Chapter 123: The Magical Beast and the Little Forest’s Revenant
Part 2: The Magical Beast and the Little Forest
Gryphon.
The name instantly conjured up an image of a four-legged flying beast, a bizarre blend of an eagle’s body and a lion’s hindquarters.
Who would have thought I’d be talking about a creature straight out of myths and legends?
Batus snickered as he watched the merchant’s carts – specifically, the horses pulling them.
“I can understand why those horses are trembling. A gryphon is their natural enemy.”
“So, can you handle the gryphon?”
Lot from the Pirneche Merchant Guild cautiously asked Batus. The merchants shared worried glances, sizing Batus up.
Batus scratched the side of his head with his rough hand.
“No matter how much of a Platinum Hunter I am, hunting a gryphon in the woods is no walk in the park. A fully grown gryphon is called the king of beasts, you know. In its territory, it’d easily surpass Gold Grade and be considered Platinum Grade.”
“Then what are we supposed to do…?”
The faces of the people darkened at Batus’s negative response. To ease their tension, Batus showed off his sharp teeth, giving them a toothy grin.
“But it’s okay. Just in time, we’ve got this little guy here. He’ll take down that gryphon for us.”
Batus pointed at me. I was a bit surprised by the sudden attention, blinking my eyes as I caught their gazes.
— Huh?
“What kind of beast is that?”
“Can that thing really defeat a gryphon?”
“It doesn’t even look that fierce.”
“It has nice fur though. Completely white! Feels good to the touch. Can I pet it?”
“Those horns and claws look useful too.”
The merchants scrutinized me, evaluating my potential usefulness and how much I’d go for if they decided to trade. One merchant even grabbed my tail and inspected it closely.
“This fluffy tail would be perfect for a muff! The ladies would love it!”
“Check out those spines on its back! They’re hard to make out with all that white fur but they’re definitely there.”
“Porcupine quills, now that’d cost a pretty penny.”
—Hey, if you want to touch me, pay up!
I gracefully hopped up onto the cart to escape the probing hands. The merchants gasped, exclaiming “Ooh!” and “Wow!” at my agile movements.
Meanwhile, Lot, observing quietly from the sidelines, stroked his bushy beard and posed a sly question.
“Batus, what exactly is that creature? Is it a beast from the Great Mage’s realm in the East? I’ve been around long enough in the guild and I’ve never seen anything like that.”
“All I can say is that it’s more than enough to handle a gryphon. That little guy’s a born hunter. One day, he’ll be even more famous than me, so you should remember him now while you can.”
“Wow. If a Platinum Hunter says that, it must be true.”
Lot produced a leather pouch he had been carrying. When he loosened the knot, a long strip of jerky was revealed.
“This one’s expensive, so I keep it for special occasions. Don’t drop it.”
Lot tossed a piece of the long jerky my way. Being told it was expensive, I naively caught it in my mouth.
It had a slight spicy kick to it, and the drying process was just right, giving it an exquisite texture. Maybe it was brushed with sesame oil; it had a delightful savory taste.
‘No wonder it’s pricey.’
As I swallowed with satisfaction, the merchants, perhaps amused by the sight, began rummaging through their pockets to throw more jerky at me.
“Try this too!”
“Mine’s expensive!”
I devoured every piece of jerky and snack thrown in my direction without missing a single one.
With my agility stat soaring over 90, my reaction speed increased, making those snacks look as if they were in slow motion.
[Experience Points Increased!]
Some snacks even rewarded me with experience points.
‘Nice! I won’t starve to d*ath in this human world.’
I had thought reaching adulthood meant I couldn’t grow any stronger, but it seemed I hadn’t hit my growth limit just yet.
“What a fascinating creature! How does it catch every single one?”
“With a face like that, my daughter would surely love it.”
The merchants showered me with compliments and admiration as they eyed me hungrily.
Captivating people’s hearts like this? A walk in the park for me now.
“But can that little guy really catch the Legendary Gryphon?”
“Yeah, that thing’s about the size of this cart!”
Some whispered nervously, their voices laced with concern.
‘Is the Legendary Gryphon really that strong? So strong that it’s on par with the Platinum Grade in its territory?’
I secretly hoped for an opportunity to test just how strong I had become after evolving into an adult.
Just pulling carts wouldn’t be enough to contain the boiling fighting spirit and strength inside me.
‘If it’s Platinum Grade, it’s as strong as the forest lords of the Mage’s Woods. A perfect chance to test my powers against those guys.’
I turned my head towards the forest, feeling the piercing gaze of someone watching me from among the deep trees.
*
“A fully grown gryphon is powerful. While you became an adult earlier than I expected, the two of us would have a tough time beating one easily. Better brace yourself.”
Batus walked slowly along the path through the woods, talking about the gryphon.
His continual warnings about its strength made it clear that this creature bearing the name “Legend” was indeed no joke.
“Winged creatures usually have the upper hand in a fight, which could result in us being on the receiving end of a one-sided battle. That’s the worst-case scenario.”
From Batus’s words, I confirmed that the gryphon had wings. Thinking back to my encounter with the harpy Salome in the Western Forest, I recalled how I could do nothing but watch as she perched in the trees, waiting for a chance to strike.
‘I wonder what she’s up to now?’
Since the catastrophic event that befell the Western Forest, news of Salome and the giant cat Mao had cut off entirely from my mind, and I could only visualize their faces like a cloudy memory.
I hadn’t heard any news of their deaths, so perhaps like the black lion Suka, they were hiding somewhere to survive.
“There’s a track here. We can gauge its size.”
Batus bent down, tracing a dent in the ground with his hand.
Based on the broad size of his palm, I could almost imagine how massive the gryphon was going to be.
“Judging by the stride and depth of the footprints, it’s likely around three meters from head to tail. It probably weighs a bit over a ton. From the looks of it, it seems like it’s newly matured. What a pain.”
Batus scratched his head irritably.
—Is it a problem that it’s newly matured?
“Newly matured beasts are filled with arrogant confidence, so you never know what they’ll do. They dive into fights without any care, blissfully unaware that reckless enthusiasm often shortens their lifespans.”
—Are you talking about me right now?
I couldn’t help but scowl, thinking he was eerily precise in his description of my current self. Batus widened his eyes and chuckled.
“No, not exactly. That’s just how it turned out.”
—Hmmm.
While I understood his words well enough, I couldn’t help but reflect on my own youthful days as a human. I had created a fair share of embarrassing stories during my early twenties that I’d love to kick myself for now.
At the time, I really thought I’d grown up, but looking back, I was just a reckless kid full of youthful folly.
‘Since it’s my second adulthood, I need to be extra careful not to mess things up this time around.’
As I was lost in thought, I suddenly heard a buzzing sound from somewhere.
—It sounds like something is over there.
I led Batus through the brush, and soon enough, I stumbled upon a horrifying sight: the carcass of a horse, its flesh gnawed off. I grimaced at the grotesque scene.
‘Eww, what is this?’
No matter how much I had adapted to hunting beasts in the wild, I couldn’t remain composed in front of a rotting carcass.
As I gagged at the awful smell, Batus covered his mouth with a cloth, stepping closer to the corpse.
He unsheathed a dagger strapped to his waist and prodded the dead horse.
“Looks like it’s been dead for about two days. It didn’t eat the innards, but it did munch away at the meat, which means it was likely a picky eater.”
—And what good does that do us?
In response to my question, Batus flicked sand off the dagger and shrugged his shoulders.
“At least if it kills us, people can retrieve the bones and innards to bury them.”
—What an optimistic thought.
“And it reveals that it had a prideful and quite picky personality. I don’t know why a creature from the western Mage Woods has come all the way to this eastern place, but I suppose we’ll get a clue once we meet it.”
Batus put his dagger away and rose from his squatting position.
“Stay alert. We need to avoid letting it discover us first. It has probably already caught on that we’ve entered its forest.”
—I’m already trying my best, thanks!
I perked my ears, focusing on every sound in the woods around me.
However, sifting through the noisy sounds of cicadas and various critters made it hard to pinpoint the sounds of a gryphon I had never encountered before.
—I wish we had just borrowed a horse. If gryphons are partial to horse meat, it would have made for great bait.
“Hmm, borrow a horse from merchants? That’s their trade asset. Do you think they’d lend it out easily? They could squeeze water out of dry squid if they wanted.”
—You mean to say they’d be stingy enough to deny us help even after we’re doing this for them?
“Whining won’t change anything. We just have to make do with what we have. I might not have a horse, but I have this.”
Batus rummaged from a big backpack slung around his waist, bringing out something. It was a sealed glass bottle filled with a purple liquid.
—Is that sweet pea flower oil?
“Oh, you know this? I bought it last night in Salom Village.”
The liquid inside the bottle was the same kind Vitali had used to entice me the previous night.
Batus popped the cork of the bottle, raising his finger to dip into the liquid.
“This is something beasts go crazy for. It works wonders when coated on trees in rare insect collection. But when smeared on thick, hefty pieces of meat, it also makes an excellent bait for larger beasts. Give it a whiff.”
Batus offered his finger, coated in the flower oil, toward me.
As I sniffed, a scent like nothing I could describe wafted through the air, making my stomach rumble.
‘So this is what it’s like to be used as bait for beasts, huh?’
—So, your plan is to slather this on me to lure in the gryphon? But where’s the meat to put it on?
“It’s already taken care of. Now, excuse me.”
Batus began slathering the flower oil all over my body.
I couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight of my white fur becoming drenched in the purple liquid.
—Hey, man! Isn’t this a bit much? What if the gryphon discovers us first?
“That’s why you have to spot it first! If you don’t want to be ambushed, keep your eyes and ears sharp.”
This had to be what it felt like to be slathered in marinade for a feast. As I licked my oil-coated fur, a subtle sweetness engulfed my mouth.
‘Not bad at all.’
“Don’t eat it all. Anyway, I’ll hide in the brush and follow you. Act like a tasty piece of bait to lure the gryphon in.”
—And how exactly do I do that?!
“I wouldn’t know. Just figure it out on your own.”
With that, Batus distanced himself, vanishing from sight. He seemed pretty set on using me as bait for a trap.
I looked at my now purple-drenched fur with a frown.
—As if the Legendary Gryphon would fall for such an amateurish bait.
Just then, a black shadow loomed above me.
—Whee, what a delicious-looking little morsel! I smell the sweet scent of a young beast!
[Author’s Note] If you enjoyed this, please tap the recommendation at the top of the mobile screen! With just two seconds of your time, you can bring happiness to a writer’s day!
