Chapter 34

Grrrrrrrr!

Grimtoad screamed.

Experiencing pain it had never felt since birth, Grimtoad writhed and let out a terrible cry.

With its mucus-slick skin acting as a catalyst, the fire that caught from the arrow instantly engulfed its massive body.

Grimtoad instinctively jumped toward the lake. However, not only had all the mucus on its skin burned away, but the heat had also shriveled its pores so its body no longer floated in water like before.

Splash! Splash!

After thrashing around for a while, Grimtoad finally sank beneath the lake.

* * *

'Done.'

Kinaine breathed a sigh of relief.

Though the sudden appearance of the tailed tribe members had startled him, thanks to them drawing attention, he had been able to avoid catching Grimtoad's notice.

Grimtoad's mucus-covered skin was both a powerful protection and a weakness. Because the mucus on its skin had similar properties to oil, it caught fire easily and wouldn't extinguish quickly.

The subjugation team had also realized this fact later and used fire to catch Grimtoad.

'If we had known earlier, so many people wouldn't have had to die.'

However, thanks to discovering that weakness then, he had been able to destroy Grimtoad now.

His black eyes quietly watched the now-calm lake. Though Grimtoad had only stayed briefly, the lake had become murky as if someone had dropped ink into it.

In the past too, areas where magical beasts had settled became polluted lands where no one could live. Scholars said it would take over 100 years for such land to be naturally purified.

Disasters born solely to destroy this world.

It was said they were created from evil energy that flowed out from the demon realm.

However, no one really knew about the demon realm. As if someone had deliberately hidden it from being known...

"Anyway... is it over?"

Kinaine leaned against the tree trunk as if collapsing.

"Hah."

Hot breath escaped him. Whether because the tension had released or the medicine's effects were wearing off, he felt fever rising in his body again.

Still, things had worked out more easily than expected.

'I feel like it used to resist more. And move faster too.'

Even while on fire, Grimtoad had caused dozens of casualties. Many mercenaries had died after catching fire themselves.

Kinaine had memory good enough to be praised by all his teachers. So he couldn't forget any of those scenes.

'Well... it was sealed away for a long time. Can't be helped if it couldn't show its full ability.'

"Hey!"

As Kinaine was wiping away cold sweat that had run down to his eyes, he lowered his gaze at the sharp voice from below.

'Ilya, was it?'

The man with five fox tails was pointing at him with a face full of discontent.

"You despicable human! You dare steal prey I had almost caught right in front of me?"

"Who stole anything?"

Kinaine shook his head.

"If I hadn't shot that arrow, you wouldn't have been safe either. Why don't you check if your guards are alright instead?"

"D-did you just speak informally to me? You mere human, how dare you?!"

Is that really the issue right now?

"We're both bride candidates. You spoke informally first."

Though he had been mindful at first, if they were competitors who had to fight anyway, there was no reason to yield in spirit. Kinaine too had once been of high status looking down on others.

"You, you! Come down from there right now! I'll teach you a lesson!"

An enraged Ilya growled and thrashed about. Yet seeing how he made no attempt to climb up himself, he seemed unaccustomed to physical activity.

Couldn't foxes climb trees? Or had he been raised too preciously to have ever tried climbing trees?

"Wouldn't it be better to find other magical beasts with that time? Before you're disqualified."

"Hik, this is all because of you! I had almost caught it and you stole it!"

"Almost caught it... you keep saying I stole it, but you were just getting beaten by the magical beast. I'm the one who caught it."

Ignoring Ilya who kept shouting from below, Kinaine stared at the sky.

'When a magical beast is successfully hunted, fireworks will be launched into the sky to let everyone know.'

The dragon's servant had said that before the test began.

Red fireworks for 10 points.

Blue fireworks for 5 points.

Green fireworks for 3 points.

White fireworks for 1 point.

'Grimtoad must be worth 1 point, so white fireworks.'

One point was fine. Kinaine was perfectly satisfied with that.

More than that, seeing how the sky was still quiet with nothing happening, it seemed he was the first to catch a magical beast.

'...Wait. Quiet?'

Kinaine checked the sky again. Night had fallen without him noticing.

With the moon hidden by clouds, it was even darker than usual. If fireworks had been launched, they couldn't possibly have gone unseen.

A chill ran down his spine before he could even find the answer.

"Why..."

Kinaine couldn't continue speaking. Because a black tentacle had silently approached and was strangling his neck.

Kinaine moved by instinct. He instantly drew his dagger and cut away the tentacle before his neck could break. If he had been even a second late, his neck would have snapped.

However, it was too early to let his guard down.

Already, a new tentacle had grabbed his ankle.

"...!"

By the time he felt the unpleasant sensation wrapping around his ankle, it was already too late.

Kinaine fell from the tree. Fortunately, he managed to grab a branch partway down, preventing a fall from several times his height. Thanks to this he avoided having his head smashed, but couldn't completely negate the impact.

"Kuk!"

Though the painkiller's effects meant he couldn't properly feel the pain, his body still reacted to direct impact to his head. His vision went white the moment he hit the ground. When he came to his senses, he was being dragged along like a leashed beast with his ankle caught by the tentacle.

'What in the world...'

Kinaine realized that what was moving in the darkness wasn't the shadow of trees swaying in the wind but dozens of black tentacles. And these tentacles were emerging from the lake where Grimtoad had sunk.

The bizarre sight sent chills down his spine. Grimtoad didn't have such abilities.

Sssss-

The mass of black tentacles moving silently in the darkness was a chilling sight enough to strike fear even in someone with strong nerves. Even more terrifying when being dragged by those tentacles into darkness where who knew what awaited.

Kinaine too felt his heart constrict with despair for a moment, but...

Slap!

The moment he realized he was feeling despair, he slapped his own cheek mercilessly. Though his senses were dull, fortunately that action alone was enough to bring him back to his senses.

"Whew."

Kinaine took a deep breath. He thought that perhaps he had made a big misunderstanding.

'I hope I'm wrong... but looking at this situation, that's too optimistic a wish.'

Either way, what he needed to do was clear.

Thunk!

Kinaine gripped his dagger and stabbed down at the tentacle around his ankle.

Fortunately, the tentacle seemed to feel pain as it stopped pulling Kinaine and writhed. Kinaine seized that opportunity to completely sever the tentacle.

He then reached for the quiver on his back but.

"Ah."

Whether they had been knocked loose when he fell from the tree, only two arrows remained.

'No, I still have two left despite all that.'

Trying to think positively, Kinaine aimed his bow.

The strange thing was that the arrowheads were covered with cloth.

'What's with those clothes? You dare try to become the dragon's bride candidate looking so shabby.'

It was natural for Rahu to point that out. Kinaine's clothes were now torn shabbily everywhere, from sleeves to hem.

Those strips of cloth were all wrapped around the arrows. This was what Kinaine had been busily preparing during the day.

He hadn't just wrapped cloth around them. Inside the cloth were berries from the pioph tree he had discovered during the day.

In the Kingdom of Hairak, pioph trees were treated as harmful plants and all cut down. However, one tree had remained by chance, and because of that, a major accident had occurred ten years ago.

Pioph trees grew well anywhere and were pretty to look at. Particularly their ruby-red berries were non-poisonous, and rather had a unique flavor that made them good as spices.

But why had pioph trees become harmful plants?

It was because pioph tree berries ignited when subjected to strong impact. Moreover, the berry juice, which had properties similar to oil, contributed to making the flames even larger.

As someone who had directly witnessed an entire forest burn down because of pioph trees, Kinaine knew well how frightening these trees were. So when he discovered a pioph tree here, he was surprised, and then thought it fortunate.

'...Until then I thought I was lucky.'

Seeing how things had turned out, luck had nothing to do with it.

Newly amazed at his own misfortune, Kinaine released the drawn bowstring.