Chapter 134 : Chapter 134
Chapter : 134
After bringing them to the Norman Forest, Walkley left them to their own devices, only reminding them: If you really encounter danger, don't try to force it, use the caller in time.
All members of Team A advanced into the forest.
Before entering the forest, Yan Yunqing even encountered Quinn's team. They didn't say much and chose different directions to enter.
Outside the forest, they were still classmates. Once inside the forest, they were competitors.
The strength of Quinn's team was not to be underestimated. The three swordsmen in his team were all powerful among the first-year swordsman academy students, unlike Yan Yunqing's side, which had the old, weak, sick, disabled, and young all represented.
Robin raised his hand to ask a question: "I can understand the other four, but who is the old one?"
Yan Yunqing pointed to himself, "Me."
Robin: ???
Robin looked at Yan Yunqing's extremely young face and fell into hesitation: "Little Captain... no, wait, could it be that Little Captain, you are a long-lived species?"
The academy's enrollment was not limited to the human race. It was common to see long-lived species from other races in the academy.
The supervising teacher of the Alchemy Society was a very old-looking goblin. It was said that he was over a hundred years old, but this age was only middle-aged among goblins.
Yan Yunqing smiled without saying a word.
Although he had only just reached adulthood not long ago, he was actually the Demon King from over two thousand years ago. In a sense, he was indeed 'old'.
The road into the forest was relatively easy to walk at first. The further they went, the more rugged the road in the forest became.
The ground was covered with tree roots that surged out of the soil, ferociously entrenched here.
It was impossible to tell whether under a layer of withered leaves was a flat dirt road, a tripping tree root, or an unfathomable giant pit.
As an experienced swordsman, Rowena proactively stood at the very front, protecting the two mages, Yan Yunqing and Demetrius, behind her.
Yan Yunqing actually wanted to say that it wasn't necessary. He was also a swordsman, and his practical combat experience was no less than Rowena's.
After all, he had killed many demonic beasts on his way back from the Free City, and his level in the Bounty Hunter's Association had even gone up a level.
As for Demetrius, he was someone who exercised whenever he had free time and was not as weak as a normal mage.
Before he could speak, Robin spoke first. He let out a low shout: "Be careful! A bird target is approaching."
The next second, a poison-hook eagle with a hook on its tail feathers shot out from a treetop and pounced straight at Yan Yunqing's group.
Rowena reacted extremely quickly and swung her greatsword. However, the characteristic of a greatsword is high damage but slow attack speed, while the common characteristic of birds is fast speed.
Before Rowena could swing out her sword, the poison-hook eagle had already rushed in front of William.
William also held a longsword in his hand. He followed the proper knight route, using light swords.
This was also a very popular profession among nobles. The skills of a knight were used with grace, which was very much in line with the nobles' demand for elegance even in battle.
Rowena's greatsword didn't hit the poison-hook eagle, but William's sword did hit its body. The poison-hook eagle let out a mournful cry and quickly pulled up, flying into the air.
However, William's attack did not cause too much damage. The poison-hook eagle once again selected a target and swooped down towards—
Demetrius.
His reaction was even faster than the poison-hook eagle's. As the poison-hook eagle swooped down, a water-based binding spell was cast instantly, and at the same time, arrows condensed from water floated around him.
The water rope instantly bound the poison-hook eagle's wings, and the water arrows shot fiercely towards the poison-hook eagle.
It was clearly the gentlest water element of all elements, but at this moment, it turned into hard arrows that pierced through the poison-hook eagle's body.
The poison-hook eagle let out another mournful cry, a shrill wail. The sound was extremely piercing, but it couldn't stop its chest from being pierced.
Life drained away bit by bit, and the poison-hook eagle's venomous eyes lost their light, falling into dead silence.
Everyone's eyes stared warily at the poison-hook eagle, waiting for its final counterattack before death.
However, Demetrius's water arrows were very accurate, wiping out all of the poison-hook eagle's life in almost an instant, leaving it with no way to counterattack.
Robin went up to check, "It's just an ordinary poison-hook eagle, not a demonic beast."
Although the first demonic beasts were born from the bones of gods, after such a long time, seventy percent of the current demonic beasts were demonic beasts polluted from demonic beasts.
In the forest, it was hard to say whether one would encounter a demonic beast or a demonic beast.
Rowena found it strange: "The poison-hook eagle is not a demonic beast that actively attacks. Why were we attacked by a poison-hook eagle as soon as we came in?"
William: "Maybe we accidentally entered this demonic beast's territory?"
But Robin shook his head. His strength was average, but his brain was indeed useful. The living habits of the demonic beasts taught in the academy were all in his mind.
"No, the poison-hook eagle's strength in the forest is on the weaker side. It usually relies on its agile speed and the poison hook on its tail to hunt. They rarely have a fixed territory, and even if they do, they generally can't hold on to it."
In short, the poison-hook eagle's strength was not good enough. Even if it claimed a territory, other demonic beasts would come and go as they pleased. It had no deterrent effect at all. In the eyes of other demonic beasts, it was a little brother.
Robin surveyed the surroundings, took out a dagger to protect himself, and climbed up a tree. That was the tree from which the poison-hook eagle had initially shot out.
He searched in the tree and finally found a bird's nest made of thin branches in a tree hole. Robin probed into the nest.
There were no other poison-hook eagles in the nest, but there was an egg. It was clearly a poison-hook eagle's nest.
Robin unceremoniously took the entire poison-hook eagle's nest along with the egg. The poison-hook eagle's egg was very large, almost the size of three fists.
He jumped down from the tree holding the poison-hook eagle's egg and showed the egg in his arms to his companions.
"This poison-hook eagle should have just laid an egg. We came over when it was on high alert. It suspected that we were here to steal the egg, so it attacked us directly."
The poison-hook eagle's combat power was really not strong. The gripping strength of its claws was far inferior to that of ordinary eagles.
It only relied on the venom on its tail hook to attack. A female poison-hook eagle could lay one egg on average every three months.
Don't look at the poison-hook eagle's low attack power, but their eggs are really delicious. Many carnivorous demonic beasts like to raid poison-hook eagle nests to eat their eggs.
The nutritional value is extremely high. All demonic beasts who have eaten them say they are good!
Because of this, protecting the unhatched eggs is engraved in the poison-hook eagle's genes.
After all, they only lay one egg every three months! If they don't protect them and let other demonic beasts raid their nests every day, the poison-hook eagle would go extinct in no time!
Robin explained the living habits of the poison-hook eagle, and Yan Yunqing commented: "It sounds a bit like a dark joke."
William was curious: "So what are you doing with that egg?"
Robin gently patted the eagle egg's shell with a matter-of-fact look: "Of course I'm going to eat it! Why else would I raid the eagle's nest?"
As he spoke, Robin licked his lips, very excited: "I read in a book that poison-hook eagle eggs are delicious, which is why those demonic beasts are always staring at poison-hook eagle nests, forcing the poison-hook eagles to engrave the mission of protecting their eggs into their inherited memories. Since I've finally encountered one, I have to taste what it's like!"
The others fell silent.
This no longer sounded like a dark joke; it basically was one.
Yan Yunqing shook his head: Born from the same root, why be so eager to fry each other!
William was at a loss for words: "No wonder the poison-hook eagle would engrave protecting its eggs into its inherited memories."
Robin snorted, "Just tell me if you want to eat it or not?"
William didn't hesitate: "Yes!"
He was also very curious about what the eagle egg favored by most demonic beasts tasted like.
Robin gave him a disdainful look and waved his hand grandly: "Granted."
Yan Yunqing: ......
He turned his head and found Demetrius staring intently at the poison-hook eagle with its chest pierced, lying on the ground, unable to close its eyes in death.
Yan Yunqing waved his hand in front of Demetrius's eyes, "What's wrong with you?"
This guy couldn't be feeling sorry for killing the poison-hook eagle after hearing what Robin just said, could he?
Demetrius said slowly: "Poison-hook eagle eggs are delicious."
Yan Yunqing: "Hmm."
Demetrius said expectantly: "Then what about the poison-hook eagle's meat?"
Yan Yunqing: "Hmm... hmm?"
Demetrius pursed his lips. His eyes, looking at the corpse of the poison-hook eagle on the ground, were filled with anticipation.
It seemed that he was already simulating in his mind how to prepare, stew, and roast the meat of this poison-hook eagle.
Yan Yunqing: ......
Now the poison-hook eagle really couldn't close its eyes in death.
Robin, in the midst of his busy schedule, heard Demetrius's words and came over to interject: "Don't even think about it. The book says that only the poison-hook eagle's eggs are delicious. The adult poison-hook eagle's meat is extremely sour and unpalatable because it constantly secretes venom from its tail hook. The most crucial thing is that there's a certain chance of being poisoned after eating it. This thing is inedible in its adult form."
Upon hearing this, Demetrius showed a look of regret, "It's not delicious?"
Robin said firmly: "Not delicious! The poison-hook eagle's meat has become unpalatable precisely because it evolved the poison hook due to its eggs being too delicious."
Demetrius was disappointed: "Oh."
Yan Yunqing was at a loss for words.
It sounds even more hellish.
The egg was put into the space bracelet by Robin, and they continued to advance. They were still in the outer area of the Norman Forest.
If they wanted to get a good result, they had to go deep into the forest to hunt those higher-level demonic beasts.
According to the original plan, they had to reach at least the outer layer of the central Norman Forest today.
They would first use the demonic beasts there to practice. After they got used to the crisis-ridden Norman Forest, they would then advance deeper into the forest.
On the way in, Team A encountered many low-level demonic beasts, which they solved with cooperation.
Although they had been training together at school for a month, when they actually entered real combat, their combat coordination was still very clumsy, basically just fighting on their own.
With the low-level demonic beasts for practice, their coordination improved a bit, at least not as ugly as it was at the beginning.
The sun gradually rose, hanging in the center. The bright sunlight scattered down, dispelling some of the thin mist in the forest, and the visibility in the forest suddenly improved a lot.
Yan Yunqing observed the condition of his teammates. Everyone's condition was still okay, and no one showed signs of fatigue for the time being.
After all, even Demetrius, who was a mage, did physical training from time to time. This distance was not a big deal.
The rest were swordsmen, so traveling was even less of a problem for them. If he had to say, only William's face showed a slight abnormality.
After all, he had just experienced a long 'roller coaster' style journey in the morning and had thrown up for a while.
Now with the high-intensity combat, and being a child, it was normal for his body to not be able to take it.
Yan Yunqing considered for a moment. As the captain, he needed to consider everyone's condition, so he called a halt.
"Let's rest for a while and have some lunch. There's still fighting in the afternoon, so let's adjust our spirits first."
Upon hearing this, the team members had no objections and stopped their advance towards the depths of the forest. Robin climbed up a tree to check the safety of the surroundings.
Rowena and William were responsible for setting up camp and starting a fire. Yan Yunqing took Demetrius to see if they could hunt some prey nearby.
Their bracelet spaces and Yan Yunqing's backpack were filled with a lot of food, but this food could not be guaranteed to last for fifteen days.
They were more inclined to hunt for food when they had enough time, rather than consuming their food reserves too early.
"Why don't we let Demetrius stay and set up camp, and I'll go with you?" Rowena looked at Yan Yunqing, then at Demetrius, a little worried about letting two mages go out hunting.