TLBP 27

CHAPTER 27………………………………..

9. Elixir 026 – Elixir #2

Hoo-woong, hoo-woong—
The cries of birds of prey echoed through the night.

Their gleaming eyes flashed here and there among the trees of the forest. They were unmistakably the eyes of hunters looking for an opening.

Yet none of them attacked.

— I can’t wander around at night on my own. Having you with me makes things a lot easier. Just look—those hunter owls can’t do a thing.

Despite saying that, Leaf’s legs were trembling.

Every time there was a rustle, he perked up his ears and overreacted.

— S-still, it’s scary. You never know what might pop out. Ugh.

— Hey, don’t be so scared. You’re making me nervous too. You were the one insisting we had to come at night.

Truth be told, I wasn’t much better myself.

Even if I’d grown stronger, roaming around at night still wasn’t something I was used to. There was no telling what kind of creatures might be lurking in the dark undergrowth.

As if to prove my unease right, a giant scorpion as large as my torso burst out of the bushes. I screamed silently inside my head.

— Zzzzz.

Its blood-red eyes reflected my white fur as it snapped its pincers open and shut, as if about to lunge.

I bared my claws and growled.

A scorpion meant venom. And one this big would surely have terrifyingly potent poison.

Still, from experience I knew that most poisons didn’t work on me.

So what I really needed to watch out for were the crushing pincers and the piercing strike of its tail.

Thoughts flooded my mind—Does my claw have enough power to pierce that hard-looking carapace?—as I considered pulling out the blue crystal at my waist to drive it away.

Before I could act, Raccoon Leaf stepped slightly in front of me.

— W-wait. Zz, zzz… uh?

In the tense situation of facing a giant arthropod, Leaf started making strange noises with his mouth—tones similar to the sounds spiders and scorpions made.

— Ahem. That’s not it. Zz…?

— Zzz.

— What are you even saying?

— Shh! Be quiet and listen. Zzz…!

— Zzz!

A bizarre exchange passed between them. The scorpion raised its forelegs and venomous tail in response.

…Could they understand each other?

— I-it’s okay now. Turns out we could communicate.

After a suspicious stretch of communication, Leaf let out a long sigh.

— Zz…

The scorpion turned around and disappeared back into the bushes it had come from.

— You can talk to scorpions? What did you say to it?

— I told it you were the one who killed the Snake Queen. Scorpions and the Snake Queen didn’t get along. Since you saved its kin from her, it said it’d let us go without eating us tonight.

— That was… a pretty complicated conversation.

Avoiding a pointless fight was a relief. Besides, the giant scorpion looked horrifying—and didn’t seem appetizing at all.

— Want to learn too? The language of many-legged creatures? You’ll pick it up quickly. It only took me a month.

— No thanks.

I shook my head at the raccoon’s offer.

If a freak genius who could do absurd mental arithmetic took a whole month, it’d probably take an ordinary guy like me a lifetime.

I didn’t have the luxury to spend my brainpower on bizarre languages.

— Walking at night makes my heart race. It feels like I’m doing something bad.

Leaf whispered as he padded over the sand.

His sentiment reminded me of myself as a kid sneaking out late at night to buy snacks.

— Be quiet. We don’t want other beasts gathering because of your noise.

I was suppressing my presence as much as possible, so the chance of being noticed was low.

If something dangerous showed up, it’d probably be because of this raccoon.

But since I didn’t know the way to Yan‑Meat’s cave, I couldn’t exactly ditch him either. All I could do was keep him quiet.

I perked up my ears, sharpening my senses.

I focused on everything—from rustling bushes to the chirping of insects.

— …

From the right, some distance away, I heard heavy footsteps—thud, thud.

— How much farther until the cave?

— About half a day? It’s hard to tell at night—it feels different from daytime.

— No time to complain. Let’s shorten that as much as possible. Speed up if you have to.

At my stern voice, Leaf nodded in understanding. I kept my attention fixed on the heavy footsteps.

— Thud. Thud.
The forest echoed with the weighty sound.

— Something’s coming…

Leaf must have heard it too—his fur bristled.

Whatever it was, a beast roaming at night couldn’t be anything good to meet.

…Huh? It’s coming this way.

Not only that—the intervals between the footsteps were shortening. It was speeding up.

— M-maybe we should hide in a tree for a bit!

Panicked by the loud presence, Leaf cried out.

Instead of answering, I grabbed Leaf by the scruff of the neck and climbed the tallest nearby tree.

Hiding ourselves among the thick branches, we stopped even breathing, blending into nature.

The approaching footsteps shook the area around us.

The birds of prey and insects that had been crying out all fell silent at once.

All that remained was the cold wind, the rustling of branches, and the footsteps of an unknown creature.

Thud.

The sound stopped directly beneath the tree we were in. A chill ran down my spine.

What… is that?

I’d assumed it was a beast—but apparently not.

The creature visible below the branches was truly grotesque.

Its massive, dark body was covered in writhing tentacle-like growths, squirming like maggots.

Though it stood on two legs like a human, its neck was long like a giraffe’s—or a snake’s.

It was about twice my size.

Every creature I’d met in this forest had at least some resemblance to animals from my old world. But this thing was beyond my comprehension—a monster, plain and simple.

Honestly, I didn’t even want to look at it, much less understand it. I just hoped this moment would pass without incident.

Sniff, sniff.
It stretched its long neck and sniffed the ground.

Is it tracking us?

After sniffing around for a while, it suddenly shuddered grotesquely, joints and bones cracking loudly.

A jingling sound rang out from its body.

Listening to that eerily clear sound, I felt like I’d been thrown straight into a nightmare or a horror movie.

My heart pounded violently. Afraid it might hear my heartbeat, I pressed both forepaws hard against my chest.

— Th-that’s a Dueoksi…

Leaf whispered in a tiny voice.

His eyes and voice were filled with terror—he looked ready to burst into tears at any moment.

— Kiiik… kiiik, hihik… hihihi… kkeeeek.

From the monster’s small mouth came a thin, woman-like voice.

It was impossible to tell whether it was laughing or crying.

After creaking and twisting its body, it slowly raised its head and looked up into the tree.

The moment I met its four wide-split eyes, my heart nearly stopped.

Its pale face—then its tiny mouth split impossibly wide, revealing countless saw-like teeth.

— Kihit. Found you. The scent of dense mana.

Its long neck coiled up the tree like a snake.

Panicking, I raised my claws to strike its head—

—but at that moment, the bushes to the side exploded with noise.

A massive shape burst out, roaring like thunder. Earth-shaking impacts followed.

— You lowly evil spirit! Get out of my forest at once!

— Kkihik! Kkeeeek! Higiik!

Roars and screams rang out together.

I watched intently from the tree.

A gigantic bipedal dinosaur was tearing into the monster, biting and raking it apart.

The sight was familiar.

— That’s Yan‑Meat…! The master of the forest is here.

Leaf whispered brightly, despite his small voice.

— Get out of here, now!

— Kkihit… dense mana… with that, I can restore my body! Don’t interfere!

Countless tentacles wrapped around the dinosaur’s body.

Yan‑Meat bit through them and finally crunch—clamped down on the monster’s long neck.

— N-no… my mana…!

The monster’s body began shrinking unnaturally.

Its screams grew smaller and smaller, until they sounded like the faint buzzing of a mosquito.

— Hmph. It was nothing.

Yan‑Meat spat muddy, blood-like fluid onto the ground, then lifted his head to look up at the tree.

I hurriedly hid among the leaves to avoid meeting his gaze.

— How long do you plan on watching? I can smell rookie beasts from up there. Hiding is pointless. You know my talent—《Tracking》—don’t you?

— W-what do we do? He noticed us…

Leaf looked at me anxiously, raising his brows.

I quickly thought through the situation.

Wait—why are we hiding anyway? We were heading to meet him in the first place.

This was actually a perfect chance to finish the errand quickly.

Besides, after seeing that horrifying Dueoksi, a dinosaur almost looked cute by comparison.

I poked my head out from between the leaves.

At the same time, I locked eyes with the dinosaur’s massive green pupils.

— You there…

— You’re Yan‑Meat, right? I came on an errand from Witch Eve.

— What!? From that Eve!?

Yan‑Meat bared his fangs with a growl.

I had a feeling I’d pressed a switch I really shouldn’t have.

— The southern forest at night has been unsettling these past few days. You’d better rest in my nest until sunrise.

— No, that’s okay—ack!

Before I could even refuse, a massive mouth grabbed the scruff of my neck.

For a moment I thought I was being eaten—but instead, the dinosaur placed me and Leaf on his shoulder.

— That aside… an errand from that witch, huh. Do you have any idea how much suffering I went through when I served her as a familiar?

Thud, thud.
My vision swayed as Yan‑Meat walked through the forest with us on his shoulder.

The ride was awful—shaking at such a height made me nauseous—but I couldn’t bring myself to complain.

— Uuugh… the world’s spinning…

Leaf looked like he was about to pass out, eyes rolled back and foaming slightly.

Honestly, that reaction seemed only natural for a small animal riding a giant carnivorous dinosaur.

— That woman stripped every scale off my body and smeared burning medicine on me. She cut off my tail daily to experiment with regeneration, and once even pulled out all my claws. That’s what it means to be a witch’s familiar. I hope you quit before it’s too late.

— I’m not the witch’s familiar.

— Ah, I see. My mistake. I thought you were my junior.

Yan‑Meat laughed heartily—for a dinosaur.

I’d heard he was ferocious, but surprisingly, he was easy to talk to. I revised my opinion of him upward.

— What was that monster earlier? Leaf called it a Dueoksi.

— Dueoksi—also called an evil spirit. They’re the vilest things that live in the forest. You can’t really say they’re alive. They’re remnants of spirits and gods—ashes left behind after burning. Extremely dangerous. If you ever encounter one, run without hesitation. But more importantly—what kind of beast are you? A wolf?

— No. I’m…

I hesitated over whether to say I was the magical beast Behemoth.

I shook my head and made something up instead.

— A ratel.

— What!? A ratel? That soft-fleshed ratel? Are you really a ratel?

— I misspoke. I’m a wolf.

— Hmph. Wolves don’t look like you. They’re more obnoxious—especially that one called Kubilai.

— I agree. Kubilai is extremely obnoxious.

— You know your stuff. Have you met Kubilai?

— He destroyed my home.

— Tsk. Wolves are all like that. And you don’t need to speak formally to me. I’m not like my older sister, El‑Gasa, the Snake Queen. Hearing honorifics makes the scales under my hide itch.

— Ah, I see. I mean—got it. An older sister… You had a sister.

It was surprising enough that the raptor I was riding was female—but that she was siblings with that giant snake was even more shocking.

— A real sister? Born from the same mother or father?

— Yeah. We were twins from the same egg. I don’t know where El‑Gasa is now or what she’s doing. There are rumors she’s dead, but no way—I can’t believe she’d die that easily.

How a dinosaur and a giant snake could be twins was baffling.

Well, lizards and snakes are both reptiles… maybe it’s possible, I decided.

Thinking any deeper would just waste calories.

More importantly—what happens if he finds out I killed his sister…?

While I was worrying, Yan‑Meat spoke.

— Ah, you can see it now. That big cave over there—that’s my home.