Ch.5858. Griffin Cavalry

Anyway, having concluded to utilize cavalry, I began developing them according to that decision. The first step in this development plan was designing the monsters that the cavalry would ride.

And the foundation of that design is, naturally, determining which monster will serve as the base for the new monster I’ll create.

The conditions for selecting a base monster are extremely demanding.

It must possess excellent close combat abilities, be large enough to carry a rider, have high speed, be capable of flight, and have considerably high defense.

Obviously, there aren’t many monsters that satisfy all these conditions, but I possess the genetic information and data on most monsters existing in the northern Korean peninsula.

Therefore, by continuously narrowing down candidates that meet these strict requirements, I was able to ultimately narrow it down to four species.

First among these candidates is the familiar Owl Bear, or more precisely, a subspecies of the Owl Bear.

Unlike the original Owl Bear species, which merely resembles an owl in its head and upper body, this subspecies possesses owl wings enabling flight, along with excellent close combat abilities befitting its bear-like appearance.

However, this subspecies has one fatal flaw: since it’s essentially the original species with forcibly attached wings, its flight is quite slow and its aerial combat capabilities are clumsy.

As such, it has many shortcomings as a mount (騎獸) for cavalry that must face various enemies, so the Owl Bear subspecies was eliminated from consideration.

In contrast, the next monster, the Pegasus, unlike the Owl Bear subspecies, boasts fast flight speed and exceptional ground speed.

Additionally, it resembles horses that humans have been riding for thousands of years, allowing for the direct application of established cavalry tactics, and its unique psychic abilities could also be utilized, but…

On the other hand, Pegasus is at a disadvantage in close combat compared to other monsters. No matter how strong a horse might be, it can’t compare to a bear.

Therefore, I reluctantly gave up on the Pegasus and instead examined a particularly powerful monster called “Qiongqi” as a candidate.

Qiongqi. Unlike other candidates, it’s the only monster whose adult form grows to Grade 3, named after one of the Four Perils in mythology.

Like its mythological namesake, this monster appears as a massive black tiger with bat wings and ox horns, and is a rare monster that primarily appears in Northeast Asia.

In terms of combat power and speed, it’s powerful even among Grade 3 monsters, so downgrading it appropriately to Grade 4 would be ideal, but there’s one problem.

In the game, Qiongqi is known for its low appearance rate—so low that the notoriously rare Hunter Raptor is considered a common monster in comparison. In this world where game elements are actively applied, Qiongqi is second to none in terms of rarity.

Among the Four Perils (四凶獸) monsters—Hundun (混沌), Taotie (饕餮), Taowu (檮杌), and Qiongqi (窮奇)—which have appearance rates below 0.0001% (1/10,000), Qiongqi boasts the lowest rate with only five official recorded appearances.

Even then, only one specimen has been hunted by each of the Hunters who are presumed to be this world’s protagonists.

Therefore, I have virtually no way to acquire the genes of this rare monster, making Qiongqi impossible. Thus, I ultimately selected the Griffin, the last remaining candidate, as the base monster.

Griffin. A popular monster among the venerable original 50 species that have existed since the first edition, with numerous subspecies and variants such as Hawk Griffin and Hippogriff.

Of course, the basic original Griffin is a dignified and majestic medium-sized monster with an eagle’s upper body and a lion’s lower body.

The sharp eagle talons on its front legs easily tear through the hide of intermediate monsters, while its lion-like hind legs provide tremendous jumping power thanks to their enormous muscles, allowing it to traverse most cliffs without even needing to fly.

Additionally, the yellow beak on its eagle head possesses enough crushing power to dent mythril, and it can store air in air sacs located in its chest to release through gaps in its wing feathers for various uses.

It can expel air through the gaps in its large, beautiful wing feathers to increase speed, discharge air when swinging its talons to enhance power, swing its wings to fire blades of wind, and showcase various acrobatic maneuvers.

In other words, the Griffin is precisely the monster I wanted, so I finished modifying it with just a few adjustments.

Hive Griffin

Grade :: 4

Level :: 94

Stats

Strength :: 240

Agility :: 205

Vitality :: 265

Intelligence :: 35

Resistance :: 245

Energy :: 120

Leadership :: 0

Traits

Monster Gene(B), Predator(B), Hive Mind(B), Subjugation(EX), Bio Core(B), Exceptional Mount(B), Psychic Resistance(B), Close Combat Expert(C), Aerial Combat Expert(C), Tireless Stamina(C), Superhuman Strength(C), Synthetic Muscle Fiber(D), Super Regeneration(D)

Skills

Air Control(B), Advanced Martial Arts(C), Sprint(C), Flight(C), Charge(C)

Bio Weapons

Energy Claw(B), Air Blaster(C)

Since the Griffin was already evaluated as a highly complete monster, there wasn’t much I needed to modify.

However, in the process of strengthening it from Grade 5 to Grade 4, I increased its stats and added modest physical enhancement traits without significantly disrupting its balance.

Of course, there’s a possibility that without any irregular abilities, it might become too ordinary and end up as a mere punching bag of a monster, but that’s not particularly concerning.

The Hive Griffin only needs to fulfill its role as a mount (騎獸), and any need for irregularity can be addressed by equipping the rider with various weapons.

Hive Rider

Grade :: 4

Level :: 94

Stats

Strength :: 150

Agility :: 125

Vitality :: 165

Intelligence :: 135

Resistance :: 145

Energy :: 100

Leadership :: 150

Traits

Monster Gene(B), Predator(B), Hive Mind(B), Subjugation(EX), Bio Core(B), Intuition(B), Mounted Combat Expert(B), Shooting Expert(C), Close Combat Expert(C), Aerial Combat Expert(C), Skilled Rider(C), Superhuman Strength(C), Joint Tactics(C), Regeneration(C)

Skills

Advanced Weapon Mastery(B), Advanced Shooting(B), Tactics(B), Advanced Martial Arts(B), Advanced Riding(B)

Bio Weapons

None.

Hive Rider. This monster, created by mixing newly acquired Orc genes with those of Goblins, Orcs, Ogres, and various other humanoid monsters, cannot by any stretch be described as having a good appearance.

With a face that looks like a distorted mix of human and lizard, dirty mottled skin, and scales growing irregularly across its body.

Despite having an appearance that seems designed around the concept of ugliness, this 3.5-meter tall humanoid monster is surprisingly ordinary.

Except for being accustomed to mounted combat, it isn’t specialized in any particular area and doesn’t possess any special abilities, having been created with the premise of using various weapons.

Paradoxically, the Hive Rider is closer to a Hunter (player) than any other monster, making it perfect for applying various military information collected through different methods.

Therefore, these humanoid monsters compensate for their lack of individuality by using various bio-weapons, much like Hunters do.

For example, the 4-meter powered suits that all of them wear are packed with psychic barrier functions, force field amplification, and various convenience features such as detoxification and night vision, as well as synthetic muscle fibers for physical enhancement.

Additionally, each Hive Rider is issued one lance, two melee weapons, two ranged weapons, and one heavy weapon. To ensure adaptability in various environments, each weapon belongs to a different category.

If a plasma fist is chosen as a melee weapon, no other plasma weapons can be used, and conversely, if a plasma pistol is chosen as a ranged weapon, no other plasma weapons can be used.

A normal army would face supply issues with such diverse weaponry, but Hive Riders are different.

As proper Grade 4 intermediate monsters, their bio-weapons all draw energy from their own bio cores, eliminating concerns about reloading or procurement.

Theoretically, as long as the bio core holds up and doesn’t overheat, they could fire a laser machine gun (ranged weapon) all day without issue.

Anyway, now that the cavalry I’ve been desperately wanting has been organized and the newly acquired territory is approaching stabilization, I must finally confront them.

‘…Can I do it?’

The strongest monster in the modern Korean peninsula, based in Pyongyang. The Grade 0 Hive Mind.