Chapter 10
Chapter 10: The Girl and the Monster
***
“Whoosh——”
The monster shook its massive head, its heavy breathing spraying mist everywhere.
It first sniffed around in the air, then as if confirming a direction, walked towards me with heavy steps.
Thud, thud, thud——
The ground trembled with each step the monster took.
It’s coming this way! It’s found me! What should I do now, is it too late to turn and run?
…No good, it’s so huge, I probably can’t outrun it.
Should I fight then? If I use the black smoke, I might have a chance… but who wants to fight this thing?! Just looking at it is terrifying enough.
While my mind was in chaos, suddenly the sky darkened, and the monster was already in front of me, lowering its body and extending its enormous head. I was too scared to move, only to see it sniff me a few times, then suddenly stick out its tongue and lick me.
!!!!
“Ugh——ptui ptui ptui ptui ptui!”
That tongue licked from my feet all the way up to my face, instantly covering me in sticky, foul-smelling saliva that seemed to get into my mouth. Feeling nauseated, I retched while spitting repeatedly and quickly backing away, staring at it in terror while secretly gathering cold air in my hands, with 5 sharp ice spikes hovering above my head.
Why did it lick me, was it tasting to see if I’m good to eat!?
“If… you… come… closer… I’ll… hit…”
My already halting speech became even more stuttered with my trembling voice.
The monster, seeing my reaction, also seemed somewhat startled and suddenly reared up.
“ROAR——!!”
A roar that seemed capable of piercing the clouds shook the grass and trees, causing countless birds to take flight with flapping wings, while the sounds of animals fleeing in panic echoed throughout the jungle.
Startled, my small hands trembled, and the 5 ice spikes immediately shot whistling towards the monster, all hitting its chest without missing, shattering into ice powder with a “crack crack crack.”
Compared to the fierce exoskeleton on the monster’s chest, the hardness of the ice spikes seemed utterly insignificant and had no effect.
I immediately turned to run. But before I could take two steps, I was grabbed by a giant claw.
My soul nearly left my body in fright, as those sharp claws on the giant paw could easily tear me to pieces. My little heart was pounding wildly “thump thump,” and I was just about to unleash black smoke.
But I found that after grabbing me, the monster didn’t use much force, instead gently placing me on its back.
The black smoke that had just started to emerge stopped after two wisps, and I quickly grabbed onto the monster’s fur with my hands. The fur was thick and long, with a rank animal smell that made me feel nauseous.
I was puzzled, what did it want to do?
After placing me on its back, the monster stood up and turned around to walk in the direction it had come from.
It seemed it had no intention of hurting me.
“Where… are… you… taking… me.” I climbed up to its shoulder in two or three moves, stood up holding one of its horns, and asked its huge head.
“Grrrr——”
The only response was a low growl, and I didn’t know if it understood me.
“Put… me… down… quickly.”
The monster was nearly 20 meters tall, if I just jumped down directly… should be fine, right? Though I hadn’t tried it before, I felt this height shouldn’t be a problem for me.
Should I take advantage while it’s not paying attention, secretly jump down and run away?
Hmm… better not, it seems it won’t treat me as food, otherwise that grab earlier would have at least half-killed me first. It seems to want to take me somewhere, could it be some ruins with treasure?
Somewhat curious about where it would take me, anyway I had already planned to leave here.
The monster’s walking shook the earth and mountains, making it hard for me to stand steady, so I simply sat down. This furry monster was quite comfortable to sit on, if only I could ignore that rank smell.
Looking at my lower body that was still oozing blood, I held up the piece of spongewood I had been gripping.
…I’ll make do with this for now, there really isn’t anything else to use.
I once again used this cloth to wrap the bleeding area, winding it around my hips once before tying it tightly with a slip knot.
“Puff.”
It hurt a bit from being too tight, but this should help a little bit.
Finally solved an extremely troublesome problem? Let’s leave it at that, never mind.
The air up high was relatively less humid and hot, the gentle breeze brushing across my face ruffled my hair, tickling my neck a bit. I reached back to smooth it down, then leaned sideways against the monster’s warm neck.
The neck didn’t have that blood-red exoskeleton, its rough skin covered in a layer of fine bumps that were slightly uncomfortable.
The sunlight was warm and gentle, sneaking through the monster’s tangled horns to shine on my body, with a hint of laziness.
“Do you… live… here?”
“Grrrr.”
“Are you… a… dragon?”
“Whoosh——”
“Then what… kind of… monster… are you?”
“I’m… also… a… monster.”
“…”
“I’ll… call you… Dabai (Big White).”
“Awoo.”
“Dabai.”
“…”
“Dabaibai.”
“Giggle.”
It could hardly be called a conversation, but the figures of the monster and the beast were extraordinarily harmonious.
…………
Dabai just kept carrying me forward through the forest like this. When tired or hungry, we would stop to rest a while, pick some fruits to eat, though Dabai seemed to not need food. I had heard before that the larger the wild beast, the better they could endure hunger, usually eating one meal to last many days. For something as big as Dabai, one full meal might last ten or more days without needing to hunt again?
At night, I would use Dabai as a comfortable soft bed and sleep on its back.
One person and one beast continued like this, stopping and going, until the morning of the 4th day.
Lying on Dabai’s head still in dreamland, I was awakened by a slight feeling of weightlessness. I opened my eyes to see Dabai gently picking me up and placing me on the ground.
What’s wrong?
Still drowsy from just waking up, I stood on the ground rubbing my eyes, somewhat confused about what Dabai wanted to do.
I saw it lower its body and gently nudge me forward with its head.
I looked at it puzzled, and it nudged me again.
Only then did I somewhat understand its meaning, turning around to look behind.
A muddy winding path extended from my feet into the distance. At the end of the road, there were vaguely visible rows of smoking houses.
We had reached a human village.
Seeing I hadn’t moved, Dabai lowered its head and nudged me again.
“Dabai… I’m… scared. They… will… hurt… me.”
“Grrrr——”
“I… don’t… understand… what… you’re… saying.”
Dabai just stared at me like this, and I looked at it too. We just kept staring at each other for quite a while.
Alright, I understand.
I walked forward and hugged Dabai’s head. But its head was really too big, I could only hug the front of its mouth, with my little face pressed against one of its big nostrils. Then it probably wanted to nuzzle me with its head, but didn’t control its strength well and knocked me into a squatting position.
This farewell scene was far from beautiful.
“Then… I’m… going. Take… care… of… yourself.”
I turned and left, after walking a few steps I looked back somewhat reluctantly.
Dabai was still standing there. I don’t know if it was my imagination, but I actually saw in its gaze a hint of gentleness that didn’t belong to beasts.
I waved hard at it, then strode forward.
It probably thought I was a human child who had gotten lost in the forest, so it brought me to a human village.
After walking quite far, I looked back again to find that massive fierce figure was no longer visible.
Ah, I forgot to say thank you to it.
…I’ll say it in person next time I come back to find it.
Seeing the village getting closer and closer, I pulled the hood over my head.
Taking a deep breath, I still felt somewhat panicked. Although I knew I looked no different from normal people now and shouldn’t be noticed as having any problems, I myself knew very clearly that I wasn’t one of their kind.
To them, I was a frightening monster.
But… I had to move forward, I didn’t want to be a monster who died alone.
Continuing forward, under my feet was no longer the muddy path but had become a village road paved with many stones, with green moss growing between the gaps where the stones connected.
And on both sides of the spacious village road, houses were scattered in rows. The houses were mostly built of stone and wood, surrounded by wooden fences to make small separate courtyards, with chickens, sheep, cattle, and pigs raised in the courtyards.
In ancient Western Earth, most villages looked like this too. Stone houses, wooden houses, and even inferior mud houses and grass houses, nothing special.
The village looked somewhat quiet in the early morning, with occasional groups of two or three people hurriedly passing by carrying buckets or hoes, giving me somewhat strange looks when they saw me but not lingering.
I don’t know if there’s an inn or similar place for people to rest here, but even if there was, I had no money.
For a moment, I felt somewhat lost about where to go.
“Oh my, whose child is this?”
Just as I was feeling somewhat confused, a somewhat trembling voice came from beside me. I turned to look and saw an old woman who was somewhat thin with a face full of wrinkles.
“Tsk tsk tsk, how did you end up in this state?” The old woman came in front of me, reached out to pat my cloak covered in grass, clearly using a doting tone used for children, “Child, where did you come from, what’s your name?”
I nervously shrank back a bit.
“Child, don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid.” The old woman showed an awkward smile and reached out to lift my hood.
Then her expression showed a moment of shock, which made my heart tighten.
Could she see something was wrong?
“My goodness. Such a beautiful girl!” After the shock, the old woman’s eyes showed even more intense affection, her aged hand caressing my cheek, “Come, tell grandma, how did you end up like this? Where are your parents?”
I gently shook my head, just about to say something when my stomach let out a soft sound.
“Gurgle.”
The old woman was slightly startled, then took my hand.
“Come, go home with grandma first, eat something and take a bath, look how smelly you are.”
The old woman’s hand was dry and her skin was very rough, but very warm.