Devourer's Legacy: I Regressed With The Primordial Crest
Chapter 67: The Poacher’s Camp (1)

Chapter 67: The Poacher’s Camp (1)

The Great Green Forest stretched endlessly in all directions, its thick canopy blocking out most of the sunlight even in the middle of the day. Ancient trees rose hundreds of feet into the air, their massive trunks wide enough that ten men holding hands couldn’t wrap around them.

It was one of the five forbidden regions of the Astralis continent, and for good reason. Thousands upon thousands of dangerous beasts called this forest home—creatures that could tear apart even skilled warriors without breaking a sweat.

But despite the danger, humans entered the Great Green Forest regularly.

Where there was danger, there was profit.

Beast cores sold for enough gold to feed a family for years. Monster materials could be crafted into weapons and armor that nobles would pay fortunes for. And captured beasts—if you could get them out alive—went for prices that could buy entire estates.

Currently, in a small clearing just a few miles from Taira Castle, a temporary camp had been set up. Dozens of rough-looking men moved around with purpose, packing supplies and securing cargo for transport.

A group of five men sat around a campfire, passing around bottles of cheap wine and celebrating their recent success. The mood was light and cheerful—a rare thing for men in such a dangerous profession.

"Hey Pike!" called out a burly man named Garrett, raising his bottle in a mock toast. "Remember when you wet yourself the first time you saw those golden eyes?"

Pike, a skinny man with a scraggly beard, nearly choked on his drink. "I did not wet myself! That was Rodriguez who pissed his pants!"

"Was not!" Rodriguez protested from across the fire, his face red from the wine. "I just... had to take a leak at a really bad time!"

The group erupted in laughter, and Garrett slapped his knee. "Sure, sure! Right when the mama snake came charging out, you just happened to need a bathroom break!"

"At least I didn’t scream like a little girl," Rodriguez shot back. "Who was it that yelled ’Mommy!’ when she did that shadow trick?"

"That was Jenkins!" three voices said at once, pointing to a nervous-looking young man who was clearly the newest member of the group.

Jenkins turned bright red. "I was calling for backup! I said ’Help me!’ not ’Mommy!’"

"Sounded like ’Mommy’ to me," said the fifth man, a grizzled veteran named Dutch. "Course, hard to tell with all that screaming you were doing."

Near the center of their camp sat a heavily reinforced cage, with dozens of essence restriction talisman on it. Inside, something moved in the shadows—a glimpse of brilliant blue scales and golden eyes that seemed to glow even in the firelight.

"Still can’t believe we actually pulled it off," Pike said, gesturing toward the cage with his bottle. "Thirty years I’ve been hunting in these woods, and I never thought I’d see the day we’d catch a live Keth’mor."

"Baby Keth’mor," Garrett corrected with a grin. "Makes all the difference. Adult one would’ve killed us all."

"Adult one nearly did kill us all," Rodriguez muttered. "We lost eight good men getting that thing."

"Worth it though," Dutch said, counting on his fingers. "Eight men are dead, but the rest of us are gonna be rich. That’s just good business."

The comment drew some dark chuckles from the group. It was a harsh way to look at things, but in their line of work, death was always a possibility.

"Remember when Rodriguez tried to stab it with his hunting knife?" Jenkins said, finally getting his confidence back. "Thing was twenty-five feet long with scales harder than armor, and this genius thinks a little pig-sticker is gonna do the job!"

"Hey, I was desperate!" Rodriguez defended himself. "That shadow-jumping was making me crazy. One second she’s in front of me, next second she’s behind Williams, pumping him full of poison."

"Williams was a good man," Pike said, his mood sobering for a moment. "Fast too. If that thing could catch him..."

"Don’t think about it," Garrett advised. "Williams knew the risks, same as all of us. He’d want us to enjoy the payout."

They drank in silence for a moment, remembering their fallen comrades.

"What I still don’t understand," Jenkins said finally, "is how we actually managed to kill that monster. Thing was like fighting a nightmare."

Dutch laughed and threw an empty bottle at him. "That’s ’cause you spent the whole fight hiding behind trees, boy! You missed the best part."

"I was not hiding! I was... finding a good vantage point!"

"Vantage point, my ass," Pike snorted. "You were crying behind the biggest tree you could find."

"The killing blow was pure luck," Garrett admitted. "Captain got off one perfect crossbow shot right through the eye, into the brain. Should’ve dropped her instantly."

"Should’ve," Rodriguez agreed. "But that crazy thing kept fighting for ten more minutes with a bolt through her head! I’ve never seen anything so tough."

"That’s when we knew we had something special," Dutch said, nodding toward the cage. "Found the egg in her nest, already cracking. Thought we were too late."

"But the little devil was still alive," Pike added with a grin. "Tiny thing, barely bigger than my fist, but those eyes... just like mama’s."

"This little bastard tried to bite me when I picked it up," Jenkins said, showing off a small mark on his hand. "Good thing baby venom ain’t developed yet."

"You’re lucky it didn’t have teeth," Garrett laughed. "Would’ve taken your whole finger off!"

The group was getting rowdier as the wine flowed, their voices carrying across the camp.

"Just think about it," Rodriguez said dreamily. "Once we sell this thing at the black market, we’ll be rich! No more sleeping in the mud, no more eating dried meat for weeks."

"I’m gonna buy a tavern," Pike declared. "Serve the best ale in the continent with a pretty wife and never leave town again."

"I’m getting a house with a real bed," Jenkins added. "And a bath! A hot bath every single day!"

"You need more than one bath, kid," Dutch said, waving his hand in front of his nose. "Maybe ten baths."

The group erupted in laughter again, and Pike was about to make another joke when something whistled through the air above the fire.

THUNK!

An arrow sprouted from the forehead of one of the workers near the cage. The man stood there for a moment, looking confused, before toppling backward onto the ground.

Dead before he hit the dirt

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