Rebirth of the Prime Dragon Master
Chapter 134 New Danger

The reason why Rocky went back to the Maze Forest was because he wanted to confirm his speculations that the spirit-manipulated beast killed by Evan was not the same spirit-manipulated beast that hunted the sixth squad. It was different in size and there was no knife wound on its forearm which meant that there could be two spirit-manipulated beasts of the same category that attacked the three squads.

Something really troubled him about the spirit-manipulated beast that hunted them the previous night. He had a bald guess so he went to see for himself in order to confirm his theory. Although he wanted to know if his speculations were right, he was still concerned about going back to the Maze Forest because he knew how dangerous it was. The fact that his extraordinary strength was at the Earthly Stage gave him a lot of courage. Additionally, he also knew that the spirit-manipulated beast had already been wounded by him and it made him much more confident that this journey would be relatively less dangerous.

Once he entered the Maze Forest, Rocky retraced his steps quickly to get to where he distracted that spirit-manipulated beast. It was near the mud pool where Zander and the others hid last night. Rocky spotted a trail of blood along the way which he believed was from the wounded spirit- manipulated beast. He decided to follow the trail in hopes of finding the whereabouts of the spirit- manipulated beast. Last night, Rocky used Zander and the others’ clothes to draw the attention of the spirit-manipulated beast. Upon seeing the spot where he threw the clothes and the trail of blood, Rocky spotted a small cave where a regular person could barely fit.

Weeds sprung outside the cave as they partially hid the entrance and made it difficult to find it without observing very closely. It seemed as if the spirit-manipulated beast knew clearly how to find a safe spot to hide and recover. If Rocky had not looked carefully, he would definitely have missed the spot.

Although he knew that the spirit-manipulated beast was wounded, Rocky did not enter the cave recklessly. He waited outside the cave as he wished to get a peep on any movement inside. To his disappointment, it was extremely quiet inside the cave. Even the grass and trees that flourished were all motionless and did not show anything that could be helpful to Rocky's investigation. Rocky started to believe that the spirit-manipulated beast might've been searching for food. He approached the cave cautiously with light steps as he entered the opening.

The moment he entered the cave, he found that there was another world hidden inside the cave. Compared to its exterior cramped with springing weeds and flourishing trees, it was much more spatial on the inside. Furthermore, the ground inside the cave was slightly higher with the entire cave and it consisted of rocks that were warm and dry. It was a perfect place to use as a nest and it was good for living and was very hard to spot. “Those two spirit-manipulated beasts sure know how to pick a good spot.’ Rocky thought to himself.

The cave was not that big. Rocky could already see the end of it after walking for about a dozen steps. With the dim light from outside, Rocky saw a semi-circle area of rocks fully covered with foliage which were mostly stained with blood. Rocky was a little surprised when he saw a figure lying on top of the area with its belly up. It was obviously swelled up. Judging from its weak howling sound and aura, Rocky could tell that it didn't have much time left.

Rocky looked closely and found that the dying spirit-manipulated beast was the same one that hunted them the previous night. He could tell by the bloody knife wound on its forearm. It seemed like the spirit-manipulated beast wouldn't last much longer due to its loss of blood.

Rocky squinted and grew soft from the bottom of his heart. He hesitated for a moment before he began to walk slowly towards the wounded spirit-manipulated beast.

At that moment, the spirit-manipulated beast sensed the aura of a nearby intruder. It suddenly opened its red eyes and stared at Rocky while giving a cat-like howl despite its ferocious look. However, it did not have the strength to move. It appeared to be using its stare as a desperate attempt to scare Rocky away.

Rocky was unmoved by this as he continued to approach the beast. The spirit-manipulated beast realized that it could not scare him off and that Rocky was getting closer and closer so it struggled to stand up but to no avail. It suddenly showed deep fear as it curled up into a ball as if it was trying to protect something important. It moved slightly but it howled as if it was under extreme pain. Its belly was squirming as if something was moving inside.

"Just as I thought. This is a pregnant spirit-manipulated beast and it looks like it's already going through labor. Maybe it is because of the wound it sustained last night. It had lost so much blood that it no longer has the strength to give birth to its cub.” Rocky took another look at the spirit- manipulated beast and confirmed that it was definitely the same one as he had also found that something was a little out of place with its inflated belly last night. At that time, he had only thought that the spirit-manipulated beasts of this category looked this way. However, after inspecting the same spirit-manipulated beast that had been killed, he realized that the spirit-manipulated beast with a big belly was probably a female and was different from that one.

The two spirit-manipulated beasts was a couple. They might've built their nest in the Maze Forest for the female's labor. The attack on the convoy and the town was to gather food so that they would have enough sustenance until the end of the labor.

Yesterday, when the three squads appeared at the Maze Forest, they had clearly been detected by the two spirit-manipulated beasts. They were threatened by the three squads so they acted accordingly. They attacked them in hopes of repelling them by instilling fear in their minds.

After clearing his thoughts, Rocky walked towards the spirit-manipulated that was currently undergoing hard labor and started to examine its current condition.

However, the spirit-manipulated beast was still trying to scare Rocky off by keeping him away with its fangs and claws. It was extremely hostile towards him.

"Although I won't be able to save you today, I could still have a try and save your baby if you would let me." Rocky knew that the spirit-manipulated beast could no longer harm him so he cared not for its actions and caressed its head tenderly instead.

The spirit-manipulated beast suddenly blinked its eyes as they flashed a light of hope. It was as if it could understand what Rocky just said. Its red eyes were glued on Rocky and it held out its tongue to lick his hand. What used to look ferocious and fearsome just turned into a meek animal that was very friendly to Rocky in hopes that he could save its baby.

Rocky had many similar experiences regarding hard labor as he had done multiple experiments of changing the gene of an embryo while it was still inside of its mother's womb. And such experiments led to high percentages of hard labors of mother animals, which was the reason why he was as good as a veterinarian that specialized in delivery.

After a thorough examination, Rocky found that it was in bad shape as it had already been in labor for a long time and the cub could suffocate in the womb of its mother. The spirit-manipulated beast did not have any strength left for a natural labor so Rocky did not have any other choice but to cut it open to get its baby. However once opened up, the chances of the spirit-manipulated beast surviving would definitely decrease to nothing.

At that moment, the spirit-manipulated beast twitched in pain as its red eyes were still glued on Rocky as if it was trying to tell Rocky that it knew the condition it was in. It then looked at Rocky affectionately as if it was trying to say something to Rocky.

"I know. I understand and I will try my best. I am going to save your child. But it might be painful for you and I'm not sure if you could survive it." Rocky looked at it tenderly. The only way was to cut it open and deliver the baby directly from its belly. Otherwise, if this labor lasted any longer, Rocky wouldn't be able to save the baby as well.

The spirit-manipulated beast flipped its body as it lied sideways, revealing its belly to Rocky and curling up its extremities as if it was prepared for what was about to come next.

Rocky fetched his Frozen Wind Dagger and looked at the spirit-manipulated beast that was blinking at him constantly. Without further ado, Rocky used the Frozen Wind Dagger to carefully and slowly slit open its belly. The moment he did, blood gushed out from the opening and stained the grass underneath its body.

The spirit-manipulated beast howled in pain as it was refraining itself from moving too much so that Rocky would have less trouble in making the delivery. It was shaking violently yet it did not move an inch.

After Rocky made his incision, he reached his hands down into the opening and found the baby that felt like a pile of flesh and body tissues. He then held it out carefully with both of his hands. The baby spiritual beast was covered in blood and its eyes were still closed. It was very small, even smaller than Uriah when Rocky first met it and it could be held with a single hand.