“Dangers?” she spoke with her naturally charming voice. “What dangers could a group of bugs like his bring us?” She said thinking of the brute’s, Black Jackal’s words.
At this time Ilven’s pursuers had caught up but they didn’t dare set foot on the Wild Hunt Trail, if you looked closely, you would find the team only had four of the initial seven members left and they were all injured severely.
“Finally, I’m going to rip that little rat bastard limb from—” Galdor grinded his teeth reaching the precipice before freezing in place.
“Fuck!” several of them exclaimed.
“Boss that logo…”
“I can’t fucking believe it.”
“Roland be damned!”
The hatred in their eyes travelled distances but logic kept them in place for they too recognized the Mad Lion Wilderness Hunters, were it another group they might have lingered a bit longer unwillingly but for one of the local rulers they had no other thoughts.
In the end they could only grudgingly retreat in defeat as Ilven ignored them and continued conversing with the wilderness hunting group. Like Ilven, they couldn’t sustain the chase for much longer and they lost some members, their plans were sunk into shit, so they must leave.
The rest of the wilderness team chuckled seeing their departure, but Ilven could see the way they held themselves. They were alert. This was a game to them, but it wouldn’t take much to turn it into violence. One wrong move, and they’d tear him apart.
This was just from the ones looking at him, most were looking around for other accomplices.
Ilven could feel the gaze of the woman on his lower body as she laughed but he didn’t feel embarrassed about exposing himself. He never had such a luxury since birth, embarrassment was a foreign concept to him.
Still the wind was cold, and he had no hobby of exhibitionism, so he slowly put on his pants. He had already made the gesture showing he meant no harm.
Their taunts continued seeing his actions but different from before they weren’t as relaxed and watched him closely.
Ilven didn’t respond to their taunts. He kept his stance neutral, not too tense but not relaxed either. This was quite burdensome as all eyes were on him, he felt like a pack of Earthbound Bears were staring him down. He waited for a beat longer, observing their reactions, ensuring they were paying attention before he spoke. When he did, his voice was steady, calm, completely devoid of fear or desperation.
He found it easier than he expected, perhaps it was due to experiencing the terror of two beast lords or perhaps it was seeing the carnage of hundreds of ‘disaster’ level beasts. Although they were intimidating and far stronger than him, he was able to maintain control of his body’s instincts in close range.
“I have a proposal for you.”
The leader’s knife paused mid-stroke, but he didn’t look up immediately. His subordinates quieted, their mockery fading as they turned their full attention to Ilven. The truck was silent.
A shabby scavenger making a deal with them wasn’t something they ever thought could happen, it was so absurd they had no words.
“A proposal?” the seductive woman purred, leaning forward on the handlebars of her bike. Her smile now had a hint curiosity replacing the previous mockery “What could a little scavenger like you possibly offer us?”
Still, they continued probing around, above, underground, farther away… it was likely this scavenger was a diversion.
Ilven didn’t answer her directly. He maintained his focus on Reshal, the one in control. This was a negotiation now, and he wouldn’t waste time trading barbs with subordinates.
With calculated precision, Ilven lowered the pack from his shoulder and set it down. His movements were slow, deliberate. He couldn’t afford to look weak, but he also didn’t want to seem too eager. He knelt, unfastened the bag, ripped open the thorned rat and revealed the first piece of the Kraven Chimera.
The wilderness team shifted. Their earlier indifference melted away, replaced by sharp, focused attention. They were familiar with each other and naturally knew the specific reason why Old Sixth would react such a way, surveying the area and the lack of response from their leader affirmed the kid wasn’t dangerous.
Black Jackal who had dismissed him earlier, stared with wide eyes, his disbelief palpable.
“That’s... from a Kraven Chimera,” Black Jackal muttered, directing the words to the others, unlike Ilven they were unfortunate enough to meet this creature while it was still alive which further heightened their shock.
“So that’s what triggered Old Sixth’s…” One man who was supporting the still shaking three eyed scout finally understood the source of the problem.
Normal things couldn’t trigger the side effects of his ability, especially as Tier 2 Evolver.
The seductive woman’s smile faded, her eyes narrowing as she examined the remains. “Impossible,” she whispered. “How did you get something like that?”
The crew’s silence was slit open as they began to converse in low voices, Ilven was ignorant but they were different. There were differences even at the same level for desolate beasts, some differences were quite stark, the Kraven Chimera was one such example. Its weird abilities and high intelligence made it what was known as a ‘quasi-horror species’ amongst hunters. It was something even most beastmasters were incapable of facing.
Even they had to run on sight if they were unlucky enough to cross paths with it, which they had done before.
Hunters in the traditional sense were categorized by their best prey. Black Iron was the lowest realm of desolate beasts, this was further divided into four subdivisions with each level representing a power increase, that is, the inferior, medium, superior and pinnacle stages.
Amateur wilderness hunters started out with inferior beasts, with more experience and teamwork they could hunt medium level beasts, superior level beasts typically had one or more lethal racial skills and were more dangerous.
Without the right equipment and basic abilities of your own it was almost impossible to hunt them, once successful you were a veteran wilderness hunter.
The Mad Lion Wilderness Hunters were at the pinnacle of the profession, they could hunt the realm beyond Black Iron, but this was an entirely different battlefield, each beast was tribulation requiring stringent preparations for success akin to fortress’s siege.
No one knew the weight of these horrific beasts more than they did, what they dared set their sights on were only the lowest level of the second realm of desolate beasts. Starting from the pinnacle black iron realm, the gap between realms was astronomical.
Afterwards a small level was a world of difference. This young scavenger brought prey above even their capabilities to hunt.
Ilven said nothing unaware of the turmoil he was causing in the hearts of the team. He reached back into the bag and pulled out the other parts from the One Eyed Muscle Ape and Six Eyed Earth Toad. The mood around the vehicles changed completely. Several of the team members exchanged uneasy glances.
The leader’s knife finally stopped. He set the wooden figure aside, folding his hands and leaning forward slightly. He still didn’t speak, letting the weight of the silence stretch out. Ilven felt the pressure of his gaze but didn’t falter.
“You found these?” Reshal asked, his tone even, though there was something deeper lurking beneath the surface. His face while young gave a picture of wizened maturity.
Ilven met his gaze, his voice cold. “Yes.”
It was at this time; he sensed something off.
I thought they were around the same level with their combined strength but judging from their reactions it seems I was wrong.
Ilven presented his spoils with little fluctuations in his mood.
These things only had value if they were sold so it didn’t matter who he sold them to, in fact he would probably get a better deal from them as the layers of exploitation in Grey Tulip ran deep, even if it was the same price at least he paid none to taxes or protection fees.
The leader didn’t react immediately as if in thought, but Ilven knew he had piqued his interest. It was a start, that was enough.
The seductive woman leaned back on her bike, her smile returning. “Well well, boy,” she murmured. “It seems you’ve brought something worth listening to after all.”
Ilven remained still, his hands steady as he slowly closed the bag after revealing the monstrous remains. His breath was controlled, his pulse calm, though his mind was sharp, calculating every response. He knew this team could easily kill him, but he also knew their needs. His next words would be the most critical of the exchange.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“I’m here to sell these things,” Ilven said, his voice even. “I know teams like yours only sometimes purchase supplies, but…” His eyes shifted slightly, landing on the seductive woman, her dangerous energy concealed beneath her playful exterior. “Don’t you need the eyes of the Six-Eyed Toad?”
There was a sudden shift in the atmosphere. The woman’s eyes narrowed, the smile on her lips fading into something sharper, more predatory. The moment Ilven mentioned the toad’s eyes, she moved, so quickly that he didn’t notice her at all. One moment, she was seated casually on her bike; the next, she was beside him, her fingers curling into his hair instead of her own.
"How did you know I needed those?" she whispered, her voice honeyed as her fingers slowly caressed Ilven's hair. The gesture seemed gentle, but Ilven felt the taste of blood in her touch, like a viper perfectly still before the strike. Beneath her smooth movements lay something that made his skin crawl; the kind of presence he'd only felt from apex predators.
Ilven’s breath remained steady, though his muscles tensed instinctively. He could feel the eyes of the other team members on him, and even more telling was their reaction. They weren’t amused or entertained by her move. In fact, several of them seemed to gulp, their faces tense. They were afraid of her.
The way they shifted uncomfortably, their gazes eagerly finding something else to look at, was all the confirmation Ilven needed. The crew, powerful and dangerous in their own right, all feared this woman. She was something far deadlier than any of them. This brought him to an even higher alert.
“Tell m — ” Her seductive voice seemed to pierce through his soul and his mind grew foggy, he felt her quite pleasing to the eye and an urge to spill all his secrets before she even finished speaking.
“I..” Fortunately, before he could say anything Reshal stepped in.
“Back down Kat. Don’t toy with him too much.”
The woman hesitated, her fingers lingering in Ilven’s hair for a moment longer before she withdrew, her movements fluid and precise. Her eyes, however, stayed locked on him, and her smile returned—charming, seductive but hidden behind it was a sharp danger like a snake hidden in the bushes.
Ilven who had now recovered from his daze felt a sense of dread feeling her gaze, like a viper sizing up tasty prey. She might be the scariest of them all. He almost lost his mind completely.
Cold sweat formed on Ilven’s ebony brows. He instinctively reached for his beast bone knife but stopped before grasping it, he knew it was useless.
Power. Ilven clenched his fists, the events of now and the past few days replaying in his mind. The current him was nothing but a toy before the strong.
The leader shifted his attention to Ilven. “So, you’ve noticed. Tell me, why do you think she needs the eyes of the toad?”
Ilven kept his voice steady after struggling for a moment, he knew that he had to tread carefully having tasted the terror of the squad. “Her eyes changed when she looked at them.”
The leader’s lips curled slightly. “Sharp observation,” he said with quiet approval.
“How long have you been a scavenger kid?” He asked.
“Five years.” Ilven replied.
“Where are you from, I’m guessing not an ember shelter.” Reshal continued.
“Grey Tulip.”
“Hm, you’re one of ours that’s interesting. Come to think of it, its almost harvesting season.” He muttered to himself walking over to monster parts.
Kat, or Ekaterina remained silent, but her gaze never left Ilven. He had earned her interest—whether that was good or bad was yet to be determined.
The leader crouched beside the loot, signaling for one of his men to make space for a full inspection. Despite Ilven’s careful dissection of the most valuable parts of the Kraven Chimera, Six-Eyed Earth Toad, and One-Eyed Muscle Ape, the wilderness team’s forensic skills, honed through years of experience, quickly came into play.
“The internal structure of the main eye of the Earth Toad is slightly fractured, that’s surprising.” The leader lightly exclaimed.
“Not only that, this head from the Kraven Chimera has severe internal injuries… it’s the rat head.” Another team member with gray hair joined in.
“The rat head?” Reshal repeated while in thought.
After a while, the gray-haired hunter finished examining every piece under the gaze of the rest, he seemed well respected. Likely not just for his age.
“It’s as we thought, they died from a stampede. From what I can see a Two Headed Cyclops, Weeping Banshee, Hell Horse and a few others I can’t decipher were the specific causes of death.” He said solemnly.
Ilven: “!!!”
They can tell that from just some harvested limbs?
Reshal grew serious hearing this.
Then they began speaking in a different tongue, Ilven didn’t understand it and didn’t try to pick up on any cues, it was clear they did so to avoid him.
After a while the conversation ended.
The leader stood up, giving a slow nod as he looked down at the loot. “You’ve done well, little scavenger. But you missed a few things.”
Ilven kept his expression neutral, though his pulse quickened slightly. Was there some problem?
The leader took out a thin booklet “You got a most of the parts right, but you missed a few important ones. Without them the price drops significantly, your extraction technique is also a bit rough, I suppose it’s as much as one can expect from a wisp settlement’s scavenger.”
Before Ilven could respond, the Kat joined in, her voice soothing and charming like a succubus, she said softly. “You missed 7 parts from just Kraven Chimera, moreover, the items were harvested well enough yes but they are still damaged from the stampede.”
Ilven’s eyebrows twitched violently. Despite his best efforts to remain calm, the realization hit him hard—he had missed critical parts that could have significantly increased his earnings. He had been meticulous, but his knowledge was clearly lacking. Weird looking, glowing, tough, and abnormal parts didn’t always equate to value.
Had he overestimated this windfall? His heart skipped a beat.
The leader chuckled softly. “It happens. Even veterans like us mess up sometimes. Furthermore, little scavengers like you don’t have access to this level of information for monsters of their caliber. Next time, you’ll know what to look for.”
Though in their hearts they knew that it was unlikely a poor scavenger would ever meet such luck again. Also, some types of monsters required special extraction techniques not easily taught or learned.
Ilven stayed silent, though his mind raced. He had thought he had prepared well enough, but now it was clear that his knowledge was limited. This wilderness team, with their extensive experience, had outdone him easily.
The leader saw the brief crack in Ilven’s expression and laughed again, louder this time. “Don’t worry, little scavenger. You’ll get better. Every hunt is a learning experience. Although you’re good now, there’s always someone better.”
Ilven’s cold mask returned, but the damage had been done. He had lost potential money today, and the wilderness team knew it.
Nevertheless, his profits should still be high, these were disaster level monsters. The crew prepared the payment as the deal proceeded. He had survived the encounter, but he now realized how much he didn’t know.
Why would the supposed subjects of the beast lords run away when the fight happened? Shouldn’t they help? Why if they were not valuable were some beasts parts so eye-catching? Why did it seem that some whole corpses were worth less than even some damaged parts?
Suddenly he felt a deep desire for knowledge.
As Kat returned to her bike, her gaze lingered on Ilven, her smile still lingering, as though enjoying his brief moment of weakness, “What a lucky brat. Though luck… is also a strength.”
Reshal waved to Ilven, “Little scavenger come closer.”
Ilven stepped forward without hesitation despite the hairs on his neck standing up.
“The parts from the three Red Copper desolate beasts, I’ll give you 5000 silvers for all of them. The two bodies of the Cat Head Windigo and Earth Harpy, I’ll give 300 silvers for the Cat Head Windigo and 80 silvers for the Earth Harpy. The thorned rats, well, how about 1 silver baht each?”
Reshal’s team naturally had no use for the low level rat corpses but they were packaged well so he made an offer.
Ilven hesitated. In fact, he didn’t know the actual prices well since he had never brought back a whole corpse or anything of such a high rank.
The fabled Red Copper huh, thought as much.
Desolate beasts were divided into the Black Iron, Red Copper, and Dirt Bronze realms based on their strength, skills and evolution. Matching the colloquial danger, disaster and horror level dangerous beasts known by commoners. Its said starting at red copper mortals were incapable of harming desolate beasts, this included ordinary ability users and warriors.
Other than this he had only ever known the names of the following two ranks including red copper after all his previous most precious score was just a section of a medium black iron desolate beast. Even his mentor only achieved a superior black iron score in his entire tenure.
“Hm, any objections.” The leader smiled harmlessly but two of his team members gazes locked onto Ilven.
“No, well. What is the reason for the difference between the prices for the Cat Head Windigo and the Earth Harpy. Also, shouldn’t Red Copper disaster beasts be worth a fortune?” Ilven asked curiously, his eyes burning with desire, he would be foolish not to take the chance with free information packs standing tall before him.
If it were someone in his own circle, then he wouldn’t dare be so presumptuous, but these hunters were high enough above him that it didn’t matter how audacious he was as long as he wasn’t arrogant or insulting.
“Oh?”
Seeing Ilven’s desire for knowledge the captain paused for a bit before explaining, “The Cat head Windigo’s main racial ability is called ‘Fear Blight’ it’s a relatively rare ability and one of the strangest abilities within the Second Tier. It also happens that the Kraven Chimera can help increase the synthesis of this ability. The Earth Harpy has a relatively common ability seen even in low ranked Black Iron desolate beasts furthermore it’s difficult to extract the essentials with just one corpse so the value is lower.”
“Red Copper desolate beasts are worth a fortune yes, but this varies depending on how useful the said parts are, their species and strength when they were alive are also factors. Although you have the relatively intact corpses of the two, they are just Inferior Red Copper ranks, for the Kraven Chimera and the others they are Superior Red Copper which is quite rare.” Reshal added.
He sighed internally, he had never expected to obtain such rare items without a combined effort by the entire Mad Lion group or a hand from the lord beastmasters. Life was truly unpredictable.
“I see.” Ilven nodded in response. In fact, it wasn’t unexpected, he had heard of these desolate ‘disaster’ beasts that he hoarded in passing but how could he know their relative value? The best option was to select from corpses he knew rather than those he didn’t.
Shortly afterwards someone came forward handing the leader a silver card with gold engravings and the emblem of moon with a white shadow.
“Here you go kid” He tossed it over.
Ilven was taken aback as he held it in his palms, it felt warm to the touch like a piece of jade, but it was also thin. Why was he given this? Was it worth 5382 silvers?
Seeing Ilven’s loss, the leader chuckled, “That’s a bank card from the Twilight Booze Merchant Guild, it can be exchanged for coin in any bank affiliated with the Southern Wilds Merchant Alliance, after all you can’t expect us to carry huge bags of silver coins everywhere with us can you.”
Huge bags of silver coins.
Bags of silver coins.
Picturing it in his mind; Ilven’s pupils shone as bright as the moon.
He recovered from his daze as the leader called out to him asking where he got his loot. He vaguely skirted around the issue not wanting to say too much but the leader was a veteran of many battles and also human relationships.
He tossed a bag of copper baht to Ilven who was acting reserved, in an instant he explained every detail which caused the leader to look at him with a different look.
“It’s time to go,” Reshal gestured to his team.
The loot brought by this kid, the rumors and the tremor of the pendant just now, something big is about to happen. If the likes of Kraven Chimera known as the bane of Beastmasters died in just the ripples, then how chaotic must the eye of this great storm be?
He thought with a heavy heart.
“I have a feeling we’ll meet again kid. Try to stay alive until then.” Reshal said with a smile. The dormant engines of the fleet exploded with the sound of motion
Ilven bowed respectfully seeing them off but as he stared at the ground, he had an epiphany and hurriedly shouted to keep them.