1060. Is it a dream?
The first thing encountered after exiting the tunnel was a stream where the river split and flowed. The point where the river and the stream met was the exit of the tunnel.
“Going without preparation is a meaningless death.”
Topi warned them time and time again about the dangers of monsters and the threats and power possessed by demonic creatures. If the Siren lures humans with her song, this creature overwhelms the minds of beastmen with its scent. It is a scent that alluring. That is why it was difficult to fight properly.
Is that scent something that applies only to beastmen?
That can’t be true.
So, I should have stuffed some strong-smelling mugwort into my nose before leaving.
Yet, they strode along without any preparation. Even Dunbakel, a beastman, paid no heed to the danger I had mentioned.
“Even the steadfast Suin wavered several times.”
“Right, I understand.”
They had spoken countless times until their ears ached, but the only response they received was the fairy’s nonchalant reply.
To Topi, it might seem baffling, but he had no worries because he had provided all the necessary explanations.
He had told them that as long as their will remained firm, there would be no problems.
Encred was no exception, and Sinar was a fairy who had lived to protect his city even amidst the threat of demons.
Would a witch who explores the stars lack willpower? Would a solitary walker, a dragon, be?
The most anxious one was Dunbakel, but the helmsman, who had just moments ago refrained from striking down a single member of the Elder Council to set the course of his life, was now overflowing with willpower.
That is why they strode forward with heavy steps. They were confident they could pull themselves out if the monsters were to become as dangerous as demons. Though,
considering how the Beastman City had held out until now, that was unlikely to happen.
Crunch.
The stream of water flowing along the fabric pushed and pulled the smooth pebbles. As he turned his gaze forward, Topi’s heart pounded.
Monster.
Crunch. Bang!
Its thick, elongated body did not take up a single glance, making the sense of perspective appear distorted. Of course, those who came here simply turned their gaze nonchalantly to scan the entire body. Its overall form was that of a sea serpent. However, it was too large to be called an ordinary snake, and its scales were bigger than those of an average child.
I can’t even hug Audin.
Enkrid said.
“Fear, terror.”
The man with lemon-colored hair spoke. Since he was saying it while glancing at Toffee, it was speaking on his behalf. At this point, Toffee thought that they had all lost their minds.
He had wondered if they intended to just take a quick look and back off, but none of them looked like they had the slightest intention of doing so.
“Do you know the legendary monster called Leviathan? There are already many beastmen who consider it on the same level as the demon Leviathan.”
Tofi spoke faster. His heart had been racing the moment he saw the creature. The subtly pungent scent was shaking his resolve.
Was it right to be hostile toward a snake with such a wonderful scent?
Udeuk.
Toffee bit his tongue. He regained his senses as blood circulated in his mouth.
Even I.
He had to pull himself together.
For Topi, no matter who they were or what they did, the priority was to get rid of the monsters first.
So, get out of here for now.
“Isn’t the monster just watching?” Just
as that thought crossed his mind, the sea serpent twisted its body. It swept the ground, blocking the waterway, but with every twist, the path opened up, causing a torrent of water to gush out and splash in all directions. A rainbow appeared to one side. Beyond it, a dense forest stretched to the left and right, and the river flowed majestically.
At this moment, the nonchalant voice of a human male knight—the Knight of Bewitchment—rang out.
It was a voice devoid of any sense of danger, as if demanding a simple confirmation. Indeed, Topi could not detect any scent of tension or danger from them.
Esther.
Anyway, the human man, Encred, called the witch’s name. The witch answered just as calmly.
“It is not a spell. The scent is emanating from his body, and he is a fellow who proves that demons do not exist only in the Demonic Realm. His goal must be ascension, too.”
Temares quietly watched the sea serpent at Esther’s successive words. A few old memories came to mind.
“Even among demon beasts and monsters, those who are lucky enough to eat something precious are bound to emerge aiming for ascension. Beastman, you possess something valuable in the city.”
It is a simple inference. At those words, Topi frowned. It was not the time for him to speak so carelessly. So, as he kept his mouth shut, Yongin spoke again.
“That was the objective of the attack; they intended to slowly starve you to death. It seems the City of Natural Hunters has been hunted in return.”
The sea serpent’s vertically split eyes scanned the party. It had detected their presence, too. It cornered the city of beastmen with the kind of aggression befitting a demon-class monster.
It was filled with the thought of weeding them out one by one to feed them before finally savoring a precious feast.
Within that state, Temares dug deeper into a part of the serpent’s mind. His mind-reading abilities had become even more acute than before while associating with Enkrid.
One more thing, that snake was also tricked into coming.
I don’t know the details, but I can tell at least that much. Inside the giant monster snake, anticipation, excitement, and suspicion were mixed.
It is the typical mindset of those who have been deceived and are running wild.
Compared to people sitting at a rigged gambling table who have just won the first round, it is better because suspicion has crept in, but still.
Doubting makes you more susceptible to being deceived.
It was similar to the mindset of the countless deceived people I had read about and looked into until now. That was the judgment I had reached.
If not, well, it couldn’t be helped. Whether
the giant monster snake was fooled or not was not important.
Encred shared the same thought. He half-listened to Temares’s words and walked forward with an indifferent gait. His steps were like those of someone out for a stroll, or perhaps someone going to borrow a handful of salt from a neighbor because they had run out. A blonde fairy followed beside him.
What could be different about her gait?
From behind, they looked like affectionate lovers walking along a summer path.
‘crazy.’
Boosting his resolve, Topi rejected the scent of the sea serpent and placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.
It was not a desperate attempt to intervene if things went wrong or to save them, but simply an instinctive movement.
After all, it was only natural to rely on his long-forged sword when facing threats and crises.
Pararak.
A wind blew from beyond the wide-open river that stretched out like a canvas, pulling, shaking, and pushing the cloaks of the two as they walked along a winding path. The cloaks swayed in the wind as if dancing.
Pararararak.
It is the moment when the cloak flutters in the strong wind.
“If you just approach….”
Tofi spoke with force, but the sea serpent responded before he could finish. Scales sprouted from its body and flew toward him like arrows. Every movement was swift and agile, as if he were a knight in a snake’s body. After all, if a human wields a sword, a sea serpent can pluck its own scales and hurl them.
The flying scales ripped through the air with a whooshing sound as they pierced the ground.
bang!
The scales were larger than ordinary rocks and as hard as lumps of iron. The ground crumbled, sending stones flying and wet mud scattering.
In the midst of this, puddles of water splashed in all directions. Several rainbows appeared nearby.
The human Enkrid and the fairy Sinar had already dodged the flying scales by leaping left and right, then rejoined at the front to walk side by side. They did not run. Their pace
was as steady as ever. Topi knew that they possessed skills far superior to his own. Even so, fighting a monster entailed taking considerable risks, so he expected them to fight just as fiercely.
However, something was off. For one thing, the sea serpent’s reaction was terrible. Last time, hadn’t it spewed poisonous mist from its mouth after throwing the scales?
But now, as if throwing scales were a form of deterrence or a way to gauge the opponent, it suddenly stopped, looking around cautiously.
Topi sensed the sea serpent’s tension. A stench assaulted his nose. It was the kind of smell one would expect from a herbivore encountering a beast.
The smell is indeed peculiar.
After the two left, Dunbakel ran, kicking off the ground repeatedly. What was it that Tofi saw after that?
Is this a dream?
That is how it appeared. The black-haired man did not dodge the scales flying at him again. Instead, he drew his sword and swung it to cut. The sea serpent’s scales were severed in two and flew away.
The monster’s reaction was different from before. It took an action it had never once taken when facing him and the Beastman Warrior Corps. The creature rose to its feet and raised its head toward the sky.
Instead of the poisonous mist it had sprayed mockingly while half-lying down, a poison much thicker than before poured from its mouth—a poison that was half gas and half liquid. No, it shot it. It was poison flying straight in a line like an arrow.
“poison!”
Tofi remained faithful to his duty, regardless of how the situation unfolded. Sea serpents spew venom. Wasn’t Suwon also slowly being ruined because of that thing? A
long stream of pitch-black venom flew from its mouth, but no one was hit. It
didn’t even reach where the man with the lemon hair and the witch were, so naturally, he was safe standing beside them as well.
‘what.’
Tofi blinked.
It was after he had dodged the scales and poison arrows with such nonchalance, and then fanned out the poisonous mist with his sword. The man named Enkrid gripped his sword with both hands as if he were cutting down a tree, and split the sea serpent’s body in two.
He was a woodcutter with a natural, no, innate talent. Even though he had cut it with a sword rather than an axe, the monstrous sea serpent’s body split open.
Puwawak.
Black blood shot up like a fountain. Slash once, slash twice, and the cloak moves on its own as if it were alive to block the splashing drops of blood.
What kind of trick is that?
I couldn’t understand it even after looking at it. They were people who had transcended the realm of my imagination.
Toffee’s gaze shifted away from the man and found the fairy walking with her.
The fairy turned to the side and thrust her sword into the gaps in the snake’s scales; with each light tap of her sword, the snake writhed as if in agony.
Rumble.
Every time the guy rolled, the ground shook and rocks flew in all directions. The lemon-haired man standing nearby deflected the flying debris with a pure white knife.
The witch stopped watching and looked up at the sky.
In truth, Toffee couldn’t take her eyes off the two fighting, no matter what they were doing. It was only when she was trying to dodge the rocks that she caught a brief glance at them.
‘Is it possible to fight like that?’
Wait, was it possible to kill monsters like that?
Crunch crunch.
While the demonic knight Enkrid and the jealous knight Sinar severed, slashed, stabbed, and tormented the serpent’s body, Dunbakel displayed swift action.
When the serpent writhed in pain and attempted to strike the fairy with its tail, she rode directly onto the swaying serpent’s body and ran.
“Ihyoooo!”
It was accompanied by a shout that was hard to tell if it was a battle cry or a scream of excitement. She displayed astonishing athleticism and a sense of balance. Without extending her claws or transforming into a beast, she leaped onto the snake’s body as if running on flat ground.
Even when scales suddenly popped up to block her path, Dunbakel did not stop. She pushed off the ground and leaped over the obstacle. Because the snake lifted its head, she was running perpendicular to the ground. It seemed only natural that she would fall if she lifted her body. In a way, the snake was trying to easily throw her off, but Dunbakel did not meekly accept it. She lifted her body, drew her scimitar, and thrust it into the snake’s torso. Her body swayed and swayed. She immediately tensed her abdominal muscles, spun her body around using the blade as a stepping stone, and ran with her feet back on the creature’s body.
Every movement was so swift that it looked as if it had been executed in a flash. And while doing so, she grabbed and pulled out the scimitar using only her feet. What kind of stunt is that?
Whether Topi was surprised or not, Dunbakel simply did as she had told Enkrid. She killed the monster. She
climbed right up and swung her scimitar eight times to sever the sea serpent’s neck. Because it was so hard and the blood corroded the iron, she swung her sword until the blade of the scimitar, made of pure iron, was completely worn out. One was rendered completely unusable, and the other was half-broken as well.
She dodged the serpent’s forked tongue, struck and lashed it, and finally slashed its neck as if pounding it. Thus, the serpent’s head fell to the ground, scattering black blood in all directions.
The monster that had tormented the city of beastmen was, to them, a creature they could kill in passing without consequence.
‘ah.’
Toffee could not continue speaking with his mouth open.
