Chapter 105: Turning a Deaf Ear to Advice

The six, who had been planning to indulge in the spoils of their victory, were stunned by Han Shuo's shout. Then, one by one, they snapped out of it and, being very sensible, abandoned their attempts to strip the two-headed dragon of its treasures. Their questioning gazes immediately converged on Han Shuo.

After Han Shuo had repeatedly displayed his extraordinary senses and the strength to back them up, they had unconsciously come to regard him as their new leader. Even Odyssey showed no displeasure, as if he found it all perfectly natural.

In any party, there could only ever be one leader. Such a leader, besides possessing strength that inspired conviction, also had to have a cool head and keen judgment.

"Follow me!" Han Shuo said, with no wasted words or false modesty, once he realized he had become the object of their trust. His body flickered as he swiftly crossed the area and shot off toward the left. No one among the six young adventurers questioned his judgment any longer. They immediately dropped everything in their hands—heedless of the exposed tents around them and the two-headed dragon's still-warm corpse—and ran out after him.

A vast expanse of towering ancient trees suddenly appeared before their eyes. The trees grew so lush and dense that they blotted out the bright moonlight. In the dead of night, those enormous branches looked like the feelers of some monstrous creature, somewhat unnerving.

When they reached the spot, Han Shuo fixed his eyes on one of the great trees and climbed up along its tangled branches. When he reached the middle of the tree, his body suddenly vanished. Of the six, the three swordsmen were extremely agile and scrambled up only about ten seconds slower than he did. Then, with their help, the two mages and the archer also climbed up into the branches.

Only after climbing to the middle of the tree did everyone notice there was an opening there. The tree, which appeared so stout and solid, was actually hollow inside. The seven entered through the gap. Four of them dropped down to the base of the tree, while the remaining three—Han Shuo, Odyssey, and Afra—stuck half their heads out and gazed into the distance.

"What is it?" Only now did the others finally catch their breath. Odyssey, the moment he stopped, looked at Han Shuo with confusion and asked.

"It's a unicorn, one of the super-tier magical beasts. It seems the unicorn has been chasing the two-headed dragon all along. No wonder the dragon fled for its life." Han Shuo frowned and explained to Odyssey.

The unicorn was swifter than lightning and possessed a miraculous resistance to magic. The horn on its forehead contained a mysterious power, capable of curing a hundred poisons, reviving the dead, and purifying tainted places. According to legend, a unicorn would only draw close to pure maidens and loathed human males. Unless angered, a unicorn would generally not do anything rash.

However, through the Primal Demon, Han Shuo sensed the anger burning in this particular unicorn, as if the two-headed dragon had done something that drove it past all reason. A super-tier magical beast, the unicorn was resistant to magic and extremely hardy. Neither magical nor physical attacks could do it much harm—especially since Han Shuo's party was hardly formidable, and would struggle even to scratch the unicorn.

Moreover, legend had it that unicorns carried the blessing of the gods. If anyone harmed or killed a unicorn, that person would be cursed and suffer endless misfortune ever after. Thus, although a unicorn's entire body was a treasure, very few people would ever recklessly move against one.

When Odyssey and Afra heard that the creature pursuing the two-headed dragon had actually been an enraged super-tier magical beast—a unicorn—they both drew in sharp breaths and repeatedly congratulated themselves for fleeing in time. Otherwise, they might well have suffered a devastating blow in the unicorn's fury.

While Odyssey and Afra counted their blessings, the unicorn—pure snow-white, with a single horn on its forehead and a pair of beautiful blue eyes—stepped gracefully to the side of the two-headed dragon's corpse. Han Shuo's group stayed in the tree hollow in the distance, carefully concealing their presence. Given the gap between them, they were not afraid of being discovered.

At first somewhat restless, the unicorn suddenly quieted down the moment it saw the dragon's corpse. With light, elegant steps, it circled the body once. It even stretched out a snow-white foreleg and nudged the two-headed dragon. Only after confirming that the dragon was truly motionless did it stand still, turning its long, pristine neck to survey its surroundings, its blue eyes showing a strangely human-like confusion.

Having scanned the area and found nothing out of the ordinary, the unicorn shook its head and gave a slight shudder, then began retracing its path back the way it had come. Unicorns were not carnivores, so the dragon's corpse obviously held no appeal for it. Whatever the two-headed dragon had done to infuriate it, now that the beast was dead, that was enough to satisfy it.

A Primal Demon had been keeping a sharp watch on the unicorn the entire time. Only when it darted away at astonishing speed and vanished from sight in an instant did Han Shuo withdraw the Primal Demon. "The unicorn is gone. This time we can dig out the two-headed dragon's magic core."

By now, everyone was genuinely convinced of Han Shuo's judgment and leadership. Gordon, who had been wary of Han Shuo at first, now looked at him with sincere admiration. The moment Han Shuo spoke those words, everyone cheered with joy and slowly climbed out of the tree hollow, ready to collect their prize—the two-headed dragon.

Then, a strange sound suddenly drifted over, and a manticore, bearing a silver-haired young man with a resolute expression, appeared beside the two-headed dragon.

The manticore's tail carried a numbing venom, its claws could tear flesh apart with savage ferocity, and it was swift and powerful in its leaps—on the whole, a first-rank magical beast even harder to provoke than the two-headed dragon. In the Dark Forest, the manticore was already a fearsome nuisance. No one would have expected that such a beast had apparently been tamed.

The manticore's master was a young man of twenty-seven or twenty-eight. He was dressed casually, with a spatial ring on his left hand and a broadsword in his right. The lines of his face were firm and sharply defined. Though not a strikingly handsome man, he carried a distinctive, captivating bearing.

"Hm, looks like my luck is decent. I've stumbled across a two-headed dragon that just died." The young man muttered to himself, then urged the manticore forward until he reached the dragon's side. He dismounted, apparently intending to claim Han Shuo's group's spoils for himself.

At that moment, Han Shuo leapt down from the tree hollow a few steps ahead of the others. On seeing this young man take the two-headed dragon as his rightful prey as a matter of course, Han Shuo immediately felt a surge of fury. He sneered coldly from a distance: "Friend, this two-headed dragon was killed by us after no small effort. It seems rather improper to help yourself to the spoils without the owner's consent, don't you think?"

The young man looked up at Han Shuo and said disdainfully: "In the Dark Forest, all magical beasts—alive or dead—belong to no one. Since I found this dead two-headed dragon, then it should be mine."

After saying this, the young man ignored Han Shuo completely. He nonchalantly drew a dagger from his shin and tried to pry out the venomous fangs from the two-headed dragon's mouth.

Han Shuo was not a man of good temper. Seeing the young man turn his warning into deaf ears, he immediately drew his crossbow, trained it on him, and sneered: "If you dare make a move, I dare shoot you dead right here!"

"Oh? Then I'll make a move and show you." The young man found Han Shuo quite amusing. He gave him an indifferent glance and, without further ado, worked the dagger to pry out the venomous fangs from one of the dragon's jaws.

Han Shuo nodded, said nothing more, and immediately prepared to loose a bolt and kill this fellow who refused to heed advice. Just then, Odyssey suddenly shouted, "Don't!"

He rushed toward Han Shuo and explained urgently: "He should be the legendary Trunks—a devil who rides a manticore. Whoever offends him is sure to court enormous trouble. If he wants the two-headed dragon, then let him have it."

Han Shuo's expression shifted. He could not help but look the young man over with surprise, and only then did he remember—this was Trunks, the beast hunter of the Dark Forest.

This man's origins were shrouded in mystery. He had appeared in the Dark Forest as a sword master. His temperament was strange, cold, and ruthless. Rumor had it that he not only hunted magical beasts but also, as a side pursuit, hunted adventurers in the Dark Forest. He was exceedingly skilled in the combat techniques of the Dark Forest, and it was said that even a grand sword master had fallen to his blade. He was a cold-blooded killer in the Dark Forest whom everyone feared at the mere sight.

"Your friend's advice is good—you should listen to him." The young man, reaching out to take the venomous fangs from the dragon's other jaw, called back to Han Shuo from afar, seeming utterly certain that Han Shuo would not dare to attack.

However, what answered him was the sharp shriek of a crossbow bolt cleaving through the air. Han Shuo's expression was icy. He gave no heed to Odyssey's plea at all. The crossbow in his hands was aimed at Trunks, and the bolt spat forth.

Trunks, who had been about to remove the fangs from the other jaw, was taken aback when he saw Han Shuo actually fire. The astonishment had barely surfaced on his face before his body had already retreated a step back like a phantom.

With a dull thud, the bolt—driven by the crossbow's savage force—buried itself into the muddy ground where he had stood just a moment before, leaving only half the shaft protruding and still quivering.

If Trunks had not dodged in time, that crossbow bolt would have pierced straight through his body.