Path to Transcendence

Chapter 616: Big Birdy

Julius and the adorable bird stared at each other. It didn’t even fly away from him. It wasn’t like he was keeping it imprisoned anymore. It was able to leave whenever it could, but for some reason, it chose not to. Instead, the two of them were equally confused, so they just stood there in silence. The little murder bird even ruffled its feathers with its beak after a few seconds.

He hadn’t really expected anything when he caught the black object, but this wasn’t it. He was at a loss. This small creature was such a dangerous little thing. It was shocking.

“Hello,” he offered to the creature who had almost pierced his heart.

The bird tilted its head up at him and chirped, as if replying to him. It sounded like it was saying hello back to him.

Julius held up his palm so that they were at eye level. “So why were you trying to kill me?”

The bird gave a single chirp and fluffed its feathers, as if that was enough explanation for why it attacked him.

“Umm. I don’t understand.”

The bird chirped again, this time with more detail and more flaps of its wings. Julius reached out his aura and let it gently brush up against the bird. It was then that he was able to decipher some of its chirps.

“Are you saying that I intruded into your territory?” He asked after listening carefully.

The bird nodded firmly and gave a short chirp, kicking its tiny foot against his hand.

“Ahh. My bad.” Julius didn’t really know why he was apologizing. It wasn’t like the territory was marked or anything. But he felt like it was the polite thing to do in the moment, and it cost him nothing but a few words and some effort.

Fortunately, this appeased the bird, and the little fellow gave a happy chirp and softly touched the tip of its beak to his palm. He got the sense that it was saying sorry for attacking him out of the blue.

“Hey, did you happen to see a group of people come by here recently? They were accompanied by a scary lady.”

The bird looked at him with confusion and shook its head.

“Oh, no worries then. I just thought it was worth asking,” he explained.

A long stretch of silence lasted between them, and eventually Julius turned to the bird. “Well, if you are okay with it, I will continue on my way to find them.”

He lifted the bird from his hands and began to store more kinetic energy in his body, preparing to resume his flight.

However, for some reason, the bird fluttered its wings over to him and started to shake them in his face. He got the impression that it was telling him no or was warning him about something.

“What is it?”

The bird sent him several bursts of impressions. It was only because of Drasil that Julius learned to interpret such things and was able to piece together some of them.

“You’re saying that there is another monster’s territory in that direction?” He asked, pointing at where the tracking beacon was taking him.

The black bird nodded.

“Is it strong?”

He got a much clearer and firmer agreement from the creature. Which likely meant it wasn’t just a Tier 4. After all, the bird was quite strong, and the fear he sensed from it when it was talking about this other monster felt extreme if it was another Tier 4.

So there was a Tier 5 up ahead. At least he learned that before he flew into the things territory.

“Is it another flying creature?”

A nod.

“Is there a way to avoid it?”

A nod.

“Can you show me?”

A pause. The bird looked over at him and the area where the monster supposedly was, then nodded.

“Really? Thank you!” Julius said with a bright smile and reached over to scratch the bird underneath its wings. It preened and chirped happily when he did this, leaning into his hand so he could scratch it deeper.

After he got in some pets, the bird gestured to him to follow it as it took to the air. It moved with astounding speed. It was no wonder he was barely able to sense it in time. Even slowing down for him, the bird was ridiculously fast and nimble.

Its small size didn’t seem to impede it either. The fact that it was so small made it even more challenging for people or its prey to see. He was certain this thing was a terror in the sky. He couldn’t imagine just how dangerous and fast it would be if it were Tier 5.

It was taking Julius around the territory it had pointed out. Eventually, they bypassed the area entirely, and with the help of the bird, he was able to avoid any other attacks from monsters. He was thankful for that and instead spent most of this time examining how the quick little thing was able to move that fast.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

From what he could tell, its entire body was shrouded by this weird energy. The same one that was able to disrupt his mana despite his best efforts. The energy also seemed to work on the air, and instead of fighting him, the wind almost propelled the bird forward. Julius didn’t think he would be able to copy such a technique, but there were several interesting features that he could implement into his own mana techniques.

Julius frowned when the bird suddenly stopped and looked around in a panic. Julius didn’t know what was going on and prepared himself for a fight. However, the bird’s emotions seemed… almost guilty. He was curious and followed it as it dropped down to a small clearing.

“Is everything okay? Is it a monster or something?” He asked the cute bird.

They ruffled their feathers in denial, but before Julius could wonder what was going on, he felt something appear in his sphere of perception. He also couldn’t find the presence either, his perception was telling him that they were everywhere. It was perplexing to say the least, but he knew when he was in real danger. He immediately charged his skills, but to his astonishment, his mana fell apart without resistance.

It wasn’t even a matter of willpower; it just fell through his fingers like sand. If that wasn’t bad enough, he felt a domain slam into place around him. It was like he was in the middle of a hurricane, and he collapsed to one knee, unable to breathe.

He didn’t hesitate and immediately flooded his soul with power. It exploded with a viscous determination. He didn’t have any time to test Doren’s technique and brute-forced it. The domain around him flickered for a brief moment, allowing him to escape its brutal influence.

It didn’t last long, only a scant second, but it was enough to allow him to gather enough mana to summon ruinflames around himself. His aura wrapped over his shoulders like a cloak, and his field of kinetic energy blasted out. He didn’t know where this Tier 5 creature was, so he simply attacked in all directions.

Unfortunately, all of them were met by an opposing force and petered out like a dying candle flame.

Then the domain slammed back down on him with even more force than before. Thankfully, he was better prepared and put up a stronger fight. He grunted with pain as the ruthless domain and opposing willpower squeezed his soul like a grape. He held on the best he could, but it was extremely taxing.

He felt himself losing this battle, and with a grimace, he exploded his soul once more to give himself more breathing room. He used this space to activate even more skills, flooding his body with everything he could bring forth.

The Tier 5 must have already caught on to his technique, and before he could activate his skills, he felt something slam into his chest. His entire ribcage collapsed, and he felt his lungs explode. He didn’t panic, though, and quickly threw every ounce of kinetic energy he stored at the invisible Tier 5.

He felt some resistance, but his kinetic energy was overwhelmed, and he was grabbed from all sides, dangling from the ground. Its domain slammed back into place, and he felt the thing tearing apart all of his attempts in a way he had never experienced before.

He even felt it trying to delve into his soul, using his aura as a gateway.

He snarled and blasted his aura out. He used every ounce of willpower to hold back the indomitable tide of power. He might not be able to use any of his abilities outside his body, but he would be damned if he allowed this thing to start messing with his soul. That was his territory, and nobody was going to mess with it.

Not again.

He let out a roar as he pushed this presence back and attacked it with his aura. He shaped it into a massive spear and slammed it into the opposing will with everything he could muster.

It must have done something because he felt the opposing willpower flinch back, and he was able to regain some space. Every construct imaginable slammed into existence around him as he prepared to fight this Tier 5.

However, that apparently wasnʼt necessary. There was a loud chirp from the black bird that suddenly appeared in front of his face. He heard it chirp loudly and rapidly.

He wasn’t able to sense what it was saying. His aura senses were completely smothered. But he could tell from its body language that it was defending him.

And to his surprise, it worked. Julius slowly felt the pressure around him release, and his skin didnʼt feel like it was being ground by sandpaper. Then, with his fascination, he felt an immense coalescence of energy gather, and the presence that was everywhere condensed into a single point.

At that point, a bird appeared that looked suspiciously like the little black bird fluttering in front of him. The only difference was the size. Unlike the little guy who could fit inside his palm, this bird was around double the size. Still, it was cute as hell despite almost killing him.

He didn’t speak and simply stared at who he assumed was the little bird’s parent for a few moments. It stared right back at him, and it wasn’t until the smaller one chirped that the larger one opened its beak.

“I apologize for the misunderstanding. I thought you had kidnapped my daughter,” the surprisingly deep and masculine voice spoke. Julius stood there, stunned by the fact that the bird was speaking to him, also by the fact that the little bird was a girl. He had been subconsciously thinking it was a boy.

“You can talk?” He asked with a curious frown.

“Yes, I can speak,” the papa bird said to him, almost sounding amused by his question.

Julius shrugged and nodded. “Hmm, okay. So why did you think I was kidnapping her? I wasn’t exactly being aggressive with her.”

The daughter chirped out a reply before her father could. Julius could sense several vague emotions. But the most obvious one was the fact that she basically called her father an idiot.

“Yes, I was a little… hasty in my deductions. I hope I haven’t hurt you much,” the bird said with a worried look at his daughter.

Julius shook his head. He was fine. The only thing that was hurt was his pride. He thought advancing would let him fight a Tier 5 on equal terms, or close to it, but he was wrong. The gap was still massive. The only thing he was happy about was the fact that he was able to hold out much longer than he used to.

He also reminded himself that there were differences between Tier 5s. Not all of them were strong; there were weak ones, too. Like that crafter he had faced back in the Northern Regions. He would need to test out how he would handle a Tier 5 like that.

This particular Tier 5 was probably one of the stronger ones. After all, the daughter was really strong and really fast.

He heard the daughter chirping at her father again. And he appeared as scolded as a bird could look. With downtrodden wings, the father went over to Julius and, without saying anything, touched his beak to Julius’s hand.

“At least take this as an apology.”

Julius felt an incredibly complex mark appear on his hand before vanishing. It was right next to the mark he got from the demon in that special rift all that time ago.

“What’s this?”

“It’s essentially a mark that lets everyone know you are a friend of the forest. You shouldn’t have too many issues on your travels now. Even more powerful monsters won’t attack you.”

Julius didn’t feel like it was appropriate to mention that he kind of wanted monsters to attack him. It would probably sound ungrateful. Instead, he nodded and thanked them.

“No worries. Now, we have to get going. I have to tell her mother that she ran off without telling us again.”

Julius watched as the little bird suddenly stiffened in fear and flapped her wings, appearing on Juliusʼs shoulder, nudging him with her beak, as if asking him to save her.

He couldnʼt help it and gave her a few scratches under her wings. But had no plans to save her. He knew better than to intervene with a mother’s wrath.