Watching from a nearby bush, Grant and Granite watched carefully as the cockatrice prowled around what it had labeled its territory.
The cockatrice is a well known monster, by no means weak and a sizeable danger for average people, but nothing near the level of danger a dragon or a behemoth could possibly pose.
The monster was by no means small, but not quite large either. One could compare it to a bear in size, ignoring wingspan, but far scrawnier, more plumage than beast.
Yes, cockatrices were basically large roosters with larger than average wingspan and snake tails.
And petrification of course.
Arguably, even Granite as a minotaur, an A -> S- rank monster could defeat a cockatrice.
As long as one retracted the danger of petrification, which was the real danger of such a monster, given most of its other stats were average for an A- rank monsters.
Thankfully they weren't great predators either, so Grant and Granite were hiding in bushes.
Granite did give Grant a weird look though.
"Do you have to hold the branches though?" he asked, with a tint of confusion in his hushed voice.
Grant shrugged. "It makes the bush look more natural." he said, shaking the branches ever so slightly.
Granite simply moved on, making no comment. "Distract it while I get close on the count of 3. Do not let it get close. Worst comes to worse, be prepared to retreat. "
Grant nodded, signaling his understanding.
He held his hand up as his fingers went down, one by one.
"1...2...3!"
Grant rushed forward immediately, making undiscernible sounds, but whatever the sounds may be, it attracted the cockatrice for sure.
Well, pissed it off, more like it, as the beast was seemingly enraged upon hearing the weird squawking sounds.
As it followed Grant to a circling of trees, the bird squawked triumphantly, only to change it's tune quickly.
Granite was poised to strike seeing Grant pinned, unsure how the mysterious masked man was going to respond. He hadn't made any requests for aid yet, but he was ready at a moment's notice, holding onto an unpleasant mixture for distractions. He stopped seeing Grant's actions.
Grant used the trees as leverage as he used the ledges on the tree to hop from each before flipping over the cockatrice, landing on the giant cock.
The giant cock froze for a moment before violently lashing out, spreading that petrifying spittle, causing Granite to back off rather than face the petrifying spittle.
Grant cackled as he clung on with ease as the cockatrice flailed.
"Oh this is SO much fun!" He shouted. Granite just waited, suspecting this was but temporary.
"ALAS! I have things to tend to, SO QUIET DOWN." He announced before taking out a gag and quickly wrapping it around the head of the cock so it could not announce its presence no more before hopping off and hopping over to Granite.
"Main problem solved, no?" he asked amusedly and Granite nodded.
"An efficient, if not dangerous solution."
Grant shrugged. "Wouldn't do it if I didn't think I couldn't.
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The big bulging cockatrice glared at the, clearly trying to vent it's frustration only to find itself blocked from doing so, only resulting in muffled sounds.
This didn't mean it was harmless now of course.
It sprang forward using it's strong legs, clearly intending to use them.
Granite took the blow head on, as his arms hardened like stone, likely a hardening spell to endure the blow, while Grant rushed around the beast, aiming to chop a wing, only to be met with the lashing tail of the cockatrice.
Indeed, the cockatrice's tail, despite being the tail of a snake, was much more dangerous in it's arsenal than the snake; dense muscles but no longer limited to the body of a snake, far more like the diplodocus of old.
Grunting, Granite heaved and shoved off the beast, allowing Grant to take that opportunity and effortlessly cut off a shred of one of its wings before the beast flew backwards, albeit lopsidedly, as the wing worked harder to support the as the beast heaved.
Not willing to let it go, Granite charged forwards, before jumping forwards, bashing the beast hard on the head with his bludgeon, grappling with the beast as they both tumbled to the floor.
The beast thrashed, while Granite took the blows as he got up, even taking the lashing of the snake tail, letting out a primal roar, grabbing the beast's tail, using its elastic strength against the beast, slamming it hard into the trees, causing the trees to snap under the monster's weight, and bring the cockatrice a case of dizziness.
An unfortunate case, since Grant had no hesitation, moving faster than the minotaur, cleanly slicing the head off, leaving him to only click his tongue in dissatisfaction, with some of the blood getting on his hands.
"What a mess." he complained about the small stains, while Granite's eyebrow twitched.
Cockatrice blood is known to be acidic, yet this man here was casually wiping it off with no question.
The minotaur had no comments to make about that.
What he really wanted to say was:
"The sword is not your main weapon, is it."
Not a question, a statement.
Grant grunted. "Really nosy for a minotaur, aren't you. One can cultivate all they want, but sometimes instinct can't be beaten."
He cleaned his blade off as Grant thought about it.
"Yes, the sword is not my preferred weapon. I just happen to be very experienced with it. Now, are we going to clean this cock or not?"
The minotaur grunted, sitting down to help clean and prepare the beast, unaware of a weird lookalike of Grant sneaking off to look for something else.
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After a good hour of cleaning or two, Grant and Granite were done cutting and gutting the cockatrice, having divided it into their respective shares.
Granite still looked unsure. "You really don't want anything else?" asked Granite. "Just a few jars of blood and the pelt."
Grant nodded. "Yup, with this and the shell of the tarantula from just a few days earlier, I think I can make something special." he said as he clasped his hands together.
Thankfully, it was a rather bloodless hunt, so they just had to gather their stuff and go.
Granite did seem to think about something though, that bothered him just a bit.
"I remember there being reports of the cockatrice having a competition in the form of a wyvern. I had been prepared for it to show and for this to take a turn for the worse."
Grant shrugged. "Well then, I guess we were...lucky" he said as he looked off in a random direction. Granite tried to follow where he was looking, but ultimately just gave up, turning to leave.
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'oh fuck did he see me'
The newly made dragon was sweating something serious as it hid behind a rock, ridiculing itself for even hiding in such a ridiculous way. It was a dragon!
It moved away from the rock to stare in that particular direction only to meet that horrid mask, flinching and running behind the rock again.
The (now) dragon was planning to go stomp it's old nemesis, demonstrate its new status as apex, only to encounter a horrifyingly familiar presence taking out the cockatrice.
It had a different face now, for sure, but the new mask could not hide the same dread the person inspired, and when it stared at him, the dragon couldn't help but be reminded of that day.
shiver.
Forget about it. The dragon turned tail and fled, flying off to join the group of newly minted dragons, with whom he'd been sharing his anguish.
There he could warn his fellow plucked friends about the demon who now lurked these woods.
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in Grant's divine realm...
Grant cackled as he eyed his real prize.
Admittedly, it'd been a rather unexpected prize that he'd not expected to find, but it was a pleasant surprise nonetheless.
Cockatrice eggs.
Perhaps it'd found a mate, maybe something else had sought it out, but Grant didn't really care either way.
Sure, Grant could make some on his own, but that would require him to burn some energy to create some eggs, and why do that when you could just steal them?
Of course, Grant had to sneakily create a clone using some of those duplication tricks he'd learn from the shinobi and the shinto to create a clone to run off and quietly take the eggs while they skinned the beast.
Sure, this was a bit unfair to Granite, but Granite was unlikely to know how to properly use the eggs, and cockatrices given to nobles never worked out.
Better he keep the eggs for himself, yeet them into his divine realm and let them die or thrive.
So the trip was mildly profitable; he'd gotten some feather for his new costume, and more monsters to fill his divine realm.
Time to head on home.