25 Grimichael Ba

The overall features allowed Dean to have a rough guess of what beast this was.

A Grimichael Bat.

The main features were their alluring colors on their body and large body mass. Averaging around the cultivation level of Foundation Establishment to Core Refiner they were a tough foe that used their supreme agile skill to kill enemies.

Their sharp talons were meant to penetrate the human body and once dead, slash the corpse in half before proceeding to devour.

First was the brain, heart and then the liver before detaching the head and limbs to be reserved for their children. If they had no children then they would use it as a gift to any female interests.

Combined with their agile body and deadly attacks, they were natural born assassins. One con for that profession would be their large body and low cultivation.

But that was their only flaw!

Dean sighed at the difficulty he would have to face when trying to kill this beast.

A flick of his finger would be enough to harm this creature but if he wanted to have better control and make a profit off the animal's hide then he would have to kill it in an instant.

Picking up a sharp twig, Dean faced the bat to see what its next move was however it was already in front of him.

Dodging to the side, the Grimichael Bat was stuck into the tree due to the immense force it held but that fact caused Dean to realize another factor.

He couldn't be too loud!

When he was by himself there was no other person to worry about, so he was considered free but Leonard was currently sleeping and if he woke him up over something this small then it would bite back in the future.

The battle had to be quick and his kill must be done in one hit.

Calculating the angle of the attack the Grimichael Bat posed, allowed Dean to predict his next action.

Positioning himself towards an area with multiple tree branches allowed him to dodge to the side when the Grimichael Bat took his bait.

Its talons were the first to strike an enemy before its body's weight would soon follow up.

Dean took this chance to imbue the branch he held with Battle Intent and strike the navel of the bat.

The wood traveled through the neck into the skull before exiting the head.

The glimmering essence of life escaped from the Grimichael Bat before its body slumped onto the ground after falling from the tree.

Looking around, there was nobody that was attracted by the noise allowing Dean to drag the carcass to the bonfire before carving it.

"Hmmm... where's the knife?"

It was unfortunate for Dean as Leonard kept a small blade inside his [Space Ring] that could've allowed him to prepare breakfast but he was left with a stick.

"I guess it'll do"

....

A stripe of light shone itself atop Leonard's eyes causing him to grumble out of his slumber

"Yaaawn"

Rubbing his eyes he walked out of his makeshift shack and looked for Dean.

The crackling fire grabbed his attention as he realized there was a bundle of meat surrounding the fire with a strong fragrance.

Dean patted to a wooden log next to him

"Come, let's eat breakfast."

Leonard nodded and grabbed his seat before he started his feast.

The wings of the bat were the first to be roasted as they were the largest meat part from the Grimichael Bat.

They were marinated in a sweet soy sauce base that wafted around their campsite.

A soft yet crunchy webbing and a tough meat around the arms. Enjoying the moment of savoring the food, Leonard searched around to see what exactly had happened while he was asleep.

Two different trees had multiple piercings around the thickest branches and there was a small clearing around one of the trees.

To the side of the meat that Dean collected was other materials. He had most likely taken them out from his space storing object otherwise the meat would start rotting.

One pile was full of the precious parts of the beast that were probably reserved for Leonard's alchemy experiments even though the Grimichael Bat's Beast Core was a Core Refiner.

The bottom was the scaly hide of the bat and atop were some of the more precious internal organs such as the heart, liver, eyes and at the very top was the Beast Core.

In the distance was unusable meat that Dean would prefer not to eat such as the intestines.

Finishing off the bat wing with a bite, Leonard scanned the area once more and saw a uniformed collection of glass jars off to the side of the intestines.

Inside the jars was a red liquid that was probably the blood of the Grimichael Bat, the only problem was that the jar seemed all too familiar to Leonard.

"...Is that?"

Dean seeing where Leonard was pointing nodded

"I didn't have any bottles with me except for water so I had to make due."

Leonard ran to the bottles as he grabbed them before sulking

"My pill bottles... as if."

Leonard threw a crate of glass bottles to Dean as well as a knife after seeing a bloody branch next to the fire.

'He probably used that to carve the beast didn't he.'

Leonard's gaze softened at the hard work and care that Dean had done in order to make him have a restful sleep.

Dean looked back to Leonard after placing the materials inside his blue orb yet \ the awkward staring competition made both of them laughed.

Leonard took a good look at the bottled filled with blood before asking

"Are we using the blood as bait?"

Nodding his head Dean responded

"We can finally start hunting but..."

Dean purposely prolonged the conversation that caused Leonard to question

"But what?"

Although Dean's pride got in the way a sense of pleading still escaped

"Can I get my weapon?"

Leonard's eyes widened in surprise that he forgot this and was a little worried if this happened during a fight.

Going through his [Space Ring] he threw a black rod to Dean.

"Have a look. Our blacksmith was surprised with the request and tried to come up with a variety of ideas."

Dean was speechless at the design as he exclaimed

"Oh?"

The black rod was actually dark blue when taking a closer inspection and a few green markings were covering the base of the polearm.

It was approximately 2 meters long and at the end was a sharp crescent blade that looked extremely similar to an axe's blade.

Leonard probably notified his blacksmith that they were going to the Hundred Thousand Beast Forest which gave the idea for the color scheme and the unusual design.

Having a look at the blade there was an option to remove the blade when moving the polearm in a sequence.

"A blunt and sharp weapon. Send my gratitude to your blacksmith, he did such an amazing job."

Dean gave his thanks to Leonard's connections but started to get into hunting as he threw two sachets to Leonard.

"Soak it in the blood for a few seconds before taking it out"

Leonard had already known what Dean wanted to do which was to use the blood to attract animals and by soaking the bags in blood some beasts will want to prey on their lives.

Packing up a beast had already arrived and with nothing holding him back, Dean immediately decapitated the animal.

Ravenous Hound

Greedy Mandrake

Alluring Pixie

The list went on and on after they used the blood of the Grimichael Bat.

It seemed their luck was shining in full light as they made a profit from these animals.

A balanced meal of herbs and meat while Leonard collected dozens of Beast Cores and precious organs.

The profit they were currently making was unknown but what Leonard could confirm was that if it was so easy in the Inner Circle then what about the Core Circle?

"Hey"

Leonard struggled to choose the right words without sounding demanding but continued

"Should we go to the Core Circle?"

Dean looked back to Leonard and questioned if he was alright but shook his head.

"If you really want to then you must follow my one condition."

Leonard tilted his head as he asked

"A condition?"

"If what i'm guessing is probably going to happen in the future, we should take some precautions."

This grabbed the attention of Leonard as he was handed a mask, veil and bamboo hat

"Wear this for half a month and we should receive a notification."

Leonard accepted the gifts and started to wear them.