Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse

Chapter 69: Chapter 69: Giant Monster

It’s not even seven in the morning, and Xu Xin isn’t in a rush to go out.

Though he’s already had breakfast, he still intends to consume the golden carp he just acquired. The grill (blue) and the dining table (blue) are supposed to enhance the effects of the carp further.

After eating the golden carp, Xu Xin doesn’t feel any change in himself like he did after eating the power-enhancing bear paw. Luck is inherently elusive and intangible.

After fully equipping himself, Xu Xin is ready to leave.

Today’s task is quite simple: hunt wildcats, gather enough sacrificial materials to offer at the altar, summon and kill the mutant wildcat, and earn points and high-level materials. The points from a single mutant creature are equivalent to a whole day of hunting.

The danger level is just a bit higher, but with Ji Chaoyang’s experience, as long as what he says is true, Xu Xin is confident he can minimize the losses.

Before leaving, Xu Xin restocked his heavy crossbow arrows to five, loaded them, and set it to automatic mode, hoping for a potential surprise upon returning today.

Riding the Wolf King, Xu Xin specifically targets wildcats to hunt. Wildcat red dots are brighter than rabbits but dimmer than wolves, similar to snakes, making them relatively easy to distinguish.

The enhanced crossbow can swiftly and silently kill wildcats, and the immense power of the arrow often pins the wildcat’s body directly to a tree or even penetrates it through.

After just cutting off two paws of a wildcat, Keke on Xu Xin’s shoulder suddenly cried out.

”What’s wrong?” Xu Xin became alert, usually, when Keke acts like this, it means danger has been detected.

”Squeak squeak squeak!” Keke pointed one little paw in the direction of the altar, grabbing Xu Xin’s clothes with the other paw, shaking his head vigorously.

”You’re saying there’s danger at the altar, and I shouldn’t go?” Xu Xin’s eyelid twitched.

”Squeak!” Keke nodded.

Looking at the map, Xu Xin saw no high-brightness red dot in the direction of the altar.

”But...” Xu Xin hesitated for a moment and asked, ”Is it more dangerous than yesterday’s Blood Pattern Rabbit?”

”Squeak!” Keke nodded his little head resolutely.

Xu Xin took a deep breath.

The altar is quite special, and he knew there would be danger, but the points and materials from a mutant creature are too tempting; he doesn’t want to give up just because of the danger.

”Let’s first go to the hill and observe, then decide based on the situation.”

Xu Xin threw the wildcat’s body, now missing its front paws, into his backpack and decided not to continue hunting. He rode the Silver King and dashed toward that resource zone.

With the Silver King running at full speed, the distance took only a few minutes. Looking at the steeply sloped hill, Xu Xin got off the Silver King and climbed up himself.

Keke on his shoulder was somewhat agitated, and now Silver King also seemed restless, clearly scared.

”What the hell is going on?”

Xu Xin struggled to climb, finally reaching the top of the hill.

Standing firmly, Xu Xin looked in the direction of the altar.

What he saw made his eyes widen instantly.

”What is that thing!? A giant goblin?”

The entire forest resource area, surrounded by hills, with lakes and the altar, looked no different from the previous day.

But close to the altar, a gigantic green-skinned humanoid creature stood there. The tallest poplar tree nearby barely reached its waist, with its enormous body exposed above the forest, incredibly conspicuous.

Its green skin was covered with blood-red patterns, a bald head, deeply recessed eye sockets, eyes protruding outward, and a ferocious face with an incredibly strong build, with just a circle of tattered white cloth hanging around its waist to cover its body.

Xu Xin noticed it wielded a large club, thick at the top and narrow at the bottom, full of uneven marks and dotted with traces of blood.

The patterns on vines and mutant rabbits were random and chaotic, but not this humanoid creature—the blood-red patterns on its body looked like tattoos, exuding a strange beauty.

The patterns formed a special shape on its chest, somewhat resembling an ancient tribal totem.

”What the hell is this thing!” Xu Xin instinctively took two steps back.

Checking the map, Xu Xin suddenly discovered that a bright red dot had appeared unbeknownst to him, glowing as brightly as the Lake Giant Python.

When did it appear! There weren’t any red dots when Keke warned him just now!

As he remained in shock, the massive creature suddenly moved.

Its huge head turned towards the hill where Xu Xin was, its eyes seemingly fixed straight on him, its protruding eyes filled with bloodshot lines.

Xu Xin immediately felt an icy chill all over his body.

”Squeak!” Keke flipped around and hid on Xu Xin’s back, peeking out with half his head to look that way. Meanwhile, Silver King gave a low ”whine” and lay down on the ground.

He is this far away, yet this creature can see him?

Xu Xin stared intently at the monster’s movements, its eyes glaring at him as though possessed by hyperthyroidism.

”Roar!!!” Suddenly, the monster opened its mouth wide, letting out an earth-shattering roar at him.

The surrounding trees swayed from the sound of the roar, even the birds near the hills were so startled they fell from the sky.

Just as Xu Xin gritted his teeth in preparation to turn and run, the gigantic monster looked at him and pointed its club at the altar, roaring again, but it didn’t move forward.

”...What does it mean?”

In Xu Xin’s tense and bewildered gaze, the gigantic humanoid monster waved its club at him, then turned and walked towards the hills in the opposite direction of Xu Xin.

Each step of the monster caused the whole mountain forest to tremble, the trees in its path were either pushed down or smashed away by its club.

Finally, under Xu Xin’s trembling watch, the monster disappeared behind the hills, and the sound of footsteps and vibrations ceased, leaving the entire Hilly Resource Zone in silence.

”...It just pointed to the altar, what does that mean, was that gesture directed at me?”

At this moment, Xu Xin’s heart was still pounding; he gathered Keke who had been lying on his back into his arms and petted it until his emotions calmed a bit.

”Yeek yeek!” Keke murmured protests, but it was to no avail.

The Silver King, too, stood up and lost its fear after the giant monster left.

Xu Xin sent Ji Chaoyang a message: ”Have you come across any strange monsters?”

After a while, Ji Chaoyang replied: ”What monster do you mean? Everything here seems normal, I just checked the altar and there’s no change in the remaining three statues on the stone pillars.”

No monsters on Ji Chaoyang’s side?

Is it only here that they’re appearing?

Xu Xin took a deep breath and replied: ”It’s nothing, I just feel something’s a bit off around here, maybe I’m overthinking it.”

”Alright, let me know if anything happens.”

That gigantic humanoid monster covered in blood patterns is only here.

”Looks like a troll from a game; let’s call you the Blood Pattern Giant.”

This Blood Pattern Giant seems somewhat similar to the Lake Giant Python.

So far, he’s encountered three giant monsters on land: the Lake Giant Python, the Streambed Giant Crocodile, and today this Blood Pattern Giant.

The Streambed Giant Crocodile doesn’t show up on the map and isn’t hostile to him, it even helped him obtain a silver treasure chest.

However, the Lake Giant Python and the Blood Pattern Giant both stared at him as if locking onto prey, roaring and threatening him, but ultimately left without harming him, seemingly reluctant to leave.

Xu Xin looked towards the altar, carefully observing its surroundings. Besides the path of felled trees where the Blood Pattern Giant left, there were no other traces.

The Blood Pattern Giant’s massive body couldn’t have passed through the jungle without leaving traces. Yet, somehow, there were no traces of its arrival. Where did this giant come from?

If it didn’t come from elsewhere, there is only one possibility.

It emerged from the altar.

Xu Xin recalled that when he stepped onto the altar, he heard a sharp ”crack” sound underfoot.

”Could it be that there is a space beneath the altar? Or perhaps another entrance to an underground world?”

Xu Xin felt that this world was filled with danger, he pondered carefully what he did to cause this Blood Pattern Giant to appear, and why it did not appear on Ji Chaoyang’s side.

Suddenly, Xu Xin thought of something, he took out the black and red altar knife from his backpack.

[Altar Knife (Blue): A small knife used to harvest sacrificial materials, remember to return it to the altar after use, or the ”gods” will be angry!]

Could it be because he forgot to return this knife after use, and those ”gods” got angry?

The more Xu Xin thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. The Blood Pattern Giant pointing its club at the altar was likely an indication that he needed to return the knife.

Xu Xin opened his watch to ask Ji Chaoyang a question: ”Did you return the altar knife yesterday?”

The response this time was swift: ”I did, how about you, did you forget?”

Understanding at heart, Xu Xin casually said: ”I forgot, no wonder things felt a little weird just now, it got better after returning to the altar. Don’t forget to return the knife.”

”You’re really careless, be careful, or you’ll stir up something.”

Xu Xin smiled bitterly, wasn’t something already stirred up? This time he was indeed too careless. Luckily, it seems the monster isn’t able to touch him now.

Could the Blood Pattern Giant possibly be what they call a ”god,” or perhaps an envoy sent by the ”gods”?