Chapter 97

Chapter 97

[Translator – Clara]

[Proofreader – Lucky]

Chapter 97 – Madam Eight Legs (3)

Crack, Crack, Crack......

A vague cumulonimbus cloud covers the spot where the thunder left off.

It may have been daytime, but with the thick dark clouds covering the sky, the pouring rain, and the frantic lightning, it felt like night.

Vikir pushed his way through the sharp leaves of the Sword Forest.

He had been following Madam’s trail since last night.

It was common knowledge that if it rained during a hunt, the chase would be abandoned. It’s common sense to abandon a hunt when it rains.

But even in the midst of this heavy rain, the tracks of Madam’s movements remain unmistakable.

Half-melted chunks of meat lay everywhere.

They appeared to be part of what Madam had eaten and vomited up, but I didn’t bother to examine them to see what kind of meat they were.

Everywhere, Madam’s mucus and feces flowed into the water, creating a foul odor.

Thick hairs that felt like black needles were scattered throughout the area and the grass and trees around it were blackened and dried up.

There’s no reason we can’t follow the trail.

The hound advances, following the path of death indicated by the dead trees.

Vikir recalled the Madam’s once more.

When they first met, she had buried herself completely in the blackness of the water.

So it’s impossible to know the exact shape of her body.

Even the warriors of Balak, who had suffered under her tyranny for so long, had no idea what she looked like.

Only their chieftain, Aquila, was able to give them a glimpse of her identity, based on faint oral accounts.

“......Certainly, it’s hard to tell what species we’re dealing with based on the tracks.

Traces of crashing into and crushing logs or rocks like land war monsters, flying across rivers or high valleys like birds of prey, traces of digging tunnels like underground monsters...... The biological characteristics of all monsters are all mixed.

What’s even more impressive is that it climbed up a rock wall with a slope of more than 90 degrees.

A cliff so high that even birds can’t climb it. Madam scrambled up it.

Vikir looked up toward the top of the cliff, hidden by clouds.

It looks like he’ll have to climb this high to meet Madam.

“...... But first, I need to get ready.”

Vikir stared up at the cliff for a moment, then turned on his heel.

A quick glance around the cliffs reveals that they’re shaped like isolated mountains.

It stuck out like a sore thumb in the flatlands.

Most likely, the Madam was nesting in the higher ground.

Vikir made a quick assessment of her location and turned away.

If he fought now, he would lose, and he would barely survive, let alone win.

Now that he knew where his opponent was, time was on his side.

Vikir slowly moved away from the cliffside.

Trying to gauge how high this sheer cliff could possibly be.

Vikir arrived at a swampy area quite a distance from Madam’s nest.

The first thing Vikir did upon reaching the edge of the swamp was to scatter the bundle of straw he had been carrying in all directions.

He had been sweating profusely as he made his way through the jungle, and his scent had soaked into the straw.

The wind blew the straw, carrying his scent, everywhere.

Vikir’s scented straws will now scatter, enveloping the entire swamp due to the nature of convection that circles the swamp.

They will be carried by the wind deeper into the swamp.

Not only would it be impossible to pinpoint Vikir’s location, but there would be room for her to feel surrounded.

......Who would feel that way?

“The master of this swamp.”

Vikir raised his head and stared into the center of the swamp.

Suddenly, a log floating on the surface sank deep.

And something huge began to crawl out of the swamp through the thick water.

[Fog Lizard]

Danger Rating: A+

Size: 9 meters

Found in: Ridge 8, Red and Black Mountains

-Named ‘Infinite Regeneration Dragon’.

A giant amphibian-like beast that lives deep in the swamps.

It has strong territorial instincts and a gluttonous appetite, devouring everything that enters its swamp.

They are feared by humans because of their unkillable ability to regenerate from any wounds.

Even the salamander, which had travelled quite a distance from the swamp.

Vikir looked at the mosquitoes and thought.

“They are terrible creatures.”

These mosquitoes were worse than the ones people usually recognize.

Normal mosquitoes stick their long, straw-like proboscis into flesh and drink blood.

But it wasn’t human blood that these mosquitoes craved.

It was bones.

They poke their long, pointed snouts into the bodies of their prey and suck out the bones, much longer than the average mosquito, and their victims lose all the bones in their bodies.

What’s even more horrifying is that...... These mosquitoes only suck on bones, leaving behind skin, flesh, blood, and intestines.

The old salamander then proceeds to show us in real time what happens to those who get caught by these dreaded mosquitoes.

[Shhhhhh!?]

The old salamander freaked out.

He squirted mucus all over his body to ward off the mosquitoes’ attacks, and he tried to turn and run back into the swamp.

But the mosquitoes were much quicker to react.

Attracted by Vikir’s scent, these mosquitoes clung to the salamander’s body, causing it (The mosquito) to die and harden to its mucus, while the late arrivals used the corpses of their companions as footholds to sting.

Soon, the mosquitoes begin to suck out the salamander’s bones.

Swish, swish, swish.

The fluid from the mosquito’s saliva is exactly what dissolves the salamander’s bones and turns them back into liquid.

The salamander tried as hard as it could to get back into the swamp, but the fire spread it a few meters from the water’s edge.

It had lost all its bones to support its weight.

The mosquitoes continued to swarm the swamp long after they’d eaten all the salamander’s bones.

Whirr! Whirr! Whirr!

That is until Vikir started a fire and used the smoke to scare away all the mosquitoes.

The mosquitoes disappeared as quickly as they had appeared.

Vikir finally emerged from the swamp.

He burned some wet leaves, just in case, creating a thick cloud of smoke.

“......Smoke.”

Vikir looked around and nodded.

The bone-sucking mosquitoes were terrifying.

Each mosquito was small and weak, but the danger level of the whole swarm was far beyond common sense.

Vikir turned his head to look at the swamp.

The salamander had fallen to the ground just two meters from the swamp.

Surprisingly, it was still alive.

The bones in his body were gone, and he was shivering, but he was still breathing, thanks to his tough skin and life force.

Of course, it was obvious that its miserable existence would be short-lived, as it was nothing more than a watery shell.

“.......”

Vikir reached out and touched the salamander’s body once.

Flesh and blood oozing from the tough hide, intestines floating around.

Now he was nothing more than a bag of blood.

“Good. Well done. That should be enough.”

Vikir tugged on the still-breathing salamander’s tail.

As the mana of a High-Tier Graduator passed through his body, he was able to pull the body of this huge monster.

What’s more, the old salamander’s body was lighter because its bones were gone.

[Swoosh! Swoosh-]

The salamander made a bizarre noise every time it was dragged, but it could do nothing about it.

The lungs and other organs in its body were now all mixed up, so it couldn’t even make a sound.

Only thick tears dripped from his eyes.

“Consider this your karma for eating so many humans.”

Vikir’s eyes are cold as he drags the salamander, a giant bag of blood and intestines.

It had been a short preparation, a rather long one.

Now that everything was in place, there was only one thing left to do.

To meet the Madam, and to kill her.

Then I will leave the jungle, and Ballak.

A return to Baskerville.

I’ll soon be back.

[Translator – Clara]

[Proofreader – Lucky]