The earth began to shake once more, and this time the magnitude was so great that even the glass windows of the Church rattled along with it.
“Ha, what’s going on?”
Celia had just sat upright from her lounge chair, and before she could figure out what was happening, a scorching wave of air rushed toward her face.
“Cluck, cluck, cluck!!!”
A high-pitched crowing rang out, followed immediately by a commotion coming from the direction of the Village entrance.
“Run, there’s a Magical Beast!”
“Help, it’s a giant chicken!”
Accompanied by the villagers’ cries of alarm, Celia finally saw what the Magical Beast they were talking about was—a gargantuan king of chickens.
Its comb was covered in crimson scales, its eyes flashed with a tyrannical golden light, and its body was wreathed in flames.
With every step the king of chickens took, it left a burning pit in the ground, and the surrounding trees turned into charcoal as it passed by.
“That’s a Crimson Giant Chicken!” As an Adventurer and Hero Candidate, Elent recognized the Magical Creature before him.
It was a Rank C+ Magical Beast according to the Adventurers’ Association, the Crimson Giant Chicken.
“Is this thing attracted by the smell of fried chicken?” Celia watched the drooling giant beast, her mouth twitching incessantly.
This was too ridiculous. She had just eaten a meal of fried chicken, and now a gargantuan chicken king had come knocking on her door?
What was this? You eat the small ones, and the old one comes for you?
“Roar!”
However, the chicken king clearly had no patience to wait for dinner. It opened its mouth, and a Fireball began to gradually take shape inside.
“Dangerous!”
Ariel, the Hunter who was evacuating the crowd at the village entrance, saw his expression change.
If a Fireball of this level were to land, half of the Village would likely be turned into an oven.
At the very moment the Fireball was about to be unleashed, a figure blocked the path between the monster and the Church.
Elent held his Broad Sword, his feet planted wide, standing steadily in front of the Magical Beast.
Facing this Rank C+ Magical Beast that emitted a terrifyingly high temperature, the Hero Candidate’s face showed no trace of fear.
Instead, his brow was furrowed, revealing a serious expression one might wear when facing a thorny problem.
In Elent’s vision, there was no Magical Beast ahead of him; there was only a large piece of ingredient that was randomly spitting fire and was already a bit charred.
“The fire is too big.”
Elent muttered to himself, his tone carrying the heartache of seeing an ingredient being ruined.
“If it keeps roasting like this, the skin will be charred and bitter, while the meat inside will still be raw.”
As a Hero who had just grasped the profound mysteries of the “Sword of Food,” he would never allow such a thing to happen.
At the same time, the chicken king moved. The Fireball shot out, whistling toward him with an incredibly scorching aura.
But Elent did not dodge; instead, he rushed forward and destroyed the elemental structure of the Fireball.
The originally menacing Fireball was like a popped balloon, collapsing in mid-air into a shower of sparks that extinguished before they even hit the ground.
The chicken king was stunned. It seemed unable to understand why its attack had been swatted away so easily.
However, Elent gave it no time to think.
“Next is plucking.”
The youth pushed off the ground, rushing toward the giant beast like a cannonball.
The chicken king was enraged. It unfurled its flame-wreathed wings, and countless red feathers as sharp as steel needles stood on end, preparing to launch a feather barrage at the tiny human before it.
However, Elent was faster. He rushed beneath the chicken king’s feet, weaving through its sharp claws, and every swing of the Broad Sword in his hand struck the giant beast’s feathers.
Through Microscopic Perception, Elent saw the chicken king’s weakness.
“Right there!”
Following Elent’s movements, the flaming feathers on the chicken king’s body began to fall off in large patches.
In just a few breaths, it had turned into a semi-bald broiler.
Deprived of its feathered protection, the pink chicken skin was exposed to the air, glistening in the sunlight.
“Hmm, this looks much more pleasing to the eye.”
Elent nodded with satisfaction, then his gaze landed on the chicken king’s thick thighs.
“The meat in this part is the firmest. If it isn’t handled well, it will easily get stuck in one’s teeth. The tendons must be severed while it is still alive.”
As a hegemon of the Black Forest, the chicken king had seen greedy Adventurers, fanatical hunters, and terrified deserters.
But it had never seen this kind of gaze before.
It was the gaze of a butcher looking at a piece of meat.
the tiny human’s eyes roamed over its body, as if he had already disassembled it and plated it in his mind.
This chill of being locked on by appetite actually made the Crimson Giant Chicken feel a sense of danger!
Run! It had to run! If it didn’t run now, it was going to become fried chicken!
The giant beast wanted to burrow back into the forest, but its massive body had now become a burden.
Before it could even take a step, the Broad Sword in Elent’s hand cut into the gaps of its joints.
He didn’t touch a single bone the entire time; the blade disassembled the Magical Beast’s body like a fish entering water.
Celia stood at the door of the Church, staring blankly at this scene.
The Hero was rubbing a Rank C+ Magical Beast into the ground?
Was there some kind of mistake? Is this guy really this powerful?
“Is this the Life-style Swordsmanship?” Celia swallowed hard. Should she say the nonsense she made up was powerful, or that the Hero’s comprehension was too high?
On the battlefield, Elent had already jumped onto the chicken king’s back.
“Final step, sectioning.”
The Broad Sword fell, and the Crimson Giant Chicken let out a shrill scream. Then, its massive body collapsed to the ground like a set of falling blocks.
Two giant chicken legs, two chicken breasts, two complete pairs of wings, and a perfectly cleaned skeleton all fell onto the empty ground.
The blood was sealed within the blood vessels by Sword Qi, with not a single drop splashing out, ensuring the maximum freshness of the ingredients.
“…”
The Hunter Ariel, who was rushing over, dropped his bow on the ground.
Lynn, who was hiding in a house, peered through a crack in the window and covered her mouth in fear.
Celia looked at the mountain of meat in front of her, which was taller than a house, and felt her worldview being restructured.
Elent jumped down from the meat mountain, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and pointed at the pile of loot while speaking to Celia.
“Priestess, it’s been handled!”
“This chicken’s meat quality is quite good. It exercised frequently, so the fat is evenly distributed.”
“And because it’s a fire-attribute Magical Beast, it comes with its own high temperature, saving us the parboiling step.”
Elent analyzed seriously, then scratched his head with some distress.
“It’s just too big; our pot probably won’t fit it. Should we cut it into small pieces, make half into fried chicken, and the other half into air-dried chicken jerky?”
Celia looked at the sweat-drenched youth before her.
If one ignored the horrifying mountain of meat in the background, this was practically a picture of hot-blooded passion.
“Hero.”
Celia took a deep breath, trying hard to make her voice sound less shaky.
“Present!”
“Next time, remember to bleed it. Otherwise, the gamey smell will be too strong.”
“Ah, I forgot!” Elent slapped his forehead, feeling quite vexed. “I was only thinking about keeping it fresh. The Priestess is indeed more thoughtful!”
“…”
Celia turned around, not wanting to look at this monster who treated a Magical Beast like a chicken to be slaughtered.
She was afraid that if she kept looking, she wouldn’t be able to help but吐槽, destroying her hard-earned image of a high-status person.
However.
Celia’s gaze swept over the mountain of meat.
Beside the chicken’s head, an inconspicuous Black Metal Tag was half-buried in the dirt.
What is this?
Celia walked over and bent down to pick up the metal tag.
A strange pattern was engraved on the tag: a Black Sun entwined by chains, and below it was a line of numbers: 009.
Celia narrowed her eyes, her fingers rubbing the number on the metal tag.
009? What does this mean? Was this gargantuan chicken king being raised in captivity, labeled as Number 009?
“Priestess, is that tag edible?” Elent leaned over, asking curiously.
“Eat, eat, eat, all you know is eating.”
Celia put the tag away crossly.
“An extra dish tonight. I want to eat the extra-large chicken leg; the rest can be distributed to the villagers.”
“No problem! Oh, and Priestess, that chicken comb looks good too, very chewy. Should I save it?”
“Suit yourself.”
As for what the metal tag and the numbers on it meant, Celia didn’t plan to dwell on it.
After all, there was nothing that a meal of golden crispy chicken couldn’t solve.
If there was, then two meals.