Chapter 493

Chapter 493: The Crops Were Ruined by the Triassic "Wild Boars"

The so-called "Holy Tree Themis" did not refer to a single tree.

Although in the center of "Themis," there stood a tall "trunk," it was not the entirety of the "Holy Tree World," nor was it an irreplaceable part.

While the protective "Crystal Walls" of the whole world were no longer present, a circle of "Holy Tree Hedge" that had grown around the original world boundary served as a better defense than the Crystal Walls.

Outside the "Holy Tree Hedge," the Ether Sea held countless traps released by Themis’s roots, waiting to catch creatures like etheric serpents. Traps that could capture Outer Gods from the Void were also spread across the tall "branches" of the Holy Tree.

Even Themis itself had strong "toxicity" against most deities, and if "eaten by mistake," the results were terrible.

But these were just defenses; traps worked against smaller deities, yet they did nothing against deities stronger than Dreaming Shore Dragons.

The scary "Divine Toxins" that could break down a deity’s "divine rank" and "Soul" could be handled—just avoid touching them; some deities were immune to these awful toxins.

For example, the "Vast Dragon Clan · Armored Type" before them.

"Ah hahahaha—!"

"Total Destruction!"

"Completely Rooted Out!"

"Roar—!"

Furious roars mixed with wild cries echoed through the once calm and peaceful Themis.

The outer edge of Themis was fully broken!

The Ether Dragon’s attempts to stop them had failed.

They hurt a few "Vast Dragon Gods," but couldn’t halt their advance.

The Dreaming Shore Dragon’s small body was no match for the mighty "Vast Dragon Gods," and it even became their tool—smashing through the "Holy Tree Hedge" of Themis.

Several terrifying deities, like moving mountains, walked through the gap in the shattered "Holy Tree Hedge," hunting for anything to attack.

"Bang—!"

"Boom—!"

One elegant Holy Tree branch after another was shattered by them.

They were snapped in half and ripped from the ground!

"Ah—!"

"Waga—!"

"Stop coming closer!"

"I’m… I’m mad!"

"When I’m mad, I’ll call for help!"

"I’m telling you, the Giant God cares about me… a lot!"

"He won’t just watch you wreck this place!"

The sharp, angry voice stabbed the Soul of the Vast Dragon God.

That was the will of the "Holy Tree World Themis," the furious cry of "childhood friend" Miss Themis.

However, her roar lacked power; it wasn’t mysterious and frightening like the ruler of the dragon clan, Tyrannosaurus rex, nor was it deep and dominating like the ruler of the beast clan, big cats. It sounded more like a small cat with its claws out.

Cute, yes, but lacking in intimidation.

“Hahahahaha…”

The Vast Dragon Gods laughed loudly.

It seemed there was no persuasive power in her cry.

These "dragons" from the Primal Wilderness were mostly barbaric, violent, formidable, yet ignorant fellows.

They weren’t very intelligent.

Nonetheless, these particular fellows were the tallest among the short; among creatures with little thinking ability, they possessed some intellect.

At least they understood investigating and analyzing intelligence beforehand.

Though the investigative capability of the "Vast Dragon God · Armored Type" was quite basic.

Still, they’d done some homework—like getting a full intelligence package from Barbatos.

“What a joke! Barbatos told us everything when we arrived.”

“The master of this territory—that so-called ‘Giant God’—has long been trapped at the border between domains!”

“All the Chaos Demon Gods are hunting him down right now!”

“That guy can’t even protect himself! How could he save you!?”

“Go ahead and shout!”

“Who are you calling!?”

“Let’s see you try!”

“Bang—!”

“Boom—!”

As the Vast Dragon Gods · Armored Type mocked her, they kept wreaking havoc; they tried to topple every trunk of the Holy Tree, tearing up deeply buried roots.

Finally, Themis couldn’t take it anymore.

“Bad guys!”

“Come save me—!”

“Wow—woo woo woo—!”

Miss Themis wailed and burst into tears.

“Ah… this…”

Amid the "rural childhood friend’s" sobs, Trilobite poked his head through the gap in the "Holy Tree Hedge."

Seeing the wrecked "Themis conservation areas," he felt no anger.

He was dumbstruck.

“This…

“Whose husky did this!?”

“Hiss…”

Trilobite inhaled sharply.

He had expected some destruction in the "Themis conservation areas," but he had never imagined it would be this serious.

“Fortunately, my customer arrived on time and could help me keep an eye on the things happening on the sandbank.”

“That’s why I had the chance to take a look again.”

“Now it was clear that coming back had been the right choice!”

This gave him a new understanding of the "paleo creature" that was still causing destruction with its back turned to him.

“This creature is…”

“Probably a sturdy lizard…”

“To be specific, it should be a member of the chain crocodile genus.”

“Based on the two long curved spikes coming from its shoulders and its body type, it must be a spiked chain crocodile.”

Chain crocodiles, including those in the sturdy lizard order, were reasonably common herbivorous land animals living in the late Triassic period.

Their fossils were distributed almost all over the world, but their time in the ground was brief, making them important index fossils.

These fellows looked very much like the later ankylosaurs.

Many outsiders often confused them with ankylosaurs, even though one belonged to the basal false crocodiles and the other belonged to the dinosaur order, which were unrelated.

From an anatomical perspective, sturdy lizards showed some features of plant dragons and had many similarities with "false crocodilians" including the Loricatosauria, so they were considered slightly more advanced than plant dragons but still belonged to a basal group of false crocodilians.

They were also a type of herbivorous "crocodile."

These fellows looked quite similar to ankylosaurs, but they lacked the tail hammer; although the nodosaurid family of the ankylosaur suborder also lacked a tail hammer, chain crocodiles and sturdy lizards had flatter snouts, somewhat resembling a pig’s nose.

They had small heads, and their senses were likely not very sharp, which meant they couldn’t run very fast.

They spent their days trudging through the mud, looking for tender branches and leaves; when faced with predators like Loricatosaurus or Bopolong, they threatened by swinging their heads and tails, and if that didn’t work, they lay flat on the ground using their armor plates for defense.

Once the danger passed, they continued to focus on finding branches and leaves to eat.

Life was quite pleasant for them.

“Some paleontologists believe that the ecological niche of the chain crocodile is actually similar to that of wild boars.”

“Uh… probably they’re dull-witted and not too clever wild boars.”

“It seems that way indeed.”

“At least, they are truly enthusiastic about causing destruction!”

“Damn it, the crops have been ruined by wild boars!”

Wild boars, which both gnawed and rooted around, could cause great damage to crops; and their breeding speed truly meant that “if you don’t cull them every few days, they’ll destroy the whole village’s fields!”

“It seems we have to kill a few to set an example!”

Trilobite bent down and slowly approached the chain crocodile that was last in line through the gap in the hedge.

“Let’s bring forth a scene from the Cretaceous period ahead of schedule!”

“Is this a monkey version of Tyrannosaurus Rex against a monkey version of ankylosaurs?”