Chapter 379: Rock Mountain Jiedian — Wild Boar Meat, The Return Journey, Griffins, and the Glowing Sword on the Mountain Peak

They all had ropes; their backpacks were full of them. As for the wooden poles needed for two people to carry the carcass of the strange Northland wolf, Jier said he would just chop some with his axe.

Having defeated the Northland wolf, everyone relaxed, joking about whether they should just hunt a wild boar to eat on the way back.

At the mention of this, Jier's stomach rumbled. In this cold, desolate Northland Forest, being able to eat meat in large mouthfuls was, of course, the best thing possible.

So he raised both hands in favor, and the young Hunters also happily expressed their desire to join the wild boar hunt.

The old Hunter pointed at two young Hunters who were skilled and currently full of energy to go with him.

The others stayed where they were to tidy up the area, skinning the Northland wolf, burying the carcass underground if possible, and resetting the metal clamps that looked reliable.

Considering that they would likely catch at least one wild boar later, Jier went off to find suitable thick branches while carrying his axe.

Wearing a full set of armor, he wasn't worried about anything hurting him at all. After circling the position twice, he found a suitable large tree, chopped off its low-hanging branches, skillfully removed the excess twigs with his sharp axe, and dragged them back to the position tied with a rope.

Watching everyone working, some even started a fire to heat up the food they had brought to soothe everyone's hungry bellies.

Jier picked out a few good branches; they were as thick as a forearm, and the wood was of a sturdy species. He sat by the fire, took out his Steel Dagger, and began to scrape the bark off the surface of the branches one knife-stroke at a time, crafting them into wooden poles at least two meters long.

The bark scraped off by the dagger was thrown directly into the fire to serve as added fuel.

One thinner pole was used to carry the mutant Northland wolf carcass. Considering that a wild boar might be very heavy, Jier found two thicker branches to make the other two poles.

Unfortunately, although it was winter, the branches still contained a lot of moisture, which meant the poles might not be hard enough and could only barely be used to carry the hunted wild boar.

The hunting party had not yet returned, so everyone sat around the fire and started eating.

Not long after it got dark, when Jier was starting to feel restless but the other Hunters were not worried, a firelight appeared in the distant forest and slowly moved toward them.

"They're here. Jier, weren't you worried? Look, they're back now, go and meet them." An old Hunter reminded Jier.

Jier quickly sat up, took a torch from his backpack, rubbed it against the fire to ignite it, and then walked over with the torch in one hand and his other hand behind his back, gripping the handle of his axe.

Upon getting closer, it was indeed the Hunters who had gone out to hunt. They were panting, and a few of them were dragging a dead adult wild boar with ropes.

"Jier, what are you looking at? Come over and help!" The old Hunter leading the team saw Jier approaching and quickly handed him the rope that was wrapped around his arm and slung over his shoulder.

"Coming, coming. Such a big wild boar; it looks quite heavy." Jier handed the torch to the old Hunter, then imitated him by wrapping the rope around his forearm, slinging it over his shoulder, and began to pull the wild boar carcass with steady steps.

"This is big? In these places where basically no one comes, a wild boar of this size can only be called average." Saying this, the old Hunter kicked the wild boar carcass: "A size like this is just a newly matured male wild boar. If it were any bigger, it would be driven out of the family by the leader of the wild boar pack, just to prevent young male wild boars from competing with it for power."

"What power?" Jier asked with a grin, though he understood perfectly well.

A young Hunter who had been pulling the wild boar carcass was panting, but at this moment, he eagerly snatched the answer: "The power to mate with the sows, of course, haha. Isn't it the same everywhere under the sun?"

"You guy, hurry up and find a girl in the Cunzi. I don't know who it is that spends all day wandering the streets and alleys of the city, specifically staring at every woman." Another young Hunter teased.

"Hmph, you guys certainly don't understand the pain of people like us. Among the girls we rescued from the Bandits last time, tell the truth, have you slept with them or not?"

Faced with his companion's interrogation, the tall and sturdy young Hunter answered awkwardly.

"No answer? No answer means you have? Tell us, did you sleep with that girl who likes you?"

Unexpectedly, that Hunter stiffened his neck, tilted his head, and squeezed out a sentence: "I slept with all of them. Hey, hey, don't hit me! Don't hit the face! Those girls came to me themselves seeking comfort; I didn't want to either."

The two young Hunters started roughhousing, one chasing and one running, circling the large trees they passed. Jier was left alone to pull the wild boar carcass, but his speed was no slower than before.

The old Hunter ignored the bickering young Hunters and turned to ask Jier if he needed help, which Jier declined with a shake of his head. Actually, once he really started pulling, it wasn't very heavy; as long as he planted his feet firmly with every step, he could pull the wild boar behind him with normal effort.

After returning to the position, the old Hunters gathered around the wild boar, brushed the snow off the carcass, and began to skin and clean it.

Jier took the thick wild boar skins cut off by the old Hunters and the viscera, and threw them into a pit that had already been dug nearby. This pit was filled with the headless, skinned carcasses of the Northland wolves; now, he threw in the wild boar viscera that couldn't be eaten or were suspected of having parasites.

For these wild animal meats, it is best not to eat the brains or viscera of animals unless there is no other choice. Animals that are not livestock eat a very messy diet, and parasites are everywhere.

Wild boars are better because they like to roll in mud or dry Earth Pits, so there are very few parasites on their skin. But they eat a very messy diet; as long as it can fit in their mouths, they eat everything, including rotting, though not completely decomposed, carcasses of other animals.

So the old Hunters told Jier to throw these things into the Earth Pit. After they left, other animals in the forest would naturally dispose of these carcasses, which were preserved by the low temperature, very quickly.

That would be an alternative animal feast.

Especially for those small carnivores.

Sometimes, the old Hunters would use this method in the winter forest to set traps to hunt foxes and wild weasels with valuable fur, or some small, fierce animals like mountain leopards or wildcats that couldn't find food.

It's just that after joining the Hunter team of Knight Lanisha, there was no time to do this in winter. Of course, the reward income from the Knight for killing Northland wolves was not small at all. Especially since the Knight paid in cash, it saved the old Hunters from being ripped off by Merchants who deliberately drove down prices.

After the wild boar carcass had its head, which accounted for a third of its weight, removed, and then the thick fur and intestines and viscera were removed, the result was that there wasn't much left, which greatly disappointed Jier.

Even so, the old Hunter comforted him, saying that once the bones were removed from the remaining meat, there would be even less.

However, the good news was that the wild boar bones could be used to make soup, and that was edible too.

Cutting off a hind leg of the wild boar, the old Hunters melted snow into water on the spot and poured it into cup-shaped snow. Soon, because of the low temperature around them, this ice water, which hadn't taken long to melt, quickly froze into solid ice blocks again.

The old Hunters used this ice board to place the wild boar hind leg on it and cut it into slices with a Dagger.

Because the amount of wild boar meat was much less than Jier had expected, he had made an extra wooden pole, which was now utilized by the old Hunters; they split it and quickly shaved it into thin wooden strips, skewered the slices of hind leg meat, rubbed them with crushed Coarse Salt, and handed them to Jier to roast.

Having not eaten meat properly for several days, Jier was overjoyed and quickly called over the young Hunters who were bickering and at a stalemate, using the barbecue to melt the barriers between them.

To be honest, the lack of seasonings made the roasted meat lose much of its potential to become a delicacy, and Jier could only sigh helplessly at this. It wasn't that there were no seasonings in the town, but unfortunately, the seasonings commonly used by the common people were mostly simple ones grown in their own yards, which were fresh things and difficult to carry when going out.

And many dried and finely crushed food seasonings were not very practical because they were rumored to have medicinal uses, so their prices were not low. Some dried seasonings that were not expensive were mostly not produced locally.

Considering the difficulties and risks of trade by merchant caravans in the local Kingdom, very few merchant caravans transported cheap dried food seasonings.

This made Jier feel quite a pity.

It was still because Kendall County was too remote.

Chewing the salty roasted meat, Jier's desire to leave this place and go on adventures in wider lands grew stronger and unstoppable.

That night, after they finished eating, they immediately left the place where they had been staying. They walked for half the night and chose another safe place to rest.

They were not very far from the Yanshi Shan Judian at this time, and could return in just a day or two. Plus, having hunted a wild boar, although there wasn't much edible part, it was enough for everyone on this trip to eat for about four days. If paired with other food, they could stay here even longer.

A day later, they could see the Rock Mountain, which stood abruptly from the forest, through the snow mist blown by the north wind.

Interestingly, everyone could see a white dot shining in the gloomy weather at the highest point of the Rock Mountain. Jier was also a bit confused; he didn't expect that he had only charged the Hunting Sword for convenience, but it caused the white light it emitted to be visible from such a long distance.

It was still daytime, and although the sky was very gloomy, there was still basic illumination. The white dot on the mountaintop flickered, looking like a lighthouse or a beacon.

"Jier, you said that's your Hunting Sword? Are you mistaken? It can be seen from this far away." The young Hunters accompanying him were all surprised by this. They had previously witnessed how powerful that weapon was, but they didn't expect it to have this kind of ability.

Jier scratched his hair, saying he didn't know, thinking to himself that after returning, he must quickly put it away or find something to cover it. It was fine that there were only them in the forest now, but if there were other intelligent beings, such as some clever Monsters, wouldn't that be telling them that there was an anomaly in this place and to come over and take a look?

After walking for another half day, everyone was worried about the safety of the old Hunter who had been left alone at the Jiedian, so they quickened their pace. Jier and a strong Hunter carried the carcass of the strange Northland wolf together, one in front and one behind, carrying it on a long wooden pole.

Upon arriving at the foot of the Rock Mountain, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief after seeing the many neatly arranged Metal Clamps set at the entrance of the Rock Passage.

Since the outermost Metal Clamps had not been disturbed, it meant that nothing had broken through here.

Carefully moving the Metal Clamps that were blocking the way, the group passed through. Then, they climbed over the carriage body that was obstructing the path, and finally, breathing a sigh of relief, they began to walk up along the inclined Rock Passage.

After walking for a while, they passed through the Rock Passage covered in weapon slash marks and arrived near the middle section of this passage, where a simple Wooden Wall blocked their way.

"Old Shop Assistant, open the door! Look at the delicious food we've brought you!" The three old Hunters laughed heartily, standing at the wooden gate and proudly patting the large half-side of wild boar meat carried on wooden poles by the young Hunters.

A rustling sound came from behind the wooden gate, and then an old Hunter's voice emerged. While opening the bolt of the wooden gate, he nervously said to the group outside: "Keep it down, stop laughing, keep your voices low."

The group looked at each other: "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

After opening the door, the old Hunter left on guard cupped his hand over his brow and looked into the sky behind the group. After finding nothing, he whispered an explanation: "Everything was normal after you left, but yesterday something flew across the sky."

The group walked into the Jiedian one by one without speaking, listening to the old Hunter there: "I thought it was some large birds flying across the sky at the time, so I didn't take it to heart. As it turned out, that thing kept flying around our Jiedian, and I could hear the sound of its wings flapping clearly even inside the Tent."

"Later, the sound clearly got closer and closer, and the three horses also began to neigh uneasily. I anxiously went out to see if it was some Monster from outside the border flying over."

Someone asked: "What did you see?"

The old Hunter left on guard imitated the appearance of the horses, then continued to wave his arms, imitating the flight of a bird: "It was a Monster with four claws, a huge one, twice as big as a horse, and its wings were simply the largest thing I have ever seen. Not to mention that thing flying in the sky. When it let out a cry, the sound was louder than the largest eagle in the mountains. I had a hard time calming down your horses. But as long as the horses neighed, once heard by the thing flying in the sky, it would follow with a cry!"

Everyone was a bit nervous, but Jier stroked his chin and muttered: "Doesn't that sound like a Gryphon?"

As soon as Jier said this, the young Hunters all suddenly realized: "Yes, yes, yes, four claws, a pair of large wings, larger than a horse, this is a Gryphon!"

"Isn't the most powerful team in the Militia organized by Knight Kela the one with the Gryphon emblem?"

"It is a Gryphon, I curiously watched the Militia training, the animal embroidered on the flag is exactly as you described!"

The few old Hunters who had never seen a Gryphon pattern had rarely heard legends about Gryphons, which was also related to the fact that wild Gryphons were quite rare; the vast majority of Gryphons had already been artificially raised by powerful organizations. Having lived their whole lives in the remote Kendall County, they rarely knew news about Gryphons.

"Gryphon?" The four old Hunters looked at each other.

The young people explained it to them, and the old Hunters then learned that the Imperial Border Knights at the northern border did indeed raise some Gryphons, using them for rapid flight.

"So, that was a Gryphon of the Imperial Knight Order? I wonder if there were any Knight lords riding on it."

"There must have been, I just don't know why the other party didn't come down to take a look, so I could have hosted the lords at the time. It's so windy here, flying at such a high place, it must be very cold in winter." The old Hunter left on guard said at last.

Regarding the fact that the higher it is, the windier and colder it gets, everyone felt, is that something a person can endure? Although the leader was Knight Lanisha, it was not that everyone had not seen the Knights' ability to resist low temperatures, but even so, Knight Lanisha wore thick cold-proof clothing inside her armor on this trip to the northern Forest, and also covered her armor with a fur Cloak for warmth.

Moreover, before on the top of the Rock Mountain, everyone could not stand the strong wind and cold of that place, let alone riding on the back of a flying Gryphon; with that strong wind blowing, it must be three to five times colder.

As the group talked, they all entered the Jiedian. Closing the gate, the young people couldn't wait to light a fire, then warmed themselves and crawled into the warm Tents.

Jier tossed his Backpack onto his bedding, and after removing his armor, he wrapped himself in a wolf-fur Cloak and walked along the Rock Passage toward the mountaintop.

The old Hunters gathered around the fire, talking about the strange Northland Wolf they encountered this time, pointing at the corpse of the Northland Wolf and gesturing while saying something.

Jier arrived at the mountaintop and found that his Hunting Sword was indeed emitting a steady light, flashing on and off.

Because the Long Sword was inserted upside down, the long glowing blade looked like a white light tube. The invisible cold wind was howling all around; Jier wrapped himself tighter, trotted to the side of the Long Sword, and grabbed it. After he approached, the intermittent flashing became a continuous Hunting.

"So it can charge for you even on a cloudy day like this, it seems as long as it's daytime it works. I wonder if it must be a place where the sky can be seen." Speaking softly, Jier tried to break the ice fixing the hilt.

But he found that the ice and snow he had casually used to fix it at the time were now firmly frozen together with the stone surface of the mountaintop.

Pulling out his Dagger and striking a few times, the moment Jier's fingers touched the hilt, a green light burst out from inside the hilt, shattering the hard ice and snow wrapping the hilt into thumb-sized fragments.

Jier was stunned for a moment, then chuckled and grabbed the hilt.

A steady stream of unfamiliar power surged from the hilt he was holding, and Jier was quite happy.

With the ups and downs of his mood, the white light of the Long Sword blade no longer radiated but shrouded the surface of the blade, while the hilt emitted a green light that seemed to shine through all things yet nourish life.

A silver-white metal ball at the end of the Long Sword was not to be outdone, emitting a silver-white light no less than that of the blade.

Although the mountaintop platform was very cold, Jier closed his eyes and tried to communicate with his weapon.

In an instant, the white light of the blade, the green light of the hilt, and the silver-white moonlight of the sword tail all retracted and disappeared.

Hiss, hiss, hiss, clang.

Jier sheathed the Long Sword.

Then he hunched his body and trotted toward the Jiedian, because it was windy here and really too cold; he couldn't even keep up the act of looking cool.