NOVEL NEXT Chapter 121: (1)
Kaiyan took advantage of the fallen Bentuae creature as a makeshift seat.
“Sigh… Thankfully, there aren’t as many of these creatures as there are other monsters.”
[It can endure the aura with just a forehead? I wonder if there are such creatures in the continent of Eunasia as well?]
“Hmm, I’ve never heard of any regular monster like this. But, monsters are diverse, so it’s possible some might exist.”
Rieka, curious about Bentuae’s forehead, poked it with her forepaws and looked at Kaiyan with bright, wide eyes.
[Kaiyan, making a shield out of this creature’s forehead seems like it would be incredibly powerful! Should we take it?]
“…The forehead?”
If the body of a monster could be useful, like the body of the Twin Head Ogre, storing it wouldn’t be a problem. However, they only needed its forehead, and storing just Bentuae’s head seemed…
“…It might be startling to take out, wouldn’t it?”
“[Then, should I keep it separately? Just storing the heads won’t take up much space, so it might be okay to keep a few.]”
“Alright… Sure.”
After cutting off several heads from the Bentuae creatures and handing them over, Rieka, seemingly unfazed by the gruesomeness, cheerfully smiled and placed them into her subspace ring.
‘Well… I don’t feel sympathy for monsters.’
It was merely the gruesomeness that Kaiyan found repulsive, not because he felt pity for the creatures.
Monsters were entities he needed to kill and eliminate.
[Kaiyan, shall we go now? We’re heading over there today, right?]
Rieka climbed onto Kaiyan’s shoulder and pointed with her short forepaws towards a distant small hill. It resembled the hill they first saw when exiting the cave, the only difference being this hill was covered in rocks instead of forest.
“Yes, we’re heading there. The fact that the Bentuae creatures don’t venture there suggests it might be the territory of other beings.”
Monsters of Havmheim oddly did not stray from their territories. While it might seem obvious, typically, as hunting grounds diminish or a pack’s numbers increase, they would invade other territories to expand their own. However, the creatures observed for the past ten days did not exhibit such behavior.
‘It might be due to the abundance of fruits and animals.’
Most of Havmheim they had seen was forested, and wandering through the woods often revealed trees laden with fruit and animals lurking nearby to feed on them.
Seeing only the animals and forests, it was hard to believe numerous monsters inhabited this place. It felt distinctly different from forests dominated by regular monsters.
Passing the corpses of the Bentuae creatures and walking for a while, they reached the edge of the forest at the base of the rocky hill and looked up.
“It’s massive! The rocks are much bigger up close than they seemed from afar!”
“Indeed.”
The hill was dotted with boulders as large as houses.
Unnoticed from afar, the arrangement of these boulder-sized rocks felt unnatural, as if they should belong on a massive rock mountain rather than here.
“Let’s climb up.”
As they examined the rocks while ascending halfway up the hill, Kaiyan suddenly felt alert.
‘…A monster? Where?’
The sensation indicated the presence of a target, but scanning the surroundings, only rocks were visible.
Wondering if a new group of Bentuae creatures had appeared, he glanced back at the forest below, but no monsters were in sight.
[Oh! Kaiyan! The rock is moving!]
“What?”
Shocked by Rieka’s words, Kaiyan looked around to indeed find the rocks subtly moving. Without focused attention, their movement would have gone unnoticed.
“…Could it really be?”
Focusing on the source of the sensation, Kaiyan realized its origin.
“…Is it actually a monster?”
The source was the house-sized rock right beside him. Not just this rock, but all the rocks they had passed.
The ground was still, but noises as loud as if an earthquake were occurring surrounded them, and the boulders emitted clouds of dust. Kaiyan, just in case, held Rieka close as they waited for the dust to settle.
“Growl!”
“Grunt! Growl!”
“…Rock monsters. I’ve been underestimating Havmheim.”
Strange noises came from the slowly approaching rock monsters.
Not even the spirits had mentioned such creatures, suggesting even those who had lived here for a long time were unaware of these monsters.
[They look quite… amusing.]
“I agree. They’d be annoying to fight against, though.”
The rock monsters had round bodies with short legs. Whether they had arms was unclear, as none were visible, but what seemed to be faces had eyes and mouths, making them peculiarly shaped monsters.
The challenge lay in how to confront these apparently solid rock beings.
‘Piercing attacks might be less effective… better to smash them with fists.’
As the monsters slowly approached, Kaiyan finished planning how to confront them and prepared to swing his fists, readying himself for the assault. With his current abilities and skills, breaking simple rocks shouldn’t be too challenging.
“Come on then.”
“Growl! Grrr!”
The creature, now right in front of him, opened what Kaiyan had assumed was its mouth—a part of the rock above 3 meters in height split open, attempting to crush him with a massive bite.
The pressure felt several times greater than an ogre’s fist.
Crack!
‘The rocks make them considerably slower.’
Luckily, the monsters’ slow speed made them easy to evade. Their massive size didn’t make avoiding their biting attacks difficult. A slight sidestep was all it took to dodge, leaving the monsters confused and hesitant to approach again.
“Growl!”
“So, who would get caught by that?”
Crack!
Once more, Kaiyan evaded, causing the rock monsters to clumsily aim at the spot he had just vacated. Given their bodies were made of rock, being bitten would undoubtedly result in severe damage, but their slowness made them easy targets for Kaiyan.
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