The moment Jaekyung heard the tree demon's roar, he instinctively recalled the human cultivators Cheong-o had seen.
"Go and see what's happening."
He spoke as if it were nothing, but at that moment, Jaekyung's heart hammered in his chest as it never had before. Fortunately, Cheong-o didn't seem to notice his anxiety and fear, casually replying that he would before flying off in the tree demon's direction. While Cheong-o was gone checking the situation, Jaekyung thought and thought again.
What should I do if it really is human cultivators? Should I save the tree demon, or not? If it were an ordinary demon, he wouldn't have hesitated for a second before giving up on it, but the tree demon was different.
It was a special demon, and with its help, he could continue to hunt spirit beasts with ease. Having already experienced that convenience, the option of abandoning it was not one he could easily erase. 'It's too early to be sure.
It might not be human cultivators.' Perhaps a passing spirit beast had become mesmerized by the tree demon's fruit. Although he knew this line of thought was close to denial, Jaekyung didn't want to let go of this denial until Cheong-o returned.
But when Cheong-o came back a short while later and shouted that it was indeed the human cultivators he had seen, Jaekyung had no choice but to squeeze his eyes shut. 'Damn human bastards! They're truly no help at all!'
Jaekyung, a human in his past life and a spirit beast in his current one, ground his teeth. Though he possessed the body of a spirit beast, Jaekyung had not abandoned his human identity, but in this moment, a genuine rage welled up inside him. But anger was anger, and the matter at hand was the matter at hand.
"What was the situation like?"
"Not good. There are a lot of humans, the tree can't handle them. If this keeps up, the tree is going to die."
Worry was evident in Cheong-o's voice as he relayed the situation. But as he spoke, Jaekyung noticed Cheong-o's gaze fixed squarely on him and understood his intent.
'This one.'
Cheong-o was now urging him to make a decision. To abandon it or to save it. Cheong-o also knew how useful the tree demon was.
The fruits it bore were one thing, but just a few days ago, thanks to the tree demon, they had easily hunted a spirit beast. It would be strange if he didn't know. Cheong-o was thinking the exact same thing as Jaekyung.
The only difference was that while Cheong-o could only think, Jaekyung could also make the decision. Before Cheong-o could speak again, Jaekyung made his decision.
"I think we should save the tree. With it, we won't have to worry much about hunting in the future."
"Yeah. That's right. We have to save it."
Cheong-o clacked his beak, as if to say that was exactly what he was thinking.
"So, what about you."
"Huh?"
"You've gotten stronger too. Think you can fight?"
"Ah..."
Although his appearance was not very reassuring, Cheong-o was still a spirit beast. So, while he might not perform any spectacular feats, he could at least be expected to provide some minimal assistance. The only problem was, even if he could, did this fellow actually have the will to do so?
"I... I can fight too."
After hesitating and faltering, Cheong-o answered in a firm tone. Jaekyung stared intently into the bird's unwavering eyes, then turned his body.
"Then that's settled. Let's go."
* "Watch your feet! There's no telling how many of the demon's roots are hidden!" The shouts of the human cultivators occasionally erupted amidst the tree demon's roars.
Even so, roots whipped out in all directions like lashes, and spirit swords drew countless lines in the air. Each time a sword slashed through the air, a gash would appear on a root, and sometimes it would be severed. The ferocious roars of the tree demon lost their power as time went on.
In contrast, the morale of the human cultivators, who noticed the tree demon's strength waning, grew ever higher. As their spirits rose, their attitude in battle became more aggressive, and the number of wounds appearing all over the tree demon's body increased more rapidly.
Wooooo~!
With a long wail, the tree demon let its once writhing roots and branches droop completely downward. Seeing the tree demon, which looked as if it had completely given up on life, the human cultivators' faces lit up with delight.
"Don't let your guard down until the very end! Your opponent is a demon!"
The young cultivator who had been wielding his sword most fiercely shouted. At his stern warning, those who had been grinning quickly managed their expressions. But a mind already at ease could not be brought back just by controlling facial muscles.
They were now just waiting for the young cultivator who had shouted to finish off the demon.
'It's over. It's over!
There are five spiritual fruits, so I should be able to get one, right?' Another young cultivator, standing farthest from the tree demon, was one of them. His eyes gleamed as he looked at the five spiritual fruits hanging on the tree demon's branches.
There were five fruits and six people, so someone would have to soothe a bitter heart, but he believed it wouldn't be him. 'A persistent bastard.' He let out a sigh of relief as he looked at the tree demon, which had completely lost its initial ferocity and now resembled a rotten tree.
The fight itself had not been as easy as he had thought, but what had been more trying was the effort to avoid touching the spiritual fruits during the battle. For fear of damaging the fruits, they didn't dare to use techniques like the fire arrow technique, and had to rely solely on spirit artifacts for their attacks.
But using spirit artifacts consumed a great deal of mental energy. Using them a few times during a fight was one thing, but sustaining an entire battle with only spirit artifacts was a heavy burden for cultivators in the early to mid Qi Refining Stage. 'The cost was high, but the reward is not small.
That tree demon is no ordinary creature, so the spiritual fruits it bore must also be no ordinary spiritual objects. Even if I can't use them myself, I can trade them back at the sect for a great profit.'
As he thought that it was a good thing he had come outside the sect this time and waited for the battle's end, he failed to notice the massive presence approaching him silently from behind.
Was it because he was exhausted from the battle, or was it because the spiritual fruits hanging precariously from the tree demon's branches were just too brilliant?
Gulp!
Only after a large mouth swallowed his body whole did he realize what had happened, but by then, it was already too late.
"Junior Brother Kyung!"
A cultivator who noticed the anomaly shouted, his eyes wide. He maneuvered his spirit sword and sent it flying toward the newly appeared 'monster', but the 'monster' leisurely swatted it away with its tail. While the spirit sword was flung back, bent as if it would break, not a single scratch appeared on the monster's scale-covered tail.
Crunch, crunch!
The monster, Jaekyung, chewed on 'Junior Brother Kyung' in his mouth. Flesh and bone were softly crushed and severed by his sharp teeth, yet his mood was anything but pleasant. It wasn't because five human cultivators were glaring at him as if to kill him.
It was simply that the act of eating a human being stirred an instinctive revulsion. 'It can't be helped.' What else could he do but eat?
What else could he do but kill? They too would try to capture him and skin him, so it was not at all strange for him to kill and eat them. Jaekyung skillfully controlled his uneasy feelings and then examined the five human cultivators one by one.
They all wore stiff expressions, but the reasons for their stiffness seemed to differ. On some faces, he could see an undeniable fear, while on others, he could feel a fiery anger. 'That one first.'
Jaekyung charged toward a female cultivator not too far away who was shooting him a look of fierce hostility.
"Ah!"
The female cultivator seemed momentarily flustered, but she soon calmly drew out a talisman. As the markings on the talisman began to glow, the surrounding mud surged up and instantly formed a shape like a castle wall. Jaekyung, who saw this scene while charging at full speed, frowned but did not slow down.
CRASH!
The mud wall, hardened like stone, and Jaekyung's body collided. Jaekyung's body was stopped by the impact, but the mud wall also cracked with a "crack!" sound.
"Kuaaak!"
A stinging shock spread throughout his body, but Jaekyung paid it no mind and pushed off the ground with his tail, shattering the cracked mud wall. The female cultivator had already pulled back in the meantime, but the distance between them had not yet grown very far.
"Attack!"
The four cultivators, excluding the female cultivator who was busy creating distance, began to attack all at once. The art attacks they couldn't use while fighting the tree demon now flew relentlessly toward Jaekyung. Arrows made of flame embedded themselves in him, and heavy boulders flew and crashed into him.
Each one was painful, but it was not a level he couldn't endure if he gritted his teeth. Jaekyung's sturdy body shone once again. Enduring the pain and swallowing his groans, Jaekyung charged once more.
This time too, his target was the female cultivator with the intense gaze.
"Ugh!"
The female cultivator's complexion turned pale. Protective talismans like the one she had just used were expensive, so it was common to carry only one or two. She too was an ordinary cultivator, so the one she had just used was the only protective talisman she possessed.
Gritting her teeth, she infused spiritual energy into her spirit artifact. A thin short spear floated before her, emitting a faint light.
"Go!"
The spear, imbued with almost all of her remaining spiritual energy, transformed into a beam of light and shot forward. It flew in a straight line, cutting through the air and aiming for Jaekyung's head.
Jaekyung, sensing something was amiss, quickly moved his head to dodge, but he couldn't avoid it completely, and the spear plunged into the middle of his torso.
"Kraaaaaah!"
A roar filled with pain and fury echoed thunderously. Jaekyung, his eyes stained red, opened his mouth wide towards the female cultivator. At that moment, the young cultivator standing closest to the tree demon extended his hand with a cold gaze and gestured.
Then, a sword that had been floating in the air and aimed at the tree demon changed its direction.
"Kaaak!"
If there had been just one second, or even less time, the male cultivator's will would have been transmitted to his sword, and the sword would have flown toward Jaekyung. But in the brief moment before that could happen, Cheong-o dived toward the young cultivator like a thunderbolt.
"Damn!"
The young cultivator was greatly surprised by the intrusion of another spirit beast, but he did not panic and dodged Cheong-o's talons. A cultivator at the Qi Refining Stage could not learn flight techniques, but they could learn body movement techniques.
Some cultivators looked down on body movement techniques, which only had the effect of making one's movements lighter, and neglected their training, but he was not one of them. In fact, apart from his main cultivation technique, he had devoted the most effort to body movement techniques.
And thanks to that, he was now able to dodge Cheong-o's surprise attack, an attack from which nine out of ten ordinary cultivators would have had their heads torn off. Although the surprise attack he had put his heart into had been nullified, it didn't mean Cheong-o's attack was without meaning.
"Junior Sister!"
Thanks to Cheong-o's surprise attack on the young cultivator, which had interrupted his attack, Jaekyung was finally able to swallow the female cultivator in one bite. The female cultivator resisted until the very end, but squeezing out what little spiritual energy she had left was merely a tickle to Jaekyung.
"You monster!"
Words whose meaning he couldn't understand, but whose fury he could clearly feel, came to his ears. They shouted as if to kill him, but not one of them stepped forward to charge. This was precisely the reason Jaekyung had purposely targeted the difficult opponent first.
Since he was outnumbered, he had to focus on reducing the enemy's numbers first. But if he took out a fellow who was already terrified or whose spirit was broken first, the results would likely not be great compared to the effort put in.
This was because those who already had a blade to their throats would fight desperately whether one more of their companions died or two more died. 'Battle is about momentum.'
His body wasn't in the best condition due to the various attacks he had received while finishing off the female cultivator just now, but thanks to that, he had succeeded in changing the atmosphere. It was still 3 against 4, or rather 2 against 4, but now they would view this as a fight, not a hunt.
This difference was huge. Because they had come prepared for a hunt, not a battle. Jaekyung intended to ride the momentum and continue his attack.
At any other time, he would have dragged things out, waiting for the tree demon's poison to take effect. But since they had fought a fierce battle with the tree demon and still showed no signs of being poisoned, it meant they had some means of resisting the tree demon's poison.
If that was the case, there was nothing to be gained by dragging things out; on the contrary, it would only become more disadvantageous. As time passed and the heat in his head began to cool, the pain he was already feeling all over his body would only intensify.
"Jaekyung! Help me!"
Just as Jaekyung was about to move again, Cheong-o's urgent call for help reached him. When he turned his head, he saw the sight of Cheong-o being chased here and there by a single sword.
Cheong-o, whose flying speed had greatly improved after becoming a spirit beast, was still unable to completely shake off the pursuing sword and was continuing a narrow escape.
"Hold on!"
The master of the sword was the young man Jaekyung had been watching from the beginning, the one he presumed to be the strongest in this group. The fact that Cheong-o was somehow managing to draw his attention was a performance beyond expectations.
Initially, Jaekyung had told Cheong-o to decide for himself when and how to enter the fight, and he had said so because he had no high expectations for Cheong-o in the first place. He hadn't thought that the cunning Cheong-o would fight to the point of risking injury to his own body.
He had thought that since Cheong-o was good at looking after himself, he would just pretend to fight for a bit and then flee without a second glance if the situation turned bad... 'So he can step up when needed?' Perhaps he had set his expectations for Cheong-o too low.
Well, in any case, since Cheong-o was performing so well over there, he had to return the favor.
"Just hold on a little longer!"
Jaekyung let out a menacing roar and charged at the nearest cultivator. At the same time, spirit artifacts and techniques flew at him once again. Even his sturdy scales couldn't withstand the attacks imbued with spiritual energy.
Parts of Jaekyung's body were split open, gouged out, and torn away. But he did not stop.
"Kraaaaaah!"
As soon as he felt something flying toward his eye, he quickly shut it. Something sharp and hard pierced his eyelid. A pain of a considerably different kind from what he felt in his body arose, but he ignored that as well.
Chomp!
Once again, a cultivator disappeared into Jaekyung's large mouth. Before he could even feel the joy of taking down one more, a heavy impact and pain surged from the middle of his body. 'Three left now.'
He quickly surveyed his surroundings with one eye. The distance to the two who had originally been close had widened considerably. The young cultivator, who had been preoccupied with Cheong-o, was now glaring at him fiercely.
'This isn't good.' The momentum had shifted to his side. Overt fear was written on the faces of the two who had hastily backed away.
But the other one. The young cultivator wielding a sword wreathed in flames was the problem. Even though half of his party was dead, he still maintained a calm demeanor.
'Then you're next.' Having made up his mind, Jaekyung set his direction. He dragged his body, which felt heavier than ever and had grown numb, and charged with all his might.
"Truly a ferocious monster!"
The young cultivator stretched both hands forward, and three talismans floated before him at once. As the three markings on the three talismans began to emit light, his complexion turned pale.
"Die, monster!"
The three talismans disappeared, and the three markings merged into one, creating a giant sword of fire. Putting its presence aside, the heat it radiated was so intense that everything in the vicinity dried up in an instant. Even Jaekyung, who was charging head-on with a glint in his one eye, was seized by an instinctive fear upon seeing it.
He had a gut feeling that the moment that sword's tip was aimed at him, he would not be able to escape death.
Wooooooosh~!
Just then, the ground beneath the young cultivator's feet flipped over entirely, and a large root shot out. As soon as the root emerged, it struck the young cultivator's back. He reacted quickly and dodged, but he momentarily lost his balance and staggered.
Jaekyung did not miss that fleeting opportunity. He closed the already short distance at full speed and broke through the sword of fire, which was still floating but now wavering unsteadily. Scarlet flames engulfed half of his body, including his head.
"Ah......!"
The young cultivator's face, which had remained calm throughout, contorted for the first time. In his wide-open eyes, he saw the hideously contorted face of a snake, a gaping mouth, and teeth like blades.