Volume 3 Chapter 21 The Depths Of The Forest Are Full Of Danger
Feeling Liz's strong magic on his back, Randy lifted the dead body of the Valion he had just caught. He thought it was a good time to check it out.
"Normally, I guess I should just skin it."
As he imagined breaking it down, the skin and the insides separated nicely. The white skin, shaped just like the Valion, looked a bit like a discarded white bodysuit.
If it really blended in with its surroundings, maybe shining a light on it would change its color, Randy thought. He took out a lens he made and shone light on the skin, but nothing changed.
(Well, that makes sense. If it changes color when it's dead, it must be using some way to control its color.)
He looked at the skin with his eyes.
So, it should show its true form right after it dies.
(That means changing color has nothing to do with my own will──)
While Randy was deep in thought, he sensed something nearby.
He quickly turned to Liz, and around her, there were other monster corpses, probably drawn in by the magic sound.
(That presence I felt earlier...)
He no longer felt that presence. But a bad feeling made Randy stand up.
"Liz──."
Just as he was about to call out, he shut his mouth and dashed forward. He felt a slight shift in the presence again. He couldn't see it, and neither Liz nor Ellie noticed.
The protective barrier was up, but just in case, Randy scooped Liz up to shield her and rolled on the ground. The spot where Liz had been standing just moments ago caved in dramatically.
"W-What was that?"
"Not sure. Maybe a mutated type or a giant one... or both──."
From what he had heard, Valions usually blend in with their surroundings and wait for prey like a trap beast. But the invisible beast that had just attacked Liz felt very fast and aggressive.
An invisible beast like the Valion.
But its behavior was definitely that of a hunter, the complete opposite.
"Liz!"
"Yes?"
"Can you defend us?"
Liz nodded strongly, and Randy cracked his neck, saying, "Time for a switch." The mystery of the camouflage was still unsolved. If possible, he wanted to study a living specimen.
Conveniently, the creature in front of him that was glaring at Randy seemed like it could handle a rough approach.
"Come at me, big guy."
As Randy beckoned, the presence in front of him moved slowly but surely. It moved sluggishly, then suddenly something shot toward Randy with great speed.
Randy slammed his fist down from above.
Whatever he hit bounced off the ground.
The ground shook, and leaves flew up; it was a white, round mass.
But he only saw its form for a moment before it blended back into the scenery.
(Is that... a tongue?)
It probably attacked by stretching out its tongue, but what was surprising was how quickly it could camouflage itself. It would slowly open its mouth to prepare before launching, but considering the speed it came out, the way it blended into the surroundings was impressive.
Of course, he was on guard, thinking it could camouflage more than just its body, but facing it was a real hassle.
That white appearance was likely a monitor reflecting its surroundings.
The way it outputs could be magical power, or maybe...
As Randy thought, he felt the presence of the tongue coming at him again.
Just before it hit, Randy turned his body to the right.
As it passed by him, he swung his greatsword out of his magic bag.
Blood splattered everywhere.
A loud, annoying screech echoed.
With a light tremor, something stirred the leaves around.
The blood flowed, soaking the area... but he still didn't sense the severed tongue.
(Tch, this is really annoying.)
An invisible giant tongue. In this situation, the unseen bumps in the ground were nothing but traps. Relying on the blood-stained cut, Randy kicked the severed tongue away.
The weight on his foot.
The unseen target.
Even so, the kicked tongue flew away and hit a nearby tree, splattering blood and shaking the ground again.
(That takes care of the annoying... huh?)
Randy glanced at the kicked tongue and felt something off.
Before he could check that feeling, he sensed something approaching from the front.
He swung his fist in response.
It probably hit the tip of the nose, but from the feel of the punch, it didn't seem to do much damage.
(That's some thick skin. And that slimy body fluid is really annoying.)
Out of the corner of Randy's eye, the severed white tongue finally showed up.
(...So it does come back when it's cut off from the body.)
Randy glanced at the blood dripping from the air in front of him.
Even though he didn't do much damage earlier, it looked like he managed to make the opponent open its mouth.
The creature was probably keeping its mouth shut to hide the blood flowing from its cut tongue, but blood was spilling out from the corners of its mouth after that last hit.
"And the blood can't be hidden..."
Randy muttered as he stabbed his greatsword into the ground. Just like with the punch earlier, if he cut it down now, he wouldn't be able to confirm his findings.
He finally saw a clue to the mystery. If possible, he wanted to get solid proof.
The strange phenomenon of blood dripping from an empty space.
Randy faced it head-on.
Then, Valion moved.
"Pop──."
A bursting sound echoed, and suddenly a dark red liquid was rushing toward Randy.
Valion spat out the blood that had gathered in its mouth.
Randy sidestepped to the left.
What was ahead was an open void.
It was the only way to describe it, as Valion had its mouth wide open.
The inside of its blood-stained mouth didn't reflect anything.
A huge jaw suddenly appeared in the void, aiming to swallow Randy.
Just as Liz was about to scream at the sight of the giant jaw coming for Randy──he slammed his right fist up from right under it.
The void was forced shut.
At the same time, fresh blood burst out.
Under the shower of blood──"That stings a bit,"──Randy laughed as he twisted and thrust out his left fist.
He was aiming for the forest view, but calculating from where the blood was spraying, it seemed to be around the chest area of the giant Valion that was leaning back.
His punch came out with a lot of force, but the sound of the impact was surprisingly quiet, like a "thud."
Compared to the earlier uppercut and counter, the sound of the collision was way too quiet.
But the next moment, the scenery around Randy warped around his fist, and with a loud "Bang!" the view exploded.
Yes, it literally burst apart.
What was left was a giant white chameleon that was spewing blood everywhere.
"Bingo. Now I've got a good idea of what's going on."
Randy snapped his fingers with a smile as the chameleon fell to the ground, shaking the earth while blood poured from its mouth and body.
"Randy, are you okay?"
"Yeah. No problem. It would've been easier if I just chopped it up."
Randy shrugged and looked down at the fallen giant chameleon. It was probably as big as, or even bigger than, the armored Lizard he had defeated before.
It had hidden itself and blocked its presence at first. Plus, with its thick skin and fierce nature, it seemed to have grown into a pretty high-level beast.
"Wow. It was a sneaky enemy, even though it was so big."
Even Randy, who grew up in Beast Forest, had never seen a beast like this. It was quite a rare experience.
"Can you see it, Randy?"
Since she couldn't sense it herself, Liz kept asking.
"No, I can't see it. I can only feel it."
"I don't really get it, but isn't that amazing?"
"I trained so hard I thought I was going to die. Seriously, it was that tough."
Randy laughed it off, but it was clear that his hard training had paid off. Back then, he really thought, "Are you trying to kill me?" But now, he was grateful because it helped him survive.
──It's okay. Young master won't die from something like this.
He thought the old man was a bit crazy, but thanks to Keith and the others, both Randy and Harrison had grown enough to be able to sense their surroundings.
They had defeated a beast that combined presence blocking and hiding. I wonder what Keith would say if he heard about it.
──Well, he is the young master. Of course, he can do it.
Randy felt pretty sure that he would say it casually.
"Well, I guess I have to meet his expectations," he thought, giving a small smile.
"Even though he's a pain, he's got some smarts, but it was okay."
With a smile, Randy walked up to the giant Valion and touched its skin. Just like he imagined, it felt smooth.
"You just said 'bingo' earlier..."
"Yeah. It's a mechanism that shows the scenery──."
Randy started explaining the secret behind the Valion's ability to hide its appearance.
The secret of the ability is its body fluid. It's always covering its body, reflecting the surroundings on its outer skin. After it dies for a while, you can see its shape because the body fluid dries up.
He figured this out because part of the tongue he kicked had turned white quickly.
The places where it hit the tree.
The spot where it fell to the ground.
The place where Randy kicked it.
Everywhere was a little blurry and didn't show the scenery correctly, looking slightly white. Seeing this, he realized that the 'something' covering the outer skin was the key.
To confirm this, he delivered the final blow. He damaged the inside of the body, using that shock to blast away the body fluid on the surface.
"So, that means there might be an organ inside that creates it."
"Probably. That's why I hesitated to slice it."
Randy sighed as he looked at his greatsword, which he hadn't used lately. It was fine if he didn't have to use it, but sometimes he wanted to swing around a cool weapon.
"I see. So that's why you were fighting with your fists... But what was that last attack? The big bang?"
"Oh, that? The outer skin was all squishy, and it didn't seem like it would take damage. So, I sent the power inside."
"Huh? If you sent the power inside, wouldn't that hit the important organs──."
Hearing Liz's words, Randy quickly used a knife to cut open the giant Valion's belly. What he saw was the insides completely blown apart.
"Oh no... I just──."
"Are you an idiot?"
Ellie peeked in, completely shocked by his mistake.
"But, at least I figured out how it works, right?"
Randy pouted, but in front of him were countless Valions with their bellies pierced. Most of them were useless because of the magic Liz cast, but he had no idea that the answer was in the insides until now. It was out of his control.
"Well, it can't be helped. We have another day tomorrow, so let's look for another group."
"Do we have to deal with these guys again?"
Sunlight started to peek through the fallen trees in front of a dejected Ellie.
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