Strange Dragon – 168

Chapter 168 – Mystery Creature

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The wolf cubs in the basket were also on their guard.

I whispered to Ije and Kelly.

“Shiro seems to have sensed the presence of something.”
“Something? Like what?”

Kelly whispered back.

Ije was silent, but seemed worried.

“Wou.”
“Dangerous one.”

Fio quietly interpreted for Shiro.

Fio was a genius Tamer, and so she could understand Shiro perfectly.

“What do you feel, Hippolius?”

“Kyuo.”

Hippolius sniffed, twitched its ears, and looked around.

“Hippolius? Is it dangerous?”

‘Yes. Bad feeling.’

After hearing Shiro and searching again, Hippolius was also able to sense it.

“A bad feeling, huh? Kelly, Ije, Fio. Please ride on Hippolius’s back.”
“Very well.”
“Kelly. Take care of the wolf cubs.”

“Leave it to me.”

And then I dismounted from HIppolius’s back.

And handed Kelly the basket of wolf cubs.

“Hippolius…”
“Kyuo.”

Hippolius lay down before I even asked.

Though, it was still difficult for Ije to climb up.

Fio was small, but had incredible physical ability. So she could climb up without help.

As Kelly was an adult, she was fine as well.

Though, it was still a little difficult.

And so I helped Kelly, Ije, and Fio climb up.

“Hippolius. Take care of them. And if something happens, you run away immediately.”

‘Yes. What about Theodore?’

“I’m going to take a look. You don’t need to fight. If something happens, you must return to the base and call Gisela.”

‘But dangerous?’

“It’s fine. I should be able to manage if I am alone.”

And then I petted Shiro, who looked worried.

“You must also run away, Shiro.”

“…Au…”
“When that happens, look after Fio, Kuro, Roro and Ruru.”
“Wou…”

Shiro was sitting with a determined look.

“Shiro. Where is the presence coming from?”
“Au.”
“There.”

Fio pointed in the direction.

“I see. Thank you. Now then…”

‘Go too. Pii..’

“Yes. Thank you.”
‘Pii-pii.’

And so with Pii, I started to walk in the direction of the suspicious presence.

“(Pii. We must be silent from this point on.)”

‘Okay!’

Pii was not nervous at all. That was reassuring.

And so I erased my presence and walked without making a sound.

‘Theodore amazing.’

“(Hmm? Erasing my presence?)”

‘Pii. Yes.’

“(I used to do it a lot, when adventuring with Gisela and the others.)”

While it was difficult to walk in a forest silently, in a way, I was an expert.

When Gisela and the others were fighting, a choreman like me had to stay out of sight from the enemy.

Your breath, your presence, all sound had to be erased.

And you could not just stay still either.

The battlefield was always shifting and moving.

And so I had to adapt and change my position while staying hidden.

And I could not move too far away from Gisela and the others.

If there was a problem then I had to be able to react quickly.

Of course, the thing that happened the most often, was Gisela breaking her sword.

Also, the enemy attacks would break the armor of the others as well.

Sometimes, I could fix them later, but sometimes it had to be done immediately.

Broken blades, shoes buckles and belts would affect how you fought.

In such cases, I had to move through vicious enemy attacks, and run to the frontlines.

“(I’m good at it. So there’s no need to worry.)”

‘Pii is good too.’

“(You are good at using magic energy.)”

‘Pii!’

Pii was able to see the flow of magic energy, which normal people could not see.

And he could improve the flow with a massage.

You had to be really good at manipulating magic energy to do that.

Right now, Pii was blending in with my clothes.

And so I could travel with him without worry.

After advancing a little farther, I saw something up ahead.

It was dark all over.

It looked kind of like a great white shark from the sea.

However, we were in the forest. The sea was far away.

Also, this creature walked on two legs.

And it had short arms instead of fins.

And there was a thick tail, with a fin in the back.

It was about half a meter in length, and smaller than Ije or Fio.

No, when it came to height, it was not that different from the wolf cubs.

However, it was more round and probably heavier.

I hid behind a tree and observed it.

“(What is that?)”

‘Don’t know.’

“(If it is on land, it must breathe from its lungs instead of its gills.)”

‘Pii?’

“(Indeed… There may be other options. Sorry.)”

Pii shook as if to say that it was nothing.

After all, Pii did not breathe with gills or lungs.

And so that shark-like creature might have a different way of breathing as well.

“(Still, it does not seem very dangerous.)”

‘It doesn’t.’

Was this really the thing that Hippolius and Shiro were wary of?

It did not seem malicious to me.

“…”

If anything, the shark looked quite sad.

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