Chapter 22 - Great Service!
The moon and the sun changed places. It was about 1 p.m when Hao Xuan woke up.
He opened his eyes and took a few seconds to adjust his vision. He tried to get up and got hit with a sudden surge of pain from all over his body.
"Huh? What happened...?" he mumbled while looking around. The last thing he remembered was the snake's gigantic maw.
*Purrrrr*
There was a purring sound coming from his chest which surprised him. He looked down and saw a little white cub sleeping on his chest without a care in the world.
"You're okay?" he spoke up even more surprised. How was he alive? What happened to the snake? THE SNAKE!!?!
Hao Xuan suddenly jerked his head around and caught sight of the 50+ meter snake body. There was a thick reddish-silver liquid coming out of its belly but other than that it looked fine.
Hao Xuan slowly moved the cub off of his chest and put it down as he limped up. There was a sharp pain from his left arm and he remembered it had broken during the fight.
He got up and walked towards snake and poked it with a stick but it didn't move. He walked around to find its gigantic head and poked its eyes and nostrils but no reaction. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief and sit down once more to catch his breath.
Hao Xuan's clothes were ripped and even had burn marks from the snakes digestive tract. Luckily he was saved soon after he was swallowed otherwise it would've been a disaster.
He looked at the snake's body and remembered reading that high-level beast carcasses could be traded or sold for either points or any other currency. He made up his mind and tried putting the body into his ring and it barely fit.
"Well, all's well that ends well I guess. The quest is finished, although injured but I'm alive at least. Time to head back," he said out loud.
But just after taking a couple of steps he heard a rustling noise behind him. He turned around slowly, praying it wasn't another monster again and saw the little cub walking towards him with its little legs and eyes half closed.
"Meow" the cub spoke while looking at Hao Xuan with tears in its eyes. Seemed as if it could finally turn those little squeaks into meowing.
It took a few seconds to cover the distance of less than a meter and came up to Hao Xuan's leg and starting tugging on his already ripped clothes.
Hao Xuan smiled looking at it and picked it up in his hands. Soon as the cub got in his embrace, it closed its eyes and went back to sleep without a worry in the world.
"Oi oi, what's wrong with this one, how is it so trusting towards strangers? He isn't gonna survive long in the wild like this. Where is your mother little one?" Hao Xuan spoke, talking to himself and the cub. But the cub was already fast asleep.
Hao Xuan walked around the area for 30mins or so trying to look for its mother or any other tracks but couldn't find anything.
"I guess it's not too strange that I can't find your parents. If they were still alive you wouldn't have been wandering around at night," Hao Xuan said while slowly petting its head. It enjoyed the petting and a small smile appeared on its sleeping face.
"Looks like we're both alone huh? How about you stay with me till you can fend for yourself?" he spoke to the cub and got a cute little 'purr' in response, making him chuckle.
Hao Xuan then started walking back in the direction of the village which took him close to two hours.
He jumped in one of the many water streams in the valley and cleaned himself up. Then he took a new set of clothes from the ring and changed behind a tree. Using the remnants of the old clothes he made a makeshift cast for the broken arm and put the cub inside it where it snuggled in even deeper and made itself at home.
After finishing up Hao Xuan went to meet the village chief and told him that he had taken care of the hyena's and then left on his horse.
The return journey took twice as long and by the time Hao Xuan got back to the camp, it was already dark so he went straight to bed.
He woke up at around 10 the next morning and left the little cub sleeping beside his pillow and went to First's quarters to tell him everything that had happened.
"Hmm, that is really strange. Creatures that powerful are usually deeper into the forest. Show me the body," First said with a frown.
"Um, let's go to the main hall, I don't think it will fit here," Hao Xuan said looking at Firsts residence.
On the way over they saw Third and Sixth playing chess.
"Ninth brother! Where have you been the last couple of days? I was so bored," Sixth said while fake crying.
"I was out on a mission and just got back," Hao Xuan replied helplessly. This sixth brother of his was really weird.
"Are you going to the hall? I'll go too!" he said looking at Hao Xuan and First's backs.
"Oh no you don't, you owe me 20 points! I've all but won this one!" Third hollered and ran after Sixth who had followed after Hao Xuan.
The party of four went into the hall and saw their Fourth brother sitting in front of a screen.
Hao Xuan greeted him and got a smile and a nod in response.
"Here should be good enough right?" First asked looking at Hao Xuan curiously.
"Yes," Hao Xuan said and faced away from everyone and took out the body.
Complete silence. Soon as the body appeared all other sounds stopped. Third and Sixth who were quarreling a second before were now looking at the massive body with their mouths open.
First was also just standing there looking surprised. Even Fourth stood up from his chair and was staring at it without blinking.
"F-Flood dragon? And with an Elemental bloodline??!?!" Sixth spoke while stuttering.
"Ninth brother, are you a God? Is that it? You're a god aren't you?" Sixth spoke again looking at Hao Xuan as if looking at a freak of nature.
"Brother, did you kill it yourself?" First asked slowly turning towards Hao Xuan.
"Nope. I couldn't even leave a single mark on its skin. It swallowed me whole in one bite. Something else killed it," replied.
"Hmm, that makes more sense," Fourth said.
"But if something is strong enough to kill it without making a fuss then we need to report this to the higher-ups," Third said as he touched the carcass.
"Is it really that strong?" Hao Xuan asked, slightly puzzled.
"You don't know?? Brother, this is a baby Flood Dragon with an Ice elemental bloodline! And it's only a few months old, a year max maybe. Fully grown Flood dragons are thousands of kilometer long and are Heavenly beasts!" Sixth explained to Hao Xuan with an excited face.
"Ninth brother, did you really fight it alone?" Fourth asked looking at Hao Xuan curiously.
"Well, I wouldn't call it a fight. It chased me for a while and then swallowed me whole," Hao Xuan said with an awkward expression.
"But still, you stood your ground. That's more than what most others would've done," he said with an admiring gaze.
"Really? Haha, that's true I guess," Hao Xuan said while scratching his head. He didn't even know what it was, how could he be scared of it?
"Ninth brother, you have done a great service to the kingdom. You not only led the dragon away from the village but ended up getting it killed. I'll report this to the General myself," First said and walked out with hurried steps.
"Service? Brother, don't worry about it, just let me buy a good movement technique and I'll be happy," Hao Xuan screamed at First's back who didn't even turn around.