The Owl Wants to Play

The bird was very real and very serious. Yuel was running at full speed down the meadow, and that damned bird was chasing right behind him.

As he kept running, his foot caught on his oversized cloak, and Yuel tumbled down the grassy hill.

The guardian bird lunged down with all its strength, but because Yuel suddenly tripped and started rolling, the bird missed its attack. It nearly slammed into the ground but quickly recovered, flapped its wings, and flew back up into the air.

At that moment, a blinding light filled the sky. Luo had formed a massive ball of pure white flame in his mouth and had already launched it. The sphere moved at lightning speed and struck the guardian bird. Yuel could hear the sound of the bird burning, but he still hadn't seen what it looked like. He could only infer from the sounds—and those damned sounds gave him no clue what was coming for him.

Once Yuel realized he would stop rolling soon, he braced himself and stood up. The bird was flying straight toward him.

Yuel leapt to the right in a quick motion, rolled once, and got to his feet. The bird had landed—and now they were face to face.

Standing before Yuel was an enemy so strong that, even if he sacrificed a few limbs and permanently crippled himself, he still wouldn't win. For him, this was death incarnate.

A Level 4 Titan.

The worst-case scenario...

Even so, he had to survive somehow. He had to find the titan's weak point. He could even try to convince himself that his eyes were playing tricks on him and this was just a Level 3 dhune—but that would be lying to himself. The thing was massive, and its affinity was clearly visible. Even its aura was different from a dhune's. When Yuel looked at it, he could feel pure fear.

The bird was actually an owl. Yuel had fought dhunes resembling owls a few times before, so he knew their basic abilities: night vision and absolute silence. Those were their signature traits. This owl also had an elemental affinity.

And from the outside, it was obvious: nature.

Its eyes were deep green, its body wrapped in vines, and every injured part of its body regenerated as wood or greenery. One of its wings was now completely made of wood and vines. Its beak seemed to have shattered, replaced by a wooden one.

At first glance, fire might seem like its natural weakness—but that wasn't necessarily true. Yuel knew a few things about affinities. He had to consider the creature's past affinity too. Its current power might be nature, but in the past, it likely had affinities related to healing or plant growth. It had grown a trap tree and used nature to heal itself. With that kind of regenerative ability, it could possibly withstand fire...

And indeed, even though Luo's flames had scorched its skin, new skin was rapidly regenerating. Yuel also noticed the grass around them starting to grow rapidly—the owl was trying to trap him by extending the grass into constricting vines.

But Yuel wasn't stupid enough to fight the owl. As he suspected, the fire hadn't killed it, but it had likely stunned it—probably thanks to the soul flame property. While the guardian owl was still recovering, they had a chance to escape.

"Luo, get me on your back! Quickly—we need to get out of here now!"

Luo sprinted toward Yuel, taking about three seconds. The wolf understood this was a critical moment—they had to flee.

Instead of waiting for Yuel to climb on, Luo bit into his oversized cloak and took off running. Once they got out of the meadows and into the forest, they finally stopped to catch their breath.

"Luo, don't ever do that again... or... actually, you're a smart boy. Just do whatever your instincts tell you. Thanks. You saved my life."

Luo ignored him. The massive white flame ball he had thrown earlier had drained him. To do that again, he'd have to eat a lot—especially since the flame had burned him as well. His mouth was only just starting to heal; his whole neck was still covered in burns.

"I'm sorry, Luo. I should've seen this coming. From now on, we're vegan. We'll only eat meat."

Luo gave Yuel a sarcastic glare.

"What? That's how veganism works, right? What do you even know about veganism, Luo?"

Yuel chuckled. Once he felt they'd rested enough, he continued,

"We might still be followed. We should stay away from home for now. That owl might be trailing us without us noticing—they're silent like that. We can shake him off tomorrow in daylight. Then we'll head back ho—"

KRUEEEEEHKK

"N-no way! Luo, run!"

The broken white trees snapped like toothpicks, and a massive owl descended from the sky.

Its claws extended forward, its full weight focused into this one strike.

Yuel did everything he could to dodge—and somehow, he survived. He slipped between the bird's legs and ended up behind it.

Luo ran off at full speed. He would probably return, but close combat could seriously injure him, so he had chosen to retreat.

Until Luo came back, Yuel had to stay alive. He reached into his cloak and drew his strongest weapon: a dagger made from the corpse of a Level 3 dhune. Slowly, he raised it toward the half-burned, half-wooden giant owl that had turned to face him. The bird stared with dead eyes.

Yuel couldn't allow the owl to make the first move. A single attack could mean death.

He couldn't believe he was running toward the titan, but logically, it was his best chance. There was no other escape. He would aim for the bird's left side—the burned one that Luo had scorched earlier.

As Yuel charged, the giant owl raised its claw to strike. Yuel dodged with all his strength, rolled, and once again slipped between its legs—behind it again. Wait... this was usable.

As the owl began to turn, Yuel did something unexpected. He leapt at the rotating head and slashed the bird's eye with his dagger, then climbed onto its back. It was huge, and on its burned side, there were no vines—so he couldn't do damage here...

Unless the vines started growing in mid-air.

He had another dagger—but it was only Level 2. The owl was beginning to take flight, and Yuel had no other option. He stabbed the Level 3 dagger into the owl's back. The Level 2 one couldn't harm a Level 4 Titan—but it could probably deal with the vines coming for him.

That was the plan—until he remembered something he'd completely forgotten:

Owls had a third ability.

The giant owl suddenly turned its head 180 degrees and bit off the Level 2 dagger. At that moment, Yuel realized trying to save the Level 3 dagger was pointless—he let go and dropped to the ground.

Now, he had no weapons left.

He could only run. He had to find a weapon—but what?

He had to think while running. The plants around him were growing fast, turning into vines trying to snatch him. He was lucky the ground here was earthy—only the trees were mutating. Yuel kept sprinting with all he had. Who knew when exhaustion would kick in?

But he couldn't focus on being tired—he had to focus on surviving. If he shouted loud enough, maybe he could attract another creature. If he could lure a third beast here and pit it against the owl, he might have a chance.

"Hey, ugly bird! Can you hear me?!"

"Is this because no female owl ever gave you attention?! I'm not even a bird, go find someone else!"

The giant owl might not have been able to speak, but as a titan, it was likely intelligent enough to understand human speech. Even if it wasn't, shouting alone could attract other dhunes or titans.

He was nearing the end of the road. It was time to play his final card. He kept circling the owl.

The bird was toying with him—it wasn't even moving. It just used the trees to create massive vine-like tentacles to chase its weaponless prey.

But the owl was wrong.

Yuel wasn't unarmed.

Once he reached the owl's blind spot, he heard a sound near his ear.

KCRIC

It sounded like something cracking or breaking. But what could he do? He had nothing left in his hands.

Or at least... he didn't—until now.

Yuel had been running while catching his breath and gathering energy. With all the strength he'd stored, he jumped, climbed the titan's back in two seconds, and stood atop its head. He had to be quick—the vines were right behind him.

Then, he stabbed the cracked canteen—its sharp, broken tip—straight into the owl's eye. Pulled it out. Then the other eye. Then the beak. Then the skull! He kept stabbing and ripping it out with all his strength.

Each stab caused the vines to hesitate, as if the owl was so overwhelmed with pain that it forgot to control them. It screamed in agony and spun in place, twisting its head 180 degrees over and over again. Finally, it remembered the vines—but it was too late.

Luo's flames had returned and burned them all just in time.

Luo had come back—probably after eating a lower-level dhune to recover.

They had defeated a Level 4 Titan—without even sacrificing a limb!

The biggest reason was that the damned owl had underestimated them. Also, Yuel was small enough to slip between its legs. And on top of that, Luo's flames were the perfect counter—it was a perfect match. If it had been a Level 4 elite like Luo from the enemy side, he probably would've died.

He was seriously lucky—and he wasn't planning to see another titan for a very, very long time.

Maybe now... he could finally go home and rest.

Just then—footsteps echoed behind him.