High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 2185: Chapter 406: The Red Hat of Demonology

”...And then there are the various magical creatures of the Demonology class.”

Xiao Xiao’s gaze passed over the edge of the barrier created by the six-pointed star magic array and fell deep into the forest, buried by wind and snow. He squinted, raising a hand to adjust his glasses:

”In the magical creatures world, under the Chordata phylum, mammals class, primates order, the Demonology class has a very diverse range of subordinate species, most of which emit laughter similar to humans.”

”For example, the Owl Yang from the ghost genus of Demonology class, a humanoid subgenus, also known as ’Mountain Spirit’, human-shaped, large, with a black face, covered in hair, reverse heels, greeted with laughter. The males are called Mountain Lord, the females Mountain Maid.”

”Another subgenus of the ghost genus, the ghost subgenus, has as its representative species the Jiang Xiao. It stretches three to four zhang, completely green, its eyes bleed, and it can spit fire from its mouth.”

”I remember Jiang Xiao looking quite bird-like?”

The fat wizard tilted his head, glancing back at the Doctor, excited to catch a mistake: ”I mean, doesn’t it look a lot like a swallow?”

”That’s the Water Demon, not Jiang Xiao.”

Xiao Xiao glanced at him, seemingly ’innocent of the unaware’, and patiently explained: ”’The Secrets of the Black Pearl’ says ’there’s a bird as big as a magpie, covered in black skin and flesh wings, with a head like a swallow, a long feathered tail, its sight foretelling flooding’—that speaks of the Water Demon. It’s part of the Demonology class but prefers floating corpses over laughter, its calls sound like babies, definitely unrelated to the creatures in the forest, so I didn’t mention it.”

Bam!

The Atonement Hunting Team Leader raised a hand and fired into the sky. A pale yellow talisman bullet pierced through the wind and snow, spiral-shaped magic power scattering downwards, quickly forming a thin, transparent barrier centered on the hunting team’s formation, isolating the howling wind and snow.

The entire world instantly became much clearer and cleaner.

”Don’t interrupt, let the Doctor speak!”

Zheng Qing said sternly, scolding the fat wizard, then looked around: ”Everyone else, check your own law books, talisman papers, and emergency potions... keep an eye on all directions and report any anomalies immediately!”

The fat man shrugged, a blue light flashed over him, and he immediately grew a size larger, rubbing his palms as he looked toward the depths of the forest.

Xiao Xiao paused, continuing to fiddle with the divination tokens in his hand, before speaking again at an unhurried pace: ”...also, the Man Bear under the bear genus of Demonology class, covered entirely in hair, reverse heels, sharp claws, large lips. It dances and laughs loudly before eating humans, commonly seen in the regions of Guangdong and Guangxi... Some say it’s actually an orangutan, but that’s a misunderstanding.”

”Then there’s the ’Mountain Stench’ of the Demonology subclass, known for its fierce appearance, ability to shapeshift, enjoys conversing and laughing under the moon. The ancients said ’in the hills lives a tree guest, all appearances human, but with bird’s claws’, also known as the ’one-legged ghost’. Its shapeshifted form is called ’Te Let’, with various forms such as half-cat half-ghost, one-legged child, or short-tailed with wings.”

”It’s daytime now, so ’Mountain Stench’ can be ruled out; ’Man Bear’ is a Level-Two protected species under the Alliance, unlikely to be in the hunting ground, also excluded; as for ’Owl Yang’, they travel in pairs, but I just heard five different laughs, so that’s excluded too.”

Several more divination tokens fell in succession.

The images floating before the Diviner shattered one after another, turning into soft glowing mist, quietly dissipating within the formation.

”So, only one last possibility remains.”

Upon hearing these words, Zheng Qing couldn’t help but look at the last image—that of a small-framed, hunched creature resembling an ape, wearing a red hat on its head.

”In the regions of eastern Fujian and Zhejiang, there’s a kind of Mountain Demon that wears a red hat. Because their hats render them invisible, they are also known as ’Red Hats’... To differentiate from the Celtic Red Cap goblins of Europa, in the ’Encyclopedia’, its formal scientific name is ’Little Red Hat Elves’.”

Listening to this name, Zheng Qing found it amusing, nudging Jiang Yu with his elbow and gesturing with his eyes, before touching the red hood on his own head and winking at Xiao Xiao.

The witch instantly knew what he was getting at, couldn’t help but chuckle.

The Diviner of the Atonement team was particularly sensitive to ’malicious’ gazes, he glanced emotionlessly at his own team leader, voice even without a ripple: ”...These ’Little Red Hat Elves’ enjoy drinking and often come down the mountain to steal wine from farmhouses. They laugh heartily while drinking, their sound like splitting bamboo... If they lose their hat, they emit a laugh that’s both weeping and laughing, similar to some of the laughter we heard... But if the hatless Mountain Demon finds a new ’Red Hat’, it will emit a joyful laugh, akin to another part of the laughter we heard...”

”Oh! So that’s it!”

The fat wizard patted his own red hood, a hint of realization in his voice, but then followed quickly with curious inquiry: ”What if they don’t find a red hat?”

Xiao Xiao seriously messed with the divination tokens before him, not lifting his head as he replied: ”Then they’ll just use birch bark or cloth from under a child’s trousers to make a hat... As for color, they prefer red dyed with blood...”

”There they are!”

Zhang Ji Xin shouted loudly, reminding everyone to stay alert: ”I see three... One of them is wearing a red hat... Definitely looks like an ape... How should we handle it, should we just cut them down with a Wind Spell?”

A Wind Spell in such snowy weather, with half the effort, achieved excellent results.

”Don’t waste magic power on such small creatures, high input for low output, the cost-benefit ratio is too high. Besides, Red Hats are considered relatively mild Mountain Demons, even if Black Tide arrives, they won’t pose major harm to Beta Town. On the contrary, they prey on pests like armyworms, beetles, and spirit grain moths, which benefits the forest more.”

Xiao Xiao rejected the red-faced male wizard’s suggestion, glancing around fellow teammates before finally resting his gaze on Zheng Qing: ”...I recall you have some spare academy robes? Give me one.”

Zheng Qing guessed his intent, reaching into the grey cloth bag and rummaging a bit, pulling out the oldest academy robe from the camphor box and tossing it to the Diviner, mumbling at the same time: ”The fat guy’s robe is bigger than mine, why not use his?”

Xiao Xiao didn’t answer this obvious question.

Instead, the fat wizard answered gruffly: ”You’re the Hunting Team Leader, and you’re rich, if you don’t set an example, are you going to exploit us poor team members?”

Zheng Qing certainly wouldn’t waste his breath on such a topic with the fat guy.

He looked to Xiao Xiao.

The short male wizard unrolled his law book in the snow, selecting a blank bamboo slip, then a small, emerald feather pen darted from his pocket, lively leaving a brief spell formula for trimming on the bamboo slip.

Afterward, Xiao Xiao extended a finger, pressing at the end of the spell formula, whispering:

”Little east, big east, shuttle and weft fill the empty!”