I PICKED UP A CHILD IN A DUMPSTER-Chapter 47: Hybrid vs Weird sprout.

***

Infront of the tower.

As usual no matter how far back I leaned my head, the tower vanished straight into the gray sky like it stabbed through the world itself.

And at its base the snow melted. Disappear.

I laughed sofly. "As USUAL."

We ran toward the tower.

Boreas slowed as we reached the circular boundary where snow still covered the ground—

but beyond it, the ground was bare.

He stopped.

I jumped down from his back.

"Wait," I said.

I walked forward slowly, feet crunching against the last thin layer of snow.

The white snow thinned with every step until the ground beneath turned dark and bare— still cold...

Snowflakes dropped unto the part where the ground doesn’t have snow. It hissed and disappeared immediately.

I stopped right at the edge, my foot hovering where the snow ended completely, as if an invisible line divided a two different worlds.

Then I took a step forward—

A red circle ignited around the tower.

「You have returned to your Safe Zone, Si Hon. Reward will be sent shortly.」

"...Yeah," I muttered.

I looked back.

Boreas stepped across the red line.

Nothing happened.

Nivalis followed right after.

"Wow... this is new..." the woman murmured from above Boreas.

Nivalis staggered toward the tower the moment she entered the circle— then collapsed beside its base, her massive body finally giving in.

The woman carried Arven and Hana down.

"Well, first..." she said, glancing around.

A single tent.

A dead campfire.

Nothing else.

"...This place is Ass, this is terrible," she muttered.

"Hey. It’s a Safe Zone," I replied.

She clicked her tongue.

"Fine. Where do I put this woman?"

I walked toward the tent, my eyes drifting around the quiet clearing.

As usual, the torn clothes from the first time I met the Frosthowl in the real world were still scattered on the ground.

I will clean that later.

My gaze shifted to the campfire I had built— the place where I cooked the mole-rat before.

Beside it sat Nivalis, with Boreas now resting quietly next to her, and Sixxy curled in between them like a silent guardian.

"Here."

I opened the tent.

"Inside. Lay her down."

"Alright."

She ducked in, set Arven carefully, then came back out after a short rustle of fabric.

"Dad," Hana said softly, "I’ll watch over Arven."

I nodded.

"Okay. Don’t wake her."

BANG.

Hana flinched, then went inside the tent.

Something massive slammed against the air above us— The Frosthowl.

It hadn’t hit the tower.

It struck an invisible wall surrounding the red circle.

The barrier rippled like disturbed water.

The red line on the ground flickered faintly.

"That scared me." I whispered.

Above, a giant green sprout pierced through the foggy sky and dragged the Frosthowl back into the sky.

The woman suddenly sprinted toward the tower—

Then she ran straight up the wall.

Not climbing or jumping. She was running.

Her feet pressed against the vertical stone as if like she’s a ninja.

Step after step carried her higher until she stopped several meters above us and placed a hand against the surface.

"What... is she doing?" I muttered.

"And how the hell is she walking up there...?"

BANG!

The Frosthowl was hurled toward us again.

It crashed unto the invisible barrier—

BOOOOM.

The impact spread across the unseen wall in a circular shockwave,

It was like when you put your arm in a bucket and the water rippled violently.

Then the sprout seized it again and dragged it back into the fog.

"...Damn," I breathed.

"The Frosthowl’s getting bullied."

Suddenly—

Another BOOM.

The fog across the mountain tore apart.

The woman dropped from the wall, landed beside me, then grabbed my shoulder and pulled me upward as she ran along the tower again.

"!?"

"You need to see this."

She suddenly ran toward the tower again.

Instead of stopping, she stepped straight onto the wall again! then kept running upward.

She didn’t slow down until she was far above the ground.

I stood there, stiff, my body refusing to move as I watched her climb higher and higher.

Then she stopped.

High above—

The Frosthowl roared.

The green sprout binding it melted away...

and something tore open from its back.

Wings.

"...Shit," the woman whispered.

"Did it just evolve? What the hell is happening lately...

Extinct monsters appearing... pla#u## spreading... and now this!?"

My eyes locked on the Frosthowl.

It hovered in the gray sky.

Its throat began to glow red orange.

The air trembled as the light intensified.

For a moment, it looked like it was aiming downward...

toward the green sprout below that was STRETCHING.

Then—

"Shit," the woman muttered. "Dude, I think it just looked at us."

"Huh!?!" I immediately said.

The Frosthowl’s head slowly turned.

And the burning light in its throat aligned—

straight at us.

"Fuck!" she swore.

A torrent of blazing breath came crashing down— And stopped.

The invisible barrier caught it.

Flames spread across its surface like a fire striking a glass, scattering in violent waves that should have shattered everything— yet nothing broke...

The blaze twisted, struggled...

then was swallowed whole.

Silence fell.

She went completely still.

"...What?"

Her voice dropped to a whisper.

"How can this barrier block a Frosthowl’s dragon breath...?"

She stared at the red circle below.

"...This might be one of the Ten Strongest Barriers I’ve ever seen."

Ten?

Then, just as the Frosthowl drew in another breath to unleash a second wave of fire, something moved within the trees below.

Green light flickered between the trunks— thin at first, almost fragile— before a sprout suddenly burst upward from the forest floor.

It was yanked down by an unseen force, only to be hurled violently into the sky like a spear of living vines.

The Frosthowl halted midair, its wings flapping once... twice... thrice holding its massive body suspended above the sky.

Its chest expanded.

A deep, burning glow gathered in its throat.

And then— it fired.

A massive blazing breath crashed toward the rising green sprout, swallowing the sky in orange flame.

But at the last possible moment, the sprout twisted aside, barely escaping incineration.

Instead of retreating, it surged forward— stretching, multiplying, thickening— until countless vines wrapped around the Frosthowl’s legs, its torso, its arms... even coiling toward its neck like a chain, rope.

The Frosthowl roared.

The sound tore through the air, violent and deafening, shaking the snow.

"That dude is fucking loud," the woman muttered beside me. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"Yeah," I said quietly. "It really is."

"But this is kind of intense."

I just nodded.

Then a sharp crack echoed from above.

From the creature’s head, a horn suddenly forced its way out— growing fast, jagged and brutal.

With a violent thrust, the Frosthowl drove the horn straight into the mass of vines wrapped around its body, stabbing deep and wrenching its head sideways until the sprout’s grip loosened just enough.

"Horn?" the woman said, eyes narrowing. "Then that Frosthowl must be a girl."

Before I could respond, the Frosthowl lunged forward and bit down on the writhing green mass, tearing a huge portion free while still clutching the rest around her body.

With a powerful flap of her wings, it shot upward— higher and higher— until both monster and sprout disappeared beyond the clouds.

For a brief moment...

there was only silence.

And at that moment, the woman suddenly unsheathed her katana.

With a swift motion, she drove the blade straight into the stone of the tower’s surface and stepped onto the hilt as if it were solid ground.

Then she pulled free the empty sheath and stabbed it into the stone feet away from the sword, fixing both in place.

For a brief second, nothing happened.

Then she began to chant— slowly, quietly, in a language I couldn’t understand.

Between the embedded katana and its sheath, a faint yellow glow flickered into existence.

At first it was no bigger than a spark.

Then it widened, stretching into a thin plane of light— steady, warm, and strangely calm compared to the chaos we’re watching.

She lowered herself onto the glowing space as if sitting on an invisible seat suspended in midair... and before I could react, she pulled me down with her.

My body dropped suddenly—

only to land against something soft.

Her lap, thighs, soft.

"What the heck!?" I blurted out, completely caught off guard.

"Shh," she murmured, her voice close to my ear. "Don’t worry. You’re pretty light."

There was a small pause... then a teasing softness slipped into her tone.

"And... aren’t my thighs soft and comfortable? So let’s just watch."

My thoughts froze.

The battle in the sky, the burning mountain, the impossible magic— all of it vanished for a split second, replaced by pure, stunned silence.

Then— before I could respond.

A colossal pillar of fire erupted from above the clouds and crashed downward toward the mountain, aimed directly at the green sprout below.

The entire Snowfall Mountain trembled.

Just enough to shake it a bit.

From the forest, from beneath the snow, from cracks in the frozen earth— sprouts emerged.

One.

Ten.

Hundreds.

Thousands.

An endless sea of green surged upward, stretching toward the sky until they wove themselves together into a massive living shield.

"Woah!!!" She shouted.

The descending fire slammed into it.

It hissed.

It burned.

Parts of it split apart and withered instantly.

But the sprouts did not stop growing.

They kept rising.

Layer after layer.

Wave after wave.

Until, at last... the fire vanished.

Silence returned to the mountain once more.

I slowly realized something else—

The thick fog covering half of Snowfall Mountain had been blown away, revealing distant lands I had never seen before.