From Player To Npc

Chapter 164: Bird hunting

The first beast they planned to face was the one that was the trickiest for a few, the Eagles. They were the only ones that could fly, making them hard to catch unless you could fly or have some accurate high-range attack. However, their abilities to maneuver were top-notch.

They could also use Air Element mana from the moment they got created, which was rare for Beast-related monsters. They mostly used it to boost their speed and maneuver abilities, but there were cases of some casting actual Spells like a TORNADO towards their victims.

Their lair was actually in a mountain since this floor was ten times larger than any of the previous ones. So the energy used on each floor would just increase from now on, making either the monsters stronger or the floor larger, or both sometimes.

The Eagles were also the ones with the highest INT among the beasts, and most times didn't take part in the battle of who will be the next Boss or answering the summoning of the current one.

Ameanum always dealt with them when he was around, as many had survived through floors reset, had multiple modifications, and increased their chance of evolving. Of course, since they actually didn't work for the Boss, their earnings were limited, but it was the slow, safe way.

On the way to the mountain, they encountered a few groups of beasts, mostly wolves, that seemed to be out for hunting.

"Do you think the current Boss is a wolf? They all seem to have similar modifications." [Mizuneko]

"I don't think so. The groups seem to be well made." [Shingi]

The Boss had to spend his energy on those modifications, and he used it per beast and not type of beast. In most cases, you would encounter groups with one or two having modifications, and most times would be of the kind of the Boss.

But now, all the groups of wolves they had encountered seemed to have similar modifications. Every group member got modified, but not all had the same, but each group had the same variety. It was like someone had actually decided what each one would take to make the groups, which was a sign of higher INT than expected.

That was another reason Shingi wanted to go to the mountains to investigate if one of the Eagles was the Boss. However, if it were the case, he would have to leave for the rest of the lairs first; otherwise, he would continue their attack.

The Eagles may not answer to the Boss most of the time, but they would still report any strange activities, and they were among the best scouts one could wish for. Shingi needed his enemies to be blind to what he was doing for as long as possible.

As for the Eagles asking for help, he doubted to be the case, as they seemed too proud to do that. Instead, they were too proud of their ability to escape.

Shingi cast CAMOUFLAGE on his party when they almost reached the mountain. It wasn't to hide from the Eagle but the scouts of the other beasts. He knew that possibly even his INVISIBILITY would be useless against the Eagle's eyes, but the other beasts wouldn't be that good. He knew that there always were scouts for the Eagles since they were 'rebellious.' Killing those scouts would draw too much attention, so they went for the sneaky way.

Fortunately, everyone picked up a few things over STEALTH the past weeks, even if at most times they weren't trying to hide, so they reached the mountain path easily enough.

The path was rough but not as rough to climb as the one they found An at.

Syra had no problem, as she could just make herself smaller to be carried by An, as she didn't seem to want anyone else to carry her. She seemed to have become closer to everyone, but Shingi understood she looked forward to returning home.

He wished he could find a way to get her at home, which would mean he could get Annoue, too, without facing Mikhail. He was curious about his mother, if that was actually her and not a trick of Mikhail, but his focus was mostly on the tasks at hand, and she wasn't one.

He hoped more SCRY tries would work in the future, and he actually decided not to overuse it since it seemed to use his Spirit Mana without him noticing.

Going up the mountain, everything was normal and quiet until they started finding empty nests with broken shells of eggs. There were different sizes of eggs, and the highest on the mountain, they got the biggest the shells until they reached a little over half the size of Shingi.

Shingi had seen nothing like that, as even if Eagles in the past made nests, there were never eggs in them.

'Could it be because nobody killed them all this time?' [Shingi]

He never encountered multiple generations of beast monsters on a floor that was already cleared once. Even if, in theory, for the monsters to get reproduced was possible, but most times, they just didn't have enough time. But even if they got reproduced, the floor could have a certain amount of monsters in it, meaning the oldest and weakest ones would die to give space to the newest and strongest.

But inspecting the eggs, Shingi soon understood that they weren't broken because what was inside it was ready to get out, but somebody destroyed them before that happened. There were remains of the unborn at a few, now dead and unfinished eagle babies.

There were no tracks or signs of battle, which was quite weird. No signs of Eagles being around either, but they still hadn't reached the top of the mountain.

"Is this a normal sign?" [Syra]

The path up the mountain was more walkable, so she didn't need to be carried.

"No, it isn't. Which brings the questions of who is behind this?" [Shingi]

"Could it be that Old Dude behind it again?" [Hineko]

Shingi started thinking about what Mikhail could earn from something like that, and the more he thought about it, the less he thought he could be the one behind it. The Eagles were fascinating creatures, but he was confident that they weren't that great for someone like Mikhail. The possible samples of them weren't that great.

"Let's focus on our way ahead and our surroundings for now. We may find some clues." [Shingi]

They moved and encountered more nests and broken eggs, and the higher they got there seemed the fewer eggs they encountered. But Shingi could find signs of some being here. It seemed someone was moving them, but Shingi couldn't find any tracks suggesting that.

This could mean two things. Either the ones behind it were good at hiding their tracks or weren't leaving any tracks. Shingi doubted there was only one person behind it unless Mikhail actually was the one behind it.

At a point, they reached a huge nest, as big as a football stadium. In the middle of it, there was an enormous egg covering at least half the nest. This was like nothing that Shingi had ever seen.

The egg was unharmed, with now even a single crack on it, at least from what Shingi and the rest could tell, as they couldn't see it all without having to walk around it.

"Don't tell me that this is supposed to be an Eagle egg." [Wild Tycoon]

"It looks like the rest." [Mizuneko]

Other than the size difference, it was identical to the other eggs. So Shingi focused his detection skills on it and found that the egg drew Tower's Energy in the middle of it like it tried to feed itself.

"We should destroy it. If that creature actually gets born, it has to be stronger than anything here." [Wild Tycoon]

She had her axe at hand and was ready to take a swing, but Shingi stopped her by putting his hand in front of her.

"We can't kill an unborn baby. Monster or not, it has done no wrong." [Shingi]

"Then what? We should just wait for it to start causing havoc before we deal with it?" [Wild Tycoon]

"Of course not. But there are other ways to deal with a situation. Killing and violence isn't always the solution." [Shingi]

He walked closer to the egg and put his hand over its shell. He closed his eyes, and as he activated their special ability, he started focusing on 'feeding' his Spirit Mana to the egg. The Tower was the owner of each monster because its energy created them, but what would happen if it wasn't the case.

He was going to let it be born by using his Spirt Mana to strengthen it to the point of getting out of its egg. This would create a bond with it to recognize him as his master, or so he hoped. He didn't know how much energy he needed to give or how much energy the Tower had given, but if things went wrong, dealing with that monster while it still was newborn wouldn't be a challenge. Every monster needed time to adjust to its body.

As he kept feeding the egg his Spirit Mana, he tried to see what would happen if he tried to feed it any of his other Elements. It only accepted his Air Element, which was expected, so he started feeding it with both Spirit and Air Mana.

As time passed, the egg was getting smaller, and as it reached half its size, it started cracking. After that, it continued to get smaller until it was a little over two meters in height and stopped over there, as it only continued producing more cracks on its surface.

As the cracks became a little wider, some blueish mist started getting out of it.

Then the eggshell started producing bright blue light, which lasted for a few seconds but was bright enough to make everyone close their eyes and look away, or they could get blind.

When the light was gone, and everyone opened their eyes again, they noticed a creature in front of Shingi, where the egg was.

This creature was a black feather chicken.