343 – Life on the Great Tree

I shave away at the trunk of the giant tree with [Wind Slash], digging a nesting hole.
The blades of wind scrape away the trunk.
I take the occasional break to rest with [Automatic MP Recovery], patiently digging my way through.
It takes a full day to finish, but there’s now enough space for me to fit.
It’s about the same size as the dragon-god’s shrine.

Great, the adams shouldn’t come up here much.
Once we’re done grinding for levels, we’ll head back down and enter their temple in the roots.
Though before going in I’d like to catch one outside to run a battle test first… 

By the way, perhaps finding a web easier to settle down in, the nightmare has strung up a huge web between branches outside mydragon’s nesting hole and is lying in wait, motionless.
I don’t know if any of the monsters here would be okay to catch, but it seems that way is more calming for it.

…If Aro said she wanted to sleep outside I’d stop her, but the nightmare should be fine.
If it gets dangerous it’ll come back inside right away, so there shouldn’t be any problem with it acting as a guard.

I thought maybe the treant would need to be in the sunlight, but it went to the far back of the nesting hole and bent over, and now the sound of snoring is coming from its mouth-like hole.
Try to blend in better, seriously.
Is it fine like that? If it were wild, there’s no way it could go on living.

My stomach’s empty, so I decide to leave Aro and the others behind and go on a small hunting trip.
It would be bad if they were attacked by another monster while I was away, so I thoroughly check the area with [Presence Perception], and don’t find any particularly strong presences.
Even so, I won’t go too far.
I plan on returning within fifteen minutes.

I kick off the branch and fly around the giant tree.
After moving a short distance, I see a large, pure-white bird.
It’s about 4 metres from head to tail, its long beak tapering to a sharp point.
Its distinctive feature would be the way its beak extends to cover its face like a mask.

【[Masked Bird]: C+ rank monster】
【A strange bird that flutters far from human lands.】

【Its beak is deformed, protecting its head like a mask.】
【In addition to an overwhelming flight ability, it excels at using magic.】
【Its powerful stab delivered at close range can easily pierce armour.】

Ooh, it’s just perfect.
I separate from the giant tree and chase the masked bird.
Seeing my pursuit, it quickly turns in the air to fly away.
I promptly follow it easily overtake, hovering in place opposite it in wait.

Surprised, the masked bird quickly stops and reverses direction, flying down.
Unfortunately, even though it might be confident in its flying ability, it’s still not enough to overturn the difference in stats.

As I continue to chase it, the masked bird glances back at me and opens its beak wide.

“Kiaah!”

As it cries out, a pair of tornadoes shoot from its wings.
It’s wind magic.
It looks similar to Aro’s [Gale], but I saw it had a skill called [Twin Gale].
It seems to be essentially the same other than being doubled.

Cutting past it would be fine, but… I slow down and hang in the air for a bit.
Then, aiming for the two tornadoes, I fire a [Wind Slash].
The slash passes through the tornadoes and cleaves into the masked bird’s back.

“Giaaaah!”

Its body contorts as feathers scatter.
Its body falls limply, its eyes closed.

Pierced by the [Wind Slash], the two tornadoes unravel and disperse.
I fly down in front of the falling masked bird and reach out my foreleg.
Its eyes snap open and twists its neck to launch a point blank stab with towards the base of my neck.

I strike the side of its head with my forefoot.
Its beak shatters, and the portion covering its face becomes loose and bent.

Pretending to be dead? Sorry, but I have enough leeway to react after seeing it.
In the first place, I know its skills from [Status Inspection].

I slice up its head with my claw.

【246 experience points have been acquired.】
【Due to the Title Skill [Walking Egg: Lv -], an additional 246 experience points have been acquired.】

I stab a claw through its back to hang it upside-down.
Now then, let’s head back as its blood drains.
I’m glad I was able to catch such a big prey.

…Though I ended up quite far away.
I’ll head back immediately, but hopefully there won’t be another strange B rank monster after them.

With the masked bird held between my forelegs, I head straight back to the tree.
I land on a branch in front of the nesting hole and leave the masked bird there.

I look toward the nightmare’s web and…see a monster caught in the thread.
It kicks and flails, shaking off the thread.
Once loose, it lands on the branch and rolls around to clear it off, then licks its body in displeasure.
It’s a similar size to the nightmare, but the nightmare is cautiously keeping its distance.

A long, snake-like body and small legs.
A head fin and two horns.
It looks cute, but if it’s able to so easily shake free from the nightmare’s web, then it has to be around B rank.
It rears its neck and glares at the nightmare in annoyance, then turns and notices me.
Its eyes soften and it croons sweetly.

“Kuuon! Kuoonh!”

Right, it’s the horny dragon whose brain is as pink as its skin, the giva.
Even though it doesn’t have wings it climbed all the way up here!? There has to be a limit to persistence!

Like before, the giva twists to expose its belly.
There’s nothing about that that I find arousing though!?

“Kuon…”

“[Gale]!”

A tornado emerges from the nesting hole and scrapes away bark as it closes in on the giva.
Fleeing from the tornado, the nightmare spits thread up to an overhead branch.
The tornado blows away the giva as it carelessly dances with its belly exposed.

“KuoOOOOOOH!?”

That would happen.
In that posture, there was no way it could have braced its legs.

The giva twists midair, changing its centre of gravity so that it’s just barely able to grip the edge of the branch in its mouth.
The nightmare sticks a thread to its head.

“Kuoh?”

Pulled by the thread, its body lifts slightly.
It tries to bite into the branch, but only chomps down on empty space.
The giva is mercilessly attacked by a tornado again.
Its body is repelled away a second time, and it pitifully falls down the tree.

“KuOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!?”

It slams into branches one after the other until it disappears from sight.
It… It won’t be dead.
It is B- rank, after all.
Had it fallen straight down it would have died, but there were branches to break its fall.
Well, it should have learnt from this and won’t come here for a while.

I push my foreleg against the branch and peer down towards where it fell.
Aro stands by my side and leans against me.
I see her cheerily looking down at where it fell.
Noticing my gaze, she glances up at me with a proud smile.

…It doesn’t have any ill intent, so well please keep it in moderation.
Knowing that it’s also a fellow dragon doesn’t exactly whet my appetite.