Chapter 18 – 018 Flood – River
The animal resembling a monkey crashed to the ground with a thud, but did not move.
Upon closer inspection, there are signs of aging here and there.
“Are you weak from old age?”
As I raised my head and looked up at the tree, I saw round heads huddled together and looking this way.
While walking through the jungle, I saw small bones from time to time, but they must have been those of that animal.
‘It just went well.’
While I was waiting for the soul to come out, I took a quick look at it, and it sure looked strange.
The overall appearance is similar to the squirrel monkey of the Amazon, but like a Japanese monster cat called Myou or Myogo, it has a two-tailed tail and a gray scale, about a thumb’s length, similar to the color of its fur, attached near the pit of the chest.
It is small in size and has modest features.
Hwan-in, who thought he would be quite popular on Earth, lifted his staff after seeing the soul come out of the body of a dead two-tailed monkey.
“…….”
However, the appearance was similar to the characteristics of lizard people.
The souls of green monsters and beast-headed monsters are in the form of a hazy mist, so it is impossible to know their original appearance, but the monkey’s soul is a little hazy like a lizard man, but it is clear enough to recognize its original form.
What is this difference?
Perhaps?
Hwanin had some expectations and ordered the spirit of the two-tailed monkey to come ‘to me’. Then, the form immediately changed into a soul orb and penetrated Hwanin’s chest.
Doo kung.
“Well.”
The moment the monkey’s soul was enslaved to the body, the heart started beating loudly.
At this level, my heart would hurt, but it’s nothing. After that, I felt a fever start to come out of my body and noticed a change in my body.
The heart beats big and fast, pumping out more and more blood, accelerating blood flow.
It’s not just that your body temperature rises and your blood circulates quickly. As the body begins to heat up, the muscles relax as if they are relaxing.
It wasn’t that I was losing strength, but it was a sensation of power permeating each muscle as it pumped.
“…… ?”
Suddenly, Hwanin felt a little embarrassed at the fact that the tree in front of him felt like a play tool.
As if holding a familiar tool, the tree feels familiar.
You can feel the grooves in the thick bark without looking at it, and it automatically comes to your mind where you can put your hands and feet to climb trees with ease.
It’s not just simple knowledge, but a strange feeling as if it was acquired through the body.
Hwanin started to play with his hands and feet without hesitation, and in less than a minute climbed a tree over 20m as fast as climbing stairs.
Hey hey
Kyuwoo~.
The two-tailed monkeys gathered at the top of the tree looked at Hwanin, who climbed the tree like them, from a distance with curious eyes.
Hwanin, like a leopard, sits on a thick tree branch and watches the monkeys, then looks back at the thick branches.
‘Also.’
You can tell which twigs will support their own weight and which twigs will not.
Trusting his senses, Hwanin, lightly stepping on the branches as if walking on a tightrope and collecting four yellow fruits, slid down the tree with only one hand and two legs.
‘About 3 minutes left.’
Hwanin, who put down all the fruits and luggage he had picked, grabbed the bark with his thumb and forefinger and pulled it with force.
Crisp.
The raw tree comes out as it is.
Not only did the strength of the fingers, but also the skin hardened, so there were no marks left, let alone thorns.
I took a spear and tried several stabs and swings.
Bauung-! Ping-Piping-!
In swinging, the spear tip bends like a bow, and in stabbing, it pierces the air with a sound like a shot arrow.
After the two-tailed monkey soul’s necromantic effect ended, his body temperature returned to normal and his heart rate returned to normal.
My heart was beating 1.2 times faster than usual, so I wondered if the aftereffects of the program would remain, but other than feeling a little heavy, like right after waking up, nothing was wrong.
Are not only the muscles but also the internal organs becoming flexible?
“Nice.”
Hwanin, who confirmed that there were no aftereffects of the decree, placed the spirit of the green monster attached to the horn of the cane into his body.
“Hmm.”
This time, the heart starts beating fast, but the speed is far slower than that of the two-tailed monkey. My body temperature didn’t rise that much, and my strength…….
Booung- Hui-ing, Hu-wook-
…… Not much different from usual.
Hwanin, who had even experienced the code of the green monster soul, came to a confident conclusion.
“If you have a special skill or ability, the soul will take on the appearance of your life, and if it is a common creature without any characteristics, it will take on a hazy misty appearance.”
The spirit of the green monster only slightly increased physical abilities, but the effects of the two-tailed monkey were tree-climbing skills, increased muscle elasticity due to blood flow acceleration, and improved joint flexibility.
Tree-climbing skills aren’t bad. Climbing a 20-30m tree in 1 minute is suitable for escape or avoidance.
What’s important is the body’s ability to increase by accelerating blood flow.
Hwanin raised his head and smiled at the group of monkeys looking around.
“Mmm.”
Hwanin, who killed two two-tailed monkeys with the help of emergency food and collected their souls, let out a sigh of regret.
The number of souls accommodated was 6, could it have something to do with the 6-hour duration of the soul orb?
After releasing one of the green monster’s soul beads and placing the soul of a newly caught two-tailed monkey in its place, Hwanin began to skin the killed monkey and trim it with a multi-tool knife.
Like rain during a drought, it is the first protein obtained in the jungle. Even if he was a monkey, he had no intention of throwing it away.
“…….”
However, from the moment he took off the skin, Hwanin’s hands slowed down, and the thought, “Should I eat this?” Began to form in his head.
It was because the skin was peeled off and it looked like a human being.
Moreover, in the world where Hwanin originally lived, a terrible epidemic presumed to be caused by evil food in China was raging, so it was inevitable.
‘It’s meat anyway. Emergency rations are the same as life, so emergency rations are fine and there is no reason monkeys are not okay.’
After sorting out his thoughts and objections, Hwanin buried his head and intestines in the ground, cut off his limbs, and began to bake the torso and limbs separately.
“…….”
The two-tailed macaque’s color system was also light green in its lifetime, and it turns white as it is baked, so it should be okay to eat it.
Eventually, the grilled meat was completely white in terms of color, so Hwanin grabbed the chicken wing-like arm on the wooden skewer and carefully took a bite.
“…… Well.”
Aside from the disgust, the taste was just plain average. The taste is like a mixture of shrimp and chicken in a ratio of 7:3, and the texture is slightly tougher than chicken breast.
The smell was milder than expected. Would you say that there is no smell unique to carnivores?
It may be because the throat was cut immediately after killing and the blood was immediately scraped out.
“Would you like to try it?”
Cock.
Hwanin smiled bitterly at the sight of the emergency rations turning his head, and quickly ate the meat.
The monkey meat had thin limbs and was small, so it didn’t take long to eat both of them. But maybe because I ate while paying attention to this and that, the pit of my stomach is heavy, as if I’m going to get sick.
How do Chinese people eat these things?
Hwanin murmured while burying the bonfire and the bones left over from eating.
“I won’t eat it again.”
If you get sluggish, vomit, or diarrhea in such a jungle, it will lead to rapid physical and energy consumption.
Consumption of energy leads to loss of fighting power, so it is a matter directly related to life and death.
I’d rather eat an insect that bothers me less.
Hwanin, who was heading upstream while eating a yellow fruit to relieve the heavy feeling, waved his staff and tried to reproduce the colorless explosion that the green monster had used.
The manifestation of various abilities begins with opening the soul’s vision.
I’m sure the colorless explosion is a soul explosion, so there must be something to do with the soul orb…….
Meanwhile, Hwanin, who encountered five beast-headed monsters, rushed at the monsters, swung his spear in all directions, and finished the battle in an instant without having to give a command.
Kkeek.
Kyauk!
Sigh…….
Two were killed instantly by having their heads cut in half. The three of them lost their limbs or had their belly skin cracked and were unable to fight, pouring out their intestines, so Hwanin, who made them comfortable by piercing their hearts one after another, muttered as he swung his spear to wipe off the blood.
“You’ve definitely gotten stronger.”
My body movements became faster and my stamina improved.
As a test, I did a sergeant jump with a suitable tree in front of me, and the result was almost 1.3m. This is enough to easily climb over a 3m high wall.
“…….”
Why did it suddenly become stronger? Did the body change with the strange ability to see and manipulate the soul?
Not a bad thing. It means that the chances of getting out of the forest are increased.
Hwanin, who watched as the soul escaped from the body of the dead beast-headed monster, suddenly remembered a scene that sparked his eyes.
He orders the spirit to wait for a while before ascending to heaven and goes to get the deer antlers staff hidden behind the tree.
The green monster had looked at him while holding the staff and muttered as if incantation. Wouldn’t that be a noise for concentration rather than a spell?
Then…….
“Emergency food, come here.”
Quack.
Hwanin, who had been sitting quietly on the cane, placed the emergency rations on his right shoulder and concentrated on the spirit while holding the cane.
Soul explosion.
It was said to be an explosion, but to be precise, the compressed vibration burst out in an instant. If so, would it be better to call it soul vibration?
Explosion of the soul. Vibration of the soul. Colorless, odorless, intangible…… Explosion.
As I am concentrating on the sensations of cold and warmth flowing through my body, two types of energy are slightly fluctuating.
Eventually, the warmth and chill that flowed through the hand that held the cane rushed into the cane through the hand this time.
It feels like an extension of your hand. I can feel the soul orb responding to cold and warmth.
Hwanin, who turned his gaze to the tree standing 20 meters in front of him, grabbed his cane with all his might and screamed.
“Good!”
At the same time, the 6 soul orbs on the staff flew towards the target all at once…….
Koo Goo Goo Goo!
A series of intangible explosions hit the tree.
After avoiding and blocking the leaves, broken pieces, and tree bark that were scattered everywhere, Hwanin groaned as he clutched his forehead in an incomprehensible headache.
“Why do you have a headache…….”
Hwanin, who muttered briefly, was silent at the sight that appeared in front of him.
Intense marks resembling a brown bear scratching with its claws were carved into a 5m diameter tree.
The power is certain. But what is the cause of this headache?
Maybe all the soul orbs are gone at once?
If so, was it the signal to reload that the soul orb responded to the energy? If you recognize them individually and shoot them, will they fly away one by one?
Hwanin shook his head and sighed as he suddenly realized that he had become a little colder.
Since there was no way that much heat could be consumed in one soul explosion, it should be seen that the consumption of heat increased because six soul explosions were fired at the same time.
Feeling regretful that the soul of the two-tailed monkey, which he planned to use for the buff, was also consumed, Hwanin, who collected the soul of the animal head monster he had killed, pressed his forehead and set off for the upper reaches of the river.
Shoot ah- slap-
Flirting… Kiruruk…….
On the way, the direction was slightly twisted, so we walked for about an hour without stopping to reach the cliff of the Great Lake, not the upper reaches of the river.
This was not a problem, but Hwanin had no choice but to react sensitively to the bird’s cry, which had not been heard before.
Hwanin, lying flat on his stomach in a bush that grew straight up to his chest, crawled to the edge of the bush and turned slightly to look at the sky in the direction the sound was coming from.
‘Wild goose? Or is it a seagull? The perspective is strange, so I can’t grasp the size.’
Hornscale whales still jumped from the surface, so there was a scale to measure their size. However, the birds flying in the sky can’t get a sense of it at all.
It looks like a seagull…….
Being invisible even with enhanced eyesight to recognize a green monster from 300m away is either that small or very far away.
And in the case of the latter, it should be seen as a monster, not an animal.
Hwanin, who figured out that there were roughly 34 of them, decided to walk away from the cliff for one chance.
It is to take refuge in the forest if they find themselves and attack because they are aggressive.
“…….”
However, it bothers me that the emergency food continues to keep an eye on the unidentified birds.
If you think about it, the emergency rations did the same thing before they discovered the Great Lakes.
“Are they your friends?”
Quack?
Hwanin touches the emergency ration lightly and speaks, and the emergency ration tilts its head and looks at Hwanin.
Then, again fixing her gaze on the flock of birds in the sky, she began to gaze as if possessed.
“…….”
That was the Hwanin who became anxious as if a dog or cat was staring at an empty corner of the room.
