The aroma, brimming with vitality, would eventually dissipate after traveling a certain distance.
Compared to the constant life-and-death struggle deep within the tree sea, the edges had always been a relatively calm place. The density of creatures here was far lower than in the depths, and the creatures on the rocky ground generally did not approach the tree sea.
However, the wisps of fragrance scattered in the air would attract some creatures that never usually came to the edges of the tree sea. Scent was also a means many creatures used to create traps.
Some creatures lacked the ability to discern, they could only follow their instinctual desires, drawing closer to the source of the fragrance.
Some creatures had more mature intelligence, possessing some ability to discern, but most would still make a special trip to follow the scent.
The aroma didn't travel too far, yet it inadvertently set off a wave of slaughter.
The creatures gathering reached a certain density. Driven by the need for food, they attacked each other without warning.
In itself, the food chain in the tree sea was highly unscientific. Here, there was no concept of natural predators or fixed prey.
Eat, or be eaten… that was the true reality of this place.
On a giant tree, a massive python over ten meters long coiled around a branch. Wriggling and moving, it resembled a tightly wound spring.
Suddenly, it shot forward fifty or sixty meters, landing steadily on another tree ahead.
It used this method of travel to move towards the source of the fragrance.
As it leaped onto its fifth tree, a long, dark shadow whipped through the air like a whip, striking its head with precision.
Thump!
The python's head turned into a mist of blood. Its stretched-out, high-speed flying body lost balance, crashing heavily onto a tree trunk, splattering some blood, before plummeting straight to the ground.
The long whip that shattered the python's head was actually a frog's tongue.
The frog leisurely retracted its long tongue, then leaped, jumping a hundred meters to land before the python's corpse.
Its mouth opened, and it spat out its long tongue again, the end shaped like a hammer, covered in fleshy spines.
The long tongue wrapped around the python's corpse and retracted into its mouth in the blink of an eye. Its somewhat bulky body suddenly swelled.
After devouring the python, the frog glanced in the direction of the fragrance, paused for less than a second, its legs coiling to leap.
Just then, without the slightest sound, the frog's body was without any warning sliced in two. The python it had just swallowed slid out amidst a flow of crimson fluid.
The frog twitched a few times, its head vertically split in two, its body gradually stiffening until it fell completely silent.
The surroundings were deathly silent, with no sign of other creatures.
After a while, five headless forest wolves cautiously crept over. They had a clear division of labor. The beastly eyes peeking from the fur around their necks watched all directions while focusing attention on the corpses of the frog and the python.
Through the fur, one could clearly see the greed in their beastly eyes.
They used the giant trees as cover, sneaking forward with extreme vigilance.
When they were about fifty meters from the corpses, they suddenly pounced.
Just then, their rapidly moving bodies split into several pieces, blood spraying wildly.
Without even making a sound, these five headless wolves followed the frog's fate, their bodies chopped into pieces, organs spilling everywhere.
The surroundings remained eerily quiet, the smell of blood growing stronger.
Soon, more and more creatures changed their target, drawn by the scent of blood, only to be silently cut into pieces.
In another direction, there was a flat area of land, devoid of any shrubs or weeds. Light fell through the lush tree canopy, casting large shadows on the ground.
Within those shadows, a palm-sized white disc suddenly trembled and raised, shaking off some sand.
As the disc rose higher, something emerged from the ground, revealing itself to be a peculiar creature topped with an hourglass-shaped object.
That white disc was the top of the hourglass. Inside the hourglass were black sands, more than half filling the upper part, while the lower part held only a few scattered grains.
Those black sands seemed incapable of falling downward.
The lower body of the hourglass creature was also a white disc, from which extended three legs resembling spearheads of cold weapons, stuck into the ground.
When it stood upright normally, an eyeball was exposed on the underside of the disc, rotating in all directions.
The hourglass creature was only the size of a house cat. It wiggled its pointed legs, stabbing the ground to move.
As it passed between two trees, dozens of roots burst from the soil, weaving a spiderweb from all directions, dropping down upon it.
The hourglass creature stopped. A single black grain of sand fell from the upper part.
At that moment, the roots bound the hourglass creature, and that grain of black sand finally landed at the bottom.
Sizzle.
An inexplicable fluctuation emanated from the hourglass creature. The dozens of roots instantly decayed into black, sand-like matter, scattering in the wind across the large shadows.
Freed from the roots' restraints, the eyeball on the underside of the hourglass creature's disc rotated mechanically around its surroundings before it chose another direction and walked off.
A carnival of slaughter was thus set off by the aroma. But the true cause of the chain reaction wasn't the fragrance itself, but the scent of blood released during the slaughter. That was the prime culprit that pushed the carnival of slaughter to its peak.
Not far from the tree hole, many plants and animals also reacted to the aroma. However, living on the edges of the tree sea, they had, in the process of adapting to the harsh environment, settled for second best, forming a wait-for-the-prey-to-come hunting nature.
They generally did not take the initiative to attack, instead waiting for prey to fall into their nets or using bait to lure prey to them.
Outside, towering waves of violence were rising, but inside the tree hole, it was peaceful.
Law ate bowl after bowl without pause or panting, completely unaware that his creation of a gourmet dish had turned vast areas of the forest into hellscapes of slaughter.
Having stayed in the tree hole for a while, Biscuit, with her strong physical constitution, had mostly recovered from her injuries.
After consuming several bowls of the rice congee, her body was warmed by the abundant vitality, which also erased the last traces of her injuries.
Tonpa was also injured. Having slept for so many days, his wounds hadn't fully healed.
However, after eating two or three bowls of the rice congee, his body's self-healing ability seemed to have increased several times over.
The entire chicken gradually diminished under the group's hearty eating.
Meanwhile, the slaughter occurring in the forest spread like a crimson bloodline, continuously extending deeper into the forest.
The chain reaction continued.
The corpses of creatures fallen in the struggle paved a path of flesh and blood.
This rare commotion finally attracted the attention of a group of demi-human Magical Beasts.
There were ten of them, bearing features of various animals.
"I saw Chick Flute, slaughtering wildly. At least a hundred prey were cut into pieces," One demi-human Magical Beast said. Its feet seeming to generate flames, its body covered in bright red fur, as it arrived before the group.
"That way?"
A sharp-nosed demi-human Magical Beast pointed in a direction, "The place with the strongest scent of blood. There's another smell there too."
The flame-footed demi-human Magical Beast nodded.
"Shall we go?"