I Am Not Goblin Slayer

Chapter 408: The Law of the Jungle

Longwind Grasslands, the weather was gloomy and overcast.As the name suggests, this grassland is a vast wilderness where long winds howl throughout the four seasons.

On this vibrant grassland, the ground teems with a vast number of beast-like monsters, from the inconspicuous Slimes hiding in roadside rock crevices to the several-meter-tall Trolls, all coexisting and breeding here.

Even beneath the soil layer, there exists a vast world invisible to the naked eye.

Burrower beetles tunnel underground, their massive mandibles easily crushing rock, carving out tunnels like a colossal subterranean network.

As for Goblin-like creatures and ratfolk, they occupy the ground beneath relatively fertile pastures, hiding and constructing their own three-dimensional nests. Unless absolutely necessary, avoiding conflict with too many powerful enemies is their race's survival law.

Besides monsters, this royal land naturally also attracts adventurers and merchants drawn here by them.

"Sorry, boss, I messed up."

On the grassland, a group of adventurers sat on horseback, watching a figure rapidly disappearing in the distance. One of them turned to the leading man and spoke with shame.

Compared to ordinary adventuring parties, this team of over a dozen people seemed exceptionally large, yet still fell short of being an adventuring guild.

"Forget it, let's pick another target."

The long-haired leading man shook his head.

"Once this group of centaurs is alerted, the difficulty of targeting them increases severalfold."

At this point, what more could he say?

Their mission this time was a privately accepted, high-priced commission from a group of merchants to capture centaurs for them. For this, they had prepared for nearly a month.

Especially those lassos, rope nets, and various purchased sedatives specifically targeting centaurs—all represented a significant investment.

But as long as they could successfully capture some centaurs and exchange them for payment with black-market merchants, the initial investment could be transformed into rewards tenfold or more.

"Boss, what do you think those merchants' purpose is for capturing centaurs?"

Hearing his younger brother's question, the long-haired man just shook his head.

"Who knows? Maybe some big shot needs a centaur mount."

Normally, centaurs have higher intelligence compared to other monsters, making them harder to tame. From an economic cost perspective, buying a centaur mount is clearly not a cost-effective action.

But you can't apply normal logic to nobles seeking novelty. Sometimes, the more niche something is, the more it allows them to show off in front of others, making the money spent worthwhile.

His gaze followed the gradually receding figures of that centaur group, a hint of regret flashing through, but he quickly regained his composure.

Although he himself was a Level 3 Ranger, the leader of that centaur group was no simple character either; otherwise, it wouldn't have detected their presence before their ambush.

So, just like that centaur group was unwilling to engage in conflict with them, he was actually somewhat hesitant himself.

He would rather change targets than have his subordinates suffer heavy casualties in a direct confrontation with a centaur tribe.

Just as he was thinking.

A violent gale suddenly swept over their heads.

This gale arrived without any warning.

The horses reacted first. Over a dozen well-trained warhorses reared up almost simultaneously, emitting panicked whinnies, their front hooves kicking wildly in the air.

Two unprepared adventurers were thrown from their saddles, tumbling several times on the ground. They didn't bother getting up, instead lifting their slightly pale faces to look skyward, their pupils constricting to pinpoints.

The long-haired leading man pressed down on his own panicked mount with one hand, also following his subordinates' gaze upward.

They saw the originally gray, heavy sky, where thick cumulus clouds like cotton batting were suddenly torn open by a massive gash.

A crimson-red figure, trailing wispy cloud streams like willow catkins, dove down.

In reality, it was still some distance from their location, but its speed was simply too fast. Combined with today's windless, overcast weather, it immediately triggered a powerful gust.

The Red Dragon dove to a certain altitude, then swiftly skimmed low over the ground ahead of them.

The grass on the grassland was pressed flat into wave-like patterns, rippling outward in concentric circles from the dragon's landing point.

"Boss, it's a dragon!"

"Stop shouting, I'm not blind." Seth had just finished straightening his clothes when he heard his brother's repeated exclamations and sighed helplessly.

However, when his gaze turned to the crimson-red figure gradually receding on the horizon, he couldn't help but feel a flicker of envy.

"Gauss..."

Many adventurers now active in the areas around Falim were beginning to learn this name.

Whenever a Red Dragon was seen flying in the sky, it meant its master, Gauss, had arrived here.

"So this is a dragon?" Seth surveyed the chaotic formation of his own team, finally gaining the most direct understanding of a dragon's existence.

This creature was truly terrifying.

The commotion caused from such a great distance directly caused their entire riding party to lose control on the spot.

If it truly intended to attack them, they probably couldn't even organize a meaningful resistance.

If the mount alone was like this, how strong must its master, the one who conquered it, be?

...

Gauss was unaware of the thoughts in the squad leader's mind behind him.

His gaze fell downward. With Hephaestus's rapid flight, the distance between him and the centaur tribe was rapidly closing.

Once within spellcasting range, he decisively released Magic Missile.

In truth, the centaur tribe not far away had long sensed the threat from the sky.

After all, from start to finish, the Red Dragon's flight path was completely undisguised, heading straight for their location.

But sensing it was one thing; being able to escape was another.

The speed gap between them and the Red Dragon was too obvious. Watching the enemy in the sky behind them closing in, the centaur leader was just about to roar, ordering its tribesmen to scatter their formation, letting as many escape as possible.

But before its command could be issued, deadly azure-blue missiles fell like a torrential downpour.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Missile after missile, like heavy artillery shells, traced brilliant arc trajectories before landing on the ground.

To be precise, they smashed into the centaurs' bodies.

Azure-blue Magic Missiles trailed dazzling tails of flame as they descended from the sky, each one striking its target with perfect Precision.

If someone had been on-site counting, they would have found not a single missile missed its mark. All released missiles completed their kills on their targets during the high-speed movement of both parties.

The struck centaurs erupted in shrill, piercing whinnies.

Their tough muscles proved as fragile as paper before the pure, powerful magic force. Accompanied by the sounds of shattering bones, they pitched forward. Their forward momentum caused their out-of-control bodies to plow deep furrows in the grass, blood-flecked foam gushing from their mouths, their four legs convulsing and kicking uncontrollably on the ground.

Even the leader of the centaur tribe—that brownish-red, male centaur standing over two meters tall at the shoulder—could not escape the Magic Missiles that fell like teardrops of death.

Its four hooves galloped swiftly, its body rising and falling across the grassland like a crimson lightning bolt.

But the oppressive sense behind it grew closer and heavier.

Feeling the lethal threat, its ankles dug into the ground, its center of gravity rapidly shifting to one side. It wanted to use a sudden change of direction to shake off the rapidly approaching threat behind it.

Its crimson lightning-like figure swiftly veered in another direction.

But after it successfully completed the sharp turn, the threat behind it did not disappear.

Instead, it was still rapidly closing in!

"Boom!"

The missile wouldn't stop its flight just because of the strange feeling in its heart. The missile, like an arrow descending from heaven, pierced through its body. The muscle groups controlling its two front legs were instantly torn and destroyed.

Unable to maintain balance, it immediately lost control during its gallop. Its entire body, like a cannonball, plowed a deep trench across the ground.

In the sky, the Red Dragon slowly descended.

Gauss looked at the large number of centaurs, either already dead or severely wounded and immobile, and casually flung out over a dozen clumps of clay. The clay solidified into form the moment it left his palm, and over ten Clay Goblins landed on the ground as if "turning beans into soldiers."

These clay constructs would quickly finish off any centaurs on the ground still clinging to life.

After completing the kills, they would dissect these monster corpses on the spot, obtaining the materials Gauss required.

If even the bodies of the lowest-tier monsters like Goblins could yield valuable materials, how much more so centaurs?

As for the remaining centaur carcasses after material collection—for example, that centaur leader and several other Elite-level centaurs—they could be fed to the Red Drake Hephaestus, ensuring nothing went to waste.

After all, Hephaestus's flight consumed considerable energy. As long as one could ignore the toxins contained within monster flesh, the energy and nutrition they provided were quite substantial.

As a Red Drake, Hephaestus possessed a Dragon's body; digesting some monsters was naturally no issue.

Actually, now that Gauss possessed the purple-quality talent [Feast], eating raw monster flesh wouldn't have many side effects.

However, long-ingrained human habits still led him to choose to cook monster meat over fire before consumption.

Moreover, he had requirements for the types of monsters he consumed. Creatures like Goblins and Goblin-like creatures—he couldn't bring himself to eat them. He thought about centaurs and decided against that too.

Mainly because their upper bodies still retained a form close to human.

He would feel a psychological barrier. And if memory served, once prion diseases worsened, the fatality rate was one hundred percent. Although he didn't know how much human bloodline composition was actually in a centaur's body, he still felt there was no need to gamble.

So, the monsters he usually selected as food were mostly those species that could serve as human food.

For example, crabs, cattle, frogs, and the like.

Of course, if that first bite he took raw from Hephaestus when they first met counted, then he had actually eaten dragon meat.

Unfortunately, he was in a state of unleashing his maximum combat power at the time and didn't have the chance to savor the taste of dragon meat in detail.

It didn't seem to have any aversion to centaurs. Perhaps because it had never eaten them before, it was eating with great relish.

But suddenly, as a cold wind blew, a shiver ran down its entire body.

As if by some sixth sense, it turned its head to look behind. Gauss stood there, arms crossed, watching it from a distance.

"Roar~"

For some reason, its heart tightened. Its blood-stained maw slowly lifted into a human-like curve.

Perhaps from prolonged contact with humans, it could now mimic some human expressions.

"Better not."

Gauss shook his head.

Although given Hephaestus's size and vitality, cutting off a few pieces of meat wouldn't cause much harm, it was already selling itself to him. There was no need to set his sights on it; that would be too pitiful.

And this world didn't have only Hephaestus as a dragon.

As if sharing a mental link, Hephaestus quietly sighed in relief after Gauss changed his mind.

In the distance, the members of the adventuring party hunting centaurs, who had just finished reorganizing their formation, looked at each other as they observed the battlefield that had ended in an instant.

They had barely gotten up from the ground when the distant fight was already over?

This speed inevitably made them feel ashamed.

"Boss, should we go over?"

"No, we'll detour, keep our distance." Leader Seth decisively shook his head.

Although intelligence suggested the Guild Leader of the Red Dragon Guild, Gauss, had a decent temperament and wasn't the bloodthirsty, brutal type, he didn't want to gamble with his own and his companions' lives.

What if the other party happened to be in a bad mood today?

Even if the other party killed them all here, probably no news would get out.

The survival method of the weak is to stay as far away as possible from those strong enough to easily take their lives when in the wild.

As for ideas like making connections or winning the other's favor, he didn't dare even think about it.

"Retreat!"

.

Over the next two days.

Seth's group, searching for traces of centaurs in the Longwind Grasslands, found nothing.

"Weren't there supposed to be quite a few centaurs in this area?" an adventurer in the team couldn't help but complain.

"Don't even mention centaurs; we haven't seen many other monsters either!"

They had been rushing about for two days. The vast Longwind Grasslands seemed to have fallen into a state of silence, terrifyingly quiet.

"Captain Seth, we found a group of monster corpses ahead."

"Looted very clean."

The member responsible for scouting ahead turned back to report the situation, leading them to the corresponding location.

Seth examined the surroundings.

Aside from the corpses attracting swarms of flies buzzing freely, the entire area looked exceptionally clean. It didn't seem like a prolonged battle had occurred but more like it ended in an instant.

Recalling the similarly instant-ending battle they witnessed from afar two days ago, a sudden realization flashed through his mind.

A conjecture sprang from the depths of his thoughts.

If he wasn't mistaken, the deaths of this group of monsters, including the abnormal grassland situation of the past two days, were likely all connected to that man.

It sounded somewhat unbelievable, but with the unparalleled mobility of a Dragon mount, combined with that man's own formidable strength, it didn't seem impossible.

"Let's head back first, come take another look in a couple of days. If it really doesn't work, we'll just have to find monster centaurs somewhere else."

Given the flight altitude and speed of that Dragon, the travel range of their riding adventuring party was probably completely within the other's active area.

In other words, it was almost impossible for them to find their target creature here and now.

They all sighed in unison.

Although their mission plan was severely affected, facing that deeply sunken dragon footprint imprint, they didn't even dare harbor resentment in their hearts.

They could only blame their own rotten luck.

The law of the jungle was a deeply ingrained rule on this land.

Don't think they were meek and submissive when facing that Dragon and its master. In reality, during their years of wilderness adventuring, they had also bullied many weaker, low-tier adventuring parties by throwing their weight around.