Demon Hunter: I have a red gourd

Chapter 33 The snipe and the clam fight
The crushed allspice root gives it a sharp, spicy aroma; the basil berries are peeled, giving them a slightly bitter smell; and the honeysuckle leaves are torn into small pieces, making them easier to melt in the hot oil and bringing out their full potential.

Ivan put the herbs into the melted oil one by one. A green luster gradually appeared in the copper pot. The heat of the flame made the essence of the herbs completely blend into it, forming a viscous liquid with a special smell.

He casually picked up a branch and slowly stirred it in the pot, ensuring that the oil and herbs were fully integrated. While stirring, he whispered to himself:
"Even though it's just ordinary dragon oil, it's better than nothing. It's my first time fighting a creature with the word 'dragon' in its name, so I have to be fully prepared."

Demon Hunter's sword oil is divided into three grades: ordinary, enhanced, and advanced.

Ordinary grade sword oil can be easily made by using herbs grown in the fields and adding some animal fats.

The production process is straightforward and doesn't require any complex tools or techniques. All it takes is a small copper pot, adding the herbs in a specific order, heating them, and stirring them evenly, and a serving of sword oil is ready. As his mentors say, "It's even simpler than cooking."

As for strengthening and high-grade sword oil, some special alchemical materials are needed, and these materials often require herbs and monster materials to undergo complex secondary processing to obtain.

Although these sword oils can cause much more damage to monsters than ordinary quality sword oils, due to the characteristics of sword oils - they will disappear after being applied to the silver sword and chopped a few times, and their shelf life is extremely short, they will often completely deteriorate within a few days of production and cannot be stored for a long time.

Taking into account the comprehensive production cost and simplicity, the actual usage of high-grade sword oil is actually worse than that of ordinary quality.

Unless demon hunters have to face extremely powerful monsters, they generally do not specifically refine it.

After the flames went out, Ivan evenly applied the boiled sword oil on the silver sword. After the oil dried completely, he carefully put the silver sword back into the scabbard behind him.

After putting the copper pot back into the leather bag on the horse's back, a low roar of a wild beast was heard in the distance, followed by a huge sound of wind, as if a huge monster suddenly landed on the ground.

Ivan's heart trembled. He knew that the scissor-tailed dragon might have returned.

As smoke rose, Ivan's figure quickly transformed into the Wolf Assassin. He crouched low, using his hands and feet to nimbly climb a towering tree and quickly leaped towards the source of the sound.

With the Wolf Assassin's lithe body, Ivan darted through the treetops, clinging to the branches and dense leaves around him, making almost no sound. With each leap, his body naturally chose its landing point, as if blending into the forest.

As the distance closed, Ivan's heartbeat began to accelerate. After passing through a dense forest, he finally saw the huge figure of the monster in the middle of an open forest.

At this time, moonlight poured down from the gaps in the treetops, and the silver light shone on the monster, outlining its huge and shocking outline.

Ivan stood on the branch, holding the trunk with one hand, and felt a slight shock in his heart. The appearance of this scissor-tailed dragon was very similar to the picture he had seen in "The Demon Hunter's Notes", and the details were even more vivid.

This was the first time in his two lifetimes that he had seen a living creature that was related to a dragon, and it was now right before his eyes.

【Scissortail Dragon↓】

Its body was streamlined, its limbs strong and sturdy, and its long, sharp claws dug into the mud. Tan scales covered its entire body, and its head was large, with a sharp black horn on it. This seemed to be the reason why the lord's youngest daughter named it "Big Horn".

However, despite its dragon-like appearance, it quickly became apparent that the Scissortail Dragon was in a very weak state. It lay on the ground, its limbs bent, its majestic wings drooping limply, almost sticking to the soil. Its mouth was slightly open, and it emitted heavy gasps.

"Is this Scissortail Dragon injured?"

Ivan scanned its body and quickly discovered numerous small wounds, blood slowly seeping from beneath its scales. There were two large scars on its neck and chest, where the scales covering it had been torn, blood gushing out continuously, and even broken bones could be seen.

The most shocking thing about it is its tail. The Scissortail Dragon got its name from its tail.

Although they are sometimes called fork-tailed dragons, their tails are not forked, but instead have many long, pointed protrusions at the end of the tail, making their tails as sharp as a butcher knife, able to easily split oak shields.

But now, the tail has been broken, revealing a scarlet fracture.

The scissor-tailed dragon looked so weak at this time that Ivan could easily end its life if he walked up to it and drew out his silver sword.

But Ivan wouldn't do that, because he's not a fool.

The wounds on this Scissortail Dragon showed no traces of swords or knives, clearly not caused by a demon hunter or other human. Based on the shape and depth of the wounds, it seemed more likely to have been inflicted by some large, predatory monster.

This situation was highly unusual. The Scissortail Dragon was at the top of the food chain, with few natural enemies. Monsters in the same ecological niche generally wouldn't challenge it easily.

Imagine a tiger will attack a black bear or a lion because of hunger? The answer is obviously no, because they have more easy to catch prey without getting hurt.

This situation was likely caused by the two monsters fighting for territory. From Philip's words, we learned that this area had long been the territory of the Scissortail Dragon.

This meant that a foreign monster was attempting to invade the Scissortail Dragon's territory. This also meant that the creature that had injured the Scissortail Dragon was likely lingering nearby, waiting to attack again.

What kind of monster could inflict such injuries on a flying Scissortail Dragon, even breaking its tail?
A real dragon?

Apart from this situation, Ivan really couldn't think of any other explanation.

The incarnation lasted for an end, and Ivan returned to his original appearance.

While his thoughts were in a mess, a violent sound of flapping wings suddenly came from the air, and the witcher badge on Ivan's chest began to vibrate violently.

He looked up suddenly and saw a huge monster flapping its huge wings and swooping down towards the Scissortail Dragon on the ground with thunderous momentum!

(End of this chapter)