[Author’s Note] If you enjoyed reading, please hit the recommend button at the top of the mobile screen! With just a 2-second gesture, you can give the writer a happy day! @[emailprotected] Chapter 109
36. Magical Beasts and the Epic Battle of the Dark Void #3
━Gwiing.
‘What is that? Why do I hear a Wildling sound?’
I perked up my ears at the faint noise coming from the end of the cave.
The ground below is cooler and fresher compared to the surface, so it wouldn’t be surprising if a Wildling was hiding in this cave, loving the dampness and chill.
Clunk. Thud. Clunk. Thud.
As if to overshadow the Wildling sounds, the dull thuds of something clashing grew louder.
‘That’s quite a ruckus. It must be bigger than I thought.’
On the cave wall where I was walking with Batus, I noticed a section that looked like it had been scraped away by something massive.
It probably meant that a gigantic creature had been roaming in and out, creating a naturally formed passage.
That meant the creature curled up deep inside here was at least the size of an adult man.
‘They said this is a silver-ranked dungeon…’
I recalled Belger, the master of the rocky valley south of the Ancient Nest. He was quite a threatening beast, armed with spikes all over his body.
‘The owner of this cave must be something like him, a tough one for sure.’
“Move a bit faster. We need to get to the Royal Capital tomorrow, so we’ve got to hustle today,” Batus poked me in the back. I sped up my crawling pace.
As I did, I felt a cool breeze, and an open space appeared ahead.
‘An underground cave?’
I hadn’t expected to find such a damp and eerie cave beneath the barley fields and meadows, which surprised me a bit.
The floor was shallowly flooded, possibly with groundwater. Adam splashed in, holding a glass jar and shining it around.
“This isn’t a cave but a tunnel dug deep into the ground. Who would’ve thought there was something like this beneath Sinai’s fields?”
Batus looked around and placed a hand on the hilt of his great sword.
“There might be a more dangerous creature than I expected.”
━So are we going to take it down together?
“No, you have to handle it.”
━Gwiing.
Just then, a cute voice echoed from somewhere in the cave. I was drawn to the sound and moved closer.
“Where are you going?”
With Batus’s words, I shushed him, gesturing for him to be quiet. It seemed the annoying whimpering noise didn’t reach his ears.
Does being a transcendent hero mean they don’t have good hearing?
“…”
As if he understood me, Batus started following behind me as quietly as he could.
━Gwiing.
The closer I got, the louder the Wildling sound became.
Keeping low, I approached the source of the noise. In the dark cave, something fluffy emerged.
It looked like blue fluff or perhaps a sheep or cloud, and it was none other than—
━What is that? It’s Yingyi!
It was my pet Cloudring, Yingyi.
Yingyi, who had been stuck to the cave ceiling, seemed to hear my voice and floated over to me.
It rubbed its face, or maybe its body, against my cheek and chirped, “Yingyi-yai.”
━So you got too hot and came down into the cool, cool underground, but then you couldn’t find your way back out?
━Ying.
Yingyi clung to my neck, sending chills down my spine.
I could picture the story of how Yingyi, having bolted from the bath, wandered in search of a cool place, discovered this tunnel, and decided to take a nap.
“What the heck? A Cloudring? What a rare sight! Was it the one attached to your neck? Was this little guy the master of this dungeon?”
Adam and Batus exchanged disbelieving smiles.
━Ying. Ying. Rumble.
Yingyi continued to chatter excitedly at me.
━Are there dangerous beasts in this cave?
━Ying.
“You understand Cloudring’s language? I mean, even magical beasts shouldn’t be able to do that!” Batus asked, raising an eyebrow.
I shrugged nonchalantly.
━Just a gut feeling.
━Ying.
Though we couldn’t communicate verbally, it felt like there was some sort of bond between Yingyi and me. Well, it could just be my imagination winding me up.
But maybe, after munching on so many Wildlings, I had developed an empathic ability to understand the feelings of both Wildlings and Cloudrings.
━Anyway, it does seem like there’s something else lurking here.
Clunk. Thud. Rumble. Clatter clatter.
The clumsy noises that had been bothering me from earlier echoed softly throughout the cave. As I strained to listen, Batus spoke to me.
“Do you hear something?”
━I think there’s something over there…
I pointed with my front paw to the dark corner of the cave.
The walls bore markings that looked like they had been scratched by something sharp, revealed without any shame.
“Looks like you have better hearing than I thought. Do you have the ability called ‘Sensitive Ears’? That’s usually the talent of horned rabbits.”
It seemed Batus thought I had some skill that sharpened my hearing.
‘I’m just following Ilgast’s advice to listen closely.’
Sensitive Ears, I realized anew I might have such a talent and stepped deeper into the cave.
Clunk. Clunk.
“I’m really hearing something.”
As I went further into the cave, the sounds grew louder, and Batus nodded in agreement. He traced the palm of his hand over broken stone walls and stalagmites.
“Here are some traces.”
Batus collected a viscous substance from the ground with his dagger and sniffed it.
“This is going to be a tricky opponent. With your claws as your main weapons, it’s going to be challenging.”
━Do you know what’s inside?
Batus was one of the finest hunters among humans.
They say he’s one of the first humans, having lived for hundreds or thousands of years, so he must have the experience and wisdom to determine what kind of beast it is from just a tiny mark.
I thought about asking Batus for advice, but he merely smiled and said, “You’ll find out when you meet it.”
Seeing that carefree expression on his face made me think, ‘It can’t be that tough after all.’
However, when I finally spotted the dark shadow deep inside the cave, I felt a jolt of surprise.
‘Ew, that looks creepy.’
━Zzzzzz.
Curled up in the depths was a giant scorpion, armored with a shell as sharp as a blade.
Its size could easily be described as three or four of my bodies combined. With that heavy armor and size, it seemed to weigh between one to two tons.
Clunk. Clunk.
It rattled its pincers like a butcher’s scissors.
‘I hate creatures with too many legs.’
Still, at least it wasn’t a spider. Just having hairy spiders near me is enough to make me shriek in horror.
In that regard, scorpions definitely had a cool, armored-robot kind of look.
It was the maximum I could accept among giant insects and arthropods.
“Here it is, the Dome Perry Scorpion. It’s one of the best scorpion types native to the Northern Forest of the Ancient Nest. I don’t know how it got here, but…”
━Is it strong?
“As I said earlier, the danger level of this dungeon is silver rank. That scorpion is no small fry, with its hard shell, poisonous tail, and sharp pincers. Even Max, the archer, would have had a hard time dealing with it.”
I hid behind a towering stalagmite and observed the Dome Perry Scorpion. Its all-red shell looked quite intimidating, and in a strange way, it also resembled a well-cooked shrimp or crayfish.
━Is it tasty?
“Tasty? That’s interesting. Until now, I only asked if they were weak or strong, savage or docile. But taste, now that’s an important issue. Let me tell you, their flesh melts in your mouth with a sweet and salty flavor the moment it touches your tongue. They say the juicy essence of their shells can even be used to brew top-shelf liquor.”
Sweet and salty, huh? It reminded me of the trend of salted caramel-coated lobster. Of course, what I had was just a lobster-flavored snack—not the real deal, of course.
‘So it’s delicious, and they even brew top-shelf liquor from this?’
Hearing the guarantee of delicious meat made me think this creature’s many legs and fearsome outer shell must be hiding some juicy white flesh.
‘Just because crabs and shrimps can look gross at first sight…’
Having just taken a sample of meat and fruits at the hunter guild’s restaurant, I was somewhat primed and ready for a feast.
I swallowed my saliva and grinned, exposing my fangs.
‘The juice of delicious meat and that sweet-salty flesh…’
I inhaled deeply and activated the skill, Stealth.
The penalty for Stealth felt like a weight pressing down on me, like being submerged in a swimming pool, but it wasn’t unbearable.
“Did you eat the eternal snow fruit? Being able to use stealth in addition to quiet movement is quite impressive. With just those two skills, you could take down most beasts. I wasn’t expecting much, but you’re starting strong.”
Batus, hiding behind a rock, looked at me with a satisfied smile.
━Zzz…
The scorpion seemed oblivious since it was curled up in the corner, presumably sleeping.
‘Its exoskeleton looks super tough. I doubt my claws would be very effective.’
I flicked my tail. Like David’s slingshot, my tail spun around before quickly flying toward the back of the giant scorpion.
Smack!
With a sound that broke the sound barrier, the scorpion’s carapace cracked like an eggshell. Had I woken it up? The scorpion twisted its body and screeched in agony.
━Zzzz!
“So you attacked with your tail instead of your claws? Not a bad choice. Now that you’ve woken the scorpion, what will you do?”
Batus casually perched on a cave rock, watching me and the giant scorpion as if he were watching an exciting movie.
With a smile on his face, he looked like he was ready to munch some popcorn.
━Zzzz!
The enraged scorpion raised its pincers into the air as if it were about to lash out at me. The noise it made sounded similar to the aggressive buzzing of hornets I used to hear during military service. Though, of course, it was on a whole different scale—the threat lacked comparison.
Batus’s concerned voice floated from behind me.
“The pincers of a Dome Perry Scorpion can tear through iron armor like it’s paper. It’s best not to get caught.”
━Zzzz!
The now even-redder giant scorpion charged straight at me. Its tough exoskeleton wrapped around it like a tank armed with cutting blades.
‘You know, it’s not as scary as I thought. This thing is supposed to be on par with that Belger?’
I simply sidestepped a few steps to easily evade the scorpion’s charge.
The scorpion, unable to handle the momentum of its heavy body, crashed its head into the cave wall, letting out a pain-filled screech.
As a result of the commotion, stalactites from above fell and clattered against the scorpion’s back.
━Zirrriik!
Normally, I would have been quaking in my boots, filled with dread at the thought of fighting a fearsome foe, but for some reason, I felt unusually calm.
Could it be because of Batus’s formidable presence behind me?
‘Well, it’s not just that.’
I speculated that my courage might have leveled up a notch.
With continuous encounters with the forest lords, various incidents I found myself in daily, and most notably, battling the mythical creature O Kong, I might have gained a sense of mental composure.
━Zirrriik…!
The scorpion, having crashed against the rocks and gotten trapped among the piles of stalactites, struggled to free itself.
It seemed it abandoned its charge, swinging its pincers and poisonous tail at me in sequence.
The sharp pincers and the pointy tail, like a well-forged spear, looked quite menacing against my tough skin inherited from Ratel.
‘Must be the size giving it gigantic movements. They’re pretty clunky, it seems.’
But upon closer inspection, none of its attacks were unavoidable. I dodged the scissor-like pincers and made a quick maneuver, whacking the creature’s head with my tail.
Smack!
━Zzzzz!
The scorpion stumbled back, dazed.
Seeing its opportunity, I jumped briefly into the air.
Then, lifting my right front paw like a hammer, I slammed it down onto the creature’s head with all my might.
Smack!
Crack. Crack.
Perhaps unable to bear the weight of its own body, the scorpion’s legs twisted unnaturally. It collapsed to the ground in a daze, trembling, as it tried to regain its footing.
‘This is the so-called dangerous silver rank? It feels surprisingly easy to handle.’
I tilted my head at the stumbling scorpion. Contrary to Batus’s warning, the situation felt overwhelmingly in my favor.
‘Maybe now I can give it a test run.’
I recalled one of the techniques I had developed while practicing my abilities for about two weeks after the rainy season.
‘Let’s see if this works…’
Before executing the technique, I placed Yingyi, who had been clinging to my neck, onto a nearby rock.
━Stay here and be good.
━Gwiing.
Then, I bent my upper body forward like I was going to do a somersault and sprang high towards the scorpion’s head.
Soaring into the air, I spun furiously, using the tip of my tail as a pivot and moving rapidly in mid-air.
My body, sharp with spikes, turned into a giant spike or saw as I dived toward the scorpion.
Crack!
━Zziiiiii!
