Chapter 276
As Haruto ventured deeper into the Northern Plateau, his collection of monster ingredients grew rapidly.
By the time the sky began to darken, however, he decided it was probably best to find somewhere to rest for the night.
That was when he suddenly spotted a chunk of Jewel Meat hanging from a tree.
Haruto stopped in his tracks.
His first reaction was instinctive excitement.
Then his expression immediately changed.
Something was wrong.
Jewel Meat was an ingredient from the Toriko world.
There was absolutely no reason for it to exist here.
More importantly...
Since when did Jewel Meat grow on trees?
’Come on. If you’re going to trick someone, at least put in a little effort.’
Haruto could not help criticizing the attempt in his head.
’A gigantic piece of Jewel Meat hanging from a random tree in the middle of nowhere? Who with a functioning brain would believe that? Even if someone was starving, this is way too obvious.’
Already knowing there was a trap, Haruto immediately expanded his En to its limit while activating Observation Haki.
A hidden presence instantly appeared within his perception.
Pretending not to notice anything, Haruto continued walking slowly toward the Jewel Meat.
The moment he reached it, his hand suddenly tightened around his staff.
He swung down with tremendous force.
Almost at the exact instant Haruto moved, the Jewel Meat vanished.
In its place appeared a humanoid monster.
Its body resembled that of a human, but its corpse-pale skin was completely bloodless. Thick white hair spilled all the way to the ground, while both of its eyes were entirely black, without even a trace of white.
Haruto immediately recognized it.
A Phantom Demon, one of the more infamous monsters roaming the Northern Plateau.
Its specialty was illusion magic capable of drawing out images of people or things deeply important to its prey, using those desires to lure humans close enough to devour them.
The Phantom Demon narrowly avoided Haruto’s staff and stared at him in obvious confusion.
It could not understand how its illusion had been exposed so easily.
"Tch. A monster that isn’t even edible."
Haruto looked at it with open disgust.
Monsters with no culinary value were the most annoying kind.
They were barely worth the storage space.
That did not mean he intended to let it go.
The Phantom Demon turned to flee, but Haruto closed the distance instantly.
His staff swept through the air with a violent howl and slammed into its body.
A dull impact echoed through the forest.
Half of the Phantom Demon’s torso was smashed apart by the blow, and its remains quickly dissolved into the air.
In truth, Phantom Demons were considered extremely troublesome monsters even by the standards of the Northern Plateau.
Their illusion magic was exceptionally powerful, and even experienced mages could fall victim to it if they let down their guard for a moment.
Without a veteran mage or priest in the party, encountering one was often nearly fatal.
Unfortunately for this particular Phantom Demon, it had chosen Haruto.
Haruto was already capable of using magic himself, and more importantly, he knew Jewel Meat far too well.
The illusion had certainly drawn on one of the strongest impressions in his memories.
The problem was that its execution had been ridiculous.
And illusion magic was essentially the Phantom Demon’s only real strength.
Once the trick was exposed, its physical body was pitifully weak—far weaker than even the three dinosaur-like monsters Haruto had dealt with near the border outpost.
After disposing of the troublesome creature, Haruto continued onward.
The light between the trees gradually faded.
The setting sun sank behind the western mountains, staining the horizon in deep gold and crimson.
Then a sharp bird cry suddenly pierced the forest.
A flock of winged monsters burst from the canopy.
Each had a pair of horns and a wingspan exceeding five meters.
They dove toward Haruto as a group.
Their talons gleamed like forged steel, and their speed was great enough to leave faint afterimages in the air.
To Haruto, however, they were still far too slow.
His figure flickered several times between the trees, leaving trails of afterimages behind.
Every diving monster missed.
Before they could react, Haruto shot out his hands, seized one creature after another by the neck, and snapped them cleanly.
At the same time, he drove small pieces of Magic-Sealing Ore into their bodies before tossing them aside.
In barely more than ten seconds, over a dozen members of the flock had been killed.
The rest panicked.
Shrill cries filled the air as they flapped desperately away and vanished into the deeper forest without looking back.
Haruto crouched beside the bodies and inspected them.
The flesh was fine-grained and tender.
Perfect for roasting.
By then, darkness had completely fallen.
Night covered the Northern Plateau, leaving only the chirping of insects and the distant roars of monsters echoing through the forest.
Haruto quickly found a sheltered rock wall, cleared away the surrounding grass, and gathered some dry branches.
He snapped his fingers.
A small flame immediately ignited among the firewood, its flickering light pushing back the darkness.
Haruto took out one of the bird monsters he had just caught.
He removed the organs and inedible portions, skewered the entire carcass on a specially made roasting spit, and suspended it over the flames.
Using precise control, he kept the fire at the ideal temperature.
It needed to be hot enough to crisp the skin and render out the fat, while still preserving all the juices inside and preventing the meat from becoming dry.
Haruto brought out his seasonings and scattered them evenly over the bird.
As the roasting continued, golden fat slowly seeped through the skin and dripped into the fire below with a steady sizzling sound.
A rich aroma of roasted meat spread through the forest, drifting surprisingly far into the night.
Before long, the bird was ready.
Its skin had turned golden and crisp, shining temptingly with rendered fat, while the meat underneath remained visibly soft and tender.
Haruto lifted the roasted bird, blew lightly across the surface, and took a large bite.
The crisp skin shattered between his teeth, flooding his mouth with rich roasted fat.
Then came the flesh itself.
It was so soft that it almost melted on his tongue, releasing abundant juices filled with an intense natural sweetness.
"Not bad."
Haruto nodded in satisfaction.
"The meat is tender, and the texture is excellent."
And he knew perfectly well that the Northern Plateau contained countless other unknown ingredients still waiting to be discovered.
Early the next morning, just as the first pale light appeared along the horizon, Haruto woke.
He cut a piece of meat from one of the dinosaur-like monsters he had collected earlier and cooked it into a thick meat congee.
The warm porridge slid into his stomach, and it felt as though every pore in his body relaxed.
Once he finished the last mouthful, Haruto cleaned and packed away his cookware, brushed the dust from his clothes, and resumed his journey.
The farther he traveled into the heart of the Northern Plateau, the more clearly he understood just how terrifying this land truly was.
While passing through a broad canyon, he once encountered a stone giant more than three hundred meters tall.
Its entire body was composed of granite.
Every step it took made the earth shake violently.
On another occasion, a flock of wyverns with wingspans measuring dozens of meters thundered across the sky overhead.
Their scales and claws gleamed with a hard metallic sheen beneath the sunlight, while their piercing cries were loud enough to make a person’s eardrums ache.
Two stragglers from the flock ended up in Haruto’s Gourmet Restaurant.
Their loin meat proved fine-grained and firm, carrying a faint richness from the fat.
The flavor was excellent.
The encounter that impressed Haruto most, however, was with an enormous five-eyed serpent hidden deep in the forest.
He merely exchanged a glance with the creature before an invisible binding spell seized his entire body.
Even the flow of mana inside him slowed dramatically.
Fortunately, Haruto combined Nen with Armament Haki and forcibly tore himself free of the restraint.
So far, the deeper reaches of the Northern Plateau had brought him both pleasant surprises and occasional disappointments.