chapter 65: Cock-a-trice

[One month later]

[Short interlude: Underworld and family?]

Reniris once again found herself in a pitch-black space. However, unlike the previous times when she heard voices, this time she didn't hear anything; it was silent, deafeningly so.

However, luckily for her, she didn't stay in that space for long as her body was flung downward, being pulled from her feet and dragged down.

She didn't feel anything touching her, yet she could feel a force drag her downward; at first, she tried to resist by unfurling her wings and trying to fly up, but it was to no avail; she decided not to resist and let herself get dragged down.

It didn't take long before there was a flash of bright light that forced her to close her eyes before it became pitch black again. This was followed by a feeling of being submerged deep underwater.

She panicked slightly before she realized this was a dream and calmed herself.

After a long stretch of silence and being dragged down, she finally felt her feet touch the ground.

The first thing she saw was the night sky, bright streaks of stars illuminated the sky with their light, jetstreams of bright light stretched from the edges of the sky, being pulled into a black dot with bright white rings of light, that looked like a black sun that was placed at the center of the sky.

"What is that?"

She questioned as she turned around and saw that there were multiple boulders, rocks, and debris littered across the sky floating and slowly being pulled into the black sun. It was like a vacuum.

Luckily for Reniris, the black sun did not pull anything below a certain threshold, meaning as long as she touched the ground, the pull of the black sun would not affect her.

Another thing that Reniris took note of was the temperature. She could feel that it was scalding hot, that the very air felt like it was evaporating. However, for some reason, that didn't bother her

"What is this place?"

She asked as she turned around, looking for any recognisable structures. It was a vast plain with no houses, no trees, only mountains and hills. It was a dead world.

Reniris received no answers to her questions; however, the searing hot atmosphere quickly changed, and a single blow of the wind changed the temperature and landscape.

Everything changed, the temperature dropped significantly, and the very ground became ice. The land transformed into an icy tundra, with temperatures dropping below conceivable limits. Had she been a human, she would have died instantly, but luckily, she wasn't affected by the sudden change.

Seeing nothing helpful, she elected to just walk, to where she did not know. However, standing still was no good, so she walked.

And walked

And walked

And walked for hours on end, in those hours the weather and temperature fluctuated between hot and cold, every 10 minutes, even though she could not feel it, she was certain it would qualify as some form of torture

At first, she wasn't worried. This was a dream after all. However, the more she walked, the more uneasy she got and began to worry and began to question whether or not this was a dream.

"Where am I going? What kind of dream is this?"

She questioned, there was worry in her voice,

for weeks now, she's been getting the same dream over and over again, but now, all of a sudden, it changes.

"EON!!"

She shouted but received no response. Obviously, he wouldn't be in her dream. Seeing that there was nothing she could do, she decided to wait to wake up.

However, before that could happen, she saw something. Seven silhouette figures were standing at a distance. She squinted her eyes, focusing on these figures.

The silhouettes were just that, silhouettes. However, there was something they had that made her pause, in silent shock

The seven figures all had vibrant red hair similar to her own, something that struck her as odd at first, but she was quick to realise who these figures may be.

One of them stretched their hands to her, and instantly, her body moved, rushing towards them. Unfortunately, before she could reach them, she found herself waking up.

"Huh?!"

Her eyes opened, and she snapped back to reality. It took a moment before she reacted, but after a minute, a smile blossomed on her face as excitement bubbled up from the pits of her stomach.

"Eon wake up! Wake up, you have to hear this!"

She said with clear excitement in her voice. She quickly stood up from the floor and began shaking Eon, trying to wake him up

Unfortunately for her, it would take a lot more effort to wake the Dragonoid from his slumber.

...

A month had passed since the ordeal with Luke Johnson; due to his involvement in slave auctions, he was arrested, and his guild card was revoked; however, luckily for him, his debt was cleared, and it was determined by the Marquis that he had already paid it in full.

He also got a bit lucky as the Marquis pulled some strings and reduced his year-long sentence to just 3 months. Of course, knowing the Count, the Marquis also had Luke's family under protection and launched an investigation, digging to find more incriminating evidence that he would use against the Count in the future.

Eon and Reniris, on the other hand, were doing their own thing, focusing more on ranking up and building a reputation.

*CAAW!!*

The loud screeching of a bird-like creature blasted throughout the forest, its screech loud and powerful enough to rustle the trees and immediately stun any nearby living creature, making it impossible for them to move for several seconds.

The creature was a Cockatrice, a giant chicken-like monster that had the ability to freeze any perceived prey or predator in place for up to 10 seconds. The creature had steel-like claws and a beak capable of bisecting and piercing through thick tree trunks with ease.

The cockatrice is a natural monster, having evolved from regular flightless birds like chickens, it's more of a prey-type monster than it is a predator; however, when the opponent is physically smaller than it, the beast will take a chance to defend itself instead of running away.

The giant chicken used its wings and propelled itself forward, with its already fast running speed. This allowed it to reach speeds that dwarfed any horse by many times over.

'Shit!'

Eon inwardly cursed as the chicken barrelled towards him at speeds the average man thought Impossible for creatures thrice the size of a horse in height but not in weight.

The young man had been stunned by the creature's scream and was currently helpless, He couldn't defend himself

With its steel-like beak, the creature reached him and collided with his chest; the force of the attack sent him flying through the trees like a bullet before losing momentum, tumbling to the ground and stopping.

The beast gave chase, going for a second attack, this time with its steel-like claws; arriving before Eon, it swung its leg, aiming for his head. However, the young man quickly rolled to the side, immediately got on all fours and launched himself head first towards the chicken's side.

He collided with the creature and sent it flying back and bouncing off the ground; however, the beast wasn't going to be bested so easily; it spun itself upright and stood on its legs before opening its wings wide opening and preparing to scream once again.

Eon wasn't about to let that happen. With a burst of speed, he launched himself towards the creature. His fist ignited on fire as he cocked it back.

In a second, he was before the beast, and his fist collided with its long neck, stopping it before It could screech and destroying its ability to scream.

He was actually quite surprised that his fist didn't go right through its neck. Beneath its feathers, the cockatrice had formidably hard skin.

Before Eon could throw another attack, the cockatrice punted back him several meters, once again making him crash onto multiple trees.

"Fucking hell, those kicks hurt!"

The Dragonoid commented with glee on his face, a good battle was always welcomed.

"Need any help?"

Reniris, who had been floating above observing the fight, asked, although she already knew the answer to that question.

"Hardly, this isn't me struggling"

He said as he watched the monster quickly turn tail and started to run away.

"Oh no you don't"

His hair changed from its fiery red to a light yet vibrant green. He partially activated his third scale [Verdant Tempest.]

This form granted him greater agility, flexibility and less weight, allowing him to move as swiftly and as silently as the wind; it also granted a boost in speed, but it was still a far cry from the speed granted by his 5th scale.

With the swiftness of the wind, he moved; the wind whistled as his body was carried forward, the body being propelled toward the target with such speed and grace that the beast never even saw him coming, and its head was twisted at a 360° angle, and it died immediately.

The creature dropped to the grass with a *thud* sound and Eon exhaled in relief as he finished his quest.

.....

A/N:I hope you enjoyed the chapter.