10. The Girl and the Monster
“Whoosh——”
The monster shook its massive head, heavy breath spraying a mist into the air.
It sniffed around in the air, then seemed to confirm a direction and started walking towards me with heavy steps.
Thud, thud, thud—
With each step the monster took, the ground trembled beneath its feet.
It's coming this way! It has found me! What do I do now, is it too late to turn and run?
…No, it's too big, I probably can't outrun it.
Should I fight? If I use the black smoke, I might stand a chance… but who would want to fight this thing! It's terrifying just to look at.
As my mind raced, the sky darkened suddenly, and the monster was already in front of me, lowering its huge head towards me. I was too scared to move, only to see it sniff me, then suddenly it licked me with its tongue.
！！！！！
“Ew—ptoo, ptoo, ptoo, ptoo!”
The tongue licked from my feet all the way up to my face, slimy and stinky saliva instantly covering my body, I felt it enter my mouth. I retched in disgust, spitting while rapidly backing away, staring at it in horror, while quietly gathering frost on my hands, five sharp ice spikes hovering above my head.
Is it licking me to taste if I'm good to eat?
“You… come… any… closer… I… will… fight…”
My already unfluent speech became even more stammered with my trembling voice.
The monster, seeing my reaction, seemed startled too, and suddenly reared up.
“ROAR——!!!”
A roar that seemed to pierce the clouds made the grass and trees rustle, birds fluttered their wings and flew away, and the jungle was filled with the sound of animals fleeing in panic.
Startled, my hand shook, and the five ice spikes whistled towards the monster, hitting its chest without missing and shattering into ice shards.
Compared to the monster's fierce exoskeleton, the hardness of the ice seemed negligible and didn't seem to have any effect.
I turned and ran. But before I could take two steps, I was grabbed by a huge claw.
I was terrified, the sharp claws could easily tear me to pieces. My heart pounded wildly, ready to burst out black smoke in defiance.
But I found that after grabbing me, the monster didn't exert much force, instead, it gently placed me on its back.
The black smoke stopped as soon as it started, and I quickly grabbed the monster's fur tightly. The fur was thick and long, with a stench of animal musk, making me nauseous.
I was puzzled, what does it want to do?
After placing me on its back, the monster stood up and turned towards the direction it came from.
It seems it didn't mean to harm me.
“You… are… taking… me… where.” I climbed onto its shoulder in a few moves, leaning on one of its horns and stood up, looking at its huge head and asked.
“Hurrurrurr—”
The only answer was a low growl, I didn't know if it understood.
“You… put… me… down… now.”
The monster was nearly twenty meters tall, if I just jumped down like this… should be fine? Although I haven't tried it, I feel like this height is not a problem for me.
Should I take the chance to jump down and run away while it's not paying attention?
Hmm… better not, it doesn't seem to consider me food, otherwise, it would have at least maimed me with that grab, it seems to want to take me somewhere, could it be a ruin with hidden treasures?
I'm curious about where it will take me, after all, I was planning to leave this place anyway.
The monster walked with earth-shaking steps, making it hard for me to stand, so I just sat down. The furry monster was quite comfortable, as long as I could ignore the stench.
Looking at my lower body still spitting blood, I held the cloth I had been holding in my hand in front of my eyes.
…I'll just make do with this for now, there's really nothing else to replace it.
I wrapped the cloth around the bleeding area again, wrapped it around my hips, and tied a knot.
“Puff.”
It hurt a bit, but it should work a little.
Have I solved a very troublesome problem? Let's just leave it at that, I don't care anymore.
The air was less humid and hot up high, the breeze brushed my face and messed up my hair, tickling my neck, I reached back to smooth it, then leaned my body against the monster's warm neck.
The neck didn't have the blood red exoskeleton, but the skin was rough with a layer of fine bumps, slightly uncomfortable to the touch.
The sun was warm, sneaking through the monster's tangled horns to secretly bask on my body, bringing a lazy sensation.
"Do you… live… here?"
"Hurrurrurr."
"Are you… a dragon?"
"Huff—"
"Then what… kind of… monster are you?"
"I… am… a monster too."
"…"
"I'll call you… Big White."
"Aowu."
"Big White."
"…"
"Big White White."
"Giggle."
It hardly counted as a conversation, but the figures of the monster and the beast were harmoniously intertwined.
…………
Big White carried me like this, ceaselessly traversing the forest. When tired or hungry, we would stop to rest for a while, picking some fruits to eat, though Big White seemed not to need food. I had heard before that the larger the beast, the more resistant to hunger it is, usually one meal is enough for many days, and with Big White's size, one meal might mean it doesn't need to hunt for a dozen days or more.
At night, I would use Big White as a comfortable soft bed and sleep on its back.
The two of us continued on, walking and stopping, until the morning of the fourth day.
Lying on Big White's head and still in a slumber, I was awakened by a slight sensation of weightlessness. I opened my eyes to see Big White gently picking me up and placing me on the ground.
What's wrong?
Still groggy from sleep, I stood on the ground rubbing my eyes, somewhat unclear about what Big White intended to do.
It lowered its body and nudged me gently forward with its head.
I looked at it, puzzled, and it nudged me again.
Then I began to understand its intention and turned to look behind me.
A muddy, winding path stretched out from under my feet into the distance. At the end of the road, there were rows of houses with smoke rising faintly.
This was a human village.
Big White nudged me again when it saw I didn't move.
"Big White… I'm… a little… scared. They… might… hurt… me."
"Hurrurrurr—"
"I… don't understand… what… you're… saying."
Big White just stared at me, and I stared back. We had a staring contest for quite a while.
Alright, I get it.
I stepped forward and hugged Big White's head. But its head was so big, I could only embrace the front of its mouth, my face against one of its large nostrils. Then it probably wanted to nuzzle me, but it didn't control its strength well and ended up knocking me over.
This farewell scene was far from picturesque.
"Well… I'm… leaving. You… take… care."
I turned to leave, and after a few steps, I looked back reluctantly.
Big White was still standing there. I don't know if it was my imagination, but I thought I saw a tenderness in its gaze that didn't belong to a wild beast.
I waved at it fiercely, then walked forward with big strides.
It must have thought I was a human child lost in the forest, so it brought me to the human village.
After walking a long distance, I looked back again to find that the huge and fierce figure was no longer visible.
Ah, I forgot to say thank you.
…I'll say it in person when I go back to find it next time.
As the village drew closer, I pulled my hood over my head.
Taking a deep breath, I still felt a bit panicked. Although I knew I looked no different from ordinary people and shouldn't be noticed, I was very aware that I was not one of them.
To them, I am a terrifying monster.
But… I have to move forward, I don't want to die a lonely monster.
Continuing forward, the ground beneath my feet was no longer a muddy path but a village road paved with large stones, with bright green moss growing in the gaps between the stones.
On both sides of the spacious village road, there were scattered rows of houses. Most of the houses were built of stone and wood, surrounded by wooden fences to form small courtyards, with chickens, sheep, cows, pigs, and other domestic animals raised inside.
In ancient times on Earth, most villages in the West looked like this. Stone houses, wooden houses, and even poorer mud and straw houses, nothing special.
The village seemed quiet in the early morning, with only a few people carrying buckets or hoes passing by in a hurry. They looked at me curiously but didn't stop.
I wondered if there was an inn or someplace for travelers to rest, but even if there was, I had no money.
For a moment, I felt a bit lost.
"Hey, whose child is this?"
As I was feeling a bit bewildered, a trembling voice came from beside me. I turned to see a frail old woman, her face etched with wrinkles, looking at me with concern.
"Dear me, what happened to you?" The old woman approached, patting the dirt off my cloak with a tenderness that seemed to come naturally to her, "Child, where do you come from, what's your name?"
I shrank back slightly, nervous.
"Don't be afraid, child," the old woman said, her smile warm but revealing the few teeth she had left as she lifted my hood to see my face better.
Then, for a moment, her expression registered shock, which made my heart skip a beat.
Could she see through me?
"My goodness, such a beautiful girl!" After her initial surprise, the old woman's eyes softened even more, her gnarled hand gently caressing my cheek, "Come now, tell me, how did you end up like this? Where are your parents?"
I shook my head slightly, about to speak, but my stomach betrayed me with a soft growl.
"Gurgle."
The old woman paused, then took my hand in hers.
"Come with me, let's get you some food and a bath, you smell like you've been through a lot."
Her hand was dry and rough but surprisingly warm.
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