Chapter 81: Welcome to the Two Guests and the Two Breakfasts in the Tree Hole

That evening, the place where the parasitic monsters were drinking water and resting was struck by a Magic Arrow shot from afar.

With that Magic Arrow as the center, a huge, cold, and ruthless ice crystal flower bloomed at the water source.

From a distance, this thing looked extremely beautiful, as if the purest and most sincere emotions in the world had been fused into that flower, making it impossible for anyone who saw it once to ever forget it. But if one were to look at it up close, they would feel a chill all over, realizing that beneath this beauty lay an extremely terrifying and destructive cold wave.

The nearest parasitic wild boars were frozen directly into the ice layer by the standing water and mud on the ground. Their thick fur and fat layers could not withstand this extreme temperature capable of liquefying air, and they were frozen stiff inside the massive block of ice.

As for the parasitic wild boars slightly further away, they were frozen in place by the cold aura blown outward by the giant ice crystal flower. Their bodies and hooves were firmly frozen to the ground, struggling to endure the extremely low temperature around them, even though it was a summer night in early summer.

But as they continued to gasp, the cold air was sucked into their bodies, carrying away a large amount of heat. In the end, they were actually the first to die from the freezing of their lungs, which were part of their viscera.

With just one Magic Arrow, these hundred-plus parasitic wild boars that had been giving Bell a headache were frozen to death on the spot.

It looked incredibly easy, but in reality, the cost was not small.

At the very least, the Hunter who fired the shot knew that in order to have the Priest refine this Cold Ice Arrow for him, he had spent a long time in the northern kingdoms finding a batch of glacier marrow cores, a few rare ever-frozen flowers from the northern wilderness, and a costly Magic Scroll of freezing magic.

Gathering these items took this Hunter at least a year, and yet the resulting Cold Ice Arrow was not used to hunt a powerful prey, but a group of dirty parasitic wild boars wallowing in the mud.

What a pity.

Originally, this Magic Arrow should have been able to inflict significant damage on the body of the Evil God, and with this achievement, his name would surely have been permanently recorded in the epic poems praising this Great Hunt.

He could also proudly tell his family: "The Magic Arrow I spent over a year obtaining dealt a major blow to that Evil God; I heard the wailing of a god!"

But all of this, along with the giant ice crystal flower blooming on the ground ahead, became a permanent fantasy of his.

He had a few other powerful arrows, but one could guess with their heels that these special arrows effective against ordinary monsters would likely struggle to cause any damage to a powerful Evil God.

When it comes to the matter of crusade against gods, the Priests and Church Hunters of the Hunting God Church certainly have a lot of say.

"Sigh, my mission is complete, I will retreat to Banbo Wood Village now. It seems for this hunt, I can only hunt some ordinary monsters with blooming heads as the result of my hunting."

The Church Hunter who had just fired the Cold Ice Arrow from afar stood up at this moment and said regretfully to his two companions beside him.

His words were filled with regret and complaints, but the Priest's orders to the Hunter must be obeyed; this absolute obedience between superior and subordinate is the primary prerequisite for hunting operations to be carried out.

In the countless years of various hunting operations by the Hunting God Church, the Church has discovered that the more powerful the prey, the more the hunting party needs to possess stronger execution; the intensity of this execution often determines the success or failure of various hunting operations.

Many outsiders, when looking at the Great Hunt operations of the Hunting God Church, often attribute their success or failure to the strength of their Hunters, the insight and command of the Priests, or even the various hunting weapons in their hands.

But within the Hunting God Church itself, they judge that while these aforementioned aspects have a certain influence on the success or failure of a hunt, they are not essential.

What truly determines the success or failure of a hunt is the degree of organization and control in their internal command and execution.

Hunting teams with weak organization and execution, even if they carry the Sacred Artifacts or Divine Artifacts bestowed by gods, will often mess up a high-profile Great Hunt operation. Conversely, hunting squads with strong organization and execution, even if they are all newcomers or unknown Hunters, can create vivid examples of winning against the strong with the weak at a high level.

Therefore, for a long time, in major hunting operations, the subordinate Hunters must resolutely execute the various orders issued by the Priests. This includes meticulous scouting, long-distance movement, challenging strong enemies, and using the precious Magic Arrows that the Hunters have worked so hard to obtain, and so on.

"Say less, at least the Lord will not forget your contribution this time; he will find a way to compensate you with another Magic Arrow no less than this Cold Ice Arrow later."

The two Hunters about to set off said casually.

The complaining Hunter thought about it, and it was true; although he would miss out on the big operation to hunt the Evil God this time, the thought of getting a more powerful Magic Arrow in the future made him wonder: after getting the new Magic Arrow, should he challenge some well-known powerful Magic Beasts alone?

Hunting Magic Beasts is a business that is always profitable; not only can one gain a momentary reputation and become a well-known Hunter, but after dismantling the materials of the Magic Beast itself, most can be used to make more Magic Arrows with the beast's traits, and selling the Magic Beast's body tissues can also bring in a large amount of money from Nobles everywhere.

Of course, the Hunting God Church advocates a simple life; the Hunters often do not use the wealth they obtain for enjoyment, but rather to craft equipment, train newcomers, turn it over to the Church, or improve the facilities of the Cunzi, and so on.

"We are setting off now, I hope that guy the Lords call Little Crow will honestly hand over the dependency of the ancient god," said one of the young Hunters setting off.

The other added: "Unlikely, don't forget how our two companions died before? They died under the Demon Flame of their own powerful Magic Arrow, while that young Knight, our Little Crow, was completely fine."

"I don't think we Hunters can't even shoot an arrow straight; there is something strange about that guy, we must be careful not to capsize."

"I wish you a happy hunt."

The Hunter who complained at the beginning touched his forehead and right eye with his hand, making a gesture of blessing.

"Happy hunting."

The two blessed Hunters returned the gesture and began to run easily, moving through the mountain forest at a speed faster than a normal person running at full strength.

By the time the two circled far around Momona Village, which was occupied by a large number of parasitic monsters, and arrived at the mountain forest on the southeast side of the Cunzi, it was almost dawn of the next day.

After resting for a while at the agreed-upon meeting point, in the moments before dawn, the subordinate Hunter responsible for scouting here finally arrived.

"Two seniors, you've worked hard to rush over from Banbo Wood Village overnight."

The speaker was a young Hunter who flashed into the spacious tree hole of a large tree. This person moved nimbly and was carrying a few sections of water-storing vines common in the mountain forest. There were also some Mushrooms and fresh flowers he had picked temporarily in his pocket.

There was still some precipitation in the mountain forest; although not much, it was enough for the large and small plants and fungi in the forest to propagate and grow.

"I have some fresh Mushrooms here, as well as edible flowers. There are also some water-storing vines here, do you want to drink?"

The young Hunter handed the vines in his hand to the two sitting and resting. The two looked at each other, declined the vines, and instead took out leather water skins from under their Cloaks.

"Speaking of which, we have dealt with many of these parasitic monsters these days; you wouldn't happen to not know what the true form of those monsters is, would you?"

"Some vines that will burrow into the body, and their core, the plant core! I know." The young Hunter answered immediately, then picked up a water-storing vine, bit open an opening in his mouth, and sucked the clear juice inside the vine.

"But I don't care. These are not the monster vines pulled out of the bodies of those poor people, but fresh water-storing vines I pulled from a large tree by the creek. I picked them myself, so naturally, I drink them with peace of mind."

"Do you want to eat some Mushrooms? Flowers are okay too?" The young man kept recommending.

The two new Hunters shook their heads; they were not hungry. Among the blessing Divine Art the Priest had cast on them before they came, there was a Divine Art for enduring hunger.

In hunting operations, maintaining hunger to maintain a fierce desire for the hunt is a very effective hunting method.

Seeing that the two would not eat, the young man let them rest for a while longer. The team of the young Knight he had been watching had just fought a Great Earth Bear yesterday, and many people were busy dealing with the corpse of the Great Earth Bear last night, so he estimated they would get up and set off later today.

"How is that young Knight who obtained the last dependency of the ancient god?" asked one of the Hunters who had rushed over overnight.

"Oh, that young Knight..."

The young Hunter thought for a moment, looking troubled: "He is very strong. In order not to be discovered, I didn't dare to follow when he was only taking a small number of people to scout around, so I had to guard his large team."

"Your caution is correct. Who knows what abilities that ancient god would give that young Knight? Perhaps there are some ancient anti-scouting methods."

After the two finished speaking, they leaned against the inside of the tree hole and closed their eyes to rest.

Although their physical fitness had been greatly enhanced by the Priest's Divine Art before they came, moving dozens of kilometers in an unfamiliar mountain forest was still a very tiring thing. For such a distance, an ordinary person would need two days to complete it, and the fact that they completed it in the dark in more than half a night was already divine speed.

"Not eating? Then I'll eat it myself. I haven't eaten anything yet." The young Hunter unslung the bow and arrow behind him and placed it aside. This scene was noticed by the two, who looked at each other, somewhat surprised, but thought that after all, he was a young subordinate Hunter, and such unprofessional behavior was inevitable.

So they continued to rest.

The young man did not start a fire, but placed the fresh edible flowers from his bag on a wooden dinner plate, sprinkled some crushed salt grains, and stirred them a few times with a wooden spoon; that was considered a dish prepared.

"Want some? This is very delicious," the young man asked.

"No need," the two replied.

The Mushroom is much more complicated; first, clean the Mushroom in a Wooden Bowl using the juice squeezed from a water-storage vine, break off the stem under the cap, and then wipe the surface of the Mushroom clean.

Next, this young Hunter pulled a gorgeous Magic Dagger from under his Cloak, used this Dagger to chop the Mushroom into pieces, and sprinkled in salt grains and a little bit of spice powder. Then, as if performing a magic trick, he took out some finely ground wheat flour from the Cloak beneath him, mixed these Mushrooms together, added some juice from the water-storage vine, and stirred it into a sticky dough.

At this moment, a resting Hunter opened his eyes and watched the young Hunter busy at work; he asked, "Without using an open flame, how are you going to handle this dough? Don't tell me you intend to eat it raw, just like these flowers? The God of Hunting teaches us that prey should be heated before consumption to be filling and healthy."

The young Hunter smiled: "Of course not. Look at this in my hand; it will help me heat the dough without an open flame."

After speaking, the young Hunter took out a stone slab the size of a washbasin that had been placed in the corner of the tree hollow and spread some of the dough he was holding onto the stone slab.

Next, he held the gorgeous black-red Dagger, pressed his finger onto the Magic Power Gem in the middle of the Dagger, and without saying anything, he simply moved the blade of the Dagger close to the surface of the dough, relying on the high temperature faintly emanating from the Dagger to heat and even bake the dough on the stone slab.

"Your Dagger is quite a good item; it's very convenient for cooking," a resting Hunter spoke up in praise.

The young Hunter tested the temperature of the flatbread; this flatbread had Mushroom bits and a pinch of spice added inside, and it was truly fragrant after being cooked.

"Want to eat some? I still have plenty of dough here, enough to make four or five flatbreads."

The young Hunter invited them again, sniffing the aroma of the flatbread that filled the tree hollow; although they would not feel hungry because of the Priest's Divine Art, the body's instincts were still craving food.

"Alright, just give me one. There will be a battle in a while, so I can't eat too full before the fight."

The young Hunter immediately handed the piping hot Mushroom flatbread he had just made to the other person: "Careful, it's hot."

After the Hunter opposite took it with his hands, he immediately felt the scorching heat of the flatbread, so he tossed the flatbread back and forth between his hands and kept blowing on it with his mouth.

After the flatbread cooled down a bit, he opened his mouth and took a bite: "Hiss, hoo—"

As the flatbread entered his mouth, the taste of the Mushroom was a bit too savory, but the spice within masked this overly delicious taste of the Mushroom.

"Not bad, it tastes pretty good. It's a pity others don't have this good item of yours, unable to bake flatbreads or other cooked food without an open flame."

The young Hunter nodded: "I actually got this weapon from a Merchant Guild; later, a big shot there gave it to me as a reward. After going around in a circle, it ended up in my hands again."

"That means it should be yours, haha," the resting Hunter added.

"Try this, it's very delicious. It hasn't rained anywhere these days, so only in these mountains can one find such fresh edible flowers." The young Hunter pushed over a plate of mixed fresh flowers sprinkled with salt.

Since they had already eaten the flatbread made by the young junior, it wouldn't hurt to eat some vegetables, if a plate of fresh flowers could be considered fresh vegetables.

Using his fingers to pinch a few flowers and putting them into his mouth, the Hunter chewed a few times and suddenly said: "Mmm, it's actually quite delicious!"

The young Hunter smiled: "If it's delicious, eat more. And this one, come and try it too, the Mushroom flatbread I just made."

The Hunter next to him who had been resting all along could no longer resist; he nodded, took the freshly baked flatbread handed over by the young junior, and began to eat it along with the plate of edible flowers in front of him.

But after the young Hunter baked two more flatbreads, he did not eat them himself, but just watched the two of them eat.

This scene looked very strange to the two of them: "Aren't you hungry?"

The young Hunter smiled and waved his hand: "I am a bit hungry, after all, taking down that Earth Violent Bear yesterday was quite exhausting. But since it's something I made myself, whether it can be eaten or not, I know for myself."

These words sounded a bit strange; the two Church Hunters didn't react to them for a moment, only saying: "The food you made is quite delicious, it doesn't seem bad at all."

The smile on the young Hunter's face became even stranger; he even looked at the two with a gaze of pity, making them feel a chill all over.

At this moment, the two Church Hunters realized that the atmosphere seemed a bit wrong.

But for a moment, they couldn't say where the wrongness lay.

?? Welcome everyone to subscribe to this book, follow the updates, and add it to your collection. Please give this book recommendation votes, monthly tickets, and tips to support it. Thank you.