34 Uncleared Land
Leo didn’t want Julia to know about his fourth talent, ‘Call of Undead’ when they were at the top of the mountain.
So, he asked the Earth griffin to take her with it to the mountain base. In return, he would help it with one thing.
Griffin no longer had any injuries on its body and looked powerful as it exuded the aura of a peak rank 5 beast that would become a rank 6 beast anytime.
It was all because of the blue beast core that Leo gave to the Griffin before leaving the mountain top. It was the rank 6 beast core that Leo retrieved from the Sapphire-eyed serpent in Serpent caverns.
“So, what do you want?”
Seeing that Griffin was trying to get his attention, he guessed it was eager to use the favour he owes it. So, Leo asked what it wanted.
‘Screech’
However, Griffin could not speak the human speech, and it could only screech, trying to say something.
Mutated beasts were different from the monsters who could naturally learn human speech as long as they had some intelligence and strength.
Whereas, in the case of mutated beasts, they could not speak human speech unless they became advanced beasts from rank 7 to rank 9.
Since the Griffin was only a rank 5 spirit beast, it could only try its best to show what it wanted through its actions.
“You want me to follow you?”
Nevertheless, Leo had spent years in the wilderness and learned a lot of things. So, it didn’t take much time to understand what Griffin was trying to say.
‘Nod’-.
As it heard Leo’s words, Griffin hurriedly nodded its head.
“Brother Leo, can you understand what it was saying?”
On the other hand, Julia asked Leo with a confused look.
“Of course.”
Leo revealed a slight smile as he said, “You ride it. I will use my Teleportation talent.”
“Okay.”
Initially, Julia was scared to go near the Earth Griffin; however, her fear vanished after spending some time with it.
‘Screech’
Griffin didn’t mind letting Julia ride on its back as it flew into the sky after releasing a loud screech.
‘I forgot to ask about the gains from the mission.’
Once she started flying, Julia suddenly remembered the true objective behind their mission to earn some money.
Even if they were not going to submit the mission, they could earn enough money from selling the valuable parts of the mountain fiends and the mountain fiend king.
‘Let’s ask it after resolving Griffin’s problem.’
She decided to ask Leo about it later.
‘Swoosh’
Soon, Griffin flew into the distance, and behind them, Leo was teleporting, covering more than a couple of kilometers in single teleportation.
‘Huh? Isn’t this a little too far away from the city?’
After traveling for an hour, Leo frowned because he felt something was wrong.
‘Why will a rank 5 enter into this uncleared land?’
After the appearance of the cities, the beast hunting squads of each city would start clearing the mutated beasts and the monsters living near the city. It was called Clear land.
Even though there might be monsters and mutated beasts in this cleared land, their strength would be limited to rank 6.
As long as a rank 7 or above mutated beast or the monsters enter this clear land, the city leader would be dispatching powerful heroes to take care of them.
So, almost all advanced monsters and mutated beasts would not enter the cleared land unless they wanted to invade the city.
The uncleared land could be considered a territory of the advanced monsters and the mutated beasts where you could find them occasionally.
Entering the uncleared lands was not only dangerous for humans, but it was also dangerous for the mutated beasts and the monsters from novice and elite classes.
Because in the world of monsters and beasts, only the strongest survive, and as for the weak, they would become the food for the strong.
So, when he sensed that Griffin was taking them into an uncleared land, Leo raised his guard and was ready to kill Griffin the moment it tried something fishy.
‘It’s my first time not encountering a single advanced class monster or mutated beast in the uncleared land even after five minutes.’
Leo was a little bit surprised as he quietly followed behind Griffin.
‘Swoosh’
Soon, Griffin looked at Leo before entering a cave on a rocky cliff.
‘It even created its den in the Uncleared land.’
Looking at the den in the middle section of the rocky cliff, Leo raised his brows.
‘Let’s see what this Griffin wants from me.’
‘Swoosh’
With a thought, Leo disappeared from his place and appeared in front of the cave.
“Brother Leo, why do I feel like I entered a different world?”
Seeing that Leo had arrived, Julia walked to him and asked about her feelings.
For her, it was the first time entering the Uncleared land that was completely different from the cleared land where most of the heroes complete the missions from the mission hall.
So, she felt like she entered a different world, or rather, it could be better to say that both Uncleared land and the Cleared land were two different worlds.
“It’s your first time coming this far from the city, right? So, you will feel like that. That feeling will go away soon.”
Leo didn’t mention the Uncleared land, in case Julia might become anxious if she learns that the weakest monster or beast here would have a strength of rank 7.
“It is true I didn’t come this far from the city; however…”
‘Kech kech’
‘Kech kech’
Before finishing her words, two little griffins rushed out of the cave and stood in front of the Earth griffin before letting out angry sounds at Julia and Leo.
“How cute!”
Seeing two little griffins less than 20 centimeters in height with cute little wings on their back, Julia let out an excited cheer before rushing to touch them.
“Don’t. Griffins will not like it if you touch their babies.”
However, Leo stopped her from touching them.
“Huh? Really?”
Julia held back her excited self and looked at the Earth griffin.
‘Screech’
Griffin nodded its head at Julia before gently pushing the gryphlings into the cave and using Leo and Julia to follow it.
“Let’s go.”
Soon, they entered the cave, which was much bigger than they thought and had enough sunlight to see everything clearly inside the cave.
“Huh? A rank 7 Earth griffin?”
Leo raised his brows to see a huge Earth griffin lying in the center of the cave.
‘What? A rank 7?’
Julia was surprised as she looked at the unconscious earth griffin on the ground.
The rank 7 Griffin was fully covered in injuries and looked much worse than the rank 5 Griffin when they first found it in the tree hole.
‘Screech’
As Leo and Julia looked at the huge Griffin, the rank 5 griffin walked towards the other side and pointed at something with its two wings.
‘Is there something?’
Leo walked to the other side, and he froze in his steps, ‘Why does this beast have this?’
*****
50 Power Stones:- One Bonus Chapter.
100 Power Stones:- Three Bonus Chapters.