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The coachman, who had dropped us off at some unknown location, disappeared with his horse once more.

Left alone in the dense forest, we had no choice but to discuss our plans going forward.

“What are your plans now?”

[Didn\'t I tell you not to worry? I have a plan.]

Though, I can’t bring myself to trust you…

The coachman had truly left us in the woods right before the appearance of monsters and fled in a hurry.

It seemed like if we moved just a bit further from this point, we’d arrive at the Gluttony’s territory…

But the problem was, I had no idea what kind of monsters awaited us.

If it were weaklings like slimes, it wouldn’t be a problem, but if we came across an excessively strong monster, the only option was to run for our lives.

[Just trust and follow me.]

“……Alright.”

But the truth was, there wasn\'t any other choice.

In the end, following Samuel’s lead seemed like the best course of action.

Besides, I had ‘Position Exchange.’

Even if we were attacked by monsters, I was confident I could somehow escape.

And so,

Thump, thump—

I started to walk through the forest, following Samuel’s guidance.

However, the more I walked, the stronger the sense of discomfort became.

The reason being…

…The trees, which were undoubtedly lush, were now scattered about, broken and destroyed.

There were also trees that had been scorched by fire, with smooth, sword-cut surfaces, slowly rotting away.

‘Are we getting closer to the Gluttony’s territory…?’

This was like a testament to the horrors of war.

The territory and trees, thoroughly trampled by the human army, were unable to recover and were returning to mere dust.

…Even I, who was witnessing this scene, couldn’t help but feel heavy-hearted.

In that case, what about Samuel?

[……Let’s hurry up and move.]

Samuel seemed focused on moving, as if it was no big deal, but I didn\'t miss the gloom hidden in his voice.

However, I didn\'t bother to voice it out.

Because nothing would change even if I comforted Samuel in this situation. It was better to pretend I didn\'t notice.

And so, as we continued walking…

Halt—

I stopped in my tracks and narrowed my eyes.

Something felt off.

What was it?

For a moment, I stood frozen, contemplating the meaning of the intense signal my intuition was sending me, until finally, the answer dawned on me.

This was a sign of a monster\'s presence.

“Samuel.”

[Yes, from this point on, it\'s the monster’s habitat.]

Samuel confirmed my suspicions.

I let out a sigh of relief.

If I had carelessly moved forward, I could have been in big trouble.

Now was the time to use the trump card that Samuel had mentioned.

“What should we do?”

[For now, keep moving forward. Use stealth magic as we go.]

“Hmm……”

As Samuel instructed, I decided to use stealth magic for now.

Shh—

I placed my index finger on my lips and simultaneously activated Silence and Stealth magic.

However, it was questionable whether I could conceal myself from the presence of thousands of monsters.

Maintaining stealth magic for a long time consumed a lot of mental energy.

Could I really keep using stealth magic to avoid the eyes of the monsters until we reached our destination…?

Shhh—

With anxiety and fear in my heart, I carefully took a step forward.

Before I knew it, we had reached the depths of the forest.

And just as I was about to take another step…

Rustle—

I froze and held my breath as I sensed movement from the bushes.

And then, slowly, I activated my senses to observe what was hiding in the bushes.

…What was hiding in the bushes was a monster that resided in the Gluttony’s territory.

I had finally encountered the first monster.

‘…It looks bizarre.’

I slowly examined the monster\'s appearance.

It had a massive beak and saw-like teeth inside.

Its feathers were black, reminiscent of rocks.

And the most bizarre thing was…

‘It has no eyes…’

The monster had no ‘eyes.’

Where the eyes should have been, there was only white pus.

And what about its size?

It was even bigger than Samuel and me combined.

It was about the size of two adult men combined.

I couldn\'t help but feel intimidated by its overwhelming size.

I didn\'t know what abilities the monster possessed or how strong it was, but it was completely different from the bird I had with me.

‘What about you?’

Chirp—?

I slightly opened my arms and looked at Sijo inside.

As if it didn\'t understand what was going on, the bird tilted its head and made eye contact with the monster in front of it.

Chirp… !

Startled, Sijo quickly hid back in my arms.

Seeing its pathetic behavior, I sighed.

Right, it was my fault for expecting anything.

There hadn\'t been many battles lately, and I hadn\'t had to use the Sijo, so I had let it loose a little.

As a result, it had just gotten fat.

On the other hand, Gu Poison still maintained its sleek and intimidating appearance.

—…….

It was in my arms with Sijo who glanced up at me.

In front of others, I called it by the alias, ‘Heoksal,’ but when it was just Samuel, me, and Gu Poison, I called it by its real name.

I looked away from Gu Poison and asked Samuel,

“Should we avoid that bird?”

[No, we just need to catch that one. After that, we won’t have to fight the others.]

“Are you sure?”

[Have you been living your life being lied to?]

“Yes.”

[…Just hurry up and catch it.]

Samuel sighed and told me to catch the bird.

Well, I was hoping Samuel had a clever plan.

I gave the order to Gu Poison.

“Bite that bird.”

―…!

At that moment.

Gu Poison leaped from my arms and ruthlessly bit the giant bird’s neck.

Screech—?!

The giant bird, as if struck by immense pain, thrashed its body, trying to shake off Gu Poison.

Gu Poison’s venom was spreading rapidly, but it hadn\'t yet turned the bird’s entire neck to stone.

During my time with Gu Poison, I had discovered a new ability it possessed.

Petrifying the target by injecting a certain amount of poison.

It was quite an impressive ability, so I had been wondering when I would be able to use it, and now was finally the time.

…Of course, since the opponent bird was so huge, I couldn\'t turn it entirely to stone.

‘Black Blade.’

I decided that I would finish off the bird instead of Gu Poison.

Gu Poison had done its best.

It was now my turn to step in.

I summoned a black dagger made of mana onto my palm.

The black blade, its darkness attribute evolved into a pitch-black attribute, was now even darker. Now, it was powerful enough to be used as a ranged attack.

Whoosh—

I aimed the black blade precisely at the bird’s neck and shot it.

Thud—

The black blade pierced perfectly through the bird\'s neck.

Screech…

The unidentified bird let out a groan like a death rattle and collapsed.

Judging by the silence, it seemed to have died instantly.

After confirming its death, I called Gu Poison back.

“Come back.”

—…….

I opened my arms and spoke, but Gu Poison stopped and stuck out its tongue as if it had something to say.

What was it?

I frowned at the sight of Gu Poison standing still, and then I realized what it wanted.

“You worked hard, so take this.”

I decided to give Gu Poison a delicious treat as it had worked hard this time.

Shhh—

I took out the red dagger from my arms and lightly pricked the tip of my finger. A red drop of blood welled up.

Using my darkness attribute and the power of the red dagger, I created and mixed several drops of blood.

Lick—

—…!

Gu Poison’s eyes widened as it tasted the drop of blood in my hand.

It seemed to be quite satisfied with the taste.

*Kaah…!*

“……?”

It even let out a kind of exclamation that I had never heard before.

Of course, it wasn\'t actually spoken through vocal cords, but something akin to a purr.

If the black drops were like ordinary drinks to Gu Poison, then this time, it was like carbonation. Well, I was glad it seemed satisfied.

Shhh—

After a satisfying meal, Gu Poison returned to my arms.

Only then did I look at the bird that had fallen to the ground, dead, and spoke to Samuel,

“So, what do we do now?”

[What do you mean? Cover yourself in its blood.]

“……?”

Cover myself in the bird’s blood? Was he planning some kind of ritual?

Still, I decided to hear Samuel out, trusting that he had a plan.

Shhh—

I scooped up the bird\'s blood, which was pooling on the ground, and smeared it on my face, neck, and body.

“Is this enough?”

[No, cover yourself more thoroughly. That\'s the only way its unique scent will mask yours. As you can see, these creatures have no eyes, so their sense of smell is very sensitive.]

“I see.”

In short, he was saying that we should use the bird\'s lack of sight to escape.

It wasn\'t a bad solution, so I had no objections…

…Except that I didn\'t particularly like the texture of the blood.

Still, it was better than this than breaking through a wave of thousands of monsters.

I held back my complaints and focused on applying the blood.

[That’s enough. If you go any further, even the birds won’t be able to distinguish your scent. Now we just need to be careful of our presence. Their feathers are sensitive. They can sense even the slightest breeze.]

So, they were similar to insect antennae.

More importantly,

“What’s the name of this bird?”

[…Eater Bird. It was originally a bird raised in the Gluttony’s territory, but it was released when the family was destroyed, and their numbers have increased like this.]

Huh.

To think it was originally a bird raised by Samuel’s family.

But now, it was breeding in this horrifying form.

“Well, wouldn’t Mr. Samuel be the one to clean this up later?”

[…I wish that were the case.]

“For now, let’s try to get to a place where there aren’t many Eater Birds.”

I finished my conversation with Samuel and took out Sijo of my arms.

It had a similar name to the Eater Bird, but it had a much cuter appearance.

Did it realize that it wasn’t a dangerous task this time?

Sijo was looking up at me with a cheerful expression.

“Can you do it?”

—Chirp!

The Sijo chirped brightly in response.

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