First of the promised bonus chapters, let's roll!
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/BOOOM!/
Dale and the Opicus bird clashed in the sky, and at the same moment, an explosion resounded as they both crashed onto the ground at high speeds.
From the outsiders' perspective, it seemed as if the bird had successfully pinned Dale down, likely dealing significant damage all at once!
This obviously drew some concern from the depths of their hearts, Muddan included, but they had confidence in the boy, given how their expressions weren't those of worry.
Tina more than them all believed Dale would have no difficulty defeating this enemy, as she trained him and observed his growth personally...
Though... She couldn't help but feel a certain tug somewhere in her chest, after all, hadn't she once felt like this?
Confidence in someone else, only to be betrayed by their corpse?
In any case, due to the dust and smoke from the impact, it was hard to determine the outcome of their short confrontation.
/Shake…/
So as the seconds passed and everyone awaited silently for the result, something seemed to shake from within the dust, making it move gently…
"Urg... I'm not doing this again… Curses…" Dale grunted as he pushed aside the massive body of the Opicus bird
It wasn't that heavy, barely 100 kg, he would've been able to lift it even before he started training a year ago…
Although even that was impressive, since even for its size, being so heavy was already an affront to nature.
Maybe that was due to its more developed muscles and thick layers of feathers, this was a bird that fought constantly and was in no way fragile...
But even those thick layers of feathers akin to metal sheats were unable to stop his Spear.
/Drip.../
Because the bird now had a large hole in its forehead where a spear could be seen stuck, dripping blood from its end onto the ground.
When it dived, it became a fight between its beak and Dale's spear, and the result was obvious.
The moment the bird was about to collide with him, Dale moved slightly to the side, evading the beak and successfully piercing its head with his spear.
Albeit, even if the bird died immediately upon diving into him, its body still carried immense momentum, plunging him onto the earth like a comet/
The impact itself didn't hurt him much, though he should be thankful he fell onto soft dirt and not sharp rocks...
Still, with dirt and blood on his clothes, Dale felt awful.
"Can we go now?" He asked as he turned to look at them, clearly looking a bit frustrated
/Shake/
But Tina shook her head, pointing above.
"There's still one left… Two minutes… Two minutes one second…" She said with a sly smile
"You're still counting?!" Dale exclaimed as he looked at her from afar
"..."
She did not reply.
"Sigh…"
'She's so stubborn...'
'And this System is even more annoying!'
Dale turned around, ignoring the System notifications playing in his head as he focused his gaze on his prize above.
…
/Caw…/
"..."
Atop the tall tree, seeing its mate lying motionless on the ground, the female Opicus bird kept cawing in a low tone, as if trying to get a reaction from it.
But she did not move to help or confirm its state, remaining in her spot as she tilted her head outside of the next, looking at Dale as he slowly floated to her position using Caldgolg.
/Caw…/
Hearing her weak calls and serene gaze made Dale feel a bit sad, but so was life, there wasn't much he could do about it.
In the first place, this bird did not belong to this place as it was a deep forest dweller, its sole presence here was already a severe disruption of the environment's stability.
Though there was no way for him to have known that... He would have to ask the others to learn such a fact.
By being here, it was obvious what had previously happened...
It had not found a suitable spot to lay eggs, so it had to move further away.
The Weak was forced around by the Strong, that was the simple law of nature.
"!"
/CAW!/
/FLAP!/
With Dale now eye to eye with the grandiose bird, it tried to scare him one last time by puffing its body and flapping its massive wings, causing great air turbulence and making the entire tree shake.
[You've been affected by the Skill, Apex Predator]
[Your body's Constitution flares...]
[You resist its effects]
But he barely moved.
Seeing as Dale slowly approached it, taking a cautious but strong step into the nest, it tried to grab him with its beak and send him away…
It was trying to be as gentle as possible while also utilizing its full power since beneath it...
/Grab…/
Yet, Dale grabbed its beak in retaliation, pushing it away easily, almost sending it thumbing down the treetop.
This also showed the 3 massive eggs almost the size of his legs on it.
/CAW!/
/Flap flap flap…/
Seeing that there was no way to defeat the invader, the bird took off, looking at him from afar as he grabbed the eggs and jumped down from the nest.
"..."
With a deep gaze, the bird eventually turned around in the sky, flying away into the distance.
…
/Step step/
/Wobbly.../
With 3 eggs pilled up in his arms, Dale barely managed to walk to Tina and the others.
Every step he had to move a little to try and balance the eggs out, being extremely careful to not let them fall.
"Does this count?... Woah?!" He asked Tina as he tried to look at her, only to almost drop one of the eggs
"... Sigh, I guess so."
Shaking her head with a slight smile, Tina clapped her hands as she turned around.
"I find it unusual how... Forget it."
"What do you plan to do with those eggs?" She asked, amused
"I… Didn't really think about that, I just kind of grabbed it."
'I could've killed the bird, but I wasn't really feeling it…'
'Hypocritical, but I felt like it and that was my decision.'
'If I wanted to farm everything on my way, I would've killed that panther-like animal and its pups, together with all critters and other creatures with levels on my way here.'
'But I didn't.'
'Either way, that's in the past now.'
/Step.../
As he thought silently, Muddan approached him, grabbing two of the eggs with one hand so Dale could have a slight breather.
"Jarfa latura afir… ^&%!@#..."
"&^!#... Compassion." Muddan said in a low tone as he looked at Dale, tapping on his own chest from time to time as he did so
[Your Reputation with the Karkavan has increased by 5]
"Hm?"
'What happened.'
"Muddan is thanking you." Tina replied in a low tone as she grabbed Dale's bag on the ground
"The Karkavan have a tendency of hunting only male animals as they believe its imperative to leave the females alive so they can continue to procreate."
"They only hunt the females in extreme situations and when they're no longer able to do their intended job."
"A bird like this doesn't easily grow into adulthood, so any fertile adult is valuable."
"An Opicus bird like her would be unable to properly grow the young as hunting for food is the task of the male, so pushing her out of the nest sooner is the right choice."
"The eggs are also valuable as they can be grown into pets, Karkavan children use them as mounts but they eventually just become pets since they live quite a bit, almost as much as them."
"I… See." Dale replied awkwardly as he still tried to balance the egg he was holding
It was rough with many segmented parts, it looked like a rock but it shone rather well.
The egg was also unusually elongated, not perfectly oval but still rather cool.
'So they're like dogs for them?...'
"Anyway, you don't need to be so careful with those eggs, they won't really break if they fall, they're quite solid."
"Just shove them in your bag or that item of yours so we may resume our progress."
"Otherwise we can make a small break and have some omelet." She said with a slightly teasing smile
"..."
'Can I even shove fertile eggs in the inventory? Won't it kill the embryo?...'
'Might as well give it a try.'
With that thought, Dale stored all three eggs in his inventory, each taking a slot respectively.
Not that it mattered, as his inventory space was limited by its weight and not the amount of slots it had.
Dale also tried to store the Opicus bird in his inventory, and he succeeded.
It didn't really weigh much to begin with, although it was rather big nonetheless.
Though those actions startled Muddan quite a bit.
With that, once they took care of everything together with a small rest, they continued marching onwards.
This entire venture lasted less than 10 minutes.
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Notes
New novel 𝓬hapters are published on (f)reeweb(n)ovel.com