang Yun teased, "What's with you? How come you're injured again?"

Yuan Ming scratched the back of his head. He also felt a bit unlucky, seeming to be the one most prone to injury in the team.

Besides Yuan Ming, a few others also sustained some injuries.

However, most were basically bruises from being pecked by the Mononykus. Everyone used long weapons, making it hard for the Mononykus to get close.

Qin Ziwen grabbed a Mononykus corpse by the neck and lifted it. "So light. Probably only a little over ten pounds."

No wonder they were dealt with so easily. They and humans were simply not in the same weight class.

Wang Yun examined it carefully. "Long neck and tail, short torso. Their bones are probably hollow."

"This one's heavier! Probably close to twenty pounds!" Yuan Ming lifted the leader's corpse. Compared to the others, this leader had longer claws and a thicker, stronger tail.

After dealing with the Mononykus group, everyone advanced a distance, crossing over the back slope of the rocky hill.

A foul smell wafted up from below.

It was the smell produced by feces mixed with the long-term habitation of avian-like animals under the hot weather.

"There's an altar." Qin Ziwu's eyes lit up.

In the central area of the back slope, a grayish-white square altar stood in place.

Many nests were built around the altar, like bird nests established in the desert.

These nests were distributed in an orderly pattern, spreading out in a dotted formation.

Near the nests, piles of dry branches, gravel, and some shrubs had accumulated.

Between the nests, some trenches had been dug.

Within these nests, seven or eight female Mononykus let out sharp cries. Behind them, some small Mononykus were hiding.

"Let's go down first."

Everyone descended the gentle slope. Under the wary gaze of the female Mononykus, Qin Ziwen climbed onto the altar and retrieved the white Expansion Card.

The front of the Expansion Card depicted a stretch of lush green grassland.

[Expansion Card] Grassland Expansion Card (Medium)

Li Yue sighed with a mix of emotions. "These Mononykus are still too weak. Tiny dinosaurs, nothing more. Isn't there a more formidable opponent?"

At that moment, the pebbles underfoot trembled slightly.

Heavy footsteps, from faint to clear. From around the corner of a rock pillar a hundred meters away, a group of massive, brown dinosaurs strode into view.