82 Chapter 82 - The Ride-On King is back

After having broken the neck of the Thunder Winged Tyra, the Snow Plio let it go and it fell to the ground with a thud, dead. After having killed its prey, it turned its sight at Gypsy before giving a threatening roar and dived into the snow again.

"Lucky me. Why is it a Snow Plio?" Complained Gypsy before she used magic to manifest a KusarIgama— a little farmer's sickle with a chain that's connected to a little weight at the end.

Throwing the sickle at a distant tree, she pulled herself away with the chain to dodge the Snow Plio that came up from under her just after. After dodging the same way a few times, she had enough and tried to attack it while it wasn't swimming underground. She couldn't get close enough before it dived, so she manifested a trident and threw it at its eyes.

With its tough big horn on its head, it parried the trident before diving once again. It greatly infuriated Gypsy, as she didn't have a way to force the Snow Plio up to the surface and get the initiative to attack.

…

Falling from the tree head-first with the wind blowing his hair around, watching the ground getting closer and dark spots on the trunk come by him. Marc smiled and looked at Gypsy who didn't have her usual easy-going temperament and was vigilantly looking around for any signs of where the Snow Plio might come up from next.

While falling so close to the trunk he could practically give it a lick if he spun around, Marc saw the Snow Plio leap up from the ground again with its jaws wide open— wanting to devour Gypsy in one mouthful.

Seeing this as his cue, Marc rotated in the air and used his Paw Magic before kicking with his bare feet on the trunk, shooting himself at the Snow Plio like a rocket. He had already left his sandals on the branch.

With a monstrous speed, Marc flew right through the Snow Plio's jaws and gave its mouth a quick look. Blood was flowing around from the Thunder Winged Tyra it had just broken the neck of, a whole lot of teeth, a disgusting tongue that moved a little, and finally-

"Damn it stinks!!. Ever heard of a dentist?" Exclaimed Marc after having just taken a whiff of its bad breath through his nose and flew out from the other side of its open mouth that immediately closed afterward. He continued flying until he hit another tree where he used his feet once again to repel himself back where he came from— jumping like the trees were bouncy.

He appeared over the head of the Magic Beast that thought it was still the hunter. The Snow Plio has two horns. The horn on its snout and a little one behind its head where Marc appeared and grabbed onto with arms and legs.

Leaping with a curve in the air, the Snow Plio dived underground with Marc holding on with everything he's got.

Just before it hit the ground, Marc waved at Gypsy who was stunned silly. "Is he stupid?" she thought before she jumped into the tree where Esdea is. Getting beside her, they watched how Marc rode the Snow Plio, smiling and screaming at the fun he's having. The 15 meters long Magic Beast didn't spare a moment to try and shake him off. Spinning in the air or in the snow didn't help as Marc had grasped tightly onto its weak spot.

After having satisfied his obsession with riding things, Marc sighed and clapped the Magic Beast he was riding a little "Thanks for the ride, but you will have to leave your life behind now." He said before he craftily used [One Goal] to boost his power and placed his palm on the back of the Snow Plio's neck. Silver swirl marks like on a Devil Fruit appeared over his left chest and up to his shoulder. The atmosphere around Marc turned calm like a wave in comparison to when he was having fun.

Silver energy with a blue hue around went into its head from his palm. No wounds were created on the beast's skin, but the light in its intense green eyes still went out before it could dive again. It died before it could hit the ground with a clunk.

Seeing his job was done, Marc turned and yelled at Esdea in the tree "See? A clean death." Without knowing moderation, he bragged while having a foot on one of the Snow Plio's big teeth.

*BURST*

A sound of something bursting and feeling something squishy cover his back, Marc didn't really want to look back at what happened as he could see a lot of red marks splatting on the snow before him.

Esdea came down before him and said with a smile "Yea, you really did a 'clean' job here" while looking at Marc's wonderful work. The Snow Plio's brain had burst right out of its mouth where Marc was standing— leaving his back and snow smeared in blood and gore.

With an awkward expression he couldn't hide, Marc coughed before giving excuses "…I did say I would give it a clean death— not that things would end up clean!"

Esdea gave Marc an exaggerated roll with her eyes in— she had never seen such a glib-tongued man before. Not even the caught spies she has ripped tongues out of were as efficient with it.

Thoughts were running through Marc's mind as there's a thing he doesn't get. "Why the hell did this happen? Nothing happened to Leona when I used the same attack. Is this the feeling Saitama had when he first reached the peak of his strength and did I reach mine?"

But now they did have a huge problem as a hunter. "You do know that Magic Beasts have a very sensitive smell right?" Esdea interrupted his thinking.

"Yea, I know. Now they will be able to locate me easily by the scent of blood. That's what you want to say, right?" Marc said like he knew everything, full of confidence.

"So you have a way to get it off quickly?"

"…No." His confidence was lost and he scratched his head in embarrassment.

Esdea's sadistic nature submerged and she couldn't help grasping the chance for getting payback for his earlier teasing. Grinning, she said "Then take off all your clothes," while glancing at the hide half-covering his body and his shorts.

"Here?" Marc asked for clarification as it was weird to just suddenly undress- even for a weirdo like himself.

"Yes, do it quickly before another Magic Beast comes." Urged Esdea, but she wasn't that concerned at the moment. She watched Marc undress and didn't blush at the sight as she has seen naked bodies tons of times coming out from Gypsy's room. What makes her blush is his actions and personality which she once thought didn't matter. The only thing that mattered for her husband candidate before was his strength— but she realized her opinion is already changing.

When Marc had undressed, he stood proudly with his arms crossed and chest out— not bothering hiding anything.

It was first when Esdea began scrubbing him with snow to remove the blood and gore from his back that he finally revealed a little embarrassment. If they were alone, he wouldn't feel this way, but Gypsy, Dixie, and Balto were looking wide-eyed— shortly at Esdea's behavior, before looking at a different kind of beast that appeared.

Doing a quick comparison in his mind, Balto lost a lot of his manly confidence.

"Oh, dear!" Exclaimed Dixie from the tree she was hiding in while adjusting her cowboy hat. Having seen Balto's before she was sure of one thing— let's just say she would need a telescope from where she was hiding if he switched places with Marc at this moment.

Gypsy was beginning to drool before she wiped it away when she got a glare from Esdea. "I was only looking and she already glared daggers at me. I don't dare think what she would do if I…" She shuddered at just the thought.

.

.

.

They continued hunting this way for days, only going outside the Cold Region when their Magic Power got low or that the passive freezing effect caught up to them— making their Magic Power unusable.

When Marc was about to make his own shed after having learned from the last incident, Esdea grabbed him by the ear and dragged him into hers— a thing she found herself to enjoy doing. In the beginning, her subordinates just thought that their general had taken a liking to Marc, but Dixie and Balto soon found out it was more than that after seeing their interactions. Gypsy simply thought it was because Marc was very well equipped as all she thought matters was sex.

Marc used a lot of time thinking why his attack had turned the Snow Plio's brain to mush when 8 continuous hits didn't even crush Leona's organs when they fought. "It must be because she's the stronger beast? Or because I'm turning into Saitama— am I going bald?" Marc thought and touched his blonde hair to make sure. "Good. I'm not."

They didn't manage to attract the Magic Beast Esdea wanted to slay, but she did find something odd going on. As she has hunted multiple times before in the Cold Region, she knew that usually stronger Magic Beasts would have appeared already— but they hadn't.

Something weird and mysterious was going on.

***

(A/N: I really do have a bad naming sense. "Plio" is just "Pliosaurus" shortened with "Snow" added because it can swim in snow.)

(Words: 1624)