Chapter 28. The Beast God
Episode 28.
Beast God
Hak, hak, hak, hak, hak—
The owl's beak opened and let out a strange sound.
It was a bizarre cry that a bird's oral structure shouldn't have been able to produce, and I only belatedly realized it was laughter.
Of course, there was something that drew my attention even more than that grating laugh.
'What the hell is with its eyes.'
That thing's pupils. It was clearly hundreds of meters away, maybe even farther, so why could I see them so vividly?
As I kept staring, my head somehow started to feel heavy.
My mind grew hazy, uncertain, as if I were about to be sucked straight into those pupils.......
Thud.
At that moment, something fell from the sky and stole my gaze.
My mind, which had been about to wander off on its own, snapped back into place, and I looked down at the newcomer.
"A lizard......?"
It was the Ember Lizard.
This time it wasn't curled up, and its eyes weren't closed. The lizard stood with its back to me, looking at the owl.
"You."
It even spoke.
"You've been marked by an annoying existence."
I blinked a couple of times, then said,
"......What? Don't tell me that was you talking just now?"
"Hmph."
Apparently so.
The lizard, having answered with a snort, bared its teeth at the owl.
Hak, hak, hak, hak, hak—
As if even that sight delighted it, the owl kept laughing. As I watched, the thing's neck spun around and around.
I knew owls could turn their heads like that. But this thing.......
Crack, crack.
It went beyond what its joints should have allowed, rotated a full 360 degrees, and then returned to its original position.
Blegh.
Bright red blood dripped from the owl's mouth.
[The Beast God, '▓▓▓', is pleased.]
The owl even flapped its wings in delight. It looked almost as if it were clapping.
'What's so funny.'
I looked up at the owl with a sour expression.
Screeeech!
The lizard raised its tail threateningly, and in an instant its entire body was engulfed in ash-gray flames.
"Do you intend to abandon your position as a bystander now! Was the grazing you have maintained for thousands of years not your very identity?"
The lizard roared thunderously.
I felt a force that made me flinch involuntarily, but the owl watched even that with leisurely ease.
Fwoosh!
Then, with the moon at its back, it spread its wings.
The owl's entire body darkened as if swallowed by shadow.
Once that happened, only its pupils—originally the darkest part—gleamed vividly violet.
"......!"
Then it vanished.
In an instant, without any warning.
Had it evaporated?
I looked around, but I couldn't even see a shadow.
"......."
The lizard, which had reared up high, lowered its tail as well.
Perhaps it had overexerted itself; after catching its breath for a while, it finally turned to me and spoke.
"I don't know how you caught that being's eye. You certainly look like an ordinary human......."
A Magical Beast capable of communicating with people.
I know what these things are called.
'A Jinsu...... no, a Spirit Beast?'
Honestly, it didn't look like a Magical Beast of that stage, but the system message had verified it.
I asked uneasily.
"Then what exactly are you?"
"Did you not save me knowing that?"
"I was just desperate. The Black Tree was trying to kill me, and you were parasitizing that Black Tree. I judged that if I saved you, I could get help."
"Even so, for a human to save a Magical Beast. You're not in your right mind."
Is that so? I don't know.
If it meant surviving, I could save even a demon, let alone a Magical Beast.
"Anyway, you seemed to know something about that owl."
"That's obvious...... Anything that lives in this forest would know of it."
The lizard studied my expression, then said,
"You don't seem entirely without an inkling yourself."
I rolled my tongue around in my mouth, then suddenly murmured as something came to mind.
"......Beast God."
The lizard nodded.
"It is called that as well. Though we mainly call them Primordial Divine Beasts, or Wonyeongsin."
Primordial?
For a mere Magical Beast, isn't that name a bit too grandiose?
Perhaps reading my thoughts, the lizard said,
"Being called primordial does not mean they were born alongside this world. But at the very least, they are beings who have existed since before this forest came to be."
"Before the forest came to be......."
That was certainly ancient, then.
After all, <Eternal Forest> is at least several thousand years old, perhaps even older.
"And the owl we just witnessed is a particularly dangerous existence even among those Primordial Divine Beasts."
"You said something about bystanders and grazing."
"Mm."
The lizard let out a low sound, then said,
"In the ecosystem of this vast forest, nothing is as completely detached and neutral as that being. It can remain that way, of course, because it's unfathomably strong."
"What the hell does it do?"
"......The overseer of play and pleasure, and the first jester. Or the deceiver of the night sky."
The grandiose epithets continued, but they didn't quite land.
As I stared at it with a sullen look, the lizard's body swayed.
"This is my limit....... Damn....... I still haven't recovered enough after all......."
"What?"
"Hey, human. The details...... once I wake...... we'll talk again......."
"Hey, wait—"
Before I could say anything, the creature's eyes closed.
And then something even more surprising happened.
[The Magical Beast, 'Ember Lizard,' has entered a state of suspended animation.]
[The Magical Beast that has entered suspended animation is being moved to <Nest>.]
The lizard vanished without a trace right before my eyes.
"What the......?"
Did it die?
No. The message just now didn't seem to mean anything like that.
'Nest? Ah.'
Was it a newly acquired skill? Originally, around level 20, you'd get one or two new skills.
I opened the skill window.
Nest Lv.1
Type: Support
Cast Time: Instant Range: Designated target
Duration: — Cooldown: —
You can store tamed Magical Beasts in a safe space. In <Nest>, health recovers little by little.
▶ Stored Magical Beasts: 2 / 2
So that was it.
The reason the lizard had disappeared, and why Weaselly was nowhere to be seen.
'Nice.'
With this, even if I return to the kingdom later, I can hide Magical Beasts, and I can keep them out of sight in everyday situations too.
'And it even has a health recovery effect.'
It says little by little, but that will naturally increase as the skill level rises.
Next.......
Telepathy Lv.1
Type: Support
Cast Time: Instant
Range: Up to 100 meters
Duration: — Cooldown: 10 seconds
You can convey the user's will to tamed Magical Beasts.
The moment I read it, something immediately came to mind.
When Weaselly fought Godrak, it had unleashed Blade Whirlwind at exactly the right moment even though I hadn't given it any specific order.
'As if it had read my mind exactly.'
In an urgent battle, there's no room to even open your mouth.
If you blurt something out and your breathing gets thrown off by a beat, that difference alone could cost you the fight.
And a range limit of 100 meters is generous.
If I use it well, in combat too.......
"Kaindel......."
At that moment, Kria approached unsteadily.
Kria stumbled, and I quickly caught her by the shoulder.
"Careful."
"Sorry......."
"Nothing to be sorry about. Are you okay? You look really pale."
Kria shook her head.
"Mm....... But I still have to collect what needs collecting."
"Mm."
Collect what needs collecting—
No wonder it sounded familiar—it was one of my own stock phrases.
I'd always emphasized that even if you were about to pass out, if you'd killed an enemy, you should collect the byproducts first.
Hearing it from someone else's mouth felt strange.
"Here, the things the Black Tree left behind when it disappeared......."
I checked over the items Kria held out and was slightly surprised.
First, a SEED....... This world's currency. There was only one, but it was about the size of a potato and vividly colored.
"It's a Red SEED."
Literally, a deep red seed.
"Is it good?"
"Very."
Maybe that didn't quite land.
Since her expression was ambiguous, I told her directly.
"This one thing is far more expensive than everything we scraped together through five days of hell."
"H-how much is it?"
"Well. I'd need to appraise it to know the exact market price, but at this level, we could probably get at least 5 million."
"......!"
Kria's eyes went wide.
She seemed surprised that such a tiny seed could be worth that much, but considering what SEED is used for, that was only natural.
Though explaining that now would take too long.......
'It's a bit of a shame.'
Unlike Kria, who was delighted, I clicked my tongue.
For a hidden boss, and one with a named attribute at that, the rewards were stingy.
But it can't be helped.
This was an early-game area, and Woodmen are notorious for stingy rewards.
Of course, the byproducts weren't limited to this.
'<Low-Grade Talent Stone> and <Grade-3 Trait Awakening Stone>.'
Two consumable items that drop when you kill a boss.
Just looking at them made me feel rich.
Naturally, these were items to hold onto for now.
'The next one must be a branch that can be used as equipment crafting material.'
With a bluish aura shimmering over it, it was definitely a mana-infused branch.
Mysterious Branch Infused with Mana
A mysterious branch containing high-quality mana.
The description was simple, but honestly, this was the real jackpot.
Items infused with mana can be used to craft special equipment, and this is a material that's hard to obtain even with money.
'And it's wood, too.'
Unlike minerals, wood is generally a material that struggles to hold mana.
And wood is an essential component in staff crafting.
What does that mean?
It means that among mages—famous for having money overflowing and spending it as fast as it overflows—this is a material where whatever price you name is the price.
'The hellish grind was worth it.'
Feeling the satisfaction of a good drop for the first time in a while, I checked the last item and narrowed my eyes.
"This is......."
"Right. The one that was hanging at the top of the tree."
One had fallen and burst, but the other had apparently managed to stay intact.
When I checked it—
Fruit of ▓▓▓
Item information cannot currently be confirmed.
So it's an item that needs appraisal.
There's a chance it could be junk, but since it's a boss byproduct, it might have unexpected value.
"What kind of fruit is it?"
"Who knows. I can't tell right now."
"There are things even you don't know, Kaindel?"
"......Of course there are."
What does this kid think I am?
I stared at Kria with a dumbfounded expression, then shifted my gaze back to the seed.
"Of course, it's not like there's no way at all."
"Huh?"
I took the Exploration Crystal from my chest and held it up to the mysterious fruit.
The crystal soon poured out a faint halo of light and swept over the discovery as if scanning it.
"What are you doing?"
"A trick."
"......?"
"The Exploration Crystal can measure the rarity of discoveries. Even if it can't appraise it, I can roughly tell how valuable an item is with this."
"Ah......!"
Kria let out an exclamation of understanding.
"By how much the crystal's Exploration Progress fills up?"
"Correct."
The scan finished just then.
[Registered the discovery in the <Exploration Crystal>.]
⁝
Lowest-Grade Exploration Crystal
A tool that records Exploration Progress in <Eternal Forest>.
Current Exploration Progress: 70.9%
Time remaining: 22 days 9 hours
Seeing the result, my mind went blank for a moment.
"......What was our Exploration Progress before?"
"29...... no, was it 28?"
Which means.......
Did it just jump by about 40% in one go?