The morning light was dim and hazy, and the thin mist drifting through the forest seemed to carry a faint blue-green glow.
The lush bushes shook violently as a huge head slowly rose from among the fern leaves.
It was a gigantic, oddly shaped sheep beast.
Unlike the weak members of its species raised by intelligent beings on ranches, its appearance was exceptionally wild and primitive.
Standing nearly two meters at the shoulder, with thick brown-gray wool, it looked from a distance like a massive boulder standing in the forest. Its cold, rectangular pupils gazed down from an almost elevated vantage point at the predators that appeared fierce below.
The most distinctive feature of its body was the pair of enormous ramming horns atop its head. They curled upward from both sides of its jawbones before bending inward as they continued to grow.
The rough, deeply furrowed surfaces of the horns were covered in sturdy vines with a strange gray-green hue.
The vines seemed to have formed some kind of symbiotic relationship with it. They extended downward into the depths of its wool, dotted with tender white buds the size of fingernails, while several thin tendrils hung down beside the giant sheep's ears from their upper ends.
The Vine-Horned Sheep was a rare sheep-like creature that usually dwelled in forests and hilly environments.
Its most recognizable characteristic was the pair of enormous curved horns entwined with vines.
After special processing, the vines on its curved horns could be added to several purification potions that removed curses, greatly enhancing their potency. As a result, they had long sold for a decent price on the market.
Except during mating season, Vine-Horned Sheep usually traveled alone. Although they were fairly docile by nature, their enormous bodies—whose shoulders alone rose above an average person's