The pond, wrested from a nasty (by Cheong-o's standards) and ugly (by Jaekyung's standards) frog, was the home Jaekyung had grown most attached to in this life. Even without considering the spiritual energy, he had truly liked its coziness.
But now, the spiritual energy fading to an uncomfortable degree and the lowered water level told him it was time to leave. Jaekyung smacked his lips as he looked at the pond, which was noticeably shabbier than when he first saw it.
"What a shame."
"A shame? That we're leaving?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because it was a good place. And I had gotten used to it."
As one who moved its sleeping spot every night, it seemed to be a difficult story to understand. Cheong-o tilted his head.
"Forget it. Let's go. Have you checked out all the fellows in the vicinity?"
"Yeah. I've checked them all."
"You mean you've also checked out ones we might be able to hunt?"
"Yeah."
Besides flying, Cheong-o had another special ability. It was the ability to discern strength and weakness. As Cheong-o himself put it, against ordinary beasts, it was just a matter of having a keen eye, but against the demon races, its accuracy was very high.
Cheong-o himself didn't know whether this ability was innate or developed through learning, but it was truly an enviable skill.
‘Of course, that's assuming it's true.’
If he had mentioned this ability just now, Jaekyung would have suspected him of trying to use his new spirit beast form to attempt a dangerous hunt. But since he had learned of this over a month ago while they were just chatting, the probability that it was an intentionally fabricated lie was low.
‘But there’s no other way.’
Jaekyung inwardly clicked his tongue. After becoming a spirit beast, an unexpected side effect had emerged. Because his aura had grown stronger, beasts could now easily sense his approach.
No matter how quietly he tried to approach, or even if Cheong-o distracted the prey, it was useless. The moment he entered a certain range, the prey would instantly notice his presence and flee without a second glance.
This kind of aura was not something that could be controlled by holding his breath or being mindful of his movements like one's presence. There was surely a special method to conceal one's aura, but that was a story that had nothing to do with him at present.
‘If only I had wings.’
Actually, he didn't even need wings; just having legs that could run fast would have been good. But he had neither wings nor legs and had to close the distance by crawling with his bare body.
No matter how much stronger he had become or how much faster his movements were, he couldn't catch beasts that were fleeing for their lives, especially when they started from so far away.
In the end, Jaekyung was left with no choice but to hunt creatures that were either too slow to escape from him or those that did not run away. The problem was, such prey was extremely rare. In a way, facing a life-and-death crisis, Jaekyung diligently wracked his brain and came up with his own solution.
That solution was to target creatures that had their own territory. Creatures with their own territory are like a mother protecting her young; they rarely back down against an enemy that enters their domain.
Of course, such creatures were the big shots of their area, but no matter how strong or fierce a beast was, how could it compare to him, a spirit beast?
‘It was a good idea.’
He targeted five and was able to hunt one.
Hmm.
Out of the five, only one held its ground to the end; the other four fled without looking back. Even the one that held its ground did so not because of its territory, but because of its young.
‘Now, there’s no helping it.’
The one saving grace was that his appetite had decreased significantly since he became a spirit beast. This was because his body, having finished sensing spiritual energy, had begun to absorb a minuscule amount of the world's spiritual energy.
If his realm were to rise even higher from here, he would no longer need to eat in the conventional sense at all. However, Jaekyung had not yet reached such a state, so he still needed to eat to survive.
"Tell me what kind of creatures they are. Start with the closest ones."
The candidates Cheong-o had scouted totaled six.
"They're all weaker than you. You should be able to hunt them without much difficulty."
Though Cheong-o said so, Jaekyung let it go in one ear and out the other. In the end, it was he, not the bird, who would be fighting for his life, so he truly had to think as carefully as possible. First, a three-eyed leopard.
Its build was said to be about twice as large as the agile leopard he had seen before, making Jaekyung suspect it might be that same leopard, now a spirit beast. Cheong-o said its aura was significantly weaker than his, but it looked like a fast creature at a glance, so he decided to exclude it for now.
‘Aura isn’t important. Matchup is more important.’
Jaekyung considered himself a rather extreme type of spirit beast. He had no other abilities, just immense strength and a sturdy body. On top of that, he was slow, so regardless of the strength of one's aura, he was bound to be heavily affected by matchups.
It went without saying for those that could fly, and he was also at a great disadvantage against fast creatures. He wouldn't lose, but if they decided to flee, he had no way of catching them. Therefore, Jaekyung quickly ruled out four of them, including the three-eyed leopard.
After that, two remained. One was a monster ox said to breathe smoke from its nose, and the other was a tree—not an ordinary tree, of course, but a demon tree. According to the classification set by humans, a demon tree belongs to the demons, not spirit beasts, but in Cheong-o's eyes, there was no difference.
It saw this demon tree as edible prey and informed Jaekyung. Hearing about the demon tree, Jaekyung was flustered, wondering if he was being told to chew on tree bark, but it turned out the food Cheong-o mentioned was not the demon tree itself, but the fruit it bore.
"It's a good thing. Not as good as the lotus, but still good. And there are a lot of them."
"Hmm."
He didn't know before, but he knew now. The 'good thing' Cheong-o was talking about meant spiritual objects. Remembering the lotus on the pond, Jaekyung's mouth began to water on its own.
One might think that eating a few tree fruits wouldn't fill one's stomach, but spiritual objects were different. Of course, the fruit borne by the demon tree wouldn't be as good as the lotus, but even so, a spiritual object was still a spiritual object.
"That demon tree uses poison?"
"Seems like it. If you get close to it, you get all woozy and then collapse."
"Is that so?"
Poison… not bad. He had roughly guessed it before, but while hunting the frog, Jaekyung had learned for certain that he had considerable resistance to poison. Jaekyung used to regret not having poison himself, but it turned out he had an even better ability.
Besides, this was from before he became a spirit beast. Now that he was a spirit beast, it was highly likely his poison resistance had grown even stronger.
‘A tree demon. Its weapon is poison. Of course, that won't be all, but even so…’
No matter how he thought about it, the matchup seemed quite favorable. Mentally weighing the monster ox that breathed smoke against the tree demon, Jaekyung soon made his decision. * The tree demon's territory was not very large compared to those of other demon races.
Even though it had become a demon, it was still a tree by birth, so it was almost completely inactive. According to Cheong-o, this tree demon lured other beasts with its fruit and preyed on them. For Jaekyung, who had to diligently move about to fill his stomach, it was a truly enviable ability.
‘Am I in?’
Jaekyung, who had been moving cautiously to avoid trespassing into the territories of other demon races, felt the ground suddenly soften and knew he had finally entered the tree demon's domain.
He didn't know if it was related to the tree demon or if it had intentionally chosen such a place, but the soil in the tree demon's territory was different from other places. The ground became softer and softer, until it eventually turned into a mud flat that sank with every movement.
Ordinary beasts would likely lose a great deal of energy just moving through a place like this.
"We're here!"
At Cheong-o's words, Jaekyung raised his body high and looked ahead. Amidst withered, dead giant trees, one exceptionally large and vibrant tree could be seen. Ignoring the desolate surroundings, the tree's appearance alone was enough to make one think it was a divine tree.
‘So that’s it.’
Luscious fruits hung from branches that seemed to gleam. They weren't quite like the lotus, which had been hard to look away from, but he could still tell at a glance that they were no ordinary objects. Also, unlike the single lotus blossom, there appeared to be roughly a dozen of those fruits.
‘It must have noticed by now, right?’
Just as he expected, his body suddenly felt a little heavy. It was a change that occurred in an instant, without any warning. That 'heaviness' grew slightly stronger as Jaekyung moved forward.
If Jaekyung had not been on high alert from the start, and if his senses were not sharp, by the time he noticed the change, his body would have already felt as heavy as if he were carrying a lump of iron.
‘Is this its poison? Completely colorless and odorless.’
While tightening the reins of his tension, Jaekyung thought it was a truly enviable ability. If he had such an ability, he wouldn't have to struggle like this every time he went out to hunt.
Whoo-oong!
As Jaekyung approached, swimming through the land that had now turned into something like a mudflat, a sound like a horn trumpet echoed. The ground shook, and three or four large, elongated things shot up from the earth at once. Revealed amidst the scattering clods of mud, their identity was that of giant roots.
Seeing the tree root falling like an executioner's axe, Jaekyung increased his speed. But the root was so large, and several other roots moved to exquisitely block his path of evasion, making a complete dodge seem impossible. Making a split-second decision, Jaekyung stopped in his tracks and swung his tail.
The massive root and Jaekyung's comparatively shabby-looking tail collided.
KABOOM!
Splinters of wood flew in all directions. The powerfully descending tree root was sent flying back even faster than it had fallen. Jaekyung pushed off the ground with his slightly recoiled tail and surged forward with all his might.
At that moment, the giant tree, which seemed as if it wouldn't budge even in a typhoon, flinched.
Whoo-ooo!
The ground shook once more. This tremor was bigger than the last. And a repeat performance began.
There was a difference, however. This time, eight tree roots shot up, scattering mud. Soon, more than ten tree roots came flying from all directions.
CRASH! CRASH!
He couldn't dodge. Nor could he counter them with his single tail. He could only trust in his hard body and endure.
‘Nngh!’
Fortunately, his body was sturdy enough. More than ten tree roots battered him from above and from the sides, but he endured it without flinching. It didn't even hurt that much.
At most, it was just a rather sharp sting. This much, he could definitely withstand. Gaining confidence, Jaekyung sensed the tree roots' movement to bind him and tensed his entire body.
His body swelled in an instant, as if a balloon were being inflated with air.
"Kuaaak!"
Can a tree feel pain? It would be nice if it could, but it didn't matter if it couldn't. The moment he realized he could withstand being battered by a dozen tree roots in succession, Jaekyung gained confidence.
CRUNCH!
He forcefully unwound the tree roots coiling around his body and savagely bit down on the one tightening around his head. After becoming a spirit beast, Jaekyung's teeth had become even sharper. As his sawtooth-like fangs dug in, the thick, hard tree root was instantly shredded.
Jaekyung bit down and pulled with all his might on the tree root, which had become as limp as a squid leg soaked in saliva. With a "puduk!" sound, the large tree root snapped in two. The demon tree shuddered.
The tree roots, moving like tentacles, trembled along with it. It seemed the tree could feel pain after all. Riding the momentum, Jaekyung pushed forward.
The tree roots tried to grab him and stop him, but they only managed to slow him down for a moment, not halt him completely.
‘So this is what it felt like.’
In the midst of the heated battle, Jaekyung suddenly found the situation amusing. This method of wrapping around and constricting an opponent was one of his main fighting styles. But now, he was on the receiving end of the squeezing, the opposite of his usual role.
He wondered if this was how the prey he attacked felt.
‘But its strength is lacking.’
The roots looked threatening, and there were many of them, but the strength of each one was not that great. As expected, this demon tree's main weapon seemed to be its poison.
Its hunting method was likely to incapacitate its opponent with poison, or at the very least, drain their strength as much as possible before finishing them off with its roots. It was a fairly sophisticated and efficient method, but unfortunately for it, this time it had met its match.
‘Our meeting is my good fortune, and your misfortune.’
Jaekyung bit off the fourth tree root that tried to hold him back and continued to advance. He could feel the demon tree's attacks growing more desperate. The long wail seemed to be laced with pain.
‘But where is this thing’s weak spot?’
Biting and pushing aside the obstructing tree roots, Jaekyung finally closed in on the demon tree's main body. Whoo- As Jaekyung tensed his body once more to shake off the tree roots, he heard a sound that was different from before. Then, Cheong-o, who was watching the fight from high in the sky, shouted.
"It's begging for its life!"
Jaekyung completely ignored the useless translation and prepared to end it. He was almost there. With one more push, he would be able to reach the demon tree's main body.
He still didn't know where its weak spot was, but if its main body was torn to shreds, it would surely suffer a major blow.
"Kyaaaak!"
Just as Jaekyung, certain of his victory, was about to exert his strength again. The heat in Jaekyung's eyes turned cold. It wasn't because of the noisy cry coming from far to his right.
It was because of the aura he felt from the direction of the sound.
‘A mistake.’
He had been too engrossed in his fight with the demon tree to notice.
"Jaekyung! Monkeys are coming! Four of them!"
Even without Cheong-o's noisy announcement, Jaekyung felt it too. Four of them. All spirit beasts.
Whoo-ooo- "Jaekyung!
The tree is begging you to save it! And it's asking for help!"
"" He had pretended not to hear until now, but the situation had changed.
The demon tree before him and the monkeys that were drawing ever closer. After a quick calculation, Jaekyung stopped advancing and shook off the tree roots that were trying to block him.
"If I do that for you, what can you give me?"
As Jaekyung asked, Cheong-o chirped, and the demon tree answered.
Whoo-ooo!
"It's asking what you want."
"The fruits."
Cheong-o chirped a few times, and the demon tree flinched. The demon tree, which had been motionless as if hesitating, let out a low wail as the noisy cries of the monkeys grew even closer.
"It says it agrees."
"Good."
After hearing Cheong-o's translation and glancing at the demon tree, which somehow seemed to have drooped, Jaekyung turned his body towards the monkeys running towards them from the distance.