Chapter 0015: Platypus-like Beasts

Refusing Franks the knight's desire to accompany him, Oldington did not linger at the fortress and led the team into the vast and endless forest ahead.

This forest is officially named the Golden Forest Sea. If there were flying mythical beasts riding, one could see that the entire Golden Danube Plain is covered by this forest. Human settlements such as Little Versailles City, Red Leaf Town, and Iron Grey Castle were all carved out within the forest.

Humans are not unwilling to completely cultivate this forest into arable land, but endless mythical beasts inhabit it, making it extremely difficult for humans to hold their territories.

The Golden Forest Sea is too vast, and the small forest near the southern market of Red Leaf Town is locally known as the Ocelot Forest.

The name comes from the fact that this forest is home to a wild mythical beast—the Golden Eared Ocelot. Wild mythical beasts are those that live in the wild, with almost no natural enemies in the forest, and humans find it very difficult to capture them. Even if captured, the wildness of the mythical beasts is hard to tame.

"Straightening out mythical beasts, you've learned about it in your textbooks..." Marcuses rode beside Oldington and began to teach him.

"Captain Marcuses, you can call me Oldington," Oldington said.

"Yes, Oldington... The most important thing in the forest is to confirm the tracks of the mythical beasts. After each mythical beast walks, it leaves behind identifiable tracks. Knowing the distribution and types of these tracks allows you to identify the mythical beasts, which is more important than hunting them."

Marcuses taught while looking around, and soon dismounted, indicating for Oldington to follow: "Look at this tree bark; it's covered in a clump of fur. Can you tell what mythical beast left it?"

Oldington took the fur, shook his head: "I can't tell."

"Mythical beasts are divided by level into low-level, intermediate, high-level, top-level, mythical, dragon beasts, and even dragons. Different levels possess different levels of magic, just like a knight's martial arts, which also has different forms. Feel the residual magic of this clump of fur with your heart."

Oldington closed his eyes and felt the residual magic on the fur, which had a subtle aura. It was completely different from martial arts energy but seemed to have a similar quality.

"I feel it, Captain Marcuses; this magic is faint, like steam... But I can't determine which level it belongs to."

"Remember this feeling; this is the residual magic of an intermediate mythical beast, with an elemental nature of water. From the length and elasticity of the fur, it should be some kind of leopard-like mythical beast. Following this clue, see here, these are the prints of a leopard... Combined with this, it should be the tracks left by a mist leopard."

The mist leopard is exactly an intermediate mythical beast.

"So, we are preparing to hunt the mist leopard?" Oldington's heart began to race with excitement.

"Not, we are not hunting the mist leopard; it is too powerful for you at your level. We will continue to look for low-level mythical beasts to train your hunting skills."

This seemed a bit disrespectful to Oldington.

However, Oldington did not try to show off and insist on fighting an intermediate mythical beast. His soul was that of a thirty-year-old veteran, and he naturally understood the importance of safety first.

"It's a Slurp Duck, Oldington, let's engage in battle!" After a while, they arrived at a small river in the forest, and Marcuses finally found a suitable prey. "Slurp Ducks are very agile in the water but quite clumsy on land. But be careful of their beaks; they are very hard!"

Looking at the Slurp Duck basking in the sun not far away, Oldington gripped the hilt of his great sword and slowly approached.

This low-level mythical beast looked very similar to a platypus, but it was larger in size. Lying on the ground, it looked like a grey crocodile if not looked at closely.

"I'm going to cut it in two!" Oldington muttered a fierce word, and the low-level martial arts energy in his body began to circulate rapidly as he raised his sword and charged towards it.

Even though it was basking in the sun, the Slurp Duck remained alert and quickly woke up when Oldington approached within five meters. It retreated while barking at Oldington.

"Gaa!"

Oldington unleashed the "Thundering Sword," attacking first. He was well aware of the principle of striking first. The martial arts energy infused into the great sword was powerful, aiming straight for the Slurp Duck's head.

However, to his embarrassment, the Slurp Duck had no intention of fighting back. It twisted its body and ran towards the river.

Just at that moment, a figure suddenly appeared by the river, kicking out with a forceful kick, sending the Slurp Duck back in front of Oldington. The figure shouted, "Don't just stand there, Oldington, hunt it!"

Roused from the series of events, Oldington unleashed the "Thundering Sword" again, the long sword imbued with martial arts energy slicing and cutting at the Slurp Duck. Unable to return to the river, the Slurp Duck had to fight Oldington. Although it moved awkwardly, its movements were quite forceful.

Bang!

The tail collided with the long sword, and the tail hair, like steel nails, shook Oldington's hands. It was difficult to unleash the complete moves of the "Thundering Sword" against mythical beasts, which left Oldington a bit out of rhythm. However, the mythical beast he was facing was just a Slurp Duck.

After a few moves, Oldington had already figured out the Slurp Duck's attack patterns and began to systematically restore the moves of the "Thundering Sword."

The martial arts energy, with the great sword in his hands, continuously attacked the Slurp Duck, causing it to receive a series of sharp wounds.

Suddenly, the Slurp Duck opened its mouth and spat out a white flash of magic. Seeing the flash about to hit his face, Oldington raised his great sword to block the white light at the last moment.

Splash!

Water splashed everywhere.

It turned out to be a magical arrow made of water. The scattered water formed a splash, which slowly evaporated into magic and dissipated into the air.

The force of the water arrow knocked Oldington off balance.

But the next moment, he charged forward, aiming at the Slurp Duck, which was gasping for breath after releasing the magic, and infused the martial arts energy into the great sword with all his might, striking down with a powerful blow.

Clang!Splash!

After the water splashed, blood splashed as well. Oldington's sword directly cut through the Slurp Duck's skull, and the brain matter mixed with blood was sprayed out.

The Slurp Duck twitched its body and died in an instant.

"Phew!" Oldington set the great sword on the ground and turned to look at Marcuses.

Marcuses said nothing but directly commented, "Oldington, your hunting skills need much more refinement. This was just a low-level mythical beast, and it was still a Slurp Duck, a mythical beast that is stronger in water combat than on land. What I saw was confusion and disarray, almost all brute force in combat, without any skill."

"I'm sorry, Captain Marcuses," Oldington humbly accepted the criticism. He himself also realized that his performance against the Slurp Duck was somewhat out of character.

Ultimately, it was because he had too many concerns and lacked the spirit of a young, fearless warrior, so his combat was chaotic.

He probably only used about three tenths of the "Thundering Sword" technique.

"You need more practice; your physical condition and the "Thundering Sword" must perform better in actual combat. Rest for a while, and we'll continue!" Marcuses said.

Immediately, someone from the accompanying hunting team brought a water bag and a cushion, allowing Oldington to sit down and rest.

"No, I'm fine resting on the horse," Oldington said modestly, not wanting to be so pampered. After all, he had only killed a Slurp Duck, and there was no need to rest for half an hour on the spot.