章 176: Kuro's Determination (Part 2)
Kuro blitzed through the hole he came from as the flock of Silver-banded eagles chased closely behind him. Two smaller eagles the size of a cow managed to squeeze themselves through the hole! Their shrill screeches echoed loudly within the underground cave, making the newly made hole started to crumble! There was a sign that the hole might collapse under the struggle of the two birds!
"Damn!"
Kuro dashed as fast as he could, but he was hounded by the first bird who was directly behind him. It prevented him from exiting the cave by snapping its beak repeatedly over his body with a mind for eating him. To the two cow-sized eagles, Kuro, who was currently in his camouflage form and subdued aura looked just like a tiny worm in their eyes.
Kuro managed to dodge in time to the side, but this had made him stuck between the first eagle and the second eagle who was directly behind it. The hole was too small for the two birds to stand side by side. As the second bird dove down to peck him, he shot through the bird's forehead like a fast-moving arrow, killing it in one go. The bird slumped down, with its brain matter leaking from the tiny hole.
"!!!"
The other eagle was so shocked by the sudden attack, it became more cautious immediately. This was the work of an expert! It knew that it could not contend against the unknown black snake, hence it must delay for time for the sake of reinforcement. It was convinced it could do it since the clan's expert only needed a few seconds to reach the bottom of the Gray-stoned mountain. Kuro tried to kill the other bird the same way, but it managed to stop Kuro's attack by sacrificing its left talons and reversing to the back. By this time, the other high-leveled Nobles had finally gathered outside the tiny hole made by the Forest Spirit. Both eagles successfully delayed Kuro enough to prevent him from running away.
Kuro spat arrogantly to the side after killing the second silver-banded eagle in anger. The bugger had stopped him from fleeing in time.
"Fine, I was trying to be nice since Mommy always told me to avoid confrontation. Now, you shitty birds are asking for it! Looking down on me, huh?!"
Kuro dashed out and met face-to-face with at least ten late-stage Nobles! While maintaining his size, he dashed about in between the deadly stomps and pecks of the birds. These birds were strong, with sharp talons and their large size. Nonetheless they were slow in Kuro's eyes.
Kuro was very agile. He ripped apart the leg of a bird as he maneuvered below it. The bird screeched in pain while it lost its balance, disturbing the other eagles' incoming attacks. Kuro took this chance to pierce through three of the birds' chests in a straight line simultaneously!
When Kuro reappeared a few meters away, both of his cheeks were chubby like a hamster! He spat out two deep blue cores with specks of silver from his mouth and smirked. It seemed that the tyrannical little snake gorged his victims' core when he pierced through their bodies.
"Jackpot!"
Kuro was just trying his luck. Since he had pierced through the head of the previous bird and could not find any core, he tried to check their chests now. The position of beast cores varied between species. However, the most common location was within the brain, heart, or a node at the abdomen (1).
[More cores to collect! Mommy will be happy!] Kuro laughed gleefully; at the moment, he was the embodiment of evil in the eyes of the eagles. Cores were the next best things besides Spirit Crystals and Spirit Herbs. However, cores were filled with impurities and could be unsuitable to a certain degree, especially when the beast who ingested it has an opposite attribute with the core. In contrast, if the core has the same attributes with the beast ingesting it, it could become a catalyst to enhance the beast's abilities to new heights.
Kuro glanced at the cores for a second and swallowed it back down. Looking at the characteristic of the core, it seemed that it might be metal-attributed; an attribute which was useless for him. But he knew that Mommy would love them since they looked so beautiful! Anything sparkly would be a good gift for Mommy; Kuro found that his Mistress loved shiny things like the dreaded Deathly Fire Ravens. In fact, he should take this opportunity to fetch a few more to make her happy!
As such, the lovable little snake turned into a devilish killing machine, massacring the remaining birds with ease using plain brute force. No techniques were needed whatsoever; the differences between their levels and his was like the heavens and earth. It was as if Kuro was a bullet which could change its course, burrowing into the hearts of the other eagles in search for more cores. Once he exited the body of a Silver-banded Eagle, brain matter, flesh, splashes of blood and gore spurted out while the life of the bird ended in a gruesome manner. The rain of blood had made Kuro entered a frenzied state; he totally forgot to run like how he planned before. He even swallowed some of the birds' carcasses. It has been so long since he last killed just for the sake of it.
By the eighth kill, Kuro could feel an incoming heavy aura approaching fast!
A late-stage Lord!
The furious Monarch was near! Beside it was the beautiful white Silver-banded Eagle; the owner of the broken egg, while behind him were tens of late-stage Nobles and early-stage Lords! Kuro would be outnumbered soon! It turns out, the white Silver-banded Eagle was one of the Monarch's missuses! The Forest Spirit unintentionally killed the Monarch's direct offspring!
Kuro was clueless with what was going on, but even if he did, he wouldn't have cared. Feeling the dreadful killing intent radiated from the whole bird clan, Kuro finally snapped out of the frenzied state and started to flee in a direction away from his own home.
[I need to move as fast as possible!] After killing the last Silver-banded Eagle, Kuro immediately dashed into the nearest clumps of trees and even burrowed into the wet soil in an attempt to camouflage himself. However, since the eagles were already hot on his trail, he couldn't shake them off.
[Ku-chan.]
While he was running for his life, he heard the soft voice of his Mistress.
The Monarch created hundreds of silver pikes as huge as a flagpole each, and threw them down like splashing concentrated shower over the place where it last saw the worm. The beautiful canopy-like arboreal trees were immediately reduced into smithereens. Kuro managed to dodge in time as he flew and change his direction a little. However, his tail was injured slightly. If the rain of silver pikes hit him head on, he could be seriously injured!
Kuro cleared his throat and tried to sound as normal as he could. Yes? Anything, Mommy?
Kuro dashed back towards the nearby mountain range, trying to find cover. At least, the boulder-like mountain could somehow hold out from the Monarch's crazy attacks for a while. The other Silver-banded Eagles attacked him from all sides with their razor-sharp wings! Their previous brown feathered wings and black talons were currently covered with silver; an obvious metal-strengthening technique.
The attacks missed a few times, though Kuro noticed that his defensive scales chipped. A couple more times, it could be lethal for him. He counterattacked but was being deflected by the silver-covered wings!
[Come home now.] Mommy rarely made such a direct order before. This was one of the few times she exerted her no-nonsense towards him.
[Why? I'm in the middle of something right now. Won't be home for a while.]
[I can see you at the moment.] A short and succinct statement made Kuro's heart skipped a beat.
[Come home now. We will face it together.]
[No. I don't think that's a good idea, Mommy. Currently, our home doesn't have the ability to withstand the incoming attacks from these birds. A large number of them are too strong for us. Fleeing and hiding for a while will be a better option. Just give me a few more days, Mommy. Then I'll come home with the Forest Spirit! That bugger is already in my grasp.]
[Return now. I don't care. Don't look down on your family.] Mommy's strict voice held a kind of power he couldn't oppose. Although Kuro was determined to steer clear from his lair's direction, he couldn't help himself from correcting it back towards his own home as he dodged multiple attacks from all sides.
…
Lord Fearsilver, who was the Monarch of the Silver-banded Eagles, wasn't very happy with the extra effort to exterminate a low-leveled scum who had made his most doted missus furious. Another egg could be made again soon, though, the resources needed to prime it will need to be collected again. Nonetheless, if he did nothing, not just the affection of his missus will be gone, he would lose his dignity along with his authority too. The subordinates will look down on him and lost their respect for him.
He summoned his Quicksilver Pike technique with grace and launched it over the filthy ashy black worm squirming in between tiny rocks. Hundreds of six-meter long silver pikes battered the surrounding. If they managed to hit the target, not even a corpse will be left, seeing how tiny the offending spirit worm was.
To Lord Fearsilver's surprise, the little worm managed to dodge the attack swiftly. It must be quite high-leveled. After he carefully scanned the creature, he was quite surprised again to find that this little worm was a Lord-level spirit beast. The Monarch's interest in eating the little worm increased exponentially.
[What luck, finding a lone Lord-level spirit beast! This king will finally be able to accumulate enough to reach half-step Imperial Lord soon!]
Although the scoundrel was rapidly disappearing through the woods after dodging his attack, the Monarch of the Silver-banded eagle was unperturbed. He unhurriedly spoke, "The two of you follow me, the rest of you, return to the lair and secure it well. I will have to accompany the Missus to avenge for the death of the babe. The Fire Ravens could invade us anytime. Elder Perr and Elder Rakk, bring along some low-tiered subordinates." He sniggered while looking at the disappearing snake condescendingly. He had already put a mark over the tiny worm.
"Will it be alright to bring the young ones over? How about if we replaced these younglings with older comrades?" Elder Perr inquired slowly. It couldn't detect the strength level of the offending creature, but its ability to rapidly kill Noble-tiered eagles showed that it has immense strength. Low-leveled subordinates were mostly spirit avian below the Noble-level. Bringing the low-leveled subordinates could potentially be a waste of time while exposing them to unnecessary danger.
"No need. Just follow this Monarch commands." Lord Fearsilver glared sharply at the Elder's insubordination tone. His orders were absolute, and he didn't really care about the lives of these low-leveled grunts. He had so many more at his disposal. Sparing a few to be cannon fodder in case of any emergencies was nothing.
"The little bastard is quite fast. Before the others come, he will be long gone. This guy is a loner, and is quite nutritious-looking. No one else but the Missus should deal with this one, alright?"
The rest nodded in comprehension as they soared towards the sky rapidly, following the mark left behind by the little worm.
Authors' Note:
(1) node at the abdomen = oo yes, it is the famed 'dantian' haha
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