NOVEL WEB Chapter 240: Windswept King
Ominous winds howled.
The duo's heart seemed to have skipped a beat as the head of what seemed to be a dragon emerged from the left, draconic eyes and long, white whiskers darting about.
Hal thought they were detected and was done for the moment the creature stopped in front of them.
But to his relief, the massive beast simply continued its eerily stable, forward glide in the next moment, this time a bit faster after noticing the [Spirit Wolf]'s tracks.
Shouldn't a dragon be rising and falling with every flap of its mighty wings?
How could this one be sliding so smoothly?
Untethered and carried by the passing breeze, the beast floated forth, its entire body slowly revealing itself.
Soon, the head disappeared into the other side of the alcove.
Hal and Loki slightly eased, their breathing growing a bit steadier as they continued to observe the creature in awe.
It didn't have any claws.
Like an overgrown serpent, the lower part of its long body slithered with force, generating howling gales with every movement.
Before long, the beast's tail came into view, separating into three wind-cutter-shaped parts.
'J-Jadescale Wyrm!'
Hal naturally recognized the creature as the absolute apex predator of the Hazan Windswept Mountain.
At the very least, the darned article writers didn't lie about this one.
Hal gulped as the beast disappeared into the distance
He and Loki remained petrified, their bodies refusing to move.
It was almost nighttime, anyway. There was no need to.
And so, the two chose the alcove as their resting spot for the night.
They shall continue traveling tomorrow…
In all honesty, a part of Hal was afraid to leave the hiding spot, not when the S-ranked Jadescale Wyrm had just left.
It was better to let it slither farther.
Perhaps by sunrise, the beast would already be back in its territory at the peak of the windswept mountain.
Hal suddenly froze, then took a deep breath.
The [Spirit Wolf] had finally been destroyed.
There wasn't much sense in dismissing it, since a limited-charge summon card wouldn't be destroyed, anyway, only the used charge.
Dismissing it would've been the same as allowing its destruction.
But in choosing the latter, he would've lured the apex beast farther, even if only by a little bit.
He glanced at Loki, who locked eyes with him.
The two then sighed in unison a few moments later.
"Well…we shouldn't let such a scare stop us from eating, right, bud?" Hal said in a low voice, rubbing the huge pup's head.
In the next moment, he took out a huge portion of roasted Ironskull Hog meat, along with a raw chunk.
Hal and Loki then ate silently.
Before sleeping, he used the [Spirit Sparrow] to survey the surroundings, leaving the alcove temporarily to set up a few traps outside to ensure their safety before slipping back in and drifting off.
The night passed rather peacefully.
Soon, the cold, dark skies were vanquished by the sun's warm rays, painting the heavenly canvas brighter colors.
The duo had a decent breakfast before leaving the alcove and continuing on their journey.
They were now far off the trail, and Hal had no plans to return despite encountering the mountain's apex predator yesterday.
Summoning the tiny avian once more, Hal and Loki carefully advanced, this time checking the back occasionally as well.
The cautious navigation added a bit of travel time. However, this was far better than falling prey to mighty beasts and losing their lives.
Hal controlled the [Spirit Sparrow], making it circle the massive mountain to look for a natural cave where he could potentially mine the gemstone he needed, but he found a B-ranked monster instead: an Iberian Cliffscaler.
It was a humanoid creature with powerful, bony claws, hooves, horns of a mountain ram, and white, slightly furry skin.
The monster was sleeping on a cliffside full of Howling Coils that hid its figure.
Unfortunately for the Iberian Cliffwalker, it was spotted by the [Spirit Sparrow].
Hal didn't want to spend money on a B-ranked core that he would use to craft the [Rare]-tier artifact, as it would reduce his earnings.
It was better to hunt.
"Hide and wait here," he instructed Loki before heading over with [Mana Flight].
Hal was confident that the mana fluctuations of his spell wouldn't be detected, as it had never been detected in the past.
Sure enough, the creature remained fast asleep even as Hal hovered just a fair distance away from it.
He quickly ended its life with a [Piercing Light] to the forehead before harvesting its core and returning to Loki's side.
A B-ranked monster died just like that.
The pup companion exited his hiding spot, and the two then continued on their journey, traversing slopes and jumping and flying over gaps.
They were getting dangerously close to the top…
'Damn it, where are those caves?!' Hal complained inwardly. 'I swear…I'll drop a review on those fake articles and expose the–'
Before he could finish his internal rants, however, he suddenly spotted three of them through the tiny summon's eyes.
They weren't exactly close to each other, but Hal was delighted nonetheless.
The more there were, the higher his chances of obtaining the needed gemstone: a Windswept Beryl.
The duo quickly made their way over to the nearest cave.
Upon arriving, Hal and Loki looked around, slightly fascinated by the rocky formations of different hues and the different gemstone growths located in the deeper parts.
There should be a Windswept Beryl here…
Hal didn't dare let his sparrow fly in such a closed space, as there was a high chance that it would be ambushed, so instead, he summoned another disposable [Spirit Wolf] to lead the way.
The summoned creature, smaller than Loki, walked a few meters in front, serving as another safety layer in addition to the huge pup's sharp senses.
It seemed that fortune favored Hal this time.
Aside from the cave somehow being safer than he expected, there were also a few other [Rare]-tier materials inside, such as Stormdrop Ferns and a Cloudsage seemingly featured at a rocky growth.
He could take his time harvesting them later once he confirmed that the cave is safe.
It was bigger than he expected, but it wasn't so big that he couldn't explore it first.
Hal and Loki went deeper and deeper. Yet, nothing attacked, and the pup also didn't sense anything.
Perhaps it really was empty, difficult to believe as the idea was…
'Maybe because this area is a part of the Galewing Roc's hunting grounds?' Hal pondered.
It was the only plausible explanation for why no other creature dared live here.
But then, as they reached the end of the cave, Hal froze.
Close to the ceiling and established atop a huge rocky protrusion on the walls was a massive nest made of tree branches and Howling Coils.
'Or…this could be the Galewing Roc's Cave…'