Chapter 451

Chapter 451

TL: xLordFifth

ED:

The black cranes were larger than the red goats. Each one, giant-sized, numbered over a hundred. It meant that more than a hundred living flame bombs were falling from the sky!

“Wood! Everything below is wood – if it catches fire!”

“Huuu—–did! You stupid idiot!”

Leeha’s ears rang as he looked around in confusion. Next to him was Aibex shouting with all his might.

“You fool! You look like a black crane with its head twisted——–! [Suppress]!”

Light flashed from Aibex’s horns. The fire of the black cranes, descending rapidly, went out all at once.

“Go, my children! Flame Burst!”

“Red goat!”

And Aibex once again used his power towards the red goats. When their bright red fur sparkled as if coated with wax, the red goats broke the branches of the Redwood and soared into the sky.

Each of them, with their horns thrust forward, would directly receive the tremendous kinetic energy of the descending paleos.

“Gwaaaah!”

The charge began. Kwaaaah——— Kwaaaah——! Red goats and black cranes entangled mid-air, starting a fierce battle. The red goats couldn’t fly in the sky. In other words, they were fighting on the ground as they fell! A red goat trying to tear off the wings of a black crane, a black crane trying to entwine the head of the red goat with its horns to avoid them.

‘Crazy....’

This was not a level of combat where they exchanged punches. They were a new race of NPCs who used their bodies as weapons. Even in the midst of breaking the branches of the Redwood and falling, they showed determination.

“Hudid. This stubborn friend...”

According to Aibex’s words, paleos could borrow the power of a being like a ‘guardian deity.’ Leeha hadn’t fully grasped the concept yet, but he felt that he was something close to his children. Why would he send his children into a deadly charge? Hudid, soaring proudly in the night sky, and Aibex, sadly looking at Hudid. Leeha cautiously opened her mouth, recalling what Aibex had said.

“Are you two... originally close?”

“...Didn’t I say? He makes fire, and I extinguish it. Over the more than five thousand years this forest has been growing, we had a special relationship.”

Indeed.

Leeha nodded. He vaguely seemed to know the whole story of the incident.

“Hudid-nim changed like that not long ago, right?”

“Aibex probably—probably...”

“You think that Le made Hudid-nim like that.”

“Someone like Le couldn’t have made Hudid like that. It’s impossible.”

Aibex shook his head.

The place where Leeha and Aibex stood was at the top of a tall Redwood. From various places on the ground, the sounds of fierce battles were still audible. Here and there, black cranes, breaking through walls of leaves and branches, were soaring back into the sky. In the midst of such noise, Leeha looked at Aibex shaking his head.

“No. Absolutely not. I mentioned earlier that Le contaminated the water spirits and came here, but that’s not all. Not only ordinary water spirits but even the ruler of the sea who governs the vast ocean, the Sea God, was somewhat affected by Bluebeard’s influence.”

“Is that so...?”

The eyes on Aibex’s back squinted.

“Yes. The sea god endured it. If he had completely fallen, the Dragon Palace would have been completely destroyed, but the sea god endured. However, Hudid-nim is clearly different, and his purpose is also clear. It’s more serious than the case of the sea god.”

Leeha’s expression momentarily showed surprise, and the eyelids on Aibex’s back narrowed.

“Aren’t you confident? If not—”

“No! No, no. I’m confident. But...! I can’t do it alone. Please release my colleagues below.”

[Negotiation skill has been activated.] [The probability of convincing the opponent increases by 57%.]

Leeha skillfully initiated negotiations. [Expert Negotiator Lv.5] The convincing probability surpasses ‘half and half’! This quest is different from the compelling quests before. It’s not a mandatory quest, and the conditions are not too tight. If there’s room for negotiation, it should be used, of course.

However, maybe Aibex didn’t like Leeha’s attitude. Helping while placing conditions might have been impolite in Erika continent customs. Aibex’s expression wasn’t particularly bright.

“I still can’t trust you completely. Why should I?”

“I know the cause and the solution.”

Leeha didn’t avoid the eyes on Aibex’s back. The eyes on the back and the mouth on the face made a faint ‘hmm’ sound, creating a bit of distance and making Leeha slightly uncomfortable. Nevertheless, Leeha remained determined.

Shwooosh! After a while, the quest notification window finally changed.

Content: Heal the corrupted spirit of the creature Hudid with one human companion.

“...Okay. Then release only one person.”

“One person?! At least two should be released!”

“One person. If you don’t like it, you can just stop—”

[Failed in persuasion.]

“Ah, okay! I got it. One person! Let’s do it with one person.”

Just before the notification window disappeared, Leeha clicked the accept button. The mention of a 50-50 persuasion success rate meant that one of the attempts could fail, and Leeha was well aware of that.

Although the complete goal wasn’t achieved, Leeha felt somewhat relieved with at least some progress.

‘There are no specific regulations on the method. Just need to restore the contaminated spirit.’

In extreme terms, it meant suppressing and tying up Hudid, then fixing the ‘mental education’ and ‘batting’—in other words, what if it came to the worst-case scenario?

‘Bring out Bailephus, then subdue and educate Hudid to the point of not killing him. Simple but effective.’

Perhaps the Ancient Gold Dragon might know another skill to cure the contamination by the Blue Beard. Leeha’s thought of bringing out at least ‘one person’ was not wrong. At least, up to this point.

“...I’m going back today.”

“Black crane! Withdraw! Withdraw!” —

As Hudid spoke, the surrounding black crane screeched loudly. Leeha suspected that the black crane was the ‘big brother’ in the opposing camp.

The black cranes that were entangled in a battle with the Red Goats around them flapped their wings and soared into the air.

“Don’t let them escape! Capture them!”

“Red goat!”

Although the red goats tried to catch the retreating black cranes by running and jumping on the Red Wood, it was not an easy task. Paleo was not in a complete animal form; it only possessed the characteristics of an animal.

The claws of the cranes were far from dull. Even when the Red Goats tried to counter with their horns, Palaeo’s ‘human arms’ could hold onto them and absorb the impact.

Moreover, flying faster than running on the ground was a whole different challenge.

“Indeed... so, at that time, it was the black cranes planning to attack from the sea.”