Free Web NovelChapter 17: Skin
The blonde woman had been kidnapped by the Forest Chameleon.
That meant this place was the chameleon’s nest.
Mateo had never expected things to turn out like this. Instead of finding the Forest Chameleon, he had stumbled upon its lair.
The chameleon would definitely return.
"Mm..." Suddenly, the blonde-haired woman let out a faint sound.
Her lips moved slightly. It looked like she was trying to open her eyes, but she seemed far too weak to even lift her eyelids.
Mateo raised his hand toward her. But just as he was about to release his Life Element to heal her, he was startled by a faint sound from above.
His gaze immediately shot toward the hole.
The large, multicolored head of the chameleon suddenly appeared and descended into the underground chamber.
Its eyes widened when it saw someone there, then its expression quickly turned furious.
Shua!
It leaped down.
At that moment, Mateo realized it did not recognize him.
Otherwise, it should have fled immediately.
Mateo did not know whether he should kill it or not.
Since the Baron wanted it alive, there was probably some benefit to keeping the creature alive.
Unable to decide, Mateo chose not to attack. Instead, he released flames around the area, sealing every possible escape route.
The chameleon, which had been about to charge at him, abruptly stopped, clearly shocked by the sea of fire surrounding them.
The flames did not even look hot.
But as a monster, the chameleon could sense the danger. It seemed to finally recognize the same fire that had forced it to flee before.
Fear immediately appeared on its face.
One of its hands suddenly waved awkwardly.
To Mateo, it looked like a signal of surrender.
He did not know how to respond.
After thinking for a moment, he opened the Phone Menu inside the System.
Back in class, he had brought his phone with him and kept it in his pocket. Naturally, the System had detected it and allowed him to access it.
Even his internet connection still worked.
The System screen displayed the contents of Mateo’s phone.
He opened the Magic World forum provided by the Magic World Company and typed "Forest Chameleon" into the search bar.
Since the Baron wanted to capture it, there had to be something valuable about this creature.
Mateo wanted information before deciding what to do.
Sure enough, rows of AI-generated images of the Forest Chameleon appeared on the screen. They looked extremely similar to the one before him, though not completely identical.
The forum AI summarized information from various posts and comments.
The Forest Chameleon was a Boss Monster that was not skilled in combat, but its abilities to hide and escape were among the best.
It preferred wandering around and disliked conflict, so it rarely attacked humans.
However, the Forest Chameleon was often hunted because its skin could be turned into clothing that mimicked its camouflage abilities.
The catch was that the skin had to be removed while it was still alive. If the monster died first, the ability would dissipate into energy.
This was a general rule when harvesting special monster parts—they had to be taken while the creature was alive.
Mateo looked back at the chameleon.
A monster was still a monster, and after reading the information, he realized the creature was simply trying to escape by pretending to look pitiful.
But how was he supposed to capture it?
Although his Life Element could produce trees, he could not actually control them. The trees were merely a side effect of the element itself.
"Give me all of your skin, and I’ll heal you with my Life Element. It’ll grow back, and I’ll make sure you won’t feel much pain," Mateo said.
According to the information he had read, Boss Monsters could understand human language.
Hearing those words, the chameleon visibly trembled.
Even though it knew Mateo’s Life Element was extraordinary and capable of healing its wounds while regrowing its skin, the special ability within the skin itself would not recover instantly.
That power could only regenerate slowly over time.
"You don’t have a choice," Mateo added.
Several fire ghosts appeared around him once again, rapidly growing larger.
The entire underground chamber was sealed off by flames, and finally the chameleon lowered its head until it hit the ground before opening its mouth wide, as if asking for something to be fed into it.
Mateo understood immediately.
It wanted his Life Element.
Since it had agreed, Mateo did not hold back.
Buzz!
He sent a large amount of Primordial Life Element into its mouth.
The moment it swallowed the energy, the chameleon’s face twisted into pure bliss. Saliva even dripped from its mouth.
Rip!
A tearing sound echoed through the chamber.
Mateo watched as the chameleon’s skin split apart.
It was actually shedding its skin by itself.
Bit by bit, the colorful layer peeled away from its body, revealing red flesh underneath. ƒreewebɳovel.com
Even so, the chameleon did not seem to feel any pain.
A new layer of skin soon appeared, but it was only a dull yellowish-green instead of the vibrant multicolored skin from before.
Thud! Thud!
The massive rainbow-colored skin fell heavily onto the ground.
Although the Forest Chameleon was smaller than most monsters, it was still quite large, standing around one meter tall when upright.
Mateo quickly grabbed the skin and stored it inside his Inventory.
DING!
(You have obtained a complete set of Forest Chameleon Skin and earned 50 System Points for forcing the chameleon to surrender it!)
[System Points: 50]
[Inventory:]
(Class A Weapon ×2)
(Spiritual Neon)
(Mastery Orb Tier 1)
(Forest Chameleon Skin)
The notification appeared immediately afterward.
Mateo froze for a moment because the bonus points were unexpectedly high.
After shedding its skin, the chameleon looked refreshed due to the excessive amount of Primordial Life Element it had consumed.
Within a week, it would probably recover completely, but for now, it could no longer truly be called a Forest Chameleon.
Whoosh!
Mateo withdrew all of his flames.
Whoosh!
The chameleon instantly leaped up through the hole above and fled at lightning speed.
Mateo could only laugh as he watched it disappear.
He then turned back toward the blonde-haired woman.
If his control over his flames had not improved so much, the woman would never have been able to lie there unharmed.
Mateo suddenly became curious whether helping her would also reward him with points.
He sent Life Element into her body, and it was absorbed automatically.
Within just a few seconds, she visibly recovered.
Mateo stopped before she fully opened her eyes.
DING!
(You gained 5 System Points for healing the Baron’s wife!)
[System Points: 55]
The notification appeared just as the woman opened her eyes.
She immediately sat up and looked at Mateo.
But instead of feeling relieved, Mateo felt slightly irritated.
The woman’s gaze resembled that of a noble looking down on a servant.
"Take me back to Cloud Valley Town. I’ll reward you for saving me," she said.
