Chapter 30: The Alousu 2
Jaehwang went back to the tree after the baby monsters had recovered. He wished that he could just stay inside of it and hide away forever.
Luckily, Jaehwang’s and the baby monster’s goal was the same. He was relieved that it stopped chasing him but then a big shadow covered his surroundings.
Kwakwakwag!
The mother came over after she saw her children and placed Jaehwang in a desperate situation. However, Jaehwang did not budge as he waited for the bird’s next move. It hovered above him and he couldn’t risk revealing his position. But then, the monster flew down on the ground and tried to catch him.
Peopeog...
Jaehwang slipped through a gap small enough for the monster’s beak and big enough for him to pass through. He found a place to hide and was able to get out of its sights. He caught another monster’s eye and fear crawled on his back once again.
-You’re usually good at this.
-...I know but, things are a bit out of hand...
Even the spirit couldn’t give an exact answer about what was happening above. The monster that covered them was a vicious giant snake. It was common to see that kind of snake in the mountains, especially during springtime. They both had the same shape and color but the snake that he saw was over two meters thick and was so long that he couldn’t even find its tail.
Ggruggeog...
He was relieved that the Alousu seemed to be safer compared Dakousu and he was content that he survived his current situation even though he belonged to the lowest rank.
-That’s an unregistered monster.
Swiiig!
The mother dropped something from midair and the baby monsters caught and swallowed it with their mouths. The monster then dove towards the head of the giant snake and let the surviving babies scatter.
Kwakwag!
A gigantic force rang from the sky and shook the ground as they began to fight.
Kwag! Kwagkwag!!!
The bird seemed to have an advantage over the snake. The snake could only stay on the ground and the bird had more options when attacking since it could fly. It flew and attacked the snake’s head with its talons. The weight of the wind coming from the mother’s wings could rival a storm, however, the overwhelming difference in weight made it useless.
The bird’s bites had left a few marks on its body and to further assert its dominance, the mother shrunk down and sprang from the ground. It picked up the snake and resumed its attacks midair.
Kwakwakwag!
Ggreug!!!
The bird roared after it dropped the snake on the ground. It rushed down to finish off its enemy but the snake tried to defend itself by biting back. It was able to save its life and was left bleeding due to the damage that it sustained.
The monsters were fighting for their lives. That should buy Jaehwang enough time to get away but instead, he stood on his ground watched the fight with a straight face.
Kukeug...
They continued to fight around the old tree and left it to look like a stalk of sorghum. He wasn’t sure on who would win as there were continuous turnovers but it didn’t stay that way for long after the snake made its assault.
Deurururu...
The bird picked up the snake by its head and the snake’s neck scales flung open like a fan. The snake had started to scream the mother continued to pull out its head. The monster took the form of a frilled lizard and it looked like it could throw something in its mouth. This was the same snake that tried to bite and grazed Jaehwang’s forearm, injecting its venom into him.
-There’s poison in you.
He started to get goosebumps. Out of all the species in the world, you only have one or two weapons to choose from if you wanted to take out snakes. Most of the snake-type monsters were fairly known for their poisons that would slowly spread into one’s body before making its attack. It would be doable if a team had the right tools but an unknown and unregistered snake like that was something that they all should avoid as much as possible.
The snake bit the monster a few times and it fell into the ground. It didn’t have to wait long for the poison to spread and that was how the fight came to an end. The snake glanced over to the monster that fell and then looked over towards the direction where the babies had escaped.
Swiiig...
The snake moved to search for the babies scattered around the area. The snake was moving slowly but it picked up its pace when it saw Jaehwang.
It then passed by and disappeared without a sound. Jaehwang then fell to the ground to where the monster was.
He couldn’t tell if the bird had been injected and was killed by nerve or paralysis poisoning. He couldn’t even imagine how many monsters could have been poisoned like this. But, now he knows that there was one.
-It feels like something went wrong. Doesn’t it feel like Michelin Choi’s eavesdropping expression?
-Who’s Michelin Choi?
-A guy I met in a bar... He’s an ace...
-Oh...
He actually did have confidence. It wasn’t just simply arrogance in the prison of time and space. He also thought of a perfect plan to hunt the monsters. He asked himself why there was nothing to prey on in this place beside its monsters.
-First, let’s leave.
-Okay, I approve.
He invested in quite a few valuable things just to prepare but his first experience turned out to be so intense. He decided to go back to their world to establish a new plan.
-It’s here
-Yes...
Not much time had passed by before the snake came back. The snake went towards the monster that fell on the ground and swallowed it whole. It then went back to the tree without leaving anything behind, bringing back the forest’s quiet atmosphere.
Jaehwang turned on his tiger hunter chart and carefully left the area. He figured that that was the best choice since his [Tiger Hunter] skill still needed a boost. He also had to figure out the different effects of the hiding system as well as his special ranked skills.
He made sure not to make any unnecessary noise as he went to find the wormhole. It felt like as if it was a kilometer away but when he ran, it turned out to be just three hundred meters away. He got closer to the cave and took a breath of relief that he was able to make it while maintaining the duration of his skill. He then heard the spirit’s voice.
-Double six...
-Huh?
He looked into the cave and then realized what the spirit meant.
Ggeururug?
There was a giant scary head sticking out of the cave. It looked left and right before going back into it. It looked a little cute at first glance but...
For the first time in a long while, Jaehwang and the spirit agreed on something.
-You’re gonna die!
The spirited yelled but Jaehwang didn’t agree on what she said.
-It’s a third tier monster. How many monsters do you think are there?
He didn’t know how many could have been in there. There could have been a ton of them there but he couldn’t be sure. The worst thing could be if they all have gone in there.
-What are we going to do?
-I don’t know... I guess we would find a different place to stay the night while we figure things out.
He was surprised and couldn’t think straight but he did not want to disappoint her. His father had also used to say, ‘Transcend fear through courage and find the chance to endure it... find the chance to break out the fear that shakes your body.’
-This place is similar to the normal world so if we went up a little then we should find a safe spot.
-I don’t want to. I don’t want to. I don’t think it’s safe.
Said the spirit.
-There’s no way that there could be anything worse than this. Don’t be so ridiculous.
-Fine. I hope you’re right...
However, something worse than that began to happen.
***
Jaehwang found a neighborhood after a few hours.
“Found it!”
He found someone that had a dark green armor covering his entire body. He yelled into his hands and gathered the people in the neighborhood. It turned out that all of them were dressed the same.
“Hm. I didn’t know there was a place like this in the wormhole.”
The one that spoke seemed to be their leader. He looked over towards the cave and shook his head before he spoke.
“Wormhole check complete... We’ve found what we were looking for. We will prepare more and come back to search this place. There could maybe even be a different wormhole around.”
“Hey!”
Said the guy in green armor. The others answered all at once as they scattered around. He took off his helmet after he walked away from the tunnel and revealed his complexion. He had short hair and looked to be in his early thirties. He then went over and asked the person crouching down in front of the cave a question.
“Leader, are we going to use the ants?”
The leader gave a nod and replied.
“Yes, carry out every menu order.”
“Yes, sir!”
He responded by taking out an about 40-centimeter big black machine out of his backpack and placed it in front of his leader. It looked like tofu. He opened the lid and pressed the switch. Six feet stuck out of its mouth and the body came thereafter.
The guy also handed him a screen and a keypad from the backpack. He typed on the keypad a few times and the 6 legs had started to run. He controlled the machine and moved it front and back and left to right.
“There’s an ant inspection progression of -08 ants. We have to insert them in.”
“Get as many as you can. This will help us find the monsters since this is it was our first time finding a wormhole here.”
“Got it.”
He shook his head and took the machine before going into the cave. Later, the ants started to stick to the infrared camera rays that shone throughout the cave.
“wormhole check complete... the cave here was naturally formed. It has collected soil samples for an hour... And then wait for an hour... And it continues to progress.”
The ants were slowly being controlled but it made steady progress as it continued to collect more samples.
The leader shouted.
“Stop! Change it to the thermal burn camera!”
“Yes, sir!”
He quickly changed the machine’s camera as ordered by the leader. He set up and watched the scale of the camera’s heat temperature meter until it detects something. The only downside was that it had to restart before the switch could be made. Nevertheless, the camera could record at any angle but the thermal camera could find things that were even hiding.
“That...”
“It found a monster... There’s not much information on it.”
There was something quite big inside the cave. It had cracks everywhere and you could see the lack of attention just by looking at the walls. They discovered a monster and one of the guys then took off his helmet and showed his stern expression. He looked to be in his early fifties with his face full of scars.
The Alousu 2, The end.