Flight
That sudden blow snapped him fully back to his senses.
Woojin's gaze grew colder.
'What should I do with this one…?'
He looked the manticore over again.
The frightened lion lowered its head deeply, as if it wanted to avoid facing the reality right in front of it.
Seeing that… the anger boiling in Woojin's mind suddenly cooled.
'I'm not really in a position to get angry.'
The manticore looked miserable.
It had been beaten continuously, and its dislocated wings hung limply, dragging across the ground.
Meanwhile, Woojin had only just taken a single hit.
Would it really be right to retaliate in anger because of that?
'You must make the monster submit from the depths of its heart.'
The training method of the Dark Side priests.
He had tried it once already, but he began to think that simply beating it endlessly wasn't the right approach.
'I should change the method a little.'
Woojin spoke to the manticore.
"Look at my eyes."
"..."
Naturally, the manticore couldn't understand human speech.
Woojin grabbed the loose skin of its face and pulled upward, forcing the lion to lift its head.
Then he spoke as if granting a favor.
"Hit me again."
He pointed at the lion's forepaw and made a swinging motion with his hand.
After repeating the gesture several times…
The manticore eventually caught on to the meaning.
Hesitantly, the lion beast slowly raised its paw.
"Grr…?"
Was it really allowed to hit him?
The manticore hesitated, unable to act on the guess.
Woojin urged it.
"Yeah, good. Hurry up."
As he kept pressing it—
After a long hesitation, the lion finally swung its paw.
KRAAASH!!
Its attitude was timid, but the strike was bold.
Woojin's head tilted to the side from the slap, his neck cracking softly.
Then he retaliated.
THUD!
He punched the manticore across the cheek.
The strength was neither too strong nor too weak.
Then Woojin gave another command.
"Your turn. Hit me once."
He gestured again.
The manticore cautiously raised its paw.
It seemed the creature had now realized how the situation worked.
One touch.
They would take turns striking each other once.
It was inefficient and rather foolish—but Woojin deliberately chose this method.
The reason was simple.
'If only one side keeps getting hit, resentment builds up.'
Rather than suffering a one-sided beating, exchanging blows—however crude—lets some of the frustration out.
As if proving that point, life returned to the manticore's eyes.
Perhaps it was enjoying the exchange; the lion beast began moving more actively.
But that excitement didn't last long.
…
About two hours later.
"Wh… whine…"
The manticore whimpered.
Its cheeks had swollen badly from the constant blows.
Its forepaws throbbed as well.
For some reason, the human's body felt harder than rock.
Hit. Get hit.
Repeating that simple action consumed far more stamina than expected.
"Grrr…"
Couldn't they stop now?
The manticore glanced at him cautiously as if asking.
Woojin simply smiled and replied.
"Hurry up and hit me. I'm not even warmed up yet."
***
The fight that had begun at sunset continued until dawn the next day.
The manticore didn't get a single moment of sleep.
Every time it tried to stop, Woojin glared at it with eyes as ominous as sulfurous flames.
The lion beast had no choice but to keep trading blows.
It was practically a battle of endurance.
But stamina had its limits.
Finally, the manticore decided it truly couldn't continue.
Breathing heavily, it suddenly collapsed flat onto the dirt.
The giant lion lay sprawled out, exposing its belly in surrender.
Woojin looked down at it, then absentmindedly rubbed beneath his nose.
'No nosebleed.'
The inside of his mouth had split a bit, but his nose wasn't broken.
That wouldn't have been surprising—the lion's paws had quite a sting.
The process had been exhausting…
But in the end, he had made the manticore submit.
Half a success.
At this point, the Dark Side priests would make the monster submit completely, then use a strange spell to dominate its mind.
Magic that utilized karma.
Woojin had inherited that spell when he swallowed the inner cores of several Dark Side priests long ago.
'But… I don't feel like using that.'
He had considered trying it this time, but abandoned the idea.
It wasn't something he was used to—and it went against the way he had always preferred to do things.
"Turn to the right."
He gestured with his hand.
The manticore obediently rolled over.
Woojin approached and grabbed the base of its wing with both hands.
Click.
He reset the dislocated wing joint.
Since he had done this kind of thing before, it wasn't difficult.
Then Woojin rummaged through his clothes.
Soon he pulled out a lump of dried lamb jerky.
He tore it in half and tossed one piece to the lion.
It was something of a ritual.
Back when he accepted Rex and the squirrel Coco as companions, he had shared jerky with them too.
At some point, it had become a necessary step.
The manticore looked at the jerky cautiously.
Woojin spoke calmly.
"Eat."
At that command, the manticore swallowed the jerky in a single bite.
Like a well-trained hunting dog.
'I'll tame it gradually like this.'
If fortune favored him, he might accept this manticore as part of his group.
If not, he would let it go at the right time.
Woojin sat down on a small rock like it was a chair.
Tearing off pieces of jerky, he rested while eating.
Then—
The manticore stared at him.
More precisely, at the jerky in his hand.
'So it likes jerky.'
It was a familiar situation.
Lamb was a rare delicacy that couldn't be obtained in the Demon Realm.
Even the Noll tribe had essentially chosen to ally with the Cult Alliance because they were addicted to this taste.
"…Here."
Woojin tossed the rest of the jerky to the manticore.
The lion beast quickly snapped it up and devoured it.
The manticore chewed the jerky carefully, as if afraid it might disappear too quickly.
But compared to the creature's massive size, the piece of lamb was far too small.
Before long, the jerky was gone.
The lion beast smacked its lips regretfully.
"Want more?"
When Woojin asked, the manticore glanced at him cautiously and nodded.
Woojin grinned and stood up.
Everyone prefers a carrot to a whip. After all, everything is done just to survive.
"Lie down. Lower… lower—"
Woojin gestured repeatedly.
In response, the manticore lowered its posture completely.
Woojin climbed onto its back.
"Go."
As if it had been waiting for that command the whole time—
THUD!!
The manticore suddenly kicked off the ground and leapt.
It shot upward like a cannonball fired toward the sky.
Woojin nearly rolled off its back.
Grabbing the lion's mane like reins, he held on and shouted.
"Level out! Level out, you idiot!"
He pressed down on the back of the manticore's head while shouting.
Realizing its mistake too late, the creature adjusted its posture.
Soon the manticore was gliding leisurely through the sky.
Woojin looked around, inwardly relieved.
The dark clouds of the sky felt close enough to touch.
Below him stretched a dense forest of trees that looked tiny like tufts of cotton, a coastline formed from piles of dead coral reefs, and the dark blue sea.
It wasn't exactly a romantic view.
Everything in the Demon Realm was blackened and gloomy.
Occasionally, grotesque monsters crawling across the ground came into view.
One of them caught his eye.
An insect-like monster with a brown shell.
It was huge—about the size of a full-grown bull.
Its disgusting appearance looked familiar.
'A cockroach monster?'
Apparently it had quite the appetite, because it was gnawing on a rotten log.
It was a monster Woojin had never seen before.
But that wasn't strange.
Insect-type monsters tended to undergo rapid generational turnover.
They either evolved quickly—or were wiped out.
'Should I try hunting one?'
Curious, Woojin gave a command.
"Change direction a bit."
He tapped the manticore's body with his left heel.
The manticore caught the hint and turned its head, flying to the left.
The ground approached rapidly.
The manticore's massive shadow spread across the earth.
The cockroach monster noticed it too late.
Skritch, skritch—
It scurried quickly, trying to escape.
But after it had taken only five steps—
"Fire."
BOOM!!
The manticore's tail exploded with a thunderous sound as it fired a green venom beam toward the ground.
The fleeing cockroach monster collapsed after being hit.
Its legs twitched like an insect sprayed with pesticide, and the area struck by venom began to melt.
It was literally aerial bombardment.
'Very useful.'
The venom beam was powerful, and its flying speed was even better than he had expected.
It meant he could go anywhere.
If Woojin ordered it, they could quickly fly west and look down on the city of the Noll tribe.
Or head north and finish the battle he had left unresolved before.
It felt like he had gained a convenient shortcut he could use whenever he wanted.
Satisfied, Woojin kept nodding with a smile.
'This test flight should be enough.'
He had accomplished what he wanted, so it was time to return to the city of the Naga.
The manticore turned direction and continued beating its wings powerfully—
Then—
Crack!
A sudden ominous sound rang out.
The scenery lurched dangerously.
Feeling a bad premonition, Woojin turned his head.
The wing joint had dislocated.
The manticore immediately began plummeting toward the ground.
The earth rushed closer.
Both Woojin and the lion screamed together.
"WAAAH—!"
"KYAAOOO—!"
SPLAAASH!!
The massive lion crashed into the sea, sending a huge burst of water into the air.
Once a joint dislocates, it tends to happen again easily.
Especially since the manticore's wing joint had remained dislocated for a long time.
"You're banned from flying for a while."
"Grr…"
The manticore nodded as if it understood.
It looked dejected after the forced landing during flight.
Woojin had no intention of scolding it.
After all, he was the one who had ordered the flight—and he had also been the one to dislocate the wings during the fight.
'I should at least splint it.'
Woojin gathered tough vines and a suitably sized wooden plank.
He wrapped them tightly around the wing, immobilizing it.
Annoyed by the splint, the manticore tried to bite the bindings out of habit—
Grip.
"Don't."
Woojin said firmly, pulling the skin on the lion's face.
Startled, the manticore nodded repeatedly.
After the warning, Woojin climbed a nearby tree and surveyed the surroundings.
Where are we?
"…Luckily we didn't fall too far."
Since they had been returning when they crash-landed, they weren't that far from the city.
If they walked for about two hours, they would reach it.
He could probably return before noon.
After making that estimate, Woojin climbed back onto the manticore's back.
"Let's go. But don't fly this time."
"Grr."
The manticore began walking toward the city of the Naga—
Then suddenly hesitated.
It seemed reluctant to approach the city.
Woojin found it strange for a moment, but soon realized why.
'Ah… this idiot got on Veshkan's bad side too.'
Recently, the manticore had attacked the Naga tribe's ranch and eaten several of their livestock.
Because of that, Veshkan was furious.
If the manticore entered the city, it would likely get beaten by the Naga king and his subordinates.
Woojin thought for a moment, then said:
"Can't be helped. It's your karma—accept it."
"Whiiine…"
"Move."
Complaining wouldn't change anything.
When Woojin ordered again, the dejected manticore resumed walking.
Perhaps because it had committed so many misdeeds, its steps felt heavier than ever.
'What a troublemaker.'
He would have to keep an eye on it for a while.
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